Yesterday our beloved family dog, Chance, passed away. He was my first baby.

Michael and I married in August 1998 and got Chance in October.  He went everywhere with us.

Chance lived in 10 different houses and saw the birth of 5 children.

I cried for hours yesterday. My eyes were practically swollen shut.  Seeing his bed makes me cry.

Today a friend rang the doorbell…there was silence.  I wanted to cry again.  Chance always barked like crazy when the doorbell rang.

I really miss him.

Oh, dear. I am so blessed. Too blessed I fear.

1) My husband spoils me. I don’t know why he loves me when I’m such a meanie some times.

2) God has chosen me. I’m now able to look at everything and see God’s amazing hand in it all (actually I had that ability before being regenerated but utterly ignored that. Romans 1)

3) I live in the most perfect place. The weather is so much better here than north Texas, south Texas, the coast and west Texas.   The views are breathtaking. The natural “attractions” will keep any homeschool family busy for years!

4) My kids are the cutest in the world. Not sure how that happened but God was gracious.

So, on to the meat of my post.  *snort* I totally didn’t mean to make that joke! Meat = hamburger = Alamo Springs Cafe = #3 on the Top 50 Best Hamburgers in Texas voted by Texas Monthly magazine.

My friend Grateful for Grace took me on a date there a couple of months ago and it was fabulous.  Tonight when Michael saw that I was cooking chicken breasts (the “I’ll-just-throw-something-together” meal that he so loves) he eagerly suggested eating out.

You can’t really go wrong with a jalepeno bun, avocados, grilled onions, tomato, jalepenos, lettuce, mustard and a slab of beef.  Even if the road is extremely windy (food for thought- are windy and windy homonyms or did I spell it wrong?)

BUT! That was not the highlight of the night. Next to Alamo Springs Cafe is the Old Tunnel Natural Management Area. Essentially, the “bat cave“.

Here are a few facts bat man taught us:

• Mexican Free Tail bats (the ones present in this area) have 1 baby a year. Adults weigh 3 oz. and their babies 1 oz. Basically, that’s like me giving birth to a 40lb baby.
• On an 8 1/2″ x 11″ piece of paper you can fit 500 pups (baby bats).
• Their favorite meal is the corn moth. The moths produce the corn weevil that attacks the midwest corn fields. As the moths migrate from Mexico to Kansas/Iowa/Nebraska the bats feast.  1 bat eats 40 moths a night.
• In the Old Tunnel there are b/w 1.5 million (right now as the females travel to a different location to have their babies) to 3 million (in the next couple of weeks as the moms and babies return).  Considering the fact above that’s 60 million moths eaten each night. Excellent insect control.

Oh, and one more thing before I overwhelm you with pictures (which btw, I did not have time to meticulously edit. sooc). Tonight is the night that Mercury, Mars and Venus all line up in a triangle of sorts. The pictures I have of the bats and Venus together are great at 2800 width , when I resized them Venus disappears.

I love birds!

This year has been the start of our real interest in birds.  Everywhere we go I’ve got my camera ready to capture any bird.

Naturally, I had my camera in focus constantly at the Birds of Prey show at Scarborough Faire.  Amazing creatures!

Here are some of my favorite photos…