Happy New Year

Hope everyone has a safe and happy New Year and that it's filled with only good things for you and yours.

After Christmas

Tiny village decoration

Hope everyone had a great Christmas holiday. We got to visit our daughter and her family in San Angelo while my brother came and visited our Mom which made for a good time for everyone. We ate some good food, chatted a lot, and opened some nice thoughtful gifts. Thankfully the traffic was light for us going and coming and so was the weather. I took my camera planning on taking a lot of pictures but I only took one! Guess my memory is getting bad too. Guess the coming New Year is the next thing to celebrate. Not much to that one though. We try to stay up to see the new year in but sometimes when the clock strikes 12pm it finds us snoozing. ;-) The sun is shining brightly this morning and it's supposed to be in the 60's and 77 on Saturday! I hope the hot dry New Year's Eve is not a portent for our hot dry weather to continue on the rest of the year. We could really use a cool wet summer but I guess we'll have to wait and see what Mother Nature will bring us. One thing this sunny dry weather will bring is the dreaded Cedar Fever...some is here because my eyes and ears itch. Sigh...at least it is seasonal and will go away in about 5 or 6 weeks.

Winter hass arrived...sort of

Fall leaves I saw on one of my walks

It still looks like fall around here even though winter officially arrived yesterday. Also so did the rain! Got an inch around here! It was nice falling asleep to the sound of falling rain.
Hope everyone who plans to be on the road this Christmas holiday to visit family and friends stays safe and has good weather.
Many thanks for the kind words I've gotten on my annual Christmas poem.
Well, I'm having a problem with Google this morning so I'm going to cut this short and post it before the browser has a fit again. Stay safe out there and have a Merry Christmas!

No More Rain :-(

Our lovely rain has moved out. It wasn't the drought busting rain we needed but it was nice and it greened things up a bit. Alas it did not come early enough or in the needed amounts to save some of the trees and other vegetation in the area. The trees shown in the picture should all be like the one to the left but as you can see they did not make it and are marked to be removed. Still the park is looking pretty and I know that the park employees and several volunteers works hard to make it look as nice as it does. As you can see in the picture not many people were out and about. I love it the most when it is cold and rainy and almost deserted. The sun brings out way too many people and their dogs which wouldn't be a problem if most of them would obey the pooper scooper laws but alas too many of them do not.

We went to see the new Twilight film and while I like the vampire genre and Robert Pattinson I find this take on it too young for me. While the CGI sequences were done well I felt they had way too many musical interludes for my tastes. It was best (for me) when the actors were interacting and the story was moved along. The new Sherlock Holmes film was more to my tastes and I did enjoy it. Robert Downey, Jr seldom disappoints.

Our daughter has been having a bit of trouble with her heel healing up. She had to return to the doctor because the incision site became infected and they had to open it up and clean it out and she's back in a short boot. Hopefully it will be taken care of soon.

a week after surgery

two and half weeks after surgery-ouch!

Sometimes Making a List Can Make You Sad

I was updating my Christmas card list today and became very sad when I saw how many of my friends on the list had died. One is too many but there were more than that to delete on my list. One I only learned had died after I sent my cards out last December. I emailed her and noticed she failed to email me back but I just figured she was busy or traveling. Not so. She was dying from a brain tumour but never said a word. I did keep emailing her since the emails always went through but I should have called and asked why I hadn't heard from her. When I did hear some news it was from her husband telling me of her passing. So here is my goodbye to some wonderful people that I used to write to and should have written to more. Sandy Ahara, Marie Russell, Eddie Gardiner, and Bonnie Carr. Sadly Eddie's wife and our good friend Betty Gardiner is in a nursing home suffering from advanced dementia. I wrote my annual poem dealing with this subject before I updated my list so I guess they were all on my mind. So write or call or visit  your friends and loved ones while you can because they won't be here forever.

Blustery Day

Wonderful walk this morning. Around 35 and windy, almost feels like winter. Not many people out on the Hike and Bike Trail though, just a few runners and a couple of people walking their dogs.We had three days of light rain and even an early morning thunderstorm and it was all great. Wish we had more.
Did walk over to the Occupy Austin site but there are few hardy souls out there right now. One young man I talked to said they are planning in Occupy Foreclosure type protest which is to occupy empty homes that were foreclosed on. I don't know how that will go over with those who own these properties but I guess we will see if this protest takes place.
Here are a few more photos taken over Thanksgiving week.

