Catching up...

I have gotten permission from my company to build one of their floor plans, so I have started the building process for my parents. I'll post progress pics over the next several months. First however, I have to have a soils test done, which will take about 3 weeks. I can then have the foundation engineered to the soil. That will take another 3 weeks, so as of right now, I won't start actual construction until September. In the mean time, I received the plans from the draftsman today (we made some custom changes to the house), and I will be sitting down with Mom and Dad this weekend to finalize the plans. Here are a few pics of the lot.

My parents have sold their home in Oklahoma, which was about 260 miles north of where I live in Texas. They are now living in their travel trailor until the house is complete. Most of the time they are camped in a camp ground about 5 miles from the future home site, which is about 50 miles from where I live, but sometimes they hook the trailer up to the truck and just go. Ahh, the joys of being retired. They plan to spend the winter in south Texas where is is warmer. The also plan to make a few trips to the hill country of Missouri. It will be nice to have them closer.

Today I had stitches removed from an out patient procedure, which was performed last week. I had a cyst that developed near my left ear under the skin, which looked like a small lump under the skin near my left ear. I now have a full beard, but not by choice. Apparently AQ likes it, so there's a chance I'll keep it for a little while.

Speaking of such, I've known AQ for the last 5 years, as I met her in 2001 in our singles group. She left the group for about a year and a half, then returned to the group about 2 years ago. We started dating last October, and we will be getting married next March. I plan to post the story of the engagement as well as pictures of that evening on my blog when I have a chance, though I doubt it will be tonight, since I host a guys only bible study at my house on Tuesday nights, and Wednesday nights I spend with AQ at her house. AQ has already posted a couple of pics on her blog at http://just4myopinion.blogspot.com/ She has pictures of us with our parents on Mother's Day as well. AQ is also working on setting up a separate web site about the wedding details, complete with location, dates, pictures, gift registers, and so forth, so all of our out of town friends and family can be completely informed, and can send their regards if they are unable to attend. When the web site is ready, I'll post a link for it as well.

I'm also still working on remodeling my master bathroom. I hope to get one step closer to finishing the tile work in the master shower this weekend. I've also got a house full of Mom and Dad's belongings, since there wasn't enough room in storage, so I hope to be able to start organizing some of that this weekend as well. My garage is full of their boxes, and I can't park my truck in it anymore.

EP is currently on her second trip to England, and is helping with Holiday Club at Thornaby Baptist Church. Her Blog address is http://ising4him.blogspot.com/ and she has already posted in her blog about the flight and first day. She flew in to Manchester on Saturday along with Michelle and Kasey and 75 youth!! Michelle didn't go to England the year I went, but Kasey was there.

That's all for now. Next time I post, I'll give my side of the story leading up to the BIG QUESTION.

I'm Still Here

Just in case you were wondering, I'm still here, and there's a lot going on. I haven't forgotten about you guys, or the blog, and I still intend to gear a few posts towards "The DaVinci Code" once I'm done reading it. That's right, I'm still reading it. I'm not quite half way thru it, and one of the main threads at this point seems to be the idea of the sacred feminine. Also, one of his tricks is to use carefully chosen (and carefully omitted) historical facts, such as information concerning the Brotherhood of the Nights Templar, adding fiction in the historical gaps, and integrating that into his fictional story. To give this account "credibility", the character used to divulge the information is a "learned" man in the academic world. Anyway, enough of that for now.

Another activity in process, in addition to the shower tile I've been working on, is preparing to build my parents house in Sherman. I have been given permission to use one of my companies floor plans (after jumping thru a few hoops and signing my life away), and I should be getting the revised plans back from the draftsman some time next week. It's going on a golf course lot, and is a single story house, which runs about 3500 s.f. The major change is making the garage 3 feet deeper for dad's truck, and extending the garage to a 4 car so there's room for a shop area. Anyway, the sooner I get it done and built, the better. I have some of their stuff boxed up in my house and garage, and I would like the space back.

Today, I went to my first Sci-Fi Expo. Most of the stuff was interesting to see, but I was more interested in the autographed photos. Thanks to PoD, who introduced me to Firefly and Serenity, and AQ, who has a sizable collection of autographs, I have started my own collection of autographed photos. I pulled out my script of "Return of the Jedi" which was given to me years ago by a college roommate, and now have autographs from David Prowse (Darth Vader) and Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca) on the title page. I also picked up:

One of my favorite characters from the prequel movies, Ray Park as Darth Maul!!

The main reason for going however was to get an autograph from Allan Tudyk, who plays Wash in the Firefly series and the movie Serenity.

I also got to set in on an hour long Question and Answer session, which was really cool.

Maybe next time one of the other actors from Serenity will be there, and I'll be able to add a second autograph to my Firefly cast photo.

On a less upbeat note, A member of our singles group lost her Grandpa this week to a stroke. My prayers are with you Christina.

PoD, hang in there, I'm praying for you.

Ta for now,

Darcy

What would men be without women? Scarce, sir...mighty scarce.

- Mark Twain