Facial Hair

Sammie recently started shaving with cream and a razor, rather than with his electric razor. I LOVE how smooth his face is afterwards. :)
This morning, I had just rolled out of bed and was still in my just-out-of-bed state of thoughtless stupor. I watched as Sammie squirted blue shaving gel into his hand then lathered it into a white foam on his face. He turned to say something smart alecky to me and I replied, "Whatever you do Sammie, please don't grow a long white beard with blue highlights."
Sammie came back with, "What about when I'm old and fat?" Only a slight pause, and then, "And do a reunion tour with the P-funk?"
Later, I was getting ready to take a very anxious and excited Phoebe on our morning walk. I was distracted though, by Sammie's clean-shaven, smooth (and very cute) face. I got carried away rubbing my cheek on his while Phoebe danced around us, trying to get me out the door. Finally Sammie said, "Sorry Phoebe, you have too much facial hair. I get all the attention!"

If you're averse to potty humor, you may want to skip this post

Sammie says there's enough "potty humor" on our blog and I shouldn't post this. But I think it's funny so I'm going to.
Recently, I played in a concert with the Nittany Valley Symphony. Among the pieces on the program was Mendelssohn's 5th Symphony called "Reformation." The last movement is the theme of the hymn "A Mighty Fortress is Our God." Mendelssohn is brilliant and I love playing his music.
I wanted Sammie to be able to pick out the hymn in the symphony, so before the concert, I prepped him:
M: Sammie, there's something I want you to listen for in the concert. Do you know what a movement is?
The look on Sammie's face said, "So many jokes, so little time."
S: You mean what I do in the bathroom 2-3 times a day?
M: (laughs) You know when you're watching a symphony and they play a really long piece and the conductor stop between sections and nobody claps? Well actually, a few people clap but you're not supposed to. (symphony snobs love to look down on between-movement-clappers, by the way.)
S: (face contorting with laughter as he tries not make any more poop jokes) yeah.
M: Well, that's a movement.
S: (unable to control himself any longer) So I shouldn't start clapping if I go to the bathroom in the middle of your concert?
M: (rolling her eyes) The fourth movement of the first piece we're going to play is the melody of "A Mighty Fortress is Our God."
S: So after I go to the bathroom for the fourth time during your concert, you guys are going to start playing "A Mighty Fortress is our God"?

Many of you know that our nickname for each other is "poopoohead." Well, for the next few days, Sammie became "movement-head."

Melba early for something? And that's what got me upset?

For Spring Break, Melba and I decided to head up to Niagara Falls and then to Palmyra. I have never seen the falls so it is now one more place that I have scratched off of my 'To-See" list. It was cold and windy, but we still had loads o' fun. We left home much later than we wanted to and by the time we got to the falls it was dark and there was too much mist to see them. The next morning, however, we could see them clearly. We ate donuts from Tim Horton's (tasted like a mouthful of sugar - literally), saw a life-size stuffed moose toy that sells for $15,000 (only about $12,000 USD) and then decided there was nothing else to see (everything is closed at Niagara for the winter season) so we left for Palmyra.

Hill Cumorah Visitor's Center currently has a Sister Missionary from Brazil and one from Italy. Melba and I spent much time talking to them in their native languages. Then we went to a local BBQ joint in Phelps, NY (it was pretty good) and went back to the hotel to relax. We both had achy feet after all of the walking we did at Niagara.

And then it happened. We looked at the news and found out that if Melba would have been two hours late in getting ready like she normally is -- well, we would have seen someone take the plunge over Niagara Falls and live. Seriously. We left Niagara around noon and some dude jumped around 2:15pm from the Canadian side right by the Horseshoe Falls which was right where we were -- there was hardly anybody there so it wasn't hard to stand at that spot for a while.

Well, it would have been traumatizing to see and maybe I could have caught it on camera which might have made me slightly more famous than I already am for having once played a gig with the former drummer of the P-Funk -- but at the end of the day, I think it would have been just traumatizing. I still would have liked to see it, though. After all, the dude lived so it would've ended up a happy story.

Here's a link to the story. TWO HOURS!! We missed it by only two hours!

Melba's note: I'm not "usually" two hours late. Only sometimes. I'm "usually" about 15-20 minutes late. Just wanted to clarify.

