Passing

We're very sad to report that Noel's dad, George, died this past weekend after a long battle with cancer. George had a wonderful sense of humor - dry and sarcastic, combined with a fantastic sense of timing. He was always cracking everyone up.

And he was a cute kid!

It seems appropriate today, on Memorial Day, to point out that George was also a proud veteran, serving in the Navy for 20 years. He always told fun stories about being stationed on the island of Diego Garcia (and all the trouble he and his buddies would get into). He worked on aircraft carriers during the Vietnam War, stationed on the USS Ranger in southeast Asia.

This picture was taken in Japan:


(I think he looked like Johnny Cash, with the dark hair!)

George also had a love of pretty much anything with 4 wheels. Including some really fab cars he owned in his lifetime:

We've been doing a lot of traveling back and forth to Tennessee to help George out from time to time, while he got treatments for his cancer. Noel made the drive from Tennessee to Texas several times. We were glad to help though.

We'll miss you, George.

My Very Own Slice of Town!

We went sight-seeing to a nearby city called Brenham last weekend, and lucked out! They were having a German heritage festival, complete with local cloggers:



And lederhosen!

It was a gorgeous day, so we took a walk downtown, around their historic square and courthouse, and saw some fantastic vintage cars:



This Bel Air had an awesome interior:

And this truck had a stylin' grill.

Love the complicated mechanics that went into their restoration too.

There was a gorgeous house in Brenham too. I think it's a bed & breakfast.

Know what else is cute? Little panda cookies from China!

On the way back, Noel took me by a place had found that he thought I'd enjoy (that he said kinda creeped him out a little, to be honest). Welcome to....Kelliwood!

And literally the next neighborhood over? Nottingham Country!

Wild, huh? Noel thinks they should award me an honorary home there (which would be nice - it's a high dollar neighborhood!) :)

Time for a Farm Animal Update!!

Noel decided to try befriending some of the natives:

Meet Agnes and Blanche, the farm's guard donkeys!

Now, some people might assume that it would be the bull's responsibility to protect the herd. That's not necessarily the case. Although you wouldn't know it when you see 2 bulls staring each other down on either side of the road. It's the donkeys who do a lot of the alarm-sounding and kicking.

(Speaking of, we saw some coyotes the other day! )

Anyway, we do have a big HUGE bull on the farm. I named him Brad, but we found out from the landlord that he already had a name. So now I'd like to introduce you to....

Brad. Wilson. (Hey Brad! I cracked up when we found out his real name!) :)

He's a hefty piece of cow. Seriously, this guy is ALL MUSCLE. We don't mess with him. Obviously.

And in indoor animal news, I did some sewing the other day, and got a tremendous amount of help from Poe when cutting out the pattern:

How did I ever sew without him?

Lions & Tigers &.....Tapirs?

Last weekend Noel and I went sightseeing in downtown Houston. It might surprise people to know that downtown Houston actually has some very pretty areas - lots of trees, parks, fun architecture, and neat little neighborhoods.

We didn't go there to see the architecture though. Where did we go?



The Houston Zoo! Isn't it pretty? This is the reflection pool in the middle of the zoo.

It's a nice zoo - not too huge, but impressive exhibits. They had lots of fun stuff there, like poison dart frogs!



And seriously scary birds. This is a SCARY BIRD, y'all. It was huge, red eyes, and a massive beak. I think it might have been a pterodactyl.



There were white rhinos!



(Note: this is only one of the many pictures of rear ends that I managed to take. I don't know why every animal in that zoo wanted to show me their backsides. I started to take it personally.)

So cute - these are red pandas!



There were playful otters:



And just for you Rachel - a tapir! (And its rear end).



Here's the meerkat sentry - looking for danger!



Ok - snake phobic people, close your eyes. Here are some pretty green snakes:



And a not so pretty and extremely scary poisonous puff adder:



Eek.

Oh! Flamingos!! I love them. They're fabulous!



Here are some cows. Now, before you say "Um, Kelli, you guys have cows in your front yard," let me point out that these guys have HUMONGOUS HORNS. We think they might have mixed these with the cows we got pictures of a few years ago (the ones who could hardly lift their heads up!)



How do they carry those things around? Do they have headaches?

Here is an African Wild Dog:



And here are two sleepy cheetahs:



You might notice a theme here - it was HOT that day. Hot and sleepy.

Ok, here are my favorite pictures though. Elephant babies!!! (And elephant baby 'tocks).



A white gator! (He's fabulous too).



A sleepy cougar. Gorgeous!



Jellyfish! I love jellyfish. They're just amazing to me. This picture isn't upside down - they're swimming that way:



These are moon jellyfish. This picture turned out really cool - psychedelic!



So that was our trip to the zoo! We have lots more pictures to show from the past week or two, but I didn't want to put them all in one post!