Spring Trips

Sunil gets to avoid the locked down test atmosphere at school by going to the Dallas Arboretum (http://www.dallasarboretum.org/) with his class.  They've just finished the Dallas Blooms Festival and are gearing up for their May Flowers event.  I love the arboretum; it overlooks White Rock Lake and always looks wonderful.  They couldn't ask for better weather either.  Sheela's grade is taking an all day (6am-9pm) Field Trip this week down to the state capital.  They'll get to visit an awesome museum and take a tour of the capital building.  They've been gearing up for this since early Fall.  This is a guided tour arranged by a group called Education in Action (http://www.educationinaction.org).

 

TAKS Traditions

Today is yet another round of TAKS testing here in Texas.  Today the 4^th graders are tackling the math test, tomorrow they will tackle reading.  As part of the campaign to make the children perform at their optimum levels we were once again instructed to get them to bed on time (a good night's rest is important), feed them a nutritious breakfast (the most important meal of the day) and send a healthy snack (not that usual garbage), there will also be no visitors allowed at school, no talking in the hallways and no outside recess.  I hate the implication that the rest of the year doesn't matter however we do try to do our part.  For me, that means providing the healthy snack.  We always pack fresh berries for TAKS day.  Sheela loves the fresh fruit.  Sunil particularly loves the fruit because he gets it without having to take the test.  Of course I get what they don't need… bonus for me.  Today it is strawberries, blackberries and raspberries.

 

Birthday Season

The birthday season is officially underway.  "The girls" celebrated friend Brenda's birthday yesterday with a casual get together at her house.  We let her cook for us (turkey paninis, jalapeno poppers and pasta salad) and watched a movie (Dan in Real Life).  We chose a date for my birthday do (dinner and STOMP at the Music Hall).  This will actually not happen until roughly a month after my actual birthday but we've had to get more and more flexible as everyone's kids have grown older and their lives more chaotic.   And we've tentatively chosen a date for a surprise party for Sunil.  Now we just have to keep him distracted enough that he doesn't notice a lack of party planning.  This shouldn't be too hard to do as we usually end up rushing at the last minute anyway.

I've also managed to purchase tickets for his birthday ballgame and have tentative reservations at the hotel.

Uh-oh

I've misplaced my camera.  I'm not ready to call it lost.  I'm sure it will turn up but it has probably been more than a week since I've seen it.  I don't remember the last time I had it.  I've filled in with pics from my PDA (most of the Lake pictures and the flower pictures from last week were from the Blackberry) but I want my real camera back.  Maybe I'll look around under the seats in the car at lunchtime…..

 

Religion

I'm not going to dive in to my personal feelings about organized religions beyond saying that they serve a purpose in the world and some people need them more than others.  The level of passion present when people feel that their personal choice is being "dissed" can seriously interfere with logical thought and productive communication.  These sorts of issues have played an exceedingly small role in our multicultural household but are taking a huge toll on the extended family these days.  I'm hoping that they all just get over it.

 

A floral morning

Have a great week!

Happy endings

We did hear back from both of the other dens and Sunil has been reabsorbed in to another den. This is the reason why I sew on badges and patches instead of ironing them on. I only have to change out one instead of starting over with a whole new uniform.

The new den went bowling last night. Sid and Sunil both had a good time.

The property

Brenda and Jeremy own a piece of land near the park. We stopped by before and after our lake adventure to check it out. They keep it mowed down around the front where the house will someday be but today it was a carpet of wildflowers and snakes. In fact when we went back Jeremy was about halfway done with the Spring mowing. It looked prettier before but if they don't keep it cut it will quickly get out of hand especially if our summer is as wet as last year was.

Canoeing cut short

We took a ride up to Lake Ray Roberts State Park today to get out on the water with the family (and friends Brenda and Jaden). We rented a canoe and set off. Unfortunately there are no sheltered accesses to any of the rivers and the wind was a little bit too strong across the Lake for us to leave the cove. So we lapped the cove a few times (it is very small) and then turned the canoe back in. Brenda and Jaden never even got their kayak off the roof.


