Can’t Complain

 Thought I would let you know that Texas is out of the deep freeze. Actually we had a day this week where it was 80 degrees a far cry from the -2 that led to so much misery around the state.

Millions of people were without electricity which meant they had no heat and to make matters worse their water went off. Some were lucky and had a fireplace...but wood was sold out everywhere and bottled water was just as scarce. Then when the pipes thawed they had broken and homes were flooded. 

We were lucky and didn’t lose power and our water was off for only half a day. When it came back on we had to boil it before using for several days. All four of my sisters were also fortunate and didn’t lose power or water... our next generation didn’t  fare as well.

A niece in Arlington which is between Dallas and Ft. worth lost power as did a niece in another suburb of Dallas. Two of our daughters further south in Texas also lost power and an ice coated tree fell and took out the pump to our daughter’s pool in Austin, but the worst damage was at my nephew Kyle’s in Dallas. They had just completed an expensive remodel of their master bath. Power went off and the newly installed water heater froze up, burst and fell though that bathroom ceiling into his office.

Our Piracantha vine on our wall froze and is turning very brown.

The man who takes care of our yard says to leave it alone. He assures us that new sprouts will shoot out soon and the dead stuff will fall off. I will let you know.

That is about all of the news around here. What has been happening at your house?

Thawing out

 

Yes this is an actual picture taken somewhere in Fort Worth. 

We are finally after a whole week thawing out, but our troubles are not over. Water mains are breaking all over the state,

and  if you have water...you must boil it before consuming (my kitchen).

Photos like this show that some have not lost their sense of humor.

(Hopefully this is not the real snowplow in Austin).

and  others were outraged when  one of our politicians tried to slip down to Cancun.

(having second thoughts, he did turn around and come home)

We never lost power through this whole trying time..but millions did. I must say 

it has been heartwarming hearing about all of the neighbors helping neighbors.

How is your weather?

Not all of these photos are mine.

Freezing

 Good morning. I was going to tell you about arriving in Austin and being surprised that my daughter and two little granddaughters had flown in from North Carolina to surprise us!...but things have become a bit more news worthy since we arrived home.

We have an unseasonal sub zero cold front that has descended over our entire state. The temperature here in Ft. Worth this morning is -2 and that is the true temp...not wind chill.

We have had four inches of snow and more expected tonight and all day tomorrow. The state is simply shut down. We do not have the equipment down here to handle this. There are millions without electricity...and they have had to open emergency warming centers all over the state. For now we are one of the lucky ones and have power, but we are trying our best to conserve. We have closed blinds and unplugged unnecessary appliances, and they have asked us to lower our thermostats to conserve energy.

Not sure if you heard, but due to ice on roads we had a 133 car pile up just north of downtown on ice covered roads that resulted in six deaths.

So that’s the news from here...stay tuned.

On To Our Destination

 Only about an hour south of Salado,TX (see previous post) we arrived at our destination where daughter Katy and family live. Have you ever been to Austin, Texas?

Maybe it requires a bit of an explanation.

Yes, it is our state capitol...and

home to the The University Of Texas but beyond that, it is a city that is hard to describe. Sitting almost in the center of what  is a very conservative state, Austin is liberal, young, and high tech. They are proud to be described as the live music capitol of the world, fiercely proud of their barbecue, tacos and where hipsters are rumored to out number cowboys.

It’s a beautiful city with rolling hills to the west and  downtown sitting on beautiful Lady Bird Lake which is one of the many lakes formed by damning up the nearby Colorado River.

It’s the only place that I know where one of the big attractions is watching the 1.5 million bats flying out at dusk from the Congress St Bridge, (although I am not sure who counted them). Look closely. Those are tourists on the bridge, and bats in the air.

I always get a kick out of seeing the many custom signs scattered about a town chock full of small privately owned businesses.

You could spend all day just going on a weird sign tour.

.

Now that’s an idea for a new business!

I know they are very proud of the number of vintage neon signs they have,

and their minding boggling number of food trailers

and trucks, where you can buy anything from cupcakes

to breakfast tacos.

 So bear in mind...when you see this slogan describing Austin...it is not considered an insult.

To be continued

Feeling Free!

It has been two weeks since our second vaccine shot, and I feel sure you know which vaccine I am speaking of, so we felt free to head south and visit some of our kids and grandkids.

First stop was Salado, Texas, a small village of sorts between Waco and Austin. A great place to get away from it all. To read  more about Salado, go HERE.

There are some wonderful bed and breakfasts in Salado. Tom and I stayed in this one with a group of friends years ago.

It has been so popular over the years that the owners  have added several cottages on the property.

 There is a nice collection of others to choose from as well,

including this quaint old Inn that was the site of part of the festivities when one of President Bush’s daughters got married.

Although this is the one we were headed for.

 It has a great restaurant and we were  able drive from  Ft. Worth in time to  meet  Tom’s youngest  daughter and her family for breakfast. They are lucky enough to live in little Salado.

You can click on image to enlarge.

So many of the buildings in town  are deemed historic.

I was impressed by cozy fire that welcomes you in the lobby,

and happy that the grandkids would pose for a picture before we left.

Next stop Austin...more on that later.

I give up. Font size keeps changing. Maybe it’s my iPad..but I suspect the new blogger foremat!

The Near South Side

First of all, I would like to wish everyone a very Happy Valentines Day.

 

 This is my attempt at crafting. One of my sisters who seems to be the crafty one in the family roped me into coming over one day to make mesh wreaths. I am not a real big fan of mesh wreaths but went anyway. My creation will hang on the front door at least until next week...

We are having beautiful weather, so Tom and I took a drive around town today. Very cold weather is headed our way next week and there is even talk of snow. 

We hadn’t been over to the near south side of town in a while so we scouted around there.This area was a very desired location to build  luxury homes back in the late 19th century. Then, it was followed by a time of old homes being torn down and warehouses popping up. It was also a  pretty undesirable part of town. Very few of the old mansions are left  standing. This one seems to be some sort of business. Everywhere you look there are modern condos and apartments being built,

 due to the  neighborhood’s proximity to downtown, which  is why it is called the near south side .

A group of attorneys renovated this one for their offices.:

This one is also a business. I am going to have to look up The Center for  Healing  Arts and let you know what that means? Or do you already know?

I hopped out to take a picture of this pretty old church and was surprised by the sign. Guess it has become a law office as well.. 

Heading back west we stopped at the University book shop to buy Tom a baseball cap. He always has a cap on his head so they wear out pretty  quickly. A final stop for an 🍦 and we are home for the day...Heading out on a short trip tomorrow...more on that later.

Their Days Are Numbered

 Good Morning. Tom and I received our second dose of the Moderna vaccine on Monday. Today is Wednesday and I am happy to report that we have had no problems with reactions, except maybe a sore arm. My younger sister had a day of feeling sick with her first dose and same thing happened this time. Chills, fever, aches and a general feeling of tiredness, but she reports she is beginning to feel better this morning. It is all worth it folks....so don’t let news of people feeling sick afterwards keep you from getting these life saving vaccines!

Now back to the subject at hand...

When an area has been deemed a hot real estate market new

homes appear overnight especially if the area  is a close in neighborhood .

Both ends  of a nearby block look just alike to me. Seems homes with white painted bricks are all the rage! I can’t figure out why all of these homes which were all custom built homes are the same color.

Oh dear, what is this? Seems right in the middle

of the block are two smaller frame houses, probably built in the 1930’s 

and I think their days are numbered.

Yep, this guy arrived this morning. Hmm I wonder what color the new homes will be?