All's Quiet in North Port Alto

I arrived at the bay at 11:30.  The water was almost glassy, but clouds were building.  I don't know why this picture looks so dark.  It wasn't that way...it was a normal look except for a few clouds.

About an hour later, the whitecaps were rolling in with some force.

An hour and a half after I arrived, the rain started and continued for about an hour.

I decided to go to the bay today, Thursday, so I could get the A/C on get a head start on the weekend.  Carolyn and Brent and the kids are coming Friday afternoon just as soon as she picks them all up from school.

The temperature inside the house when I arrived was 93.  With with rain and wind, it cooled down a lot quicker than usual and is 77 inside now.  Cool enough to be quite comfortable...at least until the rain stops and the sun comes out and starts heating it up again.  

This might be our last weekend for a while.  We always say we'll come down in the fall, but it never seems to happen.

I think Virgie is down.  I looked out a little while ago and saw Bo's car, so I'll give them some time to get unpacked and settled and then I'll call.  It's been about a month since I've seen them.  I want to hear all about their visit to see the grandkids in Connecticut.

There's still light rain falling and I just heard more thunder.  Maybe I should take a nap.

Another one of those days

It's another one of those day that you read about in funny emails.  It started off in fine fashion.  I repositioned sprinklers late yesterday and then turned them off...ready to turn on this morning.  It was the first thing I did this morning.  So far, other than eating breakfast and taking my vitamins and supplements it's the only thing I have successfully completed.  Here's the map of activities started:

1)  After breakfast I decided I was going to write some thank-you notes I had been putting off.  So, I jumped right up and headed upstairs to get the notes, envelopes and stamps.

2) Well, the bed needed to be made, so I did that first.

3)  I might as well turn on the laptop.  Who knows when I'll have a few minutes to check in on things and I don't want to have to wait for it to start up.

4) The basket of laundry that I washed and dried yesterday is in my computer chair (read recliner) so I'll take that to the closet and fold/hang clothes.

5) The second item out of the basket was a pair of capris that have a wide cuff.  The cuff needs a touch up with the iron.

6) I go across the way to the bedroom that our great-nephew has occupied for the past week while he was helping Wayne in the field.  He's gone home now...school starts Monday.  So the bedding needs to be pulled off and washed.  Then I spy two pairs of my (older) jeans hanging on a rack.  Of course, I have to try them on.  They're okay in a pinch...but definitely an old style. They go back on the rack.  I fold the comforter and the light blanket, put them in a chair and move the shams from the ironing board (remember, that's why I came to this room to begin with) to the bed.  I go to the bathroom cabinet to get the iron and it's not there.  Back to the bedroom to look, but the iron's not there either.  Then I remember that Carolyn's iron stopped working and she borrowed mine until she gets a new one.  No problem, I think I have another one in the laundry room.  I pick up the bedding and head downstairs.

7)  I get the sheets into the washer and get it started and nearly walk out of the room before I remember the iron.  I can see it, but it takes some planning to get to it.  I get it and then on the way out I spy the large package of toilet paper and remember that I need some in two bathrooms.  I take care of supplying the downstairs bathroom and head upstairs with three rolls of t.p., the iron and the rack for the iron.

8)  I put the rack on the board, take the iron to the bathroom and try to figure out how to tell when I have enough water in it.  Unbelievably, it doesn't have an indicator.  Really?  That seems strange to me, but it feels like a pretty cheap iron...seems to weigh almost nothing, so I guess that's one of the frills you give up for cheap.  Back to the ironing board, plug it in and head across the way to stock that bathroom.

9) I have to step over the laundry basket with almost everything still in it to get to the cabinet where the t.p. gets stored.  In the cabinet I see a container of wipes, so I take a couple to clean the iron...it's really dusty...and head back across the way.

