Rain came to the St. Patrick's Day parade in Aggieville this morning, but that didn't keep us away. Here anyone can be in the parade. Families, clubs, merchants, daycares, yokels with cool cars, cousins with horses, and folks who figure the traffic barricades are meant for someone else -- they're all part of the parade.

Owen and Taylor made out well, collecting candies tossed to them by the marchers. They both got basketballs, too, a pretty good haul considering all they had to do was stand outside in the drizzle, an activity they would normally volunteer to perform anyway.

The rain and drizzle persisted throughout the day, forcing indoor activities upon us. Hyphenated Ben came over to play with Taylor, and they were joined by Owen in a few Nintendo games. Later, when the mother was away, the power that be permitted them to jump on the trampoline in the rain -- great fun apparently. When they returned to the house soaked, they enjoyed some brief nudity while their clothes tumbled in the dryer, so the mom will be none the wiser. Unless they start sneezing. Or unless they tell. Sheesh...

The rain precluded any gardening, so I graded the quizzes I had hoped to avoid, watched some NCAA basketball, and fiddled with the photo program, figuring out how to make a consistent drop shadow. The drop shadows have become passe, I read recently. Passe or not, I like drop shadows and will continue to use them. I also learned to make the old style photo border, which is enjoying some vogue now, at least in some of the other journals that I visit.

The photo of Sue and Cassidy doesn't do either the mom or daughter justice. Their horse doesn't look particularly good either. I have found that with the digital camera, I quickly exceed the steadiness of my hand when using the telephoto, so I should probably get used to toting the lightweight tripod in a backpack on these outings. Might as well go whole-geek.

Michael the Economist called tonight saying he needed another voice for the choir tomorrow at the fellowship, so he recruited me. I had thought to skip tomorrow's meeting to get some work done but when asked, I agreed to participate. There's too much ham in me, I suppose.

And corned beef. Supper tonight: Reuben sandwiches from last night's leftovers. Yum. We have to do that more often.

I'm off to bed early.