October 30 Update again

I was just doing a bit if web surfing and visited the National Hurricane Center web site. I see there are two hurricanes in the Atlantic. While hurricane season officially runs through November 30, it is getting kind of late in the season to have a storm. Shary is heading out to the middle of the Atlantic and isn’t a threat to anyone. However Tomas is heading to south the area of Cuba. It could be in the Gulf of Mexico next week. We will have to keep an eye on this one. Earlier this year, the city of Houston erected these signs showing the projected storm surge from a hurricane. In case you did not know, hurricanes are rated from 1 to 5 with 5 being the worst. The categories are defined by wind speed. A storm has to have sustained winds of at least 74 miles per hour to be a hurricane. A category 5 storm has winds above 155 miles per hour.  Anyways here is a picture of Elizabeth standing in front of the sign closest to our house. As you can see in the event of a major Category 4 storm, the water would be up to Elizabeth’s neck. A category 5 would put her underwater. We really do not have a lot of faith in these. Two years ago hurricane Ike roared through here. Its wind speed made it a category 2 storm. However the storm surge was that of a category 4 storm. However this area did not flood. It really does not make much difference to us. If a category 4 or 5 storm is headed our way, we will be out of here. As for the house, that is why we have insurance.  Right in front of Elizabeth is a drainage bayou.  However we are still about 12 miles from Galveston bay and 30 from the Gulf of Mexico.



Today was a good day so far. This morning I had some work to do around the house. One of the items was to lower the garage door key pad. This allows us to open the garage door from outside. It is really handy however it was too high for Elizabeth. The person who put it up must have been over 6 foot tall. We also took a little drive since it is such a beautiful day. Bright sunshine, low humidity and temperatures in the low 70’s. This is the reward for suffering through July and August. Right now Elizabeth is napping. I will get her up in a few minutes so we can get to church for Mass at 5. Have a pleasant evening.

October 30 Update

I know many parts of the country have had some terrible weather. Compared to them, our fall so far has been calm. In fact, our fall has been non-existent. We seem to still be in summer.  This past week we have one day that set a new high temperature record. It was 91 degrees. But it may be that fall has finally arrived. Right now, Saturday at 6:30 AM, the temperature outside is 59. On Wednesday when I went to work it was 78. The big changer was a cold front that moved through. I love cold fronts as they almost always bring cooler and drier air from the north. I think the only real problem we have had is no rain. In fact I am not sure we had any measurable rain during the entire month. The forecast for the next few days is dry. It has been so nice that Elizabeth moved her office outside. She and Candi love to sit on the porch. Elizabeth does her thing and Candi runs.

Yesterday was a bit different kind of Friday. I had to work in the afternoon to finish some stuff before the end of the month. Typically I take Fridays as vacation. So Elizabeth and I got going a bit earlier than normal running errands. We made many of the normal stops. These included the Post Office, grocery store etc. We also had to stop at the house Elizabeth is watching while the owner is overseas to let the bug guy in. In Texas you really need to have houses sprayed routinely to keep the bugs out. It is especially important this time of year. As it gets coller outside many critters try to move inside to stay warm. I also had to stop by the Title Company and give them a check for $2000. It seems when we closed on the old house, they sent our mortgage company $2000 too much due to a keyboard interface error. Also known as a typo. For a couple of days we thought we were going to get a $2000 refund from the mortgage company. But then we learned it was actually their error and we would have to give them the money. Oh well it was fun while it lasted.

In the afternoon I went to me office. I am actually on an assignment that has me working at an engineering contractor’s office. I have not been to my real office in weeks. I have been away so long, my badge no longer worked to open the doors. After 4 weeks of not being used, badges are automatically deactivated. So I had to stop at security and get it reactivated. On top of that, this week my company moved me to a new office. In fact they moved my entire group to new offices. All my stuff was there it just was all in boxes. So first I had to unpack everything. Of course this also means I have a new phone number and will have to get new business cards. The good thing is this should be my last office as retirement is not far down the road. I am not sure the exact date but it will be in the next 2 years. After unpacking I got the work I came to do finished and headed home. I got home around 4:30 when I told Elizabeth I would be home around 2. Oops. After supper we took Candi for a walk. She has to patrol the neighborhood to make sure it is safe from squirrels. Back home we watched a show we had recorded and then I had to go to a meeting. When I got back home we had a snack and called it a night. At least I did. I am a morning person while Elizabeth is a night person. Mornings, such as right now, are my quiet time. Elizabeth’s is at night after I have gone to bed.

