First Bloom

We very carefully nursed our hibiscus plants through the winter, putting them in the garage every time a freeze was predicted, then taking them out for sun after the day warmed up.
It paid off. 
All of our plants are healthy, and we had our first bloom of the season open yesterday.

Highway 12

I'm pretty sure I've told this story before, but a search of my website didn't bring it up, so...
Several years ago, we were driving down Highway 12 - somewhere between Vidor and Deweyville - when we passed a roadside stand.  They were selling fresh vegetables and mayhaw jelly, but they had a couple of tables with other stuff for sale, too.
Honey mentioned that they had a lot of "ugly little butt faces" for sale.
I did a double take, and said "Those Cabbage Patch dolls are really ugly, but I wouldn't call them butt faces."

She looked at me like I'd lost my mind, and replied "I said BUD VASES!"
We laughed about that all the way to De Ridder, and probably a hundred times since.

Washing Dishes

Our dishwasher died last week.

All of the lights come on, and it will cycle through them in test mode. The dishwasher does everything it's supposed to except come on and run.

It has always been a matter of pride with me that I can fix any appliance that needs repair, so I considered the possibilities and ordered a new control board.  I had just ordered the part on line when Honey said "You do know we have an extended warranty on the dishwasher, right?"

Well, I never buy extended warranties, but, as usual, this time she was right. 

It took some searching, but she found the paper work that showed we were 34 months into a three year warranty.

I contacted Lowes, and they are sending a technician.  When the part I ordered arrived, I returned it for credit.  Now all we have to do is wait - the earliest a tech can come is next Thursday.

We always wash dishes before we put them in the dishwasher - it's a standing joke in our house - but we don't have to dry them.  Thursday can't come soon enough.

More French

Today is the anniversary of the first use of the Guillotine.  The year was 1792, and its first subject was a French highwayman named Nicholas Pelletier.
Whatever your views on capital punishment, you'll have to admit that in the 200-plus years since his execution, Pelletier never robbed anyone again.

Red Fox

Headed South on FM-2100 this morning, a few miles from home when we saw a red fox cross the road.  He was really beautiful - a perfect specimen.
We had a pair in our woods for a few years, but we haven't seen them in quite a while.

Pardon My French

I bought a new gas grill yesterday, and the warranty registration card had a box in the upper right-hand corner for a postage stamp.  Directions were printed in several languages:

• English - Place stamp here
• Spanish - Coloque estampilla aqui
• French - Placez le tampon ici

That last one caught me by surprise.  

I took a year or so of French in college, but I had never come across that before.

A check of a French/English dictionary shows that tampon is a word with multiple uses and meanings.  Like the most common English connotaton, it can mean a feminine hygiene product, but it can also mean a postage stamp or a stamp on your passport, a pad to scrub a pot or to buff the wax on your car.  It also can mean the buffer on your computer printer.

Sixty-One!

I haven't been in the best of moods for the last few days.  Not depressed, exactly, but just somewhere shy of my usual level of happiness.  

The news hasn't helped. I really needed something to jack my spirits up.

Then on Facebook, I got a notification about an upcoming birthday of an old friend.  

I worked with him at Ikon.  We shared some classes and shared some drinks at a few trainers' conferences. We had grandkids about the same age. and I assumed he and I were about the same age, too.

Today I learned that he will turn sixty-one this week!  Sixty-one - that makes him over fifteen years younger than me!

I guess that might sound depressing, but for some reason, it really put a spring in my step.

Sometimes It Hurts To Win

We stopped by the ATM yesterday and took out what we figured we could afford to donate to the Indians.  Then we headed for the Naskila Casino in Livingston for a day at the slots.

Everything went as planned, and we had a pleasant afternoon, a nice meal and were home with most of our money still in our pockets by 9:00 pm.

Honey was playing a three wheel, five pay line, quarter machine when she lined up a Mega symbol and two Wilds for the top pay out, winning just over $300.  

That was great, and she was very happy.... Until she realized that if she had been betting the maximum - four quarters per line, or five dollars per roll - instead of just one, she would have won a progressive pot of just over three quarters of a million dollars!

I'm pretty sure she's not over it yet.

Filler

Haven't posted anything for a couple of days - nothing new to report - just posting this to let you know we're still around.

Ides of April

News media are reporting a record number of Americans requesting extensions on their taxes this year, and a whole lot of people who are getting smaller refunds or finding that they actually owe something. 

Of course, it's all the fault of President Trump, those darn Republicans and their tax cut.

People are actually paying less, but it feels like they're paying more - mostly because, once the current tax rates went into effect, their withholding rates dropped.  Folks actually got to keep more of their money all year, but today they are being surprised to learn that they are getting less back or owe money to Uncle Sam.

Here's a ridiculously simple example.

Before the tax cut, you owed $100 per year. Your withholding was $9 a month, so on April 15 you got a refund of $8.

After the tax cut, you only owe $90 per year, but your withholding dropped to $7 per month.  Today, instead of a refund, you owe $6.

You never actually felt that slight increase in your take-home pay, so it's easy to believe the Democrats when they claim that nobody got a tax break but the very rich. 

Timing

Our lilies are beginning to drop the last of their blooms, but the knockout roses are beginning to bloom and there are buds on several of our hibiscus.

It's all about the timing.

Sewer News

President Trump will be visiting Crosby, Texas - right down the road - this afternoon, and that probably ought to be the top story here today. 
But...

A Montgomery County woman is suing the Houston Astros for a million dollars because a T-shirt fired from Orbit's pneumatic cannon last July broke her finger, requiring surgery.
A statement from the Astros says - "The Astros are aware of the lawsuit with allegations regarding Orbit's T-shirt launcher. We do not agree with the allegations. The Astros will continue to use fan popular T-shirt launchers during games. As this is an ongoing legal matter, we will have no further comment on this matter."
My take on the matter is that teams are exempted from liability from balls, bats, etc. that go into the stands, and she did try to catch the T-shirt.  She certainly shares some responsibility, and even if Orbit did give her the finger, there's no reason the ball club should have to pay for it.

We'll See

I am not so much of a Troglodyte that I don't shop on line at Amazon, and, generally, the results have been great.
Right now, not so much.
We had an order that should have arrived last Saturday, and on-line tracking says that it did:

Shipped with USPS

Tracking ID: 9300120111403484214817

Saturday, April 6

12:50 PM

Delivered

Huffman, TX US

8:08 AM

Out for delivery

Huffman, TX US

7:46 AM

Package arrived at a carrier facility

Huffman, TX US

Unfortunately, WE didn't get it, and a check of those neighbors who were home didn't turn it up.  I called the post office twice yesterday, and waved down our mail carrier - all with no results.
I called again this morning, and this time they called me back.  The lady said that yes, it was misdelivered, and that a mail carrier will be retrieving it today and delivering to us.
I hope that happens, but my trust is nearing the breaking point.

Storm

I mentioned that we carried our lilies to the garage because of a severe storm threat.  It was probably a good idea.
We didn't have any damage, just a lot of rain in a short period of time, but winds blew down a big tree  around the corner on Meyer Road.  The tree took out the power lines and broke off a pole.  It took about 12 hours to get power restored.
Our next-door neighbors, the Winklers, got tired of sitting around in the dark and went shopping.  When they got back, they couldn't get to their house for several hours because power crews had the road completely blocked.  Guess you could call that adding insult to injury.

No-Sun Day

There's a line of sever thunderstorms headed our way, so this morning I moved all of our lilies into the garage.  They are just too pretty to let them get messed up.

Thought of the Day

R I P

I read a really great line in an on-line obituary yesterday.  Thought it was definitely worth sharing...
" FYI - He did not lose his battle with cancer. When he died, the cancer died, so technically it was a draw."

Pharmaceutical Ads On TV

I went to the doctor today for my six months check-up.  Everything was fine.
While I was there, I asked my doctor about all the  pharmaceutical ads in TV.  I asked him if he ever got questions from patients about drugs they had seen advertised, and he said he gets them all the time.
I told him I was a little surprised - that I didn't see any way big Pharma could cost justify the millions they spent advertising things only available by prescription.
He said it might have made sense in the past, but now he thought they were wasting money - that it isn't big Pharma, or even your doctor that determines what prescriptions you get, it's your insurance company.  
He told me he wrote a scrip last month for something (I forget the name) that was supposed to be covered, then got a call from the patient saying that not only would their insurance not pay for it, a one month supply was going to cost them $9,000.  
He said that he could write prescriptions for Eliquis (for example) all day, but most insurance won't pay for it so why bother - why not just stick with something that insurance will pay for?

April 1

我决定不再用英语写博客了。