Day Fifty Nine...

THE TWENTY EIGHTH (AND THE LAST) OF TWENTY EIGHT THINGS I SEE BETWEEN MY HOUSE AND THE HIGHWAY...in no particular order...

We basically moved out to the country because we liked the country life. After 9/11, we bought the original farm in Red Rock, Texas as a place to get away from the City and also as an answer to the "in case of emergency, cover your windows with plastic sheets and duct tape" philosophy that was the rage in certain political circles. Well, one thing led to another. Soon, we were planting rose bushes and fruit trees, we were painting the walls, and the final blow was when I got the cattle. I was originally going to get some bison (why look at ordinary cattle if you can look at bison), but then I discovered there were no fences for ten acres of land that could adequately hold bison. So we settled on Longhorn Cattle. They are beautiful and gentle animals, and they are fun to have. Of course, they need to be fed and paid some attention to. So, just like with the fruit trees, I was going to the farm one day during the week to do chores, and then we started going to the farm from Thursday to Sunday. Finally, we just decided it was time to do the farm thing, and forget about trying to do it part time.

We found this house, and the house and grounds were nice and we did it. In the long run, I think we are both happy with the decision, and now that the condo in town has been sold, we can concentrate on this wonderful place in the country. We interact more with our neighbors here than we did in Austin. A lot more! We know their names, and we see them on a pretty regular basis, if only to wave to as we pass them on the road. We did not really ever see our neighbors in Austin. So, as I wind up this series of things we see between the house and the highway, I have tried to show you the beauty in the everyday things around here. I hope you guys will all take a couple minutes in your days to see the beauty around you. It is there, I promise.

As a matter of fact, the cool/cold front did make its way through here last night. It was one of those 'can't get comfortable temperature wise' evenings. We started out with the windows open (no covers) then the windows closed (no covers) then the windows closed and under the down comforters. The nuclear weather station was reporting the outside temperature to be about 48 degrees when I got up this morning, so that means it is a little bit cooler than that. And there is supposed to be a little bit of a freeze tomorrow morning. All this and for the last two days, it has been near 90 degrees here.

I have an appointment this morning to take the truck in for service, and after that I will stop at the feed store to buy some strawberry plants. I also need to stop and get gas and diesel in the extra tanks. I filled up the Mule and the tractor yesterday, so I will fill those cans up with fuel and we will be ready for the next thing. Cattle will need to be fed today or tomorrow, and then they will be moved to the other pasture next week. One of our neighbors may come by today to give us some prices for fertilizing the pastures and also putting a weed treatment out, so if we ever do get any rain and the grasses start to grow, we can get a good cutting of hay for the cattle and will not have to keep buying hay. Also a couple friends of ours, Carrie and Margaret may come out here today to look at the grounds. Carrie is a master gardener and likes to play in the dirt, and goodness knows there is plenty of dirt to play in out here. That will be fun if they decide to come out.

When I went outside to get the paper this morning, I was surprised at the gale force winds. Usually I can hear the wind from inside the house, but not this morning. The winds were very strong and it was cold...relatively speaking. I went into Hutto to have the truck serviced, and then there were a variety of errands I needed to run, including getting some strawberry plants for the strawberry jar.

By the time I got home, Carrie and Margaret and Margaret's daughter Liz were here working in the flower beds, and they got an awfully lot of work done, so that was a tremendous start to all the grounds-work that needs to be done, and will be an on-going effort to keep up with it. Once we get the routine down, it will most likely not be so bad.

I just went out and turned off the water to the cattle trough, hopefully this will be the last freeze of the season, but you never know. I suggest you contact someone you care about and ask them two questions; Do you need your flower beds weeded, and secondly, is there anything I can do tonight to keep you warm. You might just be surprised at the response you get!

Day Fifty Eight...

THE TWENTY SEVENTH OF TWENTY EIGHT THINGS I SEE BETWEEN MY HOUSE AND THE HIGHWAY...in no particular order...

Well, day 27 of this series is also the penultimate entry of the things I see between our house and the highway. Penultimate, penultimate, penultimate. Oh, and I really like 'spell-check' too! I like that word, it has such an air of authority. Whatever... Anyway, this was an interesting exercise for me, at times I thought I would not find enough interesting stuff to share and at other times, I thought there was too much to be crammed into just 28 days. Finally, I got it just right, and I hope someone out there has enjoyed this series. Along the route to the Interstate, there are lots of signs and markers, lots of cattle and horses and goats and mules and fields and manufactured homes and abandoned homes and barns and flags and windmills and rusty stuff and churches and stuff. It is the stuff that I am particularly fond of. Since today is the last official work day of the month, I thought this sign was a fitting one to post. When I get to the Interstate, I have a decision to make. Do I want to go to Austin or do I want to go to Waco? We are pretty much right in the middle of the two from a mileage perspective. I have really not spent very much time in Waco in the 24 years I have lived in central Texas, probably not even 24 hours if I totalled it all up, and I think it is probably well worth a visit to spend some time there. But I always choose the road to Austin, since that is where the business is, and also because I am really predictable. Austin or Waco? Austin is Wacko! Whatever!

We slept with windows open last night and it was still plenty warm. When I got up this morning, I checked the atomic weather clock and it reported 68 degrees...and this is the end of February. SO much for winter. Remember earlier posts where I was complaining about the temperatures below freezing? Well, if this is any indication, get ready for some real complaining when we get to spring and summer. I really am turning into an old man. Pretty soon I won't have anything to talk about except the weather, my operations and the pills I take to try and control my cholesterol. Wanna see my scars?

Pretty much an open calendar for today. I am in the process of helping one set of clients negotiate the terms and conditions of an offer on their house, and I have two other deals working. If everything holds, I should have a pretty good March, with three paychecks. I hope this is a signal of a turn around for the housing market in Austin. If not, I am still lucky to be here, rather than ________ (insert the name of some place you don't care for much). Overall, I still feel like I am about the luckiest person in the world.

On the way in to the office this morning, I noticed the trees are all beginning to bloom out. The red buds and other spring time flowering trees are really popping out, and they have pretty much done it over night, or I just was not really paying that much attention. It was another really warm day today, and there is a cold front coming through tonight, the overnight low is supposed to be in the 40's. And we are supposed to have a freeze overnight on Saturday. Predicted low is supposed to be about 28 degrees, not really terrible, and it will only be below freezing for a few hours, but I hope it does not wreak havoc on all the spring time flowering things. We have been stopping by the roadsides and scooping up jonquils and daffodils. Really nice.

A good day at work, and another week is finished. It is hard to believe it is almost March already. Where do the days go? Speaking of the future, let's talk about the past for a minute. As I sit here and write this, Jody and I are listening to the Classical Pops station on XM radio...we like the satellite radio. But anyway, they are playing the sound track to the 'Lion in Winter' and it is bringing back really nice memories. I have always loved that movie, Katherine Hepburn and Peter O'Toole, and I went to see that film when I was either a junior or a senior in High School. I was with the girl I was seeing, Debi. Boy was I ever a confused kid back then. But I still have always really liked that film and the music. I recently found a photo of Debi and myself, and I had no idea what a tremendously beautiful young woman she was. Exquisite. Anyway...

I cannot really think of any good deeds I did today, but I really think if I tried really hard, I could come up with something. All is well, it is the weekend, and I am a very lucky man. Go tell someone close to you, or far from you for that matter, that you love them and care about them very much. You never know, you might not get another chance to do it. Why should you keep that a secret from someone? No good reason I can think of.

Day Fifty Seven...

THE TWENTY SIXTH OF TWENTY EIGHT THINGS I SEE BETWEEN MY HOUSE AND THE HIGHWAY...in no particular order...

This is always a really great way to start the day. Unfortunately, these sunrises are fleeting, and they are gone before you know it. It gives you a great reason, though, to just stop for a few minutes, and behold the beauty. Living in the country gives you plenty of opportunities to see beauty, much more than when we lived in the middle of Austin. There is beauty all over our country and the world, you just have to be able to recognize it. I think that is probably the same with people...most of us do a lot of good things for other people and for each other, we just need to be re-trained to be able to recognize the good that others people have within themselves and within ourselves as well.

Yesterday was an incredibly warm day in central Texas at the end of February. The temperatures all around were in the 80's and there were some reports of low 90's. When I got up this morning, the temperature on the nuclear thermometer was registering a balmy 66 degrees. I am really concerned that we will have a scorcher of a summer, and the drought continues. I was speaking with a gentleman yesterday about coming out and applying some fertilizer and weed control to the pastures, and he said we would get rain again. I think that was a pretty safe statement make, but I would like a little bit tighter scenario, like when and how much. We are all just about to turn into dust and blow away. People are really having issues getting hay to feed the cattle, and that makes the prices of everything go up. If you know any good rain dances, we would appreciate it if you could send some our way.