10)  Wait, before I head back, I realize that I can now get to the recliner to start up the laptop.  Okay, now I go back to the ironing board and clean it and the rack with the wipes.  I start to press the cuffs, (remember, that's why I'm there) but the iron is barely warm.  What the hell!  One of the plugs doesn't work so well, maybe that's what happened.  There's not even a freaking light on the iron to tell you whether it's on or not.  I change to the other plug and the iron seems to be making heating noises.  But, meanwhile, I got plenty of other things to do.

11)  I head back across the way and log in to the computer.  And decide this is something to put on the blog.  While I'm getting the internet connected and getting to this point, I notice the thank you notes and remember that's why I came upstairs in the first place.

So, I'm going to post this, carry the notes and stamps with me while I go across the way once more to iron the cuffs.  Hopefully, the iron is hot.  With my luck the only frill it has will be an automatic shut off.  I'll bring the capris back here, carrying the notes and stamps, and I hope I will then go downstairs and write the thank you's before something else takes over my brain!

There's still the laundry to fold/hang and put away and sheets in the washer...but, I think I'm moving in the right direction now.

Bay Days

(This was started a week ago...so please adjust for the time gap.)

I've been at Port Alto for almost a week now.  Last weekend Wendy, Kelly and the boys and I came down on Saturday.  Gage hasn't been here in a year...maybe more.  Zane was here with me in July.  Gage walked through the house (at age 8) remarking how he remembered this and that...as if it had been decades since he had been here.  Of course, Zane felt like an old hand having been here so recently with me.  He definitely knew to run to the house from the beach so he could be the first to rinse off while the water in the hose was still warm.

Zane

They left on Sunday and then the ladies started arriving.  Wanda brought friends from Austin.  Friends from San Antonio and El Campo came with Dee.  Janie's sister came from Bay City.  Carole came from Concan and stayed with me.  Patricia came.  Pat left...she had all her family...from Eldorado, Texas, and from California during the previous week.  She had to leave to take the Californians to Austin to fly back to their home.  Virgie was in Connecticut enjoying her grandkids out there.

I think I'll let the photos speak for themselves.  We gathered at each house for different meals, games, and visiting.  We spent some time on the beach; we read.  It was quality time spent with good friends. 

Why doesn't anyone tell me my visor is crooked?

I know, we're all blurry.
But, look how sharp the grass looks!

Me and Zane

Way back in January, Wendy and Kelly made plans for a 10th anniversary trip to Jamaica.  I agreed to take Zane while they were gone and Kelly's mom, Kathy, would take Gage.  Wendy and Kelly left Saturday to take Gage to Kathy and then spent the night at the La Quinta near the airport. They then flew out Sunday morning.

Dee and I stayed at the same place last year the day before our flight to Boston.  It's a perfectly nice inexpensive place with complimentary breakfast, a shuttle to and from the airport, and they will let you leave your car there at no extra charge for up to 14 days. Such a deal!!!   

Since I was going to the bay, I picked Zane up on Friday morning then left him to ride to the bay with Carolyn and her kids.  I stopped at the grocery store for a few last minute things and got to the bay not long after they had unloaded their car.  It had been quite a while since Zane had been at the bay.  I think he enjoyed it, but I know he doesn’t like the taste of the bay water.  Who does?  It was calm in the mornings and then a little rough in the afternoons, but it was only slightly deeper than waist high, so he and the Bubela kids could go all over the place in the water.  Jax had on one of those life-vest/floatie thingies, and his hat, of course.  We only stayed at the bay until Sunday.  Since then it has basically been just me and Zane.  And TV.  And Wii.

Zane has said so many funny things during the five days or so that I have been with him.  I wish I had been writing them down.  I’ll just put a few of the ones I can remember.

One morning as we were heading to his swimming lesson, I asked him to remind me about something.  I don’t remember what it was now, but I wanted him to remind me.  He said, “Cookie, I already have something in my head and I can’t have something else in there.”  

