Destination Leakey, Texas, 311 miles approximately 6.5 hours

Kemper's Birthday Ride, the Three Sisters.

After much back and forth about what we'd do this weekend we came up with riding to Leakey Texas and ride the infamous Three Sisters which consist of RR335, RR336 and RR337.

We reserved a Cabin at D'Rose Inn, a place only for bikers or bicyclist. You must be riding or hauling to stay here. Well, as luck would have it as soon as we hung up the phone with Deb we turned on the news to find a possible hurricane (Don) in the gulf to hit southern Texas Friday morning…of course it is! The cone of uncertainty and mostly guesswork leads directly in the pattern we were expecting ride. We worried for a bit, but we needed to get away so bad, we had to risk it.

Kemper and I have been pretty stressed for the last few months, with the bike rebuild and paint, buying a new house, kids moving in and kids moving out, my mother having back surgery in Arizona and heavily medicated, to the cat not adjusting to the new house well and having major intestinal issues…all over the new house…to my oldest (Trey) and his job issues and last but not least the night before we leave, we get a call from him that he's wrecked his truck…man, lets run away and tell no one where we went. So the Hurricane threat is still there, just now, moving a little more south, but nothing will keep us down.
We gotta Ride
7 am on Friday morning we strike out. The sun is out and the air is crisp, we are happy and excited to be on our way.
By 9:30 am we arrive in La Grange…making really go time so far.

By 1:30 we stop one more time to fuel up and get some water before entering the first leg of the Sisters RR337 going into Leakey. While we were sitting there just resting a minute, 5 bikes pull in for fuel. Now this is a very small station, 6 motorcycles was almost too much for this country station with only 2 pumps. As the first guy finishes with the pump he moves his bike next to us to clear the way for the rest. Of course he and Kemper start to talk, and introduce themselves. Over the next few minute will change the course of this trip and our lives forever. Kemper and Vernon exchange phone numbers and Vernon explains that he and his group have a house down on the river if we'd like to come over later that evening and hang out with them. We were gracious of course, but thought…yeah, probably not…Vernon also offered to lead the way down the first stretch going into Leakey…asking Kemper…you leading or following? Kemper says I'll follow, and off we went. The roads were winding and scenic. Our trail boss and his buddies we steady as she goes…much too slow for Kemper's liking…at one point around a 10mph curve, Kemper turns to me and says they are gonna walk their bikes around this one…once it registered with me what he said..it was really funny. As we came to the intersection of 337 and 83, Mike held back and asked us to follow them on to the Bike Stop for a beer, we followed. We sat and visited with them, enjoyed a beer and some lunch. As they got ready to leave, Vernon asked us again, to come out to his place, bring something to throw on the grill and sit in the Frio River to cool off. We said thank you and that we might.

We checked into our cabin it was really neat and quaint. Window unit AC, coffee maker, mini-fridge and no TV, all that we need. We unpack our luggage and go to the Mercantile for some beer, as we are leaving the Mercantile Mike and Dano pull up in the Jeep, again they say come on out we're getting stuff to cook and some "hooch"…we're gonna sit in the Frio and cool off. We say...we'll see….as the evening goes on Kemper and I talk about how nice they seemed and how much we enjoyed visiting with them at the Bike Stop, so we decided to go check out their place…they invited us…we're not intruding, right?…We shower off and freshen up a bit, ran back to the mercantile for some chicken to put on the grill and a cake from the local bake sale table and off we went.