The black cat (Little Bit Rudd) is making good progress recovering from her surgery. I went into her casa last night and she sat up for a minute and looked at me, and then she literally collapsed and went back to sleep. I had a personal flashback to the early 70's and got just a little bit nostalgic. Ah, to be carefree and on downers, pretty cool, man! The big boy dog (Bear) is just tolerating all of it. Every now and then he has a bit of insecurity, but he gets a good head-rub or some really good petting, and then he goes back over to his bed and curls up. A big dog in a house with two really small cats and he is just kind of the big lummox in the group. Very friendly, but really not concerned with the whole thing. I think he likes his forever family with us. We like him a lot, and we think we were really lucky to adopt such a happy boy dog.

Well, another good day at the office, AND it was meals-on-wheels today (always on Thursdays). I got a good bit of work done on my class preparation, and I am now up to lunch on the first day. Tomorrow I will try to get through the afternoon break on the first day, and if I can, I will be right on schedule for my preparations. I had nine folks on my meals-on-wheels route today, and even the ones that I did not really care too much for in the past are getting to where I like visiting with them. It is interesting how people can come and go. We are truly a mobile society. I wonder sometimes what happens to folks I have been dealing with for years, and then all of a sudden they disappear. Into thin air. Odd.

Okay the little black cat (Ms. Little Bit Rudd) is recovering nicely, but she is still feeling the effects of the surgery and the drugs. Pretty much sleeping all day long (is that the drugs or is that just what cats do?). And when you go to pet her (which she likes very much) she rolls over on her back to show off her stitches and her really cute shaved tummy. She is a darling little kitty. All the people at the vet commented on how sweet she is. Jody said the vet said she was about 10 months old. I expect she will stay inside much more now that she has come back. She has not shown any interest in going outside, and she did enjoy climbing up on the roof and acting like she was a damsel in distress and that she could not get down. Oh, help me, help me...

Today is my friend Tracy R's birthday, and I gave her a call on my way home from work. She is a laugh riot, and a really nice woman. Happy Birthday to you again, sweet lady. She said today was the tenth anniversary of her 26th birthday. Have fun.

Jody fixed meatloaf for dinner tonight...plus mashed potatoes and green beans. Yummy. And the kitchen clean up was not too bad. Jody cooks, I clean. That is the deal. So, I suggest that if you get invited over to someones house for dinner tonight, there are two rules you should follow: Never ask what they are having before you accept the invitation...what is the deal, are you going to hold out for a better invitation? Either yes I would love to or no I cannot make it will be sufficient. Secondly, always help with the kitchen clean-up. It is only polite to try to help, after all they did cook the meal.

Day Fifty Six...

THE TWENTY FIFTH OF TWENTY EIGHT THINGS I SEE BETWEEN MY HOUSE AND THE HIGHWAY...in no particular order...

Here is a multiple-choice question for you to begin your day. The animal depicted in the photograph to the left is: A) A donkey, B) A burro, C) A mule, D) A jackass, E) None of the Above, F) All of the Above. Submit your answers to me via the comment section of this blog. Winners will be announced after the deadline of midnight March 1, 2009. There will be no prize awarded for correct entries, and all entries with the wrong answer will be subject to ridicule. So, if you supposed that I do not know the answer to the question, you are correct so far. I have no idea what the proper term for these animals are, but I like them a lot, and there are at least a dozen of these white (not sure if albino fits) burros (for lack of a more positive identification) between our house and the highway. I really believe they must share some kind of genetic blood line, because I have never seen such a concentration of white burros in such a small area before. Included among them and seemingly co-existing with no real problems are plenty of the ordinary run-of-the-mill brown and black burros. The all white burros are certainly in the minority, but again, they all seem to get along as if they were all the same. I wonder if there is something to be learned from this?

Okay, here is an update on the saga of the lost (and found) dog from yesterday. I had a call in the office today from the lady that I left the dog with yesterday. She called and said she had found the owner of the dog, and they were about four or five miles away from where I found the dog. It seems the owner had been out posting signs to try and find the dog, so all is well that ends well. I am glad that I had some part in the happy ending, and even more glad that I was able to find someone to keep the dog besides myself. I do not need more pets right at this minute.

Work was good today, and we (that would be me) got lots of stuff finished. I think the fact that I had a good nights sleep last night helped tremendously. I got started on the preparation of my next class at the Board, and it is not until March 16th, but it is a class that I have never taught before, so it takes a lot of preparation time. I hate being unprepared, and if you are not prepared, it is pretty darn evident. That is the trouble with adult learners, you really cannot buffalo them into just accepting the fact that you know what you are talking about (when you really don't).

Jody and I jut got home from dinner at the Crossroads Cafe. We both had cried catfish (nuggets, not fillets) and it was pretty good. I assume the nuggets are less expensive on the wholesale level than the fillets would be, but they were good regardless. And there were plenty of them, too.

The black cat is home from her surgery, and I guess her name is officially 'Little Bit', since that is what the vet put down on the paper. Little Bit Rudd...I like it, it has a nice ring to it. She is still drugged up, and in her room, so we will leave her there for the night. She needs to rest, and no jumping around for a while.

Okay, see how a good deed had a happy ending? SO you should try it, go do something nice for someone or something. You will be happy with the experience. If nothing else, you can go and deliver meals-on-wheels with me tomorrow. Always guaranteed to be a rewarding experience!

Day Fifty Five...

THE TWENTY FOURTH OF TWENTY EIGHT THINGS I SEE BETWEEN MY HOUSE AND THE HIGHWAY...in no particular order...

As you may recall, I once wrote that living in Texas is like being a member of an exclusive club. A very large club maybe, but it is still kind of exclusive. I moved here in 1985, and I can still remember that I immediately felt a pride and ownership in the citizenry. And not all of the citizenry were necessarily citizens, bu this is not a forum for (necessarily) political discussions. I have already talked about flags, and how I can imagine school kids with crayons and paper drawing the Texas Flag and taking their work of art home for the refrigerator door. But you know what, I love living in Texas, and I love the fact that I love considering myself a Texan. I do not know too many other places that can boast all the good things (and, okay some bad stuff too, but remember this is not a political journal) that Texas can. Our only real problem is Alaska (even if you can see Russia from there). But anyway...I love this barn with the flag painted on the metal roof. I always wanted to flag painted on the roof of the house at the original farm in Red Rock, but I never seemed to be able to find anyone that was willing to take on the task. I personally am not that great on roofs, but I might have given it a shot if I had more time. As it turns out, it is probably a good idea that I did not have that done, since I will now try to sell the property at some point soon.

Here is an interesting juxtaposition for you to consider. Today is Mardi Gras Day Fat Tuesday) AND it is National Spay and Neuter Your Pet Day. I wonder if someone did that intentionally? I wonder if all the drunken debauchery going on in celebration pre-lent has caused someone to conclude that this would also be a good time for castration...it's not just for cattle anymore! Anyway, I thought that was an interesting coincidence. Speaking on spaying and neutering, Jody was threatening to take the black cat to the vet today for a check-up and to be spayed. We are still assuming the cat is a female, and most likely to be an official 'it' cat. She is a truly sweet cat, and we are glad she is happy with us, even if the QUEEN CAT is not really that thrilled with the turn of events.

Okay, the condo funded, so we are officially less one mortgage in the Evans-Rudd household. We are delighted that, given the economy, we could reduce that from the balance sheets. We seem to never sell than buy, we always buy and then sell. You can always find something to buy, you just have to sell afterwards. I do indeed believe that this will be the last move for quite some time. We are both delighted with the new house and the property, and since we have been there, we already have added a dog and a cat to the mix. We are not wasting any time. Oh yeah, we did add a cow and a calf right after we moves, so we are increasing the size of the household quickly.

So, I am about to get out and drive home. I have to make one stop on the way to close up a property that was inspected this afternoon, and that will be just a short detour. I will report in later this evening.

