§ Sunday Drive...

It was a quiet morning. I got my work around the house done, and decided to take a walk. I drove to an unpopulated area, walked along the bay side of the water for a while...watching the sky for threats of a storm. After a short walk, I thought I'd better turn around and head back to the car before I got soaked! It began sprinkling lightly on my shoulders and I picked up my step. By the time I got back to where I parked the car, I was pretty wet, the winds picked up and the clouds burst open! I dried myself off with a towel I carry along in the car, and when I was finished, the buckets of water was falling at a torrent speed. I couldn't focus on the road, so I sat in the car. Played a game of scrabble on my phone, hoping by the time I won, the storm would subside enough for driving safely. It then, dawned on me...the car was parked on the road's shoulder, I just may get stuck!!!  Stopped playing foolishly, I drove toward the dead end, so I could make a U Turn safely; hoping there were no vehicles in my path [I could barely see beyond the car's dashboard...couldn't see the front of my car at all]. I got turned around, couldn't see the lane markers, creeping along. I wasn't able to see the traffic lights until I was just feet away. Eventually, I was forced to pull over at a park and sit it out! I texted Bud and told him it would be a while before I could safely take off again. Several cars were keeping me company; all waiting for the storm to subside!!!!

It finally rained, but not nearly enough to break the drought.

§ 40 Days and 40 Nights...

We have a rain gauge in our back yard. It measures 6 inches of rain. Last week when the heavy rains poured from the sky, it was full within a couple hours. I went out in a break from the rain, and emptied it...yes, 6 inches full. By the time the rain bands ended Friday night, it was another 5 inches measured. That means in the week of July 7th during one day, we received eleven inches. No wonder it flooded. The worst part was the sewer system in and around the Coastal Bend; it wasn't working...it wasn't draining fast enough. We couldn't run water from the faucets or flush toilets. What a mess. The river and creeks were above flood stage, and the ground is still filled with puddles here and there. In the dark, I went out on the porch by the street light, and stood in about an inch or rain...the rain water was headed to the garage and the front stoop!!  And no, we don't live in a flood plain, but when we get inches of rain in 30 minutes' downpour, the drainage system bogs down and water floods the streets..then into the yard and if it continues, into the garage and through the doors to the house.  These photos are taken about an hour to two hours of heavy rain.  Before it finished that day, it was about 6 inches from our garage... 

1] just before sunrise, 2] looking from our front porch to street.  3] our sidewalk and submerged mail box, --there is a street below the water,  and 4] across the street, downed tree on corner.





In the meantime, I decided to do another sketch. Long ago, I spotted this online and when I see something that is of possible interest in drawing what I see, I saved it. This one was just irresistible. I had to try it. It made me smile. A smile much needed in these still trying times with economy, lack of government assistance and those scientific "break thrus" that really mean nothing, since one break thru changes over just a few days' time. And the news...oh the news, don't get me started. Okay...anyway: This time, it was total fun; eye lashes and all!! And, admittedly, the easiest and quickest drawing I've ever done. Just lines and round circles. Very little shading, and literally "quick on the draw"...

Ostrich

Named her - "Ostraleah" aka Ostralia


Ostrich Facts of Interest:
1] Ostriches have the largest eyes of all terrestrial animals. Their eyes are even bigger than their brains.
2] Ostriches have three stomachs. In addition to these stomachs, they also have an extremely long intestine, which takes 36 hours to digest food.
3] They have a long and sharp two-toed claw that is capable of killing a predator as dangerous and strong as a lion.
4] A newborn ostrich baby can be as big as a chicken.

source

Will continue with trolls next post.

§ Tumultuous...Disorderly...and a Bit Confusing

This past week has been a turmoil in our quiet neighborhood. From across the street, to down the street, to ON the street!!

