Fourth of July BBQ

The big bash over at Dave's place was a huge success! There were lots of folks, plenty of food and beer, and enough fireworks to demolish a small building. Thanks to Dave and Teresa for hosting the shindig, cooking the massive amounts of food and providing the launching pad for all the fireworks!

The weather held off so we had plenty of back-yard time, and with all the rain there was no worry about burning the countryside down. We had lots of fun and excitement, and the high point came when one of the mortar shells failed to launch and blew up in the tube! It was very loud, and very impressive - fortunately no one was hurt! Other than that, the display was really nice - thanks to Todd and the rest of the fireworks crew!

Don't forget that The Humiliators will be at The Troubadour Saloon on Wednesday, 11 July at 10:30p - come support your local rock stars!

Threescore and seven days to go...

...it's the final countdown!

Into each life some rain must fall.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow had it right... and brother, has it been falling - both literally and figuratively :)

Chris and I rode ten miles on Sunday - and it rained for most of it. This photo was taken at the North San Gabriel River in Georgetown - the trail we were riding crossed the river, but we weren't about to try; there was a tree that had been washed downriver and was submerged by the current, so we knew we weren't about to try that crossing. Farther downstream, we came across a pickup truck and a trailer that had been swept into a pedestrian bridge, and there was extensive damage to the banks from the flooding. People just don't give enough respect to the power of moving water - all you have to do is look at the Hill Country and the Grand Canyon to see examples of what moving water is capable of doing... the problem is that those are processes that occur on geologic time scales, so no one really pays any attention to them. We had a great time, however; we were practicing one of our favorite sports, Urban Commando Mountain Biking. Basically, it just means that you go pretty much where you want, taking shortcuts that would be impossible for any other modes of transportation (besides walking)... it's pretty cool to see a bunch of traffic stopped in the road, and realize that you can just cut through a parking lot, hop a curb, head down a ditch and then you are back on the street again :) Bikes rock!