The trip home was rather uneventful until I got off the Interstate and then onto FM 1105. LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT MY GOOD DEED FOR THE DAY. Just past the Catholic Church, and pretty much in the middle-of-nowhere (remember we live further than that, we live on the edge-of-nowhere), there was this cute little dog (see photo at left of cute little gray dog) walking in the middle of the road. I slowed down enough to figure out that he had on a collar and a tag and must belong to someone in the area. I pulled over and he was looking at me, but still in the middle of the road. He came to me when I called him, and he was a well-behaved well-groomed (and the grooming looked recent) little dog, and no trouble at all, but to my dismay, there was no tag on the collar, what I thought had been a tag turned out to be just a big silver metal buckle. I stopped at about 10-15 houses to see if he belonged to the occupants, and no one claimed him. I did my best to get the Catholic Priest to keep him and adopt him out to one of the parishioners, but he would have no part of that. Finally, I found a couple folks with a heart softer than mine that took him and said they would post some signs to see if they could find the owner. I was beginning to freak out, thinking I was taking another stray animal home. We do not need more animals right now! So, I saved a little pooch from a terrible fate (I am convinced of that), and so I feel pretty good about that. What I do not feel good about is, I am afraid with the economy the way it is, people are just driving their pets out into the country and abandoning them. I cannot imagine what goes on in little dog and cat brains when they are betrayed by the people they have always trusted. Just take them to a shelter for crying out loud.

I will now step down from my soap-box. One moment, please.

Okay, so Jody did take the black cat to the vet, and she is indeed a girl, soon to be an it. We will call the vet back tomorrow at 3 PM to see if she can come home.

So now...go rescue something and do your good deed for the day. You (and they, or it) will be happy you did. And if you cannot rescue somebody or something, just write a check to your local animal shelter, or to your local meals-on-wheels office, or to the charity of your choice. These are tough times we are living through, and every little bit will help. Do it right now, and go ahead and address the envelope, and put a stamp on it while you are at it.

Day Fifty Four...

THE TWENTY THIRD OF TWENTY EIGHT THINGS I SEE BETWEEN MY HOUSE AND THE HIGHWAY...in no particular order...

Great googily-moogily, look at the size of those drumsticks, Batman! Okay, well it is not at all unusual for us to see nature type things out here in the country, and it is in fact pretty common for us to see wild turkey (not the kind in the bottle) out in the pastures. BUT, the other day I saw this guy, in full courting regalia, and I thought at first it was a fake, that it was just too perfect, and too much like the turkeys you see in the third grade coloring books at Thanksgiving. Okay, the fact that the illuminated reindeer were still there for the Holidays kind of led me down the 'fake turkey' road, but there he was the next day, still strutting around. If you look closely to the right of him in the photo, you can see the object of his affection, the turkey hen, who actually seems less than impressed. He can be seem on FM 1105 daily strutting his stuff, and it does not seem to matter what time of day it is. He is one persistent turkey!

Yesterday we went into town and I finally got my haircut which was well overdue. I am not particularly vain about tonsorial fashion, but when Irene (the best hair cutter in Georgetown) handed me the mirror to see the back of my head, I had a small panic attack...it looked like a HUGE pink pancake sized place with NO HAIR. Okay, so I have a receding hairline (since high school) but for all that hair to fall out just because I got my haircut seemed a little bit extreme. Jody tried my best to reassure me that there was no bald spot, but I saw it with my own eyes. And I was convinced that if I kept rubbing it, I would indeed go bald (if not blind). BUT, when I got home and had a closer inspection, it seemed all was well on the follicular front. It must have been some weird lighting thing happening at Super Cuts.

Anyway, after the haircut, we went to Target to buy a couple things. The reason people are not buying anything is because there are no employees in the stores to help you find anything. It was terrible, and we basically left in frustration. Oh well. Then we went over to Soup-r-Salads for dinner, and it was very nice. I love great big salads (especially if I don't have to clean up the kitchen). We both totally ate way too much food, and then I was miserable on the drive home.

All is pretty well on the animal front. The dog, the black cat and the Queen Cat seen to be doing okay. I know the QUEEN CAT has to know that the black cat is inside, but there have been no cat-killing chase scenes since the first night. I think it will all work out okay in the long run. The black cat is very affectionate (as she should be for having been rescued) and wants to be right there with us wherever we are. She is also happy to get up in our laps and play or go to sleep. The QUEEN CAT has never been very social since we have had her, and that has been well more than a decade. She never liked the other cats, the dogs, or me. The only person she really has anything to do with is Jody, and I can understand that, too.

Okay, the condo is supposed to close this afternoon, we have an appointment for 2 PM. I will let you know what happens. LATER THE SAME DAY...okay, the condo closed, both sides of the transaction signed off, and now we will fund within a day or two. So, no champagne until we all get our monies... Keep your fingers crossed. I have not talked with a single REALTOR or Title Escrow officer that has said they had a closing THIS YEAR that completed as it was scheduled. The times we are living in are unusual, to say the least.

Otherwise, the day was very nice, and it is a really pretty spring like day (for winter in Texas). The low temperature for tonight is supposed to be around 50 degrees, and the high for tomorrow is to be near 80 degrees.

I was falling down a bit today on the good deed front, but I was able to remain clam when a client called to tell me their house was scheduled for foreclosure, and how would that affect the tenant. Again, the times, they are a-weird-like.

Okay, so if you can see your way fit, go pick up the phone and call your neighbor, just to chat and say hello...and if you find you can do something nice for them, that would be alright, too.

Day Fifty Three...

THE TWENTY SECOND OF TWENTY EIGHT THINGS I SEE BETWEEN MY HOUSE AND THE HIGHWAY...in no particular order...

Well, when I said there were no real traffic issues on my way to and from Austin yesterday, I really did not give you the whole story, AND I did a good deed while I was stuck behind masses of segregated male and female spandex covered butts on bikes. As I was driving from the house to the highway, once I hit FM 972 I started noticing an extraordinarily heavy amount of vehicular traffic (more than three cars) and many of them had bikes on the back. Also, I noticed two SUV's in the St. Peter Lutheran Church parking lot. So, being the super sleuth that I am, I figured there was going to be a bike ride in the area, but I had no idea where they were planning to start, where they would end or what the ride was. I went on into town and forgot about it. While I was coming home on the Interstate, I started seeing cars/bike heading in to Austin and started thinking about it again.

All was clear on FM 972, so I figured it must be over, but once I hit FM 1105 there they were. They were not all en masse, but divided into categories by sex. The first group I got stuck behind (and finally passed) were women (the Women's CAT 5 is what the SAG vehicle said). About five miles up the road were the men (Men's Cat 5), and they were in a much larger group. Did I mention that a cold front was coming through at the time? It was not particularly cold, but the winds were pretty high, most likely about 30-35 miles per hour, gusting much higher. I had practically been blown away on the Interstate. One interesting thing about winds and bicycles...no matter which way you are going, the wind is ALWAYS in your face. There is never a tail-wind, it is always a head-wind, which makes life on a bike in the wind kind of difficult. I hope they had a good and safe ride, and I wish I knew who they were. I have been trying (okay not so much really) to find some folks in the area to ride with, I know there is a group that rides from Temple and Belton areas, but I will keep looking. PHOTOGRAPHERS NOTE: The photos in today's entry do not really do justice to how interesting the riders were and how beautiful the sight actually was, but it was the best your photographer could do through the windshield of his car on a windy two-lane country road. At least no one was badly injured in the quest to take these photographs. We now return to our regularly scheduled program.

Okay then...the black cat stayed inside last night. The temperature was expected to go down to below freezing and we decided to let her stay inside. We put him/her/it in one of the guest rooms with food, water and a litter box. I do not know where the QUEEN CAT is this morning, she is not in any of her usual places, but there was no loud cat-fight noises last night, and so far I have not seen any cat-blood anywhere, so I am assuming that everything went pretty well. We will take this one day-by-day.

I was going to sleep in a while this morning, but at about 5 AM this morning, the smoke detector that I just changed the battery in last week started beeping again (it is in the room where the cat slept last night). It would beep a few times, and then quit for a while, then beep some more and then quit for a while. So I finally got up and made coffee, and it has not beeped for about thirty minutes now. If I had a gun...

Today I am going to go get my hair cut, it has been almost two months and it is finally at the point that it must be done. Also the cattle need to be fed, and some boxes from the move need to be put into the shed and some more boxes need to be emptied. I need to clean out the office AND my car (since it is no longer being used as a micro-mini moving vehicle). So the day looks like it will shape up to be full of interesting stuff happening. We shall see...

