We took a trip out to Possum Kingdom this weekend with some friends for the 4th of July.  Now, I am from Michigan, where pretty much every type of firework is illegal (save sparklers and the like).  Texas is no Michigan in that regard.  Fireworks are pretty much standard, and these are sizable fireworks.

Horror stories about people losing extremities while using these sorts of fireworks make me hesitant to mess around with them.  The guys I was with were more than confident at their own handling and use of these digit-destroyers.  One guy even went as far to say:

“Fireworks are perfectly safe as long as you use them properly”

This quote was tested and proven about 20 minutes later when we were scurrying around with hoses putting out three separate grass fires produced by one of these “proper” uses of fireworks.  Luckily, nobody was hurt – save for some egos.

All in all we had a great time with some great friends.  Possum Kingdom is a gorgeous lake.  The sheer cliff walls and clear blue skies made for a picturesque setting.  After a couple of days, we had our fill of plenty of sun, wake boarding, fireworks, and beer, and today we are nursing our wounds.  Some of us even needed to begin the wounds nursing in the middle of the yesterday:

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Owning a home comes with new chores responsibilities.  Mowing the lawn is something I haven’t had to do since living with my parents, so it was oddly exciting to start mowing my OWN lawn now that we have a house.

Feeling the pride of home ownership swell, I tromped into the backyard with my newly purchased lawn mower, quickly studying the land.  I notice on one of the stepping bricks, some little ants have attempted to make a mound.  I smush and scatter their home with my shoe, destroying all of their hard work, and I get on to mowing the lawn.

About 3 minutes later, in some sort of unholy synchronization, I feel several stings on my legs.  I frantically start swiping off these once innocent ants.  Of course, the act of swiping only seemed to spread them to other places on my body – including my arms and neck.

At this point, I was confused, and slowly realizing how many times I had been stung.  Michigan has no such little demon ants – I recall playing with ants several times as a boy.  Some days I would take the role of their merciful god and offering them chocolate and other goodies, and other days taking on the role of a benevolent overlord, causing spontaneous combustion with a simply magnifying glass.

Revenge was to be had on these new ants!  It took all of 60 minutes for me to check the internet, identify the assailants, and go to the local store for some fire ant killer.

Revenge was had swiftly, but they certainly left their marks on my legs.  It took a surprisingly long time for those stings to heal, and I think there are still little scars there.

I am happy to report though, our backyard has been fire ant free now for at least a month.  I swear, I’m not cowering inside afraid of my own backyard.

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So, strike that last post, reverse it.

We ended up walking away from that house, towards a nicer house.  The last house, we were forced to work with Haliburton’s Relocation company, which became annoying very quickly.  While the (latest) house doesn’t have a pool, it is on the end of a cauldisac and has lots of windows overlooking the park and lots of trees.  So barring any major event, we think this is the house that we will be moving into June 12.

For your photo viewing pleasure:

2008 05 New House

Now, remember, not all of our junk is in it. I took the pictures while the inspector what doing his thing.

See, the last two houses we put offers on, Jenni sent out big mass emails.  She has not done so yet with this one, due to how the other two turned out.

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Certain decisions in life are like that – the decision causes you to toggle between extreme excitement and extreme panic. Buying a house is one of those events.

I can say with pretty high confidence that as of this past weekend, Jenni and I have bought a house in Fort Worth!

Woah, it is like we are all grown up with ‘real’ jobs and a house now. Maybe that is a part of the freaking out. We won’t move in till mid June, so we have a bit of time yet. I will post more pictures once we actually move in and make it our own a bit. Right now, the pictures certainly have an old person feel to them seeing as the couple we bought the house from is at least in their 60s. Pool Party at my place this summer!

Per Amanda’s request…

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This past weekend, Jenni and I went to the Rahr & Sons Brewing Company in heart of Fort Worth. Amazingly, they give away free beer and a tour of the brewery from 1-3 pm every Saturday. This isn’t you typical free beer “samples” either – you bring your own glass/pint/mug/stein and they will fill you up four times before they cut you off. Their setup is simply in an old warehouse that is about a third full of brewing equipment. Everyone packs in and gets their (free) beer and listens to live music – an all around good time. Not sure how they do it exactly, but I’m certainly going back.

Rahr & Sons Brewing Free Brew and Tour Breakdown:

The Good

Free beer #1, free beer #2, free beer #3, and free beer #4. Yum. Good music, lots of people, bring a driver – after four of these suckers you are gonna need it.

The So-So

You end up waiting the the beer line for most of the two hours. You pretty much get a beer, get about 1/3 of the way done, then hop back in line so that by the time you are done with your beer, you are at the front of the line begging for more. This is made better by the live music and the social aspect of it all.

The Ugly

Two bathrooms + Hundreds of people + Four Free Beers each = really long lines for the bathroom. To make sure you don’t explode, you need to think ahead when you get that spider sense goes off that it’s tinkle time and jump in line right away.

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Today was an off-work Friday for me.  So what did I do?  Ran some errands, and one of them was the the lovely Walmart that we have had such good luck at before.  I just had a to pick up a couple things, one of which was windshield wiper fluid.  As I’m going through the self checkout, I scan the windshield wiper fluid, and the machine says

“Verification Needed, Please Wait for Assistance”.

Confused, I’m wondering if the weight sensor messed up or if I scanned it twice or something.  The cashier walks over, looks at me, and says

“You are 18, right?”

“Uhm, yeah…”

She proceeds to type in her employee code, to verify that I am “of age” to purchase windshield wiper fluid.  What…the…?  I thought checking ID and limiting how often you can buy Sudafed was a bit extreme.  Somewhere out there is a devastated 16 year old with a very dirty windshield.

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