RenFest 2008 and other matters

Playing catchup. We managed to make our annual trip to the Texas Renaissance Festival again this year.  The weekend theme was "The Barbarian Invasion".  We had originally planned to get a motel, go up on a Friday evening, go a-Renning all weekend and head back Sunday night. With everything going we weren't able to make the arrangements so we just did our 1 day jaunt. Still had great fun, listened to music, saw a show or two and did much shopping and eating.

Main thing I needed to get was a good pair of boots for the costumes, something that I could use with either Pirate, Steampunk, Cavalier and Highlander. I decided to pick up a pair of Strider Knee Boots w/ buckles (shown here) from RenBoots. These are probably some of the most comfortable leather boots I've owned and will be good multi-purpose boots for a variety of costumes. Hell, I could even wear these things are regular day-to-day boots. 

However the Striders don't work for the Highlander so I went for some black leather renaissance "moccasin's" that work pretty well. Unfortunately the mad angel still needs to work up something to go with my Highlander, there wasn't much available in the way of women's garb to match my the unrestricted Blackwatch tartan that I use, so it looks like internet or do-it-yourself for her at the point. :)

After RenFest it was back to Alabama for Thanksgiving and a meeting with the lawyer who will be handling the probate for my dad's estate.  Fortunately it should be a "simple and quick" process, but "simple and quick" still means having to wait 6mos before being doing anything with his property to ensure there are no claims to the estate...and of course $2800 for all the legal expenses, court fees, etc.  I have heard that a Trust is a much better instrument than a Will (it reportedly allows your heirs to avoid probate) for those you leave behind so I may be investigating that in the future.