2016 - Day 366/0 - New Years Eve...

Should there be an apostrophe in the word 'Years' up there? I usually just fake it, thinking that if I add an apostrophe here and there, people will assume that I know what I am doing. You should all assume that I have no idea what it is I am doing, which is also kind of scary because that apparently makes me qualified to be President of these United States. Oh my! Anyway...this photo was taken this morning when Jody and I were taking the girl dog for her morning walk. Grey skies, clouds, but not really cold. Eventually the sun came out this afternoon, and the high temperatures made it up to about 77 degrees. Not a bad day for the last day of 2016.

This entry ends the eighth year of this journal, 365 Days of Bill, aka the Seinfeld Blog (because it is about nothing at all). I am committed to at least two more years. Maybe I will quit the journaling then, not sure. This has been a tough year for coherent thoughts, but maybe next year will be better and easier.

I have my doubts.

I will talk with you all tomorrow.

Deeds, Actions, Changes, THOUGHTS, Kindnesses, Whirled Peas, FUN!

2016 - Day 365/1 - Friday...

When I was a little kid, I can remember my dad telling me that if I had a penny on the first day of the year, I would have a penny all year long. If you had food on the first day of the year, you would have food all year long. What ever you had on the first day of the year, you would have that all year long. It looks like we may have rain on the first day of the year, so I hope that will be a good sign for the rest of the year. Not everyday, just enough.

This was, for all practical purposes, the last work day of 2016. I may, however, need to go visit a property or two tomorrow, that is yet to be determined. We shall see.

Right now, Jody and I just finished dinner, I finished off the apple pie from Christmas, and there is a fire in the stove. Life is good, I am the luckiest man in the world.

Deeds, Actions, Changes, RAIN, Kindnesses, Whirled Peas, FUN!

2016 - Day 364/2 - Thursday...

Not a particularly bad way to end the day, this was a pretty nice sunset. I just got home and was taking some dry food out to the barn cat. She did not eat all her dry food overnight, but all the moist food was gone within thirty minutes of having been put out. We are pretty sure that the cat is getting the moist food, but not really sure exactly WHAT is eating the dry food. It is being eaten very neatly, so we think it could be the cat!

Okay, so the COLD front came through last night, still windy, relatively overcast but the sun came out for a few minutes this afternoon. I was in the office most of the day today, getting stuff ready for the New Year, and working with a couple clients. I will be showing property tomorrow and Saturday, so that will be a good start to 2017.

Two more days of this, and then it will all start over again.

Deeds, Actions, Changes, CLOUDS, Kindnesses, Whirled Peas, FUN!

2016 - Day 363/3 - Wednesday...a

There are at least two or three interesting things to note in this photo: The photo was (apparently) taken at 4:24 PM this afternoon. I was still within the city limits of Austin, Texas. The speedometer is registering that I am traveling at 65 miles per hour. Hardly possible let alone probable in central Texas Interregional Highway traffic. But I will persevere. The outside temperature indicator shows the ambient temperature to be 85 degrees. Hardly possible let alone probable in central Texas on the 28th day of December. To what do we attribute these improbable if not impossible observations? Is it some kind of trick photography? Some kind of copying and pasting malarky going on? Some miracle of the Photoshopping application on my cell phone? If you are in the last bit familiar with me, you know that I am incapable of electronic manipulation of photos and/or documents. So, it must all be an accurate representation of the time, temperature and speed at which I was hurtling myself through space in an aluminum vehicle.

True DAT!

Deeds, Actions, Changes, RECORDS, Kindnesses, Whirled Peas, FUN!

2016 - Day 362/4 - Tuesday...

I had a plumeria emergency yesterday. Jody told me he thought the freeze had taken hold of the plumeria in the front barn, and sure enough it had. I cut off the 'mushy' parts, but I saved them for possible planting in the spring. I hope it will come back, I did not expect it would get so cold in the barn, but it did. I will have to take some precautions if it gets cold again this year. Mikey, send some cuttings, please.

It has been an interesting couple of days. Other than the obvious stuff, Jody's car would not start yesterday. I put the trickle charge on it, and it started up fine this morning. Twice. Jody went out to take the girl dog for a ride this afternoon, and it would not start. Long story short: I put the charger on it again, and it started up after about 20 minutes. I hauled-ass into Georgetown, and got a new battery at Walmart. It was under warranty, it seems Jody had the battery replaces in August of 2015. SO, that was a free, under-warranty replacement.

