Volume 18 - Day 211/154, 2026 - Thursday

After walking this morning (I didn't want to walk but I did), I did a few things around the Curious House, and then I headed in to Austin to spend a good bit of the morning just hanging out and appreciating this view. I could have done worse! After that, I went to the Police Department in Georgetown to present my Citizens Police Academy Application. This could be fun! The lady at the reception window seemed to think I would be a shoe-in, so apparently she is not that good of a screener. After that, I went to visit a pain management office to see if they could provide the 'viscosupplementation' that I am looking for. Basically, that is just the technical term for shooting my knee full of a gel that takes the place of the cartilage that is missing, causing me to be a gimp. I hate gimping. And, no, the office I was at does not offer that service. Still on the lookout! Then, I had a cheeseburger and a small coke, and made it to the chiropractor with five minutes to spare. The girls thought I had abandoned them, and they were A). Happy to see me, or B). Hungry. Maybe a little bit of both. Tomorrow will basically be spent in the Curious House, finishing up some volunteer stuff that I have been putting off, and doing a little bit of this-and-that paperwork. 

Volume 18 - Day 210/155, 2026 - Wednesday

Today was a really good day for eating! I had lunch with my friend John at Bartlett's in Austin, and it was a truly delicious Club Salad. I kept thinking I should bring some of it home, but I ended up eating the whole thing. I cannot describe how good it was. Then for dinner tonight, I went with Linda and Jimmie to El Mariachi in Liberty Hill and had chicken enchiladas. I think. It was chicken something. Very good. Also today, I took a two hour virtual CE class, and did laundry. Washed, dried, folded (not really) and put away. Or maybe just wadded up and put in drawers. Whatever. It is truly hot, and you cannot stay outside more than 15 minutes before you become dehydrated. Or covered in sweat. Or begin to glisten, which is what I prefer. I have a few things on my list for tomorrow, a shake and howdy with a potential new client, an appointment at the chiropractor, and a virtual meeting later in the afternoon. Friday is an open day, and I expect there will be a few estate sales on Saturday. Estate sales are always fun, and there are a few places in the Curious House that are void of interesting items. I must fix that! 

Volume 18 - Day 209/156, 2026 - Tuesday

I had a choice of photos that could have been included with this journal entry; it came down to the spider mites that have attached my impatiens at the front door, or the weather forecast for the next several days, showing 100 degree temperatures for the next several days. I will be spraying the impatiens tonight and cutting them back to try and rid them of the mites. Fingers crossed. Rick and Bob and I had a nice ROMEO breakfast this morning, and after that, I had an appointment with the surgeon about my knee. The bottom line is, nothing is going to happen in the near term. He had the x-ray from last year, agreed that the knee is a mess, but since I have learned how to compensate for the pain, he does not recommend a knee replacement. That's okay with me, but it sounds like I need to be experiencing chronic intolerable pain before anything will be done. I guess pro-activity is not on the table. We shall see. The Buzz is back home and in the garage. It is weird because, they apparently disconnected the battery for some reason, and all my settings are gone. I am (sort of) having to re-learn how to drive it, but I am sure it will be fine this weekend when we hit estate sales. I contemplated doing laundry today, but I decided to put it off until tomorrow. I am taking a virtual class beginning at 10AM, and I cannot think of a better time to do laundry than that!

Volume 18 - Day 208/157, 2026 - Monday

Well, the third orange was much easier to peel, but it was dry, so I think I am done with oranges for this year. I am very sad about that. I sat around the Curious House all day today with the phone attached to my hip, waiting on the body shop to tell me the Buzz was ready. At 4:45 this afternoon, they called and said I could pick it up tomorrow morning. It will be tomorrow afternoon, but I will have the Buzz back in the garage tomorrow. I expect tomorrow will be a busy day; walk, ROMEO breakfast, doctors appointment, Buzz pickup, phone call meeting. That will pretty much take care of the day. We are expecting six days, beginning on Wednesday, of temperatures at 100 degrees or higher. Feels like temperatures around 112. Although it is damn hot, it is also damn typical for this time of year in central Texas. That's why air conditioning was invented. The photo accompanying this journal entry needs no more comment, but I can think of no news items more attention getting that that. UGH!

