Monday Meanderings - 2.29.2016

And good Leap Day to you all. Don't believe I've had the opportunity to wish that while blogging.

 If you are seeking employment, you can get a job in a minute in Port Aransas. The Spring Break season starts next week and every restaurant, souvenir stand and lodging place has a "Help Wanted" sign prominently posted.

Yep, we wandered down to the beach last week, as is often our habit. Thursday and Friday were blustery and a bit chilly; Saturday approached perfection.

I encountered a gentlemen coming from the beach with his fishing equipment, so I asked how his day had been. He said that the fishing had been exquisite; the catching was for naught.

The best news might be that we found a nice little Coffee and Gelato place down at Port A. We became great gelato fans on our last cruise, so we were happy to see that shop. Those types of establishments come and go quickly, so we'll have to check on it on our next trip.

Back on the home front, I learned from a recorded-message phone call that the IRS was about to sue me, and that this was my last chance to redeem myself. All my friends have already received this message, so I was sort of relieved that I didn't get left out.

And there's an update on the "Two Guys and a Chain Saw" tree service. One of the guys stopped by the neighbor's house the other day -- on crutches. Probably to let our neighbor know that he wouldn't be finishing her tree trimming job. My guess is that my neighbor and her neighbors on either side of her considered this good news.

Ranking right up there with the IRS message is a Spam folder full of email from or about Donald Trump. For example, there is one titled "Trump's IQ Booster." Oh, I'm responding to that one! And there's another titled "Donald Trump's Simple Financial Plan." Funny. I can't find one titled "Hillary's Email Management Tips" or Cruz's "How to Win Friends Secrets."

And here's a little tourism booster that my Sis called to my attention.

Blogging for science

I got an interesting email the other day from a guy claiming to be a Ph.D. student at the University of Southern California that stated that he was "researching the personal experiences people write on the web about their everyday lives."

Since that's pretty much all I write about on my blog - personal experiences - I'm not surprised that he wants to include me in his research, but I am sort of amazed that he actually found my blog, since we are not related.

He said that he was "interested in how the thoughts and experiences written by people like you on weblogs and other social media can be used to make conclusions about society as a whole." Then he asked me to fill out a survey, and concluded with, " In the course of this study, we will also be analyzing the public posts on your weblog... The goal of this analysis is to correlate your responses to this survey with what you write about your life on your weblog."

In other words, after answering a bunch of questions about me and what I thought, he was going follow up to see if what I put in my blog squared up with my survey answers.

He included several ways to confirm that he was who he said he was, and that this was a bona fide research project, and not some Nigerian widow trying to give me millions of dollars, so after checking him out I took his survey.

First we covered some basic demographics; how old was I (he almost didn't make the date range high enough), how much money did I make (almost didn't make the dollar range low enough), where I was born and raised (Texas, Texas), and general stuff like that.

Then he started out with a zinger. "What did I think of Hillary Clinton?" It interests me that he didn't ask about any other candidate. For the record, my response was, "I try not to."

And as best as I can remember, here are (more-or-less) the rest of his questions, and (more-or-less) my responses:

• What is my religion? Limited choices here, so I put Protestant. Close enough.
• Do I think global climate change is serious/not serious? I said I was serious about coffee on the patio and any change that affected that was serious.
•  My views on abortion. The check boxes didn't quite allow the answer I wanted but I responded that I was by-and-large agin it.
• What was my reaction to the word "feminist." Good/bad/indifferent? Say what? Does this have anything to do with Hillary?
• Who did I vote for in the last Presidential Election? I told him; I'm not going to tell you.
• Had I had the flu this year? Didn't see that coming, but no, I have not.
• Did I have the flu in any year since 2010? Nope. Get my flu shots regularly.
• Have I been in a car crash this year? No.
• Did I have a car crash in any year since 2010? No.
• How many Dr visits in the past year? My highest choice was 6 or more. Shoot, I can do that in a good (or bad) week.
• How many Dr. visits in any year since 2010? See above.
• Did I take a vacation in the past year. Two, actually.
• Did I take a vacation in any year since 2010? I'm not a slacker when it comes to vacations.
• Had I crossed any international borders in the last 3 years? Heck, I snuck into Canada twice in the last 2 years alone. And I've lost count of our trips to California.
• Had I traveled by plane last year? In any year since 2010?  I sure didn't drive to Canada. Or California either, for that matter.
• Why do you blog about your personal life? I gave him my standard answer; to amuse myself and embarrass my kids. 
• Who is my audience? Close relatives who have not yet gotten tired of my ramblings. Plus my wife and kids sort of have to read it in self-defense because I make fun of them a lot.
• Have I ever told a lie on my blog? I answered No, but that was probably a lie, come to think of it.
• Are there subjects I avoid? Oh, yeah. In addition to religion and politics, I have to take it easy on my wife because she is within striking distance. The kids, not so much

 I really hope I have advanced the cause of science here, though if this fellow is serious about getting that Ph.D., he might want to exclude me from his survey since I may not fit his "society as a whole" criteria.