To continue: when I got up this morning, there was no water. I called the water service, yep, lots of folks don't have any water. Here is where I make this long story short: By the middle of the afternoon, we had water again, but we are supposed to boil the water before we use it until further notice. I am not going to boil the water to bathe in (this is not New Orleans or Flint), but I will be using bottled water to brush my teeth tomorrow.

Deeds, Actions, Changes, STUFF, Kindnesses, Whirled Peas, FUN!

2016 - Day 361/5 - Monday...

I don't care what anyone says, this is one damn clean chicken coop. As I have reported in the past, you cain't have nothin' purty if you have chickens. We have twelve or thirteen chickens right now (it is hard to count moving, roaming, free-range chickens), and we have received ONE egg the entire month of December. I think we may be done with chickens, once these go to that great King-Ranch-Casserole in the sky, that will be it. Of course, there is always tomorrow, and I am prone to changing my mind about things, but I think this will be it. Little baby chicks are cute though...

It was 85 degrees in central Texas today. the warmest December 26th on record, I think (don't quote me). We are expecting a cold (HAHA) front on Wednesday, will lower the daytime highs into the 70s, but that is much better than 85.

Deeds, Actions, Changes, CHICKENS, Kindnesses, Whirled Peas, FUN!

2016 - Day 360/6 - Christmas Day...

The girl dog would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas, and she would like you all to know that she is very happy with one of her presents. This is one that she can chew on and destroy. A gift she gave herself was something she found out on the road that she could roll around on and that she could wear as something that would stink to holy hell. And, she found it about five minutes before we were to leave for Christmas dinner with friends. But, all is well that ends well!

I am often accused (sometimes by myself) of not knowing what day it is, and I have to think about what year it is. I just noticed that my journal post yesterday declared that it was 2017. Oops. Maybe now I will be appointed to a high level governmental office.

Stranger things have happened.

Deeds, Actions, Changes, MERRY, Kindnesses, Whirled Peas, FUN!

2017 - Day 359/7 - Saturday...

The high temperature in Austin today was 78 degrees. And humid. And breezy. And cloudy. But, I don't know what else to expect in central Texas in December. A couple weeks ago we had the coldest temperatures in 2 years, and tomorrow we are expecting the warmest temperature in a couple decades. Jody and I got in gear late this morning and went into Taylor to get some molasses buckets for the cattle, and after we got home and both went down for naps, I took them out and put them in the pastures. I will take a bale of hay out to them tomorrow morning, maybe even clean the chicken coop. Not sure. So far this month, we have gotten ONE egg from the girls. Thirteen chickens and we have one egg to show for the month of December. The cotton I was talking about was baled earlier this week, so I don't need to worry about that anymore!

Deeds, Actions, Changes, COTTON, Kindnesses, Whirled Peas, FUN!

2016 - Day 358/8 - Friday...

Let's talk about ducks... Or not. It was a nice day if you happened to be a duck. It was dribbling rain on me when I went out to get the paper this morning. Then it rained a little bit harder. And then I got busy running some errands, and it rained a little bit harder yet. Then there were these ducks. There were about two dozen ducks of various colors and shapes and sizes. That was before I saw this creek. Or rain water detention pond. Or sewer. I am not sure what it was/is, but it had some sort of aeration system working, and the ducks seemed to be quite fond of it. Here are a couple little known facts about ducks: Some duck species, such as the mallard, are found throughout the world. A baby duck is called a duckling (as in ugly), and an adult male duck is called a drake. I have a friend whose son is named Drake, I wonder if there is a connection there? An adult female duck is called a hen or a duck, and a group of ducks can be called a raft, team or paddling.

Who knew?

Deeds, Actions, Changes, DUCKS, Kindnesses, Whirled Peas, FUN!

2016 - Day 357/9 - Thursday...

Kind of a busy day today, filled up with finishing a lot of this-and-thats. I did two or three this-and-thats on my way into Austin, and then I did some more this-and-that when I got to the office. I was like a machine of this-and-that accomplishments. Carrie (my work wife) and I did two or three more this-and-thats when she got to the office, one of which included going to the Four Seasons to see the ginger-bread village. Not of particular interest to me, but I was pretty interested in whatever these things are...I am calling them the 'Not-Sures'. ...cause I am not sure what in the hell they are. But, I like the way the lights played off them and cast shadows. Interesting.

