An Amazing Weekend

I have nothing planned for this weekend, not even a trip to the movie theater but I have a feeling that this weekend will be the best weekend ever. 

Tonight is the only time I have anything planned and it should be fun.  It is babysitting some of my favorite kiddos, so it should be a fun evening.  My house and yard are clean for once and I have no desire for a shopping trip so I don't know what is going to make this weekend exciting but it is going to be incredible.

I can feel it in the air.  The best weekend in the world is almost here!!!!

Library

I am in the library getting ready to win back the HOA with my neighbors but I thought I would take a
moment to post some amazing sunset pictures from last week.

Right after I got to the park I saws this and thought it was worth a picture.

I walk later now and the sun is setting from the second I get there, so by the end of the walk I am not longer taking pictures. 

I was going to delete this picture and then I noticed a orb and decided it was worth keeping.

Memphis was distracted and I was a able to snap a quick pic of him before he noticed the camera.  Tonight is mowing and bath day for the pets, so I will have a busy busy evening ahead.  It is times like this I wish I had someone else around to help out.

Long Time No See

I got a job in August and it has kept me so busy that I have not been able to blog at all.  I have 5 different classes and I was really worried at first about how I would manage teaching 5 different classes but I have come to love it.  It makes the days fly by and I never get bored.  It takes me back to the days of student teaching when I had more to do.  I also love a few of the courses.  I am teaching a couple design courses and they defiantly helps fuel my need to be creative.  I know it is going to be a great year and I am enjoying the ability to breath again.  The last week has allowed me to feel more settled again so I have been taking the dogs for walks.  Plus it is very cool and cloudy which is my favorite weather.  I am trying to wrap up chores early today so that I can take the dogs for a walk again this evening.  They have been enjoying the cool walks and I love taking pictures of the late summer wild flowers that are currently in bloom.  We have also had tons of rain recently which has made everything beautiful and green.

Here are some pictures I have gotten recently.

These two are my new favorites because I got the sun setting behind them.

It seems like some yellow flower has been in bloom since Spring.

The water looks even better now with the recent rain.

Our evening walks are later now since I am driving farther to get to work, but that means great sunset pictures

The other night one of the little donkeys got out of the pen but it was staying close, so I did not worry

There are giant elephant ears growing wild just off the trail in the park now

I went home to visit my parents and I stopped on Ranch Road 1 to get this picture, when the sun was setting.

I plan to get back into blogging again now that the year is settling in better.

Fourth of July

In my town, there is a festival every year for the Fourth of July.  I have attended it since I moved here three years ago.  The first year I watch from the park and got lucky and was out of the park within minutes of the end of the show.  The second year I parked in a different spot in the park and was stuck trying to get out of the park for over a hour.  This year I knew I was going to watch the fireworks from outside the park but I was going to eat in the park first.  After I finished eating I was bored (my ereader is not great in light), so I decided to find a spot for the evening.  However while driving around I decided I wanted to go see The Avengers instead.  I got the times from my sister (I have no data on my phone) and headed to a nearby town for the show.  I was almost there when I changed my mind and headed back home to watch the fireworks instead.  I parked at the high school first, but when the show started a apartment building was blocking my view so I drove down the road a bit to a empty parking lot and I had a perfect view.    I had read about some tricks to taking pictures of fireworks so it was kind of fun.

This evening though has been a hassle since my neighbors are setting of fireworks, despite the fact it is illegal.  I have called the police twice and it is dying down some but it has still scared Vegas to point it will take her days to recover.  Even Memphis who is usually great with loud noises is scared and hiding.  Lacy is the only one that does not seem to care. 

Update:  In my area the fireworks stopped around midnight and Vegas came out of hiding when she heard me open a string cheese (crazy hearing that girl has).  The HOA message board had people upset that I called the police, but I had other members backing me.

Trip Home

I have spent the past weekend at my parents' home in the hill country.  On the way home I wanted to get a picture of this beautiful field on sunflowers (not the wild kind).  It was raining when I left their house but stopped right as I pulled off the road to take the pictures.

There is another spot I love when I take the back road home, but I never remember to stop and get a picture.  Today I remembered and then the trees were taller than normal and I had trouble capturing it.

My little boy love the weekend with his cousin but he was ready to head home.  Usually on the drive home he sits in the back window but today he slept most of the way.

Family Road Trip

This past weekend, my parents, sister, their dogs, me and my dogs all took a bit of a hill country road trip. We started by heading to Cooper's Barbeque in Llano and picked up food to take to a park near Buchanan Dam. The plan was to have a picnic lunch and then take my sister's dog and my two dogs swimming. It was a bit of a hike from the picnic area to the beach (the lake still has not recovered from the drought). My sister's dog loved swimming and Memphis enjoyed wading in the water, but Vegas was not fond of it. ~~ I would have taken pictures but my camera was in the van and I did not want to hike back to get it.~~~

After that we drove through one of the local state parks and then headed to Burnet to see my Great Aunt. All this driving around was a long day for four dogs that are use to sleeping in the afternoon.

See now I remembered to get my camera out.

This is Memphis after I started to take pictures.  He had no where to run so he went to the corner and hid his face.

The plan was to cross the highway to get a better picture but there were so many cars.