2009 - We'll miss you - thank goodness you're gone!

On this, the last day of 2009, I'm doing what so many others are doing - looking back, trying to make sense of a year that made no sense, finding blessings to count regardless, and wondering what the New Year will bring. Whew!

Nothing quite like a year that dumps 40% of your retirement nest egg into the trash bin. If you have just stepped across the retirement threshold that does get your attention!

And 2009 was the year that I went back to work. Technically, I was fully retired for only a very brief time. and three days a week is a very nice work week thank you. Especially in view of the preceding paragraph!

In 2009 Westover went to two services - had to pick early or late (for the times I wasn't at both). In 2010 they will tweak the class schedules so that we get to stay for what amounts to both services.

Took Uncle Sam and the City of Austin up on rebates and tax credits and installed a new A/C, toilets and water heater. Nice to be cool in the summer and have hot water when you want it. Also connected to City sewer, but didn't have any choice in that. Nor did we have a choice when the City came to chop down all the trees in the back yard. The City giveth, and the City taketh away.

Checked out Fresno and got the guided tour of Yosemite. Loved both. Like the Governator says, "We'll be back."

Endured 6 weeks of Physical Therapy. The Electro-Stim gets rave reviews; the exercises were a pain, (literally).

Went to my 50th High School Reunion. Boy, those folks are getting old.

Watched the Longhorns win 13 games and lose none; it was always neat seeing Colt and Jordan at church. Beat Alabama!

And we lived through the blizzard of '09 - you know, the one where the promised 2 inches of snow turned out to be 2 snowflakes - unlike the real blizzard of '09 which a lot of you really did have to live through.

So what about 2010? I know I'll retire again - probably about April. The Longhorns will win a National Championship - maybe two, if mens basketball stays on track.

And I'll blog about whatever happens.

Happy New Year

Monday Meanderings - Dec 28

We thoroughly enjoyed our quiet Christmas day - especially in light of the chaos thousands experienced with  storm-disrupted travels. We are blessed. We did find that eating all three meals at home felt really strange, however. And that just points out there is a real benefit in getting up and going to Fran's for breakfast - you don't spend the day in your PJs.

We had our annual Christmas eve service at church. It's sort of a strange mix between kid-oriented Jingle Bells and some really nice Christmas worship music. Becky Orick sang "Breath of Heaven" (Mary's Song) to keyboard and guitar accompaniment (gasp!). She has an incredible voice. And I got to add a lot of reverb - don't often get to do that.

At the moment we are being besieged by House Finches at the bird feeder. They are sparrow-like birds, except the males have red coloring on the head and breast and they all have a mottled front. Currently feeding sunflower seed to attract the song birds and the finches can empty the feeder in about three days. Also seeing more Goldfinches these days.

I mentioned my award for 250 hours of volunteering at RFB&D. I noticed on the newsletter that at the same award ceremony a woman I work with was cited for more than 11,500 hours of service! That's... well never mind. That's a lot.

Rob mentioned aluminum Christmas trees and my sister commented that Mom and Pop's tree was still in use as part of John and Joann's decorations. Here are some pictures she sent. Very nice.

 

Closed Christmas Day

This blog will be closed Christmas Day to allow the blogger to enjoy the day with his family.

See you Monday - and Merry Christmas!

What's your earliest Christmas memory?

At the Cousins Christmas, some were discussing earliest memories. Barb and I continued that discussion over lunch yesterday, and that got me to thinking about what my earliest Christmas memory is. I've given this some thought and the earliest I can come up with is proudly wearing a cowboy hat, chaps, and toting a pair of cap pistols in my new holster. These items were most certainly a Christmas present, and I place that memory when  we lived in the house on Hullum Street, so I would have been five or less.

Somewhere in that same era is the recollection of a package arriving from Grandmother Anderson; a gift for me in that parcel was a puzzle of the United States, with the pieces made up by the various shapes of the states.

How about you? What's the very earliest Christmas memory that you have?

Monday Meanderings - Dec 21

This past Saturday was the Cousins Christmas get-together. This is the evolution of Christmas with my parents - then Christmas with the children of my parents - and someday Christmas with the grandchildren of my parents. It's a great get-together, primarily thanks to my brother and sister, who do the heavy lifting needed to pull this off. Thanks.

I truly believe that every car registered in the State of Texas (and some from Oklahoma) was on IH-35 on Saturday. Several times we experienced the unique state of slowing to a total stop in the middle of nowhere; sometimes because of the presence of an emergency vehicle, sometimes for no reason we could ascertain.

I'll be the first to admit that Central Texas is not known as a travel destination to see Fall color in the trees of the region, but here and there we are treated to touches of color that give us a small sense of satisfaction. Some years are better than others, depending on rainfall and the date of the first freeze, among other things. So after a watering-restricted heavy drought summer and an early hard freeze, we really didn't expect much this year, but we've been amazed. There are hundreds of astoundingly colorful trees along our route and when the sun is shining brightly, as it has been the last couple of days we have been doing a lot of ooh-ing  and ahh-ing.

From time to time I have seen a gentleman volunteering at the RFB&D studios who, by his appearance, looks like... um... well, a homeless person. The other day I asked about him and he indeed is a homeless person, who has more than 800 hours in volunteer time! He comes in regularly when things are going well - but disappears periodically when his particular demons prevail. Remarkable.

Sorry, I had to add the funky word verification thingy to comments. Some spammer now has me on a list and has slammed me for the last few blogs with ads for phony stock offerings (or worse). Hopefully this is some automated process and can't get past the word thingy.

Do you suppose, if you get a Christmas card from your favorite eating place, it means you go there too often? No, I didn't think so.

Unbeknownst to most theologians, there was a fourth wise man, who was turned away for bringing a fruitcake.

And here is interesting examples of elevator door art. Barb brought this first set to my attention - a mural near the elevator in a plastic surgeon's office that casts the rider in the role of Adam on the Sistine Chapel:

  And this one is courtesy of a divorce lawyer (click on the picture to see the whole thing):

An ongoing project

Ongoing, in that the total number of trips to Home Depot is still unknown. We're at either three, or two if you don't count the first exploratory trip to see what materials were available. The project? I showed you the deficiencies we discovered when we put in new, skinnier toilet tanks. The project is to cover up alleviate those deficiencies. There has been a great deal of discussion (oh, my yes) to determine exactly how we were going to go about this. Barb was in favor of actually getting it done, so her approach was, "Who can we hire to do this?" My approach was, "You know, it really doesn't look that bad."

Primarily, the discussion centered around the back bath and the need to pull off the existing wallpaper and do something new there, since there was no possibility of matching the old wall paper after patching the hole. Barb went so far as to talk to a friend of ours who is experienced in this sort of thing; he came over and looked at it and said, if it were up to him he would just put wainscoting behind the tank.

Duh. Two (or three if you are picky) trips to Home Depot and two hours after getting home we have the results:

Now the discussion turned to the front bath. I'm all  in favor of more wainscoting, but SWMBO said paint. To my chagrin, the left over paint seems viable, so paint it is. After spraying on some texture (hopefully only three or four attempts there) we'll use a very skinny roller and apply some paint. Wainscoting may not be out of the picture yet, so this remains a work in progress. I'll let you know how many more trips it takes.

A Slippery Slope...

This is a very dangerous precedent, Not only have we been to TWO theater-type movies in the same calendar year, they were within SIX MONTHS OF EACH OTHER! Ya'll, I'm not sure that the world can handle our going to the movies every six months; it's time to slow down.

The movie? Blind Side, of course. If you have watched any sports on TV in the last 3 months you've seen the promotional trailers for this move about Michael Oher and how a white Memphis family intervened in his life to change what was surely another black ghetto tragedy into what appears to be a successful career in the NFL. It's a true story, and incredible in itself. We first heard about Oher when Sports Illustrated published an excerpt from Michael Lewis' book, “The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game.” To be sure, Lewis' book is not just about Oher - he's just one part of the evolution of the left tackle in pro sports, but the movie is about Michael and the Tuohy family who adopted him. Literally.