When we got out there no one was home…the house was dark, but in the distance we could hear a good time going on…so we walked toward the river in the direction of the laughter until we found them, as they saw us walking down the pathway they seemed genuinely happy to see us, asking how we knew where they were…haha, really?
That night was a great time hanging with them, good food, good company. We thanked them for their hospitality and fine cooking; again they invited us to join them on their ride Saturday morning. We agreed we'd talk after breakfast and decide then.
Saturday Morning Rain

When we woke up on Saturday morning it was misting a very gentle mist, hardly visible in the air but you could feel it on your skin…the bike and ground were pretty wet and the roads definitely too wet to ride. Kemper moves the bike to the pavilion and dries her down and we wait. We sat under the pavilion wiping the bugs off the bike, drinking our coffee and playing with the little cabin cat that seemed to adopt us pretty quickly. In fact, from then on he stayed on the picnic table in front of our cabin, even through the night he slept there, greeting us the next morning as if saying "I've been waiting for you".
When it seemed the rain wasn't going to let up anytime soon we decided we'd get dressed and walk to the café for some breakfast. I was dressed and ready before Kemper so I went back outside to sit with my furry friend. As I sat there petting and talking to the kitty finishing my coffee, to my left, walking up is a very large bearded man, (no, not Santa) a large SCARY bearded man walked up…wearing only a Speedo and tennis shoes. He has long hair pulled into a pony tail down his back and a long beard pulled into two long pony tails underneath his chin. His body was decorated with lots of tattoos and scars, one tattoo under his belly button, sitting just above a scar that I'd later find out was from having is colon removed, said "SIZE matters". All the while this was going on I'm thinking to myself Kemper has to come out here, if this guy walks away, he will never believe what I've seen. To my relief, Kemper does finally come out and take over the tantalizing conversation that I had been having with my new friend Dave.
Kemper shares information with Dave that we are going to walk over to the Café for a bite to eat in hopes the weather will clear enough to ride soon.
We went to Leakey Feed Lot for breakfast; we ordered omelets and diet coke…just before our food arrives…you guessed it, in walks Dave and joins us for breakfast, a least he has on long pants and a shirt, thank you for the shirt Dave. He and Kemper engage in more deep conversations about himself and his past… while all I can think about is the fact that the two pony tails under his chin dance around when he talks, in a creepy kinda way. But really, Dave seemed to be a nice guy and according to him, very respected in his home town in Montana.
Let's Ride
Vernon calls and tells Kemper they are ready to ride, still concerned by the wet roads, Kemper believes that we'll take it easy following them and it'll be fine. We meet up them and take off for the 110 miles of the" Three Twisted Sisters".

Turns out that Vernon was the best trail boss and tour guide anyone could ask for, knowing the road, he knew when to slow down for us to see and appreciate all the beauty the area offers…we saw many varieties of deer in the wild as well as exotics on gated Ranches, cows and not to mention Wallabies (Kangaroos) and Giraffes.

At the end of the trail is a Bar and Grill called the Bent Rim Grill and a gift shop for you to purchase your "I did the Three Sisters" shirt, and we did. I also bought a bandana with a map of the ride printed on it and asked all my new friends to sign it for my souvenir for the great day.

I forgot to mention…as we all pull in to the Bike Stop…guess who greats us…??? DAVE…again no shirt, but at least he has on long pants, we share our experience of the ride and he takes off to see for himself.
Frio River, Steak and Keystone Light Beer
Just like last night, Kemper and I went to sit in the Frio River and eat steak that Vernon grilled for us, we sat and listened to music, stories and laughed. It's getting dark and the roads aren't safe at night due to the wildlife lurking on the road sides, so Kemper and I need to get going. Since everyone was going home tomorrow, we hugged and talked about hooking up again some time. We were sad to leave our new friends; they were truly nice people, GOOD people. We always meet interesting, nice people out on the road, but this time was different, these are exceptional people, these are people you'd like to be like and you wish more people were like…these were the "Keystone Light Riders" out of the Waco Texas area; they will always have a place in our hearts.

In the order of our trail ride:

Vernon - Waco TX - "Trail Boss" retired from commercial construction,
but dragged back in…
runs an Outreach organization, providing horseback trail ride
opportunities for children.
Quiet/Serious guy, but sometime, only sometimes,
you can see a hint that he's laughing inside.



Randy - Waco TX - "Retired" from CAT. Lives next door to Vernon,
and watches his horses.
Silly man, LOUD bike and nasty stories about
porn text he gets from his buddies.

