San Antonio, TX December 2 through December 6th

"Smile Pam!" I caught her off guard.
I took loaded these pictures in the wrong order,
but I will tell you the story. This is after I tried
to ride...the cinch broke and I never got to ride.

Here is Jim and this 5 year old paint that he raised and
trained for herding cattle, roping etc... So he got him
all ready, put him on the walker and worked him a
little himself.
Jim showing me some of the leg movements he
uses on her.

Here Jim is trying to shorten my stirrups and if

you'll notice I put my legs forward on her. Jim

told me later he was amazed she didn't make a move

when I did that! It was when I moved my legs

back, she thought I was making a move and she

must have expanded her belly so fast and hard that

the cinch broke and I just slide off the side. No one was

hurt but it sure was funny. John and Pam were both

there with cameras and neither one caught it on film.!

A view of their pasture.

Pool in the back.

Front of house. You can kind of see their

dog Pepper in the foreground.

Jim at the restaurant "Papa Gallos".

Pam's dad Bob and Jim and I.

John, Skog, me and Pat out at a restaurant

we went to with Jim and Pam.

Pam, me and Jim at the restaurant.

Pam and and having a good time.

We arrived in San Antonio on Tuesday and after we got set up we drove over to Pam and Jim's. We hadn't been there for 11 years so we got to see some wonderful additions. They built a pool in the back yard and Pam put a 1000 sq ft photography studio. It was awesome. They took the piano out of it's own room and made Jim a TV room and put the piano in the living room and it was really nice. Pam's mother died in August (she is from Chicago) and she just got back the week before Thanksgiving from getting her dad to come down to San Antonio for a while. I think he likes it, but he is lonely and sad. They were married 64 years I think or more even....(I can't remember the ages of her brother and older sister.) Anyway, he is adjusting. We sure enjoyed his company. We made a run to the motor home to get a few things for dinner and also made a trip to the grocery store. Had a great meal and even better conversation.

Wednesday we just got up and threw on some clothes and headed over to their house. We had coffee and then I was going to ride. Well, it was pretty funny as I explained up by the pictures.

No one was hurt and we all got a good laugh. After that escapade we went out to lunch and a great Mexican restaurant and all stuffed ourselves. After lunch John and I went home to get a few things done and call Pat and Skog to arrange dinner for the 6 of us. We decided to meet at 6:30. Showered up and they picked us up for the drive in rush hour traffic to the restaurant. Pat and Skog were there and we really enjoyed our time with them. The restaurant was pretty crowded and very loud so conversation wasn't the easiest. We decided to meet in the morning for breakfast.

Thursday morning, John and Jim decided to go to Tractor Supply and so Pam and I thought we would meet with Pat and Skog by ourselves. We dropped Pam's dad off at Pam's sister's house. Boy, did she have a nice house.! She was going to get his prescriptions and do some shopping with him. Pam and I really got in a nice quiet visit with Pat and Skog. Skog is still on the mend after a bout in the hospital just days before Thanksgiving. He says he's feeling better, but I thought he was quiet. We discussed all the family members and filled them in on all their goings on. After lunch I went home for awhile and John got his hair cut. We then went over to Pam and Jim's for dinner and a poker game. I had so much fun...I love playing poker.

Friday John and I went to Pam's for a scheduled photo shoot. She took our pictures together and we hope we get a good one. She is one talented lady. She did a calendar for the female firefighters in San Antonio that raised 40,000.00 and gave her considerable notoriety.

Friday night we went see "Australia" and then to PF Changs for dinner. What a great evening.

Jim picked us up at 7:30 and dropped us at the airport. It was very kind of him. Our flight ended up being canceled for a mechanical and we got on the next flight in time for them to tell us that our original flight got whatever fixed and it would leave shortly. We decided to go ahead with the new flight and pray we could make our connection in Dallas. We were racing down the terminal to the next gate and they were calling our names! Good news is we made the connection and the bad news my suitcase didn't! American delivered it to me that night at 10:45pm. The joys of flying.

We didn't get any pictures of Danny (their son) nor their adorable Boston terrier, Pepper. We we fly back in January I will try to do that. Pepper is hilarious...he skate boards!!!!

I will try to get a blog in around Christmas. I have decided not to send Christmas cards, I am going to send New Year's cards....(unless I change my mind.)

Merry Christmas to all of you.