First, across the street. I don't know what it was all about, and I don't WANNA KNOW what it was all about, but around 2:30 one morning, I was awakened by my bedroom lighted up and walls flashing red, blue, and white. I knew something was up. ...the 1st amendment of the constitution tells us we're okay with our stand to protect ourselves.  Some day it may be a necessity, so you may understand where I'm going with that statement.  Or should I take cover on the floor? It seemed very quiet out there beyond our exterior walls. So, instead, I grabbed my cellphone and switched on the flashlight software to guide me thru the darkened house, thru the kitchen and into the garage. There I shut off the phone's flashlight and crept to the garage door, hoping to not trip over anything and make noise... and I peeked through the window. The street light on the corner illuminated the house across the street....5 cop cars!! Cops in uniform everywhere. Some in the neighbor's driveway [which by the way, the patrol units were blocking his vehicle]. All remained quiet and eerie. I watched. I took a few photos [in case of police brutality...you wonder just where I got that idea?!!] and then watched the neighbor, handcuffed and placed in the back of the SUV...shoes off so he wouldn't run. About an hour later, they all left...taking the 'prisoner' away. I went back to bed. Bud, literally, slept through it all.  Corpus Christi has high crime in some areas, but for our residential area, not so much...a very safe one.  And quiet.  Usually; up until this week.

Now, on the street [and in the yard, driveway, on the sidewalks]. Two days in a row we had heavy temporary flooding! Heavy rainfall. Storms with high, tropical force winds at times. All I could do was sit inside, dry, watching the water build up and hoping the sewer system along our street could withstand the amount falling...enough so the houses wouldn't get flooded inside. Once, from the front porch,  I watched the water accumulate on the street, making it a river. I watched as the continual rain fell and it started to cover the street's gutters, rushing to the drainage openings like a tempestuous brook. Then, the water crept up to the sidewalks, covering them, making them invisible.  As the walk up to our porch and front door began to disappear under the deluge. The storm passed to the north, but the thunder rumbled most all of the remaining day and into the night...only to have another swell move in the next day. Same thing!!  After  those two days, the Texas Gulf Coast was hit by the large dust storm carried across from the Saharan Desert.  Sky was a bit muddy looking far north of us and warnings of hazardous conditions for those with breathing illnesses. 

these last two photos are from the cellphone at 8x magnification through the hurricane shutters and screens - water on the glass/screen

And last, down the street.  I was busy, doing laundry, when a lot of commotion outdoors called me once again to go and inspect what's going on this time!  As I looked out the window, with dryer lint still in my hand from cleaning the filter...billowing smoke was coming from the peak of a house just two houses away from the police raid the other night!!  I don't know how they 'rate' fire alarm calls, but if it's by the fire trucks showing up...it was a 4 alarm fire!  Two ambulances, and many many firefighters.  The largest of the trucks, hooked up the hose at the hydrant and all work began.  Soon, the smoke was gone, but naturally, they all stayed...probably putting out embers and then sticking around to make sure no other hotspots existed.  Now, I do know that a nice, and very courteous to me, young man and others live in this house [one of my favorite houses in the neighborhood by the way...almost castle like with turrets and stone, and arches...tall, pointed roof-tops].  Anyway, I must apologize, but I sound like the Trumpster right now....I saw no Hazmat Suits anywhere, so no meth lab gone awry. Sorry, but it did cross my mind.  I want to blame my sinister thoughts on the media!  That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. Later that afternoon, I walked around the block and did a bit of reference work only to see what looked like a chimney fire - or damaged, torn chimney parts?!!! In June? With temps at 7:30 in the morning in the 80s?!! Also, one front window was torn out...maybe a cigarette on the couch or in the bedroom?  The lady across the street from this house told me no injuries or fatalities. Honestly, it really is a quiet neighborhood.

Then, turning the corner, I snapped a photo of OUR house. And, I thanked my lucky stars it wasn't ours in dire straits. And one reason I took a photo of the ambulance is that it and I are quite an intimate pair. This is the one that has taken me to the ER with heart attack and SVT...both times! M6 [we're good buddies!!]

_ _ _

One more thing then, I'll let you go...