Okay it is now the mid-to-late afternoon, and I jut got out of the shower. We have unpacked probably a dozen more boxes, and put stuff out in the house. The cattle have been fed, and the black cat is asleep in the leather chair, the dog is asleep in the study with Jody and the QUEEN CAT is asleep on her window ledge in the master bedroom. We planted some petunias that we were given several weeks ago by our friends Lynda and Michael, and I tried to pull up the worlds largest dandelions from the flower beds, and the dandelions won. My goal is to leave the house at 3:30 PM and go into Georgetown to get a haircut, go to Target and pick up a few things (you should try very hard to stimulate the economy), and then we will stay there and have some dinner before we come home. Oh, and we are taking a lot of wrapping paper to the paper recycling place at the Zion Lutheran Church. All in all it has been a good day, although it has been kind of short in the good deeds department. I will try to work on that tomorrow, but that does not let you off the hook...go do something nice for someone, right now!

Day Fifty Two...

THE TWENTY FIRST OF TWENTY EIGHT THINGS I SEE BETWEEN MY HOUSE AND THE HIGHWAY...in no particular order...

When I was a little kid, I must have been 14 or 15 years old, I delivered the Detroit Free Press in the mornings. I always had a paper route. My first route was when I was about 8 years old, and I had about 15 customers in the sparsely populated little area that we lived. But as the area grew, so did my route, and for a couple years, I delivered both the Detroit Free Press in the mornings, and the Detroit News in the afternoons. Sundays were a real problem. But I digress... At one point, I had the chance to buy a used Nash Rambler convertible. Maybe it wasn't a Nash Rambler, but it was a Nash convertible, it was square looking, it was a convertible and it could be mine for $50. I had paid $80 (a fortune back then) for a Schwinn Varsity ten speed bicycle, and this was a car, and it was only $50. I am guessing that the year this was happening was about 1966, so that would have made this particular car about a 1955 or 1956 model, but it was a car, and I was going to be getting my license in a couple years, and there was not that much wrong with the car. But my dad did not think it was a very good idea, and that was the end of that discussion. But every day when I delivered the papers, I would go past that car and think about it. My love with automobiles began early. That story has actually nothing to do with the photo in today's post, but when I look at this old beat-up camping trailer, I think about that old car that I wanted to buy. Weird, huh? I think it is interesting how the brain works, but then again, I enjoy thinking back about that old car, and the way things were when I was a kid. I must be getting really old!

The black cat had a visit inside the house last night, and things worked pretty well. The QUEEN CAT did not even know she was inside, but after we put the black cat back outside, she woke up and started hissing and howling by the window. The QUEEN CAT was a foundling as well, and she needs to remember from whence she came, and she should try to do a good deed for the black cat. Right now, the black cat is outside the office window, and if I an hearing correctly, he/she/it is trying to climb up the window screens. That is the real downside to this whole proposition, the black cat has little sharp kitty nails, and those will need to be controlled somehow. We shall see...

The day went very nicely, traffic to and from Austin was calm and cool, no major wrecks or slow-downs to report. The TAR Winter meeting programs that I was interest in attending were very informative and well worth the time to go and learn about the challenges and opportunities we will face in the coming year. Lots of opportunities, lots of challenges.

When I got home, the HVAC guy was here finishing up, and hopefully now we will only be cooling and heating the house...not the attic and the surrounding environs. Hopefully we will have a good energy savings from this work, and our home will be much more comfortable as well. The next thing we want to do is to blow some more insulation in the attic. To do this, we first have to protect all the can lights in the house that stick through the attic. I was told there is a product that is sold that looks like an upside down small trash can made of Styrofoam. You put those over the can lights where they protrude into the attic, and then you can blow in the insulation around them...Can lights are a big source of heat and cool that escape from the house into the attic. We will be more energy efficient and more comfortable in this house if it kills us both! It is not really that bad, I just hate to waste energy and resources.

Jody and I went into Taylor after the HVAC guys left, and did a little bit of shopping. We also stopped at the Dairy Queen and had a blizzard. Yummy. Jody had mint chocolate chip and I had some kind of cherry and chocolate kind of thing. Again, yummy!

How are the good deeds coming? I know it takes some practice, but I think you can really get the hang of it if you just practice. I am getting better all the time, but I do catch myself lapsing into my normal self every now and then. Being nice to people makes you suspicious to other people, and they just do not know what to make of you. Tackiness and unfriendliness are much easier accepted. So, just go on out there into the world and try to make people suspicious of you. Who knows, maybe we can get his trend going and it will not stop until it makes it to Afghanistan. We shall see...

Day Fifty One...

THE TWENTIETH OF TWENTY EIGHT THINGS I SEE BETWEEN MY HOUSE AND THE HIGHWAY...in no particular order...

You know, for all the talk, it is not easy getting a barn somewhere. When we first moved here I spent a long, long time trying to get a barn placed on the property. Ideally it would have been big enough for lots of storage, big enough for the cattle to have a generous shelter, and big enough to have plenty of hay storage. But these things are not at all reasonably priced...so, what we did was we got ourselves a smaller barn and a large barn shaped storage building. Right now, the barn is pretty much adequate for the cattle and eventual hay storage (if we ever have a cutting of hay, which is dependent on rain) and the barn shaped storage building is chocker-block full. Nothing a little organization could not fix. But I look around at barns of all shapes and sizes out here, many in total disrepair, and it brings up the same old question...how can folks let their stuff just sit and rot into the earth? I hope I am around when the final big wind causes some of these structures to finally collapse in on themselves. That would definitely be a You Tube moment. Now I do not think this particular barn in in any near-term threat of collapse, I just think it is a neat looking building, kind of Quonset-hut shaped. I like it a lot!

When I got up this morning, the nuclear thermometer said it was 39 degrees, so that means that at ground level it is actually about 34 degrees or so. I finally let the dog out, and the black cat was out there, having survived the night just fine, thank you very much. If you see me out on the streets today, just nod and say hello...one of the smoke detectors decided it needed a new battery at about 2 AM, and I figured out which one it was, closed the door to that room, and went back to bed. Did not go back to sleep, but I did manage to stay in bed for a few more hours. Why can't smoke detectors decide they need new batteries at a more civilized hour? And, nine times out of ten, when I change the batteries, they continue to beep anyway. What is with that? I don't get it, but since our smoke detectors are also hard-wired, many of them have no battery back-up at all. If there is an electrical engineer reading this post, and you can solve this issue, please let me know.

I think the little black cat is getting closer and closer to becoming an inside cat. Jody had a talk with it today and explained to it that if it would be a little more calm and peaceful, he/she/it could most likely come inside. The conditions were that he/she/it needed to recognize that the cat we already have inside (Missy is that cats name, although for years I called it 'Number Three' because it was the third cat we had inside the house at the time), is the QUEEN CAT of the house and that he/she/it would only be a Princess (or whatever, depending on if we ever figure out what gender the cat is). So, that seems to be going nicely, but Jody still has not really broached the subject of another cat moving into the house full time with the QUEEN CAT (whatever you want to call her). And I wonder why, after probably 13 years or so, that the QUEEN CAT has never really even acknowledged my existence on the planet. Go figure.

Okay, now we are scheduled to close on the condo transaction on Monday at 2 PM. We shall see... The good news is, not only does the title company have the funds from the buyers, but I called to have the utilities disconnected and the buyers have already had the utilities transferred into their names. Makes me want to go and turn on all the lights, and turn the heat up really high. But that would not be a good deed, would it?

We are having brats for dinner (not the little girl doll kind of brats) just the big wiener kind of brats, one of my favorites. Yummy.

I will be going to the Texas Association of REALTORS Winter Meeting tomorrow in downtown Austin, and my first meeting starts at 8 AM, which means I will need to leave here at about 6:30 AM. So, hopefully there will be nothing to disrupt my sleep, or I run the risk of being cranky again tomorrow. All I need is for the emergency pager to go off in the middle of the night. Go ahead, make my night...

I have been kind of weak in the good deeds department today, but I did feed the cattle this afternoon when I got home, so they thought that was really a great deal. I will feed them again on Sunday, I try to give them some supplemental feed twice a week, and this week was just a bit crazy. I am hoping the spring and summer will be good...lots of sunshine later in the evenings...good for working around the farm and then lounging in the pool. That is what I am really looking forward to.

Tomorrow is my Aunt Faye's birthday, so if you happen to run into her, tell her 'happy birthday' for me. That can be your good deed for today (and maybe tomorrow). I think once you get Faye talking, it may go on into tomorrow!

Day Fifty...

THE NINETEENTH OF TWENTY EIGHT THINGS I SEE BETWEEN MY HOUSE AND THE HIGHWAY...in no particular order...

