Sinkhole in Guatemala: Giant Could Get Even Bigger

This looks like some mad photoshopping, but it is the real deal. Check out National Geographic's article, there is a link at the top of it to a handful more photos of the sinkhole.

Sinkhole in Guatemala: Giant Could Get Even Bigger

Purple Gate

Purple Gate

Over the weekend G decided he would like the gate to be purple... so here it is!

Star Wars at City Hall

Star Wars at City Hall
Originally uploaded by gordyt

Had Gordy scan and post this fer my little Star Wars fiend... Hoot

:-)

Man oh man! Never realized what hard work painting a house could be! I've painted houses before, but I was much younger and I suppose that makes a lot of difference. Along with all my other aches and pains due to going up and down a ladder I'm experiencing some crazy numbness and tingling in my right hand. I did some web-searching and it would seem carpal tunnel syndrome is the culprit. In the last week I've been waking up numerous times with my hand completely asleep, so I twist and turn and try to position myself in such a way to prevent it from reoccurring. Nothing seems to be working. I can't help but feel a twinge of bitterness about getting older - lets just say I am not feeling graceful.

On the other hand, the house is coming along ever so slowly and it is starting to look good. Yesterday I had a couple people stop on the street to tell me how nice the new paint looks as I was painting the porch posts white.

From my vantage point on the small ladder on the front porch I saw the stray tortoiseshell momma cat at the day care down the street with her kittens. Momma is looking pretty hungry these days and her six kittens aren't helping. As she was attempting to lead her entourage across the street a truck hauling down the road hit and killed one of the kittens as I watched. The remaining family has relocated under my back porch, which is yet another bad choice made by the young mother cat. Old Beaux doesn't pay much attention to small critters, but Noodle and Chi are cat killers... Noodle for the most part will mind me when I shout NO! but my trying to stop Chi only seems to fuel her little fierce schnauzer kill mode.

I'm afraid old Beaux is on his final lap of life. He wants to drink water non-stop and then has to pee a river every hour on the hour. This can be a sign of kidney failure or diabetes, as well as Cushing's disease. I love the old dawg, but don't have the patience to happily spend all my time with him letting him in and out of the house all day. I've been trying to limit his water drinking to a normal amount and it has been frustrating because he is pretty determined. Yesterday morning just to see how long he would drink if left unattended, he drank for almost 10 minutes straight... then threw it all up in a sudden blow-out. Oddly enough, it seemed to curb his desire to drink so much the rest of the day.

So this is pretty much my entire update.

On news that is not mine, but I have to share it... both Chelsea and Jamie finished their last semester with flying colors! I am so proud of the two of them. They have worked real hard toward their educational goals. Looks like our family is going to have both a public health/sex-ed genius and a biochemist to boot.

Gordy Jr.'s birthday was this past Thursday. They have been keeping him real busy changing up their work schedules quite a bit trying to work around the heat they are experiencing in the desert right now. He has not had a chance to call us since he went back from the last leave.

Okay, that is EVERY thing I have to tell you about. Off to go do my chores now!

Still painting the house!

*OMG* This is day five, and gastrocnemius muscles (Didn't know that, I had to look up the scientific name for calf muscles) are screaming. The right one actually feels as if I pulled it. I am so tired of lugging around that big huge ladder and crawling in an out of the bushes with it. What the hell was I thinking when I decided to paint dark paint over light and nearly white over dark?!! As I paint the fascia and soffit dripping in sweat, all I can think of is that I have to come back again to lay down the second coat.

I do like how the new paint job has changed "the feel" of the place.

Gonna try to get pictures today in the afternoon when the light is good so you can hopefully make out the actual color. It is basically a dijon mustard kinda color. As the light changes throughout the day it can look almost beige, yellow, or even a light orange.

Today...

...we are going to an estate sale at the old Lambrecht house. This is a beautiful old house that belonged to the old mayor and his wife. The place looks like it was plucked straight out of New Orleans. I'm guessing that Mrs. Lambrecht must have passed away, she had survived her husband by a few years. Don't really want to buy anything, just want to see the inside of the old house.

Here's a photo I took of the house about a year or so ago:

Tonight, G, Michelle and I have a date to go see Ironman 2 @ 5pm. I really enjoyed the first movie and am excited to see the second, the previews look great.

Hope everyone out there in the world who happens by here has a wonderful Saturday!

The backyard animal kingdom...

...is acting wacked.

As I approached the lil' pond to feed the goldfish this morning I noticed one fish out of water, motionless, hanging against the side. I thought "great. the raccoons have discovered a new food source." Visions of the rampant death and destruction I discovered one morning at the other pond flashed through my head.

Then I realized that the fairly large white goldfish seemed to be attached to some kind of stick. Moving cautiously closer, I realize it is the water snake on the bank who has caught a fish by the head and is possibly in the process of contemplating HOW it is going to swallow this thing that is at least 5x the size of it's own head.

About this time, Chi the rasta-schnauzer (aka luvmuffin or stinkycheeze) has taken notice of the snake on its fishing expedition, and dodges toward the snake, who freaks, as I freak calling to Chi to get away. The snake drops the fish back into the pond and the fish swam away. I did not get a look at the injuries it may now be sporting on its face.

Then as I sat down on the front porch to check out the neighborhood blogs and have my coffee, suddenly, a blast of machine gun-like noise makes me jump out of my chair. I look up and it is a Red-bellied woodpecker pecking/pounding away on an aluminum rafter. The rafter is part of an unfinished cover-structure G made for his little sail boat. The bird continued to peck well beyond the point of realizing the thing is not wood and looked up at me as I laughed at him, as if to say "What?!!"