 

Scott Beaty - Hewitt TX - "Ex Marine", crazy out going,

loves his family and apparently farts a lot.

 

Linda Beaty - Hewitt TX - "Breast Cancer Survivor",
I feel like that is only the tip
of the iceberg of what makes her amazing.



Mike - Waco TX - Cool in his skin - Drives sick children to the
Shiners' Hospital in Houston.

Dano - Compton Crawford TX - Likes Pie - nah, he's more than that,
he is the life of the party,
tells funny stories, drinks Keystone Light
and rides a trike.

Then Kemper and I bring up the rear,

we are better people for knowing them.

Just one more Beer
As we get back into town we stop at the Hog Pen for one more beer before going in for the night, we take a seat at an outside table with four others that welcome us like long time friend. Two are the running the place, and a younger couple who had just ridden in from Clear Lake on a "Super Scooter" (?) they tell us about their trip leaving late Friday evening and sleeping on a picnic table in a public rest area along the way. We bikers are crazy, between the heat, rain and sometime desperate sleeping conditions; we'll do anything to get our ride on.

Gotta Head Home
Sunday morning we slept in til about 8. Today we gotta head home, the day is already getting pretty warm…as I step out of the cabin to drink my coffee and check on my furry friend that waited for me on the picnic table all night. I hear a large voice from the nearby cabin yelling, "Get up", I yell back "Good morning Dave". He walks over for a chat, again I appreciated the long pants…but, still no shirt.

After fueling up and having breakfast one more time at the Feed Lot. We strike out making really good time getting to New Braunsfels, going on into Gruene to have some ice cream for lunch, walking around cooling down and resting a bit before the second half of our journey home. While in Gruene, walking along the sidewalk, there's a guy on the phone, as we pass he says "Kemper?" but he's on the phone, we keep walking and then say did he just say Kemper? Do we know him? Kemper walks back and they start chatting it and laughing, I walk back to see who this is that might know him in Gruene. Turns out this is our next door neighbor's (Todd) brother whom we have never met…apparently Todd had told him about the bike and he recognized it. He was on the phone asking Todd what our names were…and Todd says "You mean Yin and Yang?"

Margarita Time for Sure
We made it back to 290 and 1488, stopped and rested a minute, visited with a couple of Banditos on their way to Sturgis. We made it back to our street at about 7pm stopped at El Chapparo for food and Margarita's, Mom and Boo met us there and sat as we talked non-stop about what fun we had on our trip to Leakey Tx.

Where to begin…it's been a long time since I've been on here, so I've got lots to tell to bring you up to speed.

The Bike Rebuild

In November of 2010, Kemper wants a new bike…after much talking and looking, talking and showing me bikes to me online, and talking about new motorcycle, kinds of motorcycles, colors, why this one is better than that one, talking, reading to me about them, showing me, looking at and TALKING about, every bike in the greater Houston Metro. He decides to tear his down and rebuild it…ME: "Will you do that in Garage?" HIM: "No I'll do it at the shop during the slow months, I'll have space, time and tools to get it done by spring, it’ll be fun." ME: "Whatever you want to do, It does sound fun"

Who knew how long it would take him and how many sets of bags, fairings, windshields, gauges, etc. he'd wanna show me and talk to me about that he has found, on line, in magazine, beside the road…driving down the road, on TV…OMG…….ME: Just buy something." And so he did…deliveries everyday for several days, big boxes…little boxes…brown boxes, white boxes…explaining to me every piece he bought and why… By now the warehouse has filled up with units for Home Depot, calls and orders were flying. Bike rebuild was on hold…yet the bike is like a million colors and in no way ready to ride….BUT, he has to get it out of the shop, so, he recruits me to help him hurry to finish it enough to get it to our garage at home. I'm just saying…but I am not a fan of holding the big monster while he puts it on the lift and raises it off the ground. After 2 days, and several meals eaten in his warehouse he has it back together enough to drive it home. We load my car with the many, many boxes of parts and pieces of several bikes and lots and lots of tools. He rides the bike of many colors and iffy gauges to the house and put it in the garage, as I follow, holding my breather the thing stays together long enough to get it home.