Next we set off on a hike across some of the Texas prairie, through the woods and down along the shore with Lucky and Sprite (Brenda's dogs).



The wind away from the water was very pleasant and the sun warm but not hot. The hike wasn't long but Jaden's not quite four and his legs are short. So I'd call it perfect. We stopped for Mexican food on the way home and finished at home with a nap. I'd say it was a good day all the way around.

Awnings

What a wonderful improvement, the bleachers are now protected by shade awnings making the T-ball games much more pleasant.  It's in the upper 80s and not a cloud in the sky.

Good news - Bad news

Well the roof damage is minor.  Only one square yard of shingles came down and the underfelt is in great shape.  We haven't had any water damage (and probably won't).  The roof is 16 years old with not even a hint of hail damage.  Around here that is pretty rare.  Well that is both the good and the bad news.  It won't take much to get the repair done but we won't be getting a whole new roof either.

Disappointment

Sunil has really enjoyed Cub Scouts so far. Unfortunately his Den Leader's son hasn't. Once that child said he was done his father lost all interest in continuing the den. I can't say that I blame him, however we only had five boys to start with and two have dropped out, one transferred to another den, I never really knew the last family. That leaves us. The den leader tried to get the other den leaders to accept transfers but they never responded to his emails. I've tried emailing the one parent that I knew of one of the boys in a different den but didn't get a response. Now I've tried emailing the pack leadership and not gotten a response. The pack is so large that it is in the process of breaking in to two different packs. Apparently this is taking every one's time and attention. But the result will be that Sunil will not get do anything else with the scouts until September when he may no longer care.

This is more or less the way that Sheela's Girl Scouting experience ended too. Her troop disbanded at the end of the year. As it was most of the girls from her school were already in a troop so she was sent to a troop with kids from different schools. It sort of defeats the purpose of making school friends but I loved the kids and she made good friends. Unfortunately the parents all had trouble getting the kids to the meetings since they weren't after school and at school or even after work for that matter. When she tried to get reabsorbed in to the "after school, at school" troop it was still too full. None of their kids dropped out because it was easy to send the kids. All of the fallout was from those of us that had to deal with transportation. After fighting it for a month Sheela said she was over it and never mind.

Sunny day

The iris are picking up speed. I have four chocolate daddies and three of these generic yellows blooming at the same time. There are 30 more chocolate buds and half a dozen yellows left to bloom.

I'm so excited about their vim and vigor that I rewarded them with a drink of highly concentrated compost drippings. This super rich broth has been collecting from our composter all winter and thankfully carries very little smell. I say "thankfully" as it was a blustery, sunny day and I was pouring this elixir while standing down wind. Live and learn.

Behold ..... the CatGenie

We have finally taken the next technological step in cat gear. We purchased a CatGenie. This fabulous device automatically disposes of cat waste in to the toilet (after disinfecting it)and then washes and sanitizes its own kitty granules. Thus keeping the bathroom odor free. All we have to do is flush the toilet from time to time.

Household chores

It was a busy day of catch up around here. Sunil helped Sid install new door pulls on the bathroom cabinets and kitchen drawers. Sheela helped apply our spring "weed and feed" to the lawn. I did some stuff. I don't remember what but I was busy.... really.

The Power of Power

Yesterday we tried to drop the kids at their normal time (20 minutes after being told that school was on) and were sent back home until at least the emergency lighting could recover.  Sid took them back around an hour later and was allowed to leave them even though they were a few minutes shy of total recovery. They never did see full power up at the kids' school.  Some rooms had lights some had functioning wall outlets.  The A/C never did come on.  When I went back to pick Sheela up for her dental appointment they didn't ask me to sign her out as they had no idea who was there or who'd been there earlier.  Without their computer tabulation systems they just couldn't keep track.  Half of Sheela's class showed up some in the morning, some in the afternoon almost none of them stayed all day.  Sunil had two thirds of his class show and they almost all stayed once they arrived.

