Today as I wrap up my duties at work, I feel surprisingly refreshed and charged considering it is only Wednesday.  Today I was given a rare opportunity that may only exist for the men of this world.  I was blessed by a full day of playing on a New Holland skid steer loader spreading road base around two buildings on the airport.  There is just such a “therapeutic quality,” to quote my co-worker,  about spending time working a heavy piece of machinery to move dirt from point A to point B and then spreading it out evenly over the ground.  Back and forth, back and forth, lifting the boom, tilting the bucket. The sound of rock as it falls out of the bucket, the way it rolls under the blade while you drag it back.  The crunch when you drive the bucket into the rock pile and come out with a satisfying bucket load that causes the hydraulics to groan under the sudden weight. It takes you away from the world and all your cares vanish into the diesel fumes. I think all men should all be allowed to have this sort of relaxing play time on a regular bases.  When its all over and you can stand back and admire the transformation that took place, its just indescribable.  That rutty old spot that always became a mud hole when it rains has now become a nice smooth bed of rock!  Beautiful!  It is sad that we could only have the toy for a day. But tomorrow the rental company will take it away so some one else can play.

This past weekend Amanda and I joined part of her family for the George Strait concert at the new Dallas Cowboys stadium. We arrived over an hour early for the concert, which started at 4:30, so we could find the names of Amanda’s grandparents on the “Legacy Walk” outside of the stadium.

The first ever concert, or any event for that matter, at the new Stadium was sold out! To think George Strait almost did not agree to this concert because he was afraid the turnout might be poor! The stadium holds 100,000 and every seat except those behind the stage were filled.

The show was opened by Lee Ann Womack and Blake Shelton, who both put on a great show. Even though we were 100 yards away, they appeared larger than life thanks to the 160 foot HD screen, imported all the way from Nagasaki, Japan, by Mitsubishi Electric (my favorite brand of HD TVs). One screen faces each sideline and to slightly smaller ones face each end zone.

Reba and George also put on an amazing so of course! Reba finished her set with 30 second back stage costume change into a bright shiny red dress before coming out to sing “fancy.” George probably sang for 2 or 3 hours of the 6 hours event and covered just about every song I know and then some. At one point he got the crowd to starting chanting “Jerry, open the roof!” until finally the worlds only curved retractable roof started to crack open. 12 minutes later we were listening to the best of George Strait under a cool night sky. I think the A/C was still on too. HA!!

The stadium is really amazing. Amanda’s dad recorded an episode of “Build it Bigger” that featured the stadiums construction challenges so we watched it before heading out so that we could better appreciate the engineering that went into this peice of art. From the color changing glass to the largest domed structure with a curved retractable roof, to the worlds largest retractable end zone doors to the worlds largest HD video board to being the largest single span structure in the world, it is a testament to modern engineering. The two arches that support the dome span a quarter of a mile. I’m sure many of these feats will be surpassed in a short time, maybe some are already being built, but I am always impressed by something that reaches out and touches the limits of current technology.

This past weekend Amanda and I took our nieces to visit the Mayborn Museum, which is currently hosting the Leonardo da Vinci: Machines in Motion exhibit. This exhibit showcases 40 life size machines built according to Leonardo’s drawings. Some of them where set up so we could turn gears and pull levers ourselves while others were demonstrated by a museum guide. The ceiling was also hung with many of his flying contraptions. Some of the more intricate inventions included a concave mirror grinder, battle tank, a column lifter, and a water powered saw mill. I thought this was a great experience, so definitely take a look if it comes to a museum in your area.

Our nieces were mostly excited about the Discovery rooms in the museum, but I have to say I was a little disappointing this time. Some exhibits weren’t well maintained that day. The bubble room was going to be the most exciting for us because we were all looking forward to being enclosed in a giant bubble, but it was not in good repair or the bubble solution was mixed wrong so it just wouldn’t make a bubble at all. We still had fun in the sound room talking through tubes and whispering into giant concave dishes. We took pictures with some animals, played in the physics room, and got some good pictures of the girls in the costume rooms. There was still more to see but all of us were really getting hungry and we also had to hurry to help set up chairs at church that evening so we said goodbye to da Vinci and put our Japanese robes on the hanger, funny hats on the rack, and our clogs on the floor and headed to Sonic!

Well we dusted off our canoe today and took a trip down to the Brazos. I think its been almost 2 years since we last took it out but Amanda thinks it hasn’t been so long. Either way it’s been too long. We’re not real serious about our canoeing, we just enjoy gliding through the water with no particular destination and watching the wild life. Since it was a nice cool evening we decided to take a little picnic with us and found a shady stump to tie off to while we ate. After we finished eating we found a little tributary to explore and then headed back down the river.  We made it home just in time to pick up some Taco Bell and finish our evening off by watching the final two on American Idol. We’re definitely going to have to make it a point to take the canoe out more often.