Well, we do indeed get some wind up here in this area, lots of wind, lots of the time. From what we have been told however, there is no wind when you would really like i, like in the dog days of summer when it is 110 degrees. That is when you would welcome a nice cool breeze. But of course that is too much like right! About ten years ago (maybe more maybe less) there was a very destructive tornado that hit the Jarrell area, and that is just about six miles or so from us. It totally wiped out a subdivision of homes, and I mean there was nothing left of the homes except for the slabs. No splintered wood, nothing. It was all just gone. So I do not find it unusual to see shelters her in this area. The odd part is that we do not see more of them. They may be there, but most likely just not as obvious as this one. I wonder how deep it is, and what is inside it. Hopefully, it will never have to be used for more than storing canned goods. We shall see...

The black cat reappeared during the day yesterday (up on the roof of the house according to Jody) and last night when we returned from dinner, it was out on the patio waiting for its' own dinner. Jody put some food outside for it, and that was pretty much that. We did not let the cat in the house last night, and everyone got a good nights sleep. When I got the newspaper this morning, the cat was out on the patio and looking for its' food again, so Jody fed it, and it looks like we will now have an outside cat. I hope that will last for a while, I would really not be happy if in fact the coyotes got it. If you are looking for a cute little cat to call your own, let us know, we know where you can find one.

Much later the same day...traffic was, as Queen Elizabeth II would say...trafficus horribilus...yep, it sucked this afternoon coming home, but it gave me plenty of time to make phone calls and to get some stuff like that taken care of.

The black cat has pretty much taken up residence, although it is as an outside cat, not yet an inside cat...I am not sure how long that will last. Jody said she (the cat) paraded past the patio windows this afternoon carrying one unhappy mouse. Did not actually see the consumption of said mouse, but that is the likely outcome (or ingestion) of said poor mouse. That is not the worst that could happen, as I said in a post a few days ago. So, we have a small cat bed set up in a corner of the covered patio, with a couple small pillows and blankies to keep her/him/it warm and dry. It is supposed to reach about 35 degrees tonight, so the cat should be fine. I hope it does not turn out to be a coyote trapped cat in the long-term. We shall (as I am so wont to say) see...

Otherwise, life is good. Allegedly the condo may still close tomorrow, but it is kind of iffy right now. The title company has received the buyer's funds, so that is a positive sign, and if it does actually close tomorrow, it may not fund until Monday, so there will be that delay in the Buyer's obtaining access to the property. Again, WSS...

Okay, it is now time to discuss good deeds we have done for the day...my BEST deed of the day was delivering my meals-on-wheels route. If it's Thursday, it must be meals-on-wheels day. I am down to seven clients from a high of eleven. You never get any word about what happens to these folks...they just kind of come and go. AND another good deed I did today was to actually let a couple people cut in front of me in traffic. You might not think that is a good deed, but for me, that is a real sacrifice.

No, what did you do today that was a benefit to society? I'll bet yo can think of at least three things...

Day Forty Nine...

THE EIGHTEENTH OF TWENTY EIGHT THINGS I SEE BETWEEN MY HOUSE AND THE HIGHWAY...in no particular order...

Decades of rust and neglect. What we have here would be the beginnings or a junk yard if it were not just in a field between two homes. An old van, an old jalopy, and what you cannot see from this photo is an old rusted out Volkswagen and a rusted out tractor. I am not certain, but I don't really think vehicles can rust out like this without having been burned first. Maybe they were victims of a wild fire or something, maybe just ordinary vandalism, but there they sit, decades of vehicles that can no longer loco-mote! Interesting stuff. Again, there is a very fine line between yard art, and crap in the yard.

The black cat is back, and she is now inside the house. Not really sure if it is a he or a she, but for now we consider it a her. We really have come to believe that someone drove her out here and abandoned her, we are really surprised that she survived the night and was not found by the coyotes. One thing is fer shure, she is a hungry one. Never saw anything to eat (so far, you know how cats are) that she didn't like. I will keep you informed as to how this plays out...

It has been a long, albeit beautiful day here in Texas. It is 79 wonderful sunshiny degrees outside, and I just returned from a committee meeting where I ate entirely too much pasta. Coupled with the fitful sleep I had last night, I think I am on the verge of being cranky.

I have not done too many good deeds for mankind today, so I think I will just take myself home and start over again tomorrow.

NOW, just because I am being cranky is no excuse for you to not be friendly and gregarious. Do as I say (please), not as I do!

Day Forty Eight...

THE SEVENTEENTH OF TWENTY EIGHT THINGS I SEE BETWEEN MY HOUSE AND THE HIGHWAY...in no particular order...

Right smack dab in the middle of the road between the St. Peter Lutheran Church and the St. Peter Lutheran Cemetery is the Walburg Restaurant. It is a pretty darn famous place in this neck of the woods, and it serves schnitzels and polka music. The food is really good (they even have a buffet on the weekends) and they have beers of all sorts coming out the ying-yang. It is a really interesting building that was most likely a general store or a grocer and dry goods store (as noted on the front of the place). A big hulking building with lots of smokey decorations that have been there for decades. But did I mention that the food is really good? It is definitely worth a visit if you are ever in the neighborhood!

We may have a new cat in the family, we will have to wait and see about this one. Several wees ago,our inside cat woke us up in the middle of the night, and we discovered there was a black cat outside on the patio. As I recall it, we were both surprised that there was an outside cat in the area, given that we have coyotes all around us, and the people we bought the house from cautioned us not to let our cat roam outside at night. But it looked healthy and kind of large, and none of the neighbors we know of have cats. We figured it was a barn cat from somewhere, and we went back to bed and the cat went away. Well, last night there was a younger looking smaller black cat outside the breakfast room, but it looked healthy too. Jody gave it some food, and we figure it will be around forever now. We need to discuss this with our cat, just to make the peace. The dog could not be less annoyed by the whole thing, and he was just interested that something was getting food and he was not getting his share. I think I may have forgotten to report that, the other day I was going out to check on the cattle, and I was in the garage putting on my boots, and a mouse was in my boot. Scared the devil out of both of us, that is fer shure. Anyway, one advantage to an outside cat could be the rodent control. We have some pellets that are supposed to not be harmful to cats and dogs and things like that, but I cannot understand how it can kill one animal and not hurt another. Let me ponder on that for a while...

Today was a beautiful day in Austin...that is if your name is Melody and you live in Connecticut. You see, Melody loves rainy, dreary London-Foggy kind of days, an his was one of those, fer shure! Unfortunately, her husband Bruce has to spend hours in front of the light box, just to keep himself from doing Melody in. Opposites attract! BUT, they are predicting temperatures in the 80's tomorrow, and a bright and sunny day, just before another cold front (whatever) hits our area in a couple of days. We are not complaining about the rain at all, we would just like to have rain and sunshine, thank you very much.

I am spreading my gospel about doing good deeds and letting others know about them. Again, I feel that if you do a good simple deed for someone, and then tell others about it, then that will cause us all to do more good deeds for others. It is the peer pressure, stupid! So, it is interesting that, when I ask folks if they have done a good deed, most of them cannot think of anything nice they have done for anyone else. SO...GET OUT THERE AND SPREAD THE WORD! Do a good deed for someone, and report back to someone you care about that you did it. It does not have to be a BIG something nice, just something nice. Let's see if we can make this go around the world. NOW GET OUT THERE AND SPREAD 'EM!

Day Forty Seven...

THE SIXTEENTH OF TWENTY EIGHT THINGS I SEE BETWEEN MY HOUSE AND THE HIGHWAY...in no particular order...

The Cemetery Tour, Part C. This is the cemetery of St. Peter's Lutheran Church. The church was the included as the first diary entry in February, and if you remember, it is a beautiful old white church on the corner of FM 972 and FM 1105. The cemetery is about a mile or two away from the church on FM 972. In fact, you pretty much have to go through the town of Walburg before you get to it. The cemetery, like the church itself, seems to be older than those of the 'new' Lutheran Church in town, Zion Lutheran, but it is no less orderly and well maintained than the new church. I wonder what caused the split between the church members? Walburg and the surrounding areas are not that densely populated, and it seems that one church would have been plenty for the area. I hope whatever the reason was, the issues have long ago been put aside, and hopefully forgotten.

Today is expected to be a nice, orderly and calm one, kind of like if I too were a Lutheran (but I'm not). I try to work from home on Mondays, but I have an evening appointment in Austin (Lakeway area actually), so I intend to go into the office about 9 AM and get some stuff done on this Holiday. Happy President's Day everyone, I hope you enjoy it! No mail today, but I think most everything else will be business-as-usual. We shall see...

