Yes It Is Tuesday, I Checked Twice!

 Yes It Is Tuesday, I Checked Twice!

Haa! I saw a commercial where there was a Millennial woman yelling to her mate that it was Tuesday, he responded " How did that happen AGAIN?"

How many millions of us relate? We are still observing strict Covid protocols even though we are fully covid vaccinated so that we can sty in the bubble with our 4 and 7 year old grandkids. Until they are vaccinated we continue to wake up to an almost identical day, of course, the Texas weather and our at home, at neighborhood, or at Grandkids home changes part of our everyday lives but only a double or sometimes triple check can reveal the day and date. Thursday trash, compost and recycle days help keep us tuned in however as this event is seemingly more important in our lives We only shop at two stores by curbside, our neighborhood Home Depot and HEB. Amazon brings the rest to our doorstep. We do not drive anywhere except our Austin family's' homes. We walk a 2.7 mile route through our neighborhood most days, and We tend to our vegetable garden, do some landscaping and lots of tree trimming. We occasionally chat across the street with neighbors or do a small house projects. We have seen a lot of movies. I get several hours of guitar practice in and, The same things will happen tomorrow. The Admiral wakes up in the morning and says "here we are again". It feels weird to us all when nothing else is in sync. Shortages, billionaires making record more billions, social chaos of sorts a constant change where all the things that need to change stay stagnant. Few can get a good nights sleep, the anxiety, stress or just whatever seems to wake us up at the weirdest times of the night.

Much of the rest of the world is ginning up, a lot more traffic but it is crazier than ever since they have room to go fast and change every lane. Parking lots full and its every person for themselves when it comes to social distancing and mask wearing. We don't get out of the car since we use curbside service but its easy to observe what is happening out there. The reality of the remainder of 2021 has exposed itself as a significant percentage of the population has not been convinced to be vaccinated and so many countries around the globe have barely even started their vaccination programs. We will be fortunate if the world can return to freedom of travel by the end of 2022, just consider India with now the largest population in the world, getting their population vaccinated to the point where travel between countries is safe.

We are optimistic that we will be able to travel back to Washington State again this year, but the date is still elusive.

We had a vegetable garden in this spot for about 5-6 years, then soccer became the family pastime. It later served as extra parking when our kids got their first car.

Our grandkids love nature so it was a no brainer to recreate the garden. Here the garden has beene planted and the walkways mulched.

see video: https://youtu.be/6yo0QNwZggY

This is the planting guide I worked out. The broccoli, cauliflower, kale, was consumed early by the local insects so they will not be on the menu next season.

Drew was excited to help.

Here all the seedlings are popping out.

March and April was incredibly rainy so very little watering was required until June!

A low tech rain gauge keeps up with the total rain fall to date

Since we are on a corner lot we have a few more trees to take care of, and since the adjacent properties are leased to tenants we assume the responsibility of keeping the fence lines clean from the volunteer growth that springs up. We worked together 2-3 times a week in March and April to control the all the growth the rains brought.

Drews Uncle gifted a Evil Knievel kit, so right away we built some ramps.

see the video: https://youtu.be/JIyXS54j4SU

She couldn't care less about Evil Knievel

A Mud Kitchen creates some tasty delights.

This little guy made a good friend for the day for our Naturalist.

Now certified to operate a shop vac.

Another great friend.

Rhinoceros Beetle entertains  for a while

Texas Alligator Lizard can't catch him!.

The Garden starts producing.

First up Radishes

A trip to Ft. Worth to help Big Dave, the Admirals dad, with his project to do list. Here we take a break and hike the trails at Eagle Mountain Park.

The park and trails are on the North end of Eagle Mountain Lake (There may be an Eagle but can't see the Mountain from here).

its kind of difficult to appreciate the Lake after living a couple of blocks from Puget Sound for seven years, the sky is beautiful though!

Way down in the center of the lake is obviously the Ft. Worth boat club hosting a Sunday race.

It was a great hike and perfect timing, Sure do not want to do these trails in June, July, August or September!

I had some free time so I drove out West of Ft Worth on HWY 20 to find the old Pearson Equipment Company. There was so much new development I was not sure if I could find it, but just down a small hill there it was, just deserted now.

I take Guitar Lessons from GuitarTricks.com, now working on intermediate Blues, a series of blues licks from the greats. Anders Mouridsen is the instructor: https://www.andersmouridsen.com/

Listen: https://youtu.be/pIAr1y4KwPQ

Some neighborhood Xeriscaping,  it's the way to go. We are doing small yard projects to limit the need for watering. With so much new development in the Central Texas region water is a big issue.

Imperfect Appreciation   

January-February 2021

Wow, 2021 started immediately with incredible optimism that the 2021 would bring back some normalcy and we would soon be embracing the "New Normal" without Covid-19  dictating our social behavior and even perhaps a new more embracing political climate. 

One uniquely perspective however got it right: 

Somewhere right after the New Years I found the words imperfect appreciation in my brain.  I can't even remember exactly what brought that on as this point. However the idea  has gone through several interpretations since then and who knows where it will be tomorrow? I wonder what the idea would mean to others? How would it be applied or interpreted, or considered. Please do not think I am talking about Wabi Sabi because I am 100% American and even more obtuse I'm a native Texan. But it does cross some of the same themes. Definitely it comes with age.

