Maxwell Cemetery

Okay, I do realize that this is two death-themed posts in a row, so before you freak out and think I'm getting suicidal or something; I'm not. I simply like to visit cemeteries. Especially old ones. Texas happens to have a lovely abundance of old cemeteries, with really good headstones that stick up out of the ground(instead of Forest Lawn's, which are flat in the ground...to facilitate lawn-mowing...).


I enjoy cemeteries for photographic purposes, because they usually make pretty awesome pictures, but also for the historical factor. Cemeteries are instant history. There were graves in this cemetery of people who fought in the Civil War! That for me is pretty dang fascinating.


I am not creeped out by the death factor that there are a bunch of dead bodies buried under where I'm walking. Because that's all they are; bodies. And I don't think that cemeteries are haunted, I think they'd be the least likely place to be haunted. Because honestly, if ghosts existed, they's hang out in the places they lived, not someplace they only went to when they were dead.

(Also, note the trees in the background and how they would make an amazing watercolor.)


So anyways, here are my cemetery picture. I hope they're interesting to you photographically if not historically.

The Bunny Incident *If you scroll down, you will see dead bunny pictures. You have been warned.*

Since Dad told me that I have to blog the good AND the bad of life here in Texas, I am obligated to tell you this story.

Yesterday we were faced with a very strange mystery. We woke up to find(most of) the bodies of four baby bunnies on our back porch. Two of these baby rabbit bodies were missing their entire top halves. Head, front paws, just gone. I have chosen to omit the photos of the rabbits that are not whole, due to their gory and depressing nature.


It was weird though, because the blood you can see in that picture above is the only blood that was on our porch. This would give you the idea that whatever killed the bunnies did not do it on our back porch.

On that note: what DID kill these baby rabbits? Why would it leave them there? and Why would it only eat the heads?


Our guess right now is that it was an owl. That night around midnight, Dad was walking through the kitchen, and heard what he thought was a really loud morning dove with a deep voice. Upon googling, we found that this is pretty much what the call of a great horned owl sounded like. I'm still not sure why an owl would leave its food on our porch though. It wasn't like it just dropped it. They were scattered pretty far apart, and one of the halves was under a chair close the the back door. The owl would have had to land.

As for why it would only eat the heads, I have found two plausible explanations. Apparently the brain of a rabbit is one of the few places it's body where there is fat. So the owl could have needed the fat from the brains and so only ate the heads. The other explanations is that the head offers less chance of parasites than the lower part of the body with the stomach and intestines(where parisites like to lurk.) But the rest is just speculation.


My uncle had a similar incident. He found a headless rabbit in his front yard. His was full grown, but missing its head and one front paw.
We took the little rabbit bodies to the end of the nature trail where there was a field and dumped them there, since that was probably where they came from anyways.


And to make you feel better...here's a picture of a live bunny.

That Wylie Band

This morning we all got up early and headed over to Kerry's lovely house to have breakfast and see the Wylie High School Marching Band go by. We sat on her driveway in camp chairs and ate scones and eggs and delicious monkey bread. Then we cheered and clapped for anyone who ran or drove by before the band got to our street. Just to confuse them.


The Wylie High School Marching Band is pretty well known around here, because its HUGE. Football is such a big deal here that if you aren't playing in the games, you're pretty much in the marching band.


They were marching all around our neighborhood for a fund raiser. If there were enough people, or if they donated enough, the band would stop and play a song for them.


With much hootin' and hollerin' we got the band to stop for us, since we were a group of ten people, and we donated.


Later, when Dad and I were driving back from the nature trail, we saw them again! So we pulled over and listened to them.


Oh, and the Wylie High School mascot is the Pirate(the middle school mascot is the marauder, so there's a big pirate theme.). They're the Wylie Pirates! ARRRRGG!(or as I like to say...YAAAARN!!)

Dickie's Barbeque Pit

We tried another barbeque place the other day. This one was called Dickie's, and yes, it has a drive-through. I feel a "You know you're in Texas when..." coming on...

You know you're in Texas when you can get barbeque from a drive-through.( I feel this says something about the human condition, but I'm not sure what...)


Dickie's offers a lot of coupons, and is cheaper to eat at than Spring Creek Barbeque, where we went with Grace's family. But I think I'd still rather pay more and go the Spring Creek Barbeque. It's not that Dickie's was bad, it wasn't, but Spring Creek Barbeque was just so much better.


