Where The Heck Is The Yard Man???

Seriously, I am used to him coming about every 2 to 3 weeks!  And I haven't seen him in a month!

I have never gotten his number, didn't really need it.  He just shows up, does the yard, I pay him and he goes away until next time.  He does the house next door.  We spoke one time and then he started doing mine when he did theirs!  So I keep watching and waiting.  He is very good so I do not want to call someone else!

Now, he may be driving by looking at the front yards to check for need.  And the front yards are not as exhuberant at growing as the back yard.  The front looks fair but the back is slowly becoming High!  But he should know that right?  He is my yard man!

Just thought I would share my befuddlement of missing my yard man!

Ready Set Go!!!!!

I Am Packed and Ready to Go !!

I will be leaving soon to go on vacation! 

I am not sure I will blog much, but hope to put some pics on at least!

I have been going on vacation with a group of girlfriends for many years.  It started with most of us working at the same place years ago.  One by one we met, then another and another until we had a group friends that became more than just friends but rather like family.

We have all become involved for 20+ years with each others lives, close to each other's families.  We have scattered over the state and don't work together anymore.  But it has not diluted at all.  We get together as a whole 2 or 3 times a year and once a year we all go on vacation together.  This trip has been happening for about 15 years.

The first trip, I didn't attend, but it was river rafting and the housing was not much more than a hut on the river.

We have a January Christmas party where we discuss and decide on our destination.  Then we make our reservations and start getting excited.  Closer to the date there is a windfall of emails exclaiming our excitement and making plans, what we are taking and bragging without details to our choice of friend gifts for the annual trek.

This year is no different and our destination is Galveston.  We have rented a fairly famous big house on the island with history surrounding it.  It was dubbed the Rat Pack house of the 60s.  We will be attending the famed Opera House once and then most of the activities will of course be surrounding the beach and the house pool.

Don't want to come in contact with one of these!!

Be Happy People!!!  Take A Break!!!

The Wedding From My Point Of View

Curtsy, Curtsy, Bow, Bow, Walk, The Dress, Smile, Wave, Wave, Control the train, Kiss on the balcony!  Done! 

Looking at the future King and Queen.

There you go!

We have witnessed history, now where is the weather??  Moving on...

Storm Concerns

This fantastic photo is of one of the many this week in Texas.

I just wanted to post that my prayers and concerns are with all who have been devastated by the swath of tornadoes that have been rushing across the country.  It has been days of storms and tornadoes here in Texas and across the country.  My last heard count was about 17 tornadoes, maybe more, since Sunday in Texas alone.

My son watched one going by his work area and my daughter and family spent the better part of the evening in the bathtub a couple of nights ago.  Thank the Lord, I do not believe there was one loss of life here in Texas.  A friend of mine, texted a pic of the first one near her work just before they were sent for cover.

But in other states that was not the case.  My viewing of the news and the monster tornado that hit Tuscaloosa was sad.  That town was nearly destroyed.  My prayers are with them.

I watched last night as FB was filled with concerns for families by my friends and myself in other states.  One story was of a family member already helping to pull victims from debris.  One of my friends is working in Mississippi and is ok.  This is her second time in the week to be near harm's way.

We in Texas and surrounding states know that this is tornado season and we expect the storms, but obviously this particular week has had "super cells" which are somewhat rare.  Watching as these storms popped up all over the place at the same time with little warning, I was awed.  There were so many tornadoes covering vast areas at the same time, it was quite astonishing and worrisome.

I am glad for all those who are ok and prayerful for those who have lost loved ones and homes.

This morning there are still warnings out there in states in the east.

Just A Little Fort Worth Walkabout

Just a few photos in downtown Fort Worth...

Old And New

Bass Hall

Convention Center

I don't know but I like it...

Jamba!

(give me a break i was crossing street and pic'ing at the same time)

I

FW!

  



Razzoo'ing It In Downtown Fort Worth!

Went to eat with my daughter and grandson yesterday!  They are soooo wonderful and we had fun!  We went downtown Fort Worth to Razzoos!

We had some oysters, Gator, shrimp and of course some Rat Toes!!!

In case you don't know, Razzoos is Cajun Cuisine and Rat Toes are jalapenos stuffed with seafood and batter fried, served with Ranch dressing and yum and Hot!