Frankie, Pam, Lauren

Waiting on news of sisters foot surgery

Cyndi's foot a week after surgery

Evie and Frankie

Awwww

Rain, Rain, Stay a while

Had a lovely, mostly misty, Saturday. Early this morning it was raining pretty good and it was nice to lay in bed all toasty and warm and listen to the sound of the rain.


Black Crested Titmouse

Did find out that the little bird with the topknot is not a baby anything but it is a Black Crested Titmouse common in northern Mexico and Central to Southern Texas. They are very cute and very hyper! We also have had a cropped red-headed woodpecker come around to eat some raisins we put out and he is very handsome...for a bird that is. I hope to get a photo of him (I know it's a male because they have the red head and the females don't) some day soon.
The Longhorns got trounced by Baylor but I sort of expected they would lose but I did not expect that they would lose by that much. LSU is still rolling and look quite awesome.
Once Upon a Time is on tonight and it is a new episode. I hope so because I do so love the fairytale aspect of the show.
It's still dark and more rain looks like it is on the way so this Sunday is shaping up to be a good one. I think I might go back to sleep. :-)

Boogers

Felt kind of achy yesterday so I was plied with alka-seltzer plus and slept a lot. Better today but still a little boogery...know that's not a real word but it describes my condition at the moment.

We had a good time this past week. Had all our kids here and grandkids too. It's been a long time since we've had them all here at the same time so having them all here was a real treat. Evie traveled here from Seattle and it's the first time she's been here for Thanksgiving in about 10 years. Pam came in from San Angelo. In the pictures you can see that Cyndi is on crutches. She is on them beause she just had surgery to have some screws removed from her heel. Her body was rejecting the metal in the screws and lots of inflamation and infection was growing on the screw heads. She feels much better now it has all been removed and can walk for short periods of time. Stitches come out in a week or so. Second family pic back row, me, Lauren, Pam, Frankie, Frank, Derick, front row, Evie, Cyndi, Mom, Krys

We started decorating for Christmas and took these photos when the outside was done. No decorations on the inside right now.

The little birds shown in the photo appeared today (Dec. 1) on our windowsill. Don't know if they are baby cardinals or bluejays. Usually baby cardinals are mottled but these little ones have different coloring so it's hard for us to tell what they are. The tiny bird with the black and white face is a chicadee. It's so much fun to watch them interact. Speaking of interacting I thought the photo showing 'family interaction was very telling of todays methods of communicating. True we were not having a meal at the time but we were sitting around the table talking to one another...

while others were talking and using different tech methods of communication at the same time.

Evie riding the train!

me, Evie, Krys

G-Kids Lauren, Derick, Krystal and oh...Fanita too

family where I can't see me! Too short ;-)

Family interaction?

Family

Chicadee

young cardinals or bluejays?

Wet Saturday!

Had a great Thanksgiving day. Frankie came over on Friday after their trip to Dallas so he could visit with his sisters and later the girls went over to Cyndi's to celebrate Lauren's and Krystal's birthdays. They were born 7 years apart on the same day! Cool, huh. Derick went over for a bit as did Cyndi's boyfriend Mike. I think a lot of singing and eating of pizza and some partaking of jello shots went on but what happens at Cyndi's stays at Cyndi's. ;-)
It started raining sometimes during the night and was still raining lightly until around noon today. It's cooler too and we are expecting lows in the 30s tonight. Yea! Awesome weather. :-)
The Longhorns won and so did the Cowboys! Now if the Crimson Tide can win today that will be super duper. Have a great weekend folks and stay safe.

Safe and Happy Holiday

Everyone have a safe and happy Thanksgiving. We're busy getting lunch ready and then it's time for football. It's the last game for a long while between the Longhorns and the Aggies. I suspect the Horns will lose but one can hope they will win. The Cowboys play at 3:15 and I'm looking for them to stay on a winning roll. Fingers crossed!
I'm not planning on going anywhere tomorrow, especially shopping. Too many scary shoppers out there bleary eyed from getting up at midnight to buy stuff that will most likely get returned the day after Christmas. Just not my thing but luck to those who enjoy it.

