Volume 16 - Day 114/252, 2023 - Tuesday

Today was another kind of busy day. Sure, there was the morning walk, and a good time was had by all. The ROMEOs had breakfast this morning, too, and that was fun. It's Tuesday, and that means it is perfect stranger day. This lady was  lot of fun, and so far, I have not been reported to management. That may be a new record! After that, I stopped by a property that will have a new tenant move-in tomorrow, and I think everything that needed to be done has been done. Then it was on to the office, and I touched a few things, and then headed home. I had a couple errands to run (holdovers from yesterday), and again, neither of those things got done. Really frustrating. We had our monthly neighborhood dinner, it it was really a lot of fun, it was a good group. I could probably go on-and-on, but I am a little bit tired. Tomorrow will be a little bit busy, and book club is tomorrow night at the Curious House.

Volume 16 - Day 113/253, 2024 - Monday

Well, well, well. it's Monday, not that there is anything wrong with that. We had a nice, chilly walk this morning. I carry dog treats with me every morning, and there is a dog we see every now and then when we walk through the pocket park. He is a pretty yellow lab (I think), and he doesn't bark at us any more, he just kind of looks at us while we walk. I have not offered him a treat, because I don't have permission from his hoomans. I fixed that yesterday. While I was out, I stopped at the hoomans house, introduced myself, and asked if it was okay for me to give their dog a treat when we see him. They were very gracious, and appreciated me stopping to ask, and said it was okay. The dogs name is Denver. I was ready to give him a treat this morning, but he was not outside. There is always tomorrow. There were some pretty clouds this morning, and I always like clouds, just not total clouds! I made it in to the office, took off for home with four errands to run. O only accomplished two of them because it is Monday. I did get the little white car washed, and I did vote. Today is the furst day of early voting. GO VOTE! My morning glories are doing nicely...more blooms on the trellis, and both pots have little tiny blooms. I just hope they don't all burn up this summer.

Volume 16 - Day 112/254, 2024 - Sunday

Well, hell. It is Monday eve, and it makes me sad! We had a good walk this morning, and once I got back to the Curious House, I did a few little chores, and then met up with Marian and we went BACK to one of the estate sales we hit yesterday, to see what we could find that was 50% off. I bought about $25 worth of stuff, and that is not a bad thing. Later in the day, I went to Costco and walked around in circles for a while, looking for something I wanted and it was right in front of me the whole time. Done. I had dinner tonight with Val, Paulina and Oliver, and now it is time to watch another installment of A Gentleman in  Moscow. Tonight will be the third or fourth installment. Not sure home many installments there will be, but I enjoyed reading the book several years ago. Seven years ago today, Jody and I adopted the girls from the Georgetown Animal Shelter. We had no idea how old they were when we adopted them, but the shelter thought Lexie (aka The Piglet) was three at the time, and Callie was two. They told us they had been raised together and they had been surrendered by someone that was traveling around the country in a big RV. I thought part of traveling around in a big RV was to have a couple dogs with you, but, whatever. The Piglet took to Jody immediately, and Callie just hung out in the background. We adopted them both, and once we got them home, they acted like they had never seen the other in their lives. The Piglet is still a clingy little girl, and she cannot be more than a foot or two out of my sight at any given time. Callie remains the laid back calm one, with a take-it-or-leave-it kind of attitude. So, I guesstimate the Piglet is not ten, and Callie is nine. They both have a good life, and just like me, they are lucky, LUCKY girls.

Volume 16 - Day 111/255, 2024 - Saturday

I was just another grey and kind of dribbly rain day today...we are on a streak of those days, but I am pretty sure the sun will be shining at some point in the near future. We had a good walk, stayed mostly dry, and then it was time for a bit of a nap. Before you knew it, it was time for estate sales, and we hit seven of them. Once again, they were all kind of underwhelming. Marian and I are going back to one tomorrow morning, everything will be half price. I have had the windows open for the last couple days, but it is chilly outside, and it is starting to rain, so the windows are closed. It will be in the 50s tomorrow morning when we walk, but it will all be okay. I am still disappointed that I have not seen any humming birds at my feeders. I cleaned the feeders this morning, and refilled them, so maybe that will encourage them to hang out. I hope so. I am very happy to report that the first morning glory of the season was spotted this morning, and I hope there will be more very soon. I did not have any white ones (morning glory look-alikes) last year, but I am hopeful for this year. I may have gone a little overboard with the morning glories this year, in addition to those up against the back wall, I have also planted two pots, and put them up against the back deck and the side fence. I have almost everything off my chore list done, and it is time to just lean back!

