What time are they walking the cows down the street?

It has been a while since my last post, so I apologize.  There hasn't been much news in the way of taxes.  We just recently surpassed the 1000 mark for number of returns prepared.  Overall though, business has slowed down a lot.  We only have between five and ten appointments in each location per day, so you can imagine the amount of down time we have.  Since I last posted, I have read three books, and I am starting another one tomorrow.  It often feels like we are wasting our time because so few people walk in for appointments right now, but I know helping one person is just as important as though we had helped twenty.  Next year there is discussion of cutting back sites and co-sponsoring with another non-prof here in Wichita Falls, so that the team has the option of working there on slow days.
Last weekend was a long weekend for us, and we slammed it full of stuff to do.  Friday was our first day off, but we participated in an ISP all day with Habitat for Humanity.  As a team we were able to finish some small roofing jobs, hang siding on the final side of the house, and paint the rest of the house twice. We really got a lot accomplished, and everyone really enjoyed being outside for the day.  The weather has been great here, 70s and mostly sunny, but with a slight breeze.  It reminds me of the beach.
Friday night we were invited to the Mavericks' Cook for the Veterans of Iwo Jima.  The Mavericks is a local group that has a couple cooks a year, but they are famous for their ribs.  So of course, everyone went and enjoyed ribs, slaw, corn on the cob, and baked beans.  We were all stuffed afterward.
Saturday was a day on at work, so we worked at the mall most of the day.  Sunday was our second day off, but we had our Day of Service so we worked in the afternoon.  We partnered with a trail/green space group in town called Streams and Valleys and participated in their work-day with their normal trail volunteers and a few people from the community.  We were able to help with an addition to the trail, the removal of dead trees, and putting up fencing to keep people from dumping garbage in one of the green spaces.  We got a lot accomplished in a few hours in the afternoon and learned a lot for next round when we will all be doing similar work.

Monday was President's Day so we took a trip to the Dallas/Fort Worth area.  There we were able to tour the Dallas Cowboys Stadium, which is probably why Texas has the saying "Everything is bigger in Texas."  It was massive.  We also visited the historic Fort Worth Stockyards.  We were able to walk around the area and souvenir shop, while taking in the historic buildings.  Emma and I visited the Cowboy Hall of Fame where we saw memorabilia from different rodeo world champions and a collection of stagecoaches, carts, and various forms of wagon transportation.  We also hung around to see the cattle drive that takes place everyday, twice a day.  It was a little anticlimactic with such a small herd, but still cool to see the long horns walking down the middle of town.

Last week we found out where we will be next round and who we will be with.  I am going to be with my current team leader, one guy from my team, and my friends Steve and Clair in Hodgen, Oklahoma.  From what I ca tell, the town is extremely small, but the camping sounds great.  We are staying in a camp ground developed by the CCC.  Our campsite is right on the lake, and we have access to a picnic table area, hot showers, and heated bathrooms.  Everything sounds pretty good, but I will know more about it next week.  One plus is we are 2.5 hours from Oklahoma City and pretty close to Tulsa.  Hopefully, I will be able to see Chris, Tate, and Ar at some point since they are relatively close.  Here's hoping.