Just Posting Stuff

Now this is a beautiful morning!

We actually got a bit of rain on Thursday and it was cool for a couple of mornings which made for nice walking. The heat is back though and that stupid sun is shining brightly burning and fading everything it touches.
Started this post a few days ago waiting for something interesting to happen but no such luck.
Clouds, sunshine, warmer temperatures. Longhorns losing. Same, same.
They arrested 5 people down at the Occupy Austin site for chaining themselves to a tree because they didn't want to move so the place could be power washed. It was orderly though and no one was pepper sprayed or hurt.
My carotid test results were worrisome but could have been worse so it's something I can hopefully manage. I think that for most of my life I've been waiting for the other shoe to drop but it never does. This can be a good thing or not depending on how you view life. I just bumble through it glad to be alive.

Disgusting heat is back

The heat is back with winds from the south and no rain no matter which way the wind blows. Bah.

Giant under eye bags

My glasses stay icky because my eyes are constantly watering from my allergies and from the frickin' giant fatty bags under my eyes. Can't see half the time. Another bah.
Had another carotid doppler on Thursday but expect it will be okay. They did it because I have been having morning headaches. I suspect it's because my BP has been a little high. We'll see. My football teams (Longhorns) are lossing but that's nothing new.
Lots of bad stuff in the news so life is better with the TV off these days. Think I'll stick my head in the sand and ignore it all. For a while anyway.

Time Change

While I don't mind the fall back an hour time change I do wish that we could have the same time all year long. This jumping back and forth an hour messes with your body clock and I just don't think it's a good thing. Plus running around changing the time on the clocks that don't automatically update themselves is a big pain in the drain.
Our weather warmed up again but some clouds rolled in and we did get a bit of rain over the weekend. The weatherman said a cold front was on the way and should get here tonight and bring some thunder storms and more rain. We hope he's right.
Nothing exciting on my walk today. They are cleaning up the area around Auditorium Shores that was host to the Fun, Fun, Fun Fest this weekend. Lots of tents and fences to take down but not a whole lot of trash which is a good thing.
I didn't go to the Occupy Austin site this morning but I did read in the paper that they had a successful march to the downtown banks on Nov. 5.  Across the country thousands of people closed their bank accounts and joined smaller local banks and credit unions. Maybe the banks will notice and maybe they won't but I do think that the movement is on the right track by using this tactic. If the movement affects their bottom line they will take notice and make changes.
On a completely different note I've got to say here that I've been enjoying 'Once Upon a Time' and 'Grimm'. Fairy tales have always been a favorite of mine and it's nice to see them being re-imagined.

Cool Morning Walk



Some will have a job...painting over this.

Had a nice walk this morning thanks to the cool front that blew through here late last night. I must admit that yesterday I was skeptical about it getting cooler when I sat watching the evening news while sweating and eating a Popsicle. But the front came through and made things much nicer. Could have used some rain but alas no rain fell in our area.

The photos I'm posting were taken on Tuesday and one of them has a word in it that has been edited, by me, for obvious reasons. I don't like graffiti but it is around so I captured a few bits of it.

Not a Perry fan I'm guessing. (edited by me)

The GOP campaign seems to have gone down a road that is not a good one. I prefer to judge candidates on their policies not their private lives but I guess you can't get away from it these days. Hopefully things will not get any uglier and everyone can get back to talking about the important issues that affect us all and the solutions to them so everyone can make an informed decision in the voting booth come Nov. 2012.
And will the media please not devote so much time to the Lohan and Kardashian woes. I'm tired of hearing about them and just want them to go away.