Once in the now full garage and a bit of tweaking here and there it time to talk about paint…and TALK we did…about color, about design, about theme….OH DEAR LORD STOP THE BLEEDING…I did however, through all of this find out that I am quite the motorcycle paint/design artist provided a box of map colors and a jumbo bottle of wine. The laughing continues…Thank God Kemper found Ken Hill of Magnolia to take over the efforts of designing the look and painting the bike. Ken came out one afternoon in February, looked at the bike, we gave him some ideas of what we wanted…Kemper wouldn't let him see my handy work to give the guy some real idea what we were talking about and the quality we expect. The deal was done, we weren't real sure he knew what we wanted but he's the artist; he's really quiet not a lot of conversation…hope he doesn't drink wine. So we tear the bike down …AGAIN…and get everything ready to deliver to Ken on February 27.

The New House
Oh…I haven't mentioned that during all of this we decide to buy a house…DR Horton came through the neighborhood bought all the empty lots and started building…so on April 19th we moved about 8 doors down from the property we were leasing. As soon as we closed, we went and bought our extra furniture and a fridge, by 2 pm we've picked up the key to our new home. We first go to the old house load both cars with everything we can and take it to the NEW house, woohoo. Even though we had movers coming the next day we were excited and wanted to continue to move as much as we could. By about 11pm we were getting pretty tired but couldn't leave it alone…so we made one more trip back to the old house, on this trip we brought down, our mattresses, all the bedding, the dog, her kennel, fresh clothes, bath towels, washcloths, bath soap, toiletries and the coffee maker. Most of you know that Kemper and I are marathon movers…we can't deal with clutter and everything has its place.


The ACTUAL move
Please keep in mind we have the skeletal remains of the bike in the old garage…Kemper wouldn't let the movers handle it. As my mother and I are unpacking and putting things away in the new house the movers and Kemper are loading up at the old house, after a few hours I hadn't even seen Kemper which is unusual…in just a bit he comes through the door, sweaty, out of breath and looking as if he may die. ME: "What have you been doing?" HIM: "Can you come help me push the bike up the driveway? ME: "OMG!!!! I told not to push that thing down here by yourself!" Well he did…and now the ugly beast and the hundreds of boxes of motorcycle CRAP are strewn about the NEW three car garage.

Nearly May
Still no completed paint parts are ready…let's see…it's nearly May, best riding weather of the year. We are so ready to ride at one point Kemper runs into the house and said he figured out a solution...huh? ME: What, How? HIM: Come see!! I walk into the garage to find that he has strapped a lawn chair and a gas can on the bike...ME: Okay, where do I sit?  HIM: I'll work on it.

My patience have run out...ME: Call Him! HIM: I'll send him a text… ME: did he answer you? HIM: Yeah he said he have the faring by Friday. ME: Cool, I'm excited.

FRIDAY…ME: hey did you talk to your boy? HIM: no, I'll send him a text. ME: did he answer you back? HIM: Said it's gonna be Tuesday, he needs more clear coat. ME: Oh.  

TUESDAY…ME: Call him. HIM: I'll send him a text…Anyway you get it…several Fridays and Tuesdays more went on with the same conversations…until one Thursday Ken Hill arrives in our driveway with the faring…still tacky to the touch but crazy cool! After about 3 more weeks the parts started coming in piece by piece the bike was coming together. Our maiden voyage was May 27th, 90 days to the day on the paint.

Okay, so there ya go, you're up to date so far…

First Anniversary - Road Trip

Destination Corpus Christi 251 miles approximately 4.5 hours

Started our trip at 7 am on August 14, 2010...first stop...Newman's Bakery in Bellville Texas for a bite to eat. Newman's is always a great place for breakfast, they have anything you could ask for and lots of it, the company there is always friendly and ready to visit with total strangers...a great way to start the day for a long hard ride.

