Category Archives: Rancho Roly Poly

Repeat of 1981 flood possible

Posted on May 22, 2015 | 3 comments

A good chance of rain is forecast today and every day of this Memorial Day weekend. It’s normal for us to get a lot of rain around this time of year and, for those of us old enough to remember, to think of 1981. And this year we’ve already had more than a normal May’s worth of rain and the ground is saturated.

So it’s logical to expect something resembling the flood of 1981. It won’t take the 11 inches in three hours of that downpour to sent creeks and streams out of their banks this time. They’re already almost as high as their banks.

We’re definitely expecting a repeat of the Back Forty’s infamous waterfall. Pretty but worrisome as the water from it rises across the patio toward the sliding glass doors of the family room. Once again, they will be barricaded by unused floor tile and, this time, by a large framed photograph of a gas station (don’t ask, I don’t know why) my brother-in-law sent me years ago. Finally some use for it, freeing up space in the garage for something prettier.

UPDATE:  We’re under a flash flood watch for the weekend.

MORE:  If you want to help with the larger disaster around the Austin area, including Wimberley’s devastation in Hay’s County, my favorite charity is the Salvation Army which has no high-paid administrators and dispatches feeding canteens to shelters. They don’t push religion, they just help. You can donate online at http://www.salvationarmyaustin.org

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Posted in Blogosphere, Rancho Roly Poly, Texana, Weather

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Adios Northwest Hardware

Posted on April 27, 2015 | 9 comments

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Can’t remember the last time I saluted a small business, but Northwest Hardware and its manager Tracey K. Lara were really special to our Northwest Hills neighborhood. NH operated here, by some accounts, for 44 years and we patronized them for the last twelve, never imagining they would close.

Much less close with so little fanfare. Not even a Going Out of Business Sale for their scores of loyal customers. They just folded their tent and stole away. Which, considering their many years of very personal service to all, is passing strange.

Northwest Hardware was the second business in that shopping center on Far West Boulevard to close since the center was bought out (and tastelessly remodeled with a minimalist look) by Goodwill Industries, the “charity” which gets all of its merchandise for free and is known for paying its execs big bucks while short-changing its disabled employees. One business closing is a coincidence. Two is a trend. Who will be next? And why?

Good luck, Tracey! We’ll all miss you and we’ll be much poorer without Northwest Hardware.

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Posted in Rancho Roly Poly, Texana, The Economy

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Good news for kids

Posted on April 23, 2015 | 1 comment

When Mr. B. was twelve and he was playing seventh grade football at his middle school, practice often ran almost two hours after school let out. Then he liked to walk up to the J and lift weights in the gym. I told him that was fine with me and just to be home before dark.

When I mentioned his new freedom to an old Army friend who had never married or had children, he replied, “I don’t know if you should do that.” Too dangerous, he said, times having changed from when he and I were told the same way back in 1956. That’s what you get, I told him, for watching so much television news.

And so a (to me) disturbingly large part of the country seems to believe. When, in fact, according to a child trends analysis of CDC and FBI data by the WaPo, as their headline says: There’s never been a safer time to be a kid in America.

Via Instapundit.

UPDATE:  It’s more dangerous in school, where scores of women teachers are raping 15-year-olds.

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Posted in Mr. Boy, Rancho Roly Poly, The Culture

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Hail storm

Posted on April 19, 2015 | 2 comments

Surveying the Back Forty and the roof this morning, we see that last night’s hail storm (video is someone elses, not ours) battered so many leaves from the rancho’s trees that they cover everything. At one point last night there was so much hail on the patio it looked like drifting snow.

The pea-sized hail lasted only about ten minutes in the midst of a downpour. Had it been longer or the hail bigger I suppose it would have been worse. Lakeway, out west on Lake Travis, seems to have gotten larger. How badly ours damaged the roof shingles remains to be seen. The last time they were replaced was in 2003 after a similar hail storm, but the ice was larger then as I recall.

Of course the power went out shortly after the hail stopped. The power always goes out in Austin when there’s a thunderstorm of any ferocity. It was out from about 9 to midnight. Calculate that inconvenience into your thinking if you’re planning to move here. And then, please, don’t.

UPDATE:  Roof shingles look okay. The ones we can see. Need to get the copious amount of tree leaves blown off to be sure.

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Posted in Rancho Roly Poly, Texana, Weather

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Passover cooking

Posted on April 3, 2015 | 2 comments

As usual, since I’m retired and so at home all day long, I have the duty in cooking for Passover tonight. I like to read the fancy recipes but I rarely make them. I try to keep it simple. Because it doesn’t always turn out that way.

Last year was fine on the chicken. It’s hard (though not impossible) to screw up a roasted chicken. But the sliced potatoes and zucchini would have been better if they weren’t scorched. And the Israeli salad was too runny. I forgot the natural juices of too many tomatoes would add to the lemon juice and so forth.

I can always buy macaroons for desert. Or similar. Maybe I’ll try a pie this year. Or not.

A good bottle of Kosher wine. But not sweet. I can’t stand the sweet stuff. An dry Israeli wine should do it. Long as it has a K on the label.

At any rate, I have vowed to do better. I hope. Won’t be long now before time to begin. I’m already getting nervous. Shoot, I ought to be a champ at this by now.

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Posted in Israel, Rancho Roly Poly

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Crohn’s Disease

Posted on April 2, 2015 | 1 comment

Mrs. Charm, who went back to work full time this month for the first time since last September, still is happily in remission from her lymphoma cancer. But a colonoscopy to discover the meaning of a shadow on her CT and PET scans found that she has Crohn’s Disease.

Since she has no symptoms, her gastroenterologist told her this week, one of her options is to do nothing about it. Change nothing. Take nothing. There is no cure and some of the available treatments could cause her lymphoma to return.

Two friends who have known people with Crohn’s vary widely in their understanding of it: one has struggled with it all her life, the other has hardly noticed it except during periodic “flare-ups.” It seems to be a very individual thing.

So far, in Mrs. C.’s case, it’s also a silent one. And, other than seeking a second opinion in the next few weeks, she is leaning toward doing nothing about it—no dietary changes, no nothing—until she has to.

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Posted in Cancer, Mrs. Charm, Rancho Roly Poly

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Back in the warm

Posted on March 24, 2015 | 1 comment

Forecast to hit 80 degrees F today at the rancho, for first time in months. Yee-haw. We’ve had more rain than usual, as well, though May is our wettest month, on average.

I thought the damn winter would never end. And it hasn’t in some places up in Yankeeland. Bring on the global warming. I’m more than ready for something besides chill.

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Posted in Rancho Roly Poly, Texana, Weather/Climate

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