Vision Splendid

The Killer Bee is glad to see them, but his stillness might deceive them.
For the Rumble he produces shakes the wakeboards racked on bars.

And he sees the vision splendid of the sunlit water extended,
And at night the wonderous glory of the everlasting stars.

Ah yes, the ballad of the Killer Bee (some of which was borrowed from Clancy). Either way, it is fitting for the kind of riding we have been doing these last several weeks. Mostly evening sessions which offer great water and epic sunsets. Yesterday was no different. The water was so calm, that we were riding all over the lake instead of pressed up against some shoreline hiding from the gusts. It was pretty sweet. Richard got his new board in,,, it looks like a snowboard but he did well. Tom had me get on the wakeskate which is sort of like trying to rope a steer while wearing iceskates. But it is great for popping off the wake and doing a cannon ball. Tom was great as usual, making the rest of us look like a bunch of amateurs. Thanks alot jerk. Oh oh, look at me, not only am I a doctor, but I can wakeboard better than you! Yeah Tom, that's what you sound like. Nah just kidding, you're a good dude.

SO anyways, got some good pics of Tom riding the wakeskate. That's pretty much all I got. The week is almost over; see you on the lake tomorrow. Hey Tom, if you can remember bring that camera you were talking about yesterday.

Laters,

jth

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------END

Night Riders

Nope, not that one. I'm talking about wakeboarding in the dark. It is AAAAAWESOME! Yes we did that yesterday. And Andre's shorts were longer,, which was kind of disappointing for Richard. He didn't say so, but I could see the look of let down all over his face.
The bindings... yep, they are bindings. They are Liquid Force "Shane Bonifay's". And they are colorful. Whatever board they end up on will be dubbed "Fruit Loops". I didn't give the nickname but it is appropriate in adn inappropriate manner. Let that one marinate for a minute...

It went down like this: we met up to ride and the water was flawless. Barely a breath of air on the water. We didn't even have to stick close to the bridge like we normally do. Literally, we could pull eachother across the middle of the lake. Plus there were only 1-2 other boats out there. Andre was brave, Tom almost landed a backflip, Wavewalker Wendy: Texas Teacher rode like a woman posessed, Richard caught big air and I did alright too. The sun left us but we didnt leave the lake staying long enough so that we could slide across black water chasing a boat that was lit up like the 4th of July. As a matter of fact the couple of pics where Richard and I are standing on the back of the boat about to drop in and ride, the light that is allowing the pic to be taken is from the boat lights, not the sun as it is already down. Good times. Tom got some great pics from the day and I will put them on here. We wanted to stay longer but we were ushered off the like around 9 by lightning in the distance.

Have a great weekend and holler if you want to get together.

-jth

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------END

Tuesday Shenanigans

So it's thursday, I just wanted to get that out of the way since the title of this entry is Tuesday Shenanigans. I am of course referring to the day before yesterday. It was a grand day of wakeboarding with the boys and general tomfoolery (I wanted to use the word "shenanigans" instead iof tomfoolery but I think that would be over kill.)(---The above picture has nothing to do with today's blog entry. Umair's brother actually took this picture and I thought it was hilarious so I decided to put it on here---)

I stopped by the Warming Hut to demo some bindings as I need some new ones. I got some Liquid Force Alpha boots and attached them to one of Dr. Sweet Air's old boards. Taking it easy and just getting the feel was my plan as it was the first time I had ridden since July 4th. The riding was fine as I didn't really jump or surf too low.

But it was Andre's first time to ride and let me just say that the guy is a genius, or unhinged... maybe a solid mix of the two. His second try, he got up and rode around like he had been doing it for awhile. By the end of the afternoon, he was attempting jumps: brave, yes -successful, no. Tom caught the first attempt on his I Phone. Just click on the picture to see the greatness.

Not only did Andre dominate the water, but he did it in absolute style since his bathing suit is from the 80's. I mean, the last time I saw a suit like that, I was watching CHIPs and Poncherello was at the beach solving a crime on his day off. What a guy.. there is no rest for fine officers like Ponch. No wait, I have seen shorts like Andre's since CHIPs. I watched Reno 911 last week. We'll have to start calling Andre Lt. Dangle.

It turned out to be a fine afternoon in spite of the shorts. It was just the boys, myself, Ferrari (Richard), Dr. Sweet Air(Tom), and Andre. As we racked the wakeboards, stowed the rope and handle, and turned on the boat lights for our 1-2 mile cruise back to the safety of the marina, Tom caught a shot of another great Texas sunset as a storm rolled in from the East.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------END

Obama-stravaganza

So I promised an update on Obama. Of course you have seen from my previous entries that Chia Obama is supposed to look nice and neat with the plants growing nicely, close to the scalp so it resembles hair.

I don't know if we have good air, or great water, or we just got a magical batch of seed, but the growth is incredible... except directly on top of his head. He just won't stop growing longer hair! The funny thing is that he is sitting in front of the window so the "Hair" is always leaning toward the sun so you can do funny things with it. Either way he kind of looks like a more stable Phil Spector. Have a good weekend. We are off to Houston.

PS, Enjoy a quick video of Nate doing work on the tube while he was in town...

Love, Hate and Blue Skies

What do I love? I love my friends and family, how cool are they! What do I hate? I hate Go Fast boats on the lake. First of all, they are absolutely pointless. They were designed as high powered off-shore ocean racing boats. Then they were utilized by the drug cartels to smuggle narcotics into the US. They could outrun the Coast Guard boats of the day. Then the coast guard wised up and got their own. These days every redneck idiot with a little cash drives one and sometimes kills himself and his passengers in the lakes of the south. They have 600 horse power and can go 120 mph. Well, if you keep them on a lake that is 8 miles long and 4 miles wide, you can get from the tip to the tail of the lake in 6 minutes. Then what? Well you turn around and do it again. It is really quite absurd, they drive like hell from one place to the other. And its not like you can ski or wakeboard behind them. They are always flying through the middle of the run while every one is trying to ride. Hey, if I lived in Miami and I would probably have one. But then I could go like hell to Key West or Tampa.

Blue skies + Killer bee. We had both of them this past weekend when Nate was in town. Nate was brilliant as expected on the wakeboard. Got up his first try and had several nice runs. The Bee is fully repaired and the new system can blow your bathing suit off. Monster even named an energy drink after our boat. (check the very top of the can) We were thrilled of course...

Stay tuned, tomorrow I will give you an update on Chia Obam... be excited!!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------END

I'm Still Alive

Oh, she walks slowly, across a young man's room

She said I'm ready...for you

I can't remember anything to this very day'

Except the look, the look...

Oh, you know where, now I can't see, I just stare...

I, I'm still alive

-Pearl Jam

It's true, dead men don't write blogs and I am sitting here doing it. But there was another John Hughes that passed away yesterday. A brilliant man that made some of the greatest movies of my generation. It is interesting to think also, that when I was watching Ferris Bueler and Breakfast Club, I was also looking at the school and town in which my future wife lived. Weird. Either way, the man was a genious.

I have alot of pics to put on here from last weekend when Nate the Great was here but I have been too busy to transfer them from camera to SD to hard drive. I will do it this weekend. Hopefully we are going out to the lake this afternoon aothough my back is still too sore to ride. I 'll holler back later. Have a great weekend.

PS welcome back Dr. Sweet Air.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------END