Theoretically I will not be working tomorrow, but there is no time to rest. I already have two appointments, and four or five things on my 'To-Done' list that are begging to be crossed off the list. We shall see, there is a whole lot of day tomorrow, and tomorrow might just go into the next day, you never know. You're just not-sure.

All I want for Christmas is for my friend Mikey to get a Facebook page.

Deeds, Actions, Changes, NOT SURES, Kindnesses, Whirled Peas, FUN!

2016 - Day 356/10 - Wednesday...

Well, well, well... It seems that all the smack-talk in yesterdays journal entry pissed somebody off, and there was a rash of memos and e-mails going back and forth about it, and we were presented with this 'I'll f*cking show you what a sunset is' and there you have it. Pretty good for out here on the edge of nowhere. Overall, it was a pretty good day, high temperatures were in the mid-70s, not too bad for the end of December AND the first day of winter. The bad part was, I sat at my desk all day until I left to get my hairs cut mid-afternoon. Traffic in the morning has been GREAT all this week (I hope I don't jinx it for saying that), but the return commute has pretty much sucked as usual. I avoided IH-35 on the way home (hairs cut), but a couple trucks carrying wind turbine blades broke down on MoPac and that caused a world of hurt. Plus the fact (I think) that those things were too big for MoPac. It seems they were trying to take a curve and stalled. Life in the (11th largest) big city.

And so, hopefully I will make it to and from tomorrow with no serious issues. I have a couple appointments, and I need to attend to some last minute appointments.

Life is good. I am the luckiest man in the world.

Deeds, Actions, Changes, SUNSETS, Kindnesses, Whirled Peas, FUN!

2016 - Day 355/11 - Tuesday...

Of course, please be advised that I honestly believe that every sunrise and sunset are spectacular, just some are more noteworthy than others. I shall now proceed. There was a less than remarkable sunrise this morning, but I took a photo of it just because it has (seemingly) been a long time since we have seen the sun. By the time I was half-way into Austin, what sun there had been retreated into a large layer of low-clouds, and the skies were once again grey and overcast. The temperatures did make it up into the 50s this afternoon, and the winds have changed direction and are once again from the south. The professional prognosticators are predicting that the temperatures may hit the 80 degree mark for Christmas Day, with a slight chance of showers.

Welcome to the land of unpredictable weather.

Tonight is the longest night of the year, winter officially begins at about 4:30 tomorrow morning. Enjoy the night.

I failed to mention that yesterday was a red number day. Jody collected one egg from the girls. One egg in the whole month of December. Sheesh.

Deeds, Actions, Changes, CLOUDS, Kindnesses, Whirled Peas, FUN!

2016 - Day 354/12 - Monday...

This entry may have a weather-related undertone here and there, but it is not my intention for this entry to be all about how freakin' cold it is outside (believe me, it is), but about another issue that may  (or may not) have anything to do with weather. I was reading the other day (or maybe a month ago) about how farmers in West Texas were complaining that there had not been a freeze yet. It seems that the organic cotton farmers depend on the freeze to defoliate the cotton so they can harvest it. No herbicides are allowed or they lose their 'organic' designation. I thought that was pretty interesting, since just about a mile away from us was a cotton patch that had yet to be harvested. Well, I believe they sprayed it with a herbicide a while back, but the cotton still has not been harvested. Had they only waited another couple weeks, they could have saved (not only) their money, but (probably) a couple million bees, too.

Some people!

Deeds, Actions, Changes, COTTON, Kindnesses, Whirled Peas, FUN!

2016 - Day 353/13 - Sunday...

Yes, indeed, it did get zing last night. It is expected to be below freezing again overnight, and colder this evening than it was last evening. Then, a day or so above freezing (in the 40s tomorrow) and then one more day below freezing in the seven day forecast. I did not wrap the pipes last night, but they are wrapped and all cozy for tonight. We have had a fire in the stove since this morning, and I will keep it going overnight and Jody will tend to it tomorrow. The winds are supposed to die down this evening but there will be fewer clouds in the sky, so that will account for the colder temperatures. It is interesting that we here in central Texas are not prepared for cold weather. The same was really true when I lived in New Orleans. I do not remember cold weather being THAT much of a challenge when I lived in Memphis, and I know for sure it was not a problem when I lived in Michigan. There, we went into the basement, turned the water off to the exterior bibs, bled the pipes and that was it. Maybe there should be standards to keep pipes from freezing. Maybe not. This is a photo of the skies just before dark. Interesting clouds, and the sun was out, so that was nice.

