We decided to take another trip to Perdernales Falls. In stark contrast to the previous time, the river was quite full. You can see just a small portion of the water rushing down the slop of this rock:

It was much nicer to see TX out of the drought.

Anyway, one of the things we did while I was on spring break was to go to Enchanted Rock. We were a bit later than normal there, which meant that there were people there (and a bicyclist or two). It was a dreary day, and it started to rain a bit while we were there. Just look at the skys:

On a more sunny day, we went to a scale model of stonehenge (made out of concrete, not rock).

Also included in the location are two statues along the lines of those at Easter Island:

A sight to see none the less. It was in a pretty part of the country as well. Of course, the description of the place is not complete without mentioning the dog that was entirely too insistent on playing with a tennis ball. Here he is wondering what I am doing instead of throwing his ball:

Anyway, best close before I make this too long.

My parents have managed to tame some of the wild cats who would live around here. The first, which they named “Guest Kitty” has gotten really tame and would hang around quite a bit.

As you can see in the picture above, she is starting to get a little fat. I think that is mostly because she just hangs around the house most days sleeping away. Poor kitty is likely used to eating as much as she can get, when she can get it, and isn’t used to regulating her eating as much. Also, the fact that she has recently been fixed doesn’t help her out much either.

Missie is really upset at the kitties invading her territory. She seems to want to fight them off and leave the place to her:

Anyway, one of the reasons why I decided to visit my parents this weekend was the fact that my grandparents would be there also. On Saturday, we went to Lost Maples State Park. While we were there, I manged to get a picture of my dad with his parents. Not the best of pictures, but difficult to get better when one party doesn’t like to cooperate. Here they are standing next to a rock formation that sort of looks like a giant mouth:

Anyway, now I am back in College Station, busy with school work again.

I left College Station early since I didn’t have any finals. I took the opportunity to get away for some extra time. Currently, I am at my parents’ place enjoying the country. I managed to get a great picture of a thunderstorm cell in the west. It was taken during sunset, which is the reason for its colors:

Then, a few days later, some deer came up close to the house. Here they are:

Yesterday, we went to Lost Maples. We decided to go on the full east trail, which took us up the hill and back down the other side. On the whole, it took us about 3.5 hours to make the hike. There really wasn’t much to see on the top, but when we got down the other side, there was a nice waterfall:

Friday, the 23rd, we all packed up the truck and went to my grandparents’ place in Fort Worth. We celebrated Christmas there along with my dad’s birthday the following day. I actually didn’t take very many pictures this time, but I got one of Hallie with some of the presents.

She doesn’t want to be there and is looking for escape.

On the 27th, we made our way back to Fredericksburg. I mostly spent my time not doing too much other than some programming for Fire. Hallie decided that she was going to warm up to me a bit more, which means that Missie is no longer getting frightened. I think that Hallie is so melodramatic that Missie gets scared that she is going to be next.

Last Friday we went to Pedernales Falls. The water was quite low. You can see just how low in the picture below:

You can see quite clearly how much water is missing. The rock is discolored where it is normally covered by water. The water was so low in fact that I was able to cross the river without getting my feet wet. I got a picture of a set of falls which I have never seen before. This picture is taken facing downstream:

Those of you familiar with the area know that you have to cross the river to see this kind of view. The water in these falls alone is about 90% of all the water flowing through the river.

Saturday we tried to go to the restaurant that is located just next to where Old Harper Rd meets 290, making it just under 3 miles from here. My parents have never tried it. They are open for dinner on Wed-Sat, and open for lunch on Sat. This was not the case when we went by, but maybe they were just closed for New Year’s Eve. Hopefully they are not closed forever. Instead we went to Mamacitas. They were quite good, and rather reasonable. All three of us had fajitas and they gave us so much that we had to take some home and make another meal out of it.

Anyway, that is all for now. Until next time.

I went to my parents’ place over the weekend. My dad’s parents joined us on Friday, and we celebrated Thanksgiving then. It is nice to see the place finally built. Here is a picture of it completed.

Now if only it would rain so the grass could grow.

I also got a nice picture of a sunrise (yes that is right, a sunrise. I was up early enough on the weekend to see it)

7:05 am. Why was I up so early? Well, when your room faces south, and you have no curtains, the sun can wake you up rather easily.

One of the last things that we did was go to enchanted rock. My dad and grandparents didn’t feel like making the trek, so I convinced my mom to go up the little rock. It was far less crowded and still had a good view. We had never been up there, so it was worth the trip. The way back was interesting, because we didn’t have a path to follow. We had to just make our way bit by bit. At the end, I couldn’t resist getting this picture of what someone had done to the cactus.

Maybe I should claim that I see a face in there