Complete with Mardi Gras Beads!

Silly me I didn't take any pics of the food!!!

We had so much fun talking and laughing and I took only a handful of pics while we were there!

First a few Razzoo pics...

Ceiling Art...

Row Down!

Momma's Squeeze Box...

Plated Bird House...

What A Boar!

No Ma, I Have Not Been A Drinkin Beer, Like The Sign!

The King Of Zydeco - Vintage Poster

Looking Out...

Cool street clock and Bass Hall in the background...

Daughter and G-Son!

Texas Wildfires Border To Border

I don't usually do this but I am posting a url to some of the most amazing photography of the current wildfires here in Texas.  I wanted to share, see these... the photography is very impressive, the scenes are magnificently indicative of fire, its beauty and destructiveness and also blends the humanity.

http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2011/04/texas-wildfires/100050/

I am adding a quote that sums it up from Atlantic Wire:

To succinctly describe what's happening in the state today, many news outlets ran with this quote uttered by a Texas Forest Service spokesperson April Saginor:

"We're actually seeing Texas burn from border to border. We've got it in West Texas, in East Texas, in North Texas, in South Texas - it's all over the state...We've got one in the Dallas area that's four fires that have actually merged together."

And from me:  keep this, all the firefighters, the Texas people and their homes in your prayers.  The fires have been burning the better part of a month and just last night was reported to be only 25% contained.

I left my house a week ago and it appeared as if there was a fire nearby, there was such a haze in the air and you could smell the smoke.  Later that evening on the news it showed where we, in Fort Worth, were seeing the smoke from fires in near by counties.

Thank you Shelly for sharing this with me!!!

Smoke Jumper

I basically just want to say - Read this, I loved it.

Smoke Jumpers, seasonal side job to those who fight fires in forests during the high fire times of the year.  Very interesting and suspenseful.

It is about two jumpers, a musician and a photojournalist.

It is adventure, a bit of love me, love you, love him and they both love her.

A lot of smoke jumping, saving lives and being surrounded by fire.

An unexpected side story.

An Elk with antlers on fire.

I actually read this book more than once.

I like Nicholas Evans' books and I believe he has only written five.

But one of them is the amazing and famous Horse Whisperer.  Much better and more involved than the movie of the same name.  Although the movie is very good also.

A very good murder mystery called The Loop, which is a wolf item.

The Divide is also a murder mystery.

I have read those 4 and about to read the 5th - The Brave.

When you start with Nicholas the author, most people jump to Sparks.

But I have read all but one of Evans' books and not one of Sparks, I do believe.

He was a journalist, then a film producer before starting to write fiction.

Nicholas Evans stopped writing for quite awhile because he, his wife and two friends accidentally ate poisonous mushrooms.  They were critically ill for quite awhile and now 3 of the 4 are still on dialysis and awaiting transplants.  Wow, don't eat wild mushrooms!

He is back now and has published his 5th novel.

I am glad.

In Texas right now and for the past several weeks, we have had many and one seriously out of control wildfires.  All kinds of means of firefighting have been utilized and I kept wondering where are the Smoke Jumpers!

Many lives have been altered forever and many prayers are going up all the time for rain and an end to the fires.  Volunteer fire fighters have been going to the fires in droves and we are very grateful to them.  One has lost his life.

Recycling - A Big Mess - But I Do It Anyway!

Recycling - what a mess!

I do it and I will keep doing it for sure, but boy does it create a big mess!  I have bags of bags, bags of glass, bags of plastic, etc, etc, etc!

So I have my city recycle trash bin that I put out when it is full, but it is outside.

So I have several different types of bags going on in the house before I take it outside.

Another thing is that not everything can go into that bin!  I have a paper on what they will allow me to put in there and what not to put in.

Plastic bags of course is a NO.  So I have bags of bags waiting to be taken to the grocery store that has a plastic bag recycle container.  Do I ever remember them when I actually go to that store - NO.

And if you didn't know - plastic is not just plastic, is not just plastic.  Some plastic items are recyclable, some are not.

Plastic bottles, they don't tell me not to put them in there, but word is - they are not recyclable.  Oh the horror of that, I drink many times more water if I can drink the bottled water, can't explain it but I do.  And here's a kicker, the lids are a totally different kind of plastic that gums up the machines, so into the trash.  I still put the water bottles in the bin just in case, they didn't tell me not to.

