I am in the midst of a very long day. I left home at 7:30 and won't get back until 8:30. Worked at work for seven and now at the bookstore for three. Fortunately the bookstore is light duty and I can relax a bit. I will just have to be careful and keep the volume down on my snoring. Don't want to disturb the library patrons!! :)

The weather has been nice the last few days. We even managed a brief shower last week. Carol decided she was not going to rake leaves or pick up acorns this year and called in some outside help. They cleaned things up today and our yard looks great now. Squirrels are probably crying in their little wee houses over the loss of their wealth. Puir critters.

Carol's daughter appears to be doing ok, though no news on whether the cancer has spread. She is back home and appears to be in ok spirits. Carol has a cold sore and took today off after spending the last week grading like a squirrel in a nut patch (busy busy).

Had our annual xmas dinner at work today. I took in a Kale/miso salad that everyone liked and some cowgirl cookies that some people liked.

Don't know if I will get around to doing an update later this week. We are likely heading off to Arkansas come Sunday (limited to no internet) and won't return until the 26th or there-abouts. So, Merry Christmas everyone. I hope your holiday is joyous and relaxing.

Winter has arrived and it has become a wee bit chilly here. Overnight low of 16 F tonight and snow was sneaking around last night though we were fortunate enough that it totally avoided us. It is so cold that even Carol said it was cold, and she hardly ever says that!!

Waiting on word on how Carol's daughter is doing, her surgery is tonight. She is finding it hard to be here and not there, but her daughter asked her to not come. Visitors are tiring, even when they are family (maybe especially family?) when you are ill. At least with friends you can say get lost without hurting feelings, maybe....

Work is going well. I am starting to feel comfortable with the position, though I am still learning a great deal. I am getting accustomed to the commute, though I doubt I will ever like it much. The road is as boring and bland as the road from Cold Lake to Bonnyville. And as everyone knows, it doesn't get much more boring than that. I am rather intrigued by traffic flows, or rather why people drive the way they do.

There is the racing car driver who zips here and there going as fast as they can. There is the late for work/home/church/whatever driver who goes really fast then tailgates for miles without passing or changing lanes. There is the pokey driver who always goes 15 miles an hour slower than the speed limit until they arrive in town when the speed up and go 15 miles an hour faster than everyone else. Then there is the steady traveler who does 50 whether the speed limit is 65 or 40.

All the leaves are now gone. Last nights cold weather killed the few summer plants still outside. It looks bleak and bland and I am going to have to put up with it for months. Meh, I don't like winter much anymore.

The weather has taken a turn for the warmer this week. Today was a perfect fall day, a light breeze, a few clouds, and warm. It is really looking like fall now, and that makes me half happy half sad.

Wednesday we are heading off to Arkansas for Thanksgiving and should be back Friday or so. The long range forecast looks promising. I know we need rain badly, but I hope it stays dry until we return. I am not sure when the last real rain was, but it must be at least a month. I suppose I could go look it up somewhere, but I am feeling a bit lazy tonight.

When I get back this weekend I am going to whack down the okra and tomatoes and maybe see about digging the plots up once more. I am currently lacking enthusiasm for the task. If I knew we would be here long term, I might look into buying a wee cultivator.

Carol's working laptop went funky last week and so we went out and bought a cheap new one that has windows 8 on it. I mostly find the new os just fine to work with though I do wish the left corner to middle swipe on the trackpad would not bring up the charm bar. grrr I found a fix, but that would require adding an item to the reg files and I find I am reluctant to do so on such a new machine. I think that I will like the new os just fine once I acclimate to the differences.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

The plumbago did not take well to the move indoors, it lost all its leaves and stopped flowering. I finally gave up and set it back outside this morning. I don't know if it was frost or the move that did it in, but I am a wee bit bummed over losing this plant.

The weather has cooled down this past week as we went from highs in the low 80 down to the mid 60s over the weekend and into this week. Already I find I am missing the warm summer days. I have become the biggest softie since coming south. Anything below 70 and I start layering, sweater, vest, shirts, robe, blanket, even socks now and again.

I have settled into a routine at work. I am enjoying the job and finding it challenging enough that I am not yet bored. I would rather not have to deal with the traffic daily, but even that has become routine. I know where the cars go 50 in the 65 mph zone and just relax. Speed limits on that road baffle me. When the sign says 55 people go 45, when it says 60 they do 50, when it says 65 they occasionally reach 55, when it says 35 they do 50.

The way my schedule is set, I will work this coming weekend and then be off for almost two weeks. I am not all that happy about missing the hours and money, but we will be using the time off to slip over to Hot Springs Village for turkey day. I am not sure yet, but it may just be me and Carol there this year.

