Waiting on the world to change

Well the seasons are changing, even in Houston, albeit slowly. And the times, they are a changing. And well the baby needs changing, but me, I think I have been changing too much lately. Okay, one thing is changing. I am getting whiter. No, not less tan,..just more white hair. Gray I did not mind so much, but the white that is bugging me. Just 2 years ago I still had a lot of dark hair in my beard and now it is almost completly white. My hair on my head is graying, or whiting. I once had brown hair with red highlights, it is still thick, but the brown is turning silver and the red has already turned white. I am still pretty unlined, partly because my face is rather full (read fat).

This really does not bother me as much as it sounds, but here is the weird thing. I know that I am 45, but inside, I am still 16. I look in the mirror and think, when did I get this old. I guess what is getting me, is that I am getting older, and so are we all. My aging is not so bad, but watching my wee ones (one of whom towers over me) grow up. I still want to take care of them like I used to, but that is not what they need now. And watching my parents grow old, that really hurts, because I know I am following. I look at some of the recent pictures and I see my uncles face looking back at me.

What is really funny is that one of my favorite songs is this classic They Might Be Giants song...older. give it a listen, and cheer up, we are all getting older.

A 20th birthday to remember

But I am glad it was not mine.



Monday was my son Nathan's birthday. An all around good reason to celebrate. But somewhat muted for him. You see Sunday night he lent his car to his older brother to run to McDonalds, less than a mile away, at about 10:00 Pm. Why he was running for food that late when I had just bought groceries is anyone's guess. Now some background to make this more interesting. Joe is a terrible driver. He has wrecked at least 3 cars, burned up the motors on two others, and wiped out on his bike, at least 4 times. He even hit a parked undercover cop's personal car with his motorcycle in a parking lot. Get the idea? When Nathan got his car last year, we told him, you do not loan your car out to friends, and you do not under any circumstances let Joe drive it. Ever. Now I shoudl say, this is not the first time Nathan let Joe borrow his car, but it is the last time for this car at least.



The story we got is, Joe is driving along, wearing his seatbelt, at a safe and reasonable speed, when he suddenly hears a pop, the car skids to the right, into a nearby ditch, hits the culvert and winds up facing the opposite direction. There is a dent in the windshield with blood and hair on it, he cut his lip (right on the stupid labret piercing),his entire left side is bruised, and he can't move his shoulder and arm very much at all. He calls Nathan, asking for mom. We hear Nathan ask, where are you? Mom is at the store, I'll call her. I am on my way. Those of us who heard this assumed that Joe ran out of Gas (Nathan did the same on Saturday morning) and Nate was taking him the gas can. Not so much. After a long period of no word from anyone, I call my darling wife. She says, hang on, I will call you back, and I say, just tell me what happened. She says, Joe totalled Nathan's car. Sometime later she came by the house to drop off whatever it was she had left for, and gives me a synopsis.



Long story short. Car, totaled. Joe, alive, but finally went to the doctor; possible broken clavicle, no work for a week. Nathan, no way to school or work, except to bum rides. Car gone, not even worth $100 to a junk yard. Another bummer is that Polly (I wanted to wait) had decided to give him his birthday present (cash from the family) on Friday since he was going to San Antonio to see his girlfriend. So, he has almost no money. You see, he has a good job, makes about 600 bucks a paycheck, and spends every last dime. So now he suddenly discovering that when you have no money for down payments, and no credit history, people don't just hand over car keys.

He is however being very kind to his brother about wrecking his car. And the funny thing is I wonder if that is indeed the unkindest cut of all. You see when you mess up and someone give syou heck about it, you can feel justified in being mad at them, and not having to deal with the consequences of your actions. However when someone is kind and understanding, sometimes that makes it harder, becuase then you have to deal with the awful feelings of guilt and such that come along with a big mistake. But then again, Nate also thought that insurance would provide him enough money for a new (used) car, or at least a down payment. Suprise! Not with just liability. But he did get off the hook for towing. At least he did not put on 500 dollar wheels and a thousand dollar sound system in a 2000 dollar car.

Actually a lot of interesting fallout has come of this. Polly has lost a lot of trust in these guys, and instead of trying to fix the situation, she is saying, your problem, not mine. Told you not to let Joe drive. Oh, and for the next foreseeable future, both boys paychecks go directly to Mom, who will dole out cash as needed, and by her determination of need is. May get interesting around here.

Anybody want a couple of post teenage boys? Cheap? They do work hard, when they are not banged up.

It's a beutiful day in the neighborhood

It really is, the weather is gorgeous. Warm, but not hot, clear, not too humid. Once the mosquitioes settle down post Ike, it will be delightful come evening. This is the time of year that makes being in Houston through the summer worth while. I know some folks talk about our humidity, but I have lived in the desert, and I have lived in the snow country. Say what you like about the humidity, I have never had to shovel it. Or put on humidty screen, unless you mean right guard. And here in the lovely west Houston area, we are treated to mostly quiet evenings, and pleasant places to gather and visit. In fact I think it is time I put in a firepit so that when the weather gets just a touch cooler we can sit out side and just visit and enjoy the nice weather. As I sit in my windowless office in the center of the building, hearing the roar of the File server fans as they cool the computers down, it almost makes me miss when I worked out of doors. Then I remember being in jeans and boots, pulling barbed wire or chasing escaped critters in the summers heat. No thanks. Oh, and anyone who thinks Houston does not get cold, get a map of the us, or better yet a globe one of the ones with bumps to show the mountains (topographical, I know). Now look from Canada to Houston, you see the two sets of mountain ranges that seperate the east and west from the middle of the country? those run north south, mostly, and work like a funnel to channel the cold winter air coming down from, or worse, across Canada. Hot and humid is muggy, sleepy weather. Cold Humid air is painful like knives when the wind blows. On the more bright side, our winters are maybe a couple of weeks of cold weather.

