2014 - Day 165/200 - Saturday...

Louisiana Shrimp, Catfish, Boudin...I don't care who you are, that is good eatin'.  There were no mud-bugs (that was a good thing because I did not want to show my lack of desire for those), but there was plenty of food at our friends Susan and Effrim's annual fish fry.  Great food, nice folks and a good day for sitting around in the back yard.  Now, if I only had not been sick (not sure if I am really sick or just allergies), but it is not conducive to conversation when you sound like the neighbors cat hacking up fur balls in the cole slaw.  We tried, anyway.

W also headed out to vote in a School District run-off election.  We got there about three o'clock, and we were numbers 81 and 82.  It will be interesting to see if our votes made a difference.

I think I am going to call in sick tomorrow, and just sit in the big blue chair and sleep.

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

2014 -Day 164/201 - Friday...

If this does not make you smile, it can only be because you are dead.  How can you not smile at this beautiful sun flower?  I understand that, out here on the edge of nowhere (which is actually further away than the middle of nowhere) they are considered weeds and nuisances, but I still think they are pretty.  I expect that someone, somewhere thinks that dandelions are not the scourge of the earth, and appreciate them for their individual appeal.  Okay, let's not get carried away.

Even though it is Friday, I have big hopes for the rest of the evening and the weekend.  Okay, well, part of the weekend anyway.  After I finish this entry I am going to have a dessert (have not decided yet between ice cream and lime pie).  I am leaning towards the ice cream.  The Lime Pie was advertised as Lime Pie (as opposed to key lime pie) so I think that is an interesting switch. 

We (the office) had lunch today at Lucy's Fried Chicken on College Street near Oltorf and Congress.  We were all there celebrating Pat's ten year anniversary with our company.  My how time flies when you are buying, selling, leasing and managing real estate!  Thanks Pat, here is to another decade!

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

2014 - Day 163/202 - Thursday...

Down and dirty journal entry today.  I am still in the office, and I am about to head to the City Council Chambers to testify to the mayor and council about property appraisals in Austin.  I expect to be there until the wee hours of the morning, and I do not expect I will be in the mood to write when I finally get home this evening (if I am lucky) or sometime tomorrow (if I am not so lucky).






I did have a chance to take this photo of some clouds through the car windows as I was stuck in traffic on IH-35.  Very pretty.






Friday will be a pretty good day for the most part.  Or for the conscious parts, anyway.  We are having an anniversary luncheon for one of our agents, Pat, celebrating her ten years with our little real estate company.






Wow!






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


Entry Post-Script:  It seems I cannot upload the photo tonight.  Boo-Hoo!

2014 - Day 162/203 - Wednesday...

It is late (for me) and I just got home, and I have already self-medicated and I think it is taking effect pretty darned quickly.  Probably because I am already tired and I am having some allergy issues.  But, I bet I will be conscious long enough to complete this journal entry AND have a nice bowl of frozen dairy confection.  What do you want to bet?

Here is the back-story to this otherwise innocent looking photo.  Chris and I were on our way back to the office at about 4 o'clock this afternoon, and traffic heading south on MoPac was pretty much at a standstill.  Stop and go at its' finest.  Traffic was totally stopped, and the motorcycle guy decided to drive between vehicles and not let a little thing like traffic laws stop the onward march of progress.  As he passed the guy in the black car, the driver honked his horn at the motorcyclist and the motorcyclist did not find that very amusing.  He stopped, retraced his path and decided to have a discussion with the driver of the car.  There was no obvious anger shown and nothing happened that would have entailed a news crew or a toxic haz-mat clean up crew, but it did have potential.  If it had required a forensic lab visit and cordoning off of the immediate area, you can guarantee that the camera in my cell phone would not have responded as quickly as it did.

On to the ice cream.

Deeds, Actions, Changes, ROAD FINGER FLEXING, Kindnesses, Whirled Peas, FUN!

