Riley and The Gang

December 31, 2009.

Riley and the gang came to split some woods for their New Year's Eve bonfire. They brought their own wood and used our wood splitter to make smaller pieces of wood to start the fire with. After splitting and hauling woods for a while, Riley and all got warm and took their jacket off. The last day of 2009 was wet and cold.

Real Vanilla

December 31, 2009.

It's a very rare occasion to find vanilla bean in a store around here. So when I saw it in Brookshire's at Canton, I went and get it and made real vanilla ice cream. I love those black tiny dots of vanilla seed in the ice cream.

Three Buzzards on Oak Tree

December 30, 2009.

Three buzzards were perching on the trimmed oak tree in front of the house.

Christmas in NOLA

December 23, 2009.

Three things to do in NOLA:

1. Central Grocery's muffuletta

2. Oysters on the half shell of Acme Oyster

3. Anything in between (beer at Jimmy Buffett, blues on the street, etc)

And mission was well accomplished!

First Taste of Louisiana

December 22, 2009.

At Don's Seafood Hut, Denham Springs, Baton Rouge.

Off to Louisiana for Christmas

December 22, 2009.

Train station @ Mineola, Tx.

Highway 20, Lindale, Tx.

Waskom, Tx, border of Texas & Louisiana.

("waskom" means "washtub" in Bahasa Indonesia)

Christmas Greetings

The First Christmas Tree in The House

Hunter & Reese at The Farm

December 21, 2009.

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

December 19, 2009.
Van Zandt County Court House, Canton Square.

Baby Flying Squirrels

December 17, 2009.

Several baby flying squirrels were found in the dead oak tree. Mama and some of them managed to escape, four were left inside the hollow part of the tree. They are now safe in Mike's care.

The Observers

The two observers watching the trees being trimmed and cut at ease. They're taking two days off of chasing critters and missing in action.

Oak Tree Job

December 16 & 17, 2009.

The oak tree in front of the house gets a much needed trimming job to get rid of the mistletoes, while the dead one by the road has to go down. More pictures at Hal's Gallery (click here).

Pear Terrine

December 15, 2009.

Pear Terrine with a hint of anise flavor.

Mike's Shop's Progress

December 14, 2009.

Post erecting work at Mike's welding shop, involving Mr. Delmer, Tony, and Mike's dad. Hal and Juan helped dig the holes the day before. More pictures are available at Hal's Gallery (click here).

This also marked the end of Sony pocket camera's "service". The last picture above is the last decent picture taken by it.