Once done with our breakfast we head out, the day is really starting to warm up. We only have 5 hours and about 180 miles more to go.

I'd love to tell about all the really cool things we see on a ride like this, but there is no way to explain the sights and smells and the way the air feels hitting your skin. The farm animals, feeding their babies...and in some cases making babies...the junk left along the roadways that's been yanked from the back of a pickup truck by the wind or simply discarded. Dodging the suicide birds and bugs. The children and old people that wave or give you the thumbs up as you pass them by, I sometime wonder what that means, do the children just watch us in amazement like we are something of a freak show? Do the old people remember when or wish they'd been more carefree in their life? It's truly refreshing for the mind and body.

Reading a road map going 70 miles an hour is pretty impossible, however, I do my best based on the instructions from the night before, Kemper gives me a list of rode numbers will take and could take to get there...a lot of them...I'm never really sure which plan his is going on from one turn to the next and I do get caught up in just riding, thinking and resting...so needless to say maybe next trip I'll write them down and keep the list handy...I missed a few numbers...so after a detour through Rosenberg, which is an interesting little town, we hit 59 for a few (okay a hundred) miles...the clouds are our friend today making for a warm but for the most part pleasant ride. Along this stretch we come up behind two cars in tow, the vehicle hauling the appeared to be tow worthy as well, the car in tow was packed to the top with junk, or treasure...not sure, anyway they were headed to the border with the prizes.

We stop plenty for fuel and just to stretch our legs and drink water, Bucees' of course, they have clean rest rooms. I think I freaked out an old lady there, pretty sure she wasn't exactly comfortable sharing a mirror to apply lipstick with a biker chick...heehee...lighten up or I'll shank you with my nail file.

There is a really long stretches of nothing but near desert along Hwy 77, miles and miles of it, we stop at a little junky station to apply more sunblock and drink some water, this was kinda the only place around, a couple there just married meeting up with some of the wedding party to hand off wedding gifts and other items, appearing to be on their way to the Honeymoon destination...plenty of Mexican workers there getting soft drinks and taking a smoke break, they obviously were not allowed to smoke in the boss's monster truck.

After a rest we are back on the road...a few miles down the road Kemper is kinda acting strange...slowly passing and looking at a gas station on the other side of the freeway...I'm not sure what he's doing or thinking, but I trust him so off we continue...this road is long bare and nothing...its dirty, hot and LONG...it's obvious we are near the border, the few cars that pass us are junky and smoky. Up ahead we see once again the cars in tow...we both laugh as we pass them again.

Now Kemper is acting weird again, looking down at his gauges and back at the road in front of him, I'm concerned, are we have bike issues? I look over his should to discover we are out of gas, I mean out of gas, in the red...I guess he missed the sign that says next gas 200 miles...I don't say a word to him, I can tell he is growing concerned as well, all I can really think of is that he is gonna make me stay with this stupid bike while he walks looking for gas or hitches a ride with some creepy guy and leaves me beside this desert road. I watch scary movies...this is how it starts!!

As I am sure this is my certain destiny, there is a sign for food and gas...left exit...we take, whew, we're gonna make...or are we? More long nothing road, now only 2 lanes...we go on for what seems like miles...over the hill is civilization, well of some unknown time. A Stripes convenience store, thank God!!!

We pull in to the first fuel pump, I jump off to get water and cool off a minute. While I was inside Kemper met a friend...of course, Kemper met a friend...I can't leave him alone for a minute. Well, after being formally introduced to the new friend that is looking for a ride to the next little town, because the girl he'd just met last night had to leave him at her house because her brother had a stroke and she had to go see about him, then as he walked to the the Stripes store he was chased and attacked buy a dog ripping his backpack, fell down and tore his jeans his cell phone didn't get a signal so he couldn't contact his buddies to tell them where he was and to come get him. Man, the way I see it if this guy didn't have BAD luck, he'd have NO luck at all.

