Day Sixty Nine...

Well, so far, so good. The day has certainly gotten off to a leisurely start. I have been up for a couple hours, and had coffee and read the paper. Soon I will toast a couple bagels, and get ready for the day. I am waiting for the gardener guy to get here and give me a bid for getting all the landscaping ready for spring. Hopefully this can be done a couple times a year, and then the in between maintenance will be something we can handle ourselves. That is the plan anyway. It was about 66 degrees when I rolled out of bed, and it is hard to believe that it will cool off tomorrow with lows in the 30's. Hopefully that will be the last cold blast of the season, and that we will have a couple weeks (at least) of moderate temperatures before we hit the 100 degree mark.

I have a pretty light day in the office today, although I do have some listings to catch up on, and I need to try and finish my preparation for my classes next week. I am comfortable with the progress I have made so far, and all should be good. It is always a little bit concerning the first time I teach a class. I never know how to structure the break schedules, and the course timing is always something I am concerned about. If anything, I generally tend to cover too much instruction too quickly, and I need to try to pace the class more. There will be a lot of lecture in these classes, and that needs to be tempered with some activities for the attendees. Nothing worse than some big goof lecturing for 8 hours a day.

I have also been appointed as a 'receiver' for a property in probate, and I need to get that property listed today. I have been trying to reach a friend of mine that is a real estate attorney because I have a couple procedural questions, but so far we have not been able to connect at the same time. AND, I have another contract that is in the works and the Seller's and I have to work out some details on a repair amendment that was submitted yesterday. All-in-all a pretty workable day ahead.

So far the gardeners have done a really good job, and I expect they will be here for a few more days...there is a LOT of stuff to do, but it will all be really well worth it in the long-term. They were here right at 8 AM and already working before I even went outside. They have a long list, and I am very happy with that decision. Everything will be very nice, and Jody and I will be able to enjoy the property without killing ourselves with a lot of that work. Very happy about that indeed.

I got a navigation update for my car on the way into the office this morning, I had ordered it last week at the 60K mile service. Not sure about how updated it is so far, but time will tell on that one. Life is really good right now, and I am happy to remember on a daily basis what a lucky person I am. It was a very good day at work today, and I got a lot of work accomplished. Still making really good progress preparing for my green classes to be done next week, and I really feel good about that.

Since we are expecting rain (possibly even beginning tonight) I am going to feed the cattle tonight after dinner. I kind of forgot about daylight savings time, and the fact that it really won't be dark now until about 8 PM. Plenty of time to feed cattle before dark. All is good.

So, if you get a chance, you might want to do something nice for someone today or tomorrow. And that someone could be you. It's okay, be nice to yourself, it won't hurt. Since the market went up over 400 points today, maybe that is the beginning of more good things to happen for us all. Be nice to yourself, you deserve it. It will all be fine, and you can be happy about treating yourself to something nice.

Day Sixty Eight...

I believe that today was the first day of spring break. Either that, or 75% of the metropolitan population forgot to set their clock up an hour the other day, and they were all late for work. When it is spring break in Austin, traffic on the roads is diminished considerably, and driving to an from the office is no longer a chore, it is just driving. I am not sure even if I came to a complete stop in the Interstate. I do know for certain that traffic slowed in a couple spots, but I am not sure that I actually stopped completely. I am positive that I did not stop or even slow down noticeably on the drive home, and that is a real pleasure. We will all kind of be lulled into this false sense of security and then it will be Monday again, and all the issues will be back, and I will be certain that I have indeed some to a complete stop in the Interstate. Oh well, it is what I have chosen, and this should not in any way be considered a complaint, merely an observation.

I made it to the office early today, I needed to pick up some last minute items for the classes I was teaching today. All went well in the class, and I was happy about that. I think there were about 80 learners in the class, and as long as I have to be in the class as well, I might as well make it fun and interesting for myself as well as them. As long as everyone learns something about the topics I feel good about it.

