Merry Christmas

We are off to Arkansas first thing this AM for Christmas. Hopefully the weather won't be too bad for the trip there and back.

I hope everyone has  a great Christmas!


Check out the heart shaped tater:

 Texas last week:

 A deer looking at us:

I am working this morning, though I have little to do at the moment. Essentially, I am a receptionist/greeter. It is good experience though, I have already had my first difficult patron. Great way to start, huh?

Carol and I went for a nice walk yesterday. We saw 8 deer, 2 armadillos, and a number of birds (not all at once!). It was a great day for a walk, cool, sunny, and no breeze.

No word on the job horizon, but I keep hoping. Another position may open up in the new year, so I keep my fingers crossed. The new one might be more suitable than the current one.

This coming Saturday, we are heading up to Arkansas for Christmas. We will be gone for 4 days total. Carol is really excited to be heading out. It has been two years, almost, since we last saw everyone. Hopefully, the weather will be great for the trip.

A pattern of posting has developed. I am, as you may have guessed, back at the bookstore tonight. Two weeks between posts seems like way too many, however, my life is quite quiet at the moment.

For those who are interested in sharing my misery, there was snow on stuffs this morning. Not much, but this is only Dec. 5 for goodness sakes. We should not see snow ever, and if we do it cannot appear until Feb, and then must dissappear immediately!! It is not going to warm up much at all this week either. Can you feel my misery? The only good that might come out of all this is that we received over an inch of rain over the weekend. Not enough to truly end the drought, but it is welcome.

My phone rang this afternoon and I now have a job interview Thursday. The job is within walking distance, and it is in a library, so keep your fingers crossed. I would mention place, job, etc., but I am afraid that might hurt my chances. The internet is a small world, and everything one does online remains online. It would not be an ideal job for me, but it would be a good job.

We finished our Christmas shopping today, Yaayah!! Carol is already excited about seeing her family and spending time with them. It has been far too long between visits.

Got some lettuce out of our garden last week and given the current conditions, it may be the last thing we get. Oh well.

Thanksgiving was nice. It was great to see Carol's parents and to visit with them. The driving conditions were decent though I took the wrong exit on the way back, again. Cost us another 20 minutes in the car. Shortest route there and back is the one that takes the most time to cover. We helped put up their Christmas tree, and I know Carol really enjoyed doing that.

I have some part time hours over the holidays. Won't bring in much money, but it will help. Working the desk saying howdee, and smiling. High visibility position, so the lack of money can be compensated by the hope that I might be noticed by those who like to hire peoples. I really miss working for a wage, even more than I miss the wage.

I suspect it will be a slow night tonight. Too cold and miserable for anyone to venture out into the dark unless they absolutely must. Wish I were at home curled up under a blanket instead of here freezing. The AC is still on!!!

Back at the bookstore again tonight. The store has a few browsers, but is not busy at the moment. It is rainy and rather cool tonight, so it will be interesting to see if many people show up at all. I hope to see lots of people come through.

Carol was feeling a bit lonely tonight, so she followed me to the store. I have her locked in the back room doing some grading. I might (maaybee) let her out when I leave tonight.

I was given another two weeks of work at the library after the expected ending after the classes finished. I did enjoy my time there, and I made the most of it. I may be called back at the intersession (between fall and semester) if I don't find something else before then. Not likely, but maybe. It has  been great to be working, even if it was only part time, and the extra money has made a difference.

We are heading off to Arkansas come Wednesday to have Thanksgiving at Carol's parents. It will be nice to see them again. The last time we saw them was just before Christmas last year. Given the pressure Carol was under in the spring/summer, there was just no time to go see them earlier. I am hoping that the fall color will still be on the trees for the trip. Here, with all the wind, we have not really had much color at all. The long drought did not help any either. We should be back late Friday or early Saturday.

I have been negligent with my posts lately though I have been thinking about writing a post lately. The problem is that not much has been happening. Same old, same old, mostly. 

Right now I am sitting in the Friends of the Library bookstore selling books cheap. Not only are the regular prices a steal, it is a pre-booksale sale with everything marked down half-price. So a 50 cent paperback is now only a quarter!! A great deal. I sold 13 dollars worth of harlequin romances to one woman who will be giving them to her mother-in-law who is 89 and loves them. Especially, if there is a cowboy on the cover. I have been obligated to buy some expensive books my self. One set was a collection of last lines of poetry for ten bucks, and the other was an older dictionary, which I just love. I have loved old dictionaries from the moment Dad brought home a discard from the high school (missing cover, missing a few pages up into the A's as well, now there is a problem, really, the apostrophe should not be there, but without it it looks like as, which would be incorrect-grammar alert/problem!!). I still have that book, and I still love it. 

