Author: Steve

Texas was winning in a blowout, so they put their 3^rd string quarterback in for the fourth quarter.  The stadium erupted in the loudest ovation of the game.  That backup quarterback is Arch Manning, grandson of football royalty Archie Manning.  Payton and Eli are his uncles.  He’s 18 years old.  Six four and 212 pounds.  He’s got the size.  He was the number one rated high school prospect last year and he went to the Longhorns.  He has been quietly studying and practicing in the background all season.  We got to watch his first incomplete pass in college football.  Then his first completion.  Then a scramble for a first down.  A 3^rd down conversion.  A 4^th down conversion.  A 91-yard touchdown drive.

That was so much fun.  We’ve been waiting all season.  It was hilarious when the commentators described Arch as having the football smarts and arm talent of his two uncles, but he was also athletic.  How funny is that, that two super bowl champion quarterbacks would be described as not athletic.  They were referencing that the younger Manning would not be confined to the pocket like the uncles were, pocket passers even in their prime.  Arch has the added weapon of being able to move and threaten defenses with his legs as well.

And can you imagine the football education that kid got growing up in that football family.

There is the Thanksgiving turkey coma.

Even if it’s just from leftovers.

We can tell because any pile of warm laundry fresh out of the dryer that hits the front room to be folded is immediately claimed by him as the best spot in the house.

Cool calm and sunny outside.  Warm comfy and aromatic inside.  Food cooking all day.  An eight-pound turkey for just the two of us, and our two friends who are recuperating a broken bone at home in their place.  We take a couple plates to them.  Football.  Birds at the feeders.  Plenty to be thankful for.  The Christmas Tree on the deck getting decorated.  Our tradition at the Louisville House was to light the Christmas lights Thanksgiving Night.  We continue that tradition here, even with our lesser scale.  Speaking of scales, I hope everyone remembered to set their bathroom scales back five pounds to Thanksgiving time like we did.

Happy Thanksgiving everybody.

I don’t know all the different kinds of cactus that can grow here in Texas.  This looks like it might be a Peruvian Apple Cactus (Also known as Night Blooming Cereus).  We had a small one in our yard for a few years.  It really does only bloom at night, and each bloom only lasts for one night.

I read that the fruit is edible and tasty for humans or wildlife.  The cactus gets really big, and this fruit is way out of reach for me though.