This is a Boring Post

I have a practical question for anyone who reads this blog. What is your system for organizing and filing paper at your home? I have a folder for everything--insurance, credit cards, tax receipts, etc--but they're not AT ALL organized. And then I have a folder labeled "103 Lincoln Ave" with random utility bills, homeowners info, and I-don't-know-what-else. I know that some of you are obsessive about organization (Hi Julie! Hi Cath!), and all of you are probably more organized than I am because it would be pretty hard not to be, so give me your tips...
Thanks much!!!!
ps - quick update - warm weather...spring break this week...going to Niagara Falls and Palmyra for a couple of days...started the process to sell our home...sad about leaving State College...Sammie's red hair still sticking straight up every morning...life is good!

Someone Has a Crush on Phoebe

Phoebe loves to give kisses. We're pretty tolerant of her licking our hands or feet (although that can really tickle) but don't really like her to lick our faces. That doesn't stop her from trying, though.

Phoebe and I also love to walk together. There's a little dirt road by our house with a young calf in a very small fenced-in area. I usually try to keep Phoebe away from the calf, so she won't scare it, but the other day I let her creep close so I could see what would happen. Phoebe pranced over to the calf's cage, nose in the air, tail wagging, very curious, eager to make a new friend. The calf saw Phoebe approaching and began to lower her head and move closer, also curious and anxious for a buddy. They slowed down as their noses neared each other's, inching closer and closer. They were timid at first but soon warmed up. Finally, the cow reached out her long pink tongue and gave Phoebe a huge slobbery kiss across her face!

Friendship aborted.

Phoebe turned with a shudder and ran away. I followed laughing and said, "It's not so nice, is it Phoebes?"

ps - I think Phoebe's tendency to "kiss and run" stems from her father. :)

Using up more of my allotted 15 minutes...

Well, it certainly wasn't like playing a gig with the former drummer of the P-Funk, but this time I had a slightly bigger audience. My good friend Mike asked me to do some voice over work for a video last week. That was all I knew about it at the time. Turns out that Mike' wife, Laura, works for the University and her office was responsible for producing a video for the PSU website to celebrate the sesquicentennial anniversary of the first day of classes at Penn State. Below is the press release which includes a link to the video. Enjoy...

On Feb. 16, 1859, classes began at Penn State for the very first time, with 69 students enrolled in a course of studies designed to prepare them for careers in the agricultural sciences. The campus' location in rural central Pennsylvania offered few amenities, and the physical plant was largely incomplete. As University President Graham B. Spanier notes in a brief video commemorating that historic day 150 years ago, "in spite of the primitive conditions they faced, those early students realized that a Penn State education offered them practically limitless opportunities. Opportunities to gain and create new knowledge, to develop character and personal values, and to serve society in leadership roles." To watch the video, visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kn6QmdTkduU

This is why you're fat

My dear friend, Mike, sent me this link right before our Insurance class today. The lecture, well, let's just say it created a prime opportunity to have a look at this site. If there ever was a student who obviously wasn't taking notes on his computer -- it was me in Insurance today. I thought I was going to bite my tongue off. And Paul (who sits behind me) was laughing just as hard as he looked over my shoulder.

I don't know why I think this site is so funny. Maybe it has something to do with how many years I spent as a bachelor. And I think that I know people who approach this website as an elevated degree of culinary inspiration. These people have big problems (no pun intended). I, on the other hand, don't find a sloppy joe inside of a Krispy Kreme donut appetizing -- I just find it funny.

http://thisiswhyyourefat.com/

There are 6 pages of pictures -- just keep clicking next at the end of each page, if you can handle it.

For the record -- I never ate stuff like this. I would get compliments from the female cashiers at the grocery store for how nutritious my shopping cart was -- especially compared to other guys.

Go Steelers!

For me, the best part about the Superbowl usually isn't the football. It's all the hype surrounding the event--trash talking, getting together with friends, the great commercials, bingo...