Work is going well. I have been given another week of work after this week (a total of two weeks extra now), so I am pleased. The job is still easy, but offering some interesting opportunities. 

The pansies are doing great. I have dug up a large garden but have not gotten around to planting the carrots and radishes just yet. Hopefully, I can get that done this week. 

Four customers here now, looking good!!

A storm ripped through town last night knocking out the power briefly. No biggie, I don't think, but I will have to go around and reset all my clocks. I hate blinking clocks. I have been known to set the clocks on items that are not mine to set, say microwaves and coffee makers at work.

I have the windows open this morning letting in the cold air. The storm has cooled things down again. It was warm and wonderful yesterday, today it will be cool and less pleasant. Fall is no fun.

Carol comes home tonight after a few days at the wild librarian type conference. Cats will be happy to see her as I have pretty much ignored the poor critters while she has been away.

I'll likely go for a run this morning over in the seement park. The trail at the other place will be too mucky after the rain to be safe.

I am enjoying the cooler weather. I can sit in the early morning dark with the window open and listen to the sounds of town. A few birds chatter even in the dark, though the moon this morning is bright enough it does not really feel like night.

I had a busy yesterday. I began with a short run (working at building my stamina/mileage). Then I went and picked up some new shoes as my old ones were kaputski. Then I picked up some pansies on sale along with a few moms and planted them all. 100 pansies, so the few spaces we have should be overcrowded very soon with blooms and such. The moms are beautiful, though they will likely not last more than a month at best. Still, they were on sale for 5 bucks a pot so the two pots were a decent investment for the time they will bloom.

I spent the afternoon at the library shelving books. They were short handed and were glad of my assistance. Kind of interesting seeing the kinds of books that are in the library.

Today I will go for another short run, probably won't do a longer run until I feel comfortable with these short ones again. Maybe another week or two before I begin increasing my mileage/time. I am enjoying being back on the trail again.

Tomorrow I haul Carol off to the airport, she is off to a convention for a couple of days.

I did finish double digging my first wee plot and will likely begin another one this week. The first one is not going to work too well for a garden as it does not get full sun until late in the afternoon. I started with it as it had been pre-dug, at least in part, therefore, making my job easier. Still, I would love a larger plot for next summer. I figure if I can dig a 1' by 4' section every other day, I should have a rather large plot by the spring. Although, the soil is harder here than up north, I do believe it is more fertile. It definitely has no rocks!!

Happy Birthday Art Clokely! Gumby an Pokey are cool!

I am listening to rain fall off the eaves, occasional thunder followed by lightning (strange how I notice it backwards this morning), and a train moving off east. One thunder boom was so loud it woke me from a sound sleep and sent Mags scurrying under the bed. I love waking to the smell of petrichor in the morning.

I was planning on running in the park this morning, but I don't know that I will now. Too muddy at the one park and I am likely going to be a walking zombie soon. Ahh well, I may yet be able to get back to sleep for a bit.

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!

To everyone living in the frozen Northern wasteland, Happy Thanksgiving. I hope y'all have a great day!!

I woke to the sound of rain falling off the eaves this morning. The weather page says .75 inches already with another 1.5 still to come. I will not have to water most plants today, if any.

A red headed wood pecker visited our bird bath yesterday. So far, there have been more interesting birds in this yard than at the Brittany place. There is more bushes for them to disappear into here.

I did go for a run yesterday. I was not as efficient as I once was, but not as bad as I was when I began last December. It felt great to be running once more. My broken toe gave me no real pain though there was some discomfort.

We managed to get the boxes out of the living room and kitchen yesterday. Still a lot to do, but at least the house is not looking like a total mess.

Today, I will likely walk down to the library to get Taha's most recent poetry collection. I will also go down to the coffee house for a morning stroll/coffee. It is nice to be living somewhere that we can do that. I really loved living in Chapel Hill and being able to take an afternoon/morning stroll downtown and have a coffee or an ice dish.

If my garden is not too muddy, I will do some digging. I also need to wash clothes (an iron), do some research for a project that is work related, and organize my office a bit. I may also make a nice curried soup with yellow split peas. yum.

I had a bit of sad news last night. The poet Taha Muhammed Ali died Oct. 1. I first heard him at the 2002 Dodge Poetry Festival. This is a video of him reading at the 2006 festival.



