Found a home for the Needlepoint and VW Saga

It looks a little lonely on the big wall but it still looks ok I think - of course I am a little biased.  Three more neighbours moved in this weekend so the street is starting to look lived in.  Stuck around the house watering the grass and trees and Jim washed the truck.  He is driving me to work these days since the EOS died on me the other day.  I switched lanes on the freeway and stalled it and it hasn't started since.  The VW dealership still hasn't figured out what is wrong with it.  I was SOOooo scared.  Try sitting in a convertible in the middle lane in a freeway with people yelling at you going 70 MPH by you.  I kept trying to start it and didn't have the emergency brake on so rolled back into the car behind me.  Not much damage... just a pain.  The policeman had rubber push bumpers on the front of his car so pushed me over the next lane and onto the shoulder.  Not sure how much if any damage that did to my trunk... why is it every time I get hit in the back my roof is in the trunk.  I could get the roof up but didn't try the trunk.. priority is to get it started.  Tow truck came that the police called... because it was on the freeway had to be a certain one.  He said he could only take it to a body shop but I needed mechanical not body work so I had to pay him extra to take it to the dealership.  We got to the dealership and the car was nowhere to be found.  I didn't have his number or anything so I thought I had lost the car.  About 5 minutes later Jim sees him coming out of the volvo dealership next door to the VW... just one more thing to get me frazzled.  The car was just at VW last week for a new battery which had to be replaced by the dealer as well.  So much for getting a fancy car but they know us there now... had to get lights changed there too.  Hopefully the dealer can figure out what is wrong with it.  I had to rev the motor a lot to change lanes.. you get stuck with lanes going off to another freeway so you go down to 40 MPH then you have to gun it to merge to the next lane where they are going 70 mph.  I am scared doing it each day so I guess this time I gunned it too much... stalled it and burnt something out because smoke came out from under the hood.  In the meantime I get chauffeured to work then Jim golfs and then picks me up after work.  Not much else new here.  Hope all is well with everyone else.

Ball Game Etc

Last Friday night we went to watch the Missions AA ball team play for something to do. On Sunday we went to the beach of course.  It was so nice to sleep in and still get to the beach in the morning.  Living a lot closer is great.  Tonight Sparky went outside and didn't want to come in so we found him playing with a grasshopper.  Earlier I put up a picture of a Texas size snail... wait til you see the size of this grasshopper.  Yes everything is bigger in Texas.  Still haven't figured out where to put my needlepoint up - got it professionally framed and it looks great.  The roses from before look alot better now with the new green matt too.  I got the fruit and veggies stretched and a spacer put between them and the glass so they will last forever as well.  Jim works hard watering the grass, plants and trees.  Hopefully the grass will all come back.  They just laid the grass next door so those neighbours should move in this week.  Jim's grass is greener than the new sod that they are laying so Jim is doing well.

Brandice is back at work now so we are having a baby shower for her this week so I knit her another outfit.  The booties are huge but they were only 3 months and they are the same size as the hat.  They will fit him eventually.  They do not get much maternity leave here and her baby is still in the hospital until the end of September so Brandice came back to work to save her time off for when the baby comes home.  Different but thats how it works down here.

Ball field before dark

Ball field after Dark

Put  the fruit and veggies on the wall in the kitchen 

BIG Grasshopper

grasshopper next to tap so you can see how big it is

New Green Matt on Rose picture on wall

Framed picture looking for a place to hang it

Back deck on Saturday IN THE SHADE!!!

Jim with his new mower

Jim is happy now with things to do around the house.  Some of the lawn is green...

Brandice's baby in the outfit I made for him

What a sweetie.  That hat is tiny and it is rolled back.
That is the baby outfit I made a few weeks ago.

No Cold Water

So I am new to living in a house in Texas when it is very hot outside.  I went to fill up Sparky's bowl last night - no cold water.  Thank goodness we have a fridge with ice so I used it to put in his bowl so he wouldn't have to drink hot water.
It was cold again this morning.  We noticed this the other night too when the sprinklers were going so we blamed it on that but apparently the water in the ground is so warm and no way to cool it down at the end of the day.....  People at work say that is common here.... everything is a learning experience.