Upside down Ron Paul sticker

Occupy Austin Updates

My visit to Occupy Austin on Nov. 1, 2011. I decided this morning to walk to the Occupy Austin site and take some photos and do some interviews if possible. The site was quiet and by my estimation there were more police officers than demonstrators. The vibe I got was one of peace and the area was clean and tidy. I observed a gentleman walking around with a broom and bucket sweeping up any bits of litter he could find. Some people were asleep and some had left to go to their jobs or take care of family business, classes, and other appointments. I talked with Burt who is a veteran about his reasons for joining the Occupy movement as well as two other gentlemen who were holding signs by the street corner. The following are some of my thoughts on what I heard.

Burt-Vet. and Occupy Austin participant

Burt joined the movement to protest the treatment of veterans and the possible reduction of benefits and medical treatment of long time vets and those returning from the middle east.
One young man joined in the protest because he believed that greed and government were taking away the opportunity of American citizens to get an affordable education. He had been attending college but had to drop out because of the lack of funding. He thinks that a free education for those serious about attending college to 'better' the world would help out the country and less emphasis should be placed on those seeking education and jobs that deal with just making money. He cited lawyers specifically but I didn't quite understand why.


Two Austin Occupy Demonstrators

The other man I talked to (the one with the signs and the ball cap) was the only one who showed real passion and some anger. He wanted an end to lobbyist controlling the outcome of legislation that was detrimental to the common man by buying the votes of unscrupulous politicians and said those people should be voted out. He also had some heat for the banks that took the bail out money but did not change the way they did business and continued to foreclose on homes and refused to lend money to small businesses. He encouraged everyone to come out and join their march to the nearest Wells Fargo Bank on November 5th.While I do believe that for the most part the people of the Occupy movement are sincere I think that a lot of them are searching for a more cohesive cause to rally behind or perhaps someone to lead them. This movement is not the angry violent anti-war movement of the 60's but it does have an air of frustration with the way things are in the world. Most of the rhetoric is directed at the wealthy and big corporations. For now the leaders are happy that banks have backed off of debit card fees but they only see it as a small victory. Where will it all end? I haven't a clue but it will be interesting to go along for the ride and see.

Cooler but no rain

Here we are near the end of October and while it's been cooler for a few days no more significant rain has come.  The drought is still ongoing.
At the Occupy Austin site there have been arrests made. By Patrick George and Andrea Ball | Sunday, October 30, 2011, 01:40 AM
Update, 5:17 a.m.
Additional arrests were made shortly after 2 a.m., bringing the total number to 38. Police Chief Art Acevedo, who arrived at City Hall around 4 a.m. to talk to remaining occupiers, said that most were charged with criminal trespass and would likely be released soon.
“No one got hurt and that’s what’s important,” he said.

---

Police officials confirmed that about 20 members of the ongoing Occupy Austin demonstration were arrested outside City Hall earlier this morning and charged with criminal trespass.
Demonstrators who were present during the arrests say that around 12:30 a.m., officers attempted to shut down a table that was used to distribute food. When the demonstrators refused, they were taken into custody. The names of those arrested were not immediately available early Sunday morning.
Officers originally warned the demonstrators around 9:45 p.m. that a city ordinance prevented food from being distributed at City Hall after 10 p.m., said Brian Overman, who witnessed the arrests. He said officers also removed other parts of the camp, including blankets and sleeping bags.
Another demonstrator, Zachary Hill, said that demonstrators locked arms and sat on food to prevent officers from taking it away.
“The only resistance on this side was passive,” Hill said.
While I understand some of the frustration that has led to these demonstrations I really don't know what the end game is. At what point will those demonstrating say we've done what we came to do and got the results we wanted. Corporate greed is not going away and neither are the rich who like the poor are always with us. Most of us are stuck somewhere in the middle and plod along making ends meet and just living our lives the best we can. I'm feeling very apathetic these days because I no longer believe in change of any kind. People are who they are and things are what they are. The winners so far out of this Occupy deal are the area credit unions. People are closing bank accounts and moving to credit unions in good numbers and I guess now we'll see if the CU change the way they operate with all this influx of cash.
On a lighter note the picture below was taken from our bedroom window. The little blue jay comes often and hangs out on the window sill. Sometimes he's very noisy but he's always very cute. We get other birds too but they don't pose for photos like he does.

The Longhorns won a game making them 5-2 (I think) for the season which means they don't suck as bad as they did last year when they won...hum...if my memory serves, just three games.

