Cactus flower bed enhanced

Another one of the bigger houses with stone on the front finished this week so there were spare stones left at the end of the street, free for the taking.... so we took some to make a nice bed for the cactus.  Walked to Walmart at lunch on Friday and there were lots of plants on sale so got 6 fountain grasses and 2 hibiscus shrubs.  Yes I can have hibiscus outside year round here.  I still want an Orange tree but that won't be until spring.  I still need to get the blue flowers at the end of the street and put them in the bed too but too sore now... maybe later today or tomorrow since we borrowed a shovel from someone at work so will need to take it back next week.  We have a shovel on the list of things to bring back with us in November.

Spider Very Big

Hard to see him... black legs and yellow body... he really blends in but was huge

High School Football

Highschool Football game at the high school closest to our home.  The other side was for the opponents fans  The full section is the other team's school band.  There were a lot there considering they were from a town an hour or two away.  Friday night football is very important down here at the high schools.  We sat on the home side where the bleachers stretched the whole 100 yards and they were pretty full.  We paid $7.00 each to get in.  A lot of the fans had football jerseys on with their kid's name and number on them.  A food stand was there selling turkey legs, nachos etc.  A fun night out

See the scoreboard at the end which Jim thinks is bigger than in CFL stadiums.  The game was shown up there all the time and replays of key plays as well as trying to make the crowd cheer etc... and it had the time and scores etc on the bottom.

Cardinals is their logo mascot.  To the left of the band from the other team was their majorette cheering girls and they had cheerleaders stretching the whole length of their bleachers.

Check out all the cameras up top with the press box of course.

Lightening came so we had to go into the gym for awhile.  Got to see the inside of the school.  Check out the bleachers.  If we had those bleachers at BCI we wouldn't have any room on the basketball floor to play.

Just Massive

This was the second gym on the other side where the other team had to go into since of course the fans were not allowed to be in the same room.  Lots of police there separating the crowds.

Back to the stands when the storm was over with no incidents.  The Police made an announcement thanking the crowd for making a safe evacuation without incident.

Half time show with their school band doing their New 2015/2016 show.  Yes this is just the end of September.  I couldn't believe it.  Just to learn the music in that length of time let alone learning all of the marching designs that they did.  Very different than the drum corp competition since they had all the band instruments... yes flutes, clarinets, slide trombones.... hate to be the guy in front of the slide trombone ...hoping not to get hit in the back.    

Jim said that he golfed with a guy who was a band director and said that the bands start practicing the first of August, 5 - 7 hours a day.  Such dedication but it shows in their performance.

Half time over so they blow up their mascots again so that they can run out of them onto the field.  CC Winn is the other team so this was their mascot

Jim and I having fun in Texas doing what Texans do

This is the Cardinal blow up mascot

And the team runs out of the Cardinal and then they deflate it again.... All that just for show.  Gotta like it.

Practicing taking a selfie... still trying to figure out how to look at the camera right.

lego houses

We have figured out how they build the houses so fast here.  Besides the fact that there are no basements... the parts boards etc arrive all put together.  They just have to assemble them.  It is like they are building big lego houses.  I took pictures of the piles that arrive that within a day get put together to frame the house.  I don't know if that is what they do in Canada but around here it is common in this neighbourhood

Cactus

Didn't do much over the weekend so no post then.  We borrowed a shovel and went out in the area where they are expanding the subdivision and dug up some little cactus.  They are ploughing them over to build houses so we saved a few of the little ones.  They look like mickey mouses.  We are going back tomorrow and hopefully will bring back some of the wild flowers from back there.  Our grass in the one corner under the trees is totally dead so we may as well put plants there.  I want to get an orange tree in the spring so then we will be set.  I never thought that I would live in a house with a cactus and an orange tree

Have to admit it looks like Mickey Mouse

Labour Day sales still on this weekend

As they spell it down here - Labor Day sales are continuing this weekend and there are thunderstorms in Corpus so no beach today so went shopping.  Got James a bed and put it up in one of the bedrooms.  Got a Queen size since that is the bedding that I have down here.  Now he won't have to sleep on the floor any more when he comes