When I saw him, he was excited to be in America reading his poetry at the Dodge Festival. Rather hard not to like him and his enthusiasm for life and poetry. He was 80 this year.

Going to try running this morning, hopefully my toe will allow it. I am getting rather tired of its constant whining. 

The weather dudes are calling for t-showers over the next few days. I hope we get a lot of rain as we really really need it.

ok, I am officially weird, or maybe just tired. I am sitting in my big ole easy chair waiting for the Nobelprize.org site to go live so I can hear the announcement for this years winner of the literature prize. At the moment, all one sees is a crowd milling about without any purpose. Schmoozing, I suppose.

Quiet week so far. Busy for a few days, but nothing major happening. Well, I keep waking up at 4:30. I am beginning to wonder if someone nearby leaves for work at that time and makes enough noise to wake me. I was blaming the cats, but they were not responsible this morning.

I haven't had time/energy to do any digging this week, though we did pick up some ornamental cabbage to plunk down in the central flower garden. Still to hot to think about planting pansies, heck, it will likely get to 90 today. There is no point putting pansies out until the temp falls below 80.

Still not fully unpacked either. I don't think I even looked at a box this week. I need to spend some time organizing my bookshelves, reordering the living room, putting away cooking spices, etc., etc.

Well, I am thrilled. The prize was awarded to Tomas Tranströmer,  a poet whom I have read and who is really quite extraordinary. Sides, I am always thrilled when the prize goes to a poet! And, as a Swedish poet, he includes bleak, cold, winter images. Images Canadians can relate to very well. 

I am tired of living surrounded by boxes full of stuff. I suppose i could attempt to empty them, but I find I can easily ignore them to do something else.

Such as beginning to double-dig a small garden patch for Carol's okra next year. Or even a wee bit of lettuce this fall. Have to get busy and plant stuff soon though, as the season gets short. I am working in a pre-worked plot, so the first 6 inches are easy to move. The next 6 are a lot harder. I have a spading fork that I push into the rock like clay with a lot of rocking. Fortunately, I am still quite heavy and can use my weight to help me achieve my goal. I was sitting in the house last night after another short session (1/2 hour or so a couple times since arriving here) and enjoying the way my hands felt. Bit sore from the shovel and spading fork.

Went for a walk in the park yesterday morning. Even the native trees out in the woods are looking sad and droopy from lack of water. We really do need some water.


Today I have to get ready for next week: iron some clothes (blech), cook some soups (yum), dig more dirt, maybe trim some bush in the front and back yard.

The rosemary plant that I moved from the old place to the new appears to be living. It is a gorgeously huge plant and looks great. Rosemary makes a great path side shrug as brushing it while walking past releases a great odor. It is also getting close to pansie purchasing time. Still a little warm for them, but not for long.

My toe is still too sore for running. I tried again yesterday and could not do it. One uses ones toes to push off while running, and the little toe seems quite important given the amount of whining it does right now. I am thinking I will try pedaling round a bit and see if that is easier on the toe.

We were visited by the local welcome wagon kittie last night. Our cats were less than enthused, however. Daph attacked the patio doors, and wee Charlie made some weird noises of mingled anger, threat, and fear. Mags missed all the fun as she was hiding under the bed-a thunder and lightning storm had been passing earlier.

The storm was all threat, unfortunately. We did not get a drop of water out of all the excitement it offered. Kinda like a politician, all bluster and blow but no substance.

I had a busy week. Three days of three classes per day. It takes me roughly an hour to set up for each class, and two morning classes were barely an hour apart. This worked out to roughly 4 hours on my feet with nary a break. I have worked other jobs that were much harder physically, but this week still left me exhausted when I came home.

Friday I met with the woman who runs the local friends of the library bookstore. I have volunteered to run the store two shifts a month starting Nov. It should be fun.

Yesterday, I was given an opportunity to teach the classes I was setting up for. The person who asked me to cover these classes did so in order to free up some of her limited time. I was doing a quick review which lasted 10 minutes, so the risk on her part was limited. I had a hoot, and remembered how fun the act of teaching is. The best part of this is that I do not have to do any grading!! All high, no withdrawal! I also received a note after I made it home from my supervisor saying that the woman who I was helping (and who was observing/helping) was bragging about what a great job I did. It made my day. I am still smiling when I think about it.

I am reminded of the scene from The Princess Bride during the kidnapping where the kidnappers are fleeing the Dread Pirate Roberts:

Vizzini: HE DIDN'T FALL? INCONCEIVABLE.
Inigo Montoya: You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
Great movie!