There are some hazards when a morning person lives with a night person, especially if the night person is prone to rearranging stuff. One day I got up and since Elizabeth is a very light sleeper, I did not turn on the lights. I promptly fell over the couch that had been moved while I slept. I learned my lesson and I no longer walk around the house in the dark.

Air Show

This is the one week end a year when we hear lots of noise from the air show. After suffering it for two days we decided the organizers owed us a free show. So we pack some goodies and chairs and went to the neighborhood park. We found some shade and watched the show. We could not see as well as if we were actually at Ellington but it was still good. Although it was a warm day, sitting in the shade with a wind blowing was actually quite comfortable. We were not the only ones to take advantage. Unfortunately for Candi there were too many people and other dogs to let her off her leash. Here are some pictures.

Us all settle in and ready for the show.  Includes a cooler of water and bag of goodies.  Even a water bowl for Candi.

One of the Air Force Thunderbirds.  They were the featured act.  They also were very loud when they flew overhead this close.  One time they even set off a car alarm.

Candi and Mommy watching

All six Thunderbirds in formation

When the planes were off turning around, Elizabeth would read

Every team does a star burst.

It was a wonderful day.  Right now Elizabeth is preparing supper and then we will watch our Sunday night shows.

Oct 24

I know it has been a couple of weeks since I last updated this blog. Except for medical issues things have been pretty much routine. The medical issues revolve around getting my medicine right. I was in pain due to a flare up. My joints especially wrist and ankles hurt. I went to the doctors and she agreed to change the frequency of my treatment to every 4 weeks. She also gave me a shot and a prescription for some medicine to relieve pain and inflammation. I had my treatment on Friday and I feel much better. Hopefully we have it right now. We will know for sure in 4 weeks.

I have not been able to ride my bike as much as I would like. I do hope to ride later this morning.

This week end is the week end for the Wings Over Houston, an air show. Since we live close to Ellington Field, we hear all the planes. This year the feature act is the Air Force Thunderbirds. We plan to take our chairs to a neighborhood park and watch the show later today. Yesterday while we were out running errands we drove near enough that we got caught in the traffic.

I do not know if it is a local thing or times have changed since I was a kid but in this area people decorate their houses for Halloween. When I was growing up in upstate New York, the only “decoration” you would see was a pumpkin carves into a Jack-O-lantern. Around here the houses have all kinds of decorations. Last night Elizabeth drove around a bit to look at some. There was one small part of a neighborhood where there seems to be a competition going on. There were 4 or 5 houses with exceptional decorations. I tried to take a picture but without success. I will try again in the daylight. We also visited a neighborhood we typically do not drive through. It is the most exclusive one in the area with the highest priced homes. One area was full of million dollar plus houses. The streets twist and turn and pretty soon we were a bit lost. I think we will be investing in a GPS today.

Holidays

In a comment, Elizabeth’s friend Denise asked if Elizabeth would come up to snow country and help her organize her stuff and enjoy the snow. Let me tell you an Elizabeth snow story. There is an area not far from our house that is called the Boardwalk. I am not sure how to describe it. It is a combination amusement park and restaurant area. There a number of rides, shops and of course restaurants. There must be a dozen of all kinds. It is located on the shore of Galveston Bay and there is of course a boardwalk along the water’s edge. Elizabeth and I were driving and heard an ad that they had 600 pounds of snow. Elizabeth has never lived anywhere that gets significant snow so she was all excited and wanted to go. She dreamed of making a snow man and having a snow ball fight. I grew up in upstate New York along the shore of Lake Ontario. I also went to college in Boston and have lived in Chicago and 4 winters in Bismarck North Dakota. I know snow. I tried to explain to Elizabeth that 600 pounds was not very much snow. Also it would not be real snow but rather ground ice like you get in a snow cone. But off we went. I am sorry to say she was disappointed with her snow experience. I would also point out we do on rare occasion get snow in Houston. In fact last winter we had two measurable snow falls. Several years ago we woke to find we had a white Christmas. But I must admit I like the snow we get here. Typically by noon the temperature was climbed back into the 50s or 60s and the snow is just a wet spot on the driveway. No shovels required. So I guess the answer the question, no thank you to the visit to the tundra.

This does bring to mind a question I have asked before. I am not sure if I blogged about it. Does a person who grew up in the south really understand Christmas carols? Do they really know what it means for the horse to know the way to pull the sleigh? Also if we have chestnuts roasting on the open fire we will also have to have the AC running to cool the house off. While this area has many wonderful holiday traditions, they all seem to lack something.

Speaking of holiday traditions, Elizabeth and I are going to work hard to make this a wonderful holiday season starting with Halloween. Actually the holiday season starts next Tuesday as it is someone’s birthday.

