Monday Meanderings - 11.24.2014

 I was not aware that our new phones are Amber Alert enabled. With an alarm that will wake the dead! If you have a weak heart I suggest you turn that feature off. On the other hand, Siri and I are becoming good friends, primarily for her ability to add reminders and items to my notes and lists.

I was watching the UT women play Tech in soccer the other night. When they posted the line-ups I noted that the Tech goal keeper's last name was spelled Czyz. I waited patiently for the announcer to pronounce this name for me, but for some reason, throughout the entire game he referred to the player only as the "Tech goal keeper." Understandably.

Some years back, in the spirit of "you should buy what you know," I purchased a few shares of Wendy's stock. We were big Wendy's fans back then, but over the years the chain faltered and I eventually sold my shares. But not before Wendy's had acquired the Canadian restaurant chain Tim Horton's and later spun them off as a separate entity once again. That's how I ended up owning shares in a Canadian Coffee and Sandwich operation. Those shares performed much better than Wendy's, by the way, so I have kept them all these years.

Now Burger King and Tim Horton's are merging. And I mention all of this simply because of the 600-page, fine-print, 4-pound book that arrived Priority Mail this week, explaining to me just how this merger is going to take place! I wonder just how many of these suckers hit the mail this week? And who read past the front cover?

The other morning I was checking a couple of things on my Google calendar, and a message popped up that said "You should leave for Dr B's at 9:00am." Huh. My appointment was for 9:30 and it takes about 30 minutes to drive there. Good job, Google. Then in a couple of minutes I got another message: "You must leave by 9:13am to avoid being late to your appointment with Dr B. You will be charged a fee if you do not keep your appointment!" Okay. That's a bit much, Google.

I hope your Thanksgiving brings you good food, good friends, and good memories with loved ones - from the past, and for the future.

Monday Meanderings - 11.17.2014

The limbs that remained attached to the pecan tree out front have dropped almost all of their pecans. The squirrels have gathered their fill, I have gathered my fill, and as I write this there is a little old Vietnamese lady scratching through the leaves to gather what is left. I guess it's a cultural thing; from time to time folks stop and ask if they can pick up pecans, and almost everyone walking down the street gathers those that end up in the gutter or curbside, but this little lady has simply made herself at home.

At least the wind has stopped blowing. A cold front came through this week and the pecans dropped like bombs for a couple of days. I tried gathering while the wind was blowing and got beaned a half-dozen times. And this was Large Brush Pickup week by the city, so I had to get the last broken limb down out of the tree so they could haul it off for free. It had been up there a while, and after a few hours of trying to get it cut loose - it was just out of reach of my pole saw - Barb and I finally got it down. That's me, standing victoriously over my counquered tree limb.

I shelled about half a grocery sack last week and I still have three full sacks, so I gathered them up and took them down to the Senior Activity Center, where the friendly folks will run them through their big shelling machines for a modest fee, only to find that the Activity Center is closed for remodeling! I've been searching for an alternative cracking service, but thus far the closest I've found is in Burnet, about 45 miles away! Maybe I can hire the Vietnamese lady. My goal is to shell enough pecans for a couple of pecan pies for Thanksgiving. At 1 1/2 cups of pecans per pie, I figure I am good for about 400 pies.

Monday Meanderings - 11.10.2014

The new phones are here! The new phones are here! After a 41-day wait, AT&T finally got around to shipping our phones. I had to break a solemn oath that I would never go back to that AT&T store, but I decided in the end that was the quickest way to get everything transferred and up and running. It only took an hour and a half, and a good bit of that was because Barb has two Apple Ids (my bad) and it took some finagling to get everything brought across. Now if I could figure out what all the new settings and apps are.

Wandered into Whole Foods the other day. I decided it is a great place if you want some gourmet coffee, craft beer, high-scale pizza or sushi tacos. If you are just looking for some Sweet-N-Low it misses the mark.

Who knew? Found out that Austin must be the "Undying Lands" because Frodo lives here now. Yep, that Frodo. Sailed here from the Shire, I guess.

Also learned that Chuy's just opened its 59th store. I may need to get a move on if I'm going to visit all the Chuy's locations.

I came across a recipe the other day that suggested you could prepare a really nice low-cal waffle by adding egg white and baking powder to one of those high-protein pudding mixes and using that for the batter. Huh. I like me some waffle, so I tried it. I mixed the batter up according to the instructions and poured it into the Waffletron 9000. It was just the right amount to make one waffle so I think all is well.

Until I started hearing this hissing and sputtering sound and turned around to see batter beginning to ooze out on all sides. And then batter started to spew out on all sides! In about a two-foot circle! When it was all over, I had two waffle skins stuck to the top and bottom of my non-stick waffle iron and several square feet of waffle spew! I did get it all cleaned up before Barb got home, so she will never know.

Monday Morning Meanderings - 11.3.2014

Welcome, Fall! Now that's what I'm talking about!

Barb brought the plants in, we put the blanket on the bed and the heater came on in the early morning to warm the house. Hello snuggly. Hello coffee on the patio (after putting on warm clothes).

Of course, this wonderful weather can work against us; this was Formula One week in Austin and tens of thousands of folks are looking around, saying, "You know, this would be a really nice place to live."

What limbs are left on the pecan out front are dropping nuts like crazy and we have been gathering and shelling them. Good tasting nuts this year.

For the 49th consecutive Halloween, I dressed up as an aging hippy. Peace.

There was one downside to the weekend. Daylight Saving Time ended and it will take weeks to get accustomed to the change. Grumble, gripe.