The weather is cooling down. Highs are a balmy 90 or so most days. Feels chilly in the morning, and as soon as my toe allows I am going to start running again.


The toe  is doing much better and no longer looks like a weird blueberry. I can walk without limping too much, though it does hurt a bit after a long day on my feet.

The move is done, though there is still some unpacking and ordering of stuffs to do. Don't look at the book shelves either. I threw books up on the shelves to get them out of the way and some are facing backwards with the spines to the wall and totally unordered. Here is where an electronic ordering system would be great. Push a button and everything goes into the correct spot!

The kitchen is a little more organized than it was, though there is still a fair amount left to do. I hope to make some real progress this weekend.

Today, Carol and I should be walking down to the farmer's market for the first  time. I am guessing it is about a mile away, though that may be a little under. Still, it will be fun. Later, I need to slip down to the library and check out a book on Excel. I may teach an Excel class next year, but I am not certain about that. I may also be doing some volunteer work for the friends of the library. They have a book store at one of the libraries, and I may work a Saturday now and again.

I also need to make some meals for next week. A few soups or something. I will be really busy with classes, it is the one week with the most classes. So many in fact that I will have to be careful to not exceed the 19 hours I am allowed.

The move is nearly done. A few more things to sort out at the old place and lots of sorting at the new, but most of the hard labor is complete. I finished putting up shelves this evening, and now I have to figure out how to organize them.

Already, the back yard is looking better with just a few or our plants stuffed out there.

My little toe is slowly getting better. It is all black and blue, as is its mate, but it no longer hurts much except when I try to walk.

I am going to shut down for the night and relax a little before going to bed. It has been a long exhausting weekend. I do not enjoy moving.

We spent the night at the new place. It is a lot quieter than the old place though I don't know why. We are one block away from a semi-busy street and three blocks away from a highway/main road through town. We are further away from the interstate and L288 so that may explain the quietness. We must have become acclimated to the noise to notice the silence when we arrived here last night.

All our big stuff is here now. We have some small things, a few plants, and the lawn equipment to bring over. I was going to mow the lawn at the old place this morning, but won't be able to. Last night around 6 it started raining and was still raining when I passed out at 9:30. Awesome rain.

The big tragedy of the night was me breaking my little toe on an easy chair that I was too dumb to avoid. So, now I hobble around whining a lot about it. Can't do much about broken toes except whine, so I am making the best of the opportunity and working on being the whinging champion.

I was able to find the coffee stuffs this morning and will take that as a sign that I might have a successful unpacking day.

Today's to do list:

1. Dig up a few plants at the old place and move them here. Haul over the potted plants as well.
2. Clean up the old places back yard.
3. Set up my office desk.
4. Wash some clothes. I need to think about what I will wear to work next week. 
5. Cook a great Channa Masala. Harder than it sounds as I will need to find all the requisite spices.
6. Remove the shelves at the other place and install them over here. Installation includes a few more steps due to the new landlord wanting slats put in place.
7. Set up my computer

I likely have forgotten/missed a whole whack of stuff that needs doing, but that will get me started.

It is a beautiful morning. If I was not half crippled and unwilling to put on footwear, I would be sitting out back enjoying the morning.

One final note: We are closer to the train now. One just ripped through town and reminded me of how close we really are. Kind of nice to hear it so clearly.

Life is crazy.

Just when I thought everything was safe and sane, Carol demands we relocate our stuff. So, relocate we do. :)

Today we should mostly finish moving across town. We have a new house that is smaller and older. It is 2 blocks from where Carol works. This should save us a great deal of money over time which is important seeing as how student loans will be coming due. While the new place is much smaller, it does have a larger back yard for me to play in.

The temperature plummeted yesterday. Earlier in the week it was over 100, yesterday I left work and the temp was 76. I was wishing I had a jacket on. I have become acclimated to the warmth and I am not looking forward to the cold weather that is on its way.

I am enjoying my part time job. Students are always fun and it has been interesting to observe the different teaching styles.

If anyone has a free couple of hours, you are welcome to come move stuff. Or better yet, come clean!!

I have a part-time job. I will be working in a library and getting paid, so even though the job is not ideal, it is still great. I start in just a few days, and I am a little bit excited!

I have also volunteered at the local public library for a few hours. That will start next week as well. Both of these will get me out of the house and mingling with real people. I have been feeling a bit isolated lately, too much time locked inside.