This morning he had a piano lesson and I knew generally where his teacher lived, but had never been there.  I asked him if he knew where she lived and he said he didn’t know how to get there but he knew what the house looked like.  So, I said that was good and I would need him to help me find the house.  He started to tell me the bit about already having something in his head, but I told him we had a long way to go and he would only need to help right at the end.  And he did tell me when we got to the right house.

I usually gather his clothes the night before so we’re all set to get out of the house with all the swimming gear, a snack, water, and dry clothes to change into.  One night he balked at a shirt I had pulled out of the duffel we had taken to the bay over the weekend.  He told me he couldn’t wear it because it was a “nice shirt” and needed to be “saved for special.”  It was just a regular tee shirt that Wendy had packed for our trip to the bay.  It even had a tiny hole in the middle of the front.  But he still insisted it was “for special” and wanted to choose another one.  I convinced him it was okay to wear, but he took it off as soon as we got back to the house.

Last night I was reading a book about the dinosaurs to him.  One part mentioned that people didn’t really know why the dinosaurs had disappeared and listed a few theories about their disappearance, one of which was a comet.  He asked what a comet was and I explained it to the best of my ability (pretty poorly).  He listened and then asked, “What does that have to do with dinosaurs disappearing?”  So I had to try and explain that, too.

I was playing a Wii Star Wars game with him.  We were a team and he would explain to me what character I needed to be and why and what was going to happen and where I needed to be.  Eventually we came to a place where he told me to just stand there because it was his “responsibility to do the next part.”

This evening Zane took his bath then walked out and stood in the doorway to the living room.  He had wrapped himself in one of the baby towels that has a corner that fits over the baby’s head.  Of course, he had it backwards so that it covered his face and the front of his body.  He was holding it shut in the back, and looked like a post, being the same size and width from top to bottom.  He told me that was a good way to wear the towel because it was covering all the parts you shouldn’t see.  Then he turned around to go into his bedroom and dress for bed.  Where he was holding it in back it barely met, so one of the “parts you shouldn’t see” was visible.  I started laughing then and laughed some more when he ran into the wall.  That was caused by the towel over his face.  He commented that it wasn’t a good way to walk.

The book he brought for me to read him at bedtime tonight was a Berenstain Bears book…the one called “Too Much TV.”  Grinning, he said he didn’t really like that book much because you could substitute Wii for TV and he knew he had played too much this week.  Much, much more than his parents would have allowed.  

I have truly enjoyed being with him and he couldn’t possibly have been better.  I hope Wendy and Kelly have had a wonderful time on their trip to Jamaica.  Zane and I have had a wonderful time here!  

Be sure to click on this to get a better view.  That's Carolyn closest to the camera.  Jax is ahead of her.  Carlee is next with some sort of flotation thing and Zane is the tiny orange speck out the farthest.

Zane in his own particular heaven...playing on the Wii

Practice makes perfect!

Zane has a few chores to do every day.  He's taking fresh water to the cat in this shot.

Here he is in his "nice" shirt.

I bought Zane and Gage PaperJamz guitars.  Mom and Dad will love it!

Unbelievable...I had to try 12 times before I finally got a decent photo of this little monkey.

Twinkle Toes

Well, it's just too bad you didn't get a look at my feet 10 minutes ago.  My polish was all chipped and coming off last week, so I removed it.  Then I bought a bottle of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri polish.  After several days of looking at my plain old toes, I decided to apply the polish.  While sitting in my recliner.  Watching television.

I shook up the polish and pulled out the applicator.  The moment the brush touched my toenail of my right big toe, all the polish flowed down and pooled all over the toe.  Luckily I had the good sense to have some tissues handy and was able to finish smearing the polish on that one toe and get the brush back in the bottle before it dripped on anything else.  It had started getting a little messy.

