Taylor leading the band

Most Friday nights we find ourselves sitting in the stands watching high school football. This past Friday was no different. Marcus faced off with Denton Guyer, who are the defending state champions. The best chance Marcus had of winning the game was before the kickoff. As soon as the ball went into play, it was pretty much a lost cause. Denton crushed Marcus. The highlight of the game, and the reason we even go to these games, is to watch the Marcus band perform. They are the defending Texas State UIL Champions.

It's sort of funny, as soon as the halftime performance is over, half the stands clear out. It appears that half the stands are filled with band supporters. If it weren't for the band, the football stands would be fairly empty, and the only sounds that could be heard would be the screams of pain coming from the Marcus players as they endure their weekly Friday night drubbing from the opposing team.

 Here the band cues up as the Drum Majors prepare to lead them onto the field.

 As seen from the home field stands.

 Here's Taylor standing with one of the band Dad equipment handlers 

as she get's ready to start the marching performance.

Taylor has the laudable ability to chat up just about anybody she meets.

And so the performance begins. I think she really enjoys this part. The hours she's put in to be given the honor of standing on the podium and conducting the band are mind numbing. She's usually up and out the door between 6:00 - 6:30 a.m., and doesn't come home until 10:30 - 11:00 p.m. On game days, it's usually not until midnight that we see her coming through the front door. You don't find many kids these days who are willing to put in that sort of commitment to anything.

House Guests

Meet our two new house guests, Adonis and Athena. 

Eight weeks old, looking for a home. Black labs. Any takers?

Friday Night Lights

A few photos from tonight's game. Still too hot to wear the marching uniforms. 

Yet another 100F day in the Texas. Everyone is ready for Fall to arrive.

Feline folly

As some of you might already know, Taylor has a keen interest in science and medicine. As one of her elective classes this year, she chose anatomy. She mentioned earlier this week that she would be dissecting a cat in the class, which I was rather jealous to hear. All we ever got were latex injected frogs and giant hissing cockroaches. Not much fun, but interesting nonetheless. 

I was sitting at my desk working this morning, when my cell phone beeped, indicating I had just received a text message. It was a message from Taylor. I took a quick glance and the message read:

"Soft kitty, 

warm kitty, 

little ball of fur. 

Happy kitty,

sleepy kitty,

purr purr purr."

The following photos were attached. I just about fell out of my chair.

And on the photo below, she prefaced it with...

"Insert Lion King opener theme song here."

Just for all the animal rights peeps who at this point are likely up in arms, she's not clowning with the cat, she's in the process of preparing the cat for the dissection. She also uses her free time on weekends volunteering for the Humane Society helping with adoptions of the the stray cats and dogs, of which there are literally tens of thousands of in this area. She also helps with all the dogs we foster, so she's not some sort of person who doesn't like animals – she cares deeply about animal welfare. She realizes that this is one kitty she couldn't save from the fate that some careless animal owner relegated this particular cat to.