Occupy movement still moving in Austin

It's a sunny and cool Saturday morning in Austin and there will be lots of people on the city streets. The Occupy Austin group, see live here, and the LiveStrong 5K are both downtown today. The Longhorns are playing the OK State Cowboys which brings in lots of people to add to the chaos. Tomorrow the Austin Walk for Aids group will be on the streets. So far everything has been orderly and peaceful which speaks well for the folks around here.
It was  50 degrees when I woke up this morning. Very nice but we still could use some more rain and rain would have made it a perfect weather day.

Thunder and Lightning

Woke up to thunder and lightning this morning and rain! Yay! Just raises my mood immeasurably. Also our daughter and granddaughter that live in San Angelo are coming for a short visit. That merits another Yay!
Oh and I did get to order my Game of Thrones book. If you just put in the title of the book the set comes up, if you search science fiction and fantasy books then all the single novels and sets come up. Guess it's a glitch in the search engine of B&N that does that. Anyway all's well that ends well.
I've just thought of another good thing too. The Dallas Cowboys can't lose a game today because it's a bi-week for them. ;-)

Updates done on a muggy Saturday afternoon.

We got some rain showers this morning. Downpours for 30 to 40 seconds but 3 or 4 of them so far. All of it is most welcome.
The Occupy Austin is still going. They did march as a group to the nearest Bank of America and those who had accounts there proceeded (in an orderly fashion) to cancel them.  The group here is organized with child care for those who want to participate in the protest but not have their children there and other groups supply water and food for the demonstrators. You can check out the videos and article here.
Sadly the Longhorns got slaughtered. I could not stand to watch it so I tried to download the second book in the Game of Thrones series.  Alas Barnes and Noble only has the first four book set for the Nook App so that means I'd have two editions of the first novel which would be lame. I didn't know you could run out of an ebook edition! Amazon has it so I might get it there but I have a gift card at B&N and really wanted to use it. Sometimes the tiny things in life can be very complicated. :0\

Occupy Austin

We got a bit of rain this morning and hoping for more over the weekend. The temperatures are still high (it's 93 at the moment) but no triple digits for now.
On my morning walk I ambled over to City Hall and talked to a couple of Occupy Austin demonstrators and took some photos. Most of them are young and either college students, blue collar workers, musicians, and artists.

There was not a big crowd this morning but it was over a thousand last night and as the day wears on and people get off work and out of classes they expect more. The two young men I talked to said they were hoping to make the people pay attention to the devastating effects of corporate greed. Greed in and of itself is not the problem it's when it's pervasive and gone wrong. They specifically talked about   the Bernie Madoff debacle, the Bank of America recent announcement of the $5.00 debit card fee. I gathered from their statements that these companies making  obcenely large profits on the backs of the middle classes is the reason the economy is in the tank. They believe that the workers who make the companies grow are being lied to and cheated. The two young men (pictured) seemed sincere enough and one was a college student and one worked downtown. I didn't ask them for any personal information but I did ask them for permission to post their photo on my blog. They were happy for me to help them spread the word. I really don't see any clear cut cause (in the 50s we had Ban the Bomb, the 60s we had the anti-war dissidents) but I'm hoping that the organizers get their act together and establish a real strategy to make their case more cohesive and clear. They have the growing man-power and I hope they use it in a positive and productive way.
On my way back across the river I saw a large number of police gathering in the park. I think at the time I was there the police outnumbered the protesters. I just saw on the news that the number of protesters has grown but the tone of the demonstrators is still peaceful.

Our daughter texted the picture below. It appeared on our grandsons doorway. We have no idea what it means. Perhaps someone looking at the blog might have some idea as to what it could mean.

Autumn Is Here..Not !!!