Final Reveiw Spring Creek Barbeque Vs. Dickie's
Better Price? Dickie's
Better beef? Spring Creek.
Better chicken? Dickie's
Better pork? Spring Creek.
Better sauce? Spring Creek.
Better bread? Spring Creek
Cheesier Mac'n'Cheese(Yes, I DO count this as a valid criteria.)? Spring Creek.
Cuter Workers? Spring Creek.
Free dessert? Dickie's


The Ruling:
Spring Creek Wins.

Homemade Marshmallows

Here are some more pictures of the homemade marshmallows we had at Aunt Cori's birthday party. They were delicious plain, dipped in chocolate, or roasted.

Kuchen

I tried making a new dessert. It's called Kuchen, and I'd never had it before, but Mom and Dad have. I don't think this version is really that close to authentic Kuchen(I wouldn't know.), it was made with peaches and sour cream. But I think it was better than cobbler, because cobbler never seems to work out for us.

Happy Birthday Aunt Cori!

We went out to Cristina's for Aunt Cori's birthday. It's really good, and about as normal as Mexican food gets here is Texas.


After dinner we hung out some more; laughed, told stories, and roasted homemade marshmallows with a lighter.


By the way, these were the best marshmallows I've ever tasted. Especially when covered in chocolate...


Oh, and then we ate some more. Cake. yum! Happy Birthday, Aunt Cori! I hope you had fun. :)

Room Invader

I forgot to mention...I had another little room invader. That's two now. Maybe geckos can smell fear...

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day

Mom and I FINALLY got to see Miss Pettigrew lives for a day! We've both wanted to see this movie for a really long time. The story was pretty weak, but it was a really cute movie.

The Story: Amy Adams is adorable. Miss Pettigrew has to help Delysia(Amy Adams) to stop being a floozy and pick a dude. She has to choose between...

A twelve year old boy(ew, look at him. He's icky.),


An old, rich, bossy dude(Lord Blackwood from Sherlock Holmes...),


And Lee Pace! Yeah, I'd go with that one too, Amy.(For anyone who hasn't caught on, I seriously like Lee Pace.)


Lee Pace plays a moody piano player(he actually learned to play the piano for this part! yes!) whose accent meanders all over Europe, but you can't blame him, becuase he's so dang cute. He even sings! No, he's not that great at that either, but who cares?! I love that he tried. Also, I love that he's in this movie.


Everyone gets a happy ending, which you pretty much knew from the beginning of the movie. Miss Pettigrew gets her man(Ciaran Hinds, who is in the bbc version of Persuasion and is in Phantom of the Opera. He's like one step down from Alan Rickman on the cool scale.), who leaves his woman(Moaning Myrtle) to be with someone who actually knows how to smile.

(Girlfriend totally has waltzing issues, so this whole scene is zoomed in on their faces, so you can't really tell. But no scene shows Lee Pace's fingers when he's playing piano, so he looks like he's faking. What's with that?)


Amy Adams realizes that Lee Pace is pretty much the cutest thing ever, and they end up happily ever after, in America, where Lee Pace doesn't need an accent.



And all the costumes are amazing. The end.

New Books

I got my new books for school! Wow, were they expensive! They cost more than all my classes. My pre-cal book was $200.


I probably could have ordered them online, but they weren't much cheaper and I knew I was going to freak out about whether they arrived in time. So I just went to the school bookstore. We were expecting it to take forever, and have to wait in line for hours, but there was no line. It didn't take long at all. It was way easy, which made me think that I'd done something wrong. But I hadn't.

Oh, and I also go my school ID. That was really easy to get too. Collin College is way less crowded than California schools I think.

New Level of Nerd

This is it. This is the post where I reveal that I have reached a new level of nerdyness never before seen. I knit a hermione hat. Nerrrd.


It's a replica of her hat in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.


I would love to knit her scarf too, but I don't know that I can find yarn colors that match the movie version, and I've never done fair isle knitting before.


Here it it! I worked on it while watching the movie and complaining about how it's not as good as the book; which I also read while knitting it...


Can you tell that Misty totally loves it?


aaaaaaand, lets just throw this picture in too. Because I like it. :P