The day did actually go as planned. On my way into the office, I e-mailed a client from my cell phone, a first for this techno-challenged person. And it worked. I just need to remember if I do it again, to cc myself on the message, or I won't have a record of the deal. The office was pretty quiet, no challenges, no issues out of the ordinary. It was raining when I left for the office this morning, so that was a good thing. I prepared for my late afternoon appointment, and it all went well, and it was a nice drive to the Lakeway area of Austin. The home I visited was a mid-century modern with a couple really nice additions in the last several yea, which makes the property a really lovely livable home. It is relatively isolated and private, and the grounds are lushly landscaped. All in all it will be a very fine home for someone (as it is for the current owners). The seller's are genuine and gracious folks, and they have chickens on the property. Anyone with chickens in the city (okay it is really kind of isolated) can't be all bad (not even a little bit bad) and you know how I like eccentricities. The more the merrier. And I have the dozen brown eggs to prove it. Thanks to them for that lovely gesture (the prospective clients, not the chickens)!

Have you all been practicing your good deeds? I have been very gracious to my fellow motorists when I am allowed to merge into a lane of traffic...a cheery wave of the hand to let them know their kindness was appreciated. A pleasant tone of voice and a kind word go a long way. I will keep working on that.

Okay, go be nice to someone, pat your dog on the head, or rub your cat (not enough to spark static electricity, cats do not like that). Have a nice several hours, and be as kind to yourself as you are being to those around you.

Day Forty Six...

THE FIFTEENTH OF TWENTY EIGHT THINGS I SEE BETWEEN MY HOUSE AND THE HIGHWAY...in no particular order...

Two of my favorite things, rusty stuff and windmills. In this case, the windmill actually gives the rusty stuff a purpose. The windmill actually works to pump water from underground into the rusty thing, in this case a water tank (think Petticoat Junction on a much smaller scale). The windmill pumps the water up, the water tank holds the water until it is needed and then releases the water into a trough for the livestock. Pretty darn simple, and there is no energy used except for the renewable kind. The windmill can even be controlled so if the tank is full and it is windy outside, the windmill can be disconnected and quit pumping. I wish I had one of those set-ups! On the other hand, I have been told (and believe me I get plenty of free advice out here) that the ground water has too much sulphur in it, and it is not good for the cattle. Especially my citified brand of Longhorns!

Today was a really quiet and calm day...Jody and I left at about 9AM to drive almost 50 miles to recycle the Highlander FULL to the brim of moving boxes and wrapping paper. It seems that might be a bit over the edge, but the stuff needs to be recycled and there is no place around here to do it. So, as we go we will take the stuff into town a little at a time...hopefully we will not have an entire truck full of boxes and paper any time in the near future.

When we got home, we emptied a few more boxes, but we were both tired so we just decided to have a calm day. I did a little bit of real estate stuff, Jody straightened up the kitchen a little bit, and I went out in the mule and sat by the pasture fence and watched the cows. Every time I go out there in the mule, they think it is food time, so we just sat there for about 45 minutes and looked at each other. They are like Pavlov's dogs, they think the mule means food so they just stood there looking at me and slobbering. Interesting.

We went to dinner tonight at Cici's Pizza, the first time either of us had ever been to that brand...it was VERY BRIGHT inside, no energy conservation going on in that place. And the food was really nothing at all to be excited about. Very bland, very tasteless...the best thing I had was (what I believe to be) ham and egg pizza. Yep, that is what I said, ham and egg pizza. It was actually pretty good. They also have maccaroni and cheese pizza, and it had no taste at all. So sad...

I have decided that people do not do enough good deeds for one-another, so I think it is tome that we all begin to confess our good deeds on a daily basis. Perhaps if we start to admit to our good deeds, it will begin a habit, and we will do more-and-more good deeds. So, my good deed for the day (of course it is just one of many) was to thank the man at the recycling center for helping us unload the truck. I told him how very much we appreciated his help (but I did not give him a $1 tip). SO...go out and do a good deed for someone today, and report back to me when you have made someones day better for even the smallest most incidental thing! We will all feel better about it!

Day Forty Five...

THE FOURTEENTH OF TWENTY EIGHT THINGS I SEE BETWEEN MY HOUSE AND THE HIGHWAY...in no particular order...

Shattered dreams, dashed hopes, a lifetime of achievement thrown to the gutter. Okay, well, maybe not. I should never have looked inside the windows of the Schwertner (remember the pronunciation) State Bank. When we were first looking around the area, we found these two old buildings across from the NEW Schwertner State Bank and the Schwertner Community Center (and catty-cornered from the Crossroads Cafe). I thought the bank building would be a great place to buy, fix-up and open the little junk shop of my dreams, and whittle sticks on the front porch while waiting for the non-existent customers to never show up. But is is just not meant to be. For one thing, I do not think the owners of the property would ever consider selling it, and they might not even consider leasing it. But then, out of the clear blue, I decided to look in the windows the other night. Total devastation and mayhem is evident from those windows. It really does not look like anyone has been inside the building in decades. The roof seems to be falling in, the place is just in total disrepair. But...maybe a quick coat of paint, a nice blue tarp on the roof...and maybe I could be in business! We shall see...

I hope you all have plans for Cupid's arrows today. I know you are all good and deserving folk, and you have made someone else's day a better one today, and someone special will return the favor to you. Enjoy it, and try not to eat too much chocolate!

Today was another day of unpacking boxes from the garage and putting stuff in the house and giving things away to charity. SO far we figure we have given enough furniture and accessories to Goodwill and the Salvation Army to furnish a pretty good sized one-bedroom apartment. Today, we took two chests-of-drawers, and very nice large ottoman (think coffee table style ottoman) SEVERAL vacuum cleaners (I never met a vacuum cleaner I didn't like) and two television sets (both in perfect working order, including remotes). We needed to go to Taylor for some cattle feed, and there is a St. Vincent DE Paul and a Salvation Army in Taylor, but neither one of them would answer their phones, so we ended up going to the Salvation Army in Round Rock. A very nice facility, so we hope they can put the items to good use for themselves or for someone else. We fear that most of the proceeds from the sale of the items goes for the purchase of cokes and cigarettes...all the staff where you drop off items were drinking a coke and smoking cigarettes when we were there. Oh well...

So then we came back through Taylor and got the cattle feed with about six minutes to spare (they close at noon) and after we got the feed, we went across the street to Louis Mueller's Bar-B-Que for lunch. Great food, I had a half-pound of brisket, and Jody had a chopped-beef sandwich. We left there and stopped at a few other places, and moseyed-on-home. It was time for Jody to take a nap, and while he did that I went out and transferred the feed troughs from one pasture to the other, and moved the cattle into the other pasture. I move them every three weeks, just so the pastures can recover a bit between grazings. Then I fed the cattle and unloaded the rest of the cattle feed we just got into the feed storage shed.

Unpacked more boxes, did more stuff, and now Jody is making dinner...omelettes! Makes 'yer tummy say yummy!

Now, I hope you have a great story to tell about this Valentine's Day...but if you don't, that is okay, too. Just be kind to yourself, and it will be fine. You deserve to be nice to yourself, I am so tired of people beating themselves up over nothing, I think we need to make a new Holiday!

Day Forty Four...

THE THIRTEENTH OF TWENTY EIGHT THINGS I SEE BETWEEN MY HOUSE AND THE HIGHWAY...in no particular order...

Oh, save me I am afraid...today is Friday the Thirteenth! I am shakin' in my (proverbial) boots. Whatever! Last night Jody was feeling a bit puny, so I went to the Crossroads Cafe and got us burgers and onion rings to go. Yummy good. The cafe is on the corner of FM 1105 and something else...not sure...but it is in the town of Schwertner (pronounced Schwett-Ner, the first r is silent). Just getting used to saying that takes some practice, kind of like when I first moved south it was a conscious effort to say 'y'all', but now it is not an issue (it has only been 40 years). I really like the small town environment, everyone knows everyone, and all seem to care. The talk in the cafe as I waited for my order was all about planting, lost dogs, found dogs, new babies, good rains and good times. A lot of good ole folks, and I was happy to be there.

Today should be a relatively calm day at the office, and we have plans for the weekend to only work to get the storage shed straightened around so we can get some stuff from the garage out there, and do some tweaking inside the house. Life is getting back to normal, and that is a comforting thing. I also think we are planning a trip in to Costco (need coffee) and I have to go to the feed store to get a fresh supply of cattle feed. Today or tomorrow the cattle will be moved to the other pasture, and that is always an interesting thing to get accomplished. We shall see...