Here's a (lengthy) synopsis of the story, but I really recommend you go to the movie. It will make you feel good - and disturb you at the same time.

Now, where was that movie guide? We're on a roll here.

Monday Meanderings - Dec 14

Yes! Sunshine! It has been such a dreary week.

At the gas station the other day the guy across from me was filling a plastic gas can. A friend of his hailed him and asked what was up. "I ran out of gas." was his reply. "Do you need a lift?" the friend asked. "No, there's my truck right there." and pointed to a pick up in the driveway with its rear end just sticking out into the street. Seems he could have pushed it that far.

I got a Certificate of Appreciation from Reading For The Blind organization recently. It seems that my participation with that group now totals more than 250 hours. Wow. At 2 hours a pop that's 125 sessions. That's also about 5000 pages read.

I have two words: Cowboys, December, sigh. No, that last is not one of the words. It's me sighing in disgust once again.

I stepped out to get the mail the other afternoon and found this bad boy sitting on a branch over the driveway. He (or she) was pretty calm as I went back for the camera and even when I walked (nervously) under the limb to get the mail. This is a Red Shouldered Hawk - not a rare bird, but not often seen this far west. It is a big bird, measuring a little better than a foot from the branch to the top of the head. I can't exactly add it to my list of birds at the feeder. Maybe it should go down as birds feeding on birds at the feeder.

The Kiln Opening

Our friend Don Brimberry had a home show and kiln opening last Saturday. I've mentioned Don before and many of you know him and his wife Tera. He's a potter and unique in that he actually makes a living with his craft. On weekends he travels to Arts and Crafts shows across the state, showing his ware; during the week he holes up in his studio behind his house and makes the lovely objects that he sells. Three times a year he has an Open House and Kiln Opening and invites the public.

The Open House part is pretty simple - they bring in tables and benches and display his current inventory of pieces. The Kiln Opening is quite a different thing. Prior to the opening weekend he makes a variety of different pieces (to get an idea of the types of things he does, go here) fires them, applies the glazes (this is where his unique brand of artistry come in) and then fires the pieces again.

His kiln is large - about six feet tall, four feet deep and five feet wide. It is a metal box lined two-deep with fires bricks and a large opening on one side. After he fills the kiln (using multiple shelves of fire-resistant clay) he then bricks up the opening with more fire bricks - also two deep. There is a propane-fired burner system and he lights that - heating the kiln to 2400 degrees for about 12 hours. Of course, I forgot to take a camera, but here's a link to Don's website that describes the kiln and the firing process. Sort of makes you think about Daniel, or Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.

Side story: I mentioned to my boss John that I had been in his neighborhood for the kiln opening and he said, "Would that be Brimberry on Tumblewood Trail?" Surprised, I said, "Yes, do you know Don?" John, who is a volunteer fireman in that area, said, "No, but the C-Bar Fire Department has him on a very special list. Anyone with that big a propane tank who makes fires that hot is well known to us."

After the kiln cools several days so that the pieces can be handled, the attendees gather as Don opens it, literally removing the "door" one brick at a time. When it is sufficiently open, be lifts each piece out, and describes what he had in mind and how he went about making the piece. There is a great deal of suspense for Don when he opens the kiln - even as a skilled potter he cannot exactly predict how the glazes will fire and what the combination's will look like. The firing affects different glazes differently, and even the placement within the kiln can make a difference. One piece was red on one side and white on the other. It should have been red on both sides but one side was sufficiently hotter than the other, causing the difference. According to Don, some openings have been disasters as untested glazes ran down and fused the pots to the shelf. Saturday was a really good opening - we all oohed and aahed at every piece; only a couple of cups were stuck to the shelf (that raises the price, because you have to add about $60 for the cost of the shelf - they can't be separated without breakage).

There were probably 100 to 125 pieces in this firing, and as Don brought them out, people spoke up for items they wanted - which is a little dangerous, because Don prices them after he describes them and tells what he was trying to achieve.

And our piece? A goblet that will serve as a flower vase.

Monday Meanderings - Dec 7 (2nd Edition)

I guess it's no secret that I write these blogs ahead and schedule them for future posting, Certainly not now that this Monday Meandering escaped into the wild last Thursday. Made a break for it, as it were. So this is the NEW, REVISED, MUCH-IMPROVED version of that premature missive! Interestingly, if you use Google Reader to keep up with your blogs, the old version is still out there, even though I immediately deleted it from BlogSpot.

On the occasion of the 22nd Anniversary of my association with RSI,  I got a card signed by all my fellow workers. Most wrote little platitudes of congratulations; John, the owner, wrote "Is Barbara ever going to let you come home?" Hmmm

As I was leaving the house the other morning a dog sled came whizzing by. Now I know some of you have seen snow over the last week, but you know that we have not. And the dogs were not pulling a sled exactly, it was a bicycle-sized scooter (think child's scooter with bike wheels). Three good-sized (but not huge) dogs were harnessed to this scooter, pulling it and some guy with bugs on his teeth at a really good clip. I love Austin.

Friday night (yes, the day of the epic non-blizzard of '09) I had to go run sound for the annual Westover Preschool Christmas program. As far as I'm concerned, this event is an hour and a half that I'll never get back. For the hundred or so parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc. it is a holiday photo opportunity. I just wish I had the cash that went for cameras and video recorders that were in that room.

I wore my Santa hat because Baby It's cold out there (what would you expect after a non-blizzard?) but when I walked in the door a little boy took one look at me, tuned up, and went screaming for Mama. I guess he's had a bad Santa experience. I'll bet the Santa did too.

And on Saturday morning after a hard freeze, we had a leaf fall. When the sun came up and warmed the leaves still remaining in the trees in our neighborhood, they all agreed it was time to let go and leaves were just showering down, even though there was no breeze. A very striking sight.

And I leave you with a cute, but surprised kitten.

Winter is in! Part 1 ** 3:00 PM Final Update **

Okay y'all. I'm trying something new here - blog updates throughout the day. Here's the deal. Everyone is forecasting SNOW in Austin. Now you guys that live up in the Arctic belt - that range from Lubbock to Dallas - you get this stuff all the time, but Austin is not known as a winter wonderland. We've never had a white Christmas; in the entire 1990's decade we had a total of 1/2 inch of the white stuff. Thus far in the current decade we have had an inch and 1/2. Total. Adding up 4 different snow falls. You have to go back to 1985 to get a snowfall here of more than 2 inches at one time.

So, as we watch the evening news this Thursday night, the weather guy says, "Two inches tomorrow, Eighty percent chance." Of course he also said some models disagree. So, TxDOT is out tonight dumping 250,000 gallons of toxic de-icer on the overpasses, followed by tons of sand that will clog the sinuses for WEEKS afterwards. Will it snow? Or will it be the usual coating of ice that cripples the city and gives the body shops a very merry Christmas?

So keep checking back for updates. 

8 AM Texas time
Made it through the night with no snow. Got up numerous times to check. Or maybe that was the caffeine-laden Frape I had last night. We've assessed our situation and determined we are not sufficiently prepared for the onslaught, so we are making an emergency run for provisions. You know, stuff like Kleenex, pickles and Tabasco sauce. Loading the car with extra blankets, chains and MREs. Oh, wait. We don't have any of those things. Never mind. If you don't hear from us in the next 8 hours, tell the Search and Rescue we were going straight to Fran's and then to Walmart.

10:30 AM Texas time
It was horrific! The roadways were crammed with weary travelers trying to get home safely before the onslaught! Barb said it was just the normal morning rush hour traffic, but obviously she does not appreciate the situation. Everywhere you looked there was black ice. At least I thought so, but you really can't see black ice can you, UNTIL IT'S TOO LATE!! Thankfully we returned to the shelter of our home safely. Barb says she saw a snowflake, but I think she was just over-excited.