The leaves were finally beginning to turn this past week, then along came a strong wind and it has denuded the poor trees. There are still a few branches containing leaves, but only a few. I miss the brightly colored fall we got back in NC. I have lived in Denton longer than in Raleigh and I still miss Raleigh.

I am hoping the bookstore will be a little busier tonight than it was the last time I opened on a post holiday day. So far I have had no shoppers and I have been open for 20 minutes!!

Our garden is mostly done, a few okra put out fruit and blooms, but the plants have no leaves. The tomatoes continue have green leaves, but no fruit. I should be digging in a fall garden but lack the enthusiasm to get out there and dig. Maybe I could talk to the squirrels and have them dig for their nuts?

I woke at 5:30 this morning, looked at the temp and went on a plant rescue mission. 34 F and everything in pots had to come in. It is too early to know if the plants (3 x hibiscus, curry, and plumbago) will survive, though they looked fine today. The hibiscus are the most likely to have suffered as they are only hardy to 50.

Went for a walk in the woods with Carol this afternoon. It was really quite pretty, all green and fresh though the signs of fall are creeping about. A large patch of wild sunflowers was still blooming in the ditch on the way to the park. I kind of like the wild sunflowers, they have smaller flower heads and more of them on each plant.

While it is way too early for frost (usual first frost date is late Oct. early Nov) it seemed appropriate seeing as it is Canada Thanksgiving. So happy Turkey day yall.

We had a little cooler weather earlier this month, but the last week and a bit we have been having some rather warm days again. I am still not used to having such hot Septembers, I keep thinking it should be freezing and snowing or something like that. Yet, here I sit, it is 93, the flowers are blooming, the leaves are all green, and Carol is still required to pick okra daily. I should probably be out enjoying the great weather, but I am not.

Not much going on here that has changed. I am still waiting on my new glasses, though I almost had them last week. They called, I went there, they came out with the glasses, nice I said, but not what I requested. They had made me some sun glasses and I need ordinary glasses. So, I am still trying to read/write with the temporary lenses that were cut for me way back in August 27.

I have started my new classes, but I am less than happy with the quality of they offer. I am trying to decide if I grit my teeth and continue or cut my losses and move on. If I did not have a part time job (which is going well), I would stay the course (pun fully intended), but...

Other than that, things are quiet here. Carol's family is not doing better or worse. Carol works alla time though now she has to cook supper more frequently. Cats are fine, though Charlie has a new friend. Seems there are some small lizards of some sort (newts? salamanders?) that come climb the screen on the outside of our bathroom window. We leave the bathroom light on all night so Carol won't walk into walls or break her toes, and I believe the lizards come to catch bugs attracted by the light. Their outline on the window fascinates Charlie, and he spends hours looking at the window in the hope they will return. Every time he enters the bathroom he looks up and if they are not there he is disappointed. Every now and again he does have success though. The other night there were 2!! of them on the window.

Our squirrels up rooted one real nice plant that had survived the winter and tried to do the same to another before I moved it. I have seen a possum in our back yard. The baby raccoons and their mom have not been back lately, though they may still pass through in the evenings.

I still spend an hour every morning watering the garden and the flowers. They are dong better, though they are not thriving. Some did not survive the summer and I had to uproot them. Just recently, I planted some fall mums, and have been thinking I won't plant pansies this fall. I found them too pathetic this past winter to be worth the effort. Not enough sunlight in the back yard in the winter maybe.

I finished my second Saturday at my half-time job yesterday. I am starting to feel a little more comfortable at the job, though working for less than 20 hours a week slows the whole process down a bit. It should be a good challenging job with lots of opportunities for growth and such like. I think my fellow workers are just fine decent people. I am enjoying work as well, and that is great!

The last two weeks were a little cooler, though it has warmed up again. We had some rain last weekend that turned everything green and flowery once more. I suspect that will change as they dry out and fall starts to come.

I started classes again (lots of agains in this post, huh?). I have not done much work on them just yet, but I will be getting to it this week (starting today).

Almost got run off the road on the way to work yesterday. Ding dong in a big red Silverado with a chrome cow catcher passed me in the left lane and before he was even fully by me started to drift into my lane. No signals, no warning just drift. I had to slam on the brakes or he would have hit me. He never looked in his mirror or took his phone down off his ear.

A little bit of good news tonight, I have a full time part time job working at a community college library as a reference librarian. I start in a few weeks.

It is going to be great to have a few dollars coming in finally!!

Still warm here with little relief in site for the next few weeks.

