Saturday, September 29, 2007

It takes a Village...........

to build a playground. Neal and I participated in the building of the new playground in Capitan. I helped by sanding and sealing this swing structure. I was only able to do as high as I can reach. I don't trust myself on ladders any more so I held the ladder for someone else to do the top beams and top 1 ft of the uprights. I also sanded and sealed a few other smaller things.


Neal had to work for part of the morning but when he got there he helped build the firetruck. The theme of the whole playground is Smokey Bear/Ranger station since it's beside the Smokey Bear Park.

The main structure is a fire tower with climbing wall, slide, and a rope climb.

The kids are going to love it once it's done. There were not nearly enough people there to help but those that did show up gave it their all!! When it's completed I will add a few more pictures.

Thursday, September 27, 2007

Out with the old, in with the new (to us)

As long as I've known Neal (just over 8 years) he has never kept a vehicle for more than 18 months or so. Yesterday he sold his old '76 Ford pickup and bought a little '86 Nissan pickup. The gas for the Ford would have killed us for him to drive it to work this winter. I'm not even sure it got 10 miles to the gallon. This new little pickup should get a lot better mileage since it's also a stick shift. It's 4 wheel drive so I will be able to drive it to work if I need to. I was never able to drive the Ford because 1) I had to have a milk crate to climb up in the stupid thing and 2) I hate driving a stick on the floor. I have the hardest time finding the gears that way. I jumped in the Nissan earlier and took off in it. I guess you never forget how to shift after you've learned to drive a stick.

Goodbye old Ford

Hello new (to us) little Nissan

By the way, that's our camper in the back ground. We should be able to tow it with the little pickup. It will be great to be able to tow the camper, carry the 4 wheeler, and then be able to go mudding in the truck! Neal is finally getting all his "toys" back.

Sunday, September 23, 2007

Has it been a month already?

Back to school and pre-school starting has kicked my butt this year. We have a lot of younger kids in pre-school this year and they take a lot more work than our previous years. We also have a few more babies that before. Two days a week we have a 7 month old...wow! I think we forgot how much work a baby is.

At the beginning of the month, I went to my Mom's retirement party in Pecos. She worked for over 40 years and decided to retire this year. The next day we left to go to Central Texas to visit family and go to my great-Aunt's 90th birthday party. We had a great time. I got to visit Waco, Tx where I went to college. It was interesting to go back and visit places I used to go and work. Here are a few a great picture of the suspension bridge over the Brazos River.