Just a note for new readers. This blog is a continuing story of our move to Texas. Getting used to a new environment, new culture, and basically, new everything, is quite an adventure and we want to share it, so we’re inviting you along for the ride. We’re becoming Texan! If you scroll down to the oldest posts, you can read from the beginning. Thank … Continue reading Welcome
I remember times before I retired, talking to people who had retired, and the various stories they told about being bored with retirement. They complained about not having enough to do, not knowing what to do, and some even finding a parttime job just to keep busy. Well it seems that Barb and I are not like that. We have so much going on, we … Continue reading Retirement Fun
As the title says, We have been very busy. We finally got our building built, which we’ve decided to call “The Barn”, because we already have one we call, the shed. Here’s a couple photos of the barn. We think it turned out really nice, and after next week we’ll have electricity installed as well as in our back porch. If it doesn’t rain, the … Continue reading Busy, Busy, Busy
Well it’s almost the end of March, and it’s been an interesting month. We’ve had temperatures in the 80’s and also in the 40’s. We’ve had over 5 inches of rain this month so our yard has been flooded again. We bought a water pump from Harbor Freight, and about 200 feet of hose to pump the standing water out, which worked pretty well. The … Continue reading March Update
Here’s a couple of humorous pictures I found on the internet about Texas. There is some truth to these ideas. Some Texans definitely drive fast. And the map, well, Texans are a proud bunch, regardless of what anyone else may think. There is much to be proud of here, as there is in any state. And there is much to be concerned about too, again, … Continue reading Speaking Of Texas
Speaking of becoming Texan, check this out! What could be more Texan than this? I’m kidding, I hope you know that. But you can actually buy this can on Amazon. It’s a gag gift. There’s not really anything in the can. I thought it was pretty funny though. We need to have a sense of humor about ourselves, don’t you think? Something very Texan is … Continue reading On Becoming Texan…
It’s a rainy, gray Friday. Our yard finally started to dry out from the nearly 8 inches of rain we’ve had since the beginning of the year, and now we’re getting more. Oh well, we can’t do anything about it, and I guess it’s better than drought. We have enough indoor things to keep us busy on the cold, wet days like, giving our laundry … Continue reading Things Are Happening
Here’s a shot that turned out nice. The crescent moon with Venus. This was just before sunrise with enough light in the sky to see the darkened part of the moon with the crescent. Anyway, I just wanted to show you this, as it turned out great. The greenhouse as before in Minnesota, turned out to be a real lifesaver for our plants. In Minnesota, … Continue reading The Greenhouse
As the title of this post says, we have dirt! The dump trucks came yesterday and delivered three truckloads of dirt for the foundation of our carport/woodshop. They were supposed to start last Wednesday, but because of all the rain we’ve had lately, the dirt was too wet. Carlos, our cement guy called yesterday when we were on our way home and said, “Where are … Continue reading We Have Dirt!
I’ve always been interested in photography. I once had a Nikon digital SLR, with all the gadgetry included but it was almost a hassle to get good photos because you had so much fooling around to do with the camera. Cell phone cameras have come a long way since they were first introduced and now, that’s all I use. So without further ado, here are … Continue reading Photography Issue
It seems we’re writing about the weather a lot lately. In Minnesota, in the winter, it’s usually cold and either sunny, cloudy, or snowing. In Texas we’re finding, the weather changes more than in Minnesota, at least in the winter. We just went through another cold spell, with low overnight temps at around 30 degrees F. We had 40’s for high temperatures and so we … Continue reading Another day, another weather Change
In the previous post, I wrote about the coming cold spell. Well, it came alright, and gave us three days of low (for Texas) winter temperatures. At six a.m. on the 15th, we lost our power and didn’t get it back until 12:45. Almost seven hours brought our temperature in the house down to 50 degrees F. Interestingly enough, not a word was communicated as … Continue reading Winter, no matter where you are, is still Winter
It was very foggy yesterday, January 11th, when I snapped this shot of a White Ibis sitting in the top of our neighbor’s tree. I thought it turned out pretty good. As most of us know, the entire country right now is facing some kind of serious weather. There seems to be storms and weather changes affecting most Americans this week, and that includes us, … Continue reading Again With The Weather
For the most part, the standing water we had in the backyard is gone except for a few spots. Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day and it really helped to dry things up. We still had to wear our rubber boots however, as the ground was squishy. As you can see in the photo here, today is starting out a lot differently than yesterday. It’s … Continue reading The Changing Weather
The photo to the left is our weather station monitor. If you look closely you’ll see it says January 6th, which is the date today, as I’m writing this post. It also says we have had 2.65 inches of rain this month, in the first six days! It also says it’s 66 degrees F at 2:59 pm. Another thing you might notice is that the … Continue reading A Beautiful Day
Winter is greenhouse weather in Texas. We still have some plants outside, cold hardy things like Split Leaf Philodendron, Aloe, Pansies, and other plants but most of our green goodies are in the greenhouse now. Yesterday we put a top on our workbench, plus a shelf for the fan and small pots. I think it turned out pretty nice. And it sure makes potting and … Continue reading The Greenhouse
On becoming Texan... 