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. :-)

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.

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.

More than halfway through September

Did great in my walks this past week. 4 miles one day and 3 to 3 and a half the rest of the week. The cooler weather makes me feel more energetic so I go do a little more. The recent rain brought out lots of flowers, most glorious, the School House Lilies shown growing around the pagoda in the back yard. The lilies are popping out every where though along with lots of other flowers. Also pictured are the back doors of the house. I cleaned and taped the windows off, Frank sanded and painted. Football season is here and in Austin you would know it. Lots of Longhorn and Texas Tech fans in town along with sports news crews and the blimp. The Horns won, avenging a bitter loss to the Red Raiders last season.

Mussings

My walking routine has been more pleasant since the temperatures have dropped to a more comfortable level. I did 4 miles yesterday and 3 and a half today. At the park this morning while I was getting a drink of water I suddenly found myself surrounded by several young men dressed in running shorts and shoes. They all looked fit and were friendly. I walked a short distance away from the group and was going to take a photo but alas I was too slow and they all took off again after they had completed their water break. An older man dressed in shorts and a burnt orange windbreaker was shouting at them to move it. Perhaps they were distance runners for the Texas Longhorns since the coach was wearing Texas Longhorn colors.
Lots of flowers have popped up since the heavy rain we had a couple of days ago and our area is starting to look like Austin again.
I had one of my check ups and my blood work numbers were pretty good except for some border line blood sugar and kidney numbers. The doc wants me to go back in three months and have them repeated. Still not diabetic which is great and he said that he was pleased by my holding the line against diabetes because he himself had no patients 65 or over that had high blood pressure and high cholesterol that were not diabetic except for me. He reiterated that my walking 5 days a week was a big factor in my fighting off diabetes. Me weight was the same as the last time which is okay although I would be happier if I had lost a few pounds. I also had a bone density test and that came out normal so no osteoporosis. Yea!

Old sayings are sometimes true

I've always heard be careful what you wish for and today I got a taste of what that means. I've been crying, no, begging for rain for months now. We've been getting dibs and dabs lately but today we got the big gulp. 3 inches in less than an hour. It was great! The only problem is that the house we live in is split level and the living room can get flooded in a heavy rain. The back yard tilts down from two angles which sends water flowing towards the base of the house plus the gutters were overflowing and couldn't do the usual good job they do keeping the water away. So Frank, Krys, and I were out in the pouring rain digging out and widening the area beside the house where the water was running and sweeping debris like leaves and bark from the raging rapids swirling around the base of the house. The good things were that the room didn't flood and we also got our Saturday night baths early which was quite a treat. ;-) Also it cooled the temperature off a lot and we didn't have to turn on the AC at all today. The bad thing was all this beautiful rain didn't fall on the lakes which supply water to the city so it didn't do much for the drought. We're very happy it rained so much but we're ready for more. can't wait for the fall season to get here.
The Horns won in Wyoming and Bama is winning as I write this. Also loved seeing Tiger get back to his usual spectacular, record setting, golf playing ways. Hope he does the same tomorrow.

Saturday had its up and downs

Frank enjoyed watching all the football games on Saturday including the Alabama/Virginia Tech game. It was a hard faught game and a close one until the last ten minutes or so. His little elephant mascot started out watching the game just fine but would up on his side from all the action. The Longhorns was a yawner.