The coming week should be a relatively quiet one, and we will be off on Friday.

Deeds, Actions, Changes, PIPES, Kindnesses, Whirled Peas, FUN!

2016 - Day 352/14 - Saturday...

The front is here. The breezes were from the south all day, and pretty gusty too. The high temperature that I saw this afternoon was 76, and we are expecting temperatures in the 20s overnight. Not enough (or long enough) to wrap pipes, but there will be another couple of days of below freezing temperatures, so I will play it safe rather than sorry tomorrow. I have wood in the stove ready to light tomorrow morning when we get up, but I am not building a fire tonight. It is chilly outside, but it is nice and warm inside the house.

I took hay out to the cattle earlier today, but they really did not need another bale. I took two bales out to them last weekend, and they still had plenty left, but now that have more to get then through this cold snap.

A couple weeks ago, Jody and I had dinner with several friends of our at a nice little restaurant in Georgetown, Eats on Eighth. Seems there was a fire there this morning, so the future of the restaurant is up in the air right now.

I am going to battle the crowds and the cold tomorrow and go back to the shopping centers, just to say that I did it. We shall see.

Deeds, Actions, Changes, FREEZES, Kindnesses, Whirled Peas, FUN!

2016 - Day 351/15 - Friday...

Well, the year is continuing to wind itself down. This was a pretty busy week, but I only have one thing on my schedule for next week, and that is to get a haircut. No stress! I got to sleep in a little later than usual again today, and made it to the office to get some paper work done, then ran a few errands, attended (possibly) the last meeting of the year, and headed back to the office. I want to share another photo with you from last night at Esther's Follies. It was a really fun evening, and I think everyone had a nice time. Relatively low-key for us, I have to admit.

The high temperature tomorrow is expected to be 80 if not just a little bit higher, and then on Sunday we are going to be (forecast) down in the 20s. I 60 degree temperature variance. My intention is to take hay to the cattle tomorrow and clean the chicken coop. I plan to do as little as possible on Sunday except to take naps and keep the fire in the stove going.

I will let you know how that goes.

Deeds, Actions, Changes, FOLLIES, Kindnesses, Whirled Peas, FUN!

2016 - Day 350/16 - Thursday...

Winding the week down. I had the opportunity to sleep a little bit later this morning, and took full advantage of it. I made it to my first meeting at 10AM, and that was a good convergence of thoughts and discussions and Then it was off to the office for some power real estate, and then at the end of the day, we (the office staff and agents) enjoyed an evening of nice fellowship (because my  spell check could not tell me how to spell camaraderie), a little bit of imbibing on our favorite beverages (why is Merlot so hard to find?), a nice dinner and ten we retreated to Esther's Follies. It has literally been years since I have been there, and it was a trip down memory lane. There were schticks that I saw them perform at least two decades ago, and there was some new stuff, particularly as a result of the recent elections and the political craziness across the country. All in all it was a really fun time, and I appreciate all the hard work that Tosalyn and Carrie put into making it such a success. This is a photo of the opening act, Mrs. Claus lamenting the fact that she is getting nothing for Christmas. MK had the best quote of the evening, and if you private message me, I will share it with you.

Deeds, Actions, Changes, ESTHER'S, Kindnesses, Whirled Peas, FUN!

2016 - Day 349/17 - Wednesday...

This is a week for over-scheduling. It has been, and will continue to be a busy week. This morning I guided a class on REALTOR® Ethics, then attended a couple meetings at the Board, and this evening I went to a Holiday Open House for the 100 Club of Austin. The penultimate meeting today was with the ABoR Foundation, and I was installed as a Director for 2017. The foundation is a great group with lofty goals and ideals, and I am proud to be associated. This is a photo of the incoming Directors; me, Christina (the Elf on the Shelf) , Diane and Theresa.

And so it goes, more tomorrow.