Trash Talking:
Sammie and I aren't huge Steeler fans, but we'd be tarred and feathered here in State College if we didn't cheer for them. My little sister Anna lives in Arizona and caught the Cardinals spirit. She called Sammie on Saturday just to tell him that Chipotle (Sammie's favorite burrito place) was giving away free food to anyone wearing red. Between the biting, chewing, swallowing, lip-smacking, and finger-licking she put Sammie in his trash-talking place. Following are some of the highlights of the conversation (which took place on speaker phone, so I got to listen in and laugh).
Sammie: It's bad enough that you guys have a Chipotle that you can just go to whenever you want. But FREE CHIPOTLE!?!
Anna: Don't feel too bad Sammie, until a few months ago, I didn't even know Arizona had an NFL team.
S: Yeah, well I wouldn't expect a University of Utah fan to know that much about football.
Melba: (loud laughter)
A: Yeah that's right. Now, remind me Sammie, how did the season end for the U?
I was very proud of my little sister. Sammie, on the other hand, threatened to block her calls.

Bingo:
The local newspaper printed Superbowl Bingo cards and I cut them out and took them to our Superbowl party at Todd and Donna Fuller's (school friends). It put a different spin on the game to cheer for something besides a stuffed pig skin. When the Cardinals challenged the Steelers' first touch down, some people in the room cheered: "Oh good! Coach's challenge - I have that one!" When a player would near the sidelines, Kelly would yell, "Trample somebody on the sidelines!" And when the ball went out of bounds, Shawn exclaimed, "A redheaded cheerleader!" We also searched for a coach covering his mouth so that spies couldn't red his lips, lip-readable cursing, an end zone dance, "D fence" sign, and a sleeping kid with a team jersey on. Shawn and Lauren ended up winning. I gave them a box of orange sticks as a prize.

Sammie the Smelly

In my last post, I complained about the low temperatures in Central PA and mentioned that we were anticipating some "low highs." Last Friday, we reached a whopping high of 8. During this mini ice age, Sammie and I were driving in the car when a rather indiscreet noise came from his side of the car. This was soon followed by an even less discreet smell. I followed standard procedure for this situation which is to quickly roll down my window, stick my head out of the car as far as it will go, and breathe deeply until I feel the air in the car might once again be safe for respiration. As I did this, Sammie complained that I was letting cold air into the car. I complained that HE was letting BAD air into the car. When I finally deemed the atmosphere in the car once again non-toxic, I pressed on the button to raise the car window and protect us from the bitter January afternoon. What an unlucky time to discover that our car windows weren't working properly. I sat with my finger on the button for what seemed like hours as the window slowly crept up and the cold air rapidly rushed in. Sammie's usually pretty proud of his indiscretions, but his embarassment rose higher and higher as the window rose more and more slowly.
Oh. And did I mention we were sitting at the drive through window at the bank?

New Year's Resolutions

My sister Martha is frustrated with me for not blogging more. She "suggested" I set a New Year's resolution to blog each week. I think it's a pretty good idea, even though I've already failed by missing the first week. Oh well. I have three random thoughts to post.
1 - The weather. 10-day forecast for State College includes 8 days of snow showers. Most daily highs are in the teens or twenties. Friday's high is 8. We actually had a discussion in Relief Society about not wearing earrings out in that kind of weather cuz they'll freeze to your ears. But it's not that bad. The next week, we'll have two days where we actually get "up" to 32 degrees! I better stock up on sunscreen. (I know, I know Cath. I'm thinking about you up there in Alberta...) On the other hand, 10-day forecast for Austin, where we're moving in May, is 3 days of partly cloudy and the rest sunny or mostly sunny. Tomorrow's high will be a frigid 49, but the next week it will make it up into the 70s. I wish I could bottle up some of this cold and take it out next July when I'll be melting and wishing we had moved to the North Pole instead of Texas.
2 - My mom. Those of you who know Lori undoubtedly know her sense of humor. The Monday after Christmas, we went skiing with 3 generations of Boyers! It was awesome! Mom was there, plus a bunch of my sibs and their spouses, and Matt, my nephew. I thought it was pretty cool that Matt was skiing with his grandma. Anyway, we were enjoying ourselves on Challenger at Solitude. It's one of the steepest hills I've ever skiied, but it's well-groomed, so you just have to keep your edges and make lots of turns. On about our 3rd time down, Sammie lost his edge in the middle of the hill, fell, and slid and slid and slid, ending up as a crumpled heap at the bottom of Challenger. (I can't remember if it was that run or another one, but as we were at the top he questioned why they would name a ski hill after a space shuttle that blew up.) Anyway, there he was wadded up at the bottom of the hill and I was at the top, wanting to laugh but needing to make sure he was okay first. My Mom, skiing ahead of me, was the first one to him. Upon reaching the prone, lifeless form of my husband, she said, "I guess now's a bad time to tell you that your hat's on inside out."
3 - Martha. (This is for "making" me blog. :]) We've always said that, since the day she was born, Martha has been in charge of the universe. These days, that translates into her being a natural leader and very talented, capable, and intelligent. When she was little, it translated into her being bossy. She could stare a hole through anyone with her dark brown eyes. And she wasn't afraid of telling anyone what was what. For example, we had a family rule that you could only have two rolls at dinner. Martha would count the number of rolls guests took and inform them when they'd had too many. My favorite quote about her, though, comes from a jocular and rotund man in our ward in Toronto, Canada. (Martha was two when we moved there and four when we moved home.) He informed my mom, "Martha is the littlest person that I'm scared of."

