Beth's Photos

Houston Rodeo

2010-03-18T12:54:00.005-05:00

I'm still learning how to use the Flip. Apparently it doesn't do too well with motion, so I'll try to do better with that in the future.

This is what Nerdstar had for breakfast after we landed in Houston.

This is what we came out to after spending the day at the Rodeo...

MMM Rudy's

More Rudy's

This was our trip to the Chinese Grocery store so Nerdstar could bring stuff home.

Ramen Dog

2010-03-06T10:35:00.002-05:00

We're just trying out the new Flip video recorder on the pets. It's hard to get across what a jerk Ramen can be to Nerdstar. This is how miserable he looks while she's petting him - he always wishes it was me petting him instead.

The Aftermath

2010-02-07T15:20:00.002-05:00

Snowpocalypse 2010

2010-02-06T17:40:00.007-05:00

This is the last one I took around 5 p.m. - you can barely make out our neighbor's car parked in front of our yard. (No, he shouldn't be parked here, yes it will totally interfere with the snow plows. Yes, we asked him to move it - no, he won't.)

It's so hard to see just how much snow is out in the road. At least 2 feet everywhere - more where we've shoveled some out into the road from sidwalks and cars.

This was about 10:30 a.m. There's a whole lot more piled up now. I'll try to take another pic in the morning when I try to finish up around the cars. Just getting all the snow off the cars is almost impossible.

This is our same neighbors tree all fallen over into our yard and on the fence. We won't know until the snow melts some how much it messed up the fence or if the trees broken or not.

This was also in the 10 a.m. set. That poor huge tree is so beautiful. So far it's just really bent over and hasn't broken. I'm pulling for it!

Part 2

2009-12-20T14:37:00.010-05:00

It's a beautiful day. Thank God the sun is shining and helping melt the snow a little bit in the places we shoveled. It took us over 2 hours just to clear the ten feet of sidewalk to the cars and then get all the snow off of them and clear all around them. We're still waiting for them to come and clear our street.

The dog on the other side of the fence lives somewhere behind us. He always comes to see if Ramen is outside. It took a lot of effort for Ramen to get up the slope in the backyard because the snow is so deep.

Lots of Snow!

2009-12-19T10:09:00.008-05:00

The crazy part is it's only 10 a.m. and it's supposed to snow a lot more all day!

First Snow

2009-12-05T14:55:00.003-05:00

This is the first time it's snowed since we moved into the house. Love the snow on the trees!

The view from my desk:

Backyard One:

Backyard Two:

Useless Pets

2009-11-01T09:23:00.004-05:00

Lying in bed this morning I kept hearing a scratching noise. I had closed the cat's in/out window and figured it was one of them wanting it open. A while later I woke up enough to realize all three pets were in the bedroom with us - so it couldn't be one of them making the noise.

Great. I got up and went into the laundry/storage room and heard the scratching. Went back into the bedroom to wake up Nerdstar and then to explain to the pets just how useless they were!

I'm pretty sure Little Man brought this mole in and then got bored with it. Silly had no interested. And I don't think the dog even heard it. Ugh.

It was almost three inches long. We put it in a big bucket with a lid and then decided I'd take it down to a very big field about a mile from the house and set it free. We just couldn't kill it.

About two weeks ago Little Man did manage to kill a baby one and bring it in and leave it in his food bowl. So this probably isn't the last of them.

Boobies

2009-10-28T15:34:00.004-05:00

Our ornithologist friend thought of us when she saw this and brought it back from Ecuador.

View Boobies.

Silly on Desk

2009-10-22T18:48:00.004-05:00

I wish they were more clear - but this is my cat Silly aka Queen Silly Butt (because there's not a silly bone in her body!) This is just after the sun has come up and she's sitting on the corner of my desk while I websurf.

Fall

2009-10-15T11:35:00.005-05:00

Absolutely gorgeous! I love this big tree in the front yard. Yes, my yard is already full of leaves. No, I don't really plan to rake them up - maybe never, but certainly not before every single leaf falls off the tree!

This was the start of our first fire in our fireplace. I think the foil is going to work just fine to help catch the ashes and make it easier to clean up. It also helps create a nice glow with the reflected light.

And these - sigh - oh so yummy. These are oatmeal chocolate chip cookies from a recipe I've been using for over 25 years. They make my mouth happy!

Dinner and Dessert

2009-10-06T19:07:00.005-05:00

Just a simple roast chicken that Nerdstar made some good rice to go with. Can't go wrong. She'll use the broth for all kinds of stuff.