Weird wasp like bug building nests

There are weird wasps down here that have long tails and don't bite apparently but they build really strong nests.  There was one up in the corner on the back deck and one on the cushion of one of the chairs.  It was hard not like the cone ones back home.  It was like a rock with a hole in it.

we could just pick it off and throw it away

These are the wasp like characters...they kept coming looking for their home

Friday night went to the Nationals and saw Michael Phelps win

Michael has the white cap and black top on in lane 4.  He won the trials in the afternoon so got the best lane.  He got the best time recorded so far this year in the world and the guy who came second got the second best time in the world this year so it was a good race - 200 fly.  Tonight he won the 100 fly again with the best time in the world so far this year so I guess at least his fly is back on schedule for the olympics next year.
The Nationals are being held here in San Antonio this weekend.  They are streaming the races live to so on the way back from the coast tonight I watched tonights finals on my phone and saw him win again.  Great though in person.

finally took his headphones and jacket off now ready for race

Remember lane 4 - look how far ahead he is right off the bat

The guy beside him stuck with him but couldn't catch him.  Interesting fact - the first length Michael breathed every stroke which in fly is very different

Walking up to the pool - very nice facility for a high school pool

Phelps on the podium on the big screen

Phelps on podium for real not on screen

stretching before the race.  He is a lot taller than the others and his arms are very long when he swings them so he has a bigger range when he strokes.

two of them way ahead of the rest of the pack

view of pool from where I sat

Practice pool also has the high diving towers. Phelps was in the first lane on the right

Phelps warming up in practice pool with flutter board

Practice pool - Michael in the first lane right in front of me kicking with a flutter board

Selfie of me at the Nationals

view of pool to the left from where I sat

view of pool to the right from where I sat

rest of them were all ready to go and Phelps was still just starting to undress

Michael warming up still

Orange Day 2015 - Happy 65th Birthday to Whataburger

Each Year Whataburger celebrates the Anniversary of opening their first store.  We get the day to interact with each others departments.  There is a competition for the best dressed up department  theme etc and then one for the best decorated.  IT won both this year.  You can scroll back to last year where we only won one of the categories.  Our theme was Star Wars

|One of our QA guys dressed up as Darth Vader and you could get your picture take with him - this is in a cubicle for two people normally

This was set up in another two people cube

This was on top of the CIO's exec assistant's desk.  A guy in QA made it and a girl in QA made the tongue that  could go in and out and another one made the arms.  Two people were inside it making it move and look like it was eating Whataburger Food 

LT and I got our pictures taken in another dept's booth

Some were dressed in costumes walking around mingling

more guys in costumes

LT and I in another dept getting out picture there.  I am on a saddle and she is in front of a bale of hay... their theme was a hoe down

The guy told us it was the wild west and we were not allowed to smile and retook the picture... definitely like the smile one better

This is the wall going down in our department.  The guys built it with cardboard and painted it.  Supposed to be like guns firing at you when you go down the asle

Of course we couldn't forget Yoda

Bat Loco - Tuesdays

Each Tuesday they block off a road downtown by the riverwalk where hwy 35 goes over top.  Bats live under the Freeway in the cracks.  There are about 50 to 60 thousand of them supposedly.  They are supposed to all come out at once when it gets dark... they feed all night long and then come back the next morning.  They have an educational session, telling you all about it.  A few of us went out to eat and then sat around waiting to see them come out.   We saw about 500 or so and then got bored when it got dark and figured if the rest were coming, we wouldn't see them any way.

Black dots around the tree above bridge - hard to see

This is the picture from the ad how it was supposed to look

this is the street closed off with games for kids while they wait for bats

Right to left - Jim Ken Erika LT Shawn
Ken - JDE Programmer
Erika - Ken's wife
LT - JDE - EDI
Shawn - Same job as mine

Can see more of LT - LaTanya in this one

look close around the tree and you can see some bats

The ducks were easier to spot

Some bats just coming out