12:30 PM Texas time
The sun is shining! I think that's a bad sign snow-wise. And the temperature is up to 39, after a low of 37 when we made our provisioning dash. I don't think we're in Wonderland any more, Toto.

1:10 PM Texas time
SNOW! Oh, me of little faith. There are multiple snowflakes drifting around outside. As in more than a dozen! At last, all that preparation has paid off.

3:00 PM Texas time
It's over. More than a dozen doth not a snowfall make. The sky is blue, the weather advisory has been called off. The sirens I've been hearing are not emergency vehicles rushing to free people trapped in snow drifts. They are rushing instead to all the accidents because the streets are slick with de-icer and sand.

Evidently the snow gods picked Houston - not Austin - this time.

Sigh.

In for the Winter

Last evening was just wretched weather-wise. It was cold and raining hard and totally dreary. What should have been a five-minute stop at the bank turned into twenty; the roads were clogged with traffic so badly you might have been better to turn off the cars and use them for stepping stones.

We were supposed to go to a Lady Longhorns game, but it took no arm twisting whatsoever to hope they did well without us. Heat up some soup, wrap the snuggie tight and pick up a good book.

Now that's what I'm talking about!

Monday Meanderings - Nov 30

Barb put up the UT flag after Thanksgiving. The other day a door-to-door salesman knocked and when she answered the door he said, "We're selling University of Oklahoma jerseys. Would you be interested?" And then just laughed. He didn't make a sale.

Conversation while waiting for our meal order to be served:

He said:  "You certainly are enjoying the game you downloaded to your iTouch."
She said: "Hmmhu."
He said:  "Who would have thought that you would be one to get absorbed in a computer game?"
She said: "Only when there's absolutely nothing else to do besides talk to my husband."

Only in Austin. Capital Metro - that fine entity that has for eight years been unable to put rail service on an existing 32-mile railway running from Leander-to-Austin has outdone themselves. Years behind schedule, millions over budget and unable to even project a starting date, this august body has... RAISED THE RATES for a rail service that doesn't exist!

I got a call-back on my audition! Wow, first an actual audition then a call-back. There was a read-off between me and another hopeful. Don't know if it was the Grammy winner or not, but they got the part. I'll get over my disappointment. Quickly. At least I know the other guy is really good.

I find, much to my chagrin, that I did not try hard enough to find a replacement for Fang the coffee pot. I simply needed to think outside the box...uh, jar.

Happy Thanksgiving

Who knew?

That flushing could be so much fun?! We have two new super-efficient-water-saving-fully-rebated-by-the City of Austin toilets now. And when you flush them they don't go gurgle, gurgle, swish, swish, fill, fill, fill, fill. They just sort of go "glup" and "fill" they are done. At least we think they are fully-rebated by the City of Austin; the day we installed them there was a piece in the paper about how the rebate program was so successful they were running out of money.

Now I recognize that writing about toilets on the blog is somewhat iffy - but hey, when you are retired you get your fun where you can find it! And really, this blog is really not about flushing toilets, as much fun as that is (if you don't believe me, ask your kids and grand kids). It really is about what we discovered when we replaced the toilets.

Like this:

Actually, we were expecting this. During the Great Remodeling, we had them strip wall paper and paint the front bath, and we could peek behind the old tank and see that we had been shortchanged on texture and paint. What we did not expect to find was this:

Yes, that is duct tape holding the cut-out plug of wall-board (And wall paper) in place! Evidently some last-minute pipe repair was needed, and hey - it's going to be covered by that big old tank, so why not stick that sucker back with duct tape?

Barbara asked, "Who would do something like that?" My response: "Someone who knew they would get away with it for 35 years!"

The pictures admittedly are from severe angles - in actuality, it's not that visible, but Barb says pretending there's no problem is not acceptable.  She also rejected my suggestion of wall hangings with long tassels, so I guess whatever we do will involve paint and texture and wall paper. She asked Julie (curator of the Fresno Wallpaper Museum) to bring her wallpaper removal tools and skills when she came to visit and Julie said she suddenly had a conflict and wasn't coming to see us anymore. At least until there was NO MENTION OF WALLPAPER in the invitation.

So, any suggestions?

Monday Meanderings - Nov 23

Saw two decals on the same auto rear window. The first and most prominent decal said, "I hate stupid people." The second, less-obvious decal said, "I am blessed."

Ate at Marie Callender's the other evening; noticed that they have a big refrigerated trailer (like those  hauled by semis) parked out back, full of pies? Turkies? Good things to eat, for sure.

We're between seasons, bird-wise. Even the pair of Finches that didn't get the memo and stayed behind are now gone. However, a Crested Titmouse came to feed the other day. That's a bird new to my list.

My sweet wife made me an upside-down Snuggie - you know, the blanket with sleeves. Except mine doesn't have sleeves - it has feet. Well, a pocket for my feet. So when I get up in the night and sit in the recliner I have this wonderful fleece blanket to cover me and a pouch for my cold feet. It's heavenly!

Saturday I had an audition. A real, honest-to-goodness audition for a role in a musical production. You know, the kind where you bring your material to the appointed place, sit with the other auditioners (eying each other warily), get called into the room and do your thing before the producers. "Thanks, we'll call you - don't call us." It has been a looong time since I auditioned for a role.

Mark Ship, his brother Jerry and others have written an oratorio based on the book "Hinds' Feet on High Places" which is a Christian allegory. They use a narrator to tie all the music together, and that's the role I auditioned for. There is a "stipend" for the role. Interestingly, several professional voices have auditioned for the role, including someone who has won a couple of Grammy's. One guy listed work that he had done in "Saturday Night Lights." Jerry Ship's wife, who was ushering people in and out and just moved here from Portland asked me, "What is Saturday Night Lights?" Uh, you're not from around here, are you Ma'am?

I think this should be logged under the ever-popular "Why Women Live Longer Than Men" category:

It's not just the Obituaries...

Keeping Austin Weird is more than just a bumper sticker. You read the weird obituary; here's today's weird weather forecast - straight from the pages of the Austin American Statesman. You can't make this stuff up, folks!

"Stricken denizens of Central Texas this morning continue to dig out after the longest and bitterest cold front in more than eight months mercifully moved out of the area. The front, dragged here by a muskoxen team from Iqalut, a tiny town in the Canadian Arctic province of Nunavut, brought with it frigid temperatures in the mid-20s in some godforsaken places and left a blanket of frozen snow at least zero inches deep in most of the Hill Country.

Commuters are being warned by the National Weather Service this morning to dress in their longest shorts and their thickest long sleeve tee shirts. They are being asked to use extreme caution on roads that were not plowed overnight. The operators of schools and businesses have been asked to use good judgment if and when they decide to open today. The Weather Service also reports that the shelves of most of the convenience stores in the area are fully stocked with bottled water.

And although the worst of it has passed, the Weather Service says we are getting one last slap today with a high temperature reaching just 74. We can console ourselves with sunny skies before being plunged into an overnight low of 47. And just when we begin to breathe a sigh of relief, there is a 20 percent chance of showers on Thursday after noon. The high should be near 73. The chance of rain increases to 70 percent Thursday night with a low of 58."

And, for you doubters, here's the link.

On any corner...

I saw four teenagers – well, they didn’t look older than teenagers – panhandling on a street corner the other day. Scattered around on the ground were guitars and skateboards, back packs and bed rolls; all their earthly goods. One of the two girls - the designated panhandler for that corner – stood with a cardboard sign that read “Hunger sucks.”

As I waited for the light to change, watching this little group, the two boys and the other girl came to some kind of decision and the boys gathered up their belongings and walked away. For good? To find another corner to work? I don’t know.

So many questions that I would never know the answer to. Who were these children? Where did they come from? Did they know where they were headed? Did they know what was ahead of them? The “Hunger Sucks” sign suggested they were catching on. What tear in the family fabric led them to believe that standing on the street corner was preferable to what they left at home. Was this a rock band without a gig? Were the guys manipulating the girls? Were the girls manipulating the guys?  What would it be like to sit down with them and hear their stories? Was there anything I could do besides drive on?