And of course the juice and milk jugs can be put in there but not the waxy paper cartons, don't really use those much anyway.

Pizza boxes are not recyclable, most don't refuse them, surprise, they have been contaminated by grease in the pizza.  So they go into the regular trash.  What a waste!

Did you know that hand dish washing (even pre-dishwater rinsing) uses much more water than running the dishwasher?  I am the ultimate wash before washing person!

Oh and here is a biggie with me - mail!  I might appear to be a hoarder when it comes to paperwork, especially right now.  But the deal is that I cannot put a piece of mail, old bills, paperwork of any kind in the trash or the recycle bin.  That is until it is shredded.  Thus I have boxes of "To Be Shredded" paperwork.  Now I have a shredder, but I can no longer trust the straightline shredder that I own.  Man, this is so rediculous, it sounds borderline phobic!  So the deal is, I can never remember to buy a cross shredder, but I better do that soon, before the shred box takes over my house!!!

Also having lots of house plants is a huge air recycler/cleaner and it produces oxygen, we learned that part in grade school!  Well poor me, I did not get my mom's green thumb.  I am terrible and plants report me to the plant protection agency for abuse!

I do buy recycled paper goods whenever I can, printer paper, envelopes, coffee filters and other various items I find.

I am just one person, but we add up.

Since I have started really recycling, I can tell by just my piece of it how necessary it is.  Not until I started sorting it out, did I realize how big it is in just my own home and how much I use.  And how much just my part will make a difference.  When I think about it, it has kind of taken over, the necessity to recycle or the guilt of when I am in a run and throw something in the normal trash.

Truth is I miss living in the country where you threw food out to feed the critters and you had a burn barrel that completely destroys you paperwork in a way that meets the phobia of not being able to trash paperwork!

Recycle people - when you can!  It is a habit that will fast become part of your life!

I am sure someone somewhere with one of those big huge brains will figure out what we can do with all those water bottles!  Someday.

For The Good Times!

Been reminiscing lately with my bestee Conrad about those days and the AMAZING music we had back in the day and the fun we had!  Making the drag along with everybody else in our small town.  And listening to some of the most amazing music ever made.

This story is about one of the nights my amazing friend surprised me with an unlikely gift!

I was always out and about in our small town with many friends and we had a blast!  Conrad (nickname) was my best friend and we always made all situations fun!

I always say back then, I would rather be beat than grounded and have to stay home when my buds were out having fun!  In this story there was a family thing that my mom wouldn't let me miss on a Saturday night!

Oh the pain of it all!  I knew I would miss something fun and hated that I couldn't be with my friends.  But as usual mom won, so I missed Saturday night.

I was mortified and resigned and told Conrad the sad news.  I can't go out tonight, y'all have fun and don't forget about me.  Don't have too much fun while I am missing!

So I did my thing and they did theirs.  I had gotten home early and went to bed.  Sunday morning we always went to church, so mom, my sisters and I got ready and headed out the door.  What I saw first perplexed me, only for a second!  My mom was the same and then she knew.

I immediately went to smiling and laughing and dancing around with excitement.

On top of my car, right in the middle of the roof, sat this huge blinking yellow light.

It was one of those construction blinking yellow lights connected to its own battery box!

Just blinking away at us and with every blink I could see my bestee's smiling face.

I could hear her saying - girl we didn't forget about you!

I kept that light flashing in my room forever!

Wow what good times!  What a great friend!

Conrad says that was the age of innocence and it ended after that.  I believe she is right.

So many good stories from that time!  Maybe I will tell you more later, like when I was in love with her brother who drove a pink thunderbird!  Wow, no chance he was 21 and didn't know I existed!

Life was good, I knew it was good, I just didn't know how great!

Reminisce people!  In the words of Ray Price - For The Good Times!

Moody Monday And A Little Bit Of Rat Pack

Don't you just hate Monday mornings at the job!  I have always said Monday should be part of the weekend, transition day at the very least!  Startup should be gradual to ward off any misfires!

The brain is just not quite returned from the weekend and ultimately feels like a fog.  I don't like early Monday morning meetings, too early to think clearly or remember where you left off last week in multiple projects!

