School's back in session

A few weeks ago we drove all of Alissa's "stuff" up to University of Oklahoma and dropped it off at her new apartment. Her apartment is so much nicer than the dorms, and it's less expensive, which is an added bonus. She'll be living with 3 other girls, 2 of which she knows from last year, one of which she went to high school with.

Here's the new place.

Here are some of the other roommates organizing the kitchen.

And here's her new room.

All 4 girls share a common kitchen and living area. The apartment complex provides the TV, furniture, WIFI, and cable. Not a bad set-up. Much nicer than anything I ever lived in at school.

And Taylor started her senior year this week. 

Here she is getting ready to head out for the first day of class.

And here she is making fun of her mother who is lamenting the idea of sending our youngest off to the first day of school, for the last time.

Ready to roll.

We went to the first football game of the season last night. Here are the Drum Majors leading the band to their place in the stadium. It was 103F at the start of the game, so the students were allowed to wear their hot weather uniforms (smart move band director). We've had some unseasonably hot weather lately, and there have been a number of kids who have passed out from heat stroke during practice. I think the ambulance has only been called to the practice area twice in the past week. Believe it or not, it's been a good week.

Getting ready for the football players to run the gauntlet onto the field.

During the game the band occupies the south end of the stands. The Drum Majors are placed throughout the band to conduct the various school/fight songs while the football game is underway. Taylor is standing in the middle (gray shirt).

The Drum Majors getting ready to lead the band onto the field. Taylor is on the left.

Another view. There's a lot of kids out there.

Here are the Marquettes (drill team) and backed up by the band in the "M" formation. 

Every halftime show starts this way.

And here is the band getting ready to start their show. Taylor has been given the honor of starting off every show this year. She's under the arrow. After the start, and while the band is marching/playing, she makes her way to the front of the field to conduct throughout the rest of the performance.

Just before the show I turned over our latest foster dog to her new family. It's the first dog we've ever fostered that has become attached to Jen, so Jen couldn't bring herself to be there when I turned the dog over to the new owners. Aside from that, work continues on the Wanderlust house. Between me and Alissa we've repainted almost the entire interior, gutted and rebuilt the girl's bathroom, textured and painted the kitchen, installed all new plumbing and electrical fixtures in the bathroom, kitchen and dining room, and are getting ready to finish the build out of the master bathroom. We had to hold off doing a lot of the interior work until the foundation had completely settled after having the foundation work done. I'm thinking in about another month the entire interior will be finished and then it will be time to bring in the carpet installers. Before that happens I have to lay about 1,000 square feet of hardwood flooring, but that should go pretty quickly since I've had some experience with that before.

And that's what we've been up to lately.

Random happenings around here

 Taylor made her drum major debut this week. 

It was around 103F outside. Looking forward to fall.

Here's the performance they gave a few weeks back for the parents. It's the first time the incoming freshman perform with the band in front of an audience. It was so hot they did it in one of the middle schools. They usually do this at the high school, but Marcus has been under construction all summer as they expand and do additional asbestos abatement inside the school.

 The front wooden fence is done. I'll tackle the back fence this fall once it cools down.

One of the puppies we recently fostered. They came to us at about 5 weeks. 

This boy was tired. Probably woke up with a stiff neck.

Here he is a week before he was adopted. One of the top 3 dogs we've fostered over the years. 

One I definitely would have considered adopting if we were in the market.

The Lifeguard getting ready to head into work to rescue young rich white children.

I was up way too early one morning to sit on the porch and watch the brightest moon in 100 years show his face. It would have been nice to have a decent camera to do a proper time exposure. This doesn't really do it justice, but believe me, it was so bright it was hard to believe.

This is Max. We fostered him for several weeks. He was adopted Saturday by a family with 4 other dogs, 5 boys, and 6 acres. I think he'll enjoy his life at the new digs. He was a really sweet dog.

Here's the Wanderlust girls' bathroom. It was a complete gut except for the vanity. I just finished it today, after having laid a new Travertine floor, texturing and painting the walls and ceiling, redoing all the plumbing, all new plumbing fixtures and trim. Getting closer to having it ready to rent this fall.

And here's a video of Taylor's conducting debut this past week.
(Sorry about the quality. I'll upload it to YouTube and re-link it here shortly.
Should be much better video and sound quality then)