A Day in the Wilds

This bee was having a good time on what Suna tells me is ice flower. The larger version on Flickr would make a nice desktop.

Calling Central Texas is a bit of an exaggeration. Would you believe a big exaggeration? All right, it’s an outright lie.

Suna wanted to go for a ride today. Her main objective was Old Oaks Ranch, a place where they raise their own alpacas and make their own yarn. It has a yarn shop (no big surprise there), and they give lessons. We watched a woman show how to turn a pile of raw alpaca fur into a felt fedora. I placed some pictures of the alpacas and other pictures of the ice flowers with bees in a Facebook album.

Then we went to Wimberly, which has become something of a tourist trap of late, in search of a guitar shop that seems to no longer exist. Wimberly is a town that was built to hold about a thousand people. Probably two-to-three times that number are there at any given moment on a weekend.

Finally, we went on our lovely drive through the hills. We didn’t take any pictures of the route, just enjoyed the vistas and wild flowers.

We wrapped up the date with dinner at the new Monument Cafe in Georgetown. The food is as good as ever, and they have expanded the seating. The exterior of the building looks exactly the same as the old one. One interesting design choice: instead of men’s and women’s restrooms, they have a series of large private restrooms. While nice, I don’t see how this choice can do anything other than raise operating costs. I would rather they worked on keeping the prices reasonable than try to become some hoity-toity spa-like thing.

A Nice, Cold Can of Pepsi One

I’m also grateful that I can drink colas again. Pepsi and Coke both market products made with sucralose. And who am I to argue with Mariah Carey.

Photo source: Hollywood*Rag

I love winter in Central Texas. While other states—even the more northern parts of Texas—fight blizzards and frozen winds, winter is usually much milder here.

We do get the occasional snow flurry or, when it’s really bad, an ice storm. But most of the time, it’s really kinda pleasant.

Winter turns my truck into a refrigerator. I go out at lunch and retrieve a wonderful Pepsi One from a box in my car. I pop the top and get nice, cool tastiness. Not like the summer when the heat sometimes causes the ends of the can to bulge most worrisome. (I have never had one of the cans give way in the heat, but I wouldn’t be that surprised if it happened.)

So for now, I’m grateful for the cooler weather enjoying and the soothing Pepsi.

Country Roads

When you’re driving in Texas, it really can seem like the road goes on forever.

Country roads, take me home

To the place I belong

—John Denver

After an embarrassing time in church yesterday—due to having different tasks on two songs that I couldn't distinguish by name—Suna, Beccano, and I went for a drive in the country. Although, the time could have been spent more productively, we all had a good time driving and listening to Radiohead and Pete Townshend.

My major discovery was that Parmer Lane now extends north to at least TX 3405, possibly to TX 254. (I didn’t take good notes because I was driving. None of the online map tools show this extension yet, probably because I isn’t technically finished.) Suna already knew this from a wool-buying expedition with Jody. Unfortunately, the name changes at some point from Parmer to Ronald W. Reagan Blvd. Sigh. Republicans!

Grateful Monday

Last Friday, Suna gave my blog a You Make My Day award. I put off responding to this so that I could have it be my Grateful Monday today. Thank you, Suna. You make my day, too. That's what I’m grateful for today. All the myriad different ways you make my day.

Thanks, too, to everyone whose blogs I read. Apparently, one of the obligations that goes with the award is to pass it on to 10 other bloggers who also make your day. Sigh! I don't think I read 10 blogs. But here goes—My blog winners in no specific order, except (of course) that Suna comes first:

Yes! Suna Knits

Of course this isn’t the blog that really makes may day—at least not usually. But it is Suna’s most public blog and the only one I’ll link to from here.

Saranda’s World

This is Saranda’s personal blog. It tracks her family life, and I really enjoy the pictures she posts. The picture flowers from her back yard was one of the most stunning I have ever seen.

Hand In Hand with Sam

Sam shares her family and life in the far north country—at least from a Native Texan’s view it is extremely far north. I always love the Friday Feast, which Suna also blogs, and the pictures.

The Wonderful World of Stephanie

I have just started following this blog, so I really don’t know what to say. I have enjoyed her travel journal as she explores Italy.

It turns out that everything else in my Bloglines queue is either inactive or a news feed.

Burnin’ Sky

When the sky already has so many beautiful colors, why would you want to change it?

The sky is burnin’

I believe my soul’s on fire

You are,I’m learning,

The key to my desire

—Paul Rodgers

So I worked from home all day today and got everything done.