Update on G in the Hermann Memorial Half-Ironman

There is a website that has "live" updates on the athletes in the Half-Ironman. I've been waiting to see what G's time is at the next checkpoint of the bicycling leg... I don't think the stats are quite as live as the word "live" would indicate.

I can see that he swam the 1.2 miles in 46 minutes. I can't find anything on the news this morning about the wind and water conditions, but i do know that event-holders cancelled the swim leg of yesterday's races because the choppy water was too dangerous. They said they would not cancel today's swim leg no matter what.

Here is the website that has the athlete tracker, G's number is 1002.
http://ironman.com/events/ironman70.3/lonestar70.3?show=tracker

He is listed as 34th place of his division (men, age 50-54)...GO G!

I keep trying to post something...

...but I just can't think of anything remotely interesting to write about, which is saying a lot as it seems the scope of what I find interesting is broader than many would consider to be so. I'm going make myself do this now.

Today: Fed the critters, ate breakfast, washed dishes, roasted coffee, watered plants, called Lonestar College and had to leave a message for the advisor, prepared strawberries for shortcake, gave a recruiter a glowing review of a coworker from my last job, cleaned the pond filter, moved some pond rocks around, let the dawgs out and in and out again, etc.

Now I think I will take a shower.

It seems I have good days and bad days, and yesterday/today have been sort of a ho-hum low-spot in my energy and outlook. It is pretty lonely here all day and I feel kind of useless. As frustrating as the stuff at work got, at least I felt like I was intellectually good at something.

Yesterday I was feeling pretty crappy about myself, questioning my decision about school again, my eyesight drives me nuts and i wonder if I am making a bad decision about the BFA in painting...my thoughts keep drifting back to the Monet painting at MFAH that Monet did later in life when his eyes were failing him. It is dark and dreary and contrasts much with the body of work he became famous for.

The logical side of my brain is screaming that I should work toward something more in line with what I was doing at my job. Some strong coding skills would definitely provide a return on the investment. When it comes right down to it, I'm really floundering inside...pbbbffft. I don't mean to sound like a total loser caught up in a pity-party for myself. At least I know these moods seem to come and go... and this too will pass.

Tonight Gordy and I are going to try and check out the art exhibit at M-Squared. We haven't seen Max and Michael in quite some time and I could use a dose of Max's wackiness.

Gordy will be participating in his first ironman this Sunday down in Galveston. He is real excited about it. He won't be trying to win any records, his goal is to pace himself and simply complete it. I did some research about good snacks to eat during these things and found a gold mine of recipe's from Dr. Allen Lim. So I will be putting together a batch of things sat/sun for Gordy to have. I don't know yet if I will be able to go down there and watch Gordy cross the finish line, I would really like to see him accomplish this as he has worked long and hard to achieve it.

Entrance Gate to Joshua's Native Plants

Entrance Gate to Joshua's Native Plants
Originally uploaded by Michael-Ann

Today I FINALLY got around to checking out this nursery located in the Historic Houston Heights. WOW! What a neat little place... amongst the many unique and beautiful plants are fountains and antiques and folk art stuff. I had a wonderful time browsing around.

I could not resist bringing home a few treasures from the place: some Thai Basil, a small sassafras tree, AND a hybrid thornless blackberry bush :-))

I think I have made a decision about school. How does a Bachelor of Fine Arts (studio) in Painting sound to you? I've always wished I had some formal training. I feel very self-indulgent with my decision. I've always had this feeling that art was not something I should consider a means for making a living, but G keeps insisting I should not think about having to make a living and go with this.

For my minor I'm still trying to decide: visual studies, marketing, or management.

Hello there blog... Sorry I've been away so long

I'm just gonna spit out a few random thoughts. I feel like I'm in the beginning of a new chapter of our (G & My) lives. Today G left early this morning headed toward his first day at his new job downtown. Neither one of us slept well last night. I have to say this feels a little odd after working together every workday for the last 12+ years. In a small way, I feel like I'm being left behind in the dust of a talented man zooming ahead in his career. On the other hand, I am very excited for him. I think this is the first time in a long time he has had the opportunity to work along side people fully-qualified in his same field.

For me, I am very fortunate that he fully supports my going to college and getting a degree. It would seem a degree is about the only thing standing between me and being taken seriously as a candidate for a good job. The crux of the matter is, if we are to invest time and money into my getting a degree, it should be a solid decision on my behalf, and well, I don't really know what I want to be when I grow up. Biology, computer science, art, marketing, business management, either appeal to me a great deal, or seem to be logistically wise as far as rounding-out my current career trajectory. That is to say in some way or another each is a hat I could see wearing.

I have a few weeks before the next semester begins. I feel very anxious about making this decision. Shall I keep on the same path, or make this an opportunity to explore a new one?

I could just focus on the short-term and the fact that I need to take some remedial math courses before moving forward with anything. Never made it past Algebra I in high school with all my delinquent behavior.

*sigh*

On an utterly unabashed different topic... Have been having a wonderful time the last week spending time with both G's. I love them so much, as I do my whole family. If I can be blessed (heathen that I am) I am truly blessed in the form of family. So many different, intelligent, humorous, talented people. On a daily basis I am in some way or another inspired to be a better person by at least one member of my family. I don't believe many people can claim this.

I have to wrap this up now, even though many sentences above could and should be written about in much deeper depths. I still have cages to clean and birds to feed. Then I suppose G jr and I will figure out what needs to be accomplished today on his list of things to do.