Volume 16 - Day 17/291, 2024 - Thursday

Yes, today was as busy as I had anticipated, but not as busy as it could have been. I did not walk this morning because I had an 8:15 appointment in Austin. GoogleMaps said it would take 45 minutes to get there, but it really took an hour-and-a-half. I left earlier than GoogleMaps said I needed to, and I got there right on time. It was a nice breakfast meeting, and it was a lot of fun seeing friends and colleagues. Then it was off to the office, where I was a total failure for my 10:30 zoom meeting, because I could not find the link to the zoom, and no one I texted responded. Maybe the meeting was a fig-newton of my imagination. Bottom line, I spent that hour doing other things, and left the office about noon to get home in time for my 1:30 zoom meeting. I did have the link for that meeting, and the girls were happy that I was spending some (kind of) quality time with them. That zoom went nicely, and we got all our stuff done early and the meeting was not as long as we had anticipated. We have one more day of fall like weather, and then it will be late summer again in central Texas. I will take full advantage of it though. Tomorrow I will go in to the office, then to let loose of some platelets and plasma, and then we are having our neighborhood dinner tomorrow evening. Fun all around.

Volume 16 - Day 290/76, 2024 - Wednesday

The seasons changed overnight in central Texas, but we will be back to fake fall a week from yesterday. For now, we will enjoy the cooler weather. The air conditioner has not run at all today, I left a few windows open during the day, and it is very comfortable in the house. Speaking of being comfortable, Callie seems very much to be doing better, the pills she is taking cause her to slow down a bit (not enough) and she seems to be doing better. She is somewhat leery of me carrying her up and down the stairs, and lifting her up onto the bed of the chair. Trying to keep her from jumping and causing more injury to whatever it is she injured. The office was totally under control today, and tomorrow will be a busy day. Meeting at 8:15, a zoom at 10:30, and another zoom at 1:30. Then, there is nothing much on my Friday calendar. The overnight low temperature is going to be in the high 40s, and I may have to close a window or two. Maybe. In my opinion, the postal service did not deliver mail to the Curious House yesterday. I was alerted that there would be nine pieces of mail delivered, but none appeared. I last checked at 8:20 last night, and again this morning on my way to the office. I will go check todays delivery after I post this entry, and there is more chatter on NextDoor about the mail delivery in the neighborhood. I have no real issues with the Postal Service, it works well for me most of the time. 

Volume 16 - Day 289/77, 2024 - Tuesday

Paul aborted his walk this morning and I decided to do half a walk, but I turned around and came back home before I got half-way done with my half-a-walk. Callie started acting sluggish and lethargic  yesterday, and she was not doing any better this morning when we got up, so I made her am appointment at the vets for this afternoon. Apparently, although we are not sure yet, she has a strained or ruptured disc, maybe nothing that extreme since there was a lot of talking at the vets, and she is now on anti-inflammatory drugs which is supposed to make her feel better. No running, no jumping, nothing like that for the next two weeks. I am not sure how I am supposed to control that when I am out of the house, but one thing for sure is I am not putting her in a kennel while I am out of the house. The cold front is supposed to come in overnight, and I am going to crank the HVAC down and open windows tonight before I crash. Maybe it will cool the house down without air conditioning, and that would be nice. Fresh air is always good. Tomorrow should be a quiet day, Thursday will be a very busy day, and Friday will be kind of quiet, I will give some platelets and plasma and then enjoy the Supper Club for dinner at the Walburg German Restaurant. Good times!

