When It Rains...

...It Pours!

This picture was taken when we went "toobing" on the Comal this past July.  I have no clue who the people are, we were just trying to get a picture of Jacob coming out of the tube chute (red area on the left.)  Part of the spill way can be seen on the upper right.

This picture was taken yesterday after some heavy and steady overnight downpours.  As you can see, or not see, the spill way is underwater and so is everything else!  (You should be able to enlarge the picture by double clicking on it.)

Meet Spike

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Spike is a resident of our backyard. We discovered he is a Texas Spiny Lizard. We don't know if he has any friends and we don't know if he is a he, but we usually see him perched on the tree. One day Jacob and the lawn mower had him scurrying across the yard. Spike is quite photogenic and he seems to enjoy the buffet.

Night at the Movies

Our normal Friday night flick at home, turned into Saturday night at the movies this week. Tonight we went to see, Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian. This movie didn't get good reviews, but we don't care because we loved it (we liked the first one, too.) It started out slow, messed with history and D.C. geography a bit; however, it was silly, crazy and funny!! Hank Azaria's performance as a lisping Egyptian pharaoh and bad guy, Kahmunrah, had us in stitches several times. While this movie certainly won't make cinematic history or win awards, it was good for a fun, family night at the movies. Jacob can't wait until it comes out on DVD.

Pennsylvania or Texas??

It's hard to tell...We took this picture while we were out driving this past weekend (unfortunately, you can't see the cows in the distance.) It's actually a view from LBJ's Ranch. We couldn't believe how much the country side looked like parts of PA! When Jim first visited here, he told me the area reminded him partly of San Diego county (the dry parts) and partly of PA (rolling hills and farmland), I must say I got the same feeling, however, don't be fooled....Texas has a flavor all it's own!

**Update**

Nothing like last minute changes. It was announced at 8 o'clock last night that school will resume tomorrow (Thurs., May 7). There are now four confirmed flu cases in the county, however, based on CDC recommendations for schools, the local districts have decided to reopen earlier than previously stated. Good thing we didn't leave town!

Too Close to Home?

There are 26 confirmed cases of the Swine Flu in Texas. Three more school districts have closed in the adjacent county of Guadalupe. Yesterday, the city of New Braunfels closed the public library and civics center, cancelled the Wein and Saengerfest (which we were looking forward to), closed Landa Park and postponed the opening of the Aquatics Center.


Until all the closings, I wasn't terribly concerned about changing the way we do things. We were stepping up the hand washing, using more hand sanitizer and not eating out, but other than that, we didn't plan to change much. Jacob was even allowed to play at his friend's house, since we know the parents well and know they are taking the same steps we are taking to lessen the germ spreading. However, yesterday when I went to Home Depot for paint, I found myself being very careful about what I touched, I did not get a cart and I used my hand sanitizer immediately after checking out. I also took a trip to the grocery store and for the first time I used those little wipes to sanitize my cart and I again, didn't hang around long in the store and sanitized my hands again as I was leaving. When I got home I washed with soap and water. I was even glad that Jim worked from home yesterday, because I didn't have to take Jacob on this errand running. I also wasn't so sure that letting Jacob play with friends was a good idea anymore.


Think I'm crazy? Going over board? So did I until this morning when my friend Georgia called to let me know that her son David had a headache and a 102 fever. Georgia is really protective of her boys and admittedly was a sanitizing maniac. Knowing this, if Jacob had asked to go play with John Ross and David, I would have said yes in a minute. It's scary!! I don't know how worried or how cautious I should be at this point. I've never been concerned about seasonal flu. Jacob and I have never gotten flu shots (Jim did in the Navy, but didn't get one this year.) So, why am I so concerned about the "pig" flu? Could it be because I'm in Texas and closer to the original source? Is it really that big of a deal or have I fallen victim to the media hype?

Swine Flu

Just in case anyone is wondering...Jacob's school district and the surrounding Comal county school district just announced that they will be closed starting tomorrow through May 11 due to confirmed cases of the Swine Flu. We are all healthy here and have been sanitizing and taking extra vitamin C. We don't know what this will do to the rest of the school year, since they were originally getting out on May 29. We'll keep you posted!

Go Find Your Redbox!

We love our movie and pizza Fridays. It's a great way to wind down from the week and start the weekend on a fun note. If we want to see a new movie, we usually end up renting a movie-on-demand from Time Warner. However, rental prices are now $4.99 + taxes. This adds up quickly on the cable bill! Thankfully, our friend Stephanie Hardy recommended Redbox DVD rentals in her blog. Redbox DVD is a kiosk found inside or outside major stores that rents movies for $1.00!! All you need is a debit/credit card. There are lots choices and new movies are updated on Tuesday. You can even sign-up on Redbox.com and get FREE movie codes emailed to you and you can reserve movies and then go pick them up! We haven't tried that part yet, but I'm sure Stephanie has. We checked online and Redbox is located in Williamsport at Wegman's, Weis and Giant. Little did we know they are also located in Summerville at all the WalMarts! Boy, we could have been saving ourselves some serious money!!

Now, for this past Friday's flick..."Bedtime Stories" was the movie of choice, thanks again to Stephanie's recommendation. We were a little leery about an Adam Sandler movie for Jacob, so we never went to see it in the theaters and we never heard much about it. However, this movie was cute and entertaining for all. We laughed out loud and Jacob even watched it a second time on Saturday morning. It was fun to hear his laughter coming from the game room while I was making breakfast. He's been repeating his favorite one liners ever since. Of course, the best part was it was only $1.00!!!!