That of course is what I did. The light changed and I drove on. When I came back by that intersection a couple of hours later there was no trace of any of them. But they have stuck in my mind for several days now. Panhandlers are an every-corner occurrence in Austin. What was it about these four that nags at me?  Their youth? Their seeming vulnerability? Under what circumstances could those have been my children? Were the parents looking desperately for them, or was it good riddance?

I pass haggard, unkempt weary souls every day in this town and truthfully think little of it. I wonder how long it will be before those four are haggard, unkempt and weary souls.

Monday Meanderings - Nov 16

We regularly pass a church sign that reads: "Good Korean Church of the Nazarene." Which poses the question...

This past week during my time volunteering at Reading for the Blind, I read the Constitution. Not a book about the Constitution - the actual Constitution, the Bill of Rights (the first 10 amendments) and the 17 subsequent amendments. Interesting. I don't think I had ever read the entire thing.

Mom has named her iTouch timer Mocha. She uses the timer app regularly and has the notice set to a barking dog. So we'll be sitting quietly reading or watching TV and all the sudden a little dog starts barking. She tried the duck sound for a while but it just didn't have the warmth that the little dog does. Plus, when she recharges it at night she refers to that as "putting Mocha on the leash."

Went to our first Lady Longhorn Basketball game of the season Friday night. We're not positive, but this is probably around our 30th season. The Drum was opened in '77 and we started attending shortly after that. In the old days we could arrive 15 minutes before game time and park across the street. It's more of an undertaking now.

Coach G held the star player out of the 1st half of the game. Misconduct? Banned substances? Ran afoul of the law? No, slept late and missed a class. They hold them to a higher standard in womens' sports.

We've been toilet shopping. Do you have any idea how many brands, types and models of toilets there are? For a product that you buy only every 30 years or so it seems to be a very hot market.

And they range from the ridiculous -

To the sublime.

Honestly, I don't see my self on either of these. I would be afraid I would fall off the first and the second would give me nightmares. Yes, that is a Dias de la Muerte motif!

Fortunately these two were not on the list of toilets that the City of Austin will reimburse you for, so what we purchased looks more like, well,,, normal toilets. Except they are "comfort-height" - toilet-speak for "old folks can get up from these."

Since our water bill often exceeds our electric bill, and since using the toilet is about the most fun old folks have, it's time to economize with high-efficiency models. That's toilet speak for flush twice, but at 1.28gpf we're still ahead of the game.

And of course, this all reminds me of Pops. "Had a good day today."

Check please!

For several years we have followed a blog written by an anonymous waiter as he toiled in an up-scale bistro in Manhattan. He blogged about his nightly adventures and eventually turned that blog into a best-selling book "Waiter Rant - Thanks for the Tip" At that point he was no longer anonymous and appeared on Oprah and the Today show and pretty much quit blogging since he was famous and all and busy signing autographs and appearing on TV and such.

But the other day he posted something and I'm flat stealing it. He posted a copy of an actual check from Nello's in New York City. Here it is:

Yes, that is a mid-five figure dinner tab. That check is more than we paid for all of the houses we have ever owned combined (both of them), with enough left over to take a trip around the world! Well, if we flew steerage. People, the gratuity is $7,328 (some waiter is probably just now sobering up)! The State and City of New York collected more than $3,250 in taxes!

The most expensive line-item is the 3 bottles of La Tache Romanee Conti at $5,000 a pop. I did a little research on this and those people who are fond of spoiled grape juice have this to say about it: "The scarcest, most expensive - and frequently the best - wine in the world ... If you can lay your hands on a case - and that is a big 'if' - you would have to pay £5,000 or more for a young vintage, double or treble for a wine in its prime. ... Not only nectar: a yardstick with which to judge all other Burgundies." Woo Hoo. I could probably buy a small Pepsi bottling company for $15,000. Certainly if you tossed in the two jugs of Chateau Petrus and the magnums of Cristal Rose. I thought a magnum was an ice cream bar and the most we ever paid for those was two bucks American in El Salvador. But no, I looked it up and found out they are talking about a gallon or so of champagne.

We were in Costco the other day and I looked, and I couldn't find any of these beverages in the wine section, so I'm thinking someone is running a scam. I say that because there is another little line item for "1 Large Water - $12.00"  on the bill. Now I paid $12 for a plain old hamburger in New York a couple of years ago and I thought that was a rip-off. Paying $12 for a bottle of water has to be against the law. Get a rope.

So, I can draw two lessons from this little item:

1. Don't eat at Nello's. That's a given.
2. And if you do go out to eat in NYC, bring your own water. And don't ask for a glass to pour it in. There's probably a $6 charge. Plus tax. Plus 20% tip.
   

Nothing is ever easy

I mentioned Mom's new iTouch. The one that was going to be a Christmas surprise (well, she promised to act surprised). I could have pulled it off if her Palm had not kept quitting on her with ever-increasing frequency. It has died several times but I've managed to perform mouth-to-circuit resuscitation each time. Until recently. Now it goes away and nothing I know how to do makes a difference; then it comes back to life a day or so later and acts like nothing is wrong. It quit the other evening and the next morning Fry's ad had the iTouch on sale (okay - Apple products are never on sale, but it was a few bucks cheaper) and I took that as a sign.

As for the "Nothing is ever easy" part - a new iTouch comes with the latest operating system, which requires an upgrade to iTunes, which requires a Service Pack to be applied the PC. Of course,  I hadn't gotten around to applying Service Pack 3 - never mind that it's been out a year or so. I think not applying Service Packs is analogous to "Don't mess with a happy baby" . It's all working now - why run the risk of breaking something? And before I catch any grief from the Mac crowd - you have the same problem:  iTouch 2.0 requires iTunes 9.0 which requires Mac OS X v10.4.11 or later.


Anyway, the larger problem was getting calendar items and address book entries and Bible versions and Diabetes tracking applications from the Palm to the Touch. That was the part I was going to do surreptitiously so as to surprise her with the done deed. It was a lot easier with her help, I have to admit.

So now the Palm is retired (the one that is operating just beautifully, thank you) and Mom is loving the iTouch (when she can get it away from me).

Monday Meanderings - Nov 9

The past couple of weeks have been a wonderful reminder of why we live in Austin - beautiful weather; warm sunny days and cool crisp evenings, a little bit of color in the trees. And we get this twice a year!

What does United Parcel Service UPS have in common with my cart at WalMart this week? Neither one turns left. Well, the cart would if you just shoved it sideways with a great deal of shrieking of the wheels against the tile. I wonder why Mom wouldn't walk with me?

What's better than working three days a week? Working two days a week. Bit of a backlog at the office - waiting on others, so my manager suggested I take Thursday off too. I like the way he thinks!

Finally replaced Fang, the lethal-looking coffee maker. Tried to find a pot to replace the one with the broken, jagged pour spout. No such luck. Looked at makers often, but the rage seems to computer-controlled, barista-approved, bean-grinding brewing systems. I do not want to wake up to the sound of coffee beans grinding; I just want a simple maker with a removable basket. The unit I got still has too many bells and whistles, lights and buttons, but I was able to make a good cup of coffee (after a couple of trys) so I guess it's okay.

Keeping Austin Weird

Folks, you can't make this stuff up (you can only edit it slightly).  It's what makes Austin a great place to live!

Obituary in the November 1 American Statesman -

John Doe died peacefully October 14, 2009, after almost 10 years of trying to convince the leukemia cells in his body that if they insisted in displacing all of the good working blood cells required for health that their arrogance would backfire. They would win the battle and lose the war. Kill the proverbial goose that laid the golden egg. Well, they did not listen. They won the battle and lost the war. This is similar to the way many of our present day leaders in the world operate.