I had lunch with Eh?—one of my former managers at ALE. It was pleasant, and we caught up on the last couple of months over a nice Chinese buffet. Her sister is being sent to China for a couple of months, but that isn’t why we chose Chinese. She knows of an opening in the technical support side of the not-record-company where she works.

After work Suna, Beccano, and I went out to eat. TubaBoy was at a debate thing, so the rest of us could eat Chinese food without whining. Notice that is two Chinese meals in one day, showing how deprived I have been feeling. We ate at the China Wall, a favorite of mine for a long time. The tables and booths are comfortable. The atmosphere is quiet and respectful. But most important: the food is great.

One of tonight’s specials was Basil Chicken. Not only do I believe that basil is the perfect spice, I like chicken. Adding to the flavor, a couple of jalapeño peppers were sliced across the width to preserve the seeds. I could have eaten this dish until I popped. Suna had the Lemongrass Chicken, which is served with broiled onions—delicious. Beccano had Beef in Oyster Sauce, which is served on a hot plate and finished at the table.

Friday’s Feast

Appetizer: How many times per day do you usually laugh?

As much as possible. I don’t count. I love jokes (even if I have heard some variant of them already). Spontaneous quips are delightful. As the Reader’s Digest column says, “Laughter Is the Best Medicine.” Laughter is good for your respiration, circulation, and heart—not to mention your psychological health.

But I don’t care for so called humor that is based on somebody being proud of their stupidity. One liners on this premise when the person recovers and makes a good, intelligent joke later are OK. But so much of today’s humor is like the “Ow! My Balls” bit in Idiocrasy, predictable, intollerant, and plain stupid. Characteristics the entertainment industry seems to confuse with humor.

Soup: What do your sunglasses look like?

I don’t think I currently own a pair of sunglasses—other than the darkened visor of my helmet. I tend to lose them or break them. And I am too cheap to have a second pair of prescription glasses made¹, which would involve constantly changing between the two any way.

Salad: You win a free trip to anywhere on your continent, but you have to travel by train. Where do you go?

Nowhere. I have always wanted to take the AmTrack to San Diego and then up the west coast to Vancouver. From there I would like to take the TransCanada to the east coast where I could pick up AmTrack again. Take it down the east coast and across the south back to where I started. The whole trip would take about three weeks.

Main Course: Name one thing you consider a great quality about living in your town/city.

Tolerance—at least when compared to the rest of the country. I know that the Southwest is supposed to have that rugged frontier spirit of “Let ’em do what they want on their own property.” But there are very few Texans left, and those who remain have become woefully bigoted Republicans. Maybe they always were (even when Texas was a Democratic state), but we were spread out thin enough not to get in each other’s hair, except in the towns and cities.

Dessert: If the sky could be another color, what color do you think would look best?

I like blue. Not that I am sticking with the status quo; Blue is one of my favorite colors. Besides, I wouldn’t want to change the chemical structure of the atmosphere enough to change the color of the sky. We probably wouldn’t enjoy that very long.

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¹ Suna and others may point out that I do own more than one pair of prescription glasses, but neither of them is tinted. This situation came about because I lost my first pair. About three months after I had the second pair made (which was a while after I lost the first pair), I found the lost pair hanging in a redbud tree in the backyard. Since the last place anybody remembered me having them was in a different town, their arrival in the backyard remains a mystery.

Ink’s Lake Hike

The Aftermath

Because that’s the way my mind works, I’ll start at the end of the story. Here we are all (except for Lea, who took this picture) exhausted after a three-hour tour of Ink’s Lake State Park. Yes, another three-hour tour—actually closer to 3.5 hours, this time on foot. The younger folks were kind enough to slow down and wait for the old fart who took a lot of pictures as a good excuse to catch his breath. Suna did much better on the walking bit, in spite of getting a tad overheated.

Vista: It’s More Than a Buggy Operating System!

We frequently stopped to rest...er...take in the glorious panoramas of Central Texas in a rare hydrated Spring. All-in-all, we covered just over five miles in the mid-afternoon sun. Luckily, we carried plenty of water and sodas (we carried out all of our trash, thank you), and Greg fed us delicious close-out chocolate bars.

Cactus Flowers

The best thing about the hike was the flowers. Even the cacti got into the floral act.

There are more pictures than I can include here. Suna has posted and commented on more of them in her Flickr account.