Things I knew and forgot

 Now that my daughter and my grand kids have moved out, a little looking back is in order.

  When Megan, my daughter, was little she would get into things as kids usually do. Everything from standing on top of  a overturned aquarium which required a trip to the ER and 9 stitches to telling me she hated me for dispensing a little discipline, when she was 3.

  That was about the same year she wandered off and had quite a few neighbors looking for her. She showed back up semi-wet and dirty and said she just went to see the Moo Cows in the pasture next door.

 When Megan and Anaya, my grand child moved in, I was reminded of little girls mischief, plus Megan was expecting her second child, a boy,in a couple of months.

Anaya s mischief, at 6 years old, if there is a pen, marker, expensive paint brushes and large tubes of oil and acrylic paint that go missing... they will be in her room, uncleaned (ruined) brushes and paint tubes left open more or less ruined too.

 Toilet paper to a little girl is something to be used at every opportunity and liberally. A fourth of a roll for one trip to the toilet is not unheard of. 

 I USE to think that dried egg on a plate was the absolute worse thing to clean off said plate. Wrong! I am now convinced that Fruity Pebbles has to be a spawn of the devil, designed to aggravate anyone who washes cereal bowls, even a three hour soak won't dislodge that stuff.

 If there is mommys nail polish and polish remover around it won't be around for long. Anaya painted and cleaned off her nails four times a day at least, I guess she couldn't get it right!  Kinda like her  mom shaving her legs at 4 years old huh?

 Once my grandson Braedyn arrived, Anaya helped out... for about a month or two. Then she started to go see what grandpa is doing.That lasted about four months then Braedyn was sorta fun to be around with again. Overall she has been a good sister as far as that goes, ya'll know siblings, there's always a little something"there". lol

 Once Braedyn was mobile, first crawling then walking, he would scoot down the hall, peek in my door and come on in to my room, while of course picking up everything he found on the floor and putting in his mouth on the way.

 Now that they have found a house of their own, I have to admit I miss the little guy peeking in my room and Anaya s 7 year old shenanigans. 

 

  

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

Still beating the A&M drum, I guess

 The UHV announcement of  purchasing two old apartment complexes kinda got to the A&M take over of UHV people again.

 After the last attempt of a the take over, the UH system has built brand new dorms on 59 business, and it is just my opinion, has led to a revitalization of that area of town, Houston Hwy, Bus 59, does look a hell of lot better than it did 5 years ago.

 Commenting about the purchase of land Claude Jacobs used the same old excuse for switching UHV to the A&M system...


He questioned why the university would buy property and tear down building when it was offered property five years ago.
"I don't think that's a very wise move at all," Jacobs said.


A comment on the VicAd site mentions that they feel sorry for the people that have lived in the Arlington and Casa Del Rio apartments being displaced a year or so from now. Yet when Citizens Hospital purchased the Continental apartment to build a office building for doctors no one cared at all about the displaced residents.


 As near as I can remember UHV spent $9M for the land the dorms are on plus $4M or so because one the building was mold infested, plus another $6M or so to buy and build the third dorm.

 That's about $19M, UHV will ask the state of Texas for a $80M for their planed expansion, so $99M.


 Now let me ask all of the people that supported the "free land" deal what it would cost to extend Airline road about four miles, install water and sewer lines, cable, phone, fill the use to be rice fields land in with dirt and build new buildings, you know replace the current three academic buildings, a student union, a library,(they can't hardly share with VC being 10 miles away), Dorms? or just bus the students back and forth every hour for ten hours a day?

 Is it more than $99M? I would think a hell of a lot more.

 I will also take a shot in the dark and think that some citizens of Victoria are also already bending the ear of our local state representative asking that she/him oppose the $80M bond and again push for a system switch and the creation of the Paco Cabanas.

  
  

Things about the Walking Dead

 There is one thing that bothers me about the premise of the Walking Dead series. (Despite a few of my relatives instance that the zombie apocalypse will be caused by uninformed voters of both parties, depending on who you listen too.)

 Anyway, supposedly some virus infected some person somewhere and he bit another person to infect them and on and on.

