Volume 13 - Day 120/245, 2021 - Friday

Closed Captioning Provided By: Me. Drums are rolling, trumpets are trumpeting. Think large processional, tens of admirers logging on to a zoom call, really slow internet speeds, and everyone leaving their sound on. Today is the 4,500th entry on this journal about nothing at all. Kind of like the Seinfeld Journal of journals. But, I think 4,500 is a pretty impressive number. In over twelve years, I doubt that I have missed more than five entries, so that satisfies the CDOness in me. But I digress... It is not easy to get from Austin to South Padre Island. In the rain. Unless you go north to start. And then head south. But, most of us made it, so that is good. It's a TREPAC fishing tournament tomorrow, and we need to wait and see if the weather clears before we get too crazy. If you saw my Facebook post earlier, the row in front of me on the first leg of the trip had a sweet, 5 1/2 month old babe, and the put happy bags on the seats in front of then and the seats in back of them. Cute stuff, the best part was the earplugs, but they were totally not needed at all. After we landed, I offered them the bag back, but they didn't take it. Sweet family!

Volume 13 - Day 119/246, 2021 - Thursday

OMFG! This is my Four Thousand Four Hundred Ninety Ninth journal entry. I happened upon this piece of trivia totally by accident, but that means that my entry tomorrow will be my 4,500th entry. That has to be worth some kind of recognition, even if it is only by me. This year will finish my 13th year of doing this journal, and I think I will make it to 15, but not sure after that. Towards the end of every year, I start doubting whether or not I want to continue, but so far, I have...and I think finishing 15 years will be an achievable goal. It starting raining overnight last night, and it has rained most of the day. The Curious House and its' surrounds had no extreme weather, but west, north and south of us were not quite as fortunate. I got in to the office early (as planned), and left early (as planned), and got the girls to the kennel, and then took off to Horseshoe Bay for a TREPAC Chili Cook-Off. I was a judge, and it was a lot of fun, and I got to see a lot of friends, and we are starting to get back to in-person events. That is something that everyone is excited about. Tomorrow morning I head to South Padre Island for a TREPAC Fishing Tournament. It is supposed to rain in SPI all weekend. Perfect!

Volume 13 - Day 118/247, 2021 - Wednesday

It's comin' up a storm! Banners messing up the television, Most of it is expected to be west of us, but it is expected to be raining all night. Maybe not starting here until about 11, and I should be out by then. AND, these girls are not annoyed at all with thunder and lightning. I am really old, and these are the first dogs I have ever had that were not afraid of lightning and thunder. They are fond, however, of puking at 3 or 4 o'clock in the morning. I need to get one of those Bissell carpet cleaner things, and I keep forgetting to check out Amazon. I try and try, but when I am blurry I am not particularly good at blotting. Part of it is also the cheap-ass carpet that was installed in the Curious House. So, I will work on that. Tomorrow. Now, speaking about tomorrow...I am going to try and get in to the office early (it will be raining, don't forget), and then I will leave early to get back north. I am going to Horseshoe Bay tomorrow evening to be one of the judges in a Chili Cook-Off. I wonder if this is an appropriate time to discuss Irritable Bowel Syndrome? I don't know if I have it, but the commercials are really trying to convince me that I do. I suppose I will know for sure tomorrow night when I am on my way home. In the meantime, I may sleep with the blinds up some tonight, just in case there is some really good lightning displays. Maybe it will make up for the clouds covering the Pink Full Moon. One more thing; what do you see in the clouds? Do you see the big foot and the five toes?