BREAKING NEWS:  The World Health Organization has announced that dogs cannot contract COVID-19.  Dogs previously held in quarantine can now be released.  To be clear...WHO let the dogs out.

I lied...NOW it's one more thing...

Bud hung up a huge world map in the kitchen and gave me ONE dart and said:  "Throw this and wherever it lands, that's where I'm taking you when this pandemic ends."  Turns out, we'll be spending two weeks behind the refrigerator!!

§ Tropic...

Blogger & my internet service provider has been giving me issues this week...I can't publish comments or get my admin to cooperate.  Hope this clears up soon.

Monday morning around 2 a.m., thunder and heavy rain! Then, it stopped and the storm front moved out. By 6 a.m., another front moved in behind the one previously and stayed around for hours! Heavy downpours, and flooding with a tornado warning telecast on my phones weather alert. All I can say is "I'm glad Bud and I waterproofed and resealed the low-lying patio door when we did!!" It's gonna be wet in our yard for days. And of course, Monday was June 1st...the first day of hurricane season. There are predictions out that this is gonna be a very active year for named storms. I'm looking forward to it....NOT!! About as much as I look forward to finding a huge worm in a apple I just bit into ...half the worm is gone! That's how much I look forward to this 2020 season.

I may or may not, depending on the health and virus situation in the upcoming months....that is, October to be exact. I pray the worst is over by then, but, one never knows what lies ahead. This weekend, I received an email reminding me that it's time to fill out the info once again. The American Heart Association's Coastal Bend Heart Walk is being planned, and will go on. So, I went out and registered for this year's event; pledging my monetary donation no matter what the virus outcome will be. I just have to wait and see what the COVID-19 situation is in just a few short months from now. It took me having a heart attack to stop taking things for granted and realize the importance to stay healthy and heart strong. This will be my fourth year participating. I feel good about it in so many ways, I can't begin to say. Raising money for such a worthy cause as cardiology research and new ways of helping others [lifesaving science] in years to come is a priority for me these days.  You could say "I have my heart set to walk the 5K in the Fall"!

Here in Corpus, we got a lot of heavy rain this morning, so...I made some heart healthy muffins for us this weekend.  There were three bananas getting overly-ripe for us to peel and eat, so I took 'em out of the 'fridge and set out everything else...bowls, mixer, muffin tins, and recipe ingredients to mix up a batch for us to have while watching a movie in the evening.  Yes, we both like a 'midnight' snack before bed.  Not the best idea, but we do have them at least a couple hours BEFORE bedtime.  I don't use recipes  per sé.  Actually, I just tend to throw things together...a little bit of this, a lot of that, some spices, butter, vanilla.  Mash bananas, mix ingredients, add pecans and bake until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.  Bud has said many many times, "if you measure stuff, it never comes out as good."  Thing is I've enjoyed cooking and baking for decades [even before marriage], and I can pretty well tell 1 cup of flour or 1 cup liquid without dirtying utensils.  My sister says I have a gift [often times she'll call me on the phone to ask for cooking help...for instance, one time she was making a pie crust from scratch, and the recipe said add enough shortening to make the dough pea-sized before rolling out...she didn't know the size of a pea]?!!! but like I said...years and years, it all comes together for me without much ado.  And, they're good. 



Care to have one? - - - - -

And, it's Saturday afternoon as I type this up getting it ready to pre-schedule publishing on Sunday. I'm thinking of Sandra from Mad Snapper [and all Floridians] with the newly developed [and early for the season even tho May is becoming a 'new' target for the beginning] Tropical Storm brewing - and hitting the Florida Coast. Be safe, and hope you're not in any danger.  Now, off to read and then crochet a bit...or vice - versa.

§ This, That, and Chat...