Double the Garmin

In my very first blog post, I mentioned that Sammie is retrieval impaired. He has the very endearing quality of NOT BEING ABLE TO FIND ANYTHING!!!!!!! And that is why Sammie and I have two GPS systems right now. They're almost exactly identical--both Garmins--except one is one month old and the other is one year old. We bought one last year before driving across the country for Christmas. It has become our favorite toy for road trips. It finds us the nearest Maggianos or Chipotle, tells us how far we have to go that day, and takes us to whatever address we plug in. With it, we found the Andersons in Raleigh-Durham, the Dal-Marks in Dallas, the Hou-Marks in Lake Jackson, the McLaughlins in Houston, the Linscotts in St. Louis, and the Powells in Austin.

Alas, last month Sammie took the Garmin with him to Arkansas and, upon his return, couldn't find it. We finally decided it was gone, that we needed to be more careful with it, and that Sammie shouldn't feel too bad about losing it. It could happen to anyone. We also determined that, despite our limited student budget, we should definitely buy a new one before our road trips over Thanksgiving and Christmas. We're happy with our new Garmin and have almost settled on a name for it.

Today, however, I got a phone call from Sammie. He's at school working in his office. He's mostly trying to wrap up the semester, but took a break from academics to call the State College tax office (again) and try to figure out our city taxes (again). He reached in his backpack to pull out his calculator and found... the Garmin!

He called me to tell me the funny news and put me on speaker phone so his office mate could hear me laughing hysterically. I haven't laughed that hard at him since he went to the eye doctor and came home with "nerd robot" sunglasses. He asked me how long until I let him live this down. I responded that we'd be married for eternity... He asked if I was going to make this story a part of the epitaph on his headstone when he dies. I told him that I hope there are very clear road signs to heaven, otherwise he'll never find it.

New Marketing Survey

OK, thank you very much (all 22 of you) who completed (on very short notice) the last survey I posted here. I have another one and I would very much appreciate it if you all could complete this survey as well. I'll need to type the results on Monday (12/1) -- so please do this one before then if you want your response to count :) It shouldn't take very long, but you'll need to understand the product before completing the survey. And I should forewarn you that some of the questions are a bit long -- please read them carefully and let me know if one of them seems totally whacked to you.

Here is a written description of the product followed by a picture:

Our product, the Recipe Manager, is a device which will allow a cook to work on multiple recipes at the same time as a collective meal as opposed to working on multiple recipes independently of each other. This product fills a key need identified by our market research – time management. The product will be a system into which multiple recipes will be inserted alongside each other and a light will move down the recipes to highlight the step which the cook should work on. A pause button can be used if the cook is slowed down. Each row of the recipe will represent one minute of time. Recipes can either be downloaded from the internet or made with a simple software package. The picture below shows what the top view of the product will look like – arrows explain what each part is/does.

In this survey, you will be asked several questions about the Recipe Manager. Some of the questions refer to the product itself; others refer to situations which this product will make easier.

Click Here to take the survey

Click on the picture to make it bigger.

Once a Utah Mormon...