Deeds, Actions, Changes, INSTALLED, Kindnesses, Whirled Peas, FUN!

2016 - Day 348/18 - Tuesday...

Well, it has come to this. But that might just mean that everything is back to normal. I miss the Facebook days of people showing all their friends what they had for lunch, instead of screaming and shouting about this particular candidate or another candidate. I am tired of it. I prefer to express my frustrations in person, close to the ones I care about most, and the ones that I can offend the easiest. Wait, where was this post going? Oh yes, lunch. I was invited to lunch today, and it was swell. It did have its moments, but that is not the important part. The important part is that I was invited to lunch today by a friend, and there was great conversation and great sharing of ideas. AND, I had a great lunch. Grilled cheese and cream of tomato soup. The grilled cheese was pimento cheese (which I was expecting to be more the color of the soup, but what do I know), and it was DEE-licious. It was a lovely 70 degrees outside, but it was a soup kind of day, so that was perfect. YUMMEE!

And then, while driving home this afternoon, it went from a perfectly balmy early winter day with beautiful blue skies to a damp, cloudy, grey afternoon (not the least important of which was an 18 degree temperature drop in less than two hours). Oh well, Texas weather. Worst part is that I doubt the full moon will be visible tonight.

Deeds, Actions, Changes, GRILLED CHEESE, Kindnesses, Whirled Peas, FUN!

2016 - Day 347/19 - Monday...

6:45PM and there is traffic as far as the (un-enhanced) eye can see. Nothing but headlights and taillights both directions at Spicewood Springs Road and Capital of Texas Highway. Where the hell is everyone going and where in the hell have they been? Personally, I was doing some phone banking for a run-off election that will be held tomorrow, and I can only assume that these folks were all in hot pursuit of me for violating the no-call list. Not that I like to disagree with you, but our elected officials (Federal) made sure that election and campaign telephone calls were exempted from the no-call lists. Heaven forfend that we would not want to be interrupted from our dinners by telephone calls from our Senators and other miscellany candidates for one office or another.

But I was talking about traffic. It was bad and I don't expect it to get any better.

Deeds, Actions, Changes, TRAFFIC, Kindnesses, Whirled Peas, FUN!

PS: Happy Birthday Mikey!

2016 - Day 346/20 - Sunday...

As was reported by the professional prognosticators, the temperatures did climb higher on the thermometer by late afternoon, but the sun DID NOT shine until about 5 o'clock. When I went outside to get the newspaper this morning, I would have sworn that it had rained overnight, but that was not the case. I guess it was just a really HEAVY dew. I got a lot of small chores completed today, the most satisfying of which was taking two bales of hay to the cattle. I am always very VERY pleased with myself when I can outsmart the cattle. It is not something that I am 100% successful at, but today was my lucky day. I took a bale of hay to the furthest pasture and they waited until I was busy getting another bale ready and they went to the first bale and left me to my own devices to unload the second bale. This is a photo of the cattle, that is Violet in the foreground, our first born.

After my chores, I went in to Georgetown and stopped at Target to do a little bit of shopping. It was kind of surreal, because I had no idea of what I was looking for. I did stock up on sodas, got an 8" frying pan, a container to store cereal in and a new toy for the girl dog. I see more trips to stores in my future. I always do my best work under pressure anyway.

Deeds, Actions, Changes, CATTLE SMARTS, Kindnesses, Whirled Peas, FUN!

2016 - Day 345/21 - Saturday...

It looks as if the people at the Chick-Fil-A in Georgetown had me pegged from the get-go. I don't know if I should call the ACLU or the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Chickens and file a formal complaint, or just go on about my business. Everyone else seems to think filing legal actions for no reason is the path to wealth and notoriety, so I think I should give it a try. How dare they associate my good name (it took the guy three times to figure out how to spell it) with a red fruit cup. That's, I say that's blasphemous! How dare he!

Whatever.

Still cloudy, which could be part of the reason that I am so grumpy and easily enticed into litigation. If it i going to be 75 degrees tomorrow, it had better get a move on.

Deeds, Actions, Changes, FRUIT, Kindnesses, Whirled Peas, FUN!

2016 - Day 344/22 - Friday...