John was preceded in death by his parents, and billions of other people, many of whom died because someone else felt they needed to take their stuff or they followed the wrong religion. John is survived by his wife, Jane of 36 years, a good woman who put up with a lot. He is also survived by his sister,  his sons, his daughter and two grandchildren. John is also survived by six billion five hundred million other human beings who are all engaged in a frantic struggle to get their share of mother earth's resources before finally killing her.

John's body was cremated and a memorial service will be held in November. Some of John's ashes were spread by his Dad's grave along with those of his dog. Some will be spread in the mountains of Colorado and some with Jane in the future. John wishes peace and tranquility for all who read this and a reminder that life in any given physical body is truly short.

Amen.

The Oil Bidness

Texas is known primarily for two things - oil and cattle. So if you want to be a true Texan it stands to reason that you need a ranch with some cattle on it and a few pump jacks scattered around the lower 40.

Well, I'm still working on the ranch, though I think the box of steaks in the freezer ought to count for something. But I've got the oil well down pat. Lease 326, Pace Unit, Stephens County Texas. That's my oil well.

Okay, it's mine and a bunch of other folks, too. I know that because my share is .00084151 percent. Ya'll, I admit that that's not a very big slice, but it's enough to receive a couple of royalty payment checks a year, and added all together it's enough to have to report on IRS Schedule E, less my 15% depletion, well-head taxes and the Property Tax bill from Mrs. Terry Sullivan, Stephens County Tax Assessor and Collector. Being in the Oil Bidness is complicated; I can just imagine how it will be when I get my ranch.

So how did I end up with 0.00084151 percent of an oil well in Stephens County Texas? Like most oilmen today, I inherited it from my Daddy, the Oil Baron. It was under the family house in Breckenridge Texas, that oil was discovered, or rediscovered, or remembered, or they finally got around to (along with a bunch of his neighbors). Him being a true Texan through and through, he was more interested in preserving the pristine grandeur of his sweeping back yard, but they finally assured him that any environmental impact was going to be several miles north on Park Street and slant-well drilling was the answer to the petroleum industry's problems. And there you have it. Instant 0.00252453 of a millionaire!

So now, when I pull up to the gas pump and contemplate paying $2.49 a gallon for gasoline, I think to myself, "Yes, but crude is up to $70 a barrel. The royalty check is probably up another .06 cents!"

It's good to be in the Oil Bidness.

Monday Meanderings - Nov 2

In Austin you are never quite sure about the people you see dressed in strange garb while you are out and about. Is it because they were dressing up for the office Halloween party, or is it just another day in Austin?

I have an update on the "All you had to do was ask" sign. It appears that it is an individual hacked off at the City of Comanche after some unknown but seemingly heavy handed action on the part of the City. How do I know this? I called the newspaper in Comanche and talked to a very helpful reporter.

I can't persuade Mom that just because there might be a Volkswagen Beetle in a large parking lot of cars she can't claim a Swat Bug on me. She says I'm inflexible, rulewise.

Last weekend McCoy and Shipley played football - against each other. This was little brother Case McCoy and little Brother Jaxson Shipley, playing for Graham and Brownwood Highs, respectively. Case has already committed to UT; it's a pretty good bet Jaxson will too. The American Statesman calls this McCoy to Shipley, the Sequel. Sounds good to me.

Christmas came early this weekend. Santa brought Mom an iTouch. Santa was going to surprise her, but her Palm is in the middle of electronic death throes. Now what was going to be a covert migration of appointments and addresses is an all out emergency. And of course, you know the deal (repeat after me...) NOTHING IS EVER EASY! More on this later.

And a couple of weeks ago we pulled into the Dairy Queen in Goldthwaite and noticed a car that was only about 1/3 in the parking space - the rest was sticking out into the driveway. As we left, the driver of the car - an elderly lady - was getting behind the wheel and a man called out to her and asked her about her parking style. She said, "I'm 84 years old. What do you expect from me?"  I really like that response; I'm planning on using it myself. Soon.

From Shelburn, IN to Possum Kingdom Lake

So we're sitting on  porch at the lake cabin the other morning, sipping coffee and enjoying life in general, when I notice that my coffee cup has "Shelburn Auto Sales, Shelburn IN" printed on the side. Being a normally curious sort of guy I remarked, "How did a coffee cup from Shelburn Auto Sales, Shelburn IN get here at the lake?" So we created the story of that cups journey. Sort of like a Flat Stanley in reverse.

To be honest, I cannot remember the exact story we concocted - Rob made up most of it - and we thought it was hilarious, but that may have been one of those geographical moments. Nevertheless, I thought I would share a slightly embellished version of the cups journey. It goes something like this:

The cup was originally one of 144 that Roland Mayhew, owner, manager and sole employee  of the Shelburn Auto Sales, Shelburn IN ordered as a sales promotional tool. Truth be told, it didn't motivate that many buyers and Roland had half a case left, even after those he scattered around the office and the 8 he took home and the 12 he donated to the 4H garage sale. This particular cup, however, left in the possession of Wilfred Karp, who bought a like-new 2001 Dodge Ram pick-up truck from Shelburn Auto Sales, Shelburn IN. Wilfred worked at the Conagra-Peavey grain elevator over the other side of Hymera and needed a good heavy-duty truck.

Wilfred was not a coffee drinker, however, preferring those refreshments that were derived from grain (he was in the business, after all), so he left the cup in the truck and forgot about it. Six months later, Wilfred loaned his truck to his brother-in-law, Cooter Harris (recently dis-employed from the grain elevator after an unfortunate incident with 1000 bushels of U.S. Number 1 Sorghum, Smutty, and the boss's convertible) who was going to move with his wife Gladys and their two boys from nearby Farmersburg to her mothers place outside of Clarksville, TN, where he was hoping to get on at the aluminum chair factory.

When Cooter unloaded the truck and the 6X12 U-Haul, naturally the cup got carried in with all the other stuff and there it sat in Clarksville, TN until 3 months later Lester - younger brother to Gladys and Roland - grabbed up the cup in all the gear he and two friends were putting together for a fishing trip at Lake of the Ozarks over in Missouri. At the State Park cabin #12, the cup performed admirably as a coffee cup, but alas, it got left by the fish cleaning sink when Lester and his friends ran out of money and had to return to Clarksville, TN.

However, less than a week later, Louise Stanger and her husband Fred showed up for their annual week of fishing at Lake of the Ozarks and Louise quickly put the cup to use as a flower vase for the little wildflowers she illegally gathered on the nearby walking path. Louise wasn't all that crazy about fishing,  but Fred had been coming to the Lake of the Ozarks for 13 years and he wasn't going to stop now.

The day they left for home, Louise put a fresh batch of flowers in the cup and put in the holder in the console of their Jeep Wagoneer, thinking that they added a certain homeyness to the vehicle. But by the time they stopped for lunch at a particularly colorful roadside park (painted like the Texas flag) near Flower Mound, TX a day and a half later the flowers were totally wilted (and smelling somewhat - well, dead), so Louise dumped them in the red, white and blue trash barrel, and so smitten was she with the decorating scheme she left the cup on the solitary table when she and Fred departed for home in Hico, TX.

No more than 2 hours later, a family member who shall remain nameless, stopped at the very same rest stop to unlawfully deposit some household trash that he had been carrying around in his van, saw the cup, and never one to leave a bit of flotsam or jetsam behind, picked it up and brought it to the lake.

And that, dear hearts, is how it came to pass that I drank coffee from a cup labeled "Shelburn Auto Sales, Shelburn IN" sitting at the lake cabin in north-central Texas.

Or not.

The Lake Cabin

In the early '60's my parents began work on "The Lake Cabin" - a simple getaway located among the cedar trees on  Possum Kingdom Lake. It's more creek-side property than lake-side property, but it's on the water and there's a dock and some boats and kids can fish and swim and grownups can sit and watch and what more do you want?

