Volume 18 - Day 254/111, 2026 - Friday

I have shared this many, many times over the past 25 years. In the week leading up to 9/11, Jody and I were traveling from Montreal to Portland, Maine. Jody was driving and I was riding my bike, having raised money for AIDS research. It was my last seven day ride, and it was great. Jody and I left the jetport in Portland, Maine on September 10th, and the terrorists left the jetport in Portland, Maine on September 11th. I believe that the lives of every person on the planet changed that day, and none of us will ever be the same. I remember there was no laughing for months after that, and I also remember watching a television comedy show months later, and I laughed out loud. It had been months of no laughing, and I very clearly remember the day that I thought it was okay to laugh again. Today was again a busy day, I walked with Paul, and then I got ready to head south. I needed to do several things in Austin, so I left the Curious House before 9 o'clock, picked up a prescription, got a shot in my knee (number 4), and spent a few hours at the Secretary of State's office, getting some documents Apostille'd about the condo in Playa. On the way home, I stopped at HEB and got bird seed, some flavored sparkling water (I trying to cut down on the Diet Cokes) and some hard boiled eggs. That is a testament to how lazy I am. Tomorrow will be estate sales, and tomorrow evening Paulina and I are going to a chamber music and jazz concert at The Mansion in Austin. Bottom line: I will out AFTER DARK tomorrow night. You have been warned!

Volume 18 - Day 253/112, 2026 - Thursday

Hopefully, I will be able to upload a photo to this journal entry. If there is no photo, you will know that it still didn't work. If it does, I will try to edit the entry from yesterday, time will tell. It was a pretty busy day, I left the Curious House a few minutes before 8 to make it to my 9 o'clock appointment in Leander. It was a REALTOR® caravan to introduce properties to our colleagues. There were seven properties on the caravan, we were number three. I got back to the Curious House at EXACTLY 1PM, and did not do too much until I got ready to go to my second Citizens Police Academy class. Tonight was about SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics). There was a lot of history about these groups, but the part that interested me the most was about the 'gadgets' that are used during the course of their jobs. Very interesting. Tomorrow will be another kind of busy day, and it is not time to see if I can upload a photo to this entry. Well, it kind of worked...the hard way!

Volume 18 - Day 252/113, 2026 - Wednesday

I am not sure why, but the program won't let me add a photo to this post. Your loss! Edit, it is now the next day, and here is the photo planned for the entry.

Every now and then, I determine that, maybe I should have read the directions first, but, what the hell? I walked with Paul this morning, and then I was getting ready for my doctors appointment at 10AM. I got to the office in plenty of time, and I guess everything is okay, they let me loose. I now had another appointment for another 'nuclear stress test' in October. I don't think too much negative stuff will be determined at that test, and so I go forward, feeling pretty good for an old guy. I did not do much for the rest of the day, and PV and I went to Walburg for dinner tonight. It was really, REALLY good, not the buffet, but REALLY good, and I brought at least half of my dinner home for another day. I have a 9 o'clock appointment in Cedar Park tomorrow, which means I will need to leave the Curious not later than 8, but I will know better tomorrow after I map it out. Tomorrow night I will go to my second Citizen's Police Academy class, SWAT is the subject, and I am looking forward to that.

Volume 18 - Day 251/114, 2026 - Tuesday

The photo accompanying this post was taken 16 years ago today, when Jody and I were living at the farm. Full tank. The day before this photo was taken, there was not a drop of water in that tank, which just goes to prove that one good rain can make a lot of good things happen in central Texas. Paul and I walked this morning, and Rick and I had a ROMEO breakfast. After breakfast, I stopped at Galaxy Bakery. I got two scones for me and one scone for Paulina. I had a couple errands to take care of in Austin, so that was my next stop, and after getting back to the Curious House, I made a trip to the bank. Nothing unusual about my day. I bought something I saw on Facebook and it was delivered today. Now, I feel like a total idiot for spending the money, I will return the item and work on a refund to the credit card. It looks so good on Facebook, too. Ugh. I have an appointment at the cardiologist tomorrow morning, and tomorrow night I am going to Walburg for dinner, and I am looking forward to that. Every day in the seven day forecast predicts a temperature at or above 100 degrees. I am getting more and more weary of the hot temperatures. The average last day for 100 degree temperatures in central Texas is the 18th day of August. DUH!

