Hummers

When we started looking for items to decorate our new home, we thought of the pewter sculptures we had seen in Estes Park, Colorado years ago.  We really liked them, but couldn't afford them back then.  

I went on line and found a picture of a hummingbird on a columbine flower that we would have ordered if it was still available.  The problem was that it was from 2008.  The website was no longer active, but the phone number was - we were able to contact the sculptor, Don Norris, at his new home in Tucson, Arizona. Although he no longer made that piece (he said it was top heavy and tended to fall over) he modified the base and made one just for us.

The two smaller sculptures are ones that he has continued to make.  Now that he has modified the larger one, he says he may add it to his catalog.

A Elegant Solution

Remember a few days ago when I told you about the neighbor who is still burning his Christmas lights every night?  Well, he still is, and he still turns them off for an hour or so right about sundown.

Honey has come up with an elegant explanation - elegant in the scientific definition of the word....

elegant

[ˈeləɡənt]

ADJECTIVE

1. pleasingly graceful and stylish in appearance or manner.

   "she will look elegant in black" ·

   [more]

   synonyms:

   stylish · graceful · tasteful · discerning · refined · sophisticated · dignified · cultivated · distinguished · classic · smart · fashionable · modish · decorous · beautiful ·

   [more]

   • (of a scientific theory or solution to a problem) pleasingly ingenious and simple.
     "the grand unified theory is compact and elegant in mathematical terms"
     synonyms:

     neat · simple · effective · ingenious · clever · deft · intelligent · inventive

After watching the lights come back on the other evening she said,
"I'll bet they have an electric range.  They turn the lights off just about time to start supper so they don't blow a breaker, and then they turn them back on when they are through."
There might be some other reason, but that explanation makes more sense than anything I can imagine.
Like I said, elegant.

Sword Play

I think everyone should own at least one sword, don't you?
I've owned the one pictured above for over 60 years.  
I was about 15 rears old when my grandfather found it in the attic of a house he was demolishing in the Montrose area of Houston. Other than that, I don't know anything at all about its history.
I've searched the internet for one like it, and, although I found some that are similar, I have not been able to find an exact match.
The scabbard is plain, but the sword itself is highly engraved from the tip to the pommel.  The only other things Pop salvaged from that attic was a leather football helmet and an old annual from Kincaid High School.

The 25th Day of Christmas

One of my across-the-street neighbors has an attractive white fence along the front of his property, and this year he decorated the fence - all of it, almost 300 yards - with a string of Christmas lights.  It was really lovely.

Or perhaps I should say is - because they are still up and he still has them on every night!  

Please understand that I'm not being judgmental,  I don't mind at all and the do look nice. They're certainly not hurting anything - except maybe his wallet when the light bill comes due.

There is one thing that bothers me, though, and it's driving me nuts... 

The lights come on before the sun sets, then somewhere around 6:00 or 6:30, they go off again.  When we come back out an hour or so later, they'll be back on again and they stay on all night.

When, how and why he burns his Christmas lights is his business - certainly none of mine - but why he turns them off for an hour each evening has me baffled,

Double Whammy

Just getting comfortable in our newly refurbished home, then yesterday we heard scratching coming from inside a wall of our office.  Some kind of critter, we're guessing a squirrel, is in there.  He'll stay quiet just long enough for me to hope he found his way back out, then he starts rattling around again.  We've got a pest control guy coming this afternoon.

If that wasn't enough...

Just before daybreak a huge limb fell and tore the power line away from the house.  The Entergy serviceman came out and pulled the fuse at the transformer.  He said to call an electrician and when it's fixed they'd come out and turn our power back on.

Related, but I'm not sure how, we lost power to the plug behind our new range.  It must be a loose wire, since I've checked all the breakers with no result, and that seems to be the only thing in the house that isn't working.

The only good news in all of this is that our generator works.  It is the only time we've needed it since the flood, and it's working like a charm.

Central Texas Funeral

You who know me, or follow my blog, know that I hate funerals, avoid them when possible and have even specified in my will that I am not to have one when I die. That being said, I attended one of the most beautiful, most touching and most quintessentially Texas funerals ever this past weekend.

My son-in-law's father died January 1st, and the funeral - graveside service only - was held on Saturday. Thomas Lee Ischy was born in Leander, TX, but lived most of his life in the little town of Bertram.  He had been bedridden for years and hadn't been out in public for at least a decade, so I was amazed at the number of people who showed up to bid him farewell.

I don't have an exact figure, but I'm guessing the crowd was at least 250.  The little two-lane road to the South San Gabriel Cemetery was lined on both sides for over a half a mile, easily over 100 cars and pickups.

Aside from the funeral director, the preacher(s) and one DPS Trooper, every male  over the age of three was wearing Wrangler jeans, and about a third had belts with trophy buckles. I lost my boots in the Imelda flood, so I was one of only about a half dozen who were not wearing well worn cowboy boots.

The trooper was obviously armed - wore his pistol on his left hip in a cross-draw holster - and I'll bet that, in the unlikely event of any trouble, he would have had a ton of backup.

The service itself was quietly dignified - a fitting tribute to a great man who was obviously respected and loved.

New Start

We weren't sure we were going to make it, but we were actually able to move into our newly refurbished home in time for new year's.
Here are a few pictures to show you how it looks...