Still hot here, highs over 100, lows of 80. Our friend the raccoon visited again last week, but this time he/she stayed until dark. It came up to the bird bath, sipped a little water, and then climbed the oak tree right beside the bath and settled down into the tree where a natural nest exists. For the rest of the afternoon, we would look out and see a foot stretched out, a tail dangling down, and sometimes two feet and a paw.

It has been so hot and dry that even some of the trees that are natives are struggling. Singed leaves, droopy leaves, brittle leaves, all of them fighting the dry heat. Smells like a dessert here, hot dry dirt baking in the sun.

I went off on a job interview last week (still waiting on news) and saw the big combines out harvesting. There was a lot of sorghum planted, at least along the road. I even saw a real John Deere boogying along the road moving from one field to the next. I say real as many of the tractors around here are the tiny acreage types. This was one of the big, newer tracked tractors pulling a big big disc.

I am off this morning to write a practice test for the teaching test. I know I won't pass this version (no way I have memorized all the formulae and such), but it will, hopefully, give me some areas to focus my studies on so I can write the real exam in the fall.

The full weight of summer has descended upon us. I would like to complain, but summer is summer and I have become accustomed to the heat.

A raccoon came and drank out of our bird bath last night. The poor critter looked rather ragged and hot. It must be rather miserable to have to slink around in a heavy fur coat all day long. Birds and squirrels come and go all day long muddying what water remains in the bath by lunch time. I usually go out and add water around that time, and then again after supper.

I water the tomatoes every morning and by the afternoon they are all wilty and sad looking. There is no way to keep the soil moist enough at the moment. We had a decent tomato harvest even if they are suffering from the heat now.

Everything else has normalized now. I am studying for the teachers test and getting ready to return to school. It is amazing how much I remember from way back when.

Working the bookstore again. It was warm today, the last I heard it was 103.

I took C to Hot Springs Friday and came home yesterday. I am still a little tired from the trip, guess I don't travel as well as I once did.

I am stirring this using a cheap smart phone, so please forgive the errors.

Not sure if our plants will survive the heat. Every time I look outside they appear wilted and stressed.

Here is a photo of our garden this morning. Looks a lot more lush than I expected given it is mid June in Texas!

We did not make the trip east to see C's parents. Her mom fell Friday night and was not feeling well enough to have visitors come stay the night so we stayed home.

A nice morning shower is passing through carrying with it lots of lightning, thunder, and a wee bit of rain. We have been getting regular showers lately, which is mostly good. The bad part is that the lawn (broadly speaking) needs far to much mowing. Theoretically, I should be out there today chopping it back, but given the rain and a lack of desire I will leave it until Monday at the earliest.

We leave for Arkansas tomorrow morning to celebrate father's day and carol's fathers birthday which was a couple of weeks past. It is going to be a quick trip, up one day back the next.

The garden is doing great. The grape tomatoes are producing in huge quantities, the cherry tomatoes are about to produce a wee bit, and the regular tomatoes are about to go all ripe and red. Some okra is appearing, and the green beans have about petered out in the heat.

Summer has settled in nicely down here. Even on cloudy and rainy days we get highs in the 90's.

Carol is in Seattle until Thursday morning. She will be gone for a week, and as you can see from the above photo the cats are missing her a great deal. They are sleeping through their sadness.

The garden is doing great. The newly planted squash have come up. The tomatoes are about to put out a ton of small grape tomatoes, though the big ones are a few weeks behind. I need to pull the peas, they are not doing well at all.

The trip east went well. We had a good visit with C's parents, though her mother over did it and was in pain by the time we left.

Other than that, it has been very quiet here.

We are off to see C's parents this weekend. Not only is it mom's day, it is also her birthday.

Right now I am sitting out back listening to water drip off leaves. It is not currently raining so what I am hearing is the water as it finishes its fall through the oak leaves to the patio. It is warm and earthy this morning. I was out front briefly, and the rain had knocked the scent out of the rosemary. Quite delightful to step out front and get a whiff of rosemary melded to the fresh rain scent.

Pulled my taters this morning. There were only a handful from the half-dozen plants, which is a little disappointing. However, there are a few reasons for the low yield: 1) bugs got to the leaves early on and the plants never fully recovered, 2) the soil is still very hard even though I double dug the plot (need to add some straw or something similar to loosen the soil in the future), and they needed another couple of weeks to finish developing (though the baby taters should taste great).

The weather has been decent lately, we have finally cracked the 90's for a few days in a row. Cooler next week, but one can take comfort in summers return.

post script

Went to Frisco this afternoon for some tamarind past and noticed that the wheat fields are ready for harvest and the corn is not far behind. I have never seen the wheat ripen here as the last few years it was too dry and farmers either did not plant or they plowed it all under early. cool huh?