Given the lateness of sunrise one might assume summer is nearly over. The forecast high for today suggests otherwise. 107. In my short, three year residence here, this is the hottest and driest summer. Most residents have given up on keeping their lawns green, though there are the occasional spots where the watering continues. It gets expensive quickly though. Especially if you factor in the high cost of AC which becomes a neccesity not a luxury at 107. I often wonder how the old timers managed before AC when cooking required the use of wood/coal stoves. Misery.

I am actually sitting outside this morning, enjoying the weather. It won't be long before the sun rises and it becomes necessary to move inside, but for now it is pleasant to sit out here.

A few crickets are cricketing, one bird has begun its morning cry, though it sounds like it needs coffee more than I do.

I need to rake the back yard again (4 bags of leaves last week). They are dropping leaves to try to help conserve water. Kinda like us humans lose excess clothing in the heat.

Some good news: Carol passed her dissertation defense. She has some changes to make before final submission to the grad school, but she is essentially a PhDer now. She resists the title Dr. claiming it is not official just yet, but she really is a Dr.

I woke u this morning to discover that we were getting some rain. Not sure how much we got, but it was a refreshing break from the monotony of heat. The real bonus, of course, is that I did not have to water plants for the first time in two months. It was not enough to break the drought, but it sure is welcome.

From May 9

This little fella has been hanging out in our back yard for the last few weeks. Big Texas toad, though not really very big. If I were a kid I would be making it a pet and be giving it a name.

Weather remains warm. No rain since June 21 and none forecast this week. Might get day time highs below 100 next week, which would be the first time in three weeks. I would whine, but this is summer in Texas and yah gotta expect such things. 'Sides, I kinda like it.

Our okra patch is thriving, but that is about all. The front lawn is a brown burnt out patch of sand, the back yard is not much better. Half the potted plants are dead and the others are struggling. Though the purslane is doing ok.

I take Carol to the airport this morn to go to Chapel Hill for her thesis defense. Wish I could be going to, but it ain't to be. I will add a post with her progress later this week (defense is Tuesday afternoon, so positive vibes for her would be welcomed).

I have settled into a routine/rut lately. Up early (sleep light and short), run 3 times a week (4, 4, 10), and spend the rest of the time looking for work and lazing about. Well, the lazing about has some value, but it is not all that interesting.

Summer has settled in firmly. Daytime highs of 100 (and more at times) and lows of 80. We have not had rain for ages and could use some, but it makes it easier to run in the early morning when it is dry like this as the humidity is much lower. I am usually at the park by 6 and done around 7 for my short runs. The longer ones take me up to 2.5 hours depending on the temperature. The hotter it gets, the slower I go. I am still a very slow runner (penguin for sure) but I am doing the distance. I have found I need to use some Gu on the long runs to maintain my energy. I am also very happy to be using a Gutr which keeps most of the sweat out of my eyes. Last year, when I began running, sweat would run into my eyes and make running miserable. The Gutr has really helped me out this year.

Carol has a date for her defense (Aug. 9) and is working her whatsits off. I am constantly amazed by the amount of work she does (dissertation and teaching 3 summer classes). I do not know where she finds the energy as I don't really feed her all that well.

This is our 3rd summer in Texas and my 3rd year of driving around. I was reminded of this as I registered our car last night. Interestingly enough, there is an option to register a car for three years. I suspect that would be great if one had just purchased a new car and was planning on staying in Texas for a long while. The car has been a bit costly this past month. I had to replace two tires and the big serpentine belt. Hopefully, it will run (knocks on wood three times) like one of those old Swiss cookoo clocks that I wish I could afford. I still remember this one I saw on a CBC noon news show. It was amazing, and was priced at over 100,000 Canadian dollars.

Hopefully, the next time I update my blog I will be providing some good news. And I hope it won't be long.

On days like this (102) I love my ac!

First official 5k

I ran my first official 5k this morning. The weather was not bad, a little humid (100%) but not too warm (65), and a slight breeze near the end. My time was 36 minutes or there about, I noticed the time as I crossed the finish line but forgot all the minutia (seconds, hundredths).

There were a lot of people in the run, I would guess a couple hundred. It felt weird running in a huge crowd after spending so much time running alone, but it was also energizing. My run was no different than my usual run, though I had more adrenalin at the start. There were two hills, not big ones thankfully, on the course which were hard on me as my usual runs do not include hills.

It was so humid that my glasses fogged up early in the run and with the mist on the last half mile, I had limited visibility. I have yet to decide if I want to run another, though I did enjoy this one. We will see how I feel in a few days.



Before the run:

From first 5k

Middle:

From first 5k

End:

From first 5k

My final grades are in and I have completed my second masters with a 4.0 GPA.