Being more careful to scrape excess polish off the brush, I was able to do the rest of the toes on that foot without making the mess I had created on the big toe.  I tried using my thumbnails to clean around the cuticle...like Timinka does...but only succeeded in getting polish on my fingers as well.  I discovered that I was operating under a severe handicap...I was short a hand.  Two hands is not enough.  Using one hand for the brush and the other hand to hold my foot in position, I found I needed that third hand to manipulate the individual toes, which were not cooperative at all.  Thank goodness the polish really was quick drying or I would have had almost as much polish on the bottom of my toes as I had on the top.

Applying polish to the left foot went better since I had learned lessons on the practice foot.  Still, I have one nail that only got polish on 2/3 of it.  It's such a small nail, though, that I decided it wasn't worth the effort to go back to it for that 1/3.  Really, I think I did a better job than a four year old would, but maybe not as good as a six year old.  There was polish all over my fingers and toes.  After cleaning them up a bit with polish remover, though, they look pretty good. 

Luckily, I can't see something that small from 5 feet away...the distance between my eyes and my toes, so it's O-kay!

Update: I was just rubbing HeelTastic on the bottom of my feet and found nail polish under my right big toe. It made me laugh!

And then there were three...

While it was disappointing that more of the usual suspects couldn't be at Carole's River House this year, the three of us who were there still just enjoyed being there.  We talked, laughed, ate, bobbed in the deeper spot down from Carole's house, shopped, ate some more, watched the absolutely awesome sunsets, stared at the stars (and the bats), teared up a few times and ate some more.  And we drank a "little" wine.  It was perfect. 

And to add to that perfection, a large, loud thunderstorm moved through on Tuesday night, dropping a little more than an inch of rain.  Except not at Leakey, which would have helped the Frio a bit.  The river is low and slow.  More so than I've ever seen it.  There wasn't a single tuber that came by Carole's house.  There might have been a few short runs possible in wider areas, but not where we were.

Since they couldn't float down the river for hours, visitors spent their days building dams, thereby drastically impeding the already minimal flow.  Carole takes every opportunity to tear down the dams near her house, at least parts of them to let the water move.  In the deeper spot, downstream from her house, where many of us have bobbed for hours in the later afternoon shade, dams created by the next door visitors were fairly tight and we noticed that bugs and other small floaters just moved in circles around us.  The dam builders were sitting in chairs in the river, admiring their achievement at basically creating a large stagnant pond by blocking off the river on both ends of that area.  Their design diverted most of the water to the other side of a gravel bar.  For some reason they seemed to think that blocking it off on both ends made it get deeper.  That doesn't even make sense. As soon as they gathered up their things and left, we moved to the upstream dam and removed rocks in a couple of places and watched the "stagnant" area clear out. 

Upstream from Carole's house other builders had created what resembled a hot tub.  In the photo it might look like no water is moving...but, it was.  We walked just a little further upstream and that's where I took the last photo below.

Bobbing on our Neo-Noodles in the deeper spot downstream

Carole said they call this type of sunset a "fire sky".  We saw this on Tuesday and Wednesday nights.

The "hot tub" some visitors constructed

So, here's how it went...

When I came to, lying on my back and totally soaked by the geyser shooting out of the rabbit...

Okay.  Wait, wait, wait.  That didn't happen.  Just kidding...but it could have if just one more thing had gone wrong.

I had finished my breakfast and was in the middle of a Suduko puzzle when I decided I needed to get outside and relocate the sprinklers that have been going nonstop since Monday about this time.  I started to put my visor on, but said to myself, "No, it will only take a minute.  I might just turn them off so I can mow tomorrow."  That should have been the first red flag.

I actually did turn off one of the four sprinklers yesterday as I had nowhere to go with it.  The hose it was attached to is one of the shorter ones and all the areas it can reach had been watered.  Plus, it seems the 'powers that be' have decided they are bored with my efforts to trick rain out of them by setting up sprinklers and left me high and dry (so to speak) on Wednesday and Thursday.

