A Great Weekend of Dallas Comes to Austin

 

We really did have the best weekend. And, managed to cram a lot in actually. We played Uno (those folks from Dallas are ruthless and have the meanest rules. I loved it!)

And, we drank coffee and hung out at Spider House. Well, until the birds became a bit much. Poor Steve shrieked like Tippy Hedron and nearly ran all the way back to Dallas from Austin. But, to be fair - the birds were a bit much!! When they began dropping bombs, we had to call it an afternoon.

We walked through SoCo and even found some new outfits for the folks for the upcoming 80s dance. And, we found the classic candy store! That was fun. But, no takers on the chocolate covered bacon. Can you blame them? Ewww.

Cassy and Kevin got some shots of the Capitol. And, we did the standards of Threadgills, Magnolia Cafe, and of course, Kerbey Lane. 

All in all - it was very relaxing and we made some great new friends. I hope they all come back soon. Maybe in June? But, we plan to make it to Dallas in May and now I feel so much better about the journey, knowing there'll be some familiar faces on the other end of the trip.

Hope you're doing well. Let us know!

Round Up Weekend in Austin Texas

We had a great time with our friends Steve and Dave who visited from San Jose, CA. They brought friends from San Francisco and Seattle with them.

We went to the capitol building and looked around Austin. Unfortunately the eateries were not cooperating this weekend.

What usually is great fare, was a little poor this week for some reason with some of my favorite places having an off day. :(

There was Magnolia's with cold pancakes and even colder butter. So cold, the butter would rip right through the chilly cakes. Not a good representation of Magnolia Cafe. Usually the food there is hot and good. Then Hyde Park Cafe, known for their french fries could not seem to put together an entree that didn't have onions. Our friends that day all deplored onions (not me. I love em). And try as they might, they couldn't seem to do it. But the worst was Artz Ribhouse. Wow. That place just plain sucks. Do not even bother. They had no ribs, no chicken, no brisket, no turkey. Just burgers. Not really Texas BBQ do you think?

We ventured out and had a good time though. Here's some pictures.

Here's David and Steve in front of Ann Richards - smiling and then for some reason when I had them step over just a few feet they lost their smile under the picture of dubya (he has that affect on some people)

Georgio and Rob enjoying BBQ.

Take care.

Some of the boys outside of Ironworks

Quiet Weekend; Easter

Easter snuck up on us quieter than Peter Cottontail. Really. Someone said what are you doing for Easter, and I replied "I haven't thought that far ahead" And they said, "It's in two days". I was all. "Oh". I really had no idea it was so early this year. And, it was another reminder of this transition to Texas. We traditionally spend it with family hiding eggs and watching our nieces and nephews scramble to find the candy and eggs around the yard. It's annual admonishment day for me, since Rob reprimands me for putting my eggs too high or in too hard to find places. I sent out my Happy Easter text messages and received a funny response from one of my many athiest friends.

He reminded me it was "Zombie Jesus Day"

. So, for the remainder of the weekend we wished each other Happy ZJ Day.

There's a picture here of the serene little stream on the Whole Foods patio. I like going there on Sundays and hanging out with the birds. Although H.E.B. the major grocery chain here and the store with near-monopoly was closed. So because it was ZJ day, and few stores were open, Whole Foods was a zoo.

There's also a picture of my spoons that I'm supposed to be eating with. For those of you who don't know, I'm scheduled to have surgery in May. It's all tentative since the insurance company hasn't given final approval, but they've initially said it's OK and at least have helped with all my pre-surgery appointments.

So, in theory, I'm supposed to have the lap-band surgery. I'm looking forward to this since my weight is something I've struggled with over the last several years (over ten years now). It's recently gotten worse as I was called fatty by a group of kids the other day at a street corner. Not that it isn't true, but that hadn't happen to me before. And, the sober-stalker I've accumulated has been sending us mean text messages commenting on the weight. It's not that I've been in denial about it, it's that I feel helpless in this regard.

But, I'm sure you'll be hearing more about it as I'm sure there will be a long string of upcoming blogs related to my progress in this area. My family and others are very happy that I'll be having this procedure, and I'll blog my progress so that those I love in California will be able to keep up with how I'm doing.

There's a fun picture of split-faced Rob on here. And the last picture is of my friend Mike from Blanco. We were traveling to Obama headquarters here in Austin and it was so funny because I was following him and suddenly he stops in the middle of traffic. He ran around to the rear of the car and scraped the bumper. Mike was a huge Bill Richardson supporter but didn't want to show up at O.H. with a Bill Richardson sticker on his car. So funny.

Finally! - I Figured Out What it Was

I Finally figured out what it was!

I wasn't sure. It ran out in front of the truck a few weeks ago when I was driving from San Antonio to Austin. I had to pull over to the side of the road, because it scared me so bad I had to clutch myself.

Now - things have run in front of my vehicle before - Jack Rabbits, possums, skunks, racoons, snakes (althought not technically "running") squirrels, rats, dogs, cats, small children, even an armadillo. (oh and a stray gator in Louisiana).

But because I didn't know what this thing was - I was a little shaken.

Then, I was having lunch with another California transplant who was telling a horrendous story about how his dog killed one of these things. He didn't know what it was either. It kinda looked like a wild boar. Turns out it's not even a swine relative at all. A neighbor told him.. "yep. that's a hav-ah-leen-ah" (you know. in that slowish texas drawl).

Well, he didn't know what to do with it either. In Sacramento - I don't know I've ever had a dead Javalina in the front yard - stinkin up the place. (Apparently - they smell way before they're dead).

So my California-transplant friend called around to find out what one does when one has a dead Peccary fertilizing the lawn. It appears from our fine folks at animal control - or the Texas equivalent of - that what ya need isn't an animal control professional. What ya need - is a buzzard.

Now, I've seen these. When driving down a back road through hill country with the top down, you occassionally see them circling. You can even see them take flight from the road - which is a warning that there's one of them there Peccarys or armadillo's that didn't dodge a pickup truck fast enough. They are big birds! And ugly.

Sure enough my California-transplant friend waited and after a few days, like a prophecy spelled out ona ouja board, the buzzards came! In just a days time, no carcass left! So - there ya go. For all of my friends in California who wouldn't know what to do if a Javalina was in your yard or what was even is - consider yourself educated.