Of course the first drunken act of 2021 was on January 6 with the storming of the United States Capital.

Jan. 10 brought a little winter surprise to Central Texas, Austin kids got to play in the snow, some of them for the very first time in their lives. 

The area picked up 1-2 inches that hung around a couple of days.

Since it was a Sunday parents could get out and scrape up enough to make some small Snow people with the kids.

However most January days were Sunny and I continued to invent projects to pass the time:

We decided to add to the back yard grandkid playground. I found an old tire, got a bag of cement and sand and made a Tether ball pole.

Brought back memories of working concrete construction way back in the day.

I found some pallets in the neighborhood. I took them apart for the wood and made a table.

I wanted this first wood project to reflect where it came from. The rough cut wood used for pallets is not consistent in any way. Since I did not have the tools to improve on that much like a table saw or power planer the intent was to simplify using what I had: a hand electric jig saw and a power oscillating sander. 

Dreaming of a table saw for my next wood project.

This tree has been neglected for a long time, so I removed the grass to transplant in the back yard and mulched. hopefully it will survive a few more droughts now.

For over 50 years this drive way was trying hard to survive atop Black Gumbo:

Again I revived some concrete skills and filled the cracks.

Also called Houston Black or Texas Vertisol, this sticky, heavy clay can wreak havoc on concrete building foundations, especially during drought or heavy rains, because it expands when wet and and contracts when dry much like a sponge. 

A very Special Drunken 2021 Valentines Gift for Texas:

A series of 5 back to back winter storms marched through Texas

There were two other big snows in Central Texas in our time but never anything like this one.

Snow is so bright, gotta wear shades.

The Official Record Low for Austin, Texas was 6 degrees.

Used my Texas Snow Plow for the first time in all my Born Days!

Funny that Seattle had yet another record snow the same exact time.

SNOWBALL for sure!

The winter Storm in Texas was called a 120 year event by our Governor Abbot. *(Some Lessons are very hard to learn). This event led to over 40% of the households in Texas to loose electricity for days. Then just as the power started to return and the freezing temperatures dissipated the pipes all across Texas began to burst and leak millions of galloons of water until major water systems throughout Texas had to be shut off completely for days leaving 40% of the homes without water. To this date over two weeks later many homes are still without water and some without power.

Climate Change is bringing catastrophic weather events on a increasingly frequent basis. *Any idea of 100 or 120 year weather events no longer exist. 

City of Austin are starting to install Smart Water Meters and our neighborhood is the Pilot.

You download an App and you can monitor all things water on your smart phone.

The meter reader is a short timer here in Austin.

Imperfect Appreciation, what does it mean?

Love VS 50

 Love VS 50    

1970    2020

We began dating my senior year, December 1968. Jeff and Roxanne convinced her to  invite me to the Arlington Heights High School Backwards Dance.

                                        

 Lynn had joined my church All Saints Episcopal. We attended pre-marriage class with Father Dewolf. Since we were getting married in December during advent, we had to get the Bishops, permission. We were allowed to use the Chapel, perfect it was a small wedding.

Saturday, December 19, 1970
Are all 50th Anniversary's on the same day?

Roseann & Vance, Lynn's aunt and uncle  hosted the wedding reception in her Ft. Worth home. Lynn's' mom Peggy, and my Father George, My Grandparents Nandy and Muzz and Lynn's' Nana and PopPop. Martti, Lorraine, Roxanne, Ginger and Tommy with Brother Dave and Susan up front. On the Launch pad in our 60'Chevy to 2020 and Beyond..

Muzz and Nandy's 50th
Married Friday, December 8, 1922

Friday, December 8, 1972, Hmm, they were married young also in December. I read a book once on Universal Patterns.

Sister Ginger and Lynn serving Cake and Punch at Muzz and Nandy's 50th

We recall going to my Grandparents 50 year Anniversary celebration held at their First Baptist Church in Grandview, Texas. My father remarked to me that a 50 year anniversary is  pretty incredible and of course the  celebration is an event not to be missed. I recently checked out the statistics and it is somewhere around 7% of marriages that make the 50 year mark. We do not find it "that" remarkable. For one thing I am the forever optimist and Lynn has the genes of a Missouri native American so her senses are as full as they can get along with her intuition. Ours lives and careers centered around family and community so the supportive environment I am sure contributed to this moment. We were sure our purpose in life was our children, only to find out later that it wasn't them at but it was our Grandkids!

From Ft. Worth, Arlington, San Antonio, Austin, Corpus Christi and Mustang Island, The Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic waters, Seattle and Puget Sound waters, and now back to Austin, Texas we are grateful for the friends, family and communities that made each of those years a shared learning experience full of love and gratitude. We don't look back often, mostly enjoying right now 

Speaking of "Incredible", this picture Is Incredible to us. Most of the Austin Family is in this one year old pic, We hope to update as soon as we can all gather again with the entire Austin Family.