I feel really in touch with my Utah roots tonight. Utah Mormon roots, that is. Recently, I bought a wheat grinder attachment for my Bosch Bread Mixer. I have been looking around for some wheat to buy for my food storage and finally found a feed and grain place that sold me 50 pounds for $13.00. So, tonight I ground my food storage wheat into flour and then made whole wheat bread from my Lion House Cookbook. And in the background, Sammie was watching the BYU vs. Utah game.
So when do we change that cliche from "Molly Mormon" to "Melissa Mormon"?
But my Pennsylvania roots are well intact, also. Samme and I are going to eat the whole wheat bread with locally produced honey. (The guys sells it in front of his house. He just puts different containers of honey on a table in front of his house with a jar for money and trusts his customers' honesty.) And we spent the afternoon in Beaver Stadium watching Penn State become the Big 10 Champs! And, in true Penn State Fan style, we watched the game in 30 degree (and dropping), snowy weather.
As I felt the feeling slowly creep back into my toes during the bus ride home, I realized I'm more ready to move to Texas than I thought...

Now joining the "Dal-Marks" and the "Hou-Marks" - the "Aus-Marks"

Well, it's officially official. I received a great offer from Dell that I couldn’t refuse – so we’re moving to Austin this summer. I’ll be working in Client Field Services – the same team where I interned from May-July. No other news than that. Melba and I are both really excited to be headed back to Austin. Melba insists that I’ll have to start putting all of my musical gear back to good use and get in a band. She is already looking into schools in the area and getting ready to teach. We’ve looked online at houses and Melba has made it a point to get a house with a nice guest room (hint, hint). We’ll post updates on our blog as things develop.

Phoebe's New Haircut

Melba came home tonight after babysitting for the Smiths. Toni brought home a gift for Phoebe -- a Dog Mullet. I swear to you that Toni is the only human on the planet who brings home gifts like this for the baby sitter.

Oh, and did you all know that Melba got glasses last week?

Marketing Survey

OK, something about hearing lectures for two weeks about coming up with ideas for new products and how to find out if there is a patent on them made me think that the first deliverable for my marketing class (due tomorrow) would probably be related to coming up with an idea for a new product and find out out if there is a patent on it. But no. I actually have to conduct some market research on a focus group. I mean, it says that clearly in the syllabus -- don't know why I didn't look at that until now. Anyways, enough about me being stupid -- I don't want such things on this blog to begin with. Wait -- I digress here. Seriously, though -- for those of you who are reading this (evening of 11/3), please click the following link and fill out the survey. I need the responses by tomorrow afternoon (around 2pm ET) so i can do the write-up and get it to the professor by the due date. It should take about 5 minutes or less. Thanks-


http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/?p=U2AS6Q539RHJ

Funkweiler vs. the Trick-or-Treaters

Sammie and I were excited for Hallowe'en this year. Last year was our first time passing out candy to trick or treaters and we thought it was a lot of fun to see the costumes and meet the neighbors. This year, I was soaking in the bathtub as the trick-or-treaters started to ring our doorbell. When I came out of the bathroom, Sammie's Funkweiler gear was suspiciously on the bed with a few key pieces missing. I went downstairs and, sure enough, there was Funkweiler--black afro wig and 70s polyester shirt--passing out candy to trick or treaters. It was fun to open the door and see the look on the kids' faces when they saw Funkweiler. But soon that wasn't enough. He started swinging open the door and yelling "boo!" That got some good scares. But it still wasn't enough. Sammie's creative (perverse?) mind never rests. He'd had enough of treats and decided to try some tricks. The next doorbell ringer was 20-month-old Isabel from our ward, with her parents, our good friends, Adam and Lauren. Funkweiler swung the door open and waited for Isabel to say "Trick or Treat!" When she finally did, after a few false starts and much prompting from her parents, Funkweiler pulled the water bottle from behind his back and sprayed it in Adam's face, yelling "Trick!" All three trick-or-treaters collapsed, two in laughter, one in tears.
Adam didn't cry for long, though.

My Crazy Wife

After laughing hysterically at this video, my wife went out with the Relief Society President and then sent her this email:

BYU went up in the rankings from 18 to 14. Sammie's ecstatic!

I told him about the Smiths moving and he was most unhappy. He was wondering if we were going to call him as the new RS Secretary. I told him probably not.

Thanks again for the meeting tonight. I'll e-mail you tomorrow.