Volume 16 - Day 110/256, 2024 - Friday

When Margaret came in to the office today, she questioned why I was there, when there was an estate sale going on a few blocks down the street. Well, when it was time to go, I headed to the sale. In the process of spending $4, I recognized this tall guy looking around. I asked if I should know him, and he said probably not, but I did recognize him. Spencer Cronk, former City Manager of Austin. I don't usually include last names, but he qualifies as a person that locals are familiar with, so shut up. He was fired because of his perceived poor response to a winter ice storm in Austin a couple years ago. I cannot vote in Austin, but I have opinions, and my opinion is that he was a scape goat and a tool for the Mayor, City Council and other officials to be distracted from the real problems THEY created. I shared with him that I had been fired from EVERY job I ever had, and it always worked out to my advantage. He said he was doing fine, he lived in the neighborhood, and he agreed to let the creepy guy take an ussie with him. Nice man. I had already determined that I was going to stop at another estate sale in Northwest Hills, so that was fun. Tomorrow, there are seven sales for us to hit, and we need to get a good nights sleep to be ready. Today started with a nice walk, I got some stuff done in the office, and I've already had my dinner. Dessert is in the refrigerator, and that is my next move. Most likely going to get some rain beginning late tomorrow afternoon. It should all be over by early Sunday morning, and we have a chance to get a couple inches of rain. Fingers crossed.

Volume 16 - Day 109/257, 2024 - Thursday

People have different benchmarks about what makes a good day and what makes a bad day. For me, today was a really good day. I wore the particular t-shirt on purpose this morning, because I had a meeting with someone I consider to be a pompous ass (takes one to know one), disrespectful, and incompetent. This person wasted my time and the time of at least five other people. The good part was, I was totally sarcastic the whole time, made several tacky comments, and all-in-all had a great time. PLUS, I get to bill them for the time that was wasted. A win-win all the way around! After that meeting (I use the term very loosely), and since today is Thursday, it was cheeseburger special day at Sandy's. After I placed our order, I noticed a man walking across the parking lot. I can neither confirm nor deny that this man could be housing challenged. Still in line, the mad started picking through the trash can. I asked him if he was hungry, and would he like a lunch burger. Well, this totally confused the people at Sandy's (I had an add-on to my order), but it all worked out in the end. After lunch, I had another meeting that went well, then I headed home. Fed the girls, took a quick nap, and then went back in to Austin for a Pickle Ball event for TREPAC. Back home now, getting ready for the big storm tonight, and maybe even some rain! Oh...and this is my Back to the Future hair. Just sayin'.

Volume 16 - Day 108/258, 2024 - Wednesday

It was in the low 70's this morning when we walked, and the humidity was about 170%. It was a muggy morning meander through the neighborhood. I needed to be in Austin early, so there was not much time for putzing. Traffic was pretty not good, and it took a while to get in, but everything worked out okay. I did what needed to be done, made several phone calls, and left pretty early as well, since I had a zoom call and I needed to be home to let the housekeeper in. NOW...the house is clean, and for some reason it smells like bacon. I am not sure what that is all about, since I had a spaghetti and meat ball dinner from HEB. The sun did not make an appearance today, and it has been really overcast. We have good chances of rain beginning Saturday afternoon, maybe up to over 3 inches before it is all over. I have a bunch of meetings tomorrow and there is a TREPAC event that I will be attending late afternoon. I think there is a slice of pie in my future, and maybe some ice cream, too. My package still has not appeared, and I am holding on to a faint hope that it will appear by the end of the week. I stopped at the post office, I was told it was delivered, but maybe the key to the cluster box was put in the wrong mail box. Hmmm. No complaints, I still believe the post office does a better job of delivering mail than I could do. And now, if you will excuse me, I am going to make arrangements to attend my youngest sons high school graduation, even though I have not attended any of my other four children's graduations. Okay, be quiet, I know that's a stretch. This is my journal, so...