Up way to early this morning, again. I wish I could blame it on the aging process, but it's not.

Still no work. Been looking at budgets and such like and wondering how anyone can claim this to be a recession when so many necessary items are being destroyed in the name of economic realities.

   I have been seeing stories of more libraries closing across Canada and America. Some of these places have unique items that will be lost forever. Seems like the Alexandria library is burning once more and there is nothing we can do to stop the barbarians running the show.

I will stop there cause I feel a rant coming on and I would rather not spoil my day.

Summer has settled in here. Nice balmy evenings, warm days, and lots of green left from the damp spring. I have taken to regular watering of my garden and man have the tomato plants taken off. No fruit yet, but it won't be long.

I do need to take a few soil samples and send them off to the ag guys for testing. I do know that I need to mix a lot of roughage into the soil as it is mostly clay and very hard. Still, somethings are growing. I plan on pulling my taters today or tomorrow as I have given up on them ever recovering from the critter damage. I am thinking I will plant a delicata squash or two in their place and see how that works out. If you have not tried these squash, you should. They are delicate and delicious. I am not a big squash fan, but these are definitely good. Course, now that I have said this you won't be able to find any. They are usually available only late in the season, Sept. Oct. Nov.

Although I have not given up on the librarian job, I have decided to put some effort into an alternative. I have applied to a teacher certification program and I am beginning to work towards passing some of the state tests. I don't know if I can be a teacher (would love to teach science), but I am going to try. I will be signing on as a sub once we get back from Arkansas next week.

We are going to go up and see Carol's parents next weekend, spend mother's day with them (also her mother's birthday) and then return.

Our two year anniversary is coming up Tuesday and I have no idea what we are going to do. Should be something special, but not sure what just yet.

Bit hard to believe it has been two years already.

I had to take my glasses into get fixed yesterday and they are not back yet. Can't see very well with these old ones. They are ok for driving and as sunglasses, but they sure don't work well as reading/writing glasses.

Happy Earth day to all ya'll!!

This morning we went down and checked out the local CSA but decided the portion offered was way to tiny for the money they were asking. Bit disappointing, but we are reluctant to spend more money for veggies than we absolutely must. It wasn't like they were anything special either.

From there we went down to the Denton Master Gardner's annual plant sale and walked away with some awesome plants for an awesome price. The real problem with buying plants is actually planting them, but I have stuffed them into the ground with a little effort. Fortunately, it is only 82 this afternoon with a breeze, so it is still comfortable to work outside. Though I must admit, I am rather soft right now. Digging the holes and planting and dragging bags of mulch and garden soil around played me out.

We bought and planted:
Black and Blue Sage
Greggs mist conoclinium (supatorium)-aka blue mist (butterflies are supposed to love this)
Aster Fall/ Woods Pink Dwf
Turks cap, pink
Butterfly bush "honeycomb"
Gaura (pink)
French Hollyhock
White lantana
columbine aquileria

Bit of a hodgepodge of plants, but fun.

I find I am really enjoying sitting out back at this new place.

This is the Denton Arts and Jazz fest. I can hear a band playing, sax, drums, piano, and even at this distance it sounds fine.

We arrived home early Friday morning, just as I had hoped. Traffic was light for most of the trip, so we had no real delays. We did miss some of the pretty flowers along the side of the road just outside of Houston, but we were still able to enjoy the massive fields of bluebonnets as we came closer to Dallas. 

Yesterday was a day of restocking and running about. We were able to get a morning walk in, and a later, afternoon walk. It felt great after a week of sitting and traveling. 

Both yesterday and this morning have been perfect. 50, no breeze, no clouds. Perfect early summer weather, and it really does feel like early summer.

I mowed the front lawn yesterday and the back lawn this morning. I am sitting out back right now enjoying the flowers, fresh mown order, and the birds that are visiting the bath. Butterflies are fluttering about the center flower garden, mourning doves coo, a light breeze ruffles the leaves, and my peas have climbed above their fence. It is a perfect morning.

I am currently sitting in a lobby/coffee shop in the downtown Houston Hilton. I would much rather be in my wee hotel room to the north with my shoes and socks off and my feet up than here, but here I am. It has been a long day, though I must admit there were parts of it that were pleasant enough.

The weather the last few days has been great. Highs in the low 80s, a light breeze, few clouds, and lots of green. I really love green. Houston is a strange city and I wish I had more time to explore it more fully. It seems to have less traffic than DFW though that impression may be mistaken and I have just not been on the right road at the right time. However, I was on one road at 4:30 and it was not a park and go lot the way I-35 E is at that time.

