Different Plans

So this morning I was reading how man's plans are not God's plans.

Today I had a lot planned... and then this happen....




This was definitely not in my plans, but then I HAD prayed last night that I get to meet some new folks today... so that prayer was answered! And fortunately the folks were still in town before heading up North for a week...
So we got to the station and set up everything with them... then home to wait for the call.

I had a 40 minute walk over to the station to get the truck in the afternoon.. it was hot and I started grumbling, but decided that I needed to listen to some music. Got out my music and started praising the Lord. It was all good. Truck is fixed and I guess we are all back in business. Which is good cause I have some more plans for tomorrow.... Okay God?

Dripping Springs

So today , three of us went to Dripping Springs. It was a nice cool day for it and I was hoping that the coolness of the day would keep the rattlers in their caves... but nooooo... at the ranger office I asked how many rattlers we might see and the ranger said, " oh they are out there." I was like great!


The trail to the springs was about 3 miles round trip... so we decided to go to the cave... la cueva...(the cave has had been a place of dwelling for many over the years.)

We got to the trail head and started hiking up to the cave... it was about 3/4 of a mile to la cueva. I of course, ended up walking third....great... I walked very slow and made a lot of noise.



The ranger had told us that the snakes had given up rattling before striking because when they rattle they end up losing their heads and rattles. ( it is illegal to kill them though) Apparently the snakes have wised up to shaking their rattles. in spite of it all...dad and Case saw only one rattler slithering out of the way... Case was so nervous that he ran away in spite of having the camera.





We did see a snake... it was a garter snake lazing around in a pool of water. He got that picture!

Lake Lucero

Driving out to Lake Lucero was a beautiful journey. It had rained the night before and so everything that early in the morning was fresh and green. We conveyed out to the trail head and hiked about a mile to the lake bed.



There was evidence of civilization. The Lucero brothers in the late 1800s had cattle ranches in the area and needed wells to water the cattle. Some of the equipment it still around.



The lake bed is covered in gypsum, a sulfate rock that is very soft and comes apart easily.You can actually scratch it with your finger nail.


The ranger explained how the gypsum is eroded down to grains of white sand... which is why the White Sand Dunes are on the other side of the lake.

I figured that God had actually taken the salt shaker from the banqueting table in heaven and shaken it out until there was enough dune to make it worth our while.



Dad was interested in all the other rocks we saw and the flora and fauna in the area. He would look down badger and rabbit holes and point out other critters scurrying out of our way.


The whole tour was about 3 hours. It was very interesting and we got to see a lot of things.... mostly gypsum selenite..sparkling in the hot NM sun.

Latest NM adventure

Today, the three of us went on an adventure towards the Mexico border. We took the back roads and stopped a couple places along the road.

We drove through the pecan grooves and cotton fields.
There Rio Grande is quite full because of all the rain that we have been getting and so everything is lush and green. I usually come home in the winter when it is all dead and brown. So I kept commenting on how green it all is. It is really a beautiful area...

Our next stop was at a garden shop. It was very large. One of my favorite things to do is crush herbs and smell them. So that is what I did most of the time. ( I am thinking of developing a scratch and sniff camera so that people can smell and look at the same time).
I was also able to take some flower photos..
Here are a couple photos..







God's creation is so beautiful just in the flora world. How can we deny a creator!?






and then you see some of these and it causes you to pause....




I guess Tatankas have a beauty all their own.


We crossed the Texas border.... and drove around the outskirts of El Paso, had some lunch and then headed back to the enchanting state of New Mexico...









It was a good adventure.....

SHL acts as Hazmat Crew

Teacher lounge fridges are a death trap for disease and disgusting goo!




Members of the SHL team jumped in to clean out the fridges and make the teachers' lounge safe and disease-free again.




Still Alive and laughing!

Adding to our SHL numbers...

So, more and more people are realizing that performing random acts of kindness while masked gives a higher sense of contentment, because you are not doing something to get attention, but because you really want to be kind! Way to go team SHL!

So the other day, Super G was inspired cinematographily and decided to launch her movie debut. Here it is!

( the fact that she had to act in her own film may cause a bit of confusion because the two actors have similar voices. But blame it on the unions.)