Category Archives: Barbara Ellen

Lunch at Bert’s

Posted on November 12, 2022 | Comments Off on Lunch at Bert’s

It was Barbara Ellen’s birthday yesterday and she wanted to eat lunch at Bert’s, where we used to go but haven’t in a while. We like Bert’s ambience of old, small-town Texas. Which you can still find in small towns but generally not in big cities like Austin has become. And, of course, the barbeque was very tasty. And the potato salad. Though I should have told the server to hold the sauce, which I don’t like. But I was too slow, a common problem of aging.

Comments Off on Lunch at Bert’s

Posted in Barbara Ellen, Texana

Tagged

The Aggie graduates

Posted on August 13, 2022 | Comments Off on The Aggie graduates

Barbara Ellen and I are back from No. 1 son’s graduation ceremony Friday in the basketball arena at Texas A&M. With a BS in Public Health. He’s mulling over graduate school. Possibly law school or an MBA. Was originally planning to go to Physician’s Associate grad school but is wavering on that. He has a 3.75 GPA, so he has choices.

Close to a thousand kids graduated Friday. Big for August. Must have been many more in May. (Aggieland has 60,000 students.) Twenty-nine from the Corps were swore in Friday and commissioned in the Army, Air Force, Navy and Marines. Two of them women. They asked for veterans in the audience to stand and there were quite a lot of us. More than a hundred, by my quick estimate. Not too surprising. This is Texas, after all.

Comments Off on The Aggie graduates

Posted in Barbara Ellen, Mr. Boy, Texana, Texas A&M

Tagged

Gall bladder removal

Posted on July 12, 2022 | 2 comments

Bar is already fretting about her laparoscopic surgery on Friday afternoon. But it will stop her debilitating gall bladder pain. Even if it takes a week to recover from mucking about in her insides.

UPDATE: By Sunday, the pain of the four incisions is lessening. We’re still irritated that the surgeon never briefed either of us after the operation. A young, but good, nurse helped do that.

2 Comments

Posted in Barbara Ellen

Tagged

Cataract windup

Posted on May 29, 2022 | Comments Off on Cataract windup

Met with the surgeon the other day who said everything looks good with my eyes and I can proceed to get new glasses. Ordered a regular prescription pair and prescription sunglasses for a whopping total of $2,000. How much of that is inflation? Will see the surgeon again a year from now. Meanwhile, Barbara Ellen will start with her cataract eye exams in a couple of weeks.

UPDATE: She passed. No cataracts. Just needs new glasses.

Comments Off on Cataract windup

Posted in Barbara Ellen, Cataracts, The Economy

Tagged

Big storm forecast

Posted on March 20, 2022 | Comments Off on Big storm forecast

On Monday, the 21st that is. beginning lightly in the morning but getting windier and stormier as the day goes on. Spring is mostly storm time for us, through May, and sometimes extending into the summer. Got a new snaky “sand” bag for the step-daughter to use, if necessary, on her new ground-level apartment’s front door. The concrete surround looks flat to me. with no drainage. And the storage room hollow door a few yards away has a sprung back panel (from sitting in standing water?). We shall see. Better safe than sorry. If it does rain hard enough for the water to pond, we’ll probably lose electricity for a few hours. Which is par here in liberal land.

UPDATE: Light rain most of the day, moderate wind and no electric outages at the Canyon. But half a dozen tornadoes seen on the ground around Central Texas, ones in Elgin to our east and Round Rock to our north caused major damage. No fatalities, minor injuries. The snaky sandbag didn’t get used but is ready for the next time.

Comments Off on Big storm forecast

Posted in Barbara Ellen, Weather

Tagged ,

Vehicle registrations

Posted on March 15, 2022 | Comments Off on Vehicle registrations

We never have received our new stickers, despite having paid for them: me, BE and step-daughter. So I’m headed for the county tax assessor tomorrow to turn in new applications for them and pay again, presumably. Ain’t government fun?

UPDATE: Learned the tax office is losing employees to Covid and other problems and is backlogged for everyone. Plus you have to make an appointment to see them and the earliest we could make one is April 15. That’s months after our stickers have expired. Only good thing is since the cops have been defunded locally, i.e. reduced in strength, we’re not likely to be stopped and ticketed.

Comments Off on Vehicle registrations

Posted in Barbara Ellen, Bureaucracy, Texana

Tagged

The wren

Posted on March 14, 2022 | Comments Off on The wren

A wren landed on the tip of BE’s shoe and cocked his head to look up at her. Then it flew to a nearby tree and sat watching her while she told it how beautiful it was. Thanks, Deb.

Comments Off on The wren

Posted in Barbara Ellen, Birds Watching, Mrs. Charm

Tagged