Not much farther to Corpus we blast off again, we are still having a great time, enjoying the ride and each other's company...however, I must say had Kemper left me standing beside the road with that stupid bike while he went for gas, we might have to reevaluate our relationship, heehee.

Riding through the next little town I see an amazing sight, I tap Kemper on the shoulder and tell him to look...Kemper rarly gets to see much of the beautiful things on these rides, he's pretty concentrated on the road and the traffic around us, I appreciate that, but sometimes I just can't let him miss it. Anyway, he looks around and says "yeah"...I say, "we have to stop, I wanna take a picture!!" He says, "Of what?" I say "look!!!", he says..."Oh!! Wow!!!" fields and fields of the Wind power wind mills...they a beautiful, enormous all turning in harmony with the wind, really something to see.

Once into Corpus, we parked the bike and walked to the Surf Club, good food, interesting place and interesting people here we met and hung out with…Michael and Karen Chrane, she was an artist and he a retired Professor.

After an unknown number of Vodka tonics…we luckily found our way back to the hotel…the next day we rode the area and walked the piers watching the shrimpers, bring and sell their pay. I mostly enjoyed watching the pelicans gobble up what the fishermen would toss aside as they went through the shrimp culling the bad ones.

The ride home…HOT….REALLY hot…we traveled back around Port Aransas and rode the ferry, while we were waiting in line to get on I snapped this pic, you think these guys were just ready to go home? National Lampoon vacation maybe...?

Oh, and a side note: if you ever want to ride the ferry in Port Aransas and you are on the bike...Don't follow the cars, bikes have their own line, and you get on first...wish we'd have known.

Lots more stops coming home than going, lots more sunblock for sure.

One interesting thing was our dinner dining experience. We stopped in Wharton to eat and rest fur a spell…not a lot a choices in Wharton but the one place long side this lonesome trail was Jr's Texas Best Smoke House, seemed like that would work just fine for two tired trail riders on a Ironhorse. We walk in and are greeted by a young girl with a thick South Texas accent and a gingham apron…we are OBVIOUSLY out of place…thinkin they didn't much like our kind in these parts, with all eyes on us we sit down order our ice tea, as the little filly brings our tea she starts in about the days specials, as she concludes her spiel, she invites us to help ourselves at the "Salad Wagon" Kemper and I couldn't contain ourselves any longer and laughed out loud…then quickly bellied up to that wagon…Oh I have to say…it really was a wagon…full size wagon filled with all the salad fixens you could want.

All in all, it was a great trip...always fun when Kemper and I are together...one thing for sure never a dull moment!

Saying Goodbye to 2009…

Of all the years past I must say 2009 has been the best to me, so it is with a heavy heart I say goodbye.
Most of my readers know all the things that have happened to me and around me, because you’ve been a part of it in one way or another…but I’m going to try to give a summary anyway.
January 2009…Wow 2009, who would have thought we’d be here to say 2009. The first black president of the United States, well sure why not? Oh recession, unemployment, health care, Social Security…never really been a follower of politics, but getting savvier in my old age.
Road trip to San Antonio with Monica and Dusty to deliver Steven to the Airforce Base so he can start his boot camp training…scary…we camped out at Jan and Marcus’ house and visited Gruene for drinks. There we all talked and laughed about the future, Monica and Dusty have their 10th wedding anniversary coming up in August so we joke about taking an adult only trip to Vegas to celebrate the occasion; all the while joking that Kemper and I should get married while we are there. It turned really cold on our way back, I borrowed a sweater from Jan...thanks again Jan, it was a life saver. As soon as we get back I start the research on flights, hotels and things to see and do in Vegas.
In February, the recession is really starting to show, businesses closing, jobs dwindling. My job announced pay cuts and more work in an effort to keep the company afloat.
In March, we take off for another road trip back to Gruene with Brent, Brenda and the extended Novosad clan. We had a blast. "Did we just step over a dog?" Too much beer...well it start with Rita's too early in the day.