I'm not sure of the exact date the cabin was moved onto the property but it was probably about 1962. The original structure was a railroad section-hand house. Very sturdy, interior clad in asbestos panels, and fairly small. Pops added the front porch fairly quickly, and then later added the beds room. Plural. Sometimes it's referred to as the sleeping room, but honestly there's not much sleep goes on in there when there's a full house. There are beds for 18 people in the beds room - two more on the porch, and at present two futons that can sleep 4 more and a roll-away or two. There's even a guest house now - an outrider building that sleeps 4 more. Why so many beds? When the family gathers at the lake there's the grownups, and the kids, and the grand kids and now great-grand kids. You've got to put them somewhere.

Over the years the folks added this and that - a car port on the side, a rock path to the walkway to the dock, a rock patio in front for sittin' and talking. There have been tree houses and slides and a cable ride stretched between trees. Closets on the front porch, propane heaters on the porch and beds room, windows across the entire screened porch. There's no way to measure the amount of work that Mom and Pops put into the place. There was always help from others - I think my brother did a lot if not all of the rock work. Someone rebuilt the front steps in recent years. Bill recently re-planked the walkway to the dock.  But it was a labor of love for Mom and Pop throughout the retirement years.Their fingerprints (and notes of instruction) are still very, very evident.

The Lake Cabin has been a focal point for our family for nearly 50 years. We've gathered for big events and small, in warm days and cold. We've often waked to a cold, cold room until some brave soul started a fire in the stove; then huddled around that until someone ventured out of doors and found that it was a lot warmer outside than it was in the cabin. Christmases, Fourths of July, Labor Days and just getaway weekends. It is a great place to gather.

When Mom and Pops died, the Cabin passed to my sister; I often think we did her no favors in doing so. It's a lot of work and expense to keep every thing working (and the Brazos River Authority happy). She has put a ton of work into the property (hooray for city water!) and the family continues to gather there regularly.

Truth be told, however I stopped going there for a while. It was partly because of the memories. There's not a square inch of that property that does not have my father's imprint all over it. And it's partly because it has become harder and harder to persuade me to go anywhere. I'm getting crotchety in my old age; I like my bed and my couch and my recliner. But we did come for a Labor Day get-together a couple of years ago. And while it was bitter-sweet, it was fine. They are good memories.

And we were there again last weekend. I came for the reunion and Barbara was kind enough to come with me. Rob and his family came, too and it was a gorgeous weekend to be at the lake. The kids fished and played in the water, we breakfasted on eggs and sausage and cinnamon rolls; Rob grilled hamburgers and we graded papers and read books and worked on the ever-present jigsaw puzzle, and we played Sorry and we loved every minute if it.

 Thanks, Mom and Pops. Thanks Sis. Thanks all of you.

Monday Meanderings - Oct 26

A sign in a front yard in Comanche, Texas. Don't you wish you knew the story behind this?

And here's something else unique that we ran into on our travels. An automated flagger.

We've all encountered the pair of flag persons at the road construction sites - holding traffic until it's all clear one way or the other. This is a traffic light that senses and stops all oncoming traffic and then waits for either a signal from the companion light at the far end that traffic is stopped there or that there is no traffic coming. from the other direction. It then turns green and signals its partner to turn red.

I have commented about Leslie before. Arguably Austin's most iconic citizen, he was found on the street with a traumatic head injury about a month ago. Doctors held little prospect for a complete recovery, but he surprised everyone and is back on the street (technically he lives in a Home Depot-type portable building - not the street) . Good to know that my tax dollars are helping keep Austin weird.

Rob was here for the weekend, participating in the LiveStrong Challange 5k run and bike ride, and hanging out with Lance and other famous celebrities. Check his blog for his take on the event. So, Saturday night  they were showing the 5k start on the news; I said, "Hello Rob, wherever you are" and Mom said, "He's right there!.

He's a little fuzzy because I shot this off the TV, but we have proof that he was in the race.

And an article in the Statesman said that someone had lost their 6-foot monitor lizard in the neighborhood where Mom delivers Meals-on-Wheels. The article said the lizard was not aggressive or dangerous, but one should not try to handle it or corner it. Mom wants to know what about running over it?

Breckenridge High School - Class of '59 (Part 2)

In the period from 1951 to 1959, the Breckenridge Buckaroos football team won four State Championships outright and tied for a fifth. Throw in the 0-0 tie back in the oil-boom days (1929) and that's at least a share of 6 State Championships. And we regularly beat power-house teams such as Abilene High, Wichita Falls High and Brownwood in the process.

True, this record was eclipsed in the '60's by the Gordon Woods-coached Brownwood Lions and Southlake Carroll is way past that number in the modern era. But a little perspective is needed -  Brownwood's population in the '60's was about 16,000 people. The high school had nearly 800 students. Southlake Carroll today has more than 1,300 students - they have more full-time teachers than we had in my graduating class!

In the '50's  there were never as many as 400 students enrolled at BHS. Only 27 players suited up for varsity football in 1958 (the season of my senior year). Eight of those 27 were named as All State players. Eight of them!


Is it any wonder that any reminiscing about BHS in the '50's is going to focus on football? Organized football started in the Elementary schools back then. Go South Ward Wildcats! The High School coaches carefully supervised the Junior High program. The JV games had solid attendance as folks speculated over the next Varsity starters. Emory Bellard's Wish-bone formation - later introduced to UT - was developed here. The whole town lived and breathed football back then. The gym was full of townspeople for pep-rallies; on home-game Fridays school was over by 2pm and the band, the team and the entire student body marched up the hill to Walker street, then down to the  Breckenridge Avenue intersection and we blocked that intersection - the crossroads of the town - for an hour for another pep rally. Saturday playoff games? The town was literally closed for business.

But there was a dark side to football at BHS. High schools normally don't get to recruit players; they take the ones in their district. Need a player not in our district? No problem - just get some local businessman to offer daddy a job good job in town. Need a house? We can help you there. Still won't come? Let's send the banker who has the mortgage on your farm to discuss the situation with you. There were no transfer eligibility rules back then. You could play for Moran Consolidated one week and Breckenridge High the next. And at least one All State player did. I once thought these stories were exaggerated.  I learned during the reunion - from some of the players themselves - that they were not.


Another example of Football as King: there was a long-standing rule back then that if you married before you graduated, your high school career was over. Until Jerry Gibson and Judy Wright married. Jerry was the quarterback, you see. The rule got changed. A classmate who previously had been told she could not return was suddenly back in school. Only her husband could not sign her report cards - her mother had to do that. Go figure.

And my contribution to this little bit of history? I wrote the lyrics to the fight song. I'm confident that's what inspired the team to achieve such greatness. Back then, the Buckaroo fight song was to the tune of "On Wisconsin." as it was for about 2000 other high schools. "On you Buckaroos, on you Buckaroos, fight for victory." The movie "Giant" was released in that era and one day the band director passed out the music to the theme song from "Giant." I scribbled some inane words to the song, gave them to one of the cheerleaders, they taught the students the song at the next pep rally, and as they say, the rest...

Fortunately, I can't remember the words to my song, but if you go to a BHS pep rally today you can still hear them.

Breckenridge High School - Class of '59 (Part 1)

I previously mentioned (several times) the upcoming 50th class reunion. I also suggested that I had mixed emotions about attending it. Well, the reunion was this past weekend and I did indeed attend, and I'm still processing  everything in my mind. However, some things are pretty clear at this point:

• Those folks are getting old! Thank goodness for name tags.
• Grand kids, health, operations and Medicare are the primary topics of conversation.
• There's still no one in Breckenridge who can cater a decent meal.

Twenty-six of us gathered - out of a class of 70, 74, 100, 107 or 115 students. Take your pick; we couldn't ever agree on a number. A half-dozen or so still live in the area. Everyone else was pretty scattered geography-wise, with Texas the primary state of residence.

Part of my reluctance to attend was based on the fact that I no longer have anything in common with any of those folks. I thought it would be about like the business seminars I used to attend where you were hooked up with a small group of strangers and forced to work together to achieve the seminar's goals. I was right. A small group of people met with the goal of rehashing old times. I'm sorry, those were not the good days - these are the good days.

