I love a good quote. The best ones are those that need no explanation; the whole story is self-contained. For example:

"That's the last time we tow a crocodile in an inflatable raft, my friends."
      - Brady Barr, National Geographic Channel

Words to live by...

It was hot. 95°F or more and 70% or more humidity. People were seeking shelter in the shade of the porta-potties. You know it's hot when...

We had a blast at the Austin City Limits Music Festival! The bands we saw were fantastic! I was not disappointed in any of the shows, though I did hear some lackluster reviews for some artists - mostly the ones that didn't show any energy. Here's a breakdown of the bands we/I saw:

Friday 9/17

• Bob Schneider - he rocked much more than I expected
• Blind Boys of Alabama - they really are blind! They've been playing together for 60 years.
• Patty Griffin - we heard a wee bit while wandering
• Butch Hancock - again, wandering
• Terry Allen - weird
• Joe Ely - great show! Makes me want to see him again locally.
• Los Lonely Boys - fairly disappointing. They talked too much. Need to polish the live show, boys.

Saturday 9/18

• Big Head Todd and the Monsters - Fantastic! Tied for number two show with The Roots on my list.
• Bruce Robison - it was fun watching people respond to "What Would Willie Do?" who hadn't heard it before
• Holmes Brothers - sang one of many versions of "Amazing Grace" over the weekend
• Marcia Ball - cracks me up; she's a middle-aged white woman growling out Louisianna swamp blues and hammering away at the keyboard
• The Pixies - non-stop rock! No intro, no breaks, just rock. Great show! ...but not number one.

Sunday 9/19

• Mighty Sincere Voices of Navasota - heard one song, which was enough for me to really really like them
• Guy Forsyth - all he could say was "this is talk like a pirate day - ARRRRRR!"
• Kelly Willis - sweet sound, good set
• Mindy Smith - Jodi: "she finished well"
• The Roots - one of these is not like the other; lots of rap and lots of guitar. No breaks. Great show! tied for number two with Big Head Todd
• Elvis Costello - we couldn't break into the crowd, but we could hear; good greatest hits set
• Spoon - so-so. Others seemed to love them, I was unimpressed
• Pat Green - disappointed. Modern country, and PG was full of himself. I left early for Cake
• Cake - the BEST show of the weekend! These guys rocked! I will go see them again! Played two encores, which is unheard of at ACL Fest

All that for a measly $75! Can't wait for next year.

You are... The Cingulate Gyrus!!!

Snugly encircling the superior thalamus, and sitting atop the corpus callosum, you are an integral part of the limbic system. You remain a mystery, but common thought is that your reciprocal connections to the frontal cortex and limbic system link decision-making and emotion! Although you are mushy in consistency, you are a great friend to those around you and your word is as solid as oak. You detest it when people prod you, so you do need to lighten up a bit. All in all, though, you are a solid citizen. (And without you, people often find themselves unable to talk or move!)

Take the Personality Quiz, brought to you by Mr. Poon.

Jodi and I headed West over Labor Day weekend for a little R&R. It was very relaxing.

Thursday

We left Thursday afternoon for Balmorhea. The sky glowed with the Milky Way banded across it like a billion spilled diamonds. A coyote howled as a gigantic moon peaked over the plains. It's good already.

Friday

We headed for the pool bright and early. It was packed with a jaw-dropping four people. The place was ours. We swam and swam, constantly shadowed by schools of little Mexican tetras. Catfish fed along the bottom of the twenty foot deep water, and the turtles came for some sun. Soooo refreshing.

Later we moseyed up to Carlsbad in search of food and a quaint town. What we got was Dairy Queen and a Walmart, so we ambled up to Artesia. The Artesia guide from the Chamber of Commerce proudly displayed the famous "Bulldog Bowl" sign, which I recognized from a 1992 edition of National Geographic magazine. Wandering through downtown, we ran across a busy school spirit shop. I queried a woman about whether a game was to be played tonight. An affirmative, and a wink and a nod toward Jodi, and we bought a few shirts and decided to go.

We munched some appetizers and talked to the woman behind the bar at a restaurant downtown. Deb had come to Artesia all the way from Wisconson with her then boyfriend a little less that two years ago. He passed from a heart attack two weeks later. She's been working here ever since.

The game was a good one. I didn't know this prior, but was informed during game intros that the Artesia Bulldogs are owners of 23 state championship titles. Tonight they played Hobbs; also a good team. The Bulldogs ran away with it 34-14.

During the game, however, We ran into the woman I had queried earlier, another woman from another downtown shop, met Winston the Bulldog's mascot (a bulldog himself, naturally, who retrieved the kickoff stand), and talked it up with three sprightly young lasses, Faye, Faye's mother Vera, and Roberta. Roberta thought we were "just the cutest couple" and "will never forget us." Her granddaughter is an actress on "All My Children." I got a football.

Saturday

We spent Saturday in Carlsbad Caverns. What an incredible place! Besides the self-guided paved tour, we paid a little extra for a four hour ranger-guided tour to a relatively recently discovered section of the cavern called "Hall of White Giant." We crawled on our bellies, sometimes dragging ourselves along by our lips (well it felt like it), to get through Matlock's Pinch and (I'm not kidding) Castration Rock. For perspective, it took us about an hour to go one quarter of a mile. The result at the end, however, is spectacular! There are huge stalactites and stalagmites everywhere in an enormous spherical room.

Sunday

Climb, climb, climb. That's what we did. We hiked an eight-mile round trip that rose and fell over 3000 feet. At the middle of that hike is the tallest peak in Texas: Guadalupe Peak. On a clear day, only the curvature of the Earth prevents you from seeing furthar. I'm convinced I could see the mountains in Big Bend National Park from there. Wow.

Monday

Monahans State Park, as far as I know, is the only place one can go "sledding" in Texas. The park headquarters actually rents saucer sleds so visitors can slide down the seventy-foot tall dunes. The night before, we heard a pack of coyotes howling. I never knew they were so common.

Overall, this was a fantastic trip. We had not set a tight schedule, which left enough flexibility to see a football game, and visit Monahans instead of making a second trip to Balmorhea for the return home. We had perfect weather. My recommendation: GO!

There are a whole lot more pictures in the archive.

Jodi and I went to West Texas, Carlsbad, NM, and all over the area over Labor Day weekend. There are pictures up. We had a blast...will blog about it later (maybe even today).