 Now the infected persons are dead, except for some little part of their brain which make them want to eat non infected people and pass the infection along.

 In one episode the Rick person was riding a horse, he got away but the walkers ate the whole horse. At least it looked that way. Now why would they eat a whole horse and not eat a whole person?

 But the biggest bother to me is, if the walkers are dead, except for a little part of their brain, wouldn’t their body decay? I mean a rotting body can only stay mobile, supposedly, for a few days before it falls apart.

 And how come there is not a single dog, cat or even a cow left alive? Horses are deer are but no other wildlife. Did the walkers eat them all or what? Hell horses are more tame than cattle.

 At least in the Night of the Living Dead movies there where skeletons crawling around… but how since their brains where dried up.

 I like the Walking Dead series, but come on now, the premise has some serious flaws.

  

Man O' Man, the hurdles thrown up sometimes

Sometimes you do the right things and it just doesn't work...

 My mom had Suddenlink set up on a draft from her account. 

 On 6/15 Bank of America moved her account to estate account, the same day Suddenlink tried to send a draft, Bof A returned it as NSF.

 I had cancelled the automatic draft last week and received a notice from B of A  today.

 So I called Suddenlink to make the payment, They tell me that I cannot make a payment by check, phone or otherwise for TWO months because of a NSF fund check payment.

 I explained but it didn't make any difference, in ending the phone call with Suddenlink, I said "I guess you don't want my money." They replied "That yes they do, but it is policy, no checks for two months"

 So anyway, I guess I have to transfer funds to my debit card or withdraw cash and go stand in line at the local Suddenlink office.

 One more fire to put out, Houston Anesthesiologist, Methodist Hospital and Baylor college of Medicine all filed with Medicare but not Moms supplemental insurance... two months to get them straight.

 Oh well, one more damn fire to extinguish.

Will Cheap Labor be a Thing of the Past?

I signed up for the Motley Fool newsletter awhile back, the one in Mondays VicAd with the dumbest investments.

Yesterdays newsletter was interesting so I did some research. Yes it is, very interesting.

3D Printing

It is not printing on a piece of paper, there just isn't another word for it currently.

Industrial 3D printers cost over a 100K, commercial printers about 20K, about five are marketed now for home use at about $1,500.

As of now 3D printers are used in every field imaginable, defense contractors, auto manufacturers, medical implants and bone and tissue replication, a kidney has been successfully made and transplanted using this techonolgy, jewelry creation, there is even a chocolate 3D printer that can make any image into a edible chocolate treat.

So far 3D printers can build anything using a CAD program in human bone and a few organs, metals, ceramics, glass, composite and other plastics, wood, paper and chocolate, butter and sugar.

The reason for the title of this blog is because this technology has the ability to replace the labor cost of manufacturing almost anything. It is a additive manufacturing process, where something is made from the ground up with zero waste for drilling, milling, boring ect, and zero need to manufacture new tools and dies to change a products design.

Search for yourself about 3D printing or see...

http://www.economist.com/node/18114221

http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/115503-what-is-3d-printing

Some 3D printers are already self replicating, if one of the parts breaks it can make its own replacement part. I know sounds kinda like the Terminator movie, but the technology is here already and will only become a larger part of life.

Can't find your TV remote? Print out another one! How wild is that?

But it is coming.

Love and miss you mom...

Medical costs... Victoria vs. Houston

I have notice a trend in the billing submitted to Mutual of Omaha, plan f provider, since my mom broke her elbow and is still under care.

Two ER visits and a TWO day stay at Detar... Submitted $1750 for the two ER visits, annnndddd get this $60,448.08 for a TWO day hospital stay! The hospital stay charges where found in error, but Detar submitted them. Mom was transferred to Methodist in Houston, $270.00 a day.

The Doctors who visited her in her room at Detar... $250 to $395 a visit.
The Doctors who visited her in her room at Methodist, ( TMI Associates, Baylor College of Medicine, ect.), ... $103 to $250 a visit.

Victoria Orthopedic surgeon, who only cleaned out the infection she developed and did not set the chipped bone.... $1350.00
Houston Orthopedic surgeon, who set the chipped bone, grafted tissue and skin over infected area... $1840.00

Victoria anesthesiologist... $ 975.00
Houston anesthesiologist... $795.00

Does anyone not notice a higher fee charged in Victoria than Houston?
And in no way can you compare Detar to Methodist.

Something To Consider, feel free to comment

All the talk and vitriol displayed about ever single thing from the Keystone pipeline project, deciding who is going to challenge President Obama in the next election, who gets HOT funds and who doesn’t, re-districting, recycling, green energy, climate change, pro-life/pro- choice, Catholic, Christian, Mormon or nothing at all, racism or is it not?, section 8, food stamps, illegal aliens and immigration, gay marriage, Republican- Democrat- Libertarian or any other “cause”, all the way down to should the county of Victoria ban signs that have a X on them, they have one thing in common.

Every one of the above has been made a political issue.

If I can ask a simple question… Why?

People of every culture, nation and belief have a different idea of what is right and what is not right, even within every culture, nation or belief system some agree, some disagree.

By making the issues in the first paragraph political, depending on a election, coup or popular revolt, takes away some portion of the affected “Peoples” choice.

After all, governments don’t live together, people do.

halloween stories ... or not

My daughter and her BF WHERE going to stay at our land six miles NW of Yorktown after going to Western Days... her BF got the heebie jeebes when they went there, so they didn't.

Dakota could have been right... a little local lore...

Our place north of Yorktown is in the area of what some locals call crazy man woods.
The story goes that years ago a family lived in the area and had a "strange" son, probably a treatable disorder these days, but anyhow, they couldn't handle him so they kept him chained and in a cage. He would escape now and then and prowl all around the area, peeking in at and scaring other family s, stealing things and just being a pain in the ass, this was in the late 1930s.

My family bought the land in about 1984 or so. And we met our neighbors...

Felix and Anne Respondeck, a brother and sister that still lived in the house they were born in after their parents had passed away. Felix took care of their cows, drove his pickup to town and bought what they needed. Anne probably never left her little piece of land. You have to understand that neither one of them had every married and lived together in their parents house all their lives. Strange in these days but not so much in crazy man woods I guess.

Anne use to come prowl around our house at night. How did we know? Easy, she didn't own a pair of shoes and in the morning we would find bare footprints in the sand, the soil there is sandy.

She would come over during the daylight and stand at the yard fence and yell "Ello", she did have a accent, and be invited in to ask whatever she wanted. She didn't even know how to use a telephone, my mom had to show her. ANYway...I talked to her one day, this is what she told me...

"There is this old woman, a witch, who lives over there (pointed north), she can make herself look like a 20 year old and she goes to the bars in town and talks men into coming home with her, then she kills them, then she turns old again. She has 23 dead bodies in the house attic, she keeps them."

She also claimed that because her brother Felix had had a stock pond dug on their land, that the digging had set loose 16 dead spirits who now run around screaming, wanting to be buried again. Ohh and the long dead Indian that tormented her until she found his comb and gave it back to him.

I admit, staying there alone I have had a uneasy feeling before, but not ever time.

So was Dakotas fear justified or not?

It is not for us humans to glimpse the other world, or is it?

There are still some good guys out there

Sometimes you make the right phone call and talk to the right person.

I had a touchscreen monitor go out on a piece of equipment, I called my distributor in Houston and talked to the tech then the parts person.

The parts person said a exchange monitor would cost roughly $450, a new one $1300, but they didn't have any and suggested I call their other locations in Dallas and San Antonio.

Dallas didn't have any either so I called SA, they didn't have any but transferred my call to their tech.

I told him the problem and he asks what manufacturer the monitor was and then says "Does the screen just come on for a second or two when you turn it on and then go blank?" I said exactly.

He says "There are two 470uf capacitors on the board that the power cord plugs into, change them."

Two thumbs up, that fixed the monitor for all of $1.42 and a hour or so of my time.

$450 vs $1.42? That's a no brainier!

Rising From the Rubble

From Odd Todds site,

http://www.oddtodd.com/

A ground view of the World Trade Center site.

Almost 10 years after, like the mythical Phoenix, a rebirth is rising from the ashes and rubble.

The Lone Tree Creek Retention pond

Let me see if I have this right.

The Lone Tree Creek retention was built a quite few years ago. In fact the dirt from the pond was used to build the overpasses on Loop 463. How long ago was that?

Anyway, when the retention pond was proposed it was claimed that it would remove property from the flood zone. A study was voted on approved by the City Council to modify the flood plan map. Again, how long ago was that? At least 2001 if I remember right.

About 3 years ago, I asked my insurance agent that since the retention pond had been built at least five years before, that if a piece of property that is still in my name, still required flood insurance. He said "Well it's on the border line by the current 1981 maps, the city says they will apply to update the flood zone maps because of the retention pond. In other words, Yeah you still need flood insurance, the city hasn't modified the map.

TODAY, 5/19/2011, ten years later,a letter arrives from Atkins North American Inc., with the results of the study to modify the flood pain map, which basically says that "your property", not the one I asked about btw, has either changed from it previous flood plain status +1% or -1% for a hundred year flood.

To Quote...

"The BFE and floodway shall be revised from a point 1,550 feet downstream of the Southern Pacific Railroad to a point just downstream of John Stockbauer Drive. The LOMR will result in increases and decrease in the 1% annual chance of water-surface elevations with a maximum increas of 0.8 feet at a point approximately 350 upstream of Business 59 and a maximum decrease in the 1% annual water-surface elevation of 2.8 feet at a point approximately 900 feet upstream of Miori Lane. As a result of the floodway revision the floodway shall widen and/or narrow with a maximum widening of 710 feet at a point approximately 1,150 feet downstream of Airline Road and a maximum narrowing of 750 feet at a point approximately 1,250 feet upstream of Ben Jordon Street."

Did you get that????

The last sentence says... "Please feel free to contact Mr. John Johnston at 361-485-3320, at the City of Victoria, if you have any questions or concerns about the proposed changes or its effect on your property."

Now, how much did the city and county pay for this study that has taken 10 years to complete, and what exactly does it say? Guess I will have to call, but since the property wasn't in the flood plain before, why would it change after the retention pond was built?

Taxpayer funded studies are so much fun, I swear.

A golf ball update

The neighbor lady came to visit today, after small talk she complained about... GOLF BALLS!

I asked if they had a number on them, she pulled one out of her pocket it was numbered 48. She also said that a golf ball had broken one of her upstairs windows and the neighbors on the other side of her have found golf balls in their yard too.

I knew that air cannon thing was strong but geez, the culprits fire it from behind 710 and they land all the way at 702.

She asked for my collection of golf balls, asked if I knew where they came from, I complied with both requests.

So, she is going to make a report. She is the only one with actual damage, though a few feet to the right and I would have had head damage.

Anyway, it looks like, maybe, the great golf ball attack will at least be looked into.

(I,m glad I held off on the kitty litter revenge!)

Am I getting to be the old grouchy guy ?

For awhile I have found golf balls in the back yard.

I figured they came from the teenagers that live on Maplewood behind my house and they had hit a errant practice shot from their backyard to mine.

In the last two weeks the golf balls have been numbered, I thought, oh well no big deal.

Today I went out to dip the leaves, clean the filter and feed the fish in the Coy pond.

I heard a, not loud, bang, and a golf ball came sailing by through the Oak tree branches and about 8' from me.

I said,"Damn good shot."

And things got quite from whence the golf ball came.

Occasionally there are a couple of hawks that enjoy our bird bath, last summer I found a hawk dead in the backyard and a couple of weeks later, two dead doves.

At that time, again taking care of the fish, I heard a air rifle going off, I bitched at the kiddos that time and have not found anymore dead birds.


Back to the present, it is obvious that the new thrill is some kind of air cannon thing that shoots golf balls.

That seems like a expensive habit to me, after all the pictured golf balls are Titelest, Pinacle and other brand names that look brand new, they aren't range balls.

So I hope if they run out, or their dad figures out he is missing all his golf balls, this will end too. Although the balls numbered from 11 to 77 so far tells me they have a almost unlimited supply.

Anyone want to buy some golf balls? They are not getting them back!

Mom doesn't want a new TV!

My Moms 10 year old 27" Zenith console TV was showing its age.

On some channels, no matter what you tried, the color just wasn't right, and the sound was funky on every channel.

Her oldest grandson offered to buy her a new TV for Christmas, he has been complaining about it for over a year, she shot that down by saying " I don't want one of those TVs that hang on the wall or set on a table, I like my console TV."

So I broke out the measuring tape, then went to Tiger Direct.

Now Mom has a new 28" flat screen TV... and the best thing for her, she still has her console! A win all the way around.

The Damn trim out to longer than installing the TV in the console. LOL

Finished product shown above.

Part Of My Life, It Was Fun

This is just a little tale of a part of my life.

About 1978, after going to school at what was then TSTI in Waco, I returned home, to work for my dads company.

While I was at school, he had hired a manager for the diner we owned. The managers daughter came to visit her dad, her mom and dad where divorced, and one thing lead to another and I ended up in Baton Rouge LA.

After I had went through about $300 of my $700 of cash on hand, I applied for, and was hired by Automatic Music Company in Baton Rouge, for all of $5.25 a hour.

In the 9 months I worked there, my pay was raised to $7.50, which was considered outrageous by my co-workers.

They had us “street mechanics” on a shift work schedule, week one, 8 am until 5 pm in the shop, second week, 8am until 5pm on the street, third week, 2pm until 10pm on the street, fourth week, 5pm until all calls where finished, sometimes as late as 4 am.

Some interesting things happened on the street work.

I went to the Al Green lounge on East Blvd.,(yeah, the singer owned it), where a employee waited to meet me outside and the sign on the door said , “No guns or Knifes allowed.”

There was also all the LSU college bars, the Tigers Lair, the Brass Rail, where a butt naked guy was getting hazed by his fraternity brothers and soccer was being played with a empty beer keg as the ball.

There was also the version of a Louisiana redneck bar, where a drunk lady told me, “if you don’t fix this jukebox, I’m going to squash you behind it.” I did fix it.

Then there was the gay bars, more than one believe it or not, one only a block away from the LA capitol building, where the Village people songs played over and over, at least while I was fixing their machines.

There was also the little truck stop on Airline Hwy, they also had motel rooms, while I was fixing the pinball machine, the owner, I guess, answered the phone, talked, then said… “That damn Cherry, every time she fucks a guy she wants fresh sheets, what makes her so special?” Yeah it was a “cat house”, like the one across the river in Port Allen, that had one one jukebox and 43 walboxes s , one in every room, $2 a hour for the room don’t ya know.

And of course, the little Italian restaurant, I fixed the jukebox and the owner say “Come, set with me, you want something to drink?”

He says to me… “I know you work for the New Orleans family (true, that was who owned AMC), I come from New York, and I am friends with the family there, can I get a newer box?” I passed his request up the chain of command.

When I decided to come back to Texas, my boss in Baton Rouge offered me his job because he was getting promoted to New Orleans.

That was one of those crossroads moments in life. I have wondered more than once, how my life would have been different if I had chosen the other path.

Don’t get me wrong, working for that company, no one did anything illegal, other than do a favor for a Baton Rouge city councilman for a favorable zoning ruling ;).

It was a great time to be a 20 year old, lots of fun, and if I would have taken it, a complete change of my life.

A Early Gift..

The people that brought us the other little kitty decided it was time we adopted another. This time they went to Adopt A Pet here in Victoria and gave us this character yesterday for Christmas.

The shelter called her Addison, since we haven't thought of a better name, I guess that's it.

She is a lovey dovey young cat so far, with some of the most golden eyes I've ever seen on a cat.

When we talked about the last kitten, the person who brought us both of them said, " The last one wouldn't have lived another day by itself on the side of I-45, she had a good, but short life, but her accident has made room for another young cat searching for a home."

I don't think anyone could have said anything more fitting and that meant as much.

South Texas Roadrunner travels

Over the last three months I have been privileged to observe the travels of, I guess I'll call him, the Weesatche roadrunner or Head East, like the 80's band, it fits.

Once a week I travel to the Weesatche Cafe and Hall in my business travels.

About three months ago, I drove up and there was a Roadrunner hanging out in the parking lot, it didn't seem afraid of people or the tomcat that was 20 yards away resting, and not worried about the bird.

Since this was the summertime, and I have been to cheap to fix the AC in my truck, I left my windows down.
I went in the Hall, did my business and commented to the owner Scott about the roadrunner in the parking lot and how the tomcat ignored it.

He told me that the roadrunner had been hanging out for a few weeks, that at first the cat tried it's best to catch it, but failed every time and had given up. I guess the cat was smarter than Wiley Coyote!

I went out to leave, and the roadrunner was in my truck! Unfortunately so was my cell phone with the camera.

I opened my drivers door and the roadrunner jumped in the back seat, extended cab truck, he/she was looking all proud standing there I have to admit.

I walked around to the passenger side, open the front door and the little back door, the roadrunner went to the driver side, so I walked back around to the drivers side and the roadrunner exited my truck.

The next week the roadrunner was in the parking lot, I rolled my windows up. the week after that, no roadrunner in the parking lot.

For the next five weeks, no roadrunner and Scott said he hadn't seen it either.

Three weeks ago when I went to Weesatche, no roadrunner either, but on my way back I saw the roadrunner, about a mile away on FM 884.

The next week I didn't see him, but last Wednesday, there he/she was again, four miles further down the road, almost at the Hwy 183 intersection, heading east.

What a bird, not only did he/she check out my trucks interior, it follows the roads I travel.

On the map is where I have seen the fowl, it's about 6 miles from Weesatche to the Google locater thing.

Could this be the difference of the two new HS.?

A thought occurred to me, I don’t know if I am right or not, but events tend to lean toward the I am right side.

Before the debacle of consolidation of Stroman and VHS was corrected, stories and tales where told about a preference shown to some students over others, be it Football, Baseball, Band or virtually any group at Memorial High.

Now that we have two brand spanking new high schools, a few other schools, a state of the art auditorium and Natatorium coming soon, it seems to me that just maybe all the talk about about a preference being shown just might have been true.

Let’s be honest, most of the preferred students would be the ones from the higher end of Victoria s population. And it seems that a majority of those students ended up at West HS.

West HS received a brand new football coach, and lots of people thought it was the best thing since sliced bread. West also had the honor of having the National Award winning Drill Team instructor as a part of the faculty.

Well, we all know, so far how those selections have turned out.

At East HS, the bad old Memorial football coach was placed and the Drill Team started with a brand new instructor.

All the drama with the West Drill Team, and the better than any one thought results of the East football team point to one conclusion, IMO.

All the Memorial students that had to take a “back seat” to the preferred students are now showing how talented they really where all the time.

Once the “privileged” students moved to a campus where they can continue to be “privileged”, the true talent of the truly talented un privileged students is now reveled.

How my mom and Dad met

I know this won't mean much, except to me, but it is a tale of the way things changed because of WW2.

Before today, all my mom had told me about how her and my dad met had to do with when Patti Welder High School played Bloomington High School in a football game in 1943.

Being a Bloomington girl, she was mad that a Patti Welder player had broken a Bloomington players leg during the game. Understand that Bloomington had all of twelve players on their team, now down to eleven.

She got in my dads face and said, "How could you?", He said , "Hey that's the game."

Anyway, my dad graduated from Patti Welder at the end of the 43 year, and enrolled at Baylor.

He stayed at Baylor for about six months and, much to his moms disapproval, joined the Marines.

He ended up being stationed at Pearl Harbor as a Sargent when the Pacific war ended.

Ok, back to how my mom and dad really got together....

My dad came back to Victoria and drove to Bloomington one day, to look for a girl he use to know. He couldn't find her.

He saw my mom and stopped his car and asked her if she knew Annabelle, ( yeah I asked my mom if her name was Annabelle Lee, the Edgar Allen Poe one.)

Anyway, my mom tells him yeah, she is married and has a baby. Then he asks my mom if she wants to go get a coke.

51 years of marriage, four sons,eight grandchildren and four great grandchildren, here we are.

What a strange twist of fate, if I say so myself.