April…by now the whole Vegas thing is booked and Kemper and I have made wedding plans. We’ve decided this would be a surprise for our friends while we are there and we’d share almost the same anniversary with Monica and Dusty…it will be cool. This month Frontgate http://www.frontgate.com/jump.jsp?item=27780&maincatcode=1&subcatcode=null&itemID=21071&itemType=PRODUCT&path=1%2C2%2C145%2C760&iProductID=21071 has oredered the first round of Sentrys' from Kemper...the units came from China but the chemical had to come from Kemper and his staff...3200 gallons we had to hand pour, hand label, hand box and put it all on pallets for the truck to come get...it took a village but we get it done...

Oh, I have to tell you…remember I’ve told some of you about the shenanigans between Kemper, me and mom? You know when one of us goes out of town the other checks on the animals…Well, Mom went with Joann and Bill on their ANNUAL wildflower tour in the hill county…so while they were gone Kemper and I hide 100 Easter eggs in mom’s house…we hid them in the ice maker…showers…everywhere you could possibly think of…and the kicker was 60 of the eggs had puzzle pieces, we knew that would drive mom crazy until she finds them all…well to date she is still missing 4 pieces to the puzzle…heehee.
May…really gotta go see Trey so we plan a summer vacation to DC with Austin and Danielle to visit him, we are all very excited.
June…DC bound. We visited Signature Theater, made dinner at Trey and Kate’s apartment, as well as toured all the cool stuff in DC. We all had fun and it was so good to see Trey doing so well, so far from home and on his own. July…Booked the beach House for the Lonestar Rally, by now I am just the group travel agent. We get to have Danni and AJ for the whole month…well when they aren’t at camp. Their mom will have them for the holidays this year so we are planning to spend Thanksgiving in the hill country and Christmas in Mexico, well plan it after Vegas.
August…okay here’s where the whirl wind starts…in August we got a dog, got married in Vegas, bought a new car. To date the only regret is the dog, we love her some of the time and the kids think she’s awesome. The car is totally cool and now beefed up with loud pipes, thanks to Austin with Kemper's help (yeah Peter Pan syndrome a little)
My husband…the BEST thing I have ever done for myself…yep totally selfish…I married him for me and only me. I am so proud of him…he’s the best man I’ve ever known in every way and he loves me…all of me…I am so lucky, and THANKFUL for Kemper. I’m in love…love is something I never knew, I never knew…
September…Still just wondering where our year went Kemper’s new product, the Mosquito Sentry is doing wonderful…sales are great and the spring is looking even better. We are going to have the kids for Thanksgiving?? What??? Trey wants to come home for Thanksgiving??…Kemper’s mom wants to come here for thanksgiving??? Gran is coming???? Oh dear…well I guess we’ll do Thanksgiving.
October…another year older…wow really...29 came so fast? Kemper’s truck gets a makeover including new paint…flat black (yeah…Peter Pan)…very cool. I get hired by CB&I and get to quit my job…it was awesome, like something on TV. There in the morning, get the call at lunch time and go back to announce oh…I quit...while “Take this Job and Shove It” is playing (well, only in my head…but that would have been the only thing making it sweeter). Now it’s rally time…the Lonestar Rally four days of rest, riding and freaks, oh and the people watching isn’t bad either…ahhhh, it’s a good life. Come home to find Candy Body Parts hidden all over my house (still finding them as a matter of fact) and a scary thing in my BED!!!
November… Danni gets a driving lesson...yeah...driving...in the new BEAST.

