Volume 18 - Day 19/346, 2026 - Monday - MLK Day

Well, so much for the morning glories for this season! Most of these now could be considered 'mourning' glories. Did you catch that? Did you see what I did there? Whatever. It was a good morning for walking, not as cold as yesterday, and we got up in to the mid 50s this afternoon. Temperatures will rise all this week until Friday evening, when we are expecting another freeze overnight, and it might freeze for two or three days. You can never tell about the weather around the Curious House. Other than the walk, I hardly left the house, just a few steps here and there in the neighborhood. I have a few things to do tomorrow, first our walk, then the ROMEO breakfast, I have an appointment for my third steroid shot, and I thought the painters were going to be here tomorrow morning, but it seems they thought they were scheduled for Wednesday. Whatever. Now they are scheduled to be at the Curious House tomorrow afternoon, and maybe finish on Thursday...assuming it rains according to the forecast for Wednesday. Sometimes I find retirement details to be hard to keep up with. Is that a sign of aging? Crap!

Volume 18 - Day 18/347, 2026 - Sunday

When I went to bed last night, it was 36 degrees, and when I woke up this morning, it was 26 degrees outside. When we started our walk, it was 24 degrees, but we did not cave to the cold. The redeeming thing was that there was no (or very little) wind, which made the walk tolerable. I made an egg loaf for me and the girls, and it has been quite some time since I did that. It was good, and the girls never turn their nose up and anything they are offered. I got all kinds of other domestic things done today too, which included peeling (or skinning) the kiwis. I think I let the kiwis get a little bit too ripe, but I now have a supply of ready to eat kiwis. I also got a contract written up and sent to the Seller, and maybe we will have a done deal by the middle of the week. Val and Paulina came over and brought pizza, which was really good, and I have two pieces left. Gina texted and asked if I was home, and she brought over a dish of chicken and dumplings. SO, I am set for a couple days. The plants are all inside for one more night, I will put them out again tomorrow, and next Saturday I will bring them back if, if not sooner, but the next forecast freeze is next Sunday morning. Tomorrow is a Holiday (haha) and I have an appointment for another shot of steroids in my knee on Tuesday. I think this week coming does not have a lot of stuff on my calendar, and that is perfectly okay with me.

Volume 18 - Day 17/348, 2026 - Saturday

Okay, well, as you might have imagined, I did bring the plants from the back patio in to the dining room last night. At least I don't have to do it tonight. The outside hose bibs are covered and insulated, and I have hot water dripping in one bath, cold water dripping in another bath, and I will drip something (this is where your imagination works overtime) in my bathroom later. It was kind of chilly this morning, but overnight, it is expected to go down to about 25 degrees, and I expect this will be the end of the morning glories for this season. We did have a nice walk this morning, I only did a half-walk, because I was on blood drive duty (self-imposed) beginning at 8 o'clock. Me, Paul, James and a friend of James, also a Paul. If you like numbers, the next few lines will make you feel great. We had 29 people show up for the blood drive, three were not able to meet the qualifying criteria, and one fainted, but the fainter waited until AFTER the blood was collected. Interestingly, I think about 30% of the donors were NOT from our subdivision; at least a couple were from Sun City, some from Round Rock. I tried to figure out how they heard about our blood drive, and they had various responses. Whatever, we had a successful blood drive and I am happy about that. My personal goal for this drive was 30 donors, but the blood drive peeps were very happy with 26. That's like 6-and-a-half people per hour, which is not shabby at all. We want to do quarterly blood drives, so watch this space for the next date!

