If The Weather Doesn't Cooperate, Just Wait a Minute

The hot, dry summer and fall created confusion for many of our plants. The trees turned brown and shed most of their leaves a month before their normal time to drop, but when the rains came last month, some trees began growing replacements. Those new leaves displayed far more fall colors than is normal for this part of the country. The are also more than a month late, and only now have the trees seriously begun shedding their leaves.

The shrubs and flowers are also perplexed. Our single rose bush has been totally ignored since I planted it under an oak tree three years ago. I'm not a rose fan and only planted it because it was given to us. It normally bears a few pathetic looking flowers in summer, but by November it didn't have a leaf left, and I was certain it was dead. It has never bloomed in the fall, but this is what it looks like today, after after several frosts last week.

It looks as if the Texas sage is also getting ready to bloom again. It loves hot summers, but it's awfully late for it to bloom.

The heat killed most of our encore azeleas, but one keeps trying despite being baked all summer and now frozen several times.

Maybe This Would Work

http://youtu.be/X86nP4HYRbQ

Dogs and Storms

As much as I appreciate the rain we've been receiving recently, I have also come to dread the thunder that goes along with it. Not because it bothers me, but the dog is driving me nuts!

She tries to get away from the noise, but doesn't know how to do it, or where to go. If I let her, she will climb on my lap when I'm in the chair, or stand on my head when I'm in bed. She's too big to fit under the bed, and she didn't like being alone in the closet, but I'll be darned if I'm going to spend the night in the closet with her!

I don't understand what makes one dog instinctively fear something that another dog totally ignores. Our sweet Belle, the big, loveable Shar Pei we lost last year, had no fear of thunder and could sleep right through a storm, but if she passed gas and it made a little noise, she would leap up and run out of the room in a panic.

Dogs are wonderful, but sometimes very puzzling.

New House Progress Report

It appears we are on schedule to begin building our new house sometime in January. We met with the builder yesterday and picked up the drawings. They had a few errors and omissions, so we'll have to mark them up and return to the draftsman. With everything drafted on computers in this day and age, he should have them ready within a day.

The cabinet distributor also sent their detailed kitchen cabinet drawing and a bid, so now we have numbers to compare to other sources. Except for their installation cost, the price actually came in below my estimate.

December Potpourri

Despite all my good intentions, I've been terribly guilty of not posting regularly, but the world situation has been such that about all I want to do is assume the fetal position and whine. However, that won't help anything, so I'm once again going to try being more diligent when it comes to blogging.

Winter finally arrived in East Texas. We had our first frost last week, so I had to pick the last of my tomatoes and green peppers. I also picked one volunteer watermelon that was almost full size. I haven't cut it open yet, but I doubt it will be ripe.

Our severe drought was also eased with a few good rains the past several weeks and even more forecast for the next week. The soil is well soaked, so now we need a few gulley-washers to help refill the lakes and ponds.

Some of you know that we'll be moving back to North Texas as soon as we get a house built. We closed on a two acre lot on the outskirts of the tiny town of Ponder, in Denton, County, about nine miles from the city of Denton. We got a call from the builder yesterday that the plans are ready for review, so we'll probably be breaking ground soon after the first of the new year. It will be smaller than the house we live in now, and will be even more energy efficient. It will also have a backup generator and will be wired to make it easy to install solar power at some later date. Since the current president boasted that his policies will make energy prices "necessarily skyrocket", I'd like to be prepared as much as possible.

I've been slowly restoring the old '56 Plymouth I bought over a year ago. Most of the chrome parts have been replated and the stainless steel polished. The body has been stripped and will be taken to have the rust removed by a chemical dip. I had planned on doing that by now, but since the shop doing the work is located near Fort Worth, I'll wait until we move so I won't have to haul it twice.

The new home will have a large heated and cooled workshop, so restoring cars won't require suffering from extreme summer heat or winter's chill. Yes, I'm getting soft in my old age, but why suffer if you don't have to.

Ode to the Welfare State

If you think the welfare state is something new, this shows how old the political cancer is in this country.

http://www.oldhippie.com/forums/us-politics-chairmanobama-com/21620-welfare-state.html

I Must be on the List

Now that the Senate passed the bill that allows American citizens to be rounded up and held indefinitely without benefit of constitutional rights, I guess I'm automatically on the government's list...the list of potential terrorists. From what I've read, if you have more than two weeks worth of groceries stored, own more than one gun, have anti-government stickers on your vehicle, have posted comments criticizing the president, or have served in the military, you can make the list. Since I'm guilty of all of the above, I probably rank quite high on the list. Well, now you feds can add one more for insulting congress, because every senator who voted for that bill is a traitor to America. Yes, Texas' two senators voted for it and I will do everything I can to see them defeated for any elected office they seek in the future.
Edit: I'm reading conflicting reports that Rand Paul was successful in defeating the controversial part of the bill.

Speaking of those wonderful folks along the Potomac...today I received notice of the 3.6% increase in Social Secutity benefits and the insurance rate change that goes along with it. I will now be making $57 less net income per month after the raise. No, it won't require me to eat dog food, but I don't think I can stand another raise.

It's time to impeach Obama and the Supreme Court, recall Congress, fire every bureaucrat, and flush the moral and ethical pollution that permeates our goverment.