Dudleys Diary

and let the plumber in to do some repairs to the kitchen sink. Saturday morning, Dudleys wife got up and walked into the kitchen and noticed there was water all over the floor. Not a good sign, she investigated and discovered there was a hole in one of the metal drain pipes under the sink. The kitchen has pretty well been closed since then. We have been eating out more than usual which I am sure Dudleys wife has enjoyed. It took the plumber all of twenty minutes to replace the rusty metal pipe with a new PVC pipe. Total cost was $120.00 even, not bad for twenty minutes work. Dudleys daughter is taking the TAKS test today. For those that do not know, this stands for Assessment of Academic Knowledge and Skills. Years ago the Texas legislature reworked the school system in texas, they decided that the kids in the poor districts were not getting the same education as the kids in the more affluent districts so they came up with a Robin Hood plan to rob from the rich and give to the poor school districts. They also came up with the TAKS test as a way to measure each schools performance. Now instead of teaching the kids what they need to know to succeed in the world, they only teach the kids how to pass this one single test. No wonder people that can afford it send their kids to private schools. Last night Dudley and wife and daughter went out to the IHOP to eat. It was good, Dudley had a waffle, and order of hash browns and link sausages and a big glass of cold milk. Dudley is looking forward to his son coming home from college in a little over one week. He is going to be working hard this summer for the lawn mowing service to earn money to help pay his college expenses. He is going to take a week off and we are going fishing in June, we can not wait. Sunday he drove one of his fraternity brothers to Bandera and spent the night at his families dude ranch. He then got up early Monday morning and drove back to College Station in time for his first class. He said on the drive from the ranch house back to the highway, he saw over 100 deer including a large Axis buck. He was excited to see that many deer. The Texas Hill Country is a beautiful place with some of the best deer hunting and fly fishing to be found in the state.