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.

Never know

Long time since I've posted...just nothing much to post. Still doing my walking routine but I've got the routes down pretty good so I know the distances without having to write them down. Haven't been doing them the last couple of days though. We were on our way to see our son and his wife this past Sunday who live in Kyle and while we were waiting to make a left turn of the I35 frontage road we were rear-ended by an off duty cop driving a big A.. pick-up truck. It was violent and upsetting and it totaled our car and did a number on us too. We're sore and cranky now with bumps and bruises and aches and pains, but thankful that we were able to walk away from it. The past few days has been spent dealing with insurance company crapola and getting another car and now working on the personal injury part of it. Again, thankful that we are ambulatory.

Anyway hope all of you people out there have a great holiday season and enjoy your families because you never know when you may not have them around.