Volume 17 - Day 35/330, 2025 - Tuesday

There was no reason to dress warmly this morning for our walk, it was 65 degrees, so shorts and a t-shirt did it. We had our ROMEO breakfast this morning, too, and, as usual, it is Total Stranger Tuesday. I chose my victim carefully, and I needed to make sure her husband was not a LOT bigger than me, just in case they don't get the purpose. BUT, they did, we had a blast, and her husband was not her husband, he was her son, and we all had a good time. On the way home, there was a bunch of prisoners (photo tomorrow) unloading a truck, and a protester (a lady) outside the Court House, being harassed by about a half-dozen cops. They actually harassed her until she crossed the street and was in a parking lot, where the last I saw they were physically restraining her. What in the hell is happening? SO...I had a 10:30 appointment with ADT, who did not deliver the new doorbell, and did not really have an acceptable excuse. NOW, I have an appointment tomorrow, between 1PM and 5PM. Whoever it is that is supposed to show up is also supposed to bring a doorbell with them. We could have all saved a bunch of time if they had just done this a month ago. What have I done with my Yelp button? It's here somewhere. My other appointment (2PM) was supposed to last an hour, but it was over in about 30 minutes. That is what I call a good meeting. I will make it in to the office tomorrow, but I will be home by 1. There are a couple errands I need to run while I am in town, too, so we shall see how that all works out.

Volume 17 - Day 34/331, 2025 - Monday

Tomorrow I will wear shorts on our walk, I wore just a light jacket this morning, and about half-way through, I was glistening. Overnight, the low temperature is going to be about 65 degrees, and that is the normal high temperature for this time of year. It got up to 82 degrees today, and that was a record setter. More temps in the 80s for the next few days, but probably no records broken. I did go in to the office this morning, just moved some paperwork around, figuring I did plenty on Saturday. Tomorrow will be a stay-at-home day, I have two zoom calls and it will just be easier to do it from home. Okay, here is something interesting: I am going to Antarctica in November. I put down the deposit this morning, and I am pretty darned excited about that. Eleven days, not including (probably) four days getting to and from. One of the things I think will be really cool is, I will camp out and sleep in a 'snow-hole' one night, and I cannot think of anything right off that sounds more interesting. The ship carries a maximum of 180 persons, and they will assign me a 'suite mate,' but there is plenty of time if you decide you want to go along. That will leave me with two more continents to hit, and I think it will be totally cool. The photo accompanying this journal entry came up in my memories today. When Jody and I lived out at the farm, I would pass this guy every day, and I always thought he looked very lonely, out in the pasture by him self. I stopped this day just to talk to him, and I think he really appreciated it. I did!

Volume 17 - Day 33/332, 2025 - Sunday

Yep, we had a good walk this morning, and we also walked up to the main road (29), and walked over to The Preserve, a commercial development they are just about finished with (Phase One) just to look around. They have paved some of the parking lot and put in the sidewalks, so that is what we were waiting on. There was nothing really to see, just five or six buildings under construction. I think there are going to be 18 buildings when they are finished. No one knows what will be in that development, except we know there will be a Montessori School. We are all hoping for a few restaurants, we shall see. After the walk, I did very little, a trend that continued throughout the rest of the day. I did enough yesterday for today, so I just kind of chilled out. In the late afternoon, I did what everyone else did, I took a trip to Costco for just three things. And a wiener. $1.62 for a wiener and a diet Pepsi. Not too bad. And that took care of dinner. I did water plants, front and back, and took the covers off the spigots to accomplish that. I expect I will have to put the covers back on at some point, but not any time soon. I am trying to watch The Grammy Awards, but I am apparently not trying hard enough. This coming week should be pretty calm, I have a couple meetings on the calendar, nothing too time consuming.

