howdy

Howdy everybody!
I know I've been remiss in the blog, but so it goes when there is a 2 month (almost 3) baby boy in the house.
So what's been going on here on the ranch?
Well, let's see...
I got 2 wisdom teeth removed by the wonderful Dr. Mcbee in Smithville.
I'm not being sarcastic (for once). I had a small cavity on the side on a wisdom tooth, so the best option was to take them out. The thought of that stressed me out, but the actual extraction was a breeze. The recovery was a bitch, though. I guess I am a big baby, but the following week I was a pill poppin' daddy. Norco was my friend.
During that time, our hopes for a little moisture were dashed as Ike moved from west to east to no chance we were getting any rain. I know the poor people of Galveston would have spared a few inches if they could have, but we saw nary a drop.
In the days prior to Ike's landfall, I, like many of my neighbors, furiously prepared the ground and planted winter grass in anticipation of the 'sure thing,' but all we got was a
little wind. Hopefully a little rain this fall will bring on the rye and oats I put out.

SWM

At St. Davids Hospital in Austin, Tx is a chair.
It is a sturdy nondescript stainless steel chair that is the reserved place for fathers before
they are allowed into the O.B. surgery room.
The chair faces a wall with 3 sinks that have the knee levers so the surgeons can wash their hands without turning a faucet.
Above the sinks are shelves filled with medicines with 23-letter names in bottles and boxes and bags.
This is where I found myself last Thursday at 2:46 pm.
I had been in that chair before on December 8, 2004, when Cate was born.
And the thoughts that go through your mind when you are in that chair.
I wondered how many fathers to be contemplated all the hopes and fears that laid in the room behind the doors just to one side of the chair.
Did they say a prayer to be strong and not to get a head rush when they stood up, so
they would not crumple to the ground?
Or were they strong assured everything was going to be all right.
As I was lost in these thoughts, a voice jolted me out of my musings.
"Mr. Miller, are you ready to see your son?"
I followed the doctor through the doors.
At 3:08 p.m. Samuel Watterson Miller took his first breath.
I forgot all about the chair.