Happy 51st Birthday,
Honey.


I miss you.

During a recent trip to Port Aransas, I made a new friend. He was on the jetty waiting for someone to come along with food that he likes.

I went for a walk near sundown because it was too hot to go earlier. I was on the street behind me when I came across about 10 high school kids clustered around someone's front porch. They spotted me and came my way in a big hurry. I thought about looking for an escape route. Turns out they were on a scavenger hunt and asked if it was okay that one of them took my picture standing next to another one of them. Fine. Think I should've asked them not to post my pic on the 'net because I'm wanted in 3 states? I did look pretty scruffy since I hadn't shaved in two days. JUST KIDDING! I still think April Fool's should not be confined to just one day.

It's hard to believe it's been 19 years since we first brought you home. Goodbye Misty......

I went for a walk after dinner so I could watch the sun setting over the city from a hilltop near my house. I was doing my iPod thing when I noticed an SUV slowly cruising next to me. Figuring it was someone who needed directions (as is often the case), I looked over. It was a couple who used to live on my street and they were frantically trying to get my attention. I put my iPod on pause to see what they wanted. They told me the photo I'd donated to the local school for a fundraising auction went for SEVENTY-FIVE dollars!! The opening bid was 25 dollars which escalated into a bidding war. I was quite surprised. They kept thanking me for my donation (I didn't even know they knew about it) and I told them I was happy to do so. Sure made my day! It was a good thing I had a stack of business cards on hand. Sounds like those were a popular item.

I was working in the front yard today when the Lady down the street pulled up to the curb. She was on her way home after picking up the kids from school and wanted to thank me for agreeing to donate one of my photographs to the Silent Auction. She told me that my photograph (U.T. Tower lit up for the National Champion Longhorn Football team) will be displayed alongside a football autographed by Darrell K. Royal. He's a former U.T. football coach who was no stranger to National Championships. I told her I hope my work does the display justice based on what she just told me!

Guess what? I was asked today to make a donation to the Spring Festival/Silent Auction at the local Elementary School. I was asked to donate a photograph of the U.T. Tower lit up for the National Champion Texas Longhorns Football team. I felt honored. This is an opportunity for my work to gain some 'exposure'. Ahem. Okay. I admit it. That was terrible. :)

In the middle of watching an old X-files episode, the doorbell rang. It was a little girl from next door. A walkie talkie fell down the storm drain and they needed my help. I met her mom who had a socket set so I could remove the manhole cover. We looked through the hole and guess what? The walkie talkie was at the other end of the drain. Murphy's Law you know. There was no way a straightened metal coat hanger would reach it.

It was time to send someone down there. Someone who could fit through the manhole opening. But who??? None of the ones small enough wanted to volunteer. Another mom from across the street came to see what the commotion was about. She said one of her kids would do it! She went back home and got her first grader. Mom lowered her down, the girl got the walkie talkie and mom pulled her back out. The hero of the day! For her efforts, she received some reward money and a homemade thank you card. All is right with the world once again. We now return to our regularly scheduled rerun of the X-files.

A couple of weird dreams. The first didn't wake me, but the second did.

In the first one, I was on a motorcycle traveling down a highway through the mountains. There was quite of bit of traffic on the road. I could see some of the mountains as I passed by. Other mountains were covered in fog, but it wasn't the normal fog bank. This fog covered the ground like a snow pack instead of being level. Made the mountains look like they were wearing a knit cap or something.

I was headed towards some destination. Someone was monitoring my progress remotely like they were using a satellite. The closer I got to my destination, the more the fog closed in to the highway. Finally, I needed to make a few more turns to reach my goal, but the fog had gotten too thick and I couldn't see. Even the person watching remotely had lost sight of me. I could sense that I was close to my goal, but knew if I reached it, I wouldn't be able to find my way back so I turned back while I still could hoping to try another day when the weather was better.

The second dream is the one that woke me up. I was walking down a wooded lane. Wet leaves from the trees had pretty much covered the road allowing my to walk quietly. That was good because I knew my hike took me past a dog that's very territorial. (In real life, the dog, a terrier, lives next door to me). My stealth wasn't sufficient. The dog recognized my presence and came after me barking and snarling. He kept trying to attack the lower parts of my legs.

Most of the time I was able to prevent him from getting too close by putting a small tree trunk between him and me at the last second causing him to bash into the tree. That would knock him woozy for a bit, but then he'd recover and come after me again. I kept thinking to myself, why doesn't he learn from that and go away? When a tree wasn't convenient enough for me to use that tactic, I had to use my hands to shove him away. One of those shoves knocked the TV remote off my nightstand which woke me up.