Well, the day is about over in the office, I need to try and hit the road to get in front of the traffic. My partner Carrie just called to remind me to take home the Chocolate Souffle she made, like that is just exactly what Jody and I need. AND she said it will not be good past the weekend, so we need to eat it quickly. I had a very small bite of it this morning, and it is delicious, but VERY very rich, and a little bit of that will go a long way.

Okay, that is it for now, unless I need to interrupt this post with a special breaking bulletin. More later...

Okay, a very calm evening is in the making here in the country. Must get ready for the weekend, that is when all the real work happens.

Are you ready for Valentine's Day? Have you told anyone today that you love them and that you care about them? It would not hurt to catch them off-guard, and confess your affection a day early! You might be surprised at the response you get!

Day Forty Three...

THE TWELFTH OF TWENTY EIGHT THINGS I SEE BETWEEN MY HOUSE AND THE HIGHWAY...in no particular order...

Rusty stuff and windmills, what could be better. At one point I was going to count the numbers of flags and windmills that I see between our house and the highway, but since I have an advanced case of ADD and old-timers, I lose track of things on the ride between here and there. Needless to say, there are lots of each one. I think windmills are really pretty interesting things, and there are windmills of all sizes, styles and also in all forms or repair. I think this one is really pretty cool. Obviously someone needed to make some repairs, or maybe it was just salvaged from somewhere, but the fact that the blades are down at ground level make it very interesting. In fact, the entire yard is interesting. Another thing I have always wondered about, since we have been venturing to the country-side in one form or another for the past several years is, how can someone drive a car somewhere, and that is it...they never start or move that vehicle again...EVER. Did they lose the keys? Did they just lose interest in driving? Is that as far as the car got before it quit? It is an interesting thing to think about (for me anyway).

The HOA meeting last night was okay, too bad that not enough members of the association arrived to have a quorum, so we just had kind of a casual meeting before we all left about 7:45 PM. So now we will have to schedule another meeting, and it will entail lots of moaning and groaning on the part of the membership that did bother to attend. We shall see...

THE COYOTES ARE BACK and in fine voice, too. I have not heard the coyotes for a long, long time, but they woke me up last night howling. There must have been several of them, and it was a glorious chorus. I think the full moon was scheduled for Monday, but maybe they were delayed because of all the clouds and the little bit of rain that ensued. Whatever the reason, I was glad to hear them, and as long as they do not bother the cattle, they are welcome. I am sure their place in the ecology is necessary, and they can have all the mice they want, but leave the bun-rabbits and the cattle alone!

Today is my friend Sharon's birthday. I gave her a call on the way to work, and gave her a lot of trouble about things in general. Sharon and I have known each other for quite some time, and in fact, I represented her as her REALTOR several years ago. Sharon and I worked in the same real estate office, that is how we originally met. Anyway, we are diametrically opposed as far as political ideologies are concerned, and we never hesitate to remind one another of those facts. I like Sharon a whole-lot, and I hope she knows that...and I hope she has a wonderfully Happy Birthday. I did not sing to her, I wanted her to have a good day!

Another beautiful day here, so I am off shortly to go feed the cattle and then Jody and I will be going out to dinner tonight. All is well with the world!

I suggest you check your contacts folder, and see when someone is having a birthday, and make a special note of it. You can never receive too many Birthday Greetings. You should then leave and go to Walgreen's (or the car wash, in Austin they have the best cards at the car wash) and buy a stock of Birthday Cards. And while you are there, do not forget to stock up on Valentine's Day Cards. The big day is Saturday, and you don't want to let that one slip up on you!

Day Forty Two...

THE ELEVENTH OF TWENTY EIGHT THINGS I SEE BETWEEN MY HOUSE AND THE HIGHWAY...in no particular order...

Okay, by now you might have figured out that I like rusty things. In fact, I think I even mentioned it on one of the earlier posts. Also, I like crap. I like cluttered spaces and I like stuff. So these whirly-gigs are just what I like. Rusty and crap! I guess the owner of this property probably made these whirly-gigs and decided to set them out at the front of his property. They are in New Corn Hill, and the sign below them says "New Corn Hill Air Assn". I think it is pretty incredible what people can come up with if they are given enough time and enough crap to do it with. There is an old bathtub on our property, and it is kind of an aqua-blue color...I would love to rig it up with a pipe and a shower nozzle and make it into a fountain...the problem is I will need the perfect spot on the property to place it, to give it the best possible vantage point for proper viewing by the public. We shall see...

We had a pretty good storm here last night...the same storm that went through Oklahoma and caused at least one tornado and several deaths. For about an hour there was a pretty good little rain event, good winds and a lot of lightning. I thought there would be more rain in the gauge this morning, but it was just under three-quarters of an inch. Glad to have it. After the storm, the sky cleared, and the moon was almost full and very bright. This morning the moon was still very bright, the air is clear and crisp, and I expect it will be a beautiful day.

It is indeed a beautiful day today. I have made many accomplishments today; I have returned many phone calls that I missed while I was out of the office the last two days, took a sales listing in Cedar Park and got it entered in the MLS system, become prepared for the HOA meeting that will be held this evening and did a lot of other general clean up stuff. It is 74 degrees outside right now, and life could hardly be better. It is difficult to comprehend that people in other parts of the world are shooting each other, blowing themselves up in the name of religion. Whose religion is the right one, anyway. I hope mine is, but...We shall see...

Now, I think it would be a nice thing if, the next time you go to the grocery store (or Target or Walmart or wherever) that you purchase an extra bag of dog and cat chow. Okay that will be a total of two bags. But then, just drop it off at your local pet shelter, because goodness knows, they can use the extra food. Try not to look at the adoptable pets there, unless you are willing to take them all home with you (or maybe just one or two). Then everyone will be feeling better and you may just make a couple new friends.

Day Forty One...

THE TENTH OF TWENTY EIGHT THINGS I SEE BETWEEN MY HOUSE AND THE HIGHWAY...in no particular order...

Okay, there is one in every neighborhood. That one place that feels out of place, like it was picked up by aliens and transplanted with no particular rhyme or reason. Amid all the cactus and manufactured housing, all the fences and cross-fences, all the clapbord houses that have been there for generations and all the homes that held promise and now hold nothing but faint memories, there is this house. It is BIG AND IT IS WHITE and it stands out proudly on the prairie, especially when the flood lights illuminate it at night. And, oh yeah, it is for sale! I am convinced of two things; that this home is easily visible from the Space Shuttle and the Space Station, and should the sun ever give out, there is enough reflective energy stored from this single family residence that it would continue to warm the earth for decades. I wonder if there is any correlation about the beginning of global warming and the construction of this home? It could be. Here, if you are a house junkie, are the particulars about this property. It is listed for sale for $699,900, shows to be about $,271 square feet, 5 bedrooms, 3.5 baths, and acreage (not sure what the acreage is, but enough). Let me know if you are interested, and I will arrange a showing for you!

My deal at the Board today was really good, very interesting. We did the DISC personality thing, and my results were pretty much the same as always...high dominant personality, and all the other personality traits pretty much fell from there like a rock in the ocean with cinder blocks tied to it. Strait Down From There. So, these exercises are fun and enlightening, and it was worth the time. The next session for this particular program will be on March 2nd, so I will let you know how that goes. We were told the next session will be about team building, wear comfortable clothes with tennis shoes, and hopefully no one will be allergic to raw eggs. Sounds like fun already!

One of the lunch sponsors today is a home builder, not a custom builder, but a builder of subdivision type homes (although I am sure they would argue with me, they are probably D type personalities). Anyway...the brochures they brought show floor plans of homes with 7,700 square feet! TRACT HOMES for $949K. Did they not get the memo? Okay, even if they are in total denial of what is happening with the economy, what about environmental issues? What about the energy it takes to build, maintain and heat/cool something like that. Besides, who needs a house that big? AND they are building in the FAR Austin suburbs. I wonder where people that will buy those properties work? DALLAS?

Please let me now step down off my soap-box. Thank you! I feel much better now.

Uneventful trips to and from the Board, it is amazing how much time I saved getting to and from there, and my office is only about 9 miles further, but those last nine miles (on the way in to the office) are killers. Same is true for the first nine miles on the way home...traffic congestion city!