I've been wanting to eat some good pie lately, and as with most desserts, I find I like mine better than most. So, I found this recipe for lemon pie in my old Good Housekeeping recipe book. No, there's no meringue on it because I'm not a big fan of it, cool whip is just fine. It's cooling in the fridge, I'll let you know if it turned out ok. I tasted it before putting it in the fridge, it might need to be a little more lemony next time.

VA State Fair

2009-10-04T07:38:00.005-05:00

This is a 851 pound pumpkin.

This is the biggest rabbit either of us has ever seen!

A cute pile of baby ducks.

Ready!

2009-10-01T15:44:00.002-05:00

Barton Springs

2009-09-08T11:09:00.005-05:00

Yes, in addition to all the dogs there that afternoon - this dude had his snake with him!

The bottom of the creek area is all slimy and slippery. I'd had her hand over the camera and her wallet and such because I had a feeling she was gonna end up all wet. Close.

Empty Creek

2009-09-08T11:00:00.007-05:00

This is pretty much how the trail looks these days. It's for hiking and biking. It's about five minutes from downtown.

So sad... Nerdstar's standing in the bottom of what used to be a great little pooling area to splash around in. There used to be water all the way over the top of those rocks.

Breakfast at Magnolia

2009-09-08T10:57:00.003-05:00

Nerdstar's veggie omlette. You just can't see how many veggies are in there.

Mine, should have just had two breakfast tacos instead of one and one pancake.

Dog Sitting

2009-08-14T17:35:00.002-05:00

We're dog sitting this weekend. It's a first for us, although Ramen has stayed at this dog's (Daisy) house before.

Ramen's looking the camera. Daisy is looking away.

Another one of Daisy.

Little Man is under the desk doing his cat growl thing.

Jealous?

2009-08-07T15:25:00.002-05:00

Unbelievable

2009-06-26T16:52:00.000-05:00

Backyard Jungle

2009-06-15T15:55:00.003-05:00

Not sure how much you can really tell in these pics. We've got about a seven foot slope in our backyard - so I'm standing at the top at the back fence where I've had to do a lot of branch trimming. We've also got this one kind of crawling vine that has thorns and literally attaches itself to everything with these little things that wrap around fences and branches. I'm going to have to find out a good way to kill it.

I love all these trees though.

Ramen at the Beach

2009-06-15T15:53:00.001-05:00

He's saying "GET ME OUT OF HERE!"

How cute is that face??

Art

2009-06-15T15:45:00.011-05:00

This is some of the art we saw at Artomatic a couple of weekends ago.

There is no way for a picture to do these two justice. I really want this first one, but I'm pretty sure it's a few thousand dollars.

Love the use of rubber duckies!

This one is made out of Red Bull cans.

View From My Desk

2009-05-08T09:35:00.004-05:00

It doesn't look as good in pics as it does sittin ghere.

Kitchen

2009-05-06T14:37:00.006-05:00

I tried to do this as a video, but it didn't work out.

So this is our kitchen. It doesn't have a pantry, which is also weird to me. But that's ok. We might find we don't need those shelves eventually. In that glaring white space I'm going to put a small island. It's on order. That will give us another drawer, the kitchen only has one, weird thing three. It'll also give us a nice cutting board/work area and more storage space. The cabinets aren't all full, but Nerdstar has a lot of stuff that she'll be unpacking when she gets home.

New House

2009-03-13T10:28:00.016-05:00

Ta da...

This is the side of the house. (obviously)

It's a nice 12x12 or so deck. Just enough room for a grill and a couple of chairs. The yard really needs grass. I don't mind the slope too much.

This area is the rest of the room with the fireplace below. We'll put the sofa and tv down here. It's a nice open space.

This is a nice old fashioned wood burning fireplace. I've gotten spoiled with our gas fireplace in our apt. but I enjoy building fires!

This is the downstairs master bedroom. It's huge. The closet isnt' great, but that can be fixed in time. Lots of light and space!

This is a huge laundry/storage area. There's a good fifteen feet you can't see.

This is upstairs - probably intended for a formal dining area or something, it opens into the kitchen. We're going to put the desk in front of this window and more bookshelves on the left side.

Bathroom 1 - this one is downstairs by the masterbedroom.

Bathroom 2 this one is upstairs with the other 3 bedrooms.

Spare bedroom

Spare bedroom 2
There's a third bedroom as well. All 3 are on the top floor. One we'll use as a real spare bedroom. One will be for the workout stuff. The other probably storage for now.