We received a nice rainfall Wednesday! A much needed rainfall. It wasn't enough to even come close to breaking the drought...but, every little bit helps. I'm sure glad we got the hurricane shutter back up when we did. Something this week went right! lol The winds were quite strong, nearly hurricane force...lots of branches came out of the pecan tree. Now, we have another job of work. Won't take long tho. Thank goodness....did I say how humid it is out there right now?  My job of work list was shortened by one because...I didn't need to go out and water the patio plants in all the containers.  I just sat at the window, with the front room door open, and listened to the downpour, and enjoying the fresh, sweet, rain-drenched fragrance.  As I type this up, tho, the traces of any evidence of moisture is gone, and it's steamy.  I'll take it.  If only that would happen once a week, for about 3 months, maybe it would be sufficient.  The water shed [two reservoirs] is not even up to 50% capacity.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I will continue to wear face masks while the state of Texas begins to re-open.  I sat down and did another project on my list of jobs for the day. I followed the Surgeon General's face mask tutorial video since we're not supposed to buy/use the N95 masks in order to save those for stock piling for the first responders...makes sense to me.   I kinda tweaked his 'pattern' so I could add a filter behind the mask for more protection.  [It's just a bandana folded with elastic hair bands.] I didn't want to use rubber bands as he suggested, I wanted color: red bands for my red bandana, black for Bud's, and beige for my other one. I did three. One for Bud and two for me. A red and white bandana, and a black and white for Bud. My 2nd one for myself is a camouflage print. I thought since it's camouflage, no one will be able to see I'm wearing it?!! Nah...it's just that those three bandanas were what I had at home in my vanity drawer.  All three were completed in less than 10 minutes.  Easy, and no sewing! 

I also had on my list of things to do; installing a back-up search engine since Chrome and Firefox gave me fits days ago. One that doesn't use anything connected to GOOGLE!!! I know that Google tracks every movement with the use of Chrome [it tells us in the "I agree" part when you install its updates, etc.] And this new backup went on my cellphone too. It's so fast without all the garbage of Chrome/Firefox. Pages open instantly, even sites with heavy text and images. It's awesome. The new [new to me] browser/search engine combined is DUCKDUCKGo ----Another item on the 'to do' list was to get out online and order two books....Bud, one, and the other for me.

I then, crocheted a bit. I got behind on that for a few days, with going out hunting down migrant birds and doing at home tasks this week. Next to last task, work on fingernails with the file and emery board. The last thing on my list was to scrub the two bathrooms.....done!

Oh, and to end the post today...a posy for y'all, Not sure, but I think this is called a butterfly bush. I saw it while out walking along Packery Channel park the other day. If it isn't, and you know what it is...by all means, correct me. It's purple...that's what counted when I saw it. I love purple and blue flowers best.

§ Les Miserable Here...Quite So!!!

It's February already...my 70th birthday in 8 days [on the 9th]. I don't feel that age at all...closer to 90. [kidding]

Well, short of sounding like a broken record, it rained here all day yesterday…again. I confess, it’s getting very old! I want sun!!



And as the drizzling drops of dreary continued to fall, I made us a crock pot of chili for dinner. We’ll have chili coming out of the wazoo now. I’m sure I’ll end up freezing most of it. It’ll be good for this damp weather mood I’ve been in.   Altho, it’s not cold. The early morning temp on Thursday was in the high 50 degree range, and it climbed to mid 60s. But, I’m not much on walking [or singing] in the rain. Gene Kelly, I’m not.

Been doing a little more cleaning. Waxing picture frames, cleaning the glass on each frame…then, I did my bi-yearly chore of cleaning the walk in closet. Getting things picked out to go out in bags for donating. I did drive to the store to drop those bags off, and as usual, they have you walk through the store, to the back, to donate. I spotted a framed piece of art that depicts a favorite part of our country…for me, anyway. New Orleans’ French Quarter. I brought it home with me, along with a couple more $1 items…

To keep myself busy, I’ve also been rounding up papers for income tax filing in a couple of months. That’s simple, but still a chore I never look forward to doing.

After my rant on this miserable weather, I thought it best to leave a little smile....


tree in a park