January 19, 2005
It pays to have kids who speak Spanish. Case in point: I wanted to thank my Spanish poster guys in Valencia, Spain and had no idea how to tell them how much I appreciated their help. So I Emailed my fluent son the letter I wanted to send, in English, and he translated the whole kit and kaboodle (or should that be El Kito y Kaboodle?) into Espanole. Here's the letter:

Hola Mis Amigos de Posters,
Me encantan mis posters del rodeo en Valencia. Muchisima gracias. Despues de unas adventuras con la linea aerea han llegado a Arizona y los tenemos enmarcado y son guapisimos.

Los tres estan en la sala de vivir. Les estoy enviando unas fotos. Son un tesoro y todos que los ven estan de acuerdo. Los vemos todos los dias y ensalivamos.

Les mandare unas copias nuevas de mi revista True West y una copia de mi libro que trata de pistoleros del oeste en Estados Unidos. Pueden ver la cosas mas nuevas en:
Truewestmagazine.com

Saludos,
BBB

The letter—printed out on TW stationary—a packet of photos (of the rodeo posters on our walls) and a True West magazine went out today. Even though I have taken Spanish classes several times, I have no idea what the letter actually says now. I may be asking them to have my baby. That would be T. Charles' idea of humor.

This morning at about seven I laid out about two doezen stones in our home driveway in the pattern and color scheme I'd like. I want to place as many orange and blue stones (unique to the Cave Creek area) next to each other because as you know, the colors are complimentary and really look cool together.

Carole G. and I drove down into the beast at 11:30. Met Dan Harshberger at El Bravo for lunch (I had the Sonoran enchiladas with an egg on top, I bought, $26, plus $6 tip, all cash Baby!). Gave Dan the CD of the Travel Issue cover painting which Robert Ray had scanned. From there Carole and I drove down to Osborn and Central to meet with a certain HR expert who shall remain nameless (it was a top secret deal). Great talking to her and we got some good tactics.

Got back into the office at about three. Finished Classic Gunfights. Got some great , late breaking stuff from Pastor Roy Young, who is doing a book on Bob Paul. According to the family, lawman Robert Havlin Paul was "six-foot-six inches of gigantic frame, broad shoulders, and barrel-chested tipped the scales at 246 pounds." That's Charles Barkley territory. That's a big boy for Old West standards, as the average male was five foot seven.

"A successful person is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks that others throw at them."
—David Brinkley