Enough already!

It's 37 degrees out there! I'm ready for summer now, not this. It's snowing (flurries actually) 20 miles to the north of us!

On my drive back from New Braunfels the other day I looked for Mesquite trees, but that route really didn't have any. I think I'll take this crazy wild bush out and bring in a Mesquite so I can really tell when Winter is truly over. My brother had mentioned the other day that the Mesquites hadn't started going green yet and we would probably have another freeze. He was right. But the Mesquites were greening up in New Braunfels... but then again, they are 250+ miles to the south.

I didn't go out front to look at the neighborhood this morning. We had winds of over 40 mph last night, so we may have garbage dumpsters all over the hood. We keep our trash dumpster in a little fenced enclosure. But the recycling dumpster sits behind it and isn't enclosed. We didn't have recycle dumpsters when we moved here 14 years ago, only bins. That's one of the downfalls of this neighborhood... no alley ways to keep the trash bins. So a lot of people have them stashed beside their houses. I hate that! Some people even keep them right next to their front door! GAG!

I once mentioned to the city managers that they should offer an incentive for people to build an enclosure or plant bushes or something to hide the dumpsters behind. You know, take a percentage off their water bill or something if they built or planted, a rebate. Or better yet do something with the easement that we get fined for using or not keeping clean behind our back fences. Like making an alley out of it! Jody would gladly give up half the yard to not have to mow it and the easement.

It makes the hood look so 'hoodish' when the trash dumpsters are the first thing you see as you drive down these streets. I remember the first time I drove into the neighborhood with the realtor and I thought "wow it's like the houses in the movie Edward Scissorhands, they all look exactly alike and they all have dumpsters!" Really the builders did mix it up a little... they used 4 different plans so they aren't exactly alike. But they are close. You can see the differences if you can get past the dumpsters. The city actually proposed a Home Owners Association for this neighborhood a few years back. The 'hoodies' went nuts and almost started a riot... the screaming and yelling that ensued scared the City Managers that were holding the neighborhood meeting. We are not about to pay the city $100+ a year to keep our yards clean and our houses up. When all we have to do now is call the city if our neighbors yards get too overgrown or they don't keep their house up. HOAs are nuts, that's one of the things that's gone haywire in this country. Spending money on something like a HOA.

Anyway.... back to the wind last night. (train of thought jumped the tracks) At about 8:30 last night, I heard our recycle dumpster take off... I guess it had enough and was leaving town. Hope it didn't take out Jody's truck on the way. It was pretty much empty, as 'pick-up day' was Wednesday. I hope it didn't go far, I don't want to have to track it down. Jody thinks recycling is a waste of time and resources, so he wouldn't go look for it. He says they can't do anything with all that stuff they recycle fast enough and cheaply enough to make it pay off. But I keep doing it. He'll put out the trash but 'forgets' to put out the recycling. That's my job, as the Queen of Green at this house.

Speaking of the King.... he has whiskers! It takes him a week of not shaving for them to show, they grow so much slower than the Go-tee area. His Go-tee will be over 1/4 inch long before you can feel the cheek whiskers. He's getting there. He picked up the herb teas from Dr. Julie the Acupuncturist/Herbalist last weekend. After taking the teas all this week, he says the dry mouth is just a bit better, so that's good. But it's still not a good idea for him to try to eat cornbread! He figured that out last night. He said each bite turns to sawdust in his mouth. He has to add water while he's chewing to get it down. It's hard to imagine isn't it? After eating his salivary glands are swollen from trying to produce enough saliva for the act of eating. I think the Discovery Channel needs to do a show on him. "Radiation and what it will do to your spit!"

His sleep is REALLY screwed up... when I get up at 4:30, he still hasn't gone to sleep yet. I guess drinking all that water during the day has an effect on him.........

Dr Julie gave him 3 weeks worth of tea. 12 different tea packets to be taken together daily. After 3 weeks he'll go back to her for more if needed. Most of them are for detoxifying the liver, spleen and pancreas. That's what he found when he looked up the names of the teas that were labeled in English, about half were in Chinese and we have no idea what they are... must be worse than Donkey Hide if they won't translate it. Detox is good, that's where all the chemo and radiation toxins are going to end up... in the filtration systems.

I think I'll stay in today and knit SUMMER sweaters and socks for Christmas. And I'm not cooking either.... I'm so glad Jody made stew yesterday. A bunch of it!

Have a good week and I hope it's warming up where ever you are. Maria... don't even go there.