I am also a member of the Beta Phi Mu Honor Society. This is a group that accepts library master students who achieve a 3.7 or higher GPA and cannot exceed 25% of the graduating class of any one year. It did cost me 100 bucks to get my lifetime membership, but some honors are worth it.

It is a beautiful morning. 58, sunny, no breeze. So wonderful that Carol is working outside. We had a great run this morning, though my hands turned blue in the cold. I printed out the map for my 5k on Saturday and checked the packet pickup time (Friday). I am a little nervous about the whole thing, but I am running on a circuit that I know quite well. Still feels a bit unreal, who would have expected me to sign up to run in a 5k. Back in the day I would have driven around the block 10 times to avoid walking across the street. The forecast for Saturday is 86 with some cloud. Overnight low from Friday should be 67, so at race start it should be 70 something, nice running weather. I will let you know how things went Saturday, maybe even add a photo of the race if I have one.


The lily image promised last post:

Completion

At 2:00 pm I submitted my final assignment for my second and last forever masters. I should feel elated, delighted, proud, but it is still to new. So, here I am, a one time high school dropout, living in Texas with two masters. Over educated and broke. I should do something to mark the event, but I have no idea what that might be.

Carol and I celebrated our one year anniversary Sunday by going out to a local restaurant and having a wonderful supper. The rest of the day was spent on work, both of us facing deadlines. It was a nice break, and a great meal.

We have avoided most of the nasty storms that have been hitting the south. It did rain steady for two days last week, but has improved since then. We are warm and dry once more. Well, today is warm but threatening rain.

The tomatoes are thriving. The rest of the garden is doing great. The lilies in the corner have started to bloom (I will add a photo of them later) as well as the cone flower. All the rain has resulted in a very lush look, green so thick one might think they were in North Carolina. Bit less humid though, unfortunately.

My diet has stalled lately. Too much stress eating and not enough moving. I have managed to get back to my normal runs after my minor injury. Ran a full 6 miles last Saturday, though I was quite slow. I felt great during and after the run and I am looking forward to this weekends long run. I did a short run today (three miles) and did not really get into it until mile 2. I am definitely a long distance type of runner. Well, more long than sprinter. Can't really say long till I run long, right? I am enjoying running and that is a bit of a surprise.

It is time to start cooking supper (pasta with a poblano sauce).

Just call me master master!

For the first time this year I am sitting on our back deck. It is not yet six am, no sun shine though it lightens in the east. The current temp is 70 with an expected high in the 80s. Crickets are busy singing, a bird is waking up and the traffic noise is increasing. A train whistle can be heard in the far distance as it leaves town.

It has been quiet here lately. I hurt my leg (more and more convinced it was an IT Band injury due to excessive running) and have had to take a break for a bit. I am back at it once more, though I have slowed down and am doing a very light week this week.

I received an email from the school saying I have passed my comps, so one less hurdle to leap. I am still waiting on the paper that provides hard copy evidence of completion. Beyond that, I have a month of work left to do and this degree is complete. Job hunt is going slowly. So far no one has called me, though to be honest I have only sent out my resume to a few places. Tough times here at the moment with the budget cuts decimating education and libraries.

I have some photos on my desktop that I will try to upload soon. Hopefully my computer will allow me to do this (getting video card errors which I suspect are, in part, related to the monitor failure).

Garden is doing well even though it nearly froze earlier this week. Almost all the radishes are finished (likely replace them with okra rather than reseed), lettuce is doing well (have had two feeds from that already), swiss chard is into its second cutting, cilantro is doing well, and I need to find a use for a mess of parsley. Tomato plants are looking healthy having survived the early cool weather. Hopefully, there will be lots of fruit to collect in the next two months before the hot weather knocks them over.

The weather has definitely improved. Forecast high of 83 today!

My tomatoes survived the frost earlier in the week, in fact they appear to be doing well. One more cold spell yet to come this month, at least the long range forecast shows only one, so they may make it through the early planting.

Trees are greening rapidly. Grass in the woods has overtaken the old dead stuff from last year and the trail near the river is looking green. Saw a deer on the trail yesterday, silly thing stood there looking at me as if to say, what you doing on MY trail. Monday I was running into the wind (strong wind) and saw a deer who was quite obviously confused by my presence. She could not smell or hear me I think, and was uncertain what I was even though I flapped my arms and made noise to scare her away. I am hoping to see some babies in the next while.

The time change has really been strange. I am not used to sitting in the dark at 6:30 in the morning.