Volume 17 - Day 32/333, 2025 - Saturday

It was a good morning for a walk, James didn't join us, he is feeling sickly. After the walk, I did a few things around the house, and then Margie and I went to three estate sales. They were possibly the worst three estate sales we have been to since we started doing sales. Everyone except me and Margie had other things to do, but we got to the sales. After sales, I did some more stuff around the house, and then I headed in to Austin to rearrange some stuff in the office. No one in Austin stayed inside today. Today was one of the days that everyone talks abut in central Texas. 75 degrees, sun shining and it is the first day of February. I am not kidding when I say no one stayed inside. People and cars were everywhere! I left Austin about 3:30, and got home about 4:15. I am tired, not used to moving furniture around, although I did have help. Jody used to say that he hoped I was not too tired to sleep, but I am thinking that might be the case tonight. I had the last of my Turkey Cranberry salad for dinner, along with some deviled egg salad (expiration date 12/25/2024). I don't even feel bad. When I got home this afternoon, I let the girls out, and even though Callie is camera shy, I got this fuzzy photo to include with this journal entry. So far, I have no firm plans for tomorrow, but I am sure something will interest me.

Volume 17 - Day 31/334, 2025 - Friday

We DID walk this morning, and it was fun, a bit chilly, but fun. Paul and I really DON'T want to walk, but we do it, and (at least I) am always glad after we do it. I left for the office, and got a few things done, and tomorrow I will be going back in and start rearranging the furniture in a move to get it ready for being leased. Still, the goal is April 1st, and I am pretty sure we will make it. Here is something interesting. I received two packages today, one via UPS and one via FedEx. The UPS package was something I did not order, it is some kind of a part for a thermostat that plugs into a wall fixture. I called the company that sent it, and they have no idea why it was sent to me, but they said I could keep it if I wanted. DUH! The second package (a smallish box) was EMPTY. But apparently, somebody, somewhere thinks I want to return something. Nope, not me. Interesting. There are now six estate sales tomorrow, and I may be the only person going, and maybe I won't go, either. We shall see. I am this close (squint) to booking a trip to Antarctica in November. This close! I will probably commit early next week, but it is kind of scary to think about, but I want to do it. That will leave two more continents to visit before I call it another decade. This pretty little orchid snuck up on me, I did not even know it was getting ready to bloom...I watered it on Monday (as always) and did not even notice the buds. BUT, it looks like there are several more buds, so it will be blooming for a while!

Volume 17 - Day 30/335, 2025 - Thursday

We didn't walk this morning because it was raining. It rained overnight, and quit about 9 o'clock this morning. In the last 24 hours, we have received an inch-and-a-quarter of rain, and it was slow and easy, just the kind of rain we need to soak in and make the trees and other plants happy. Rumor is that a good bit of rain fell on the lakes, which are still very low. I did not use the no-walking time very wisely, I think I just piled up in the chair and went back to sleep. I got up and headed in to Austin, and I got there at about 10 o'clock. I had a noon meeting, and that lasted until about 1:15, and I headed back to the Curious House, and got there about 2:30 or 3. I continued doing nothing until just about now, and doing this journal entry is about the most I have done today. I will be going back in to Austin tomorrow, just to see what else I can get out of the office, and after estate sales on Saturday, I am going to go back and rearrange furniture in the office to get it ready for the lease market. Lots of little details to finish, but that is okay, there is still time. I counted eleven buds on the Meyer Lemon, and that is pretty exciting. I had none last year, but the year before I got 13 lemons, and they were great! One of these days, if you remind me, I will tell you the story of the little orphaned Meyer Lemon tree that could!

Volume 17 - Day 29/336, 2025 - Wednesday

We did half a walk this morning, it was very foggy and by the time we got to the point of no return, it started raining. Not a lot, and it didn't last very long, but we decided to not chance it. We are of the opinion that it will likely be raining tomorrow when we are scheduled to walk. 80% chance at 7AM, so we will see what happens. The drive in to Austin was miserable this morning. In weather like this, I go from being an old man to a little old lady with both hands death-gripping the steering wheel. But, I made it to the office and back with no issues. I loaded up some more stuff from the office and took it to the company storage place, and brought a couple boxes of personal stuff to my storage space close to the Curious House. I have a noon meeting tomorrow in Austin, so I will likely get a few more things ready to take to storage, and share my plan for getting the office space leased. Everything seems to be falling into place, and I have no complaints about that.