My Saucer Runneth Over

Here at the Boggy Thicket we have three Saucer Magnolias (magnolia soulangeana) of various sizes in the yard.  I was really afraid we had lost them all to the drought this summer.  When we returned from our trip, all of them looked terrible, but the smallest looked the worst; it had dropped all but four of its leaves, and one of them was turning brown.  The other two magnolias looked bad, but not that bad – they were at least planted where they had the benefit of full shade most of the day.

Once home, we started watering them all daily, and hoping against hope that somehow they might survive.

Then the little one began to bloom!

That smallest Saucer Magnolia may be the most important plant in our yard.  It was given to us as a remembrance when our daughter passed away, and Honey and I both refer to it as “Shanna’s Bush.”

I wasn’t sure at first whether the blooms were a good thing or not – were they a sign of renewal or the last gasp of a dying plant?  I’m hopeful now - the blooms have fallen and there are a few new leaves opening on the stems.

The other two have now bloomed as well.  All of the blooms had slender petals that made the flowers really sad and scraggly looking, but I’m not complaining  If they all do survive – and it looks like they might - it will be a minor miracle.

La Mordida

The Boggy Thicket’s closest source for fast food is New Caney, Texas, about eight miles west on FM 1485.

Yesterday, I noticed that we have a new taqueria sandwiched in a strip center between Godfather’s Pizza and Subway.  I’m sure we’ll try it eventually - the closest decent Mexican food is another 10 miles away - but I have some serious reservations. 

The problem is that the owners have named their new place La Mordida.

Now, I am not as fluent in Spanish as I should be, but I do know that from here to Mexico, mordida most commonly means a bribe to a corrupt official. 

Literally, mordida means bite, but it often carries a very negative connotation. Just plug the word into Google image search and you’ll get pictures of sharks, snakes and dogs biting people, and lots of images of people biting people, images of vampires and cannibals.

I have to wonder why they chose that name from all the infinite variety of things they could have named their restaurant.  When I build up my nerve, I guess I’ll have to go find out.

Hot Enough For You?

Well, looks like we made it after all. 

According to this morning’s on line edition of the Houston Chronicle:

It's another scorcher for the record books: Houston tied its all-time high temperature Saturday as the mercury soared to 109 degrees at Bush Intercontinental Airport.

Only once, on Sept. 4, 2000, has Houston recorded such a torrid temperature. The sweltering day capped an August that was the city's warmest month on record with 26 of the 27 days reaching at least 100 degrees.

The warmth blanketed southeast Texas on Saturday.

Even Galveston reached 100 degrees, something that's only happened about a half-dozen times in that city's long history. Beach crowds had thinned out considerably, but officials weren't sure if it was the weather or the return of school year that kept families home.

The Weatherbug app on my laptop only showed a high of 108° at IAH, but Id rather take the Chronicle’s word for it- if it’s going to be that darn hot, we should set a record.  I do know that, in spite of relatively cool temperatures in the morning that made us doubt the chances of a record setting day, it did get very hot in the afternoon and early evening – and it was still 88° at midnight.  The light breeze seemed to work just like the little fan in our convection oven.

Heat

Last night the weathermen were predicting a high today of 106° – with a possibility of matching or even exceeding Houston’s all-time record high of 109°!

As of 10:45, it’s only 91° and the predictors have backed off to a measly 104° – It is still going to be miserable, but no chance for a record.  Might as well be reporting the temperature in Celsius.

Irene

As Hurricane Irene bears down on the East Coast, a member from Virginia posted a question on the RV Net Forum this morning asking where would be the best place to park his new motor-home.

The first (and probably the best) reply he got was - - -

“Memphis!”

Rain

Yesterday evening the sky turned black, the wind gusted to 40+ mph, limbs fell and we lost our lights momentarily.  Horizontal lightning danced across the sky from horizon.

Finally, when we were sure this was going to be another false alarm, the rain began to fall.   We heard that it rained once in July, but we were out of the state and didn’t actually see it.  This was the first precipitation we’ve actually witnessed since – when was it?  January?

It rained hard for about half an hour, then settled down to a slow light rain that continued for a couple more.  It was actually sprinkling when I got up this morning, and I am hearing a frog singing outside the window for the first time in months. 

I’m not sure it is enough to save the  yard and the azaleas – it may be too little, too late – but I’ll bet we see our first mosquitoes of the summer before the week is out.

Speaking of rain, here is an excerpt from an article Greg Fish wrote in his BLOG.

Let’s say that you and a friend go outside and he insists that if he stands in one exact spot, it will never rain in your city. He’s sure because he read it in a book which said that rain can be warded off by humans standing on some exact geographic coordinate and that book was completely accurate because it said that it was in a lengthy preface. You decided to take him on his challenge and wait if it will rain. Sure enough, a few hours into this exercise, rain comes and your friend gets soaked. Gee, that didn’t work, you say. Your friend says that he probably just got the instructions wrong, goes back to the book, stands in a new spot, and waits. Again, rains come as he keeps repositioning himself, rereading his book over and over again. Meanwhile, you start doing some experiments and talking to meteorologists, and find out that where someone stands in a city hasn’t the slightest effect on whether it rains or not. Newly educated, you return to your soaked friend and tell him that he doesn’t have to do what he’s doing anymore because you did a lot of research and discovered that his ideas won’t work, so he may as well come in, dry off, and you can do something else. But your friend growls that you must be too lazy to help him confirm his notions which is why you went off and found a way to say that it’s just impossible and that all he needs as proof of this assertion is that you changed your mind.

Now, normally, you’d call your friend obstinate and proceed to criticize his ideas as erroneous. Sure, you may have thought it was possible at first but you learned, you changed your mind based on evidence, and you can now move on to other things. He’ stuck and insists on being stuck, angry at those who decided that his ideas are very unlikely to work. And funny enough, few people will object and come to your hypothetical friend’s help by praising his devotion to his notions when the topic is influencing rain. Change it to religious beliefs and all sorts of justifications are invented for the friend in question. How dare you call him obstinate? How dare you call him stuck in the past? Can’t you see how devoted and passionate he is about his faith? Can’t you do the right thing and respect his beliefs by not telling him about what you found? Why do you insist on challenging his cherished ideas with something you recently found out? Who asked you to go and find things out anyway, can’t you see he’s happy the way he is? Despite how much we seem to prize learning new skills and trying a new concept every now and then, when it comes to religious matters, learning is suddenly the enemy and an engaged, curious mind looking to learn something new and update what it knows is viewed as a poison. We change what we think we know every day on almost every possible topic. And yet somehow, we decided that all this learning must now cease when religion is brought into the picture. Why? Because we said so.

Pets, Health and Longevity

For years we have seen articles telling us that pet ownership can add years to our lives, but today there is a piece that says that ain’t necessarily so - Here.

We love our pups, and 90% of the time they bring joy to our lives, whether that add years or not.  Of course, the other 10% of the time, they’re a pain in the ass.