 

A similar experience was had at the gym this morning.  The free weight room was closed (no lights and no A/C).  The machine weights were available under the unshaded bulbs of temporary garage lights.  The pools were filtering, pumping and well lit.  The aerobics room managed emergency lights and no A/C.  Most of the exterior lights are still out.

Tornados

It was another exciting night of strong thunderstorms last night.  The sirens woke Sid up around 3 AM.  I was awake but still didn't notice them.  We had 70 MPH winds and tornados.  My co-worker watched the tornado go past his house and right towards ours.  We lost some fence, a bunch of shingles and both trees and light poles in the neighborhood (but not ours).  The power we out for four or five hours -- long enough to delay school for the kids.

The real chaos for me is really at work.  I was planning on taking the day off.  I have a dental appointment this morning and then Sheela has hers this afternoon.  We usually schedule together but had to give that up for our vacation.  Instead of staying home I had to go in.  We lost power to the freezers around 6am but we don't know how long it was out.  I have to find out and then evaluate the condition of the frozen products.  The cleanroom also needs to be evaluated.  That power was out for 20 minutes.  And we lost the only server in the building old enough to run the label programs.  I will have to in and work through lunch to get around that.

Chocolate Daddies

Three of the five iris that are about to bloom in my front yard are "Chocolate Daddy". I knew that I had one but the other two are bonuses. I have more than 14 buds all told so far. They aren't in the best spot (there isn't quite enough sun under the live oak tree and I know that Grammy would want me to pull up and destroy one of the plants as inferior but I can't bring myself to do it. That one (the only one actually blooming) isn't strong enough for the blooms to push their way free of the leaves. The tips are still tucked inside when the stem starts to grow which is warping the stem and the flowers are actually upside down. It is too dark to take a picture tonight. Next fall when it comes time to split them up and replant I'll try to find a sunny spot. Maybe next year they will be able to grow straight and tall.

Mid-week blahs

Not much to say, not much to do. Tonight we plan to straighten out our latest paperwork collection. We accumulate about a pound and a half of paperwork a week that needs to be received, paid, cross-referenced and filed. We are pretty good at everything except the filing. But without that we keep losing the pinball machine, the desk and the open floor space to piles of loose papers. It's not pretty.

Jury Duty - check

I've been dismissed without being selected to serve.  It took less than two hours out of my morning and the court is very near the office.  I'll grab an early lunch and head in to work for the afternoon.  The best part is this gets me another 24 months without having to serve.

Season Opener

A month after the seaon opened Sunil's team finally played a game.  Every other game has been rained out, even the make up games.  We couldn'd have asked for a better day today.  It is beautiful.  Sunil had a few good hits off the tee and managed to catch a pitch.  That is pretty good for t-ball.

Blake Rae

Little Blake should be celebrating his 6^th birthday today.  We wish him well.

Spring cleaning

This week was supposed to be spring cleaning week at work but I didn't get much cleaned out.  Half the time I was wearing skirts and high heels which are not my idea of cleaning attire and the other half of the time I was kipping work to attend the golf tournament or playing catch up from vacation.  It has been a terribly productive week with should be read as "my desk is messier than ever".  I hate a messy desk but we are pulled so tight these days I never seem to get anything finished enough that I can put it away.

 

The golf tournament worked out to be perfect this year.  We did not have tornados, electrical storms or baseball sized hail all of which were predicted.  True the wind gusts were extreme, but the temperature was in the mid 70's and the overcast sky meant we didn't have to squint.  My foursome tied for last instead of losing outright and we more than made up for it by laughing ourselves sick.  Even better our highly competitive President did win, so he should be in a good mood for the next six months.

 

Now I have to decide if I want to clean my desk, or do real work.  The nice thing is that either way I'll feel better when I'm done.

 

Filler photos

One of our trip highlights was the alligator eating the turtle.



This was one of my favorite heron photos.



Here a strangler fig "strangles" a cypress.


Sunil was enthralled with Opa's knife collection and managed to borrow a knife to practice his whittling.



Sheela used a few of the tools in Opa's workshop to build a tiny car.




She also helped Oma run the ladies ham radio net.