Volume 16 - Day 288/78, 2024 - Monday

I bought two baskets of Dianthus yesterday, to put in two empty pots on the back patio for a little color. They like full sun, so they are in the right place. It was not a record breaker today in central Texas, but it was (I think) 96 degrees today. Tomorrow is forecast to be 99 degrees, which will break a record, and overnight into the morning on Wednesday, we are looking for a cold front. HAHA. It will lower the daytime temperatures to the mid-80s, and that will be very welcome. The problem is, there is still no, or very little chance of precipitation in the ten day forecast. I am pretty sure it will work out in the end, one way or another. Not a bad day today, Paul and I had a nice walk, and I got in to the office at about 9:30. It was very quiet, and I left for the Curious House at about noon-30 or 1 o'clock. Traffic on the way in was not terrible (there was no school today) but on the way home there was something, not sure what, that had traffic backed up for miles. It did take about thirty minutes longer than usual to get home. I have been worried about Callie all day, she was not acting very feisty after breakfast this morning, and then this afternoon, she seemed better. Now, after dinner, she is acting lethargic, so I will be keeping my eyes on her. Hmmm. 

Volume 16 - Day 287/79, 2024 - Sunday

Okay, this needs to stop. It was 101 degrees in central Texas today, the highest recorded temperature this late in the year, since records have been being kept. And it may happen again tomorrow and Tuesday. Expecting a cold front (hahaha) to arrive overnight Tuesday into Wednesday morning, so we shall see what that will do for us. All I can say, is...never min, this is a family journal! Anybody want to play corn hole? Leisa and her crew are ready for you, but I am pretty sure you need to bring your own skull. Yesterday I figured out that I had created a major cluster f*uck, but I got it all worked out before noon today, so all is well that ends well. I was also very productive today. Paul and I had a nice walk, I went to Target, got the red car washed, went to HEB and Home Depot, and by about 1:30 I was naked until about 4:30. When I do laundry, I DO laundry! So that is just kind of the frosting on the cake. I had Shepherd's Pie for dinner, compliments of Pam and Paul, and I have enough left over for three of four more meals. Tomorrow is a Holiday, so I expect traffic to be light when going in to Austin, and the week ahead should be relatively quiet. Have a great week everybody!

Volume 16 - Day 286/80, 2024 - Saturday

This is (apparently) the 50th Anniversary of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and what I have taken away from that fact is, I am really old. Fifty Years? I graduated from High School 55 years ago, so I guess that is about right. Since we both woke up and were both breathing, Paul and I had a nice walk this morning. After that, I took off for estate sales with Pam, Judy and Marian. I bought a few things, and I can remember some of the things I bought. I found something in the car this afternoon that I bought at an estate sale about three weeks ago, so even I am finding new stuff at the Curious House. After estate sales, Eileen and Tom came over and we had a nice visit. Then it was down for a nap, and Paulina and Oliver came over and we headed out for dinner. While at dinner, I had a text from Pam that Paul was on his way over with a plate full of Shepherd's Pie. I occasionally feel like Sally Field, but I will happily accept that notion. I am not sure, yet, what I have on the schedule for tomorrow. I know I need to go to the grocery, and I should do some laundry, but you never know. I also need to get the car washed, but I don't want to plan too much. I need a couple baskets of mums, too, so who knows? HEB or Home Depot seems to be in my future. Oliver had pork ribs at dinner, and I brought bones home for the girls, so that will be a treat for them later!

Volume 16 - Day 285/81, 2024 - Friday

Well, I had not intended to go in to the office today, but when I looked at my calendar, I realized that I forgot about an 11:30 meeting at ABoR. SO, since I would be close, I went in for a few minutes, touched a few things, and then took off for my meeting. After the meeting, I headed back to the Curious House by way of HEB to get gas in the little white car. Of course, Paul and I had a nice walk this morning, and after the walk, I took it slow getting ready to head in to town. Parts of the meeting were interesting to me...about a months worth of stuff was compacted in to less than two minutes! There was a suggestion made, and we went from not a bad idea to why it could not be done in record time. I mentioned that fact as well, and I just think it was interesting. We shall see how it all works out. Over the weekend, we are expecting record high temperatures here in central Texas, but we are expecting a cool down next week, more in line with average high temperatures, only in the mid 80s. Rumor has it there is another system out in the Atlantic, but I have not seen anything on the news, so I will keep watching to see what is happening. This guy was hanging out in the morning glory leaves this morning, and it is interesting to study them up close, and realize how prehistoric he looks. He hung around while I went in the Curious House to get my phone for the pic. Kind of creepy, too.