Monday Meanderings - 2.22.2016

Another hard winter week in ATX. If this keeps up we're definitely doing us some air conditioning. Trees have been leafing for some time, and Thursday Barb spotted some bluebonnets; Friday, we saw the first flowering Redbud tree. And there's a house down the block that has a gorgeous patch of irises in full bloom. And did I mention primo coffee-on-the-patio time?  Hello Spring.

The neighbor across the street hired some guys to do some tree trimming this week. The first clue that she might have erred on the cheap side was the magnetic sign on their pickup - "Two Guys and a Chainsaw."

My suspicions were confirmed when I saw one of the guys on her roof with one of those long poles with a chain saw on the end.  He was working on a big overhead limb, without having roped it off, when suddenly the limb broke off. He dropped his saw and ran down the roof valley, just barely stopping before bailing completely off the roof.

The next day I noticed a roofing company examining the adjacent neighbor's house. Yep. The "Two guys" had managed to drop a big limb on the next-door neighbor's roof, punching a big hole!

We had a Baby Blessing at church Sunday. We dedicated 40 babies and 5 families provided 30% of the babies! Three sets of twins and two sets of triplets.

I read that the U.S. Army, always on the lookout for ways to give its soldiers a taste of home, have  developed a pizza that can last up to three years in harsh conditions. I notice they didn't say it was edible after three years, just that it would still be around. To this end, there is a guy on YouTube currently testing the shelf life of MREs from around the world and sharing the experience with viewers.

His has featured Vietnam-era survival ration candies and vitamins from 1967, containers that include 39-year-old beef hash, 61-year-old peanut butter, and 65-year-old sugar. Other videos show a more recent (roughly 45-year-old) U.S. Coast Guard Survival Ration, which includes fortified biscuits, jelly candies, and a large chunk of "tropical" chocolate. Some items tasted were described as "edible" and "perfect" - except for being hard as a rock - while others were met simply with sounds of horror and disgust.

I say, combine the pizza with Pop Tarts, which based on my own personal research, have a shelve life of upward of 20 years, and you have a complete meal.

I can't think of any combination that will lead to greater traffic problems than SXSW & POTUS. Right, the Pres is coming to town for a fund raiser during the early days of SXSW. Either one will immobilize the city; together, the only response I can think of is park the car in the garage and call in sick.

A Texas Tragedy - Part II

Elizabeth and the girls did arrive in Dallas but on the trip home to Antioch, the excitement and fatigue proved too much for C. L., and they were forced to stop and seek help from the nearest source along the way. George McFall, a thin man with a sweeping white beard, ushered them into his home near Wheatland in Tarrant County, and he and his wife Sallie immediately began to care for C. L, in keeping with Southern hospitality. This is part of a letter from Elizabeth to her oldest daughter Cora and husband John Hall, still in Kentucky, still in Kentucky.

If you have not been getting my letters and cards this will fall heavily on you. All was done that could be done to save pap. Dr Wright said that he had no constitution to build on and that he could not take him through a regular course of medicine. Still I dont think that Wright considered him dangerous until Monday morning before he died Wednesday.

I do not think pap thought he would get well. He said once “By good nursing and management we will get away by Sunday but without it we will get off sooner” pap told Dr Wright to do all that he could for him that he wanted to live for the sake of his family. After he commenced taking medicine he seemed to grow sleepy and sluggish and did not seem to suffer at all. He would mutter and talk in his sleep and at times he would rouse up and appear to be almost entirely at himself but as time wore on he became less and less rational and for several days before he died he was almost unconscious of anything. He died as calmly as if falling asleep.

Mr and Mrs McFall spared no trouble, no pains and no expense to wait on pap and see that he had every attention. Mrs Mc would come to our room at all times of the night. She’d come when I was asleep and give pap medicine. They would send to Dallas and get little things they thought he might like and refuse pay when offered to them. Mr Mc sent for the coffin in the evening and the boys did not get to Dallas until late in the night when all the stores were closed and they could not get in. 

Mr Mc put one of his shirts on pap his own were not done up nice and he said he did not want pay for it. I told him that we had been a great expense to him, that we had boarded on him two weeks, that they had a great deal of trouble on our account, that he had hired hands and they had lost so much time for us and I would not be satisfied to take it all and not pay him something. He said that if I thought I’d be better satisfied I might pay him $3.00 for the time his hands lost and that when it suited me. Just any time would do - not to be in a hurry.”