Love you,

Melba

Birthday, Boyers in the 'Banx, and Ben Hur

After ending our Texas summer with a bang, we're back in State College trying to stay in the same city for more than a week at a time. Sammie's last day of work at Dell was on August 1, which is also his birthday. Now, I DIDN'T forget Sammie's birthday. I had asked him weeks before what he wanted and bought him plane tickets to Utah in September to watch BYU/UCLA with his Dad. But, I woke up that morning with a lot on my mind! We had to get Phoebe to the vet, pack up the apartment, clean the apartment, load the car, and drive to Dallas that evening. Sammie's subtle reminders of his special day (jumping on the bed, the wide goofy grin on his face) failed to jog my memory. It wasn't until I was signing Phoebe into the vet and the desk attendant said, "It's August 1st" that it hit me. The whole waiting room heard me gasp and watched me look at Sammie in horror. He thought it was hysterically funny... and will never let me forget it.

The second week of August found us in one big beach house on the Outer Banks with the entire Boyer family - 2 parents, 8 "original" kids, 6 spouses, 5 granddaughters, and 3 grandsons. It was a blast! Having the entire family together is magical. There's nothing like it and more than once during the week, I decided that it was like Heaven. Here's a picture of us in our "Boyers at the Banx" t-shirts.

(Funny story. As we were taking the picture, a car drove by and stopped to stare at us. We realized that the camera was behind a large plant where they couldn't see it, so it looked like we all put on matching t-shirts, lined ourselves up on the front porch, and stood there smiling.)

Sammie's back at school, feeling "big and bad" cuz he's not only a 2nd year, but had a coveted Dell internship and has an even more coveted job offer from them. He says it's fun to see the 1st years try to ask him about Dell without looking too eager. He and his buddy Paul are coordinating a "Champions League" to help the 1st years with their resume, interviewing skills, and job search.

I finished my 2nd day of teaching at Juniata yesterday, and feel like myself again. I forgot how much I love teaching. I also forgot, though, how tiring it is to teach 3 80-minute classes in one day. (How do you high school teachers do it? And you do it 5 days a week while I do only 2!) Yesterday evening, Sammie was at a "Champions League" event at school, so I flopped down on the couch with my laptop intending to do some work. As I flipped through the cable guide to find some background entertainment, I saw that Ben Hur was playing. It's been about 2 1/2 decades since I saw it, so I decided to have it on while I worked. Well, so much for working. I was absolutely entranced. What a great show! I love the panoramic view it gives of the Roman Empire. The Christian message in it was wonderfully profound--a movie with not just a "good message," but with THE good message! The characters are fully-rounded, complex, and moral (although I remember when I was little thinking that Judah and Esther were naughty for kissing so much before they were married). And speaking of kissing--romantic fervor isn't expressed by open mouths, tongues, and groping, but by how high on the e-string the violins are playing and the intensity of the bow stroke. Okay, okay, so the soundtrack may need updating, but the movie is magnificent. If you haven't seen it in a while, log on to Netflix, go to blockbuster, or sign up for cable and watch it!

We're Home

We got in late last night and all is well here in PA. My boss gave me Friday (Aug 1st) off as a 'birthday present.' I think it had more to do with that being the last day of my internship and there was literally NOTHING for me to do. Anyways, Melba took me to a nice birthday lunch at Macaroni Grill (they gave me a free piece of birthday cake), then we went home and packed and snacked on another piece of cake that Melba had bought for me (thank you, Melba) and then hit the road to Dallas. We stayed with the Dal-Marks -- always fun to see them and Laura had made a birthday cake for me (thanks, Laura). We left early Saturday morning and drove all day to St. Louis and stayed with the Linscotts -- spent Sunday with them (Thank you Carrie for the birthday cake) and then left Monday morning. We drove 15 1/2 hours yesterday and got home around 11:30pm. It was nice to be home. We'll post more details sometime later.

Here's something funny from the trip (since I know that's why you all come to this blog): Saturday night I woke up and realized we left something in Round Rock. I didn't mean to bring it, I meant to throw it away -- we had to leave the apartment empty to keep from getting fined for anything that was left. I called my good friend Brandon (Dell Intern from Duke) who lived at the same building as us and would be there for the next week.

"Brandon, I need a HUGE favor."

"Sure, whatever you need -- what's up?"

"Brandon, I left a small trash can on my porch that we used for bags of poop after walking Phoebe. Can you go throw it away for me -- PLEASE?"

Let's just say, I owe Brandon several favors now. Trash cans full of poop sitting out in the Texas heat make quite an odoriferous combination..........