2014 - Day 161/204 - Tuesday...

What this country needs is a bunch more good dogs.  Take the Boy Dog for instance.  We have no idea how old he is or what his life was like before we salvaged him from the Williamson County Shelter.  What we do know is that he has a GREAT life now, and he is GREAT dog.  A very amenable companion for Jody and a talker!  He talks!  And we answer.  He is afraid of thunder and lightning (which might account for why he was in a shelter), he does not beg food from the table (patience is a virtue and well rewarded in this house), and he is tolerant.  We are not a household that includes small humans, but when there are small humans in the vicinity, he is tolerant of them and causes no harm.  He is a very good Boy Dog.  And he does not like to have his picture taken, he does not like to go in the bathrooms (he will do it in a storm because those are the darkest places and the places furthest away from windows and outside noises) and he practices selective hearing when Jody is trying to get him to do something.  He WILL eat anything he finds handy, from chicken poop to something dead in the yard, and it is not important HOW LONG it has been dead or how badly it might smell to you, he will eat it anyway.  He can wake us up at night with the sounds his stomach can make (quite often after he has eaten something dead) and no amount of pepto bismol pills will stop that noise.  He is a master farter, and it will make your eyes burn.  He is a leaner, he will just as soon lean up against you to be petted as to go for a walk.  If it was a toss up to getting petted and eating something dead in the yard, I am not sure which one would win out.  He loves to go for a ride in the truck with Jody, who provides a step stool for both ingress and egress.  He is old, just like both of us, and would not change a thing about him.

Deeds, Actions, Changes, BOY DOGS, Kindnesses, Whirled Peas, FUN!

2014 - Day 160/205 - Monday...

Precarious Guy on Ladder:  Do you need to leave?
Me:  Why yes, that is why is an standing here with my car door open!
PGoL:  Okay, well we can stop for a minute so you can pull out.
M:  Well, if I pull out, I think I will hit the ladder and I don't want to dent my car.
PGoL:  No, that's okay, if you hit the ladder, I will just hang on to the tree.
M:  But I do not want to risk hitting the ladder, the ladder might fall, you could fall and one or both could dent my car.  I don't want to dent my car.
PGoL:  We do this all the time, you just think you will hit the ladder, it hardly ever happens.
M:  When is the last time it happened?
PGoL:  Last week, but before that it was a couple months ago.
M:  Are you insured?
PGoL: Not after last week.

I'm just sayin'.

Today was actually a good day.  Peaks and Valleys.  My first call was a valley, but then I got a peak when MOW called and asked if I could sub for them.  Then there was a valley when I was getting ready to go deliver meals and it was pouring down rain.  Then I determined that the rain was a peak, so everything pretty much worked out.  The rest of the day was kind of like that too.  For every valley there is a peak.

And now I am home, and that is a peak!

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

2014 - Day 159/206 - Sunday...

The geraniums are blooming beautifully this year, this is probably the best year we have had for geraniums.  I also noticed the gladiolas in the back are blooming as well.  The weeds are doing very nicely as well, since there is no grass!  And we have some peaches on the trees, too.  No apples, no plums, and I have not paid enough attention to the pecans to say one way or the other.

It was cloudy for all of the morning, and we even got a little bit of rain.  There was 0.12" in the gauge the last time I looked, so we were some of the lucky ones with the 10% chance of rain today.  The girls and I played another round of bug, chicken, tractor.  I believe that no bunnies or chickens were harmed in the cutting of the weeds today.  I am relatively confident in the previous statement concerning the chickens, somewhat confident in the statement of the rabbits, but nothing is guaranteed.  There have been a bunch of buzzards circling, but really I think they are just playing with the thermals.  It was interesting, I was out cutting grass (weeds) about Noon:30 and the winds shifted to the north and it definitely got cooler, about ten degrees cooler.  The next time I noticed, the winds were back from the south and it was getting warmer and the sun was breaking through.

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