It's Cowboy Time

Last Saturday, Mel and I went to Houston and met up with Thushan (and Laura Reinheimer too). Since Thushan wanted to have a real Texas experience while he was here, we all went to the Houston Rodeo. If I've ever had a true Texas experience, that was it. Reliant Stadium (where the Houston Texans play) was all filled up with dirt for the rodeo. We saw bull riding, calf roping, bronco riding, barrel racing, and a bunch of other events. Luckily, we also met up with Jeff and Leah, some friends from church, and Jeff was kind enough to explain all the rules to us out-of-place kids from the north. When the rodeo was over, the Calf Scramble started. This is a hilarious event when 28 kids from the FFA and 4-H chase 14 calves around the ring, trying to catch them and drag them into a circle in the middle to win. It's a surprisingly funny sight to see kids chasing baby cows around, tackling them, and dragging them around by their tails.

At the livestock show we saw a bunch of cows, pigs, and chickens, but since it was the last day of the month-long event, most of the other animals were gone. We finished of the day with a tasty meal of greasy pizza and crawfish etouffee. It was good to see some old friends from college here in our new home state.

Texas Trucks

Here's something about Texas that I just don't understand. There are a bajillion trucks in Texas. Many of them are gigantic. Many of those gigantic trucks are driven by petite women. Strange, huh? We once saw an ad from a car dealer promoting the idea that it would be nice to buy your son/daughter a truck as a graduation gift. Trucks. Trucks. Trucks. The thing is, even though the trucks are so huge, the parking spots aren't any wider and corners in the parking lot aren't any less sharp. The result of the first is many a double-park. The result of the second can be seen in the picture. Brilliant.

Mel got a job!

Yep, after months of unemployment and mind-boggling boredom, I finally got a job! Yesterday I interviewed with the Larry J. Ringer Library in College Station and they called me half an hour after the interview to offer me a job as Library Clerk. I'll be working at the circulation desk, checking books in and out, collecting overdue fines, issuing library cards, reshelving books, and I get to drive a van back and forth between the College Station library and the main branch in Bryan. The pay's not spectacular but the benefits are good. And I've secretly desired to work in a library since I was about 12 so I guess you could call this a dream fulfilled :). Monday I start orientation. (Picture of the library below).

More pictures of Juno!



















She likes to be underfoot. Literally. Here she is underneath Jason's desk.

She also likes to chase squirrels, which amused both me and our neighbors yesterday. You can see the squirrel taunting Juno at the top of the picture.
















































She stayed like this, motionless, for a good five minutes, just staring at the squirrel.

And then this morning she went rather crazy with her toy rope (that by now more closely resembles a dirty, stringy mop head) and I managed to catch it on video: