March 20, 2009
My cousin Kim said I needed to visit Ennis before deciding where I want to live. Ennis is one county over, a pleasant drive through rolling hills in farm country.
Kim recommended that I start with the town square, but on my way there I spotted a sign for a visitor’s center and museum, so I stopped there first. Ennis was founded as a railroad town in the later half of the 19th Century, and trains still roll through the town all day every day.
I paid my $2.00 at the old railway ticket window, then Bill donned his conductor’s cap and we began the tour. Bill is 83 years old, legally blind and mostly deaf despite two hearing aids. He’s spry, witty and possessed of an old-world charm seldom seen these days. He jumped the rail in the replica railway office and struck up several “typical working poses.”
One way that railways competed was by providing a fine dining experience for their passengers. The museum features a display of some of the beautiful china that was used in the dining cars.
The scale model replica of the old switching yard is quite impressive. Someone put in a lot of hours building it. Being a rairoad town put Ennis at the center of commerce for this area. Everything from food and farm supplies to lingerie and school books was transported via rail by the turn of the century.
Numerous displays throughout the museum feature antique tools of the trade.
A local railroad buff donated a large collection of scale model trains.
I spent so much time in the museum that I didn’t get to see much of the town. Ah, well - guess I’ll just have to go again another day!
[tags]Ennis, museum, railroad museum, railroad town[/tags]
March 18, 2009
I couldn’t resist taking a picture of this car outside the trade show we went to last week. I spent a few minutes talking with one of the officers who was present. He said a number of seized vehicles are being used by the police department. There are still plenty of other vehicles left over though, so they hold auctions regularly. I told him I might be interested in looking to their auctions as a souce for another vehicle some time down the road, as long as they inspect it thoroughly and remove all of the previous owner’s belongings first. 
[tags]cars, drugs, police enforcement tactics, property seizure[/tags]
Hokulele arrived today, a day ahead of schedule. Henry the hunky Brazilian stopped his car carrier out front, blocking our narrow country lane. Not a problem, since there’s no traffic out here. No one needed to get by during the half hour or so that Henry was here.
He fooled with some ramps and drove her traveling companion out of the way (blocking more of the street, but … oh well.)
He fooled with the carrier some more and bridged the gap between Hokulele and freedom.
She didn’t need exit signs to show her the way and was purring happily as Henry drove her into the driveway.
That’s when the trouble started. Poor Hoku did not make the journer unscathed. Her rear bumper is totally mangled.
There’s a scrape on her roof as well. A mud guard that should extend below the front bumper was torn up and only a small piece of it remains attached. There are various other scrapes, knicks and dents. Henry and I compared paperwork. An inspection was done in my presence when the car was transported from my house via a tow truck to the dock in Honolulu. The diagram made from that inspection shows a couple of small scratches and dings. Another inspection was done on the dock in LA before Hokulele was loaded onto Henry’s transporter. The diagram from that inspection is cluttered with damage notations. Henry is in the clear, but the transport company isn’t. I’ve left a voice mail for them and will find out tomorrow what they intend to do. The shipping documents and contract are so full of disclaimers and double-speak that I don’t know what to expect. I’m going to be highly dispeased if they offer anything less than complete repair.
[tags]car, car damage, car transport, Saturn, travel[/tags]
Posted by skeet @
6:06 pm •
Travel,
Just stuff •
March 15, 2009
Winnie the pooh doesnt know what to do
Got a honey jar stuck on his nose
He came to me asking help and advice
And from here no one knows where he goes
~Return to Pooh Corner~ Kenny Loggins
Lance has taken to stealing my iced tea whenever I turn my back on it. Last night he found himself stuck.
His girlfriend HVAC (pronounced Havoc) wanted to help …
… while Booger, Peaches and Piglet stood by in amusement. Lance finally shut his mouth and quit trying to grab ice cubes, so the dilemma was solved and I was able to help him emege to freedom.
Lance has learned all kinds of new tricks in the week that we’ve been here. For instance, he likes playing leapfrog with HVAC, who has decided that she’d rather just be friends. She’s only a puppy, but we’ll have to separate them if she starts showing signs of maturity before she gets spayed. I’m not sure if Lance realizes he’s not making a real connection, but HAVAC might invite that connection once she’s a little older and we don’t want to pass on Lance’s heart condition to a new generation. That’s Max on the right, trying to see through his fringe and figure out what’s going on.
[tags]dogs, pets, silliness[/tags]
Yep, it’s a little colder in Texas than it was in Hawaii. I’ve been wearing my “uniform” every time I step outdoors: I found the coat at a thrift store & Cousin Kim loaned me the hat and gloves. I’ve got long johns under my jeans but you’ll have to take my word for that. It was warm when I got here last week, but a storm blew in a few days later & I’ve been cold ever since. The rain stopped yesterday, so I’m hoping it will warm up soon & we’ll be on our way to spring.
My furniture and personal belongings haven’t left Hawaii yet and there’s some doubt that they ever will. I’m hoping I will find a way to get everything here. If not I’ll have to replace all of my clothes, kitchen items, office furniture, tools, hardware … everything. Not a happy prospect, so I’m trying hard not to think about it right now.
I don’t see a new Self Portrait Sunday post today at Midlife Musings, but that’s okay. Cass has a bunch on her plate these days, but Sunday isn’t over yet, so she might post in a bit. If she doesn’t, that’s okay, too. I’ve missed a whole string of self portraits lately and that’s just the way life is sometimes. We’ll live.
[tags]cold weather, meme, self portrait[/tags]
Posted by skeet @
9:20 am •
Photos,
Meme •
March 8, 2009
Do I look any different? I’m a new person, one of that peculiar species identified as “Texan” (once again.) I arrived here on Friday and am getting settled in at my cousin’s home while I shop for a new home and await the arrival of my furniture, car and other goodies. The last few weeks were grueling and the trip itself less than comfortable, but Lance and I are ready to start building our new life. Checking in on the Self Portrait Sunday fun seems as good a place to start as any.
[tags]meme, moving, self portrait[/tags]
Posted by skeet @
6:09 pm •
Photos,
Meme •
February 12, 2009
I’ve had several small injuries lately - stubbed toes, minor cuts and bruises. This morning was a bit more serious. I tripped over something and fell down the front lanai steps onto the blacktop carport surface. My arm was full of grit and gravel, so I took the shower from hell to flush it out. I’ve got the wound coated with ointment and covered now. I don’t think the skin broke on my back, but I can’t really see it well. I think it’s just scraped and bruised from contact with the stair rail as I was going down. Happy thought of the day: the lanai is only three steps above the carport. It could have been worse. The fall winded me so I just lay there for a minute or so chanting “No broken bones, please. Please, please, please no broken bones.” I’m pretty sure my request was granted, but my back and arm still hurt like the devil. If they make greeting cards for this, maybe some of y’all could send me a little good will because I could sure use all of that that I can get these days! I found a whole folder full of greeting cards in my rolltop desk when I was cleaning it out. Most of them are from when I was in the hospital after my gut rupture. I spent a pleasant hour going through them and remembering all of the wonderful people who were so supportive at that time. I had just moved here from California when I got sick, so most of the cards were from church family in San Francisco, folks I was very involved with at that time but now haven’t seen in almost fifteen years. That’s the nice thing about greeting cards - the email ones get buried or deleted after a while, but the snail mail cards can be saved forever and revisited whenever you want to reminisce.
I think the accident happened because I’m very tired and it’s made me careless. I’m also a bit stressed. My realtor will be coming by Tuesday to take some showcase pictures of the house and things are still a mess, with boxes and plastic sheeting, tools and paint underfoot. I need to make the sheers for the living and dining room windows, but am afraid to get the delicate fabric out while there’s sanding and painting and such going on. The movers are getting in a bidding war over my contract (good for me!) and I should have the final “This is as low as I can go” offer later this morning. As soon as that’s in I’ll be booking the move and my flight, probably about ten to twelve days from now. If everything if not finished by then I’ll just have to let things go and live with the outcome. I think everything will be done by then … maybe.
[tags]falls, greeting cards, injuries, home remodel, selling a home, stupidity[/tags]
February 8, 2009
The work on the house is going well. No, really - things are moving along nicely. Todd has done a tremendous job of cleaning up all of my amaturish repairs. I’ve shown you some of his stellar work and will be taking photos of everything when the work is done and it’s time to go. Little things seem to go wrong every day, though. Like the plastic sheeting drooping off of the walls while Todd was doing popcorn ceiling, causing me to have to spend an entire day cleaning when I could have been doing something more productive. Like Paul’s compressor needing new fittings and some tuning up (above,) causing a several-hours delay before Todd could start the popcorn ceiling and drywall texture work.
And like the sorm that wasn’t. The clouds started moving down from the mountaintops while the guys were working on the compressor. We got an impressive lightning show. We got a few sprinkles. We ran around like chickens with our heads cut off, putting away tools and moldings and lumber, carrying freshly-painted closet doors inside, dragging the boxes of garage sale leftovers under the carport so they wouldn’t get soaked before the charity truck shows up. And then - nothing happened. Well, it happened, but not to us. The next community down the coast got heavy rain, flash flood warnings and hail, but we never got anything more than a light spray of rain and a little wind.
Tomorrow will go smoothly, right? We’ll have a productive day to make up for all of the delays, don’t you think? You do? Oh, I hope you’re right!
[tags]home remodel, life[/tags]
Posted by skeet @
11:28 pm •
Home & Family •
I’ve spent ten hours today cleaning up messes. Cousin Todd put “popcorn” on the ceilings of the guest room, my room and the master bath this morning. We had taped of margins and put plastic sheeting all over the place before he started, but the stuff gets everywhere. He’s also been doing some texturing in my room and bathroom, so sheetrock mud was also splattered around. I got everything as clean as I could and then started on the floor in the guest bath, which had spatters of paint, adhesives, wax, wood stain & a few mystery stains as well (since it’s a bathroom I don’t really want to think too much about those.) Todd is going fishing tomorrow, so I’m hoping to get my room & bathroom painted while he’s out, then work on some other clean-up work related to closing down my business. I’m so looking forward to all of this being done so I can get on with my life. I hope to be telling you about a new business in the near future, but since nothing is solid yet it would be premature to tell you much about it right now. I can tell you that it’s not a Subway franchise, though that’s an attractive idea and a business I wouldn’t mind being involved in.
Ten p.m. I’m hoping to get in another hour or so of cleaning & stuff before I go to bed. I might squeeze in a visit with the other Self Portrait Sunday participants, too, but there’s much to do so that might have to wait until tomorrow. Right now I think I’ll go see if I can get popcorn and mud off of the electrical outlets without shutting off the power or frying myself.
[tags]home remodel, meme, painting, photos[/tags]
Posted by skeet @
10:18 pm •
Photos,
Meme •
February 5, 2009
Congratulations to Owen, who has won a full verson download of Hidden Expedition: Titanic ™ from Big Fish Games. Owen entered my contest in January and his name was selected by a random number generator as our winner. Owen, I’ll be in touch to provide you with the info you’ll need so you can claim your game.
Mahalo to all of you who entered the contest. Big Fish has supplied me with another game to give away, but it’s gotten lost amongst all of the packing, painting and repair work going on. As soon as I find it I’ll dream up a way to let you win it!
[tags]Big Fish Games, contest, contest winner, games, Hidden Expedtion: Titanic, hidden object games[/tags]
Posted by skeet @
4:22 pm •
Contest,
Games •