Alice is wanting to go back to Ky. Grandma would work a whole day to get one sweet kiss from any one of the little ones. Tell them not to forget Grandma. Will [a brother, already in Texas] said he would walk 25 miles through the hot sun to see Maggie. Tell her so.

Ma

Maggie, for whom Will would walk 25 miles in the hot sun, was my grandmother Bramblett, daughter of Cora and John. She recalled, “That letter came when I was four. I remember Mother sitting on the edge of the bed and reading the letter aloud. When she finished the last line she lay across the bed and cried brokenheartedly. Because I had never seen Mother weep, I was deeply impressed. That is one of my first memories.”

A Texas Tragedy - Part I

C. L. Doss, my great-great grandfather, at the age of fifty-three, moved from Barren County Kentucky to the community of Antioch in Johnson County, Texas to teach in a one-room school. He left behind his wife Elizabeth and two young daughters, Sophia and Alice, until he could earn the money to send for them. In part, here are his instructions for the trip.

Ma,

I send you, in a registered letter and addressed to John, $60. This is amply sufficient to bring you to Dallas. The fare from Bowling Green to Dallas, Will says, is $21.40 cts. - for a whole ticket. According to that, from the Junction will cost $22.35 cts. If you start without a full ticket, when you get to Bowling Green inquire for the "Ticket Ofice." Anybody can tell you where it is. By looking in at the door, you can see whether you are right or not and where to apply. You will only have about 15 or 20 minutes to get your tickets in, so you mustn't exercise too much dignity, but get your tickets and get your seats in the cars.

In all cases if you can, get seats near the middle of the coach. I am almost certain that the train that brings you to Bowling Green goes in to Nashville, and another train takes its place on the track. This is always the case when you change cars, I think. Of course, you can inquire "Where is the Memphis train?" or "Which is the Memphis train?" and so of other places (and trains.) Any of the employees of the railroad - those handling the baggage, the Baggage Master, the one who gives you your ticket (if not busy). The Police are also very suitable ones to inquire of. (You will know them by their dress in large places, especially blue-broadcloth).

You will get to Memphis in the morning and have to lie over there till night. During the day you must hunt the Baggage Master up (he is seldom far off) and get your baggage checked to Dallas. He'll take your checks and give you ones having "Dallas" instead of "Memphis" stamped upon them. Every chair has also a number stamped upon it, and the checks [small, square brass plates] you hold correspond in every respect to those fastened to your baggage.

If you lose your checks, anybody finding them could come to the point called for, present checks and take the goods. You can't get your goods without the checks. If you lose your tickets you are out without paying again! Put them in some convenient as well as safe place for every time Conductors are changed, you will have to show your tickets and put them away carefully when he hands them back. 

Don't be separated, especially at any place you get off to change cars. (You only change cars at B. Grn., at Memphis, at Little Rock, and Texarkana, I think). Hold Alice by the hand; keep Sophia also right at your side all the time you are anywhere. Keep your little budgets (baskets of provisions &c) also with you unless you should accidentally meet up with some (family or lady) coming like yourselves to Dallas. In such a case you might ask them, if they pleased, to watch your things.

Tell Pap’s little petted girl she shall have a hat if he has to do without cake and meat. We’ll get her one in Dallas. We’ll have to get a couple of bead-steads, some chairs a table etc.; but she must have a hat. Tell Sophie to bring Ina’s geography, it is at Self’s.

I am rather low spirited. Take care of Sophia and Alice. Don’t let them leave your side. Don’t get off or on the train while it is in motion. Keep a sharp look out and come ahead.

Pap

Tomorrow, the rest of the story.

Monday Meanderings - 2.15.2016

You gotta love this town!

Austin-Bergstrom International Airport broke its passenger record last year. The airport said last week that almost 12 million passengers walked through its gates, up 11 percent from the same period in 2014. But that's not the important news.

According to someone whose job it is to keep up with things like this, those 12 million passengers consumed, purchased or otherwise enjoyed:

• 65.5 tons of brisket, up 3.5 tons/7,000 lbs. or 5.5 percent over 2014
• 693,375 breakfast tacos, up 71,065 tacos or 11.5 percent from 2014
• 1,190 live music performances (23 per week)
• 51,278 “Keep Austin Weird” T-shirts, up 15,082 or 41.5 percent from 2014 

How do you get a job counting breakfast tacos consumed by airline passengers? And just what is your job title? IMWTK

Barbecue is big in Austin and probably the biggest player of all is Franklin's. With an average 4 hour wait to get served, you have time to meet, fall in love... and get married! One couple queued up in the line last Wednesday with a judge and a wedding license and profitably spent their waiting time getting hitched!