Now it's 4am and hours until the sun comes up. Doubt I'll be able to go back to sleep. I'm getting tired of all these disturbing dreams. I guess I can do the TV Guide crossword. Not into infomercials. That's about the only thing on TV this time of day.

There ought to be a law against having to pull the blanket back out of the closet once Spring's started here in Texas. I mean the A/C had been running for weeks. I'm looking out my window now at the wind blowing the new oak leaves. Thick clouds with temp's in the low 40's and the chill factor's well down into the 30's. Good chance of a freeze across the area tonight which means moving some plants into the garage. Those plants have been out almost a month now. Some of them are so big, I have to use a hand truck to move them. Phew.

A neighbor across the street had company arrive yesterday from Kansas or somewhere in the frozen north. They probably brought this weather with them. All I know is *somebody* left the north gate open. Holy Moly.

If you recall, Lori passed away just two days after our 15th wedding anniversary. I had bought her a set of wind chimes as my anniversary gift to her. I never got the chance to hang them so she could enjoy them before her passing. I've been telling visitors this past year whenever the chimes make music, it's Lori talking to me.

I received some good news via email today. At the same time I was reading the email, the chimes made a lot of sound. I quickly turned and looked over my shoulder in order to see out the window. There was no wind.

Today would've been our 16th wedding anniversary. Last year she gave me a bunch of gift coupons for a local sandwich shop where we liked to eat. I never got to share any of them with her although I shared with friends. I saved the last one for today. After taking some silk flowers to the cemetery, I had lunch at the sandwich shop as a way of saying goodbye. This Thursday will be one year after losing her. I'm in a fog. I still can't believe she's gone, nor can I believe a year has already passed.

Apparently word has gotten around on my street about my azaleas because neighbors have been stopping by this weekend. I decided to post a couple more pics. This is a different bush than the one shown on an earlier post.

A recent study made the claim that chocolate (yes, that got my attention) inhibits our body's ability to absorb calcium. Does this mean chocolate milk is a waste of money?

Another study touts the benefits of drinking concord grape juice with regards to short-term memory and neuro-motor skills. I knew there was a reason why I drank it 3 times/week. I just couldn't quite remember what that reason was. ;-) Now if I could just be at ease with the plastic container the juice comes in. :D

Is it springtime already? I took a picture of these azaleas on the south side of my house this morning.

Some weekend. A good buddy of mine dropped by for a visit to cheer me up - Tom Hanks. He really got me in stitches by talking about some of the behind-the-scenes 'tom'foolery they did during the voicework on the two Toy Story movies. I had to keep jumping up to tend to the laundry. He probably didn't much care for me doing that, but he didn't say anything. People kept popping in to say "Hi!" One woman 'claimed' to be looking for her son who's about 4. She said he was lost. Both Tom and I knew she was just using that as an excuse to meet Tom.

(Okay. How many people fell for this? It was just a dream. Probably the result of the lunch I had at a Mexican buffet restaurant. But I did wake up with sore ribs....)

Today I took 5 boxes of Lori's clothes and 4 grocery bags of toiletries to SafePlace. It's an organization that works to supply a safe haven for victims of domestic violence. The closet sure looks empty now.

The baby shrieked with laughter. Hiding under the covers of the king-sized bed. Tracking him down to discover he wore nothing but diapers. Tickling him in the ribs bringing more giggles and squirming away to hide elsewhere under the covers. Daring me to find him again so he could repeat the process. It was.... but a dream.

Some good news. The lovely Lady with whom I spent New Year's weekend just called on her cellphone from Oklahoma. Her daughter had just given birth to her second child. A boy this time. Both mom and son are doing fine. A life entering the world, instead of one leaving.

Traumatic experience + uncertain future = disturbing night-time dreams

My walks are getting longer. Up to 90 minutes/day. Someone asked me today if my walking was a New Year's resolution? I told her, no, I don't really believe in "New Year's" resolutions. I don't believe making resolutions should be limited to just one day. (I have the same opinion about April Fool's Day. You've been forewarned.)

My school brought home the National trophy last night. Hook'em Horns. Yet another event I'm unable to share with Lori.

I haven't written much lately. Not much to write about until today.

I spent the weekend in the Dallas area with a lovely Lady I worked with several years ago. She has a wonderful new home. I was very glad and honored to have 'watched the ball drop' with her Saturday night.

She's the one who lost her Mother 10 days before Christmas, so I hope my being there helped her in some small way.