Annoying auto-commentators

I published a post and within 10 minutes, I had 6 inane auto-comments from people I've never heard of. I've never really had a problem with that before (I've had to delete the occasional comment, but nothing outrageous). I'm requiring sign-ins on the blog and we'll see how that does. I don't want to have to moderate comments, but I can't be spending too much time deleting links to porn sites. I'd rather be doing something fun.

Summer Boxing

Summer in Houston is hot, and the boxing is of the short-hike variety only. That said, we haven't actually gotten out to find that many, as so far our summer has been relatively busy with a few camps and some other activities. The photo above was taken at Palmetto State Park, which is a lovely diversion near Gonzales, Texas. We found Boots Tex's fabulous box Ram I Am, which is on the short nature trail. The park looks like a Jurassic wonderland, as it is dominated by these large palmettos, the kind you see in South Carolina. Unfortunately, the box by Lone Star Quilter in the same park was missing, but it was still a fun (not too long) little walk. We were on our way back from a weekend in Wimberley.

My sister has moved to Austin, so we're looking forward to having the opportunity to find a lot more boxes in the Central Texas area.

Right now, most of our energy is going towards planning the Great Chile Cheeseburger Tour '08, otherwise known as our summer vacation to New Mexico and Colorado. We hit the road soon, and hopefully will provide updates as we go.

For old time's sake, here's a mushroom picture. As I was explaining to the folks in the mushroom hunters' postal ring (a small and very enjoyable postal ring I'm in right now), we don't hunt fungi like the rest of them. We don't eat the mushrooms, we just photograph them. We're the birders of the mushroom world, always trying to increase our life lists.

3rd Time's the Charm?

For the 3rd year in a row, my beloved Rice Owls are heading to Omaha for the College World Series. This team is NOT considered as talented as the last two years, but they sure are scrappy. I'm not sure how they'll do, but I'm thrilled at how they persevered this year and are one of the last 8 teams standing.

Because of family obligations, we couldn't attend the post-season series like we normally do. We did get to go to a couple of in-season games (where my 6 year old missed being conked in the head by 4 inches--and never looked up). So, because we couldn't be there, we let the kids stay up late last night to watch Rice's come-from-behind win over Texas A&M. The first CWS game will be this weekend, probably Sunday.

Last year, I had a Go Owls! box out all summer, and in 3 months, only one person found it. If you're interested in finding a similar box this year (I'll use a different stamp and a different location), I'll put one out in time for first pitch this weekend. Leave a comment. And if you're rooting for someone else in the CWS, let's get some cheering and jeering going.