Volume 12 - Day 251/115, 2020 - Monday - Labor Day during Covid

I found this wheat penny several days ago when I was digging for 3 cents at the MacDonald's drive thru. I am surprised I remembered where I put it, it is a 1957, almost as old as me, and in a whole lot better shape than I am. I lazed around for a good bit of the morning, and then I had the idea of just getting in the car and going exploring. Jody and I would occasionally do that, just driving aimlessly with no particular place to go. That would make a pretty good song. SO...I decided to hear north up 95 to Belton, then take a left and go to Harker Heights, and then take another left and go to Florence, and then take another left and head home. I was expecting to make two or three stops on less-travelled roads, but alas it was not to be. The GPS in my car does not do less travelled roads, so after I got to Belton it was mainly Interstate (who knew there was an I-14?), until I got past Harker Heights and Fort Hood, and then it was a smaller road, but nothing to stop and look at. I had my heart set on stopping at a couple junk shops or something like that, but nope, it did not happen. I think I may need to go and get a couple state and/or county maps to find my way around on smaller roads. Jody was always the co-pilot, he loved maps. The rain lilies (or blood lilies if you prefer) are really springing up everywhere, and they are really pretty. Hopefully there will be a little bit more rain tomorrow, there was none overnight, and I am going to go and do a LITTLE BIT of watering in a few minutes, before I settle in to watch Antiques Road Show.

Volume 12 - Day 250/116, 2020 - Sunday

After the recent rains (there was no rain today), the rain lilies (or blood lilies) are starting to pop up here and there. It has been a long time, and I almost forgot about them. Today was a pretty day, but (again) there was no rain (I am disappointed), and it was back up into the 90's. Interestingly, today it was a hundred degrees in Denver, and they are expecting three or more inches of snow on Wednesday, How is that possible? I heard some places in the nondescript, square, northern states, they are expecting up to 13 inches of rain next week. I am totally amazed with that forecast. Oh yeah, I am not a winner in the lottery. Boo-Hoo. I don't know if anyone was a winner or not, but I also bought some scratch offs, and I am pacing myself with those. I did not have many chores on my list of things to get accomplished, and I am pretty sure I got everything done. The most important thing was to get the chicken coop cleaned, and I got that done. It was hot and muggy up in the coop this afternoon, and that was kind of surprising. I fear I will be getting new tires on Tuesday. Ugh.

Volume 12 - Day 249/117, 2020 - Saturday

Yesterday's entry did not get posted until this morning. My Someone cut the fiber optics cable for my Internet Provider, so I had very limited service last night. I did everything I knew to do (reset lots of different things) and finally called the provider, and their phone messages said, basically, we were all out of luck. That was comforting, and when I got up this morning, everything was back to abnormal! I went to get the leak in my tire fixed this morning, and after waiting a hour-and-a-half, I was told I needed new tires. They did not even attempt to fix the leak. Had they said 'okay, we'll put a plug in it but you really need to get new tires pretty soon' that would have been acceptable, but they did not, so I left. I expect I will have new tires sometime next week. I was very un-Karen like, did not make a scene, I just did not drop $1,200 right then and there. I did buy some lottery tickets later this afternoon, so I am expecting to be rich by the morning. I will let you know, maybe. Maybe not. Tomorrow I am planning a quick grocery trip, maybe a visit to Stein Mart (since they are closing up), and maybe a stop at Bed, Bath and Beyond. No real reason, just because! This storm dropped over an inch of rain in about 40 minutes, and that was nice. Strong winds, too, lots of lightning, lots of thunder. Electricity went out a couple times, just long enough to mess up the clocks. I have not reset them yet. Maybe later. Maybe not.

Volume 12 - Day 248/118, 2020 - Friday

It is Friday, it is raining, and I bought a jigsaw puzzle this afternoon. It has come to that! Ugh! In the last twenty four hours, we have had over an inch and a quarter of rain, and that is lovely. I have not had to water anything manually for three days now, and it looks like at least another two or three, if I am lucky. There is more rain in the forecast, not a lot, but we will take it. Then there is a cold front expected next Tuesday or Wednesday that is supposed to lower our temperatures again. This afternoon when I left the office (to go get my hairs cut) it was 76 degrees. After I got my hairs cut and headed home, the sun came out and I saw it hit 81 degrees on the car thermometer. That is practically unheard of during the day in Texas. SO, we are looking forward to at least five or six days of (relatively) cool weather in central Texas. I have had a slow leak in one of my tires for about six weeks, and I just keep adding air to it, but I have decided to bite the bullet tomorrow and got get the tire plugged. I figure that is at lease a three hour chore. Tomorrow is also the grand opening of a new Harbor Freight store in Georgetown, so I will make sure to stop by to buy MORE bungee cords and maybe some other stuff that I don't need. Those are my plans for the weekend!

Volume 12 - Day 247/119, 2020 - Thursday

This is not a complaint. The skies have been grey all day long, and we have had at least one nice little shower. We got about a quarter-inch of rain, but parts of Austin received over an inch, and northeast of us they got seven inches. A quarter-inch is better than nothing, so there are no complaints here. In the next week or so, maybe another inch-and-a-half, and that will be lovely, PLUS the temperatures are down considerably, and there is a cold front (really) expected next Tuesday. I don't expect this is really fall weather, this is our annual fake-fall. It just lulls us into a false state of calm, and then we will get blasted with 100 temperatures again til the middle of October. Our Texas REALTOR® meetings concluded today, and I will head in to the office tomorrow and see what is going on. I have a stop or two to make on the way in, and then it will be a three-day weekend, which I am really looking forward to. We should have more three-day weekends, in my opinion. And grey skies and cool weather, just right for taking a nap! Or three...

Volume 12 - Day 246/120, 2020 - Wednesday

RAIN! It rained overnight! And it rained during the day. By tomorrow morning, I think we might log an inch of rain in the gauge. The little rain gauge that could! I had forgotten what it was like to drive in central Texas in the rain. IH-35 has been in a state of construction since they built it 50 or so years ago, and when it rains, you can no longer tell the old lane markers from the temporary lane markers. So, it makes for interesting creeping into lanes you thought were your but really aren't. But, I will deal with it for the next few days I hope, that is what we are hoping will happen, which also cools the temperatures down. I am also very pleased that I do not need to water trees (a Wednesday thing), and I don't have to water pot plants today, and I don't need to water the beds this weekend (I hope). I won't be going in to the office tomorrow, I will be on a couple pretty long zoom meetings, and then Friday will be a stress free day. I think!

Volume 12 - Day 245/121, 2020 - Tuesday

Today was the second day of the Texas REALTORS® annual conference, and again, everything is being done virtually. It is really well done and presented wonderfully, but it is still nothing at all like being around all our friends and colleagues in person. Maybe next year. I left for the office early this morning, and got on a meeting at 10 o'clock. Got some work done in the office after that, and then headed home for another meeting that I found out was cancelled as I was driving home. SO, looked around to see what there was that I could log on to before the three o'clock, the four thirty and the six o'clock. Lots of stuff going on during this week, but it will be winding down starting on Thursday and Friday. Next week should be an easy week. It sprinkled a little bit in Austin this morning, and then this afternoon, I saw it raining a tiny bit here on the Edge of Nowhere. When I was watering plants in the front this evening, I checked the rain gauge and it shows 1/10 of an inch, you could have knocked me over with a feather, I had no idea it rained that nicely. Hopefully some more rain tomorrow through the weekend, which is expected to bring us some cooler weather. Fingers crossed!