Yesterday we were with the San Antonio Parrot Heads for our quarterly volunteer time at the San Antonio Food Bank.   In three hours the team of volunteers portioned out over 10,000 pounds of pinto beans and rice.  We were fairly tired by the end of the three hours, but we all felt good about the work we did.   The San Antonio Food bank serves 16 counties in South Texas -- for the area that they serve, the overall poverty rate is 16.5% and the child poverty rate is 25%.  That makes for a lot of hungry people that wouldn't have enough to eat if it weren't for our food bank. 

I urge you to volunteer your time or donate food and/or money to a food bank near you.  If you don't know where the nearest one is, the  Feeding America website has a handy lookup tool located here: http://feedingamerica.org/foodbank-results.aspx.  I'm not sure about the statistics in other states, but in SA, even a small donation can make a huge difference. 

Had a blast at the C. Tx. Pirate Ball this weekend.  The entertainment was good.  I particularly enjoyed "Stars on the Water".  At the pool party, I roamed around and introduced several parrotheads to my sassafras loki.  Everyone was tuckered out on Sunday, and in spite of brunch-time entertainment, many of us began the drive back home as soon as we ate breakfast.  Looks like a good amount of money was raised -- not sure what the total was, though.
I managed to score some booty while we were there, including

• A parrothead bar towel and C.Tx. PHC engraved flask from the raffle
• Large wine-themed basked of goodies (and 4 bottles of wine) from the silent auction
• First place trophy from the Pirate Costume contest

All in all, a fun weekend. 

This weekend musicbyoscar and I will be attending Central Texas Parrot Head Club's 6th Annual Pirate's Ball!!

Like most parrot head weekend events, this one is a fundraiser with a variety of Trop Rock bands performing.  I'm looking forward to the event, but I do kinda wish they'd have some entertainment besides Trop Rock.  (I enjoy trop rock, but I miss the shanty-singers and entertainers that  I was accustomed to at Pirate events in DC and Virginia.)   

So here's my view of the weekend:
Yeah!!! to dressing up like a pirate
Boo!!! to the being stuck in I-35's traffic
Yeah!!!  to silent auctions and raising funds for a good cause
Yeah!!!  to lots of live entertainment
Boo!!! to the lack of shanty singers / piratical entertainment
Yeah!!!  to getting away for a weekend with musicbyoscar 

That about sums it all up....

Today was highway clean up day with the San Antonio Parrot Head Club.  We had a solid turnout and we collected over 40 bags of garbage on Military Highway, north of 1604.  After the clean up, we went over to Freetail Brewery to enjoy some refreshment.  Oddly enough, we had so many folks turn out for the clean up, we were finished long before Freetail was due to open.  musicbyoscar made a quick phone call to the brewhouse, and they agreed to open up early.  Scott Metzger (the owner) even provided us some nachos as a thanks for cleaning up the highway that runs beside the brewhouse.  Those guys are the greatest.  And their beer is delish!  I'm loving the Danny Mijo. 

In pirate garb for the first time in a couple years.  Tonight's SAPHC happy hour is a pirate-themed one, and musicbyoscar and I are performing... together.  Everyone cross their fingers!!! 

Saturday was our Phins for Pins bowling night with the San Antonio Parrot Head chapter.  I had tons of fun, and my bowling is starting to improve.  Got a few strikes and spares the first game, and then everything went downhill from there as my arm got tired.  All in all though, I'm just happy to be able to bowl again.  I used to bowl in a league (some twenty-odd years ago) and loved it.  But when my muscle disorder robbed me of all my hand-strength and left me with arthritis-like symptoms, I gave away all of my bowling gear.

But, thanks to the internet, I discovered a retractable-handle bowling ball that I can bowl with.  It's taken me a few visits to the bowling alley to figure out how to use it, but it means that I'm finally able to go bowling with friends and do more than just keep score.  (Besides, most bowling alleys now have automated score-keepers.)  I haven't figured out how to put any spin on the ball -- but I am getting better at aiming it.  

If any of you have a loved one who was unable to bowl due to arthritis, you should let them know that there is an alternative.  They are available on several websites, and one company has even put out a YouTube video to promote them in hopes that some bowling alleys will actually buy some and make them available to their clientelle.

This morning was highway clean up with the San Antonio Parrot Heads -- we had a great turnout and were done by 10:30.
Now it's time to clean up and party!

My darling Rachel loves her new pirate parrot boat!

We bought it last weekend, and since then she has spent every afternoon in the boat sailing the high seas in my home office.

On Saturday, musicbyoscar and I volunteered (along with several other San Antonio Parrot Heads) to sort and box food at the San Antonio Food Bank warehouse.  Our Saturday afternoon volunteer crew managed to sort over 7000 pounds of food, and packed 125 boxes of food (each box contains 55 pounds of assorted condiments, canned goods, cereal, and dry goods). 
This was our second time to volunteer at the Food Bank with the Parrot Heads -- and I guess I pushed myself much harder this time, because my entire body is still a little sore.  All in all though, it was worth it, and I'll gladly volunteer to go with the Parrot Heads again the next time.

Although this isn't exactly the experience I had (after all, it was over 100° on Saturday) - it's a great comic strip for saying a lot with very few words.

We have our tickets for the Third Annual Very Vodka -- which is one heck of a party, and a fabulous bargain at $25.  I vow to not make the same mistake this year that I did last year.  This year I will eat something before I go.  Last year I learned that it takes more than a few hors d’oeuvres to soak up ten Grey Goose martinis.   All in all, we had a blast in spite of how inebriated I became.  Good thing my husband is sturdy.

I'm wondering who we'll meet this year.  Last year we met a few of the local Parrotheads -- and wound up joining the San Antonio Parrothead chapter because they were so much fun to party with.  Speaking of the Parrotheads -- tonight is our monthly happy hour at Crabby Jacks - so tonight's drinking is merely a work out to get us in shape for the main event on Friday.

When we first moved to San Antonio, we tried attending some of the local meet-us for rennies, and we decided they were not the crowd for us.  (And I used to think I could get along with any group of rennies!)  Anyway -- fast forward to a few months ago, and we met some fun people at the Very vodka festival.  Turns out they were members of the San Antonio Parrot Head Club.   Believe it or not -- these folks remind me of most of my rennie friends from MD.  They party with a purpose, and do a lot of events to raise money for charity -- and most of all, they're FUN.  (while the local rennies seem to be mostly depressed, rude, self-centered, humorless Johnny Depp wannabes who wouldn't help their own mothers cross the street.)

We joined the SAPHC at last month's happy hour and attended their charity night golf event earlier this month.  Met lots of folks and had a great time at both events.   Tonight is our monthly happy hour, and I'm totally looking forward to it.   Although I'm bummed that we'll have to leave early due to our karaoke show at the Lion and Rose. 

Speaking of the karaoke show ---
The contest is coming to a close, and we've had some interesting competitors so far.  If you're interested, check them out at MusicByOscar.com.