The conference is over for Carol and I, well mostly. Carol is upstairs doing a meet em greet em thing at the moment, but that is the end for us. We will be heading home tomorrow morning though I am not sure what time we will leave. I would like to be on the road early so we can be home early, but we shall see.

Houston has not felt like the big city I expected it to feel like. Maybe the downtown is as dead here as it is in so many other cities? I guess I was expecting more traffic, more pedestrians, more bustle.

I did manage to attend a few interesting sessions at the conference. I don't know if it was really worth my time though it might have more relevance if I were working in a library. It has been interesting to observe it as a sociological experiment, though I must admit, all my observations are colored by my participation within the group.

There is a little park just outside the George R Brown Convention Center that I found interesting. A nice green space with a pond and play pool for kiddies that is built above the underground parking lot. Not far away is a grocery store/deli/restaurant called Phonecia that had some decent food. Last night we ate at the Green Vine, a mostly vegan eatery. It was nice going into a place and knowing that there were a lot of options to choose from and that the staff knew what a vegan was and what we did and did not eat.

I am soooo ready to be home with my monkey and my dog.

Tomorrow morning we are off to Houston to attend the annual TLA conference. I have never been to the big city before, so it should be an interesting trip. It is the fourth largest city in the US and the fifth largest metro area. I am not sure it matters how big a city is, after a certain point the just become to big and swallow everything nearby. Unless they are like New York which has no where to go but up. I don't know if I will make the time to do any site seeing, but I will take my camera with me.

Our garden has been hit by pests (rabbits and bugs I believe). Some lettuce of almost eating size was totally devoured, some Swiss chard was nibbled, a baby dill plant was half consumed, and some tater leaves were shredded. Our peas are doing great and have almost reached the top of the 4 foot netting we have set up for them. Beans and okra have poked out of the ground and are starting to grow. The bluebonnets are fading but other flowers are taking over so their color is not totally missed.

I have been thinking that this is the greenest spring I have seen here in Texas. All the rain has made things look almost like NC though there are no pines here. Or hydrangea. Well, not many anyway. I wonder if I will see any when we get out east later this week. Houston is one more zone above us, so they may have some interesting green stuff poking out of the ground.

Other than that things are carrying on as usual. I head off to Ft. Worth twice a week to volunteer, do my friends stuff (new member of the friends board I am), and keep on looking for work.

I have begun to think about becoming a high school teacher. Not sure if this is for me, but I need a job and I am too old to become a truck driver again. Sides, the traffic would kill me.

Last week some of our shrubbery (anyone remember Monty Python's famous movie?) was covered in white flowers and butterflies. It was quite amazing. I tried to get a photo of more than one butterfly at once but was never able to do so. This was the best I was able to get.

Sometimes I think technology is more fuss than it is worth. Last week the old laptop I was using quit working (fan gave out).  Next the hard drive in the computer that we use for watching netflix quite. I changed out a hard drive and we were back up and running. After some discussion with Carol over the old laptop and the possible cost to fix,  I moved over to her old computer and tried to do a re-install of the original os and programs. It quite, and after some diagnosing, I decided it was the hard drive that wanted changing. No biggie, they can be swapped out in 5. The problem is the hassle of adding the os back and the necessary programs. Ok, I finally mostly finished this morning before getting busy for travel. Tonight I am mucking about and trying to find a fix for some of the problems remaining after the fix and decided I should flash the bios. No problem once again. There is this new program they have that will do it without the need for burning a cd or the flashdrive work arounds. So I do it. It finishes, I think, and the laptop turns off. I turn it back on and it stops working. gah I say, thats it! Fortunatetly, the old thing just overheated with the flash and decided to take a break cause its back up and running once more. Give me that degree in computer grumbling!

It has been a wonderful spring day so far. The morning was warm, though a touch humid, with clear blue skies and a wee breeze. At the moment it is warm (77), breezy, and clear blue skies. I am sitting on our back seement pad enjoying the birds chitter and chat. With the return of the leaves, they have moved back in full time. At times they can be quite noisy, almost enough to drown out the T.V. in the evening.

I just spent a few minutes pulling pansies from the round flower bed that is in the center of the back yard and planting a few replacements (one is a wave petunia as an experiment). I should be digging some more garden beds for okra and what not, but I am feeling a bit lazy right now. I have taken a few photos of selected spots in the garden, though I would ask viewers to forgive the mess. I should be mowing the lawn again, both front and back. The rain and warm weather is making the grass (weeds and thistles) grow like crazy. The peas are doing well also, with the one batch of early peas half way up the pea fence!

Someone in the neighborhood is having bbq for lunch, I can smell the lighter fluid and briquettes burning.