I went for a leisure walk this afternoon after dropping Carol off at a local hotel. No, we are not having marital difficulties. She needs to engage in some focused time as she writes her dissertation. Having heard of other people who found spending time at a hotel away from husbands, cats, phones, and lots of tasty foods, she decided it was worth trying. We will know if the experiment succeeds Tuesday or Wednesday.

So, I dropped Carol off and headed out to the local greenbelt trail. It is the same trail I like to run, but the other end. The one where Barb found and picked her Texas thistle. As I was entering the park, in fact roughly the same place she found her thistle, I saw three black vultures in the field. When I stopped to take their portraits, the shy ones flew away leaving just this cute feller to wave at me:



The trail itself is starting to look more and more like spring. Still not a lot of green about, but there were a few dogwoods ghosting in the background. what I did see was my first living Texas armadillo! In the almost two years I have been living here I have only seen these creatures dead on the side of the road. They actually move a lot faster than you might expect, making it difficult to get a decent photo of them.



The sign near this bridge claims it is one that Bonny and Clyde may have used as they made their getaway after robbing the Pilot Point bank. I found it rather strange to think that I was standing near a bridge that was part of a history and a world that I never expected to be living in. That doesn't make much sense. What I am trying to say is that most of the time I could be living almost anywhere. Suburbia is the same everywhere, and once you have been in a Walmart, you have been in all of them. Most of the time I am not conscious of living in Texas, and I have become accustomed to the views and the weather so it is only when I see or read something like the note near the bridge that I am aware of where I am living.



This all that remains of the road leading away from the bridge. I could understand why the two thieves might have selected this road. It leads through what is still rather quiet farming/ranching land with few residents. The fields, what remains of the old ones, are small and do not look like they were ever capable of producing a decent crop. Much of this area looks like it is suitable only for cows and a little hay. Dad would have liked it though as there are very few rocks.



The entire walk was pleasant with the temperature around 61 and a light breeze. The sun felt great, even this early in the year it carries more weight than the northern sun.

The weather has improved to the point where I am taking some big risks and planting stuff. Onions, lettuce, chard, peas. Carol and I went to Calloway's and picked up some tomato plants and I will put them into the ground later today. I will have to cover them up come Saturday night, but who can resist planting stuff when it is 74 and the dogwood and redbuds are blooming?

And the Bartlett pears are turning white as well making some streets look reminiscent of North Carolina. I was walking with Carol last night after supper admiring the fresh new baby green leaves. Ahh, spring.

I applied for a library job available here in town. Hopefully, I will hear something back as it would be an ideal job for me though the pay is less than I really desire. Course what I desire (feel I am worth) is way more than any employer would ever consider paying. :)

I pulled my bike out of the garage yesterday and went for a spin. It is fun to peddle here and there, made me feel like a kid again. Quite delightful. Still a bit wobbly and I have a hard time turning corners and signaling, but I did okay.

I may visit Lowe's today and get a rake to clean up the leaves in the back yard and flower gardens up front. I also need a spray nozzle for a garden hose. I will have to mow the front lawn one of these days as well, probably Thursday as I am not going to have much time today.

Ain't Spring grand?

I finished my comps yesterday afternoon. 3 essays in 7 days, now I can spend the next month or so stressing over whether I passed or not. Feels good to have them out of the way, I can now focus on other stressful things. :)

Went for a nice long run this morning. First time in nearly three weeks I have done anything more than just a short trot here or there. Total distance covered this morning was approximately 7 miles, though I only ran, maybe, 6 of them. Great weather for running this morning. Around 65, bit of a breeze, not too humid, and cloudy. The trail was dry and firm, so no slippy slide into trees. It is a bit rutty with all the mountain bikes that ripped it up when muddy, but it is in decent shape.

The weather was great last week, we even managed one high of 80 something. I, unfortunately, was unable to get out and enjoy the great day. I am hoping the nice weather will hold this week and I can get out into the garden and do some putten about.

Carol is powering through her interviews, making awesome progress.

I am back to my normal schedule now. Three months and I am done with this degree!!

I have an embarrassing confession. Yesterday morning we received a wee bit of snow, maybe a half inch in total, and I refused to go out side. Even as I claimed the roads were to treacherous to travel, I was laughing inside as this minor snow would be no excuse elsewhere.

For those of you who are busy gloating at my misery here is a little more to cheer you up: it was 10 F this morning (and no, I won't translate that to C :)). On the upside, it is going to get warmer this coming week. I am hoping the worst of the miserable weather is past. I am craving some greenery and flowers.