You really can't tell how big these rooms are in these photos. We'll certainly post more once we get all moved in next month. We didn't get any of the best part - the kitchen because that's where all the stuff for the inspection was. The inspection went really well. The house is in great shape.

Wounded Ramen

2009-01-24T21:42:00.004-05:00

My poor puppy!

23!

2008-12-05T14:39:00.003-05:00

I'm not sure if the addiction is to lip balms or shopping... either way, 23 lip balms is probably 20 too many. None of those 23 are mine. I've got one little thing of good old Carmex.

Turkey

2008-12-05T14:36:00.004-05:00

It was very, very yummy. It also gave us four little jars of broth to be used in the future, and, it also gave Nerdstar lots of yummy, yummy soup.

Ramen Dog At Play

2008-10-25T10:37:00.003-05:00

Yes, the house is a mess, it'll be cleaned today.

The reason he keeps checking the floor is because the toy is filled with little strips of pepperoni that fall out!

3 Ring Circus

2008-10-17T22:22:00.006-05:00

I took all three pics within five minutes.

Poor Little Man, in spite of already having had dinner, this is his - where is my goddamn food face. It's about twenty minutes after taking this pic, and he's wandering around crying as if it's been months since he last ate. (He's not fat, he's big boned.) And if we don't feed him before going to bed, he will walk all over us all night, and wander around and cry, until we do.

Silly is chillin on the sofa with Nerdstar. Now that's it's getting cooler, we're the cats' heater. It's nice to be useful - and owned.

He's so handsome!! And he's getting grey! This might be the first time he really just stood there and let me take his picture.

Neil Gaiman

2008-09-27T15:47:00.004-05:00

These are just a couple I took on the digital camera. I also took the film camera, but I'm not sure when I'll get those developed.

Too Personal!

2008-09-15T17:01:00.001-05:00

I've been using the Wii Fit a little more than Nerdstar has. Today when going through the initial body check and such, it asked if I had noticed a difference in Nerdstar's balance, I said no, and this was the next message!!

It also keeps telling me I'm unbalanced, I sure hope it means my body and not my mind!

Monterey

2008-08-03T19:21:00.009-05:00

Sky, Sea, Land with Sun

Sky, Sea, Land without Sun

Kind of like where's Waldo - there are 9 seals/sea lions in this pic.

These are from our Kayaking Adventure

2008-07-15T12:33:00.007-05:00

Don't we look like we're having fun??

My hair was all smushed from wearing a sun hat...

This was actually right before we got into the water for the first time.

Funny Kid

2008-06-14T10:24:00.002-05:00

Thursday after we came back from seeing Kung Fu Panda - which was really good - my brother was outside and I was on the computer in another room and I heard all this crashing around in the living room. It was The Kid doing his finest kung fu moves. So I got the camera and told him to do some more.

The best part of this short video is the dog and his looking at The Kid and then the camera!!

Such a Dork!!

2008-05-22T11:41:00.003-05:00

This is The Kid telling me "jokes"...

Ramen

2008-05-08T14:42:00.003-05:00

Yes, he always looks this happy...

The most important thing to keep in mind with Ramen is that his theme song when walking or running is "I'm So Pretty..."

Silly and Little Man

2008-05-08T14:37:00.007-05:00

I didn't have the settings right on some of these, but oh well. This is Silly.

I wish I could capture Little Man's true blank stare, I've never seen anything like it. This comes close, but not quite.
..

Dog Park

2008-05-08T14:15:00.008-05:00

I love how this one shows the dogs in motion.

You can't get the full size of the white dog in the background - it's a great pyranese that's about 3 times as big as Ramen. It was so fun to watch that big of a dog running and playing.

Poor Ramen Dog

2008-01-17T20:48:00.001-05:00

So Miserable

2007-12-05T20:30:00.002-05:00

Please, Make her stop...

Why???

Huge Turkey

2007-11-22T19:34:00.001-05:00

Coolest

2007-09-13T18:34:00.001-05:00

Home

2007-09-05T21:49:00.001-05:00

We knew we didn't have time or meals enough to eat at all the places we wanted to in Austin, so we knew we'd be taking Rudy's back home to share with the folks - along with assorted other leftovers. It's hard to seee in the bottom left corner - but that's some of the best brisket ever.We also got some chicken and sausage.

This is breakfast back at my folks' house. Mom makes the best french toast - I can't even come close to making it as good. It doesn't look like much, but is sure tastes good.