It was a nice day in Austin, temperatures in the low to middle 80's and I think all the weather forecasters are swearing that we will have rain this week. They are all certain of that, and that is what makes me nervous...anywhere from 30% to 70% chances from now until Friday, with the bast chances to be either on Wednesday or Thursday. Also, the temperatures are going to be reduced significantly, with highs in the 50's and lows in the upper 30's. Well, this is still winter in Texas, and it is just March, and no one is even making any suggestions of freezes, so we will take what we can get. They are talking about good soaking rains, up to a couple inches, so that will be great if it actually happens. We shall see...

I don't know if anyone actually reads this drivel on a regular basis, but I know one thing for certain, and that is I am driven by food...I used to be driven by other fantasies, but now it seems that my life is a contemplation of one meal to the next. Yesterday, Jody made enchiladas, today we had giant sausages with potatoes au gratin and asparagus from the garden. It is really a good thing that we both like asparagus, but we do, so there. I am already planning my breakfast, and not so much lunch, but I do have a hankerin' for some catfish later in the week. We shall see...

Okay, I leave you now with this thought...make a phone call this evening and ask someone you have not seen in a long time to lunch tomorrow...your treat. It will make the other person wonder what you are up to, and when they find out you are up to nothing, it will be a fun time. Catch up with an old friend, and be happy. It will make both of you feel better.

Day Sixty Seven...

More indications that spring is near, even though the low temperatures are supposed to be in the mid-to-upper 30's for a couple days this week. Jody and I were minding our own business this morning, on our way back home from Home Depot, when two HUGE pick-up trucks filled with mud-covered men turned in front of us onto FM 1105. Jody thought there had been a line break somewhere and I immediately assumed that they had all just been out mud-wrestling somewhere (since it is well know that on the seventh day ye shall mud wrassle). Well, we followed them for a while and they made a sudden stop into the bar ditches on either side of the road. I stopped like any concerned citizen would/should and rolled down my window to inquire as to what they were up to on a cloudy Sunday in March. Well, you've got three guesses and the first three do not count. They were out seining ponds! Yep, netting catfish off the bottom of stock tanks all around the area, and they could not have been happier about it. I guess for the Lutherans it is 'on the seventh day ye shall seine the ponds. Whatever... I doubt most of you have ever seen this many muddy guys having this much fun before. It was a first for me, too.

I cannot blame you if you were to think that after that the rest of the day would be a downhill slide, but au contraire mon ami, not at all. Jody and I had been into town to get some garden soil for the raised garden, and we got some tomato plants and some squash plants and a single green pepper plant. The rest of the raised garden will probably be seeded, since we cannot find the actual starter plants for what we want. We got that stuff done, and Jody was busy with making lunch for our friends that were coming out.

Lunch was wonderful, turkey enchiladas and one of our friends (Chad) brought strawberry shortcake for dessert. Yummy cubed! We then went out and fed the cattle, and all were delighted to see the bull calf. All is well on the cattle front.

I was still setting a couple clocks today, and I have still not set the clocks in the cars yet. This daylight savings time stuff has got me out of whack for a couple days. It is supposed to be almost dark right now, but the sun is still up. I do not like waking up in the dark, I would prefer it to be a little bit lighter. I will get used to it in a couple days.

So, for your good deed for the day, why don't you call someone and see if they would like to take a nice walk around the block. We all need to get out more, and get a little bit of exercise, and you never know who you might meet along the way.

Day Sixty Six...

Okay, we are back to cows and other things of interest around the farm. I got up at about 5AM this morning, and it was 66 degrees outside. So much for sweat pants and jackets for the duration. I will see them again next fall most likely. It is still windy, really windy again, and it has been cloudy all day. I went out this morning and put up a solar clothes dryer in the yard. It is not as tall as I expected it would be, but it will be great for hanging clothes out to dry. PLUS, we have the added advantage that it plays tunes when the wind blows. The wind causes the tubes and lines to whistle, and that is not unpleasant at all. I also did a little bit of weeding in the flower beds this morning, and I am admitting defeat on that one. I put in a call to the guy the previous owners used to do gardening work, and he is supposed to be here on Tuesday morning to give us a bid for getting the beds cleaned up and ready for the season. I am not at all interested in working every weekend to keep the beds free from weeds and stuff. I think if we have someone come in and do it twice a year, that should work out really well.