But there were some interesting aspects to the weekend. Like one of the guys in the band (and part of the group I hung with) showed up with his life partner. Back then, we sort of knew he was different, but we simply chose to ignore it. In truth, he may have been ignoring it at that point, as well. He and his partner were not flaunting their relationship, but if you engaged them in conversation for long it became obvious (I sat by them for both sessions). Even so, I suspect many in the group this weekend never realized the friend was anything but that. I think this because I frankly think there were some there who would have made a big deal - a very big deal - of it had they realized the situation, I base that on the very liberal use of the "N" word and other racial pejoratives I heard over the weekend. Racism and homophobia tend to hang out together in small Texas towns.

It was also interesting to focus on that era and realize what a unique and different time it was. In a real sense it was an age of innocence; not because my classmates didn't know about sex and booze and larceny (they did!), but because we led sheltered lives. Most of us enjoyed relatively the same socio-economic status. There were very few students that we considered to be "rich kids" and they didn't act any different than us - they just had cars and bigger houses. There were no blacks in our school (and only 3 Hispanics) and we didn't interact with blacks in any other circumstance (such as church). Only one football team that we played regularly had black players (and a big deal was made of that at the time, and this weekend as well). Interestingly, the 2000 census listed just .01% of the population of Breckenridge as black. The tradition continues.

We listened to Rock and Roll on radio stations from Dallas and Oklahoma City, and occasionally New Orleans. We bought records at a local record store and occasionally by mail-order from Sam Goody's in Nashville. Almost no one had after-school jobs; few had their own cars - we borrowed the family vehicle. Doors were never locked and with a few notable exceptions the worst crime we were acquainted with was drag racing the family sedan.

Fort Worth was the "big city" in our world (though we did go to Abilene for shopping and doctors), and our lives were largely circumscribed by a loop of Walker street between the Dairy Delight (now the defunct Anchor Drive In) and the western edge of town about even with the infamous water tower - a loop known as the drag. How many times did I drive that loop? There were side roads, of course, that ended in hopefully lonely and sparsely populated parking places (one of the trivia questions passed out to the attendees at the reunion was "Can you name at least one place used for "necking"?). Rob pointed out that the correct answer to this question is "No."

In general, it appeared that those who went off to college found their mates there; those who stuck around Breckenridge married their high-school sweethearts. Sort of like a Dixie Chicks song:

Mary Anne and Wanda were the best of friends
All through their high school days.
Both members of the 4H Club
Both active in the FFA.
After graduation Mary Anne went out lookin'
for a brand new world.
Wanda looked all around this town
and all she found was Earl

It was a small world in Breckenridge Texas in 1959. A very small world.

Next - Football in the 50's. Go Buckaroos!

Monday Meanderings - Oct 19

Stood with my hands under the faucet in a restroom  for a good 30 seconds before realizing, "This faucet has a handle. I will have to manually turn the water on. How quaint."

Saw about 20 people - most of them teen-aged -  walking up and down Cameron Road in the Reagan High area, sitting at bus stops, going into the tiendas and bodegas in that area. They all had on vests with some writing - I finally got close enough to see that the vests said, "May I pray with you?" Interesting.

Watched the OU-UT ballgame Sunday night. We were out of TV range this weekend, so we decided to tape the game. Then when we found out the score we would know if we wanted to watch it or dump it. Loved it that we got to watch it, even if it wasn't a thing of beauty. Got to fast forward through the commercials and anticipate the good final result. We may be on to something here.

Yes, this weekend was the 50th reunion of the Breckenridge High School class of 1959. I'll have a lot more to say about this later. Suffice it to say all those people sure look old! But the best part of the weekend was perfect fall weather at the lake with some of my favorite grand kids!

Monday Meanderings - Oct 12

Mom shared an incident from one of her classes at Austin Grad. During class, a cell phone began playing a merry jingle. Everyone immediately checked their phone, if only to be sure it was on vibrate, but the melody played on. And on. The owner of the phone acknowledged that she had an incoming call, but did nothing to silence it. Meanwhile the song continued until finally the instructor, Jeff Peterson said, "(students name), we have a long tradition of valuing acapella music in the churches of Christ. In keeping with that tradition, please turn off your phone."

Saw a photo online - one of those church reader-board signs. I think (hope?) it was one of the signs where you can make up your own stuff. It read:

New and Improved
Starbucks Coffee and WI-FI!
More Cussing and Sex Talk
Pastor Wears Jeans and Gel

Mom went to the coast this past weekend. I stayed home. Someone at church asked me why I didn't go. I told them "Because I wasn't invited." That's not entirely true, but there has been a lot of togetherness lately and more to come.

But she brought me back a picture from the beach.

Monday Meanderings - Oct 5

The other morning in Fran's parking lot, we encountered an elderly, well-dressed gentleman who politely asked me if could  give him $1.50 for bus fare. I'm not prone to respond to panhandlers, but this man did not look like or talk like your typical street-corner citizen so I gave him the money. Afterward, we were wondering just how much bus fare was in Austin these days and Mom mentioned that she didn't know, since she never had to pay while busing down to class near UT. That's because Seniors ride free.

I thought about that as I watched the elderly, white-haired gentlemen walk down the street after conning me for "bus fare" he didn't need.

I'm currently engaged in a small struggle with AT&T over their incessant reminder notices that it's time to renew the Pay-as-you-go balance on our cell phones. You may recall that we changed to that phone plan some time back after deciding it was the least-cost plan for our cell phone usage. I typically add 90 days use at a time, and all is well for about 60 days. Then AT&T begins sending daily text messages that it is time to re-up. That's not so bad, but at about 75 days, whenever you try to use your phone a recorded message jumps in to tell you it is time to renew and you can do that right now from this very cell phone, or you can be a kill-joy and press the # key to go ahead and complete the call that you set out to make in the first place.

In the first battle, I spent quite a bit of time with Juan Gonzales, the friendly AT&T Customer Support representative from El Salvador or wherever the call center is located and after a number of pauses while he spoke with someone who might - or might not - know more than he did, he assured me that we would no longer get those messages. It took a little time to get across to him he only had two options - stop the notifications or lose our business, and he seemed fully on board with that.

Too bad that I got a text message reminding me to renew my minutes a few hours after my conversation with Juan - as did Mom, WHOSE MINUTES WERE RENEWED ALREADY.

So the score currently is Bob 0 - AT&T 1. However, I will win the war.

As I sit here typing, we are enjoying a delightfully cool day with a steady rain. I'm sorry for the 65,000 people at the ACL Festival who are getting soaked at the moment. If they are true devotees to their music they won't mind. Besides, we need the rain.

A friend sent me a collection of Senior bumper stickers. They include:

"Cremation?
Think outside the box"

"I'm retired.
I was tired yesterday and I'm tired again."

"I'm in the initial stages of my retirement.
SS, CDs, IRAs, AARP..."

"I asked my wife if old men wear boxers or briefs.
She said Depends."

"Sometimes I wake up grumpy...
and some days I let him sleep."


And I'll bet you don't have one of these in your neighborhood.

A neighbor up the street owns a rental place where you can get your bouncy houses and water slides for your party. He quite often has his inflatables set up on his driveway, but this is the first time we've seen the caterpillar. Hmmm. Maybe that's what ate all the leaves off our tomato plants.

Monday Meanderings - Sep 28

Mom and I went to a wedding the other evening. Let me give you a little perspective. Initially I said that this was the 1st wedding Mom had been to since Rob got married fourteen years ago. Then I remembered that she had attended another wedding a couple of years ago and after some thought remembered a family wedding only last year, so this was actually the 3rd wedding she has attended in that time frame. Thinking about that I realized that I have been to only these same three weddings  - as a guest. I've worked a lot of weddings, but I too have attended only three. This social life is killing us.

