You say tomato...

It's been almost a week, and I'm happy to report that the spider situation is under control. I would also like to mention that Jeremy, the spider expert (weirdo), has pointed out that the spider in the pictures is not actually a black widow. I'm not saying I was wrong, but I will admit that I didn't examine that one too closely before I took the picture. I needed a picture for the blog, and the spider in question was the only one posing for the camera. I am quite sure however that there were black widows on my porch. If another one shows up, I will get a picture and right all wrongs I have done to the spider community. Now that all of the spiders are dead, I will have to dig a little deeper for something interesting. Tonight I went to the fridge. Last week in New Mexico, we stopped at a roadside fruit stand to pick up a couple of things. I am food adventurous, so I am always looking to try new things. On this particular day, I discovered tomato preserves. It's good on biscuits; it's good on a turkey sandwich. I'm sure it's good on a ton of other things. I will let you know. If you are wondering where you can pick up a jar of this wonderful concoction, you can click here. Amazon has a few different brands as well, but wouldn't you rather support a small business? We have bought other things from there as well, and everything has been good.

Arachnophobia

Life is never dull. Tiffany's grandfather passed away this week, so we made a trip to New Mexico for the funeral. I wish the circumstances had been better, but we did enjoy spending some time with her family. We got home late on Friday night, and have spent most of the weekend around the house. We did get out yesterday for a little while to run a few errands and to go to the movies. Of course I'm talking about the new Batman movie, The Dark Knight. We both liked it. I would rank it right up there with two of the greatest sequels of all time: The Empire Strikes Back and The Godfather Part II. It is much darker than the last one, but the acting is superb throughout. With the money it has already made this weekend, I am sure there will be another one. Personally, I can't wait. In other exciting news, I think we are being invaded by spiders. Before last month I had only seen about two black widows in my entire life. I have probably killed about six since last week. It's not that I'm afraid of spiders; I just don't want them on my porch. Other than pest extermination, we don't have any big plans for the next couple of weeks. Unless plans change, I will have to make something up to put on the blog. Something will probably come up. If not, there will probably still be spiders.

The Ides of July

Some weeks I have a lot to write about. Some weeks I don't. Some weeks I have a lot to write about, but I don't get to it until about two weeks later. Currently I am blaming Guitar Hero. Tiffany spent two weeks in Midland training for her new job. While she was gone, I made a quick trip to Colorado for a wedding. My friend Travis Uhlenhopp got married over the holiday weekend. It was wonderful to see the entire Uhlenhopp family. The last time I had seen any of them was at our wedding in 2000. There were a couple of the groomsmen who I hadn't seen since 1992. It's always good to see old friends, as well as my favorite (only) sister who was in the wedding. By the way, the guy in the picture with me (not the one with my dad) is Callie's date Ben. In another chance encounter with old friends, this Friday we had lunch with another friend of ours. I met Jerry when Tiffany was living in Midland, and we have kept up via email ever since. He has been living in Louisiana for the last several years, but they stopped here on their way to visit family in Midland. I'm not sure how long it has been since we have seen them, but I'm sure it's been a long time. Things are starting to get back to normal around here. Tiffany is settling in as the cosmetics manager. It seems like she's home a lot more, so I guess it's good that we still like each other. Since she is working normal hours now, we are going to try and drive to work together a couple of times a week. Mostly this is in the interest of saving gas. I don't know what we were thinking moving further away. I don't think anything else is going on this week. I think it might rain tonight, which is what constitutes big news in West Texas.