Gran arrived on November 21 and Barbara didn’t make it after all, Trey came home for the first time in over a year on November 22, everyone was coming over to see him…I cooked everything he likes to eat all in one day, fried squash, meatloaf, mashed potatoes and Uncle Bill became the newest fan of my fried chicken. On Wednesday, we smoked the turkey…an all day event, even Kevin came over to sit and watch the turkey smoke, and Brent and Brenda come over for a visit and we even got to see Chad and Haley as they made their way home from Missouri…exciting stuff. Thanksgiving was great, yummy food and fun family. While giving the family his presentation that he will give at Sam Houston State...Trey announced that Sweeney Todd will open in February http://www.ticketmaster.com/promo/r2u270. You probably don’t know but Sweeney Todd is how this all got started, that was Trey’s favorite play in High School and when he went to college for Theatrical Carpentry he told me his dream was to one day build the barber’s chair for Sweeney Todd…well thanks to the recession and budget cuts, they are not building a new chair they are just using a borrowed one, but none the less Trey is working on the set, and called to tell me just the other day that he was the test dummy for the shoot. Trey left on Friday, the time really flew and I miss him like crazy…probably more than I ever have. It is nice to see that even in spite of the world’s worst mother he is a great man and the world is a better place because of him.
December…Santa?, presents?, shopping?, spending?, cooking?, eating?, parties?, plays?, concerts? Ahhgggggg!!! Well ready or not here it is…

So it started off with Lemon Fest, then Danni’s Winter Concert, then Mom and Bill's Christmas Play, then Mom’s Chorale Concert and finally Austin’s Winter program, I must say I am so proud of ALL my Stars!!!…then Steven is home for a two week leave for Christmas so we went there is see him…one thing seeing all these kids now grown up and successful… they sure make us look like a bunch of chumps…I think I speak for Brenda, Monica, I think they will agree…all three of our boys have been a group effort…we’ve all leaned on each other over the years, even talked each other off the window ledge a time or two…but we did it, they are still alive and so are we, we can be proud that we aren’t visiting them in the county jail as we all thought was their certain destiny…heehee. They are nice men; doing honest work…we can be proud of them and us. From me…thank you Monica, Brenda and Mom…I couldn’t have done it without you!! Not that I’m relieving you of your duties…pretty sure we’re not done yet…so don’t go far!
Mom, Joann and Bill went to visit relatives in Midland so Kemper and I bought those tacky blow up Christmas things to put in their yards…while looking for extension cords in mom’s garage we found all the things we’ve hidden in her house in the past…sooooo…we hid it all again throughout her house…Easter Eggs and Farm animals many, many farm animals…Now her yard is decorated with her a gaudy blow up Santa waving to the passing traffic, her beautifully decorated Christmas tree is now adorned with Easter Eggs and Farm animals…a Giant pig has joined her carefully hand painted collection of Santas, and her car sports a rather large velvet red bow. She’s never been so in the Christmas spirit.

On Wednesday December 23, we had the 2nd annual Yankee Chili
feast and White Elephant gift exchange at Bill and Joann's house...the chili is yummy...even if it's Yankee chili and the gift exchange is always so fun. This year one of the gift's in the exchange was a Monkey and rolled around on the floor and laughed...it is really funny...so anyway Bill got the monkey and was so affraid someone would take him away, that Bill licked him all over...really licked him...licked him until he was grossly wet...well the Monkey was safely and securely Bill's monkey for life now...funny stuff...really funny.

Kemper and I are better than ever...with the new Charger and his Beast all freshly painted...he bought us personalized license plates...Yin and Yang...This Simbol(Yin-Yang) represents the ancient Chinese understanding of how things work. The outer circle represents "everything", while the black and white shapes within the circle represent the interaction of two energies, called "yin" (black) and "yang" (white), which cause everything to happen. They are not completely black or white, just as things in life are not completely black or white, and they cannot exist without each other.

Good Bye 2009…sniff…Kemper and I were sitting on the couch the other night sipping a glass of wine and just kinda breathing for a minute…I looked at him and said…this has been the best year of my life, all my dreams have come true, I want for nothing, I have more than I have ever deserved, my life is complete. So 2009, by far, has been the best year of my life…………………………….…SO FAR…
Welcome 2010