One of the interesting things about going to physical therapy is that you see such a wide variety of folk suffering alongside you. I expected the crowd to be all jocks - and I guess that is the largest group - but one often sees little old ladies and little old men (like me). Today there was a young girl about 10 and a heavily-tattooed biker type, working out side by side. The girl was leaving the biker dude in the dust, by the way. There was also someone in decidedly non-workout attire. She looked like she would have been more comfortable in a corporate boardroom. Evidently she was working in 30 minutes of ultra-sound in between meetings. And I showed you a picture of what the Goth chick was wearing. I guess rehab is an equal opportunity endeavor.

Uh-Oh. We've got a small problem on Thursday evenings. This past week I'm watching South Carolina beating up on number four Ole Miss when I realized the TV had switched channels and was now showing The Mentalist. What? It seems that on Thursdays we now tape The Mentalist back-to-back with Gray's Anatomy and our cable box won't let you tape two shows and watch a third. Have you seen the TV commercials for U-Verse where the guy hires the neighbor kids to tell him what happens when he can't watch his third program. Looks like we're that guy.  Does anybody know how the game came out?

Went to Fort Worth on Saturday to help my sis celebrate her 80th birthday. I can sum it up by telling you what was on the card our brother gave her: "We all have to get old, sooner or later." And on the inside it said, "You sooner, and me later." I just hope I am as strong and vibrant a person at 80 as my sister is. Happy birthday, Sis!

Can anyone tell me how long I-35 has been under construction at the outlet malls near Burleson? Years, and years and years!!! And they still are nowhere near finishing. What's the deal?!!

Monday Meanderings - Sep 21

Man, I hate it when the Doctor dilates my eyes when checking my vision! It takes so long before I'm seeing normal again. Uhh! Bright light! Bright Light! There, that's better.

When I get e-stim during physical therapy, they also have me lie on a hot pad. Wonderful! The other day the therapist said, "How tolerant are you of heat?" Based on my previous experiences, I said that I was tolerant. So they got me set up, and as he stepped away, he said, "If this gets too hot, say something - don't try to tough it out." Hmmm, I thought. Why is this different than the other times? I mean, it is hot. Actually it's very hot, but I can take it. Or can I? You know, I think this thing may actually burn me. Yes, this is definitely way too hot!!  HELP!!


"Okay," he said, after adding some cooling layers. "It was 170 degrees when I took it out of the steamer. I thought that might be a little hot." ONE HUNDRED SEVENTY DEGREES!! What was he thinking?! That's not therapy - that's Lobster a la carte!


So how am I doing with the orchid plant?

You're right - it is a different color. Can't get anything by you, can I? We discovered that if you close up the house, turn off the A/C and go off to California for a week during the hottest part of the summer, orchids just can't take it. And I thought they were tropical plants. So we are giving it another shot with a brand new plant that still has all it's leaves and is not curled up in a knot.

Say what?

I got out my high school year book to look over prior to attending the 50th reunion of the Class of '59. I looked over the pictures in the book, and compared them to those I have that were taken at a reunion 5 years ago. My, my. Those people sure have aged. Then I began reading all the stuff that my classmates wrote in my annual. Yikes! I hope my parents never read them. I really hope my children never read them!

To be sure, the majority of what's scribbled in there is the usual drivel "...I know you are going to go far with all your incredible talents and looks, yada, yada, yada..." but sprinkled in there are some really interesting little tidbits. Like "I used to think you were touched in the head, but now that I know you I know you are not." Hmmm. That usually goes the other way. And "...you were the funniest thing I ever saw just before the curtain opened on Senior Play night." I wonder what I was doing?

And there were more than a few references to events and activities of the year, such as  "For both our sakes, I'll not mention the Band trips, or Brady." And "I'll never forget the Junior Senior rumble and painting the water tower." And "I'm sure you'll never forget our late night conversation. We really educated Sam!" However, I did forget. I have no idea what she was talking about. Nor do I know why one girl wrote: "Maybe I did have to use my hairbrush a few times, but you turned out to be a pretty good guy." You would think one would remember something like that. Or "Hello, Hot Daddy! Hasn't this been a wonderful Senior Year? Honest. We were not that close as friends.

Some were pretty indifferent about the whole thing:  "We've known each other for a long time and I still think you are a good guy." Or "No hard feelings." Or, they were just clueless, like the Freshman girl who congratulated me on being voted "Most Popular Boy." Ya'll, I wasn't even nominated! And in fact, I must have had issues with some classmates. "I was afraid I wouldn't get a last chance to to attempt to redeem myself, whatever it is I've done to merit your undivided indifference." Or "I hope you get your love life straightened out soon. It's really getting me down." 

But the grand prize goes to the guy who wrote: "Dear Bob, I have enjoyed seeing you choke everybody this year about making people do whatever you want them to do. If you do this any in future years, you may get caught up with. Seriously, I hope you get better. "May God guide you." Your friend always."

And this guy is signed up for the reunion! That's going to be an interesting conversation - unless he's like me and can't remember what was going on before the curtain went up - among other things.

Monday Meanderings - Sep 14

Saw a bumper sticker the other day that looked like this:

Given the paucity of rain this summer, one would not expect to come to work after Labor Day and find one's office flooded - from rain. Inside a nice, concrete building. But mine was. We're talking ceiling tiles collapsed from the weight and all the documents on my desk water logged. My telephone dripped water when I picked it up. My computer evidently stayed dry. The documents are easily replaced. The computer is always backed up. Still, it is rather unsettling. This was before the rains really came later in the week. It rained 14 inches in Williamson County; you would expect your office and everything else to be flooded, then.

Texas is the only place I know where you can have Stage 2 watering restrictions and flash flood warnings on the same newscast.

Social networking is a lot bigger than I thought. Last weekend we were listening to the Texas game on the radio (because it was only on pay-per-view) and watching the OU-BYU game with the sound turned off. Late in the 4th quarter the OU kicker missed a field goal - guaranteeing a win for BYU. On the radio - as if the missed kick was being shown in Royal-Memorial Stadium, a gigantic roar goes up from the Texas crowd. It wasn't being shown, and no public address announcement was made; the crowd got the news from Tweets, texts, and phone browsers - almost in real time!

I'm at a physical therapy session, enjoying the wonderful "roller couch" that delightfully kneads ones back, when I glance over to the next therapy table. Now, a lot of people come in wearing casts and braces and various medical appliances; it's a common sight. But I was really struck by this particular device and wondered "What kind of injury does this person have and what kind of cast is that?" Then I got a good look at it - here it is from my perspective:

 

No wonder this person needed therapy - and obviously she was showing the staff what caused the pain! 

Yesterday before church started a young woman came over and said, "I hope you are not already booked for the season. I'm planning a party and I really need a Santa!"

Okay. I admit that between the beard and the belly  the resemblance to Santa has been growing (literally). It obviously is time to take drastic measures -- I'm thinking about dying the beard.

Class of '59

Fifty years. Five. Oh. As in oh, my!

I mentioned that I'm going to attend the 50th Reunion of the Breckenridge High School class of 1959. Truth be known, I would rather not, but how often does a 50th reunion roll around? duh! And to prepare for this event, I'm dragging out the old high school yearbooks and doing a little refresher course on the kids I went to school with.

I have over the years said that I was part of a class of 74 graduates. That may or may not be correct. I have a booklet that was prepared on the occasion of the 45th reunion and it has names and photos of 107 classmates (bought the book - skipped the reunion). But the official yearbook has only 80 pictures and names. The official class picture shows 71 individuals in caps and gowns.

I don't know where the extra people came from for the 45th list; I'll have to do a little research. I can believe that 3 people were missing on the day we took the official picture. I know that not everyone in the class graduated - in fact, one classmate was already a guest of the Criminal Justice System at that time (but now that I think about it I'm pretty sure he was left over from the class of '58. Or '57).

I do know that at least 30 are deceased. Possibly more - there are 7 names in the 45th reunion booklet that have no contact information. So if we go with the 74 number, there are fewer than 40 of us still wandering around.

Maybe they better move the date up some.