This was the second year for Sharefest in Waco.  Last year I think there were 6 churches participating and this year I think a dozen or more participated.  Our fellowship family signed up as a group and were assigned to help with a painting project over at one of the government sponsored housing developments.  Our job was to paint the iron railings around the entry ways and plant flowers in front when the painting was finished.  I scraped the old paint while Amanda and Ashley and her children following behind with paint.  We were also joined by Deloris who help paint and also brought some garden tools for the flowers.   I think everyone had a lot of fun working together for the good of the community and I know Amanda and I are looking forward to next year’s Sharefest.   This wasn’t the end of our day though.  When all this was over, it was coincidentally our turn to set up chairs at church on Saturday for Sunday morning so we all set off to our next task.  It was our first time and I think we may have set up a few too many chairs. But oh well, we’re always talking about growing and stuff, so let’s just say we are helping to facilitate growth!  It was a busy day today so we are really looking forward to a good day of rest on Sunday.

Flyleaf is one of our favorite bands so we decided at the last minute to drive down to College Station and see them perform at Hurricane Harry’s on April 28th. It’s an hour and a half drive for us and I took half a day off work the next day so I could sleep late afterwards, but it was totally worth a little inconvenience! Lacey Mosely (lead singer), Sameer Bhattacharya (guitar), Jared Hartmann (guitar), Pat Seals (bass guitar) and James Culpepper (drums) really do put on a great show, despite an inadequate venue like Harry’s. Harry’s is a great place for dance music, but their sound setup just isn’t ideal for a quality concert. I’m not complaining, just stating how it is. Flyleaf is full of motion and the crowd was really moving. Three bands opened for them but I don’t remember the first bands’ name since the sound was so bad, all I could hear was bass with sometimes audible vocals and guitar. Don’t think we missed anything. The second band was Paper Tongues from Charlotte, North Carolina. These guys had lots of sound and catchy songs so they are probably our favorite of the three openers. The third band was Flawless Escape, a rock band formed in College Station in 2005. These guys really rocked with some good beats and nice lyrics. We were there for almost 6 hours and we had a lot of fun being together at something we both enjoy.

This past weekend was the annual gathering, Trapnic, of the Traphagan and Graham families at the Lake Limestone Running Branch Marina.  A fun time was had by all despite some threatening weather.   Amanda’s step mothers maiden name is Traphagan, so that’s our connection in case you were wondering.  We decided to only go for the day this year instead of staying in a cabin or taking our tent, and it was still tons of fun!!   Champ went with us and kept some of the children entertained while the adults participated in the annual horseshoe tournament.  Of which yours truly and his throwing partner, Tonya, are the new champions!  This was especially exciting for me becuase until now I was the only brother-in-law who wasn’t on the plaque.  To be honest I think Tonya scored the most points so I’m just lucky to have drawn a good partner out of the hat.  Saturday night we lit our traditional bonfire and after it died down a little began the hot dogs and smores followed by some old campfire songs.   I have been to Trapnic every year since I started dating Amanda and since we got married and I always meet someone new or find out a little bit more about the folks I don’t know very well yet.  Both of us look forward to the event next year!

Amanda warming up.

Champ had some fun digging up the volleyball pit.

Jonathan threw against Johnny in the finals.

Jonathan and Tonya show off the winners plaque w/ runners up Johnny and Jan.

Today I found a place where I can get the best cheese enchiladas ever! The best part is that I didn’t even have to leave my house. Amanda decided to try out a recipe she found and it turned out amazing! If you ask nicely, she might even share it, but then again it is a really good one. But now that FOX-HD was off the air for most of American Idol, she might not be in a very sharing mood

EDIT:  Amanda says I need to post the proof. So here is a picture of them getting sprinkled with cheese before going in the oven…

Amanda’s uncle recently partnered with a restaurant owner to open a BBQ restaurant in Colleyville and we finally had a chance to try it out this weekend. I haven’t stoped hearing about this man’s BBQ since I met Amanda in 2000, and according to her, no place I have taken her ever measured up. Well now that I have experienced it myself, I have to say that Dallas Green sets the bar pretty high. I had pork, sliced brisket and chicken with sides of garlic mashed potatos and potato salad, and all of it was delicious. Yes, I ordered 2 sides of potatoes, and I loved them!! We’re already planning when our next trip up there will be.

Dallas Green has been competing and winning with his BBQ across the country for about three decades now. The walls near the entrance are covered with newspaper clippings from some of the cities he’s competed in, and if I remember right, there is even a World Champion medal in there as well.

If you’re ever in the area between Dallas and Fort Worth, you should check it out sometime.

Cowboys BBQ and Rib Co.
5220 Highway 121
Colleyville, TX 76034

UPDATE:  There has since been a falling out with the restaurant owner resulting in Dallas Green pulling his name from the restaurant.  The restaurant is still there, but apparently can no longer claim “Great food by Dallas Green.”