a couple of photos...

became priceless.



Our daughter and our niece share the same birthday six years apart. They will always have a special bond even though they live 450 miles apart.

this elk was staring at me...

at the family reunion in Fredricksburg. We stayed at the Country Inn Cottages, a 200 acre ranch about 10 minutes from town. I'm not sure what kind of elk it is, but I think it came from Wyoming. There are about a dozen they keep as pets along with countless deer, cattle, and some peacocks.

I snapped these photos as the fog rolled by early in the morning.





We were told the elk were nice and would just hang around. There is one they said to keep an eye on as she ruled the ranch and the other elk. Apparently she is not scared of humans. If I was a 500+ pound animal I would not be afraid of an unarmed human either! I'll pass on that wrestling match. One evening the whole family was standing around enjoying the natural beauty of these large creatures. I was trying to get as close as possible to take some pictures. She decided that 15 feet was close enough. I don't think she wanted me to pet her as she came walking towards me. Her name is 14N...

a new place to read something funny...

arrived online for free! Yes, free!! Nowhere in the world will you find funnier stuff that does not cost you a penny. Tell your friends, co-workers, family, and even your enemies. Your enemies need to laugh, too. Maybe they will become your friends after you show them Quirkee.com.

Do it for the greater good of all mankind. You could help save the world!

it was hot outside!

Summer is here, I know. But does it have to be 100 degrees already? We've been doing lots of swimming in the whale pool lately. Coan loves to throw water out of the pool. On this day it was the shovel he used.




That's when Crawdaddy gave him the over-the-glasses-raised-eyebrow-not-while-I'm-holding-your-sister, look...




You see, the day before, Coan and the neighbor's kids were using the buckets and throwing water on each other and their Mommy. Crawdaddy was relaxing in the hammock watching the fun game when Coan snuck up on him and doused him pretty good! Unfortunately, I didn't get the picture as I was inside unloading the goods from the grocery store. Crawdaddy was a good sport and I think enjoyed the cooling off from the heat!

It's hot days like these that make me wish I could fit in that whale pool.

Crawdaddy, Coan, and Daddy...

went to play golf! This was Coan's first 9 hole round of golf on a real course. He was very excited!

They woke up real early at the hotel in Tyler, loaded up their clubs into Crawdaddy's car and headed down to the hotel restaurant to have breakfast. Coan dined on Froot Loops, grapes, biscuits, and orange juice. Crawdaddy and Daddy had a hearty meal of eggs, bacon, biscuits and gravy, hash browns, and coffee. Mitzi, Julia, and Mommy came down to visit before they left.

After breakfast they got in the car and headed out for the course, stopping on the way at Wal-Mart so Crawdaddy could get a golf hat and not get a sunburn on his head. Because guys shop fast they were back in the car in about 5 minutes. Coan asked,

"How do we get to the golf course?"

Daddy replied, "We go down this road for 10 more miles then take a left" - so the navigation system showed. Crawdaddy said that was the long way and they were driving a few more miles and taking a right. A shortcut. Except this actually was a shortcut, not the famous Grayson Shortcut as mentioned in a previous blog.

When they arrived at the golf course, Crawdaddy, Coan, and Daddy unloaded their clubs and went inside the clubhouse. The nice lady took Crawdaddy's money (thank you Crawdaddy!) and in return gave them a key to the lucky #7 green golf cart! They picked up a scorecard and golf pencil and loaded up their clubs onto the cart. On the way to the first tee box they stopped at the practice green to work on their putts. Once they were warmed up, they went to the first hole and teed up their golf balls! They took big swings and hit way down the fairway! The next 7 shots for Daddy were not as good as the first. They hit up on the green and putted the balls in the hole. Coan got a birdie! Daddy was happy to take an 8 and move on to the next hole.

This photo was captured on a cell phone camera by a fan in the gallery.

On about the 5th hole, some nice older gentlemen drove up in their golf cart and wanted to know if they could play through. They had skipped ahead of two groups of five players that were moving slow. They watched Coan tee off and gave him golf claps. They were very impressed with his swing!

When the threesome got to the 7th hole, Coan wanted to tee up his ball near the green and "whack it" at the pin. There was another golfer coming up behind them, so Daddy told Coan to get up there and putt so they could get moving. This was not part of his plan so he made sure the other golfers knew he was teed off!. By the time they reached the 9th hole, Coan's good golf manners were back and he two-putted his way to victory with a birdie!

The Caddyshack Crew got back in the cart and drove to the clubhouse to unload their golf clubs into Crawdaddy's car. Coan and Daddy dropped off the lucky #7 green golf cart while Crawdaddy blasted the A/C to cool down the car. Coan got in his car seat with the scorecard and pencil. He was adding up the scores on the way back to the hotel...


and he fell asleep.

The End


That's the story I tell Coan when he asks to talk about his golf day. The photo from the phone camera is not very clear so I've added more below and a link to a video that Papa shot last week.

Video link of Coan calling his shot: The Next Tiger Woods?