Snow storm of 2011

Below you should see some photos of the horrid snow storm I have been forced to endure. Nasty weather!!

Time for the promised whine. The weather took a turn for the nasty Monday night. Rain (with occasional thunder storms) started around midnight and turned to sleet around two. By the time I was nosed out of bed by a certain cat, it had turned to snow and the streets looked horrid!! Snow and blowing and snow devils danced down the street all morning keeping me snuggled in at my computer. The afternoon moderated a bit, but it also cleared a bit. The clear skies allowed the temperature to plummet and now it is really cold. It is currently 12 F with wind it is 9 below!! We will be lucky to get to 18 for a high today. That won't allow the icky stuff to turn to acquire a more acceptable phase.

The nasty weather closed most things, even the local transit authority shut down. I am not going anywhere for the time being. I am confident in my abilities to navigate the slippery roads, but I don't trust the other drivers who don't know how to drive on icy roads. I suspect the number of bumper bumps will rise this morning as people return to work.

My job today is to box up all this cold weather and its attending plagues and ship it back to Alberta whence it came!

I feel obligate to brag a bit today. I am ate lunch sitting on our back cement pad without a jacket or robe on. I went to the gym and should have worn shorts and short sleeved t-shirt. I am currently sitting on the couch with doors and windows open enjoying the beautiful warm air that drifts through. Mags is sitting on my shrinking belly washing her face and complaining that I am moving too much. It feels wonderfully like spring though I know the weather is going to be back to misery next week. This is what I call a chinook!! 73 right now. The calendar says Jan. 28, the misery of living in Texas I guess. :)

Supper is Channa masala, yum yum. I think it has become my most favorite dish. Deep, layered spices without being excessively warm.

Stay tuned for next weeks whine on the excessively miserable weather!!

I am back in school, sort of, once more. All my classes this semester, the last semester, are online. I have been having trouble getting motivated and getting going though. Usually, the first week or so I am driven, working hard etc. etc. The sag doesn't show up until much later. This year, though the classes appear interesting, I lack motivation. Not a good thing this early.

Picked up some budget software yesterday and spent the afternoon working up a budget. I feel better about our finances now, though it is shocking to see how much we spend.

The weather is improving, I am hoping for a mild, very mild, February. I am tired of the brr ick stuff already. I have been planning my early garden, think I will put in onions, lettuce, radishes next week. Oh, and carrots as well though they are a slow developer. So, this weekend I will have to do some gardening as the weather looks nice. Maybe getting out in the sun and dirt will help moderate my mild depression. Maybe I am just pre-birthday blahing??

My weight remains steady. No change. But I am not stressing as I am doing all the right things: eating healthy and in range, exercising, sleeping. I looked in the mirror this morning and saw folds of loose skin and thought: skin is heavy, it takes time for it to disappear, it will take time for the scale to move, so not stressing the weight is right.

I have been doing some rulking (run/walk) in the area park lately. For a gift to each other, we picked up a state park pass after Christmas and have been going to the closest one lately. It has a great trail that follows the Elm Fork of the Trinity river for miles and miles. (Barb ran part of this trail when she was visiting). Once you are a mile and a half out into the bush, the sounds of the highways are gone. Still jets and all cause DFW is not that far away, but that just makes it feel like home. Anyway, I am currently up to run 7/walk 1 for 8 repeats on Saturdays (Monday, Wednesday, Friday are different with Friday's being real short), and I am thinking about moving to a steady but short run for the next few weeks. The week of Feb. 14-21 is when I do my comps and will need a lighter schedule that week. So far it has all been going great!

I am still debating this idea, but I am thinking I might run a half marathon next year on my fiftieth birthday. The Fort Worth race is held on the last weekend in February which would be right on my birthday. Assuming they don't move the date around!! That seems like it would be a wonderful birthday present to give myself. I know I can run 5k already, and I am working on the 10k, so it would not be a huge stretch and I would have a year to prepare.

The last few weeks have been very quiet.I am living the lull between semesters and refueling for the final push.

Christmas was nice and quiet. We had a small meal in the evening with a fire crackling away. My gift to Carol that evening was throwing the Scrabble game. Earlier in the day we went for a walk in the park for approximately three miles. It was a bit cool, but pleasant.

New Years day we went out and did our usual Saturday workout. I, being the old geezer that I am, was in bed by nine New Years eve.

Next week I will start gearing up for classes again. It is going to be a busy semester.

I have been mired in the mud with my weight loss the last two weeks. I move from 198-201 without seeing any additional changes. I am improving my fitness though.