Deciding to continue to water a couple of places in the back and side yards, I reset those two sprinklers and moved to the front to the area across the driveway...let's call that the badlands.  I don't have a faucet out there, so I must use my longest hoses to reach the areas near the road.  I moved a sprinkler to include an oak tree, but then decided to replace it with an impulse sprinkler to do a better job.  So, walk to the faucet, turn off the water, find the impulse sprinkler on the end of the hose I turned off yesterday and put it on the hose in the badlands.  Walk back to the house, turn on the faucet, walk back to the sprinkler to adjust it...several times...before I consider my work done.  Head back to the house intending to walk out to the road to pick up the newspaper and put away the switched out sprinkler.  I decided to put the sprinkler away before getting the newspaper so I wouldn't have to carry it out there and back.

When I came out of the garage, I noticed a spot that had apparently missed getting any water.  It was a very small spot...a perfect place to use the rabbit sprinkler I have had for years, which, I think, had only been used to decorate...never to actually water.

The unwatered spot

I pulled the short hose to the unwatered spot and hooked up the rabbit.  When I turned on the water, however, there seemed to be something wrong as it was producing more spray where the hose was attached than from the top.  Deciding that some debris was clogging it, I turned off the water, unscrewed the hose and then looked for the screwdriver that had been on the counter in the garage for a couple of months.  It wasn't where it had been.  No problem, I reached for one of several hoof picks (?) that were hanging nearby and figured that would be even better than the screwdriver.  I went back to the rabbit and probed its innards for awhile.  Something fell out, so I decided I had probably solved the problem.  However, after hooking it back up and turning on the water, I saw it wasn't much better.  Now, the stream of water it produced looked more like the rooster tail of water you see when a wave runner is operating.  Turn off the water, unhook the rabbit, take it into the kitchen and look for more clogs.

That wascally wabbit

This time I went to the laundry room and got a crochet hook...similar to the hoof pick, but smaller.  More probing was futile...no more stuff came out.  But, I held it under the tap, hoping the stream of water would help.  I wonder why I even thought it might.  So, I took it back outside, hooked it up again and basically nothing came out of the top.  Hmmm.  There is a small screw on top (you can see it in the photo), which I decided needed to be turned, so I went back in the house and got a small screwdriver from the kitchen.  Back outside, with the hose turned off, I was able to loosen the screw the teeniest bit.  I turned the water back on and it was, indeed, a little better...but, not good enough.

I went inside, in search of the missing screwdriver (the one that had been in the garage), but couldn't find it or another one that would fit into the head of the small screw.  It suddenly occurred to me that the screwdriver was exactly where I had been looking in the garage, but behind the large pack of Coke that I just bought a few days ago.  And, yes, indeedy, that's where it was...behind the Coke and under the wine bottle paper bag.  So, I took it outside and, with it's larger handle, I had the torque needed to turn the screw.  Which I did.  And which helped.  A fine spray came out almost all the way around.  Just a little more, I thought...and leaning over the rabbit, I turned the screw just a little more.  And that's when the whole thing came completely unscrewed and the water (which I had left on) came erupting out in my face like Old Faithful.

Old Faithful

I was totally soaked.  My hair, which I had just had "renaturalized" and styled yesterday, was now a little crispy (from yesterday's hairspray), and my clothes were wet...the front at least.  Before I found the part that blew off, I imagined the lawnmower blade finding it and, as a final assault, whipping it into Wayne's truck or my car or a window...something bad.  I guess I'm lucky it didn't chip a tooth or put an eye out since I was leaning directly over it.

The good news is that that when I did find the little dealie, I noticed it had threads on it and I was able to easily screw it back into the rabbit.  The unintentional enema I gave it evidently cleared the innards of whatever was clogging it and bunny is finally serving a purpose other than decoration.

I already knew that my German stubborn streak prevents me from leaving well-enough alone.  You have learned, no doubt, that I can make a long story about the simplest things.  Oh, and by the way, I forgot to get the newspaper.