Tuesday, October 28, 2008

 

Happy Halloween

We hope you have a Happy Halloween (but, not a scary one). It's been a long time since I carved a pumpkin. But, the jack-o-lantern turned out quite nicely and looked good sitting on the front porch.


 

Banner No. 17 Raised - Game 1

The Boston Celtics raised Banner No. 17 to the rafters of the TDBanknorth Garden and then proceeded to put win No. 1 in the books as they defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers, 90 - 85. Paul Pierce led Boston with 27 points and Leon Powe added 13 off the bench. LeBron James led Cleveland with 22 points.

 

Let the Season Begin


The Boston Celtics begin their quest this evening to repeat as NBA Champions. After the banner raising and the ring presentation, the C's will battle the Cleveland Cavaliers. Boston is led by their "Big 3" (Pierce, Garnett, and Allen) once again. They are basically the same team this year as last - the lone significant departure was James Posey, who opted to play in New Orleans. Preseason predictions seem to point at a Boston - Los Angeles rematch for the Championship next June. An excellent overview of this year's team can be found here.

 

Texas Renaissance Festival

We attended the Renaissance Festival last weekend; it was the first time I had made the trek to the Festival, located near Magnolia, Texas. There was quite a cast of characters in attendance, including a centaur, Mr. Fox, Merlin, and the Executioner.

There were the usual jousting events (won, of course, by the crowd favorite).
The Joust

There were additional characters in attendance - just not in costume.
Amanda and her Mom
We had a great time; the weather was fantastic, and there was a lot of food of which to be partaken. Check out the above link for an interesting video of the Renaissance festivities.


Sunday, October 26, 2008

 

Strouds - Belize Trip




Rob, Kristin, Will and Jack recently made a trip to Belize to deliver fifty boxes of library books to a small school (Sunday Wood School) in the southern part of the country. These books resulted from a book drive sponsored by Will and Jack's school (St. Andrews Episcopal) in Amarillo.




Kristin reported that they flew to the remote area and drove for hours on a dirt road. The road was so bad that four lug nuts came off the truck's wheels. The townspeole were very excited to have the books (they just recently got electricity through solar panels donated by a political party who was up for re-election).





The one-room school house educated all ages of children.
















A typical Belizean hut. Jack started writing a pen pal, Darrell, who lives in Valley of Peace, Belize, with his seven brothers and sisters in a one-room, Maya-style thatched hut. When they met Darrell, Jack was amazed that so many people lived in such a small house and that they shared their space with roosters, turkeys, and chickens. Jack thought it was cool that they all slept in hammocks.








Jack and the starfish




Friday, October 24, 2008

 

Jeff's Pictures


Jeff took quite a large number of excellent pictures of the Houston Police Memorial and Outside Agencies after Hurricane Ike. They can be viewed here on Jeff's website. I scrutinized each picture and could not find Jeff in any of them. I thought he might have "pushed" the shutter and then run around to be in the picture. Perhaps he will let me know which picture he might be in. We certainly appreciated the assistance from other police departments around Texas during this time. Check out some of the other pictures on Jeff's website; he has some pretty remarkable photographs there.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

 

National Debt!

It was recently mentioned that our "national debt clock" had to be modified in order to register the $10,000,000,000,000 mark. Would that lead one to believe that the "developer/designer" of the clock never thought that the debt would ever reach that amount? Perhaps...

I began to wonder how we (or future generations) could ever possibly repay that debt...what would we use as "currency"...oil or other natural resources, manufactured goods, technology - no, and certainly not dollars. What about food? Probably not...we are going to need all that we can produce. And, I'm not sure that we don't already import more food than we produce. Certainly, I do not have an answer to this important question - I would love to hear how our governmental leaders would answer it! To see what your share of the national debt is, go here. Check back an hour, or so, later to see how much more your share has increased.

Sunday, October 12, 2008

 

Texas No. 1 - Hook 'em Horns!



In what may have been the most exciting collegiate football game, so far, this season the UT Longhorns outlasted top-ranked Oklahoma, 45 - 35. The Horns vaulted from No. 5 in the polls all the way to No. 1. They will have to play excellent ball to remain there as their next three opponents are Missouri, Oklahoma State, and Texas Tech (in Lubbock).

Thursday, October 9, 2008

 

Future Aggie?

Is there a future Aggie footballer in the family? I guess it is not worth considering that there might be a Longhorn baller in the family - so, I won't ask that question! Will plays wide receiver for the Lil' Rebels in Amarillo and is quite adept at advancing the ball after the catch. Look for Will to carry on the Aggie tradition in the Stroud household in 2016 - however, he may have to pack on a few pounds before he can crack that Texas A & M lineup.

Thursday, October 2, 2008

 

Barrett's First Birthday Party

Barrett Stroud (aka Bear or Baby Bear) celebrated his first birthday on September 7 in Amarillo. Everyone enjoyed the Elmo (Sesame Street) cake...especially Bear (who said, "Thank Heaven for CAKE"). Will and Jack participated in the cake eating although not with the vigor that Bear showed!


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