It's been busy

Lots of things going on here. The yard has been overgrown over the summer with lots of rain so everything was looking a little like some jungle in southeast Asia. So with Lorrie's guidance, I had Ken, our friend and major gardner here, do a major cutting back of the plants so that now after a couple days of intensive work, the yard is starting to have a much more tidy look. Sally always had many pots full of various plants. We are trying to simplify things and so many of the pots have now gone to new homes -- friends who wanted a little of Sally in their yard. I think she would approve. There are also some things about the house that need fixing and I am working on those. So I hope that in another week or so everything will be ship-shape.

Our swan has been here most days at least for part of the day. He (she?) must be flying around and exploring the area, but he has come back so that I see him early in the morning but not later in the day. Who knew that there were swans flying around looking for a home?? I hope he decides that this is a pretty good place to put down roots. It would be great if there was a mate so that we could have some "ugly ducklings" and then some more swans. It is interesting to see the swan interact with the ducks. He is always graceful but there is no doubt who is in charge. He will threaten the ducks a little and they will back off if they are both in the same area.

In addition to all the house stuff, I am keeping busy with some consulting--spent a few days in Boston and almost got stuck in a Nor'easter last week, but made it home ok. This week I went up to Lexicon, my favorite little pharmaceutical company here in the Houston area. I plan to spend more time with them helping them to be successful--hope it will help.

Have also been spending good time with Lorrie, John, Stephen and Andrew. The boys are in a great HS band program. We went to a regional

competition last week and they got first place against schools of all sizes. In a month they will go to a National competition in Indianapolis. It is exciting for them and for us as well. Here is a picture of all ten finalists at the regional competition. There are about 2000 kids on the field. It was exciting as they announced the winners of the competition.