The calender may indicate that it is Autumn but alas around here the temperatures do not. We should be around 86 this time of year but for the past three days we've had highs in the 100+ range again. 90 days of 100+!  Our average temperatures for this time of year should be around 84. Right now it is 88 thanks to a 'cold front' that blew in this morning. Highs in the 90's are forecast for the rest of the week. Ick! Parts of Texas were lucky enough to get some rain yesterday and the day before but only a spritz and sprinkle fell in a few places in the Austin area. The leaves are falling from the trees and they are brown but it's not because the season has changed it's because they are dying from the intense heat and lack of rain the area has had in the last year. Very depressing and I could just scream when I watch the Weather Channel and hear them wax poetic about blue skies and sunshine making for a perfect day, weather wise that is. We're up to our dried out eyeballs with sunshine and if I sound cranky and grumpy it's only because I am. Oh to have a few cold rainy days that allowed you to sip hot tea or coco and slip into some fuzzy socks and curl up with your favorite honey or blanky and be all comfy and cozy. Umm...bliss.
My granddaughter and I went to see the movie 'Contagion' which is about a fast moving virus that kills thousands of people and wouldn't you know it...my granddaughter got sick. 101 fever, nausea, the whole bit. When she was on the mend I got sick but with different symptoms so I don't think she passed on anything to me.  We are both feeling much better now. The movie did make me mindful of a couple of things. Wash your hands more often and don't touch your face unless you have clean hands.
Our grandson started school at the Aveda Institute  http://www.avedainstitutesbb.com/austin-salon.php
and we're really proud of him for deciding on a career and going for it. I'm really looking forward to him doing my hair. :-)

I'm So Over Summer!

Love and compassion arising with a clear recognition of the importance and rights of others will reach even those who would do you harm. (Dalai Lama)

I follow the Dalai Lama on Twitter because I like his tweets. Some, like the one above make me fell better about things.

It's still excruciatingly hot here, in the 100+ range, and more of the same is in the forecast until next week when we can expect highs in the upper 90s. Big cool front huh? BTW no rain in that forecast either. Ugh.
It's difficult to enjoy a daily walk when the morning temperatures are 82 with 79% humidity. But, I'm still out there walking. Not fast but at least I'm doing my 3 miles a day 5 days a week.

Happily some Texans did get a bit of rain but a good old wide spread soaking is needed to bring any kind of relief .

Not only are farmers and ranchers in deep trouble because of the lack of the wet stuff and over abuncance of heat but trees are in distress and other vegetation is dying. Animals and birds in the wild are abandoning their young because of a lack of food and water. We've seen mockingbirds, bats, and other insect eating species looking pretty ragged and scrawny these days because no rain equals a low insect population and thus no food for them. We can help the seed eaters by keeping the bird feeder full and our two birdbaths filled with water. Insect eaters are harder to take care of but we did read that they would eat fruit so we often chop up a pear and add some raisens to the seeds. It's not much but we're hoping it helps the little critters out. I think other animals might be drinking out of the larger of the two birdbaths such as possums and a raccoon we've seen scooting across the yard early in the morning. While we are not in the horrible crises that Dafur is in the drought here is still pretty terrible and we hope it ends soon. 

I'm keeping out of politics this time around other than voting of course and the occasional donation. From what I've seen on the news things are already getting ugly and I have no desire to see anymore. 

Football has started and I hope the Longhorns do better this year...I know how could they do worse than last year but hey I can hope can't I?

It's September already and I started this post in the early part of August...hum, am I procrastinating or just lazy. Perhaps a little of both things.

I am reading Game of Thrones: Song of Ice and Fire and it's pretty good. Love me a good fantasy story. I do see a bit of the Lord of the Rings in the story though but I guess if you're going to borrow from a storyline you shroud borrow from one of the best. :-) Also downloaded Mile 81 by Stephen King but haven't read it yet.

So hopefully it's goodbye to the summer and its heat and a wishful, wistful, hello to winter full of cold days and lovely rain.

More heat on the way

August is here and the 100+ temps that have been plaguing us since May is expected to intensify with record temperatures coming in the next few weeks. Please, anything over 90 is the pitts. To make matters worse no rain is in the forecast for the near future.

I am still walking though and if you get out on the road by at least 7:30am the heat is not so bad.