Volume 18 - Day 16/349, 2026 - Friday

Well, I just finished putting the plants from the front of the Curious House into the garage. I was not planning to do that until tomorrow, but the weather prognosticator I saw at 6 o'clock forecast the temperature overnight (in Austin) to be 33 degrees. And the Curious House is north, so there is a chance that it will be cooler here. I really think the Curious House is in a warm spot in Georgetown, but I am just trying to be a little careful. I may bring the plants in from the back, or just put them down off their stands, since I can put them in a covered place. Most of them. Then, tomorrow, I will bring them inside. OR...I might bring them in tonight, you can never tell about what I might do. We had a nice walk this morning, and then Judy and I took off for estate sales later in the morning. I spent $7.58 on a couple tings I didn't know I even needed. The two of us did estate sales today (three) because I am working the blood drive tomorrow, from 9AM until 1PM. If you happen to be n the neighborhood, stop by and lend us an arm. You can have it back in about twenty minutes. Before we headed off to the estate sales, the critter people were here to remove all the insulation from the house (remember the pest problem I HAD in the attic), spray the whole thing with some kind of toxic chemical (I assume) and then replace all the insulation. The attic looks like new, and the real test will be a month or two from now when I go up there to see if I can find any 'pest' evidence. All the places they could access the attic from have allegedly been sealed. They had better be! I have been enjoying the Lesser Finches that have been attracted to the feeder Jimmie and Linda gave me. I'm not a bird expert, but Jimmie told me they are Lesser Finches. Pretty. Well, crap...I am going to go mess with plants in the back....

Volume 18 - Day 15/350, 2026 - Thursday

We had a good walk this morning, and it was still chilly. When I got up, the temperature on the patio was 36 degrees, and I was happy with that because I did not bring any of the plants in to the house or the garage. My real indicator is the bird bath in the back because it is shallow and plastic, so that is generally the first thing to freeze, and it was okay. I will have to bring the plants in on Saturday, we are expecting low temperatures in the 20 in to Sunday morning. Then it warms up again next week. I think. I was in and out of Austin twice today; once this morning to go to the We Are Blood office to pick up some directional signs for the blood drive in the neighborhood on Saturday. I should have taken the Buzz but I took the little white car, and I had to put the top down to get the signs in the car. BUT, at least I did not have to drive home with the top down. It was a pretty morning, but not that warm. This afternoon, I went back to Austin and participated in a three check presentations at the Austin Board. I got back home shortly after 5PM, and it is a really pretty, clear evening, which also means the temperatures will head south quickly. The photo accompanying this entry is of me and some really close colleagues and friends; Aaron, me, Holly, Jennifer, another Bill and Teresa. I miss seeing them every day, but it is fun when I do. Photo credit to Aaron.

Volume 18 - Day 14/351, 2026 - Wednesday

Today was a good day, not quite as cool as the last day or so, and it all started with a good walk. I had a couple zoom meetings today, and one of the things that I accomplished was that I got some tickets to the Savannah Bananas World Tour game that will be in Round Rock in March. If you never heard of the Savannah Bananas, check with Mrs. Google. It should be fun, and if it isn't, I expect I can make it fun. I did a little bit of real estate stuff too, so that was fun. Tonight was also the neighbors dinner night, and there were 13 of us in attendance. Richard was in charge, and it was great and lots of laughs and good times with our neighbors. Of course, I forgot to get a photo, so instead, I am including a photo of cattle at the Estate on the Edge of Nowhere. I guess this was taken about 15 years ago, not sure. 

Volume 18 - Day 13/352, 2026 - Tuesday

Well, Paul walked out of his house this morning and was greeted by three drops of rain, so we didn't walk. None of us really objected, and we did all meet (including Rick) for the ROMEO breakfast. I did get some office work done for a couple transactions I an working on, and then late afternoon, I went to dinner with Jimmie and Linda. The sun did break through the clouds this afternoon, and that is a happy thing. I did put the plants from the back patio back outside, but I left the ones in the garage inside. I think we may have some threats of freezing temperatures in the next several days, but it does not take too long to move the plants around...I have it down to an art. I have three appointments tomorrow, two of them are zoom meetings, so that will take up some time. The feeder that Jimmie gave me seems to be a big hit with the Lesser Finches, and they are really pretty little birds. I like seeing them, and I think they appreciate the feeder.