Then dad grilled us burgers and hot dogs at Nerdstar's request. Plus the homemade potato salad and beans and such.

And to top it all off - homemade ice cream and brownies.

Hoover's

2007-09-05T21:44:00.001-05:00

If CoCo's can bring tears to Nerdstar's eyes - Hoovers can bring them to mine.

These are the best, spicy wings you've ever smelled or tasted. You can smell them from fifteen feet away.

Nerdstar just got the veggies - which I guess makes sense after the wings. Macaroni and cheese, collard greens and sweet potatoes.
And this... sigh... this is the best chicken fried steak with sausage gravy. This is why I didn't eat the wings - so I could save my tummy and taste buds for this!

Oh yeah, we also took some pecan pie to go - which I forgot to get a picture of... it was simply delicious!!

East Side Cafe

2007-09-05T21:40:00.001-05:00

East side is a great little restaurant. It's a converted old house and they have their own herb and vegitable garden. Talk about fresh. There was a table of about 8 UT professors next to us, very entertaining.

This is a pesto ravioli with baked squash and a ginger sauce.
I was still so full from lunch that I just got some jalepeno cornbread and their yummy french fries.

CoCo's

2007-09-05T21:32:00.001-05:00

As far as we can remember, we found this through an article in the Austin weekly rag. It was our very first stop this trip to Austin - even before checking into the hotel.

The appetizer is an onion pie - a taiwanese style dish Nerdstar ate while living in Taiwan. I give her a hard time that she can't cook these for us at home!
The drink was actually a to g0 thing - it's coconut milk with tapioca pearls. Just one of dozens of flavors.

This dish will make tears of joy come to Nerdstar's eyes - literally. Just looking at this picture is about to make her cry... It's spicy beef noodle soup - taiwanese style.

This is a simple fried chicken and rice dish - but whatever sauce they pour over it is amazing. This is what I always get.

Just a simple little cafe. But they have several locations around Austin.

Breakfast

2007-09-05T21:29:00.001-05:00

I can't tell you how much I miss breakfast tacos. And no, McD's attempt at them isn't even close.

It might not look like much - but it sure is tasty!

Nerdstar had the egg/chicken breafkast fajitas.

Whataburger

2007-09-05T21:22:00.001-05:00

Every time we fly into Dallas, the very first stop we make is at Whataburger. You might think you've had a better burger, but you'd be wrong.

Nerdstar had the chicken strips - with good ole county gravy.
Done.

Shoes

2007-08-25T13:15:00.001-05:00

Happy 4th!!!

2007-07-04T09:10:00.001-05:00

I hope you don't end up with fireworks coming out of your butt today!!

(This is from the Hello Kitty calendar I got for Nerdstar.)

2007-06-24T20:48:00.001-05:00

Baltimore

2007-06-24T20:43:00.000-05:00

We learned how just one turn down one street can land you somewhere really odd! We weren't that far from the harbor we were heading to, but this one little block had all these adult clubs. It was really interesting!

And of course, of course, we loved Gay St!!

Dented

2007-05-27T18:12:00.001-05:00

Six

2007-05-01T12:11:00.000-05:00

If you can't tell from his t-shirt and bday cake - this birthday was all about dinosaurs. He picked everything out himself!

We added two more movies to his Godzilla/Gamera dvd collection.

He's so much like Calvin, of Calvin and Hobbes it's not funny. Everything is about Godzilla, dinosaurs, and many, many car crashes and major disasters.

Silly Cat

2007-04-24T15:02:00.000-05:00

Life is good. But, she's about 9 years old and has started having trouble jumping up onto things. It's time for all the pets annual vaccinations and such, so we're going to try to get them to the vet in the next week or two.

Why??

2007-04-23T18:10:00.000-05:00

Ramen always wants to know why the cats get all the lap privileges and he doesn't.

Simple answer: I love the cats more :-)

Travels

2007-04-21T17:29:00.000-05:00

As you can see, this is a big map of the US. We got it several years ago, but haven't always had wall space to put it up. The big, blue lines we marked all over it are all the road trips we've taken. The route from Austin to Wichita to Denver to Boise to Seattle is where I drove to meet up with Nerdstar after she came home from Iraq, other than that we drove all of this together over the past 8 years.

Blogging View

2007-04-21T17:26:00.000-05:00

This is the new view from my desk as I sit and surf and blog.

Welcome!

2007-04-21T17:24:00.000-05:00

I have a hard time posting pics on my regular blog, and Blogger seems to make it pretty easy, so I thought I'd give this a try.