Yesterday was the Luncheon and Installation of new Officers of the Austin Chapter of the Women's Council of REALTORS®. This is a photo before the ceremonies started of Tami, me and Christina, aka the Elf on the Shelf. It was a wonderful ceremony and luncheon, and Women's Council continues to be in good hands with the new leadership. It also seems that I was the only one having a bad hair day!

The day started out as a cloud free day, with sunshine, blue skies and a pretty sunrise. I don't know where we went wrong, but it did not turn out that way. I have no idea when the clouds rolled in, but they indeed did. Here on the edge of nowhere, we got down to about 28 degrees for a few hours, and then we were in the 50s this afternoon. Supposed to be a little bit warmer tomorrow, and into the 70s on Sunday. I expect I will take some hay out to the cattle tomorrow or Sunday.

Deeds, Actions, Changes, THE SEASON, Kindnesses, Whirled Peas, FUN!

2016 - Day 343/23 - Thursday...

I am pretty sure the world as we know it will end soon. First it was the election (including the entire three year cycle) and now it is going to go below 32 degrees overnight. It was noted on Facebook earlier today that the Mayan Calendar was only four years off. Not too bad, all things considered. There is also a distinct possibility that, because of this multitude of events, Hell could well be freezing over. Think about it. Step back and ponder the events of recent memory. Open up an Excel spreadsheet, put it all on a graph, construct the algebraic formula, and I think you will come to the same conclusion I died. We are doomed.

Otherwise, just in case this is a fake alarm, I have gone ahead and paid my REALTOR® dues for the coming year. I guess if we are hit by an asteroid, my credit card will not go through, but if it is going to hurl us namely-pamby through the portals of another asteroid belt, I hope they have wi-fi.

Deeds, Actions, Changes, DOOM, Kindnesses, Whirled Peas, FUN!

2016 - Day 342/24 - Wednesday...

Yesterday was a pretty full day of meetings, and today was a repeat. Pete and repeat were walking across a bridge; Pete fell off, who was left? Pete and repeat were walking across a bridge; Pete fell off, who was left? Ummm. Whatever. This is a photo taken during the afternoon break during the TAR TREPAC Trustees meeting. Goal setting, committee appointments, committee meetings and committee reports. Leadership visioning, etc. Informing and exhaustive. Left to right, Diane, Susan, me and Tami.

Today we mark another milestone in proving the endurance of the human species. Today, we mark about the ten thousandth day of gloomy, grey, cold, yucky weather. Maybe 10,001, I have lost count. What the hell is happening? Where is the sun? I am considering an around the world flight just to confirm that there is a sun that is being orbited by this planet. I figure if we get above the cloud layer, we can be refueled by some other worldly source and we will just go round and round until we find a nice clear place to land. I need to see some sunshine.

I am going to go and stick my head under a sun lamp.

Deeds, Actions, Changes, CLOUDS! Kindnesses, Whirled Peas, FUN!

2016 - Day 341/25 - Tuesday...

There was supposed to be sunshine breaking through the clouds today, and warmer temperatures. We had sunshine in the morning (it was actually a beautiful morning), and then it got cloudy (miserably so) in the afternoon, and it was chilly (that means COLD), dreary, grey, yucky. BUT, my birthday week is still coming through with goodies; when I got home this afternoon, Jody reported that Pauline had delivered a box of goodies! Three jars of different home made jellies and a smorgasbord of home made cookies. What could have been better? The edge of nowhere is not such a remote place after all. Our neighbors may not be 'right next door' but we know them and we help when we can and just visit with them every chance we get!

Even though it was (apparently) a miserable day climatologically speaking, I was inside meeting and conference rooms for the biggest part of it, so I really should just shut up about it. At least I was not missing the sunshine and blue skies. Supposed to get below freezing overnight tomorrow night. You think we are complaining now? The temperatures have been in the 50s, hide and watch what happens when the temperatures dip in to the 30s. It is going to get nasty!

Deeds, Actions, Changes, NEIGHBORS, Kindnesses, Whirled Peas, FUN!

2016 - Day 340/26 - Monday...