Went to see mom, she is doing well.  Shopped for vacation, spent more money than I wanted even though I was frugal!  Watched the race!  Exciting and Jr came in 4th!

Our girls trip coming up is on the coast and our theme this year is Rat Pack.  We have rented the house that the Rat Pack of the sixties used to stay in to party hearty!  Even the past president has stayed in this house.

So we are each adorning ourselves with the applicable Fedora!  We will have much fun going to the beach, eating seafood, our regular trip to Tortuga's and of course having our own Rat Pack pool at the house!

Kind of bummed at this late date I haven't done any pre-tanning at all so will have to watch out for the all too well known, first time out in the sun - burn!

But back to today!  Monday morning Moody - drinking lots of coffee, going through lots of emails and trying my best to kick start my work brain because it is stalled and not ready for action - yet!

Have a wonderful Moody Monday people!!!! 

Camper + Water

Back in the day, we went camping a lot!  We had many various campers throughout the years.  This story is about a camper we bought second hand.

It was a camper we bought from someone who had this one in the back yard for someone in their family.  So we got it and proceeded to refurbish it.  Husband did a great job and we decided to take it for a short trip not far from us on the lake created for the power plant.  It was a beautifully clear lake and we took our camper to the camping facilities.  We hooked it up to the electricity and water got it all settled, then took the kids down to the lake shore and played in the water for a couple of hours.  It was fun!

At this lake, if you went out in a boat, the water was so clear that in some places you could see way down into the deep part to the bottom.  At one place we saw a house that had been left standing when they filled the lake.  Kind of weird, eeery and a little sad.  But you know that the owners had been paid well for their property years ago.

After we had finished playing, we were driving back to the camper and as we approached we were shocked to say the least at what we were seeing!  Getting close to the camper, we saw water pouring out of the camper from all lower orifices!  OMG!  We rushed to the camper, opening the door even more water flooded out of that poor little camper!

So basically what was going to be a weekend camping trip at the lake became just a few hours of playing!  Then water rescue at the camper.  We unhooked everything, secured the camper (let all the water drain) and hooked up to truck and went back home.  Glad it was a short trip from home!

Just a few water pipe adjustments and it became a very useful camper and we enjoyed it for a few years.  Love camping with the right equipment!

Wish I had a pic of it pouring water all over the place but was a bit preoccupied!

Cowboys And Aliens - Cannot Wait To See This One!

Be still my beating heart! 

Seriously ... Indiana Jones, James Bond and the crazy Green Mile killer!  In a Western / Sci Fi !!!! 

I love the crazy Green Mile killer guy!!!  Love the promos!  I hope the movie lives up to the hype, but it is hard for me not to like anything with Harrison Ford in it, but we will see!

Starship Trooper guy!  Little Sunshine's depressed brother!  The Shield/Bourne actor!  The doctor girl from House!

Great line up, great trailers/promos, Harrison on a horse, who could ask for more!  I cannot wait to see this one!  I will let you know!

Barry Pepper - Phenomenal

When is everybody else going to see what I see - Barry Pepper is phenomenal.

A quote I found online... "One of the most criminally overlooked actors in Hollywood..."

He was outstanding in True Grit as Ned Pepper - wow what a performance ...
Preview photos left him out of the top four, love Josh Brolin, but his character was nothing compared to Ned Pepper portrayed by Barry Pepper.  I have said it before, his voice sounded like the best of Robert Duvall, this actor could play Duvall in his life story like no other.

Superior in Saving Private Ryan as the sniper ...

...and he was seriously phenomenal as Bobby Kennedy in The Kennedys.

Just to mention a few more movies of his previous roles:

 Green Mile...

Battlefield Earth...

 Enemy Of State, *61, Dale Earnhardt Story, etc...

Snow Walker - loved this almost unknown movie.

He is a great actor and I am just waiting for everybody else to catch up to me and notice how talented he is.

In Your Right Steps?

Remember when I once said "I am easily awed?"

Ever felt like you are right outside of your own steps. 

Oops I missed stepped and now I am just one step away from my own life's steps.

Nothing serious mind you, but I must work toward that correct step again.  Get back to experiencing those awe moments rather than just remembering them.

Point taken, constructing a plan.

The Legend Of Hell's Gate - Upcoming Western Movie About Possum Kingdom Lake, Texas !!!

