Monday Meanderings - 12.9.2013

Have I mentioned that I don't care for freezing weather? It is cold here in Austin, dear hearts! How cold is it, you ask? Cold enough for us to skip going to Fran's for breakfast! Twice! Thankfully, we escaped the ice and freezing precipitation that has slammed our friends living just to the north of us.

The garage door opener chose this cold snap to quit working. Something is wrong with the safety sensors, so it will open, but not close unless you get out in the cold and close it manually, which sort of defeats the purpose of remote-controlled openers, don't you think? Too cold to work on it, so that just provides more incentive to stay indoors.

Speaking of Fran's, one morning when we were there (back when it was warmer) I watched a woman doing her Christmas shopping - at the claw machine. You know, the arcade game where you pay money to manipulate a mechanical claw over stuffed toys and animals, hoping to snag one. I don't know how much she spent, but she persisted until she snagged four plush toys, then she left happy, shopping done.

 The first of 3 Austin In-N-Out burger places opened this week. Interestingly, there was a lot less hoopla than I expected. There are so many good local choices now, it may be that Austin has become jaded, burger-wise.

Noticed last week on Facebook that our California grandsons were involved in a progressive dinner. That reminded me of an occasion when our son's youth group had a progressive dinner. Several hours after the expected conclusion of the event, Rob wasn't home, so Barb set out to find him. Driving over to one of the participant's homes, she saw a familiar-looking little white Honda and literally chased it down, honking and flashing her lights. The car stopped, and some total stranger sat and waited while a crazy white woman stormed up to the window, saw her mistake and quickly walked away!

Texas and Baylor met this weekend in the final game played in Lloyd Casey Stadium in Waco (next year the Bears will inaugurate a fancy new stadium adjacent to the Baylor campus). Someone wrote a letter to the paper, noting the passing of an era, and told about a game he attended at that stadium some 60 years ago.

At that time, Baylor would parade their bear mascot around the stadium track at halftime. On this occasion, when the bear passed Bevo, the steer got so riled he broke loose from his handlers and took off after the bear, which made a run for it and climbed up a nearby wooden light pole! They finally got Bevo corralled and led away, and sometime later the bear's handlers coaxed him down with a bottle of cola. Today's games are so dull.