I have posted some photos below. They may not be clear or even in focus. I am sitting in a semi-bright light writing this, and I find I cannot really see the images. I am very pleased that the rose in the center is doing so well. It was a remnant left here when we arrived, stuffed into a medium sized pot, unwatered and mostly desiccated. Two leaves were left hanging from the brittle branches and I was not convinced it could survive. I stuck it into the soil shortly after getting here, watered it and left it alone. All winter, it recieved no special treatment, mostly because I was sure it was dead. Even as recently as three weeks ago, I was considering pulling it up! I hope it blooms, but even if all it does is survive I will be satisfied.



Carol's mother is not doing well at the moment. We are planning to go up that way for Easter, but may go earlier or not at all depending on what we hear in the next day or so. If I don't post again until after next week, I hope everyone has a great Easter (snow free in those places where it may still snow) with lots of flowers and chocolate.

I walked from my office to the back patio door just a few minutes ago and watched a red-headed woodpecker taking a splash in the bird bath that came with the house (likely too heavy for the previous tenants to haul away). I don't think I have ever seen that bird at the bath before this, though a large number of birds are making good use of it this spring even though it has been a wet one.

I planted my tomatoes this morning and hilled my taters this afternoon. It is a warm humid afternoon and it really reminded of hilling potatoes down on the farm. I am glad I only have 8 or so plants to hill as I am getting to old and out of shape to want to do an acre of the darn things. Our peas are growing up the pea fences we stuck into the ground, still to early for any flowers or peas, but not too much longer I suspect. I should be planting some beans and some okra, but haven't been able to due to the wetness. I need to dig at least one and a half more beds to accommodate everything i want to plant, but can't. I did dig a little this afternoon to give the last tomato some space, but it is really soggy, and our last rain was a week ago. That was a real bridge wrecker of a series of storms, the whole back yard was afloat, puddles and everything for over a day. It almost drowned a few plants (primarily the lavender, though it seems to be recovering a little). The bluebonnets we planted this spring are blooming, wish we'd been able to buy a lot more plants.

Some of the plants are doing great though, including the rose that was in a pot when we moved in. I am seriously surprised to see it leafing out.

Most everything has gone green and is flowering. Only a few old trees remain without leaves. Spring flowering plants are going like crazy (big patches of bluebonnets and Indian paint brush are everywhere), while the summer flowers are getting ready to take over. It feels great to be able to sit out in my back yard and enjoy the wonderful weather.

Next weekend we are off to Arkansas to see Carol's parents for Easter. Should be a great time to visit. The week after that we are off to Houston for the annual Texas Library association convention. Not really looking forward to that, but I need to go.

No job yet, no signs of one either. Very disheartening, but I carry on. Still doing my volunteer stuff and enjoying that a great deal.

I have started running again after a long break. Well, more walking than running, but it is a restart. I would like to get up to 3, 3, 6 by the end of the summer. Maybe at that time I will look into doing some heavier training.

The Texas Mountain Laurel is blooming at the Ft. Worth Botanical Gardens (along with some other spring type shrubbery). This photo was taken Thursday just before the bitterly cold weather hit (five minutes before, talk about a quick change). So far the volunteering at the new place is going well and I am learning a little. This is a good thing as the part time job has petered out. Still uncertain whether that is a good thing or a bad thing. 

I spent the last few weeks putting plants into the yard. Some drought hardy stuff, a lot of perrenials, a few annuals, blue bonnets (which are starting to bloom!), lantana, etc. I have not added to the veggie garden as I have been busy with the flower planting. No photos yet as nothing has established, and most of the plants look less than impressive. There is one yellow flowery thing that is quiet pretty (forgot the name just now, memory gears grind and slip as I grow older). 

The redbuds are blooming, along with the pears and dogwoods. I really like the yards that pair the pears with the redbuds (pink with white). Most of the trees are going green, both real leaves and catkins. It was feeling very spring like earlier in the week, but we were hit by cold weather out of Canada (jealous peoples not letting me enjoy spring!!). 

The weather improved a bit this past week. We had a few balmy days where the temp tried to reach 80 (failed but came close), only a little rain, and no nasty stuffs.

It has been nice enough that I was able to get out Friday and put some peas, onions, and lettuce into one of the patches of dirt I dug up earlier this year. Saturday (also known as my birthday), I went out early and mowed the front lawn. Not because it needed it, but because I have never mowed the lawn on my birthday in the short few years I have been on this rock hurtling through space. I was going to do it in my shorts but decided it might actually hurt if a rock or twig got thrown out at my legs. 

Later Carol and I went down to the greenhouse and picked up a little of this and that. Mostly perennials and pretty flowers. I am not sure all of them will survive, but it is fun to experiment. Sunday, we planted some bluebonnets and some wildflower seeds. Hopefully, the birds will let some of the seeds alone.

Today, I hopped into my car and went down to the garage and got the brakes fixed. Been avoiding this for awhile, but could not put it off any longer. It feels good to know the brakes are trust worthy once more.

I need good breaks as I will be driving to Ft. Worth twice a week to volunteer at the BRIT (Botanical Research Institute of Texas) in the library there. It should be a hoot and good experience. I will likely leave a little early every day to spend some time in the gardens next door. To my great delight, the saucer magnolias where blooming when I went there on Thursday. Beautiful, gorgeous flowers.

I have not made much headway with my digging lately. Too much rain. The plots are muddy and soft, too soft to be digging (once dry it would turn into cement!).  I was hoping to plant some peas/beans this past weekend, but it rained all of Friday night and most of Saturday. It is  drying up a bit now so maybe this weekend?

I need to get out and mow the lawn, well, weedlawn. After the last mowing, the weeds shot up and went to flower. It looks rather ragged at the moment. Maybe later this week, if it doesn't rain (likely Friday as I am working Tuesday/Wednesday).

I have applied to be a volunteer at a place in Fort Worth. It could be a fun place to spend some time.

Work at the place I am currently at is likely to dissapear at the end of the month. Nothing ever did happen with the jobs I applied for (though I have heard rumors that are quite frustrating/disappointing) that suggest they are looking for someone with experience, but not yet credentialed. Oh well, I keep looking, I keep hoping.

This coming Saturday I am hoping to make it to the Dallas Arboretum. It is one of those places I have been wanting to go to for ages, but haven't. I am a bit disappointed in myself as I was hoping to be running a race in Ft. Worth this weekend, but that won't be happening.

Went to the greenhouse in town on Saturday (rain and all!) and looked at the tomatoes and green peppers. I lacked the courage to actually buy any though. Bit too early for even me to be trying to plant those things. I am hoping we won't have another heavy frost, but we are sure to get a number of cool nights.

Carol's bil is doing better, still not home but off the tubes and starting to move about a little.

White kitty (misnamed angel cause she's half devil) is settling in ok. Still occasional boxing matches, but very few hiss and growl episodes. She really wants outside though.

Bought a rug shampooer that is doing great. First few washes of the rug the water was gray and rather thick with muck. blech. I hate the rug in the house.

I have begun to crave the warmer spring weather the way a smoker craves a cigarette.

Which I quit using 12 years ago.

Over the last week or so things have settled down and I am falling back into the old routine. I am, right this minute, sitting in the friends of the library bookstore doing my volunteering. It has been a busy night with lots of traffic and lots of sales. Nice to see the business.

I have managed to pick up some more part time hours from the same place I worked last year. Still nothing else happening on the job front. Apply, resume disappears into a void, move on to the next job posting. The advent of the computer has facilitated the application process by shortening the voyage from application to file 13. If I sound a little bitter it is cause I am. Bit frustrated as well, it would be nice to hear an occasional "thanks but no thanks." Half the time I wonder if I followed the correct process in submission, or emailed the resume to the right address, or one of a dozen other worries.

This morning I was out in the backyard digging away at my garden. I now have one 4x16 plot, one 4x12 plot, and plans for a few more if I can maintain the digging enthusiasm. I would like to do at least another two 4x12 plots before stopping. I did plant some taters yesterday, though I am not sure they will survive. Bit early here. The last frost is still a month and a half away.

I also spent some time this morning mowing the lawn, front and back. I had not cut the back since we moved in, though with the drought and the cold it had not been doing much. It was rather overgrown this morning, but it looks great now.

Carol's brother in law is still in the hospital, still not doing well though not as bad as he was. Angie is settling in and I think she is going to be boss kitty of the house pretty soon. She won't back down for no one and has no fear. The other cats are less pushy and will let her get away with being boss. She may be difficult to keep inside, she has been wanting out lately.

I am craving spring something fierce. Which is part of my motivation for digging. I suspect we are still booked for a spell of winter (we had a nasty snow storm/cold snap around the super bowl last year), but I have hopes. I am going to have some fun planning what to plant. Already, I have roughly 4 times the garden we had at the old place. My only real concern is the amount of sun available. Given the large apartment building and large trees to the south, there may not be enough light to ensure proper growth, but it will be fun trying.

Angel cat: any one know what kind of catty she might be?

The Trips:

The first trip up began at six am in the dark. We have been living here in Denton for 2.5 years, yet this was the first time heading north on I35, so everything was new. The biggest, and most pleasing discovery was the Turner Falls Area roughly 1.5 hours north of Denton. It is hilly country with the highway actually cut through rock in a few places. We will likely make a day trip up that way one of these days and spend time exploring/photographing the sites. The Flint Hills in Kansas were also rather interesting, though exploring them would require at least an over night stay and more likely a weekend.

We arrived in Missouri around three, making our first journey nine hours. At least half an hour of that was spent zigzagging through Kansas/Oklahoma roads by accident. Way back when, I had set my gps to avoid toll roads as it was always sending me down toll roads nearby when there were other roads that did not cost money. Once I got onto the Kansas Turnpike, the trip went smoothly.

I am not sure what I was expecting of the scenery through Kansas and Missouri, but it was different than I expected. The area we drove through varied from prairie (some appears to have the old prairie grasses), to farm land (big fields with real tractors not the wee ones seen near Denton), to pasture land (large pastures through the Flint Hills). The rock through a lot of the area appears to be only inches below the top soil. I saw places where a tree was rooted on top of a wee hill and right below (an inch or two) the shale/limestone was visible.

The trip back the next day was less interesting, though that was primarily due to the fact that I left at 3 am. I woke up, new I would have trouble sleeping, so off I went.That trip took roughly 8 hours with only three stops. The rest of the week was spent recovering and preparing for the return. We did have a nice, much needed, rain Monday and Tuesday. As I was heading through Oklahoma City, I saw a half-truck with both left wheels up on a cement divider (about four feet high). Somehow the driver had managed to climb the divider, plow down 4 lights before coming to rest against the fifth. Given that I spent ~34 hours on the highways I felt that seeing only one accident was pretty good.

The return on Friday started at six again, but this time I stopped at a nearby Starbucks for a coffee. This may not have been the best choice as I was forced to stop to use bathrooms every hour on the hour. I did discover some decent washrooms that I can visit the next time I travel the area. It took me nearly nine hours to get up to MO this time though. I did have to deal with some rush hour traffic passing through Oklahoma City, but it was nothing major. 

Carol's bil is still not doing well. To make matters worse, his mother is in end stage COPD and is in the hospital as well. She has three cats, well, had three cats. Carol offered to give one of them, the younger one, a home. Her name is Angel, she is some kind of pure breed long haired white kitty. Once we get her looking good (needs some more combing), I will take a photo. The trip home was not bad, she only mewed for the fist half hour or so, after that she was quiet an resigned to her cramped conditions. The next day we gave her a bath (which she allowed, including a shampooing) to get rid of the stink from the journey (cramped in a small cat carrier she was forced to do her business and not be able to get away from it though Carol did her best to clean up the carrier every time we stopped). So far the three other cats and Angel are not on friendly terms though they are speaking in growls and rowrs. No blows have been landed, though a few face-offs have occurred.

Today, I drive Carol to Dallas so she can attend a professional conference. She will be there until Friday sometime. Fortunately, the time she has to arrive will allow me to avoid much of the rush hours.

In other news, I am mostly over the cold I collected at Christmas time. I felt well enough yesterday that I went out and raked the front lawn. I managed to collect 16-17 bags of leaves! I need to do something with the back yard, but I may just dig out the mulcher attachment for the mower and remove the bag. The front lawn needs a good mowing as well. I also need to go do some work in the garden. Radishes, turnips, and beets need thinning. The weather should be nice enough to allow me to do that.I am still not sure if they will survive the winter, but they are doing ok at the moment. 

We have arrived safe and sound. Updates later when I have time.

Carol's brother-in-law collapsed earlier this week and had to be rushed to the hospital. Today, we are heading off to Missouri so that C can take care of her sister for a week. The bil is still in critical condition, not conscious and needing additional surgery (sepsis in a knee as well as pneumonia I guess). I will drive C up that aways bright and early this am (9 hour drive), spend Sunday there setting her up, and then drive back Monday. Next Saturday I will dive up thataways, pick C up and come home Sunday.

Bad as all this is, I will be able to add three more states to the visited column (Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri). I am looking forward to the trip, though I do wish it were for better reasons.

I hope everyone is doing well and having a good new year so far.


Our journey east went without a hitch, Christmas was great and everyone had a good time. I, unfortunately, came down with a cold just as we were about to leave, and I have spent the last two weeks trying to beat it into submission. I do believe I am gradually winning, but it has been tough.

After getting home from Arkansas, I spent the whole week sleeping/coughing/snotting/fevering. It was a bit depressing as the weather was very nice with highs in the 50s. Even now, the weather is nice. We may even approach 70 tomorrow. I am sure we will pay for the beautiful weather, but it is nice to know it exists even if I can't get out and enjoy it.

The reason for my lack of posts has been my illness. Other than the cold nothing exciting has occurred in the past few weeks.