Volume 18 - Day 250/115, 2026 - Labor Day Monday

Between thoughts while composing this journal entry, I expect I will be making trips to the kitchen for a spoonful of ice cream. I slept very nicely last night, for which I am glad, and I even slept a little bit late, I did not crawl out of the bed until 5:45. I got everything watered, front and back, before our walk, and after the walk, Paulina came over just for a few minutes. She said she was working on making my trip itinerary easier to navigate, and when she sent it to me, it included the header that is the photo included in this entry. Very cool! She is a genius! I took a nap, got myself up and went to HEB, bought some necessary things; milk, bread, turkey cranberry salad, flavored waters, and sugar. I need the sugar to keep the hummingbirds happy. Once home, it was time for another nap, and then dinner. The girls had their usuals, and I had pork ribs. Very good. I got the ribs on Saturday, and this was the first chance I have had to try them. This will be a pretty easy week, I have appointments on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, but those will be easily accomplished. Interestingly last night, the local NextDoor divas cannot tell the difference between gunshots and fireworks, so I can hardly wait for the crap to start tonight.

Volume 18 - Day 249/116, 2026 - Sunday

Friday night, following my knee shot, my knee was hurting so badly that I did not think I would be able to walk when I woke up on Saturday morning. Last night, while I was spending time looking at crap on my phone, I kept seeing things about extra-special knee braces and different ways of lessening knee pain, short of knee replacement. I also watched a video of knee replacement surgery. Watching the knee brace videos made me think that I should (once again) try the knee sleeve (I have three of them) that I bought months ago. Almost immediately I had relief from the constant pain, and I was able to have a good nights sleep. Yay, me! Paul and I walked this morning, and about 9:30, Paulina came over, and we booked train trips for my trip to Spain in November. All we need now is to book guides and a few other things, and I will be set. This afternoon, Paulina and I went to Temple to have frozen yogurt at GOGO'S Treatery in Temple. Devin and William were both there, and we had fun eating, talking and just having fun. We both brought cupcakes home, so we are making that trip about once a month now. I had planned to make a trip to HEB today, but there is always tomorrow. I took off the knee sleeve a few minutes ago, I will see how I do overnight, but I expect I will wear it for a while. There was rain around us today, but nothing at the Curious House. Me, Paulina, William and Devin.

Volume 18 - Day 248/117, 2026 - Saturday

Ever since I got the shot in my knee yesterday, it has been hurting. Did I mention that when the doctor gave me the injection, I screamed like a 13 year old girl in junior high. Well, I did. It was like he poked something that shouldn't have been poked. Overnight, I did not sleep well, because my leg was hurting, and when I got out of bed this morning, I didn't know if I would be able to walk or not. But...I did my morning walk, and I am not going to give in to the hurt, Val and I drove 45 minutes to an estate sale this morning (there were no sales in Sun City), and I walked away with a few things, Val got nothing. That was my cue to take a nap. I ordered three rack of ribs yesterday, they are having a sale for Labor Day, and I took one over to VP, and I have two in the refrigerator. I am going to (maybe) do something I have never done, put one rack of the ribs in the freezer. That usually spells doom for anything I put in the freezer, except ice cream. Tomorrow, I think Paulina is coming over and we are going to make the final arrangements for me going to Paris, Barcelona, Malaga, Morocco and London in November. There are some pretty good train rides in the trip, so that should be a lot of fun. I'm itching to travel somewhere. I can always depend on the girls to have good ideas, and the three of us spent some time napping.