Volume 13 - Day 117/248, 2021 - Tuesday

Immediately preceding this journal entry, I was out in the garage, IN THE TRASH CAN, with nothing more than my ankles and feet visible to a variety of passersby. In my fury to clean the garage and divest myself of things that had previously been moved at least a dozen times, I threw away a little 'caster,' you know, the rolly things on the bottoms of chairs and other devices. It was just laying there on the floor ot the garage, and I could not imagine what it could have possibly been from, so I tossed it. Today, when I was putting out dry food for the girls, the sealed food bucket wobbled, and I discovered there were only three casters on the bottom, not four. A blinding light went off in my little pea-brain, and I decided I would recover it when I returned this evening. I removed everything from the trash can (well, not EVERYTHING), but there was no sign of the caster. I then emptied everything again, and still no luck. I then discovered that I did not actually toss it, and I found it on one of the shelves in the garage. Mission accomplished, and I did wash my hands after I came back inside the house. In other news, I discovered another perk of being old; I got a 'Senior Resident All Water Fishing License Package' this afternoon, in anticipation of my trip to South Padre Island this coming weekend. I also got a shirt and a hat, and I will try my best not to return like a crispy slab of bacon. The jury is still out on that one... As for the Pink Full Moon, I actually remained conscious last night, trying to get a glimpse, but it was all to no avail...

Volume 13 - Day 116/249, 2021 - Monday

Today was kind of an interesting day, and it was pretty much just mundane interesting (or distressing). I find it difficult to even TRY to be nice when people on the other end of the phone conversation or the e-mail conversations or the in-person interactions when they do not even want to try to be helpful or empathetic. The day started with a 7:15 call to a service provider that insisted I pay an additional $4 per month for the service I contracted for. Then there was Best Buy, TWICE. They did come out and pick up the POS refrigerator freezer that provided ice berg snow and glacier flows in the freezer section, but the refrigerator could not get below 60 degrees. Then I had an e-mail from Best Buy, expounding of the joy we should share with the knowledge that they had just charged my credit card another $39.99 for something I have (allegedly) cancelled three or four times over the past couple months. I am not going to keep going with my first world problems here, but I think tomorrow will be a much better day. I did make it out to the farm early this afternoon (don't ask), and I was attracted to a couple iris blooms by the front tank and the old well. In this photo, if you look closely at the concrete trough, you can see that it is dated April 17, 1935. Tomorrow will be a better day!

Volume 13 - Day 115/250, 2021 - Sunday

He is uncertain as to how the historians of rubber plants will see him in the future; hero or villain. I found this rubber plant in a deserted property about three or four years ago, and, not very interested in just letting living things fend for themselves, I brought it home, where it continued to languish with very little attention until this year. It survived the freezing temperatures in February, the benefit of being in the garage, and after bringing it to the Curious House a couple months ago, it has really begun to thrive. Unfortunately, there were 'stringers.' Is that what you call really long limbs with a couple leaves on the tippy ends? Whatever those things are called, I asked a plant person if I cut those off and put root stimulator on the ends and stuck them back in the dirt, would they grow? The answer was 'probably not,' but I did it anyway, because the plant was a target for even the balmiest of breezes, and it would tip over at just the least provocation. NOW, it looks lovely, and I think the first week or two will be the most important. So far, the leaves have not fallen off the 'transplanted' pieces, so I think that is a good sign. I hope it makes it, and I hope it becomes a lush and wonderful, happy little plant. The jury is still out on this one!

Volume 13 - Day 114/251, 2021 - Saturday

Apparently, I am obsessed with the garage of the Curious House. AND, I just added the Curious House to my Facebook Check-Ins. Curious House is much more appropriate than the Lazy House. If you ever come for a visit, I am pretty sure you will understand. I did get (most of) the garage straightened out this morning, and I did something that, four or five houses ago, I said I would never, EVER do again. I put some stuff up in the attic. And...I think there will be more stuff going up into the attic. It is just stuff that I do not need on a daily basis, so up into the attic it will go. But...tomorrow I will have everything OUT of the garage at the farm. Another room done, then I will start on the sheds...the carport shed will not be too big of a deal, but the front barn will take some time to get cleared out. I have no intention of clearing EVERYTHING out of the front barn, but I will be careful to clear out personal stuff and paper work. I will need to try and find a giant shredder to just shred a lot of paperwork. In between stuff today, I got in the middle of a dog fight in the backyard. Yesterday, I gave the girls a couple bones, and there were some scraps of the bones left, that I picked up. This morning, I gave them the bones, and they got in a fight to the death over the bones. Neither one of them came away with any scars, but I did...but I am pretty sure it will all be okay in a couple days. The puncture wounds did not bleed too badly, and I did my best to lick it all up now and then. That's what I was supposed to do, right? There is healing powers in my own saliva, right?