There are some new works of art on display in the park down by the river. This time instead of decorated guitars we have decorated cows. They are very cute. The one pictured is my favorite because she is all dressed up for her run/walk and has a cuter outfit than me . The blue head band looks way chic on her ;-)  I will try and post photos of the other cows later on.

older

Had a nice birthday yesterday. Thanks to all who sent birthday wishes. tomorrow we will celebrate my birthday along with Frankie (our son) and his stepson Craig. That means cake! I hope that wherever you are today you are cooler than we are in Texas. On a sad note our hearts go out to the people of Norway. We hope they will heal soon from the tragic events of the past few days.

Summer trip

We got to go on a 4 day trip this past June and had a great time. The place was Shreveport, LA. We stayed at two different casinos and naturally did some gambling. We had good rooms, good food, and good company. We also went to the Louisiana Hayride building and visited the Elvis statue and although the pictures are not included in this post there were some taken of James Burton statue and his Rock and Roll recording studio. I'll post those later.

 1 Cyndi and the Elvis statue, 2. Krystal and I with part of the Elvis statue, 3. Me and Krystal, 4. Me and Cyndi at breakfast, 5. Frank and Krystal as same meal

More than one thought

                                                               Our lovely Mom.
                                                           Happy Mother's Day
I'm glad Osama bin Laden is gone and I do hope that those who have lost loved ones and suffered because of him get a measure of peace and sense of justice now that he is gone.  I do not feel like celebrating his death because I think that dancing in the street is akin to those horrid scenes we have all seen on the news of our brave soldiers killed and than dragged through the streets with people cheering and jeering. It's all horrible.
On another note I had to have a nuclear stress test this past that took about three hours. I think I did okay and that not much has changed since my last one. They did a number on my arms though trying to find a vein, mine are small and tend to roll and wiggle away from the needle. Can't say that I blame them.
On a frivolous and fun note I'm going to state my thoughts on the NCIS episodes leading up to the season finale. The blue eye Tony got in his drink glass sent to him by the P2P killer belongs to someone we know but who may not be dead just because they are missing an eye. Also the writers made it a point to let us see the mask makers of the FBI or CIA or one of those secret orgs. So someone may not be who they seem to be. The growing tension between Gibbs and Vance may be a big clue in that they both sense that something is wrong with the other. Gibbs has blue eyes and his iris scan would certainly open the door to operations. The popular notion is that the eye belongs to Trent Kort a re-curring CIA agent. I don't know that his iris scan would open the door to Naval MTAC operations but then the writers could explain how and why it did. Two characters are reported to be killed off. I think one is Mike Franks and I'm not sure who that might be. My guesses are Jimmy Palmer who works in autopsy or  Director Vance. It's a great show that makes you happy and intrigued for an hour.As for who the killer is...I haven't a clue.

Spring comes to Austin

Winter has gone and spring, well almost summertime temps, have come to Austin. SXSW, the Travis Co. Rodeo, the Texas boys high school basketball championship and a few demonstrations at the capitol have made for super crazy traffic which includes not only the four wheeled kind but the two wheel and foot kind. It's nuts. The parks are a dizzy crazy quilt of fences and cars parked in every little niche they can find. Celebrities have descended en masse to sell their latest projects so if you thought you saw a famous face on the Hike and Bike Trail you probably did. Thankfully SXSW will be over after this weekend and we'll only have the rodeo until the 26th and the Cap Metro 10K on the 27th.
I've kept up my walking routine but I think I gained some weight recently. I would increase my mileage but when I go over 5K a day or an extra day a week my left hip starts hurting. But my weight tends to go up and down 5 to ten pounds and while it was cold we made a lot of heavy comfort food type meals in the crock pot so hopefully I'll lose it now that salad and lighter meal days are here with the warmer weather.
Photos: 1. Mountain Laurel, 2. Wisteria 3. Wisteria  and red leaf hedge outside our bedroom window 4. White Iris in front yard 5. Bright pink geraniums and St. Francis statue off the front porch
Between the Mountain Laurel and Wisteria the yard is full of heady scents!

Winter comes to Austin

Winter showed up in Austin last night, well acutally it's been here all week but it just snowed last night. Not much I know but for us it's something rare to enjoy for a while. My mom had fun walking on the snow and making a snowball. The sun is out now and most of it is gone but that's winter in Austin.