Okay, here is another spoiler alert. This journal entry is TOTALLY INAPPROPRIATE, but some of you know me better than others. This is another card that I received over the birthday weekend. I think it follows along with my history of total inappropriateness. I am the first to admit that you can dress me up, but you really can't take me nowhere. I can behave for about ten or twelve minutes, but then it is all for naught. I like cussing, I like telling stories, and I like being inappropriate. It is what makes me so interesting (in my opinion). The part of all that that I am not particularly fond of is that folks remember me (quite often) for my inappropriateness. That is quite often a problem. That is one of the reasons that (again, quite often), I introduce myself with a fake name. Why do you want to know my name? Why do you NEED to know my name. Isn't it enough that I am entertaining you here? Names are just little details that can be bothersome (again, in my opinion). So...

Today was another really good day, lots of work done, lots of small achievements made, lots of being inappropriate. I am the luckiest man in the world!

Deeds, Actions, Changes, WHAT I SAID UP THERE, Kindnesses, Whirled Peas, FUN!

2016 - Day 339/27 - Sunday...

This is a photo of some of the swag I scored during the birthday week. WARNING: This photo is NSFW! Just saying. It was a good week, and last night was a nice dinner with friends. Today was another grey day, it missed a good chance to rain, but it was windy and chilly outside. I started to go in to Austin but I changed my mind and turned around. It was much better to lean back in the blue chair and watch television. I kept the fire going in the stove, ate some more birthday cake, and took the girl dog out for a quick walk. The barn cat was out waiting for some food earlier than usual, so that has been taken care of as well.

This should be a relatively calm and quiet week going forward. There is a freeze warning in the seven day forecast, which means I will be moving the plumeria into the front barn for the duration.

This journal entry is the 2,901st entry. I am closing in on eight years of posting to this blog/journal. I have missed a couple days in that period of time, and I am now at the decision making time of whether or not to go forward. No need to panic, I expect I will finish another two years at least, and maybe quit after completing ten years. The problem is, after this long, I really think I am boring myself into a stupor.

Deeds, Actions, Changes, SWAG, Kindnesses, Whirled Peas, FUN!

2016 - Day 338/28 - Saturday...

Even though it has been raining and cold (still) all day today, it was a good day. I actually did sleep later than I have in a long time, and that was swell. I stayed in Austin last night, and I had intended to stop by a craft fair before heading back to the edge of nowhere, but it was raining and the fair was outside, so discretion was (in this instance) the better part of valor. I would not care to be this guy on the motorcycle driving down IH-35 in the rain this morning. Some folks just of do not have good sense.

Naps were another order of the day, and this evening, Jody and I went into Georgetown and had dinner with friends; Michael, Lynda, Candy, Mike an Steve. Very nice, great company, great friends.

Deeds, Actions, Changes, RAIN, Kindnesses, Whirled Peas, FUN!

2016 - Day 337/29 - Friday...

Friday. Raining. Cold. Raining. Still Friday. Still raining. Still Cold. Okay, it is really not THAT cold, just about 50 degrees outside, but it is wet, damp, dark, chilly, and I have the heat on trying to stay warm. This photo was taken a year ago today, I have fond memories of it; two of my favorite things, shrimp and bacon. You always remember the first time...that was my first time to have shrimp and bacon on a stick. Perfection.

Other than the fact that it is cold and rainy outside, it was a good day, and I had a great time. I led a class this morning, and that was good. Orientation Ethics at our South Office. Then lunch at the office, and then a Holiday gathering at Carrie's house.

Getting ready to crash, tomorrow will be fun too, but it will still be raining and cold.

But I am still the luckiest man in the world.

Deeds, Actions, Changes, BACON, Kindnesses, Whirled Peas, FUN!

2016 - Day 336/30 - Thursday...

Okay, how is that tolerance thing working out for you? And the patience thing? Try to hang on for just another day or two, maybe. I am still having vague remembrances of the Bowling Birthday Bash on Tuesday night. Do I look red in the face here? It is not easy getting laying down in an alley at my advanced age. And then, to add salt to the wound, have a bunch of youngsters (obvious Millennials) make fun and threaten you with bodily harm. Those things could have left some marks, for sure. Anyway, it was a blast, and we all had a great time.

This is the first day of December, and it turned out to be kind of chilly overnight. It got down to freezing in a few places, I do not think we got that cool out here on the edge of nowhere, and it is not expected to be that cool overnight tonight.

It is Friday eve, and I am liking it!

Deeds, Actions, Changes, SIXTEEN POUND BALLS, Kindnesses, Whirled Peas, FUN!