True to form, the couple wasn’t offered any special treatment by way of line jumping. The wedding party didn’t get to cut the line for their celebratory smoked meats lunch reception — they still had to wait for the restaurant’s opening at 11 a.m.

This is a 3-part story:
1) "Austin Parks Department rangers are investigating reports of a possible mountain lion sighting on the Turkey Creek Trail at Emma Long Park. Several hikers spotted the animal at about 12:30 p.m. Sunday, as they were hiking on the trail off of City Park Road in northwest Austin, officials said."

“It was huge. We thought it was a full-on lion at first,” said Michael Law, who was hiking with his wife and two dogs at the top of a mesa when they saw the animal about 20 feet ahead of them. “It was the biggest thing, like a Great Dane but twice as heavy. We both did a double take and slowly backed up and then ran for our lives,” Law said. “I think we ran 4 miles at a 7-minute pace. It was nuts.”

2) That mountain lion reported by hikers on the Turkey Creek Trail at Emma Long Metropolitan Park last weekend? Turns out it wasn’t a mountain lion after all, but a stuffed target from the nearby Austin Archery Club. And not even a mountain lion target, at that. It was a cheetah, according to officials at the Austin Parks and Recreation Department.

3) So the question is - if I go walking in Emma Long Park, is it likely that a member of the Austin Archery Club is going to mistake me for a stuffed mountain lion/cheetah and put a Carbon Express Maxima hunting arrow in some important part of my anatomy?

The answer is no, according to Don Ferguson of the Austin Archery Club, if one stays on the marked trail and pays attention to warning signs.

“Targets are placed so shooting is directed back into the range, not out,” Ferguson said. “Anyone who wandered into the ranges would be in back of the shooter and out of harm’s way, but they would be seen if they were in front of a shooter.”

Right. Tell that to the mountain lion/cheetah.

Monday Meandering 2.8.2016

And another Super Bowl has come and gone. I'm reminded of "Hollywood" Henderson's (I know - some will have to Google him) quote, "If it's the ultimate game, why are they going to play it again next year?"

I must say that I was very happy for the way this particular game turned out. I'm not exactly a Cam Newton hater, but it was really a vindication of sorts that Peyton - thanks to incredible effort from his team - emerged the victor. In a sport filled with shallow and posturing individuals - not to mention a handful of outright thugs - Peyton stands tall as a person of character and credibility.

If this was his last rodeo, the Sheriff got to ride off into the sunset after saving the day.

Now. About that half-time. I guess the best thing I can say is that Barb and I are not the demographic target for the Super Bowl half-time show. And only a couple of commercials appealed to us. The others were just weird.

One sobering thought about the Super Bowl. Barb and I have seen them all. Time flys when you're having fun.

And just so you know, we partied with the best of them during the game. Here's a photo of our game-time snacks.

Plus, we had jicama "fries!" Do we know how to have a good time, or what?

Monday Meanderings - 2.1.2016

Sipping coffee on the patio Saturday morning, on a balmy 73 degree day, I paused to think of all the folks still navigating around mounds of snow and slush.  Okay, it was only about a 10 second pause. Sorry.

Woke up the other morning unable to talk. Cedar pollen has been off the charts and I had a brief encounter with Ceder Fever. Barb seized that opportunity to go on a "silence must mean assent" campaign. She swears that she never noticed me waving my arms and shaking my head "No."

The only good thing to come from my bout of laryngitis was a fondness for mugs of hot tea and honey. The voice is back, but I think a daily cup or two of Twining Black Breakfast Tea laced with honey is here to stay. Blimey.

We watched the Texas Lady Longhorns win number 1,000 in the school's 42 year history of women's basketball. Only 4 other programs have that many wins, and we likely will pass one of those soon.

Most of those wins (783, to be exact) were during Jody Conradt's career, and we probably saw somewhere around 500 of those in person during the 20 or so years we had season tickets. Under Coach Goestenkor's tenure the program went through a slump, but the current coach and team are quite good. Things are looking up.

After the first of every year the City of Austin mails out a colorful schedule showing the dates for trash and recycling pick-up for the different sections of the city. We got ours, as usual, and then a week or so later, we got another - corrected - calendar.

Took a while to figure out what was wrong with the first one. Seems someone overlooked Leap Year, so beginning in March, all the dates were wrong.

And it looks like I may have to do all the grocery shopping by myself for a while. There are some things that are just too hard to resist around our house.