Later this morning, we went into Georgetown and stopped at Home Depot and Target and then a quick stop at HEB. At Home Depot, we got an extra garage door opener for the truck, a key pad for the garage to put on the door outside the garage, and some wood to make a raised garden for vegetables (a sheet of plywood and 2 x 8's for the edges. We already have some sawhorses for it to sit on, and Jody is going to have some spinach and stuff like that growing. We are still eating asparagus from out by the garage, and we also filled two pots with strawberries, so maybe we will have some fresh fruit. We also have at least one peach tree blooming out be the road, so maybe we will have some fresh peaches, too. Jody also thinks there are two plum trees blooming out in the back, so we shall see what develops (or what produces).

It has looked like rain all day, and there are forecasts from all the stations for rain, maybe tomorrow and through next week. The chances are not really all that high, but we will take anything we can get. We are officially in a severe drought, and so anytime now we should get about 40 inches of rain in a 24 hour period. This are gets about the same annual rain fall is Seattle, we just get all our rain in one or two days a year.

We are going to dinner tonight at Soup 'r Salad, where we went a couple weeks ago. I am going to try my best not to fill up totally on salad. The have what also looks like a pretty decent baked potato bar, and some decent soups and pizza. This particular store is much nicer that the ones on Austin, so we are going to try it again. We also found a Catfish Cabin in Georgetown, and I think we will try that one day soon.

We went out to take a look at the cattle this afternoon, and the calf was sleeping, and of course I had to go make sure he was breathing. I am just an old nervous person, but he is breathing, and all is well with that. It was much easier moving the cattle to the other pasture yesterday, and they were happy to be on the other side. Hopefully we will get some rain, and that will help with the grass and grazing for the cattle. Also, I suspect we will have two more calfs (should that be calves?) before the end of the summer. I will keep you in the loop on those developments.

We are having friends over for lunch tomorrow, so that means I have to vacuum before they get here. I was intending to vacuum anyway, since it is really too long between the times the housekeeper gets here. We now have one shedding dog and two cats, at least one of which sheds up a storm.

When I get up from here, I am going to start setting the clocks forward. Don't forget, daylight savings time starts at 2AM on Sunday morning. Set those clocks forward before you go to bed tonight, and change the batteries in your smoke detectors.

That can be your good deed for the day. Give your neighbor a call, and see if they need some help changing the batteries in their smoke detectors. It could be the best thing you have done today!

Day Sixty Five...

More signs of spring and lots of accomplishments at work today will most likely mean a brief entry in this diary today. Do you have any idea what kind of plant this is? It is growing on a tree that is about fifteen or twenty feet tall, and we cannot identify it. It has lovely lavender bell shaped blooms, and we cannot find it in any of the books. If you know what it is, let us know. Thank you very much! There is a planting of three or four of these trees out by the road, and they are just starting to green up, and I saw this cluster of blooms today, and had to take Jody out to see them. It looks like they will be very dramatic when they all green up and bloom out. It is a spring of discovery for us, because we have no idea what will be found as the season gets underway. Stay tuned...

I got a lot of work done today, and made great progress in preparation for my GREEN class to be held a week from this Monday and Tuesday. Everything is under control, so I am happy about that, and I feel confident that it will be a good class. There is lots of information to share, and you cannot turn on the radio, turn on the tv or open a newspaper or magazine without being bombarded with 'green this or green that'. Where will it all end? There is a lot of good going on, but I am afraid it will cause a lot of people to take advantage of unsuspecting consumer, too. Make sure you get good references from salespeople if you go down the green road, no matter what shape it is in.

All is well with the cattle today, and they have been moved to the other pasture. They were happy to get over there, because there is some green for them over there, and they do not have to depend on the hay and feed I have been giving them. Natural green grass is always better for them than hay or feed.