I am seeing ads about an upcoming movie - a western that takes place in Texas, Possum Kingdom Lake.  True story.

It includes interactions with well known outlaws such as Doc Holliday.  The famous outlaw that had a dentist office in Dallas back in the day.  It is Texas made, written and directed.  An excerpt from IMDB:

"The story of how 'Hell's Gate' at Possum Kingdom Lake, Texas came to have it's name. Relive the story of how three outlaws expeditions and encounters through historical 1870s Texas were remembered for a lifetime...  Surrounded by whisky-fueled outlaws and a treacherous wilderness, how is one to survive? Based on real events, this Texas based tale uncovers the mystery of the events surrounding the legendary Hell's Gate, a cliff formation that rises out of Possum Kingdom Lake in Texas."

Being a Texan and having been to Possum Kingdom lake, I am very excited to see it when it comes out this year!

Nascar - Texas Style!

This is the weekend Nascar comes to Texas Motor Speedway!
We have succeeded in becoming one of the most anticipated races on the Nascar Circuit!
Twice a year now, our town becomes a place of destination of drivers and fans from all over the country and more.  Televised in multiple countries, we are very proud!
Am I actually going to the race?  Not this year, I have been to 3 races and loved every minute of it!
More later on this event!

GO DALE JR!

 

Rock On Rangers!

Way to kick off the season!

Dark Alleys

In the movies or crime shows...
Why do people always choose the dark alleys to walk home at night?
Why do people always run into the dark alley when someone is chasing them?
Why do people walk to the darkest part of a parking garage, alone when they hear a noise instead of getting into their car to drive over there???
Just wondering...

I Need A Man

No, seriously!
I have some furniture I cannot move by myself!
jk - my son will visit his mother and move it - move it!

Kit And King

Hello everyone, yes I have been almost absent.  Lots of things going on, work mostly.  That does not mean that I have not been Moody!

I haven't owned a dog in a long time and I probably won't for awhile for several reasons.  If I actually got another dog, I cannot decide between a big dog or a little dog.  Little dogs are a lot easier to deal with.  But I love and have had big dogs.  This brings to mind many dog stories.

Kit is our mom and this is one of her stories.

When she was a child, her father dubbed her Kitten, funny, it was because she was afraid of cats.  As she got older, it shortened to Kit and that is what everyone called her.  A long, long time ago, she had a dog called King.  He was a large german shepherd.  She lived in CA at the time.  She was single, and this dog was quite loyal to her.  To others, he was scary as many german shepherds are.

I love this story, because it sounds like a dog I once owned, Lance.

Mom had been at work or somewhere and was on her way home.  It was dark.  She had ridden a bus to the end of her road and proceeded to walk the rest of the way home.  Keep in mind this was back in the 40's and in the country.  So she was walking this long gravel road or lane to her house.  She said she started to hear footsteps on the gravel somewhere behind her that were not her own.  When she quickened her own steps, the footsteps following her also quickened.

She was not a wimp at all, but she said she was getting scared, it was dark and she was not sure what was happening.  She started running.  The footsteps behind also started running.

She knew that King was in the yard on a chain connected to a very large iron stake in the ground.  He was a very large imposing figure of a dog.  He was very loyal to my mom.

As she started running and heard the steps behind her start running also, she started screaming King's name.  She heard him start to bark and make lots of noise hitting the end of that chain trying to get to her.

Now I am figuring that just that racket alone would have made the follower rethink the situation, but there was not much time for that.  Still far away, mom said that in his desperation to get to her, King pulled the stake out of the ground and took off toward her with a racket that would have scared anyone out of their wits.

She said that he was ferociously barking and growling while all along the way you could hear the heavy chain and stake beating the ground after him.  Immediately she felt saved.  She said with all her yelling and King's chain banging, she no longer heard the person pursuing her and didn't hear anything from that person afterward.  Go figure!!

And of course, like a scene from a movie, her and King met somewhere in the middle and hugged and both felt like a job well done!

I love that story, I remember times of my own when certain dogs that we had owned were just as protective and it is a very good feeling.

It takes living in the country these days to own a dog like that and most people do not have that luxury.  I call it a luxury and if you have ever lived both, country, lots of land and city, house with a yard, you know what I am talking about.

Thanks for listening!  Have a blessed day!