*Snap* and a Year Goes By

Wow! It's hard to believe that one year ago today, Jim retired from the Navy!

It was a bittersweet day as we said good-bye to our "old way of life" and looked forward to our future. We felt very blessed to be able to share that day with family and friends...even if Jim made us all cry. At the time we didn't know where we would be living, what career path Jim would take or how soon we would be saying good-bye to our South Carolina home. Since then life has been filled with new challenges, adventures and blessings for our family. What a difference a year makes. I wonder what's on the horizon?

"Good Eats"

That is what Jacob said tonight at the dinner table. We tried something new on the grill, Drunken Chicken... aka Beer Butt Chicken, Beer Can Chicken. We recently had this at a Super Bowl party and it was really tasty, so we decided to give it a try. There are several recipes online for this, but we just winged it. I just rubbed the bird down with some seasonings and sprayed a little oil on it. Jim had to sacrifice a can of Guiness, but it was worth it! I had a five pound bird and it's completely gone. Jacob was picking the bones (he is a growing boy!) Our side dishes were garlic potato wedges done on the grill and a family fave, grilled asparagus. YUMMY! I don't usually take pictures of our food, but this being the first time trying this I snapped a few funny looking shots...

Before...

Cooking...

Time to eat!

We don't usually have dessert, but tonight we enjoyed strawberries over Bisquick shortcake. It was very "Good Eats."

Paper or Plastic...Neither, thank you!

I wouldn't call our family a "green" family, but we try to do our part. Over the years, we have kept up with recycling cans, bottles, paper etc. The exception was when we lived in Hawaii and they didn't have a recycling program...go figure. One of my pet peeves from way back is plastic grocery bags. Whenever possible I would opt for the good ol' paper bags...they hold more groceries and you can do a million things with a brown paper bag before needing to toss it. I quickly found out that most stores only offered the plastic...ugh! The military commissary was always notorious for double bagging and then putting the least amount of items in them. This drove me nuts. Years ago, and I mean YEARS AGO, when we lived in upstate New York, we purchased a couple canvas bags at the grocery store. We were poor and to get these "fancy" bags was a luxury as back then they were pricey and didn't hold much. Finally, I succumbed to the evil plastic.

Several months back, my friend Stephanie blogged about the new grocery bags you can get at Wal Mart, Whole Foods and just about every other grocery store (thanks Steph.) They looked promising, but I still remembered the price and size of those old canvas bags (which I still have.) One day Jacob and I stopped at HEB (grocery store) for just a few things and jumped in the self checkout line. It bothered me that I would have use plastic (I had been only using paper) for just a few things and then Jacob noticed the green HEB bags. He proceeded to tell me how bad the plastic bags were for the animals, especially the local cows. I decided it was time to try again and much to my surprise, they were only 99 cents! After that each time we stopped I would get another bag. We now have five and I love them!! They hold a ton of food, providing the person packing them knows what they are doing, and it's easy to carry several at a time and not have to worry about rips or tears. The only challenge early on was remembering to take them with us to the store (they are now kept in the vehicles) and then to remember to actually carry them into the store (Jacob made a few trips to the parking lot.)



So, even if you are not one to recycle and "going green" conjures up images of the golf course, I highly recommend these bags. I bet you'll love them, too!!

"Bond, James Bond"

Jacob got his first nickname over the weekend; it's "Bond". The older scouts all said his "accent" sounds like he's from England and thus the nickname. He said they kept asking him to say "Bond, James Bond" and "Shaken, not stirred." Of course, he had no idea why. They also recommended that he watch the movies. Hmm, I'll have to give that one some thought.

He wasn't the only first year scout to get a new moniker. His buddy Austin, the one with the peanut allergies was nicknamed, you guessed it, "Peanut."

Jim and I are thrilled that he had such a good time on his first hike and we think it's great that they liked him enough to give him a new name. We'll see if it sticks.

Ask and ye shall receive...

...either that or wash your car and it shall rain! Yes, we finally got rain! It wasn't nearly the amount we need, but it was enough to wash down the dust and make some mud. Too bad that it was also 80 degrees and windy yesterday and today, thus drying things up pretty quickly. They are predicting more rain for tonight, we'll see if it gets here! **Update** The rain got here and boy did it come down. Great light show. We had some high winds, but nothing too severe.

Texas Dust Bowl

Who likes dusting? Not me! Seems like I no sooner get things dusted in this house and I have to start over again. Dark wood furniture and black granite in the house shows everything! The makers of Swiffer and Orange Glo need not to worry about the economy, because I can single handedly keep them in business. I know excess dust is quite common with newly constructed homes and I'm sure getting the ducts cleaned would help. However, my duct work is the least of my troubles as we have a bigger culprit at work here. The San Antonio area is in a three year drought. It's pretty serious and it means the ground is dry, hard and cracking. To make matters worse, new streets and service lines are being "cut-in" behind our home to extend the neighborhood. Opening windows for fresh air is definitely not possible.

However, it's an interesting process to watch, and Jacob and his friends do love the rock and dirt piles it creates. Except, it's not like digging trenches in the Northeast or in SC. We are talking dry, hard earth and good ol' Texas limestone. What a mess it makes! I've seen green trees and shrubs turn powdery gray in one afternoon. It looks like nuclear fallout!

This area desperately needs rain for the water shed, farmers, animals and rivers, but selfishly I wish it would rain just to cut down on the dust! In the meantime, I will continue my futile efforts with my handy Swiffer and maybe even write a love note or two to Jim in the dust. We'll see if he notices.