Volume 18 - Day 207/158, 2026 - Sunday

My two most recent encounters with oranges have been totally unacceptable. First, I was almost incapable of peeling the orange, and then the orange was not good. So not good, that I could not eat it. The last time I was at HEB, I bought three, large naval oranges. Those are the kind of oranges I always buy. When peeling the first one, I thought it was just my arthritic hands that could no longer peel the oranges without considerable discomfort. Okay. But then, the fact that the orange was not palatable was a second troubling concern. Tonight I tried another one of the three that I bought. Again, very difficult to peel. Take the giant knife to the orange, and there was little orange, but a lot of skin, and again, it was not very tasty. I am very sad. Otherwise, it was not a bad Sunday. Of course there was a walk, then I went over and visited with Kenny and Suzanne for a little while, and then Val and I went to a couple estate sales. Today was the third day for both the sales, I ended up buying one thing (60% off), and Val bought nothing. A little while later, I took off for the airport to pick up our neighbor James, who had been visiting his parents, and I think he is happy to be home. I am not sure, but I am hoping the Buzz will be ready to pick up tomorrow, maybe not, the body shop is certainly not in any hurry to get it finished. This bun-rabbit hangs out in the back yard, helping to keep the grass properly manicured. Happy to see him now and then.

Volume 18 - Day 206/159, 2026 - Saturday

Seriously, I am really tired! Yesterday was a busy day, and today was as well. After the walk this morning, I really did not leave myself enough time to chill for a few minutes, before I was heading to the Amenity Center for our blood drive. Paulina volunteered to help, which was not necessary but really welcome! We ended up with 19 donors showing up, 3 of which were declined for one reason or another. Two donors that had made an appointment did not show up, and if you take the 4 peeps that donated yesterday, we ended up with 23 donors for the blood drive. The blood bank goal is 20, my goal was 30, but I will call it a success because we ended up with a positive net donation of life-saving blood and platelets for central Texas. Please, don't try to check my math on this, just let it be. The next drive will be in November, I expect, so there is plenty of time to plan for that. I got a letter from the IRS today, saying they could not process my refund because my bank information was not included with the return. Probably because I did not want a return, I asked that the overpayment be credited to my 2026 taxes. I expect this will take some time to explain it to them. SO...that is pretty much it for me for the day, I am going to go and pile up with the girls and see what, if anything, will catch our attention on the television. 

Volume 18 - Day 205/160, 2026 - Friday

Today turned out to be a busy day. After walking this morning, I filled the bird feeders with seed, watched hummers play, and got a few things done around the Curious House. I had a nice phone call with potential clients, and we are making plans to meet next week. Since the Buzz is still in the shop, Oliver drove me, Paulina and Marian to the blood bank; the three of us (the usuals) donated platelets, and Oliver donated whole blood. The more people that donate platelets of whole blood, the better I like it. I am coordinating a blood drive in the subdivision tomorrow, and so far we have 17 people signed up to donate, and the four of us today count for tomorrow, so we are at 21 donors. Not sure if I can get nine more volunteers for tomorrow, may yes, maybe no, but my goal is 30 donors, the blood bank goal is 20, so we have already surpassed that. I will be totally stressing until tomorrow afternoon at 1 o'clock, just to see how many donors I can get. We stopped at Sandy's for milk shakes on the way home, and we did not get back home until around 6 o'clock. I think we (the four of us) are all tired, but now there is nothing to do but chill out for a while. I forgot to mention that we stopped at Upper Crust on the way to the blood bank, and I got two slices of cranberry nut bread. I think I am the only one that bought anything. Too bad for them!