Yup, I do like it here, mostly. And like Ben Franklin said, Everyone Talks about the weather, but no one does anything about it.

Me I am getting my hammock, an umbrella and a blanket out, with a mosquito net a cold beverage and a good book. Wake me if another hurricane is coming.

Some things they don't tell you to prepare for in a hurricane

• Grind your coffee beans before the power goes out
• Find something to do while you are waiting for the storm
• get something to keep everyone occupied after the power is out
• Everyone eats the boiled eggs first, boil more
• The more stuff in your fridge/freezer the longer it stays cold
• The more stuff in your fridge/freezer the more you may have to cook, eat or pitch
• Cat food and cat litter, you don't have enough, trust me
• Wash all the towels first, and everything else. Really you don't know how long until you can wash again
• LED flashlight bulbs last longer. weirder light, but longer.
• Sleep while you can, you may not get too for a while
• Get to know your neighbors before the power is out
• Trim branches before the storm is close
• Grind the coffee before the power is out. Starbucks didn't open soon enough.

One Week Later

It has been one week since Ike took his hike through Texas, and all the way up to Pennsyvania. One week that seems short and long. Here on the west side, life is mostly normal, for example we only had to work 3 and a half days this week at my office. We have water, and power, cable TV, internet. All the tree limbs are cleared up, fences are being repaired. Mostly it seems to be back to normal. Then there are the reminders. I made a peach cobbler and the family wanted ice cream to go on it. My son and I went to the store, which seemed normal until we got to the frozen foods section. It was emtpy. I mean there was milk, bread, meat, produce...but hardly any frozen goods. Waffles were about it. I picked up some beer, some sodas, some Excedrine, but no ice cream. It seemed to really hit me again, how big this thing was. And how lucky and blessed we are. We lost no food becuase power came back. We had to boil the drinking water for about a day (but we had plenty of bottled in the mean time). Galveston is hurt, badly. But she will recover. Downtown Houston is reopening. Probably by the end of next week most of Houston and the surrounding areas will have power. Our lives will go back to mostly normal.

And that is what is most comforts and confuses me both. I mean people are back to worrying about the little stuff, when a week ago, we were excited to hear someone else we knew was okay, and had hot water. My home hosted a few guests, and friends, and some were too proud or something to come over. I actually understand that, you want to be in your home. But I have seen people back to their petty ways, griping about everything, and the ones that gripe the most, seem to be those that lost the least amount. I just don't get some people.

In the meanwhile, we are coping, going to work, seeing whom we can help, and I think all of us here are tired of the news and want just to forget it all for a little while.

But we shouldn't.

Shut up Tigger! or Ike part 2

It is 1 am and my fat cat Tigger is yelling at the door. He does this whenever it is raining, or windy out. He wants to see it for himself. I have tried to explain to him that this is a hurricane, or at least a tropical storm, but you know, it seems I am not getting through to him. Well the good news is that the rain is just now starting here. And the wind is not that strong. We have storms like this regularly. I know that power is out in some other parts of Houston, but the far west side is okay for now. Not sure how much more storm is headed this way, but I am going to try to sleep again. I am glad I did not do the coffee I was thinking about. But you know, I was going to lace it with baileys or kahlua anyway. Hope Dr. Tiki would approve (www.tikibartv.com, watch it and you will understand). As long as we have power and cable, I can blog and watch Stargate. and if the power goes out, I can still try to post short entries or emails.

Truthfully the worst part of a hurricane seems to be waiting for it to get here. On my facebook I put down the old 80's song by REO Speedwagon Riding the Storm out. Now it seems more like Tom Petty's The waiting is the hardest part. Yup, even in the face of a storm, I am a music geek. I thinki I will close this off for now, before I think of other songs for the storm.
Now where is my Ipod...

We don't like Ike...

Ike the Cat 2 hurricane is coming to town. Okay it has been coming for days, but it is finally getting here. The good news is that the hurricane is being downgraded to a category 1, and where we are at, probably tropical storm level. Good news for us. These Pictures my wife took at about 6pm show how the neighborhood kids are playing, and people are out and about. The clouds are coming in, and the wind was just starting to blow, about 10 or so mph. Now the wind is just starting to gust, and we are getting ready for the storm. No rain yet, but that is fine, I need the water in my fishpond!

This is a big storm, but I know that God is bigger, and that he is with us. If you are worries about the storm, pray, it is the best thing. I know that God's people have been praying, this storm has already done things that the weathermen can't understand. I expect a rough nite, and as long as power holds, I will keep on blogging.

BTW did I mention I have a brisket cooking in the oven? Even if the power goes out, I have a gas stove, and the gas grill, so we will eat well. Seems that in looking in the fridge, I have found about a dozen chicken breasts, one ham and four beautiful NY strip steaks. Yum. Yes I am cooking it all, since cooked food will last longer if the power goes in.

Anyway, more later, and take care of yourelf, faithful reader!