Monday Meanderings - 6.25.2018

Fig tree finale.

Shortly after we moved into this house - more than 50 years ago - I planted 3 fig trees, nay, fig saplings, on the north side of the house.

When I mentioned this to a friend, Ross Davis, he commented. "You better hope that 2 of those trees die."

We soon found out why Ross made this comment. Fig saplings quickly turn into fig bushes, and fig bushes quickly grow into fig trees, and fig trees quickly begat more trees, and pretty soon we have more fig saplings/bushes/trees (and figs) than we know what to do with.

The prospect of delicious strawberry/fig preserves was intriguing, and we did harvest and cook and can a quantity of preserves. Once, or maybe twice. It was a lot of work for a few jars of goodness that one could purchase for a very modest sum.

Besides, the trees soon grew taller than the house, and if you wanted the good figs, you had to get on the roof to harvest them and that quickly lost its appeal. I'm pretty sure that Sally, our neighbor, harvested more figs than we did.

Then there was the matter of large fig tree limbs simply falling over. One day they are tall and upright and the next day they are lying in the neighbor's yard. And there was also the matter of over-ripe figs scattered on the ground. And driveway. And on the A/C unit. And everywhere you stepped on the north side of the house.

A number of years ago, one of the 3 trees did, in fact, die. But the remaining 2 simply doubled down in honor of their fallen comrade. Recently I began considering the prospect of a total figectomy. One call to No-Mo-Fig-Trees and  they would be gone. But I procrastinated. Until I went out the other day and noticed that one of the largest limbs was now leaning against the edge of the roof.

So Saturday, No-Mo-Fig-Trees put us out of the fig tree business. Permanently.

I need to call Ross and tell him that I finally took his advice.

Monday Meanderings - 6.18.2018

If this is the 18th of June, I must have had a birthday last week. Again. Mind you, I'm not complaining, just noticing. Barb gave me a card that said, "You're getting old. You were old last year!"

And the 2018 version of the FIFA World Cup started this past week.  They've been going on - in one form or another - since 1930. when the first FIFA-sanctioned tournament was held in.... Uruguay. FIFA had a hard time convincing European teams to make the trip. The USA team defeated Mexico 4-1 in one of the first matches played, and in the final, Uruguay defeated Argentina 4–2 in front of a crowd of 93,000 people in Montevideo, and became the first nation to win the World Cup.

When the 1978 Cup came around, we were settled in Austin and our kids were playing (and I was refereeing) soccer in the local Optimist youth league. If you had cable TV, you would be able to see some of the games on the Spanish-language channel, so we signed up for cable. Barb was studying Spanish with a Colombian-born tutor at the time (with no cable), so we all gathered around the TV to watch host-nation Argentina defeat the Dutch  3–1.

Barb and I actually attended a World Cup quarter-final game when the USA hosted in 1994. Tickets were made available to us common folk by way of a lottery. You signed up, and if you got picked in the draw, you could buy 2 tickets. What you did not have was a choice; whatever game and location they offered, you could buy or pass. I asked Barb what we would do if we got very lucky and drew tickets for the Final in Pasadena? She said, "We would get on a plane and go to the game!" Luckily our game was in Dallas and we saw the eventual winner Brazil defeat the Dutch in the Cotton Bowl.

Four years later, we were in the Czech Republic during the late stages of the cup, which was going on just up the road in France. That was nice, because the games were played in the same time zone - no late-night or 6am matches. An interesting memory of those games is the sound of thousands of people living in the densely-packed high-rise apartment complexes alternately cheering or groaning during match play. You didn't actually need a TV to know when a goal was scored. BTW, host France won the cup by beating Brazil 3–0 in the final.

The women's national teams began formal World Cup competition back in 1991, when the US Women defeated China in China. In 1995, the US women eked out a 3rd place finish - over China, yet again. TV coverage was limited until 1999, when the Cup was held in the US; ESPN covered the final from Pasadena, and while visiting Rob and Jana in Tyler, Texas, we all got to see Brandi Chastain take her shirt off in victory, just like the men did.

That was a watermark moment for soccer in the US. The FIFA Women's World Cup now ranks in the top five for most watched sporting broadcasts in the world. And while the men's team is watching this year's Cup from home, same as me, the women are getting ready to defend their 3 (count 'em)  World Championships in France in 2019.Maybe we should get tickets.
 

 

Monday Meanderings - 6.11.2018

Bit by bit our household is succumbing to the IOT - Internet of Things. We have a door bell that tells us when someone's at the door and eventually posts a video of who is there (seldom in time to establish a conversation with said person). It is handy in that it lets us know when packages have been delivered, or the maids have finished and we can come back home from our temporary exile. I give this device a C+ on the IOT usefulness scale.

This past weekend we added a Nest Thermostat to the household. Supposedly it is going to figure out when we are home and when we are not and adjust the heating/cooling accordingly. In the past we simply set the temperature and put it on "Hold." Never did figure out how to program the thermostat. Now, supposedly, I don't have to, but I worry about devices that are smarter than I am, so we'll see.

At the very least, we will be able to turn on the A/C before we arrive home from a trip, and that's worth a great deal to us. Somehow, we always end up coming home at midnight or 1am from long trips, and it's 4am before the house gets cool again. Plus, it provides a lot of entertainment, standing around, watching the display messages. Though I do find myself humming, "There's an all-seeing eye watching you."

It's a slippery slope, I know. The next thing you know we will be talking to a little device sitting over in the corner. "Alexa! Where did I leave my glasses?"

Monday Meanderings - 6.14.2018

Don't know where you are, but it's hawt in Texas. Please notice that hawt is hotter than plain old hot.

Went meandering last week. Did you miss me? Of course, I saw in person both of my readers, so all is well. We did cover a lot of Texas over the Memorial Day weekend. County-by-county, we touched Travis, Williamson, Lampasas, Burnet, Mills, Brown, Coleman, Taylor, Nolan, Mitchell, Scurry, Garza, Lynn, Lubbock. Back through Lynn, Garza, Scurry, Mitchell, Nolan to Taylor - then; Jones, Callahan, Shackleford, Stephens, Young, Palo Pinto, Eastland, Commanche and back through Mills, Burnet, Lampasas, Williamson and Travis. Whew! Sounds much longer than just, "We went to Lubbock, and then the lake before coming home.

And I returned home to discover that along the way, I traded pillows with a hotel somewhere. Whenever possible, I carry a little "knee" pillow with me. I realized the morning after we got home that my pillow didn't feel just right. Sure enough, I left behind my ratty old pillow and arrived home with a rather new version. Does that make me a thief? I did, after all, trade them pillow-for-pillow.

Went by the Learning Ally studios on Friday. One of my co-readers from back in the day was being honored by a local group for his years of volunteer service - both at Learning Ally, and also for many hours of service in the Manor school system. It was good to see him and several others from Learning Ally. One of the presenters stated that on average, a volunteer hour is valued at $23.42. Don't know if that's valid or not. If it is, my time reading at LA could be valued at $117,100 dollars! Huh.

Are you sure the A/C is working? Sure seems hawt in here.