Okay, so today's suggestion is...hmmm. Let's see. Okay, I think you should go and thank someone for the wonderfully thoughtful thing they did for you today. Think hard, I am sure someone did something nice for you today, and they need to have that deed acknowledged. Don't just take peoples kindnesses for granted. It is not that difficult to say thank you, but we sometimes act like it is.

Thank you!

Day Forty...

THE NINTH OF TWENTY EIGHT THINGS I SEE BETWEEN MY HOUSE AND THE HIGHWAY...in no particular order...

Every body knows Big Tex. Big Tex is the guy (attack of the forty foot cowboy) that greets all the attendees of the Texas State Fair in Dallas. Well, this is another Big Tex. In the case of the Schwertner, Walburg, Bartlett areas of Central Texas, Big Tex is the fireworks stands, usually abandoned save for those eight or ten days every year when it is legal to sell those missiles and crackers imported from mysterious places around the world. Those swirling, spinning and exploding diversions proven to start more grass fires that a house full of pyromaniacs with a pent up desire and a full pack of matches. There must be a lot of money in fireworks because, as I said, it is only legal to sell them (in this area) for a few days before the Fourth of July and New Years. I can remember my cousins in Byhalia. Mississippi sold fireworks in the summer time, and then when I lived in Hattiesburg, Mississippi we would have bottle rocket wars out in the woods. THAT WAS FUN, and remember, I told you I was a product of slow maturity. Some issues took longer than others!

I have not been outside yet to get the paper, but I think I heard a little bit of rain last night, and when I got up, the patio around the pool looked wet, so that is a good sign. Or maybe the humidity is just up. The temperature on the nuclear thermometer said 61 degrees when I was making coffee, normal for mid-February in this part of the country.

I am off this morning to the Board of REALTORS for the first of my Leadership training. This will be a two day deal, and there will be a total of about 12 days of training over two or three months. We shall see...

Much later the same day. Well, we ended up with about 1.5 inches of rain today, that is really good, since we have been so dry and the drought conditions are really not helping things at all. Hopefully, the grass in the pastures will get a good start and produce well so I can get a couple cuttings of hay this year, and will not have to purchase hay. That was the original plan!

The class today was good, with about 19 attendees. Tomorrow will be another day, and we will take the DISC personality thingy...I have taken several of these over the years, and it will be interesting to see how I have changed since the last one. I am certain my personality type has undergone some transition in the last several years. I always thought that as you grow older you were supposed to become more tolerant of things that are unfamiliar to you...but I do not think that is happening in my case. I think I am becoming my mother, with very little tolerance for anything (period).

Now, I suggest that you go find a worthy cause, and donate some of your time to something or someone. Doing good things does not always mean spending money, but it is more about putting to good use the resources you have available to you at the time. If you just happen to be flush with lots of cash, I am certain a local shelter could use personal hygiene items, socks, shoes, underwear, you name it, all the things that most of us just take for granted. On the other hand, all of us have some time that we could put to good use. Go ahead, volunteer for something, and you will make the world a better place. And while you are at it, visualize whirled peas!

Day Thirty Nine...

THE EIGHTH OF TWENTY EIGHT THINGS I SEE BETWEEN MY HOUSE AND THE HIGHWAY...in no particular order...

Today's topic: Cemeteries Part Two! This is the cemetery of the Holy Trinity Catholic Church in New Corn Hill, Texas. It seems much more extravagant than the cemetery of Zion Lutheran, but it is actually tucked far behind the church, and from the road, all you really see is a glimpse of the cemetery from the road. You actually have to figure out how to get back to see it. The folks resting here are also in an orderly repose, but the markers seem much more extravagant and glamorous. Perhaps the Catholics had more concern about their ascent into heaven than the Lutherans did, but that is purely conjecture on my part.

The baby of my friends Tim and Jennifer arrived last night about 10 PM, according to Tim's post on FaceBook. A precious little baby girl named Maya. So that is one baby boy for one of our office members, one baby girl for friends of mine, and NOTHING on the calf front, unless something happened last night. We shall see...

Shortly after I got up this morning, just after I turned on the first lamp in the house, the power went off for about 5 seconds...just enough that every thing had to be reset...so I spent a bit of time resetting clocks and re-booting the computer. Even the TV in the den had to be reset...but at least it did it itself. I thought that was kind of strange. I think the coyotes did it. This morning was the first time in a while that I heard the coyotes howling off in the distance.

Oh, and speaking of new calves, my neighbors have at least two new calves, just a couple days old right now. Jody said I should move Orchid to that pasture so she could get the idea. The neighbors have a lot more cattle than we do, so the odds are better for them...

By 8 o'clock this morning, I had emptied 18 boxes, and I have revised my estimate of the total number of boxes. There must be at least 500 boxes in the house and in the garage. My estimate of 300 yesterday, which I assumed I was exaggerating, was totally under-estimated. There have to be at least 1,000 boxes in the house and garage. They are multiplying like little bunnies, we are now up to about 1,500 boxes, and I am running out of room for boxes. Help, someone help me please!

After emptying the boxes, I went out and fed the cattle, and put fresh bales of hay in both pastures. I could have only put hay in the pasture where the cattle are now, but I will be moving the cattle to the other pasture on Friday or Saturday, so it seemed like I should go ahead and do it, so now that is done.

When I came inside, Jody and I moved the furniture around in the living room about 35 or 40 more times, until we finally got it the way we want it. All it took was deciding that we had too much freakin' furniture. We took two leather recliners, two parsons chairs, two end tables and a tea-cart (whatever) to the Goodwill in Georgetown. All the furniture was perfectly good, we are just moving furniture from about 4,200 square feet of space into the new house which has about 2,800 feet of space. So, we just needed to downsize some furniture. We took it to the Goodwill place, and there were four guys there to help unload it...unload it to them meant dragging it off the truck and throwing it down on the ground. I told the one guy that had been a perfectly good recliner until he threw it on the ground and splintered it all to pieces. Whatever...

Okay, so I suggest you conduct yourself some personal therapy, and go re-arrange the furniture in your living room, even if you are perfectly happy with it the way it is. A little change will do you good, and you should never settle for the status-quo. Go ahead, it is time for change. Hmmm, that sounds kind of catchy!

Day Thirty Eight...

THE SEVENTH OF TWENTY EIGHT THINGS I SEE BETWEEN MY HOUSE AND THE HIGHWAY...in no particular order...

Today's topic: Cemeteries Part One! So far I have shown you examples of the Lutheran Churches (St. Peters) and the Catholic Church's (Holy Trinity) in the area. There is another Lutheran Church (Zion) which looks to be relatively new in architecture, and therefore not really that interesting. BUT, Zion Lutheran Church does have a pretty interesting cemetery, and as you can see, the Lutheran's have maintained their orderliness and conformity even in death. The markers are really pretty, well kept and every thing is orderly! A place for everyone, and everyone in his or her place! No need for individuality here! After all, it is all done already! It was interesting that, during the Holidays the place was a frenzy of silk (really rayon) Poinsettias, and on a good windy day you could almost hear the dearly departed singing "It's Raining Fake Flowers". But, it is now February, and the cacophony of tattered rayon bits has, for the most part, been cleaned up. Stay tuned for tomorrows post, which will be about the 'other' cemetery at the Holy Trinity Catholic Church. I can't wait!

I left the house this morning at about 7 AM to get to the condo in time for the movers. I was only there for a few minutes before they arrived. I toured the condo, and everything was amazingly well organized, so this part of the move is expected to go very smoothly. I think it is the chaos that will erupt on the other end that will cause some anxiety. We shall see...

Okay, now I am officially really really tired. The movers left the farm at about 3:15 PM, and overall, it was not a terrible experience. We do, however, have about 300 (okay maybe I am exaggerating a teensy little bit) boxes that are left to be unpacked. The plan was to put all the boxes in the garage, so we could unload them as we went along. Somehow, that plan did not get adequately relayed to the movers. I do sometimes have challenges with communication...we all speak English (or a form thereof) but we really have issues communicating. ANYWAY...things could be a lot worse, but overall, it is going to be okay. It is hard to comprehend that all the stuff is gone from the condo, and it is all here on this property. It is truly a sense of accomplishment.

Only a couple things were broken (that we know of so far) and the grandfather clock does not seem to want to chime anymore, but I cannot believe that that is something that cannot be fixed. I am kind of handy with a screw driver, so I will see what I can do.

Now, I suggest that you go pull a warm bubbly bath for someone special, and enjoy it. And it is okay, the someone special that you draw the bath for can be yourself! I am sure that you deserve it. Go have fun! I insist!