E-whats?

Here's some good emu shots. Who knew that emus made this unbelievably loud drumming sound, hence their genus and species name: Dromaius novaehollandiae. (10 cents to anyone who can pronounce that second word.) They are mean and spit, though we haven't experienced that yet. And they are ridiculously curious. When we first moved in one of them was constantly at the corner of our back fence looking in the house.

Be Glad for Gladiolas

With flowers like this in ones kitchen it's not hard to cook and do dishes in there! Haven't seen the horses or emus recently and the cows seem like they are in a differenct pasture.

THE ABCs OF ME

A- Attached or single: attached--husband and 2 corgis
B- Best Friends: My kids, Heidi, Linda, Liz, and my husband
C- Cake or Pie: Cake, especially dry white wedding cake
D- Day of choice: Saturday
E- Essential item: Toilet Paper? OK, Vaseline
F- Favorite color: yellow
G- Good movie: Dan in Real Life
H- Hometown: Cloverdale, CA
I- Indulgences: Monster Taco from Jack-in-the-Box, french bread
J- January or July: Well, in Texas I would have said January.
K- Kids: Somewhere
L- Life is not complete without: Mexican food and old movies
M - Marriage Date: April 27, 1974
N- Number of Siblings: 1
O- Oranges or apples: Both
P- Phobias or fears: non-organic butter and snakes
Q- Quote: "No, no Penny"
R- Reason to smile: grandchildren
S- Season: Spring
T- Travel: England, Hawaii
U- Unknown fact about me: I got the Bank of America Music Award as a senior in high school
V - Very favorite store: HEB Central Market
W- Worst habit: None of your beeswax
X- eXcell at: Leading music
Y- Your favorite food: Enchilada
Z- Zodiac: Cancer

Fog and flowers

There's normally houses and hills at the end of our street. Which lily color do you like best? Those are gladiolas on the bench. They get so tall that they fall over so I cut some stalks and stuck them in this vase. Then I noticed that there were little slugs here and there and chose to leave them outside.

Fridays around Franklin

I finally remembered to do this and took some pictures of (and along) Wilson Pike,a road that we travel on everyday. Everything's a pike around here. The high school is about 5 minutes from our house. Some of these pics I just grabbed while driving. I'm amazed they were in focus.

More from the recent SPUD

It's kinda weird being the new kid on the block, and not really knowing the investigators terribly well. We are supposed to contact them everyday but it's hard to catch them home. Anyways, mission life is fun but it sure takes tenacity. I'm constantly striving to build my faith more and more & my testimony is getting stronger and stronger.
Oh, yeah, the weather is so weird here. It's a little bit cool, as in the 60's and 70's which is nice, but the weather for the last few days has bounced between steady rain and completely overcast skies, to regular old sunshine every half hour, no exaggeration. Odd. At least it keeps you on your toes.
Now to finish off, I'll leave you with a bit of the language: "how come" as in "...and that's how come we don't got no more jackrabbits."

Cars don't have "glove boxes" they have "jackybox".

"trucks" refer to 18 wheelers, as in "I drive truck**." (no article) whereas pickups are referred to as "outfits."

Well, seeing how I've written a "couple three" pages (or a couple four) I'm going to go to bed. I love you all and I miss you. Hope all is well for you all.

Love,
Elder Harris
**in the same style, I could say, "I preach Gospel."

And a colt, too

I actually don't know if this is a colt or a filly. I'll call it a colt til I know better. The pictures aren't too great. The little guy loved running through the pack of emus sending them fleeing in all directions. Must be a boy horsey.

The most recent SPUD

Dear Mom and Dad,
Me and Elder Barrow just got back from our day of attempted missionary work, and we just finished planning, and now we are chatting with our caretakers, Bro. and Sis. Wilson. They are terribly nice and like to hear all about our adventures. Missionary work is certainly an adventure, but sometime you have a day like today when most of your appointments fall through, no one is home, and the one you do catch says "we're moving so have a nice life." Not that I'm down or anything, I'm actually having a great time. I'm getting the hang of teaching the lessons, and my door approaches, and planning and what not. The basics of missionary work is very simple, and it doesn't take long to figure out "your job." However, the difference between doing "your job" and being a stellar missionary (or a Preach My Gospel missionary)is huge. Frame of mind, Spiritual preparedness, and all that. the details make a huge difference. I'm still working though. Health is good, I'm working out every day, and eating right. I get a home cooked meal every night which so far has been great. I even ate broccoli the other day. Miracles have not ceased in this day and age.

Sonic stuck in the strawberry patch

The previous owners had a strawberry patch in the backyard. Sonic and Penny discovered this and started supplementing their diet with some fruit-green or red-didn't matter. Jim wanted to keep them out so he put up a fence. Sonic, twice now, has managed to find a way in but then couldn't get himself out. I took these pictures of him "in jail". At first I couldn't figure out why he wasn't coming when I yelled for him. (night photos)

Cow meets corgi

Seems that we now have the cow family more often in the pasture directly behind our house. I was surprised that one of the cows nearest the fence instead of walking away from the ferocious barking corgis actually walked right up to the fence to make Sonic's acquaintance. Penny thought she was above "lowering" herself to fraternize with mere bovines. (I think she was a little scared. And what could be lower than a corgi?) How many calves can you find?

What's in a name?

Check out some of the names on the list for hurricanes in 2008: Arthur, Kyle, Nana, and Sally (Paige's mom). Kind of crazy, eh? Wonder which one of us will cause a ruckus, if any. Also on the list is Josephine, one of Emily's favorite names. If they have a Nana are they gonna have a PopPop? I didn't know Nana was a real name for anyone.