Tomorrow will be a good day, I have lots of things to get accomplished, and I like having things to do. I want to do some gardening and get some stuff planted, and transplanted, and on it goes...

So, maybe you can do your good deed over the weekend bu helping someone weed their garden, or buy a package f seeds for a small person and ask them if they would like to plant a garden. You never know what rewards that can bring you.

Day Sixty Four...

Well, more and more signs of spring are being seen all over town. This is a photo of a mountain laurel bush in the front yard of one of my meals-on-wheels clients. I love these bushes (trees sometimes). I can remember when I first moved to Austin, I was walking door-to-door for a political campaign, and I had never seen these trees before, and they smell just like grape bubble gum. Every one I passed, I had to stop and smell it. It was great, but then I discovered that I had sucked so much pollen into my sinuses I was sick for a week. But, I still stop and smell them every chance I get, with no regrets. It will not be long before we are in the throes of summer, gasping for breath and a cool glass of pink lemonade. We need to enjoy all this while we have the chance!

Today was a good day in the office, actually getting lots of stuff done, and cleaning off my desk to do some power-class-prep on Friday. That way I will not have to do it on the weekend, and I will still have plenty of time to get it all done next week. Also, I am going to be teaching an Ethics class and a Legal Update class on Monday, so I won't be able to prep on that day, but there is still time.

This entry feels like it will be a short and sweet one, but the day is too pretty for me to get into too much trouble. I suggest that you all go outside and enjoy the wonders of nature. It will do you good.

Day Sixty Three...

Okay, well, you might as well just get used to it, you will be inundated with information about the new calf for probably the next seven days, at least. I had baby-calf dreams last night. I think the most critical part of a new calf is the first several days, so my waking and sleeping moments are all about that calf. I went out this morning to check on them, and all was really good. He (it is definitely a he) was bouncing around and happy with the world. I came home this afternoon, and more bouncing, and I saw him nursing his mom and I saw him pee, so it is definitely a bull-calf. He was trying to write his name in the snow, if you can imagine that! He sleeps a lot, too.

I had my car serviced this morning, 60K miles, and not a cheap service either. I also ordered a navigation update for the car, too. I thought it would be inter-changeable with the navigation system in Jody's Highlander Hybrid AND in my business partner Carrie's Lexus...but OH NO, not so quick dude, all those vehicles have different versions of the navigation systems. At least I will be able to share it with my friends Michael and Lynda, they have the same year Prius that I do. It seems like kind of a rip-off that the updates would not work on all the Toyota models, oh well...

Jody came to pick me up at the Toyota dealer, and we went into Bartlett to get his drivers license renewed. I tried to do it on-line, but his license was about to expire, so he had to go in person. We are now all registered with the county to vote, got our vehicles registrations transferred and have our addresses on the drivers licenses change. We are finally all legal again. But...we are living in Williamson County, so that in itself is a challenge.

My friend Roy is going to take the bull-calf once he is weaned. We are going to have him neutered, too, since Roy already has a bull on his property. He just wants him for decoration. It is kind of like when I got interested in the cattle, and I actually wanted to get Bison...everyone can have just plain old ordinary cattle, so if you are going to get something, why not get something interesting to look at? The only caveat I gave to Roy was, this calf cannot become hamburger. I know some of the cattle I breed in the future will become hamburger, but not this one, and not any for the next several years, anyway.

I also talked to the other Jody (of Jody, Tonya and Patrick) that I originally bought the cattle from. He said the drought has caused them to lose 8 cattle from one thing or another. Lots of cattle are being lost in Bastrop County according to Jody, and it is really one of the hardest hit counties in the state as far as the drought is concerned.

Jody and I went to Chipotle for dinner tonight, we had a coupon two-for-one deal, so that was good. We both had the vegetarian bowl, very good indeed.

Okay, I hope you enjoy all the talk about the cattle, and if not, you might not want to check back for a couple days at least! go do your good deed for the day, and report in when you get a chance.