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!