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Archive for the 'Texas' Category
Nate and I were given tickets to see the Texas Rangers play the New York Yankees last night! This was Nate’s first time to go to a baseball game (and my first time to go see the Rangers!) I wasn’t sure how Nate was going to do with a night game that started about the same time he is usually brushing his teeth and getting ready for bed!
Nate did really well though! As you can see from the photo, we were sitting in the upper deck, which was “pretty cool” to Nate, although I think he wasn’t into the actual game play as much as he might have been if we were sitting closer. (There is just something about HEARING the ball smack into the catcher’s glove when the pitcher (Yu Darvish) throws a 97 mph fastball!
Nate really did get into the cheering, and he loved all the different songs and chants that go along with live baseball games! Another thing that Nate thought was especially cool was recognizing the “songs about Jesus” that a couple of players had as their “intro” songs that played as they came up to bat.
It probably would not have mattered to Nate any, but the 47,085 fans that were at the Rangers stadium appreciated that the Rangers were victorious over the Yankees 2-0!
We had a little bit of excitement around our little part of Texas recently when a TORNADO decided to tear through town!
Texas tornado in 136-165 mph wind range
Thankfully, no one in the DFW area was killed in the tornado(s) that blew through, homes and cars can be replaced, people cannot. We knew from the weather radar exactly where the tornado was as it approached our house and we watched it closely, ready to retreat to the bedroom closet for safety if need be.
The tornado inspired a lot of excitement, a little bit of fear, and a new awareness of weather phenomena like tornados and hail!
Elizabeth begged to use my iPad in the middle of the tornado chaos, turns out she felt compelled to create a ‘weather report’ with the video camera!
Starting to adjust to empty and (relatively) clean streets in America! After living in Asia for the past decade, seeing an empty street like this at any time of the day makes you think for a second that something terrible has happened!
Red and blue strobes explode in your mirrors. You pull to the side of the road and madly begin fishing through the glove box for your registration and insurance. Then you tear off the seatbelt so you can jam a hand down your pants to locate your wallet. Just trying to be courteous, right? You know, have all your documents ready when The Man strolls up to your window.
Turns out, most cops don’t want you to do anything except rest your hands on top of the steering wheel until directed otherwise.
Didn’t know that, did you? Neither did we.
FIVE BEST THINGS TO DO
1. Pull to the right at the first safe opportunity, then turn off your engine.
If it’s not a safe place to stop, Oregon’s Lt. Gregg Hastings wants you to activate your right-turn signal, then drive slowly to a safer place. “A safer place, by the way, isn’t a considerable distance down a dark side road, driveway, or alley,” he says. “Keep in mind that traffic-related officer deaths jumped 16 percent in 2006,” Hastings adds.
We drove to “The” Bluebonnet festival in Ennis, Texas yesterday.
The website for the festival claimed that this was the only ‘official’ bluebonnet festival and it used alot of language to suggest this was THE place for Texas Bluebonnets.
Ennis was designated by the 1997 State Legislature as the home of the“Official Texas Bluebonnet Trail” and was designated the “Official Bluebonnet City of Texas.”
Remember to stop by the Ennis Visitor Center to pick up your highlighted Bluebonnet Trail Map. The staff and volunteers at the Ennis Visitor Center will highlight the best trails on this map on the day of your visit.
So, we drove down there (about an hour drive from Arlington, TX) with somewhat high expectations. After all, the bluebonnets around here are pretty impressive, so the bluebonnets in the “Official Bluebonnet City” ought to be out of this world!
We did find some bluebonnets in one small section of a park at the beginning of the ‘bluebonnet trail’ and took some photos. We were pretty disappointed by the amount of bluebonnets at the park, but thought we were likely to see some fantastic fields of bluebonnets as we drove along the trail, so we moved on.
However, for the next hour or so, we traveled along the trail and saw almost NO more bluebonnets! It seems the ‘Offical Bluebonnet City’ does not have many bluebonnets this year or our friendly volunteer highlighted the wrong trail(s) when I picked up the trail map!
It worked out okay, we had fun driving in the country (sans bluebonnets), we had a nice picnic outside and everyone stayed relatively happy for the entire outing.
We did see some really beautiful bluebonnets on our drive back home (between Dallas and Arlington) so we did get to enjoy some bluebonnets after all.
Just be warned – if you are going to Ennis for the Bluebonnet Festival – don’t get your hopes up that your going to be seeing very many bluebonnets!
I was checking my blog stats, and a blog post I wrote back in January about Chuck Norris seemed to be getting an unusual amount of traffic, so I had to investigate why.
Turns out, a couple of high school kids in New Jersey put Chuck Norris’ name on a ‘hit list.’
Chuck Norris, being a class act, put out this thoughtful statement when he heard about the arrests:
“When I learned yesterday [Wednesday] of the story about a high school student in New Jersey faced with expulsion from school and possible other problems after being charged with compiling a ‘hit list’ that contained my name, my first instinct was to say nothing. Not to risk making something out to be bigger than it is.
“But I realize that this is not the best course, for such behaviors are exactly the warning signs we have ignored for far too long, emanating from a growing at-risk population of young people in this country.
“In today’s world, we must always be vigilant, not just in stepping up protection and emergency preparedness in schools, but in reaching out to those lost souls who feel marginalized and disenfranchised by the world around them.
“It is what I have been doing for more than a decade with my ‘KickStart’ program, which began in Houston, Texas, teaching 150 at-risk children martial arts as part of the PE curriculum. Since that time, our program, which instills discipline and respect and raises self-esteem, has grown to serve more than 6,000 youngsters year round at 37 schools in Dallas and Houston, Texas. To date, KickStart has graduated more than 40,000 students with many going on to college and becoming successful in their own right.
“My hope is that, should there be substance to these charges, we will not distance ourselves from this young man, but embrace him and give him the help he needs to get on the right path.”
His statement just confirms what a great guy Chuck Norris is.
All I’ve got to say about those two kids, if they were serious, WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?!
Hi! I'm Steve Webel and this is my blog. Thanks for stopping by!
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