October 9

Well it was a very busy week. On Friday I got up and did a bit of computer stuff then had my pre-ride snack. It was the typical chocolate milk, banana and banana bread. Then I was off. It was a beautiful day for a ride. When I got home I showered and then had my real breakfast. Then it was off to run errands. That took most of the morning. After lunch we just hung around the house. Mid afternoon Elizabeth laid down to take a nap and I went to close on our old house. Selling this house has been very emotional for Elizabeth and she actually signed the paper the other day. By 4:30 we were the proud owners of only one house. YEAH!!! That night I went to a meeting. When I got home we called it a day.

Today I again got up and got ready to ride. Since it was Saturday and the wind (what little of it there was) was from the south so I rode down the access road. It was another great day to ride. Between the two days I rode 64 miles. When I got home I showered and then I took Candi to the groomer. On the way home I too stopped at the groomer to get my “fur” cut. I hate how it gets down your back and itches. After that I put together a file cabinet for Elizabeth. The post below only shows Elizabeth in the process of sorting the files. Since we sold the house it was a good opportunity to sort through some old files and get rid of any paperwork we no longer needed. She found lots. Three trash bags full. I did not think we had that much stuff still. In any event after that we had lunch. Then I was off to run some errands for myself. This included stops at the mall, WalMart, department store and the big boy toy store, Lowe’s. While there I got a call that Candi was done so on the way home I went by the groomer. I got home just in time to get cleaned up for church. After church while Elizabeth prepared supper I took Candi for a walk. Now it is 9 and reaching the end of a busy day.

Elizabeth's Files

If you read Elizabeth’s blog you get this image of a person who is very neat and orderly. Someone who has to have a place for everything and everything has to be in its place. Well that is all true. However what you may not know is sometimes a thing’s place is just on the floor. Below is a picture of Elizabeth’s file. However I will have to say this. Even though they are scattered all over the floor they are all neatly labeled. The next picture is one of Elizabeth and her trusty P touch.

Don't you just love her.  I do.

The Park

This is the park where we take Candi and let her run. The first picture is a map. The parking lot is location “e”. If you click on a picture you can see a larger view. To return to the blog just click the back button on the top tool bar. From there out to location “F” and back is three quarters of a mile. There are benches along the way where a girl and sit down and rest. The fourth picture was taken from location “F” looking back to the entrance to the circle. The other trails, A, B, C, D, E and H are not paved so we have yet to explore them.  Sometimes there are birds along the way and Candi loves to chase them.  There is also a covered Pavilion that has a couple of tables.  It is very pleasant in the pavilion when there is a breeze blowing.

October 1

Here it is the first day of October. It is hard to believe the year is three quarters over and the holidays are just around the corner. In fact here the first “holiday” is only a few days away. That will be Elizabeth’s birthday. I have some of my shopping done but not all. I would show you what I got but Elizabeth has been known to visit this blog.
It was a very busy week. It was also a somewhat emotional week. It was emotional due to our pending house sale. It seemed like every time we thought we had a done deal the buyer would come back and ask for more. But now we have a signed contact and the option period has expired. I guess our realtor thinks it is a done deal as the house is no longer listed. I am not sure if the For Sale sign is gone yet.

I am feeling much better. Thanks to all for prayers and support. This morning I felt good enough to get out and ride my bike. Before I rode I had a snack of chocolate milk, banana and homemade cinnamon roll. Elizabeth’s cinnamon rolls are so good. I rode exactly 20 miles. When I got home we had breakfast. I had some yogurt with granola and toasted bread with peanut butter and jelly. Then we went to run some errands. One stop was at the post office. As usual there was only one person working the window and she had not done so in several years. Needless to say she was not very efficient. Add to that we wanted to rent a PO box and we were there for 30 minutes. The only consolation was all the people on line behind us would soon find out it was not us who held things up but rather the clerk. The PO box is so the people buying the house will not have our home address. If something goes wrong we do not want them calling us expecting us to fix it.

After our errands were complete I dropped Elizabeth at home and was ready to go to a restaurant there we were having a lunch for a guy who started working on the same project I am working on. Actually he retired three months ago and I took him job. Due to IRS rules he could not work for the company for 90 days. That limit is up so he is back as a contractor. In those three months much has happen so there is plenty of work for both of us.

When I got back home I had lunch. I had salmon patties and a salad. It was pretty good.

After lunch I had some computer work to do. This included sending the new PO box address to the title company and submitting a change of address to the Post Office. After that I ordered some replacement lenses for my sunglasses. I only wear these when I ride and it was difficult for me to spend that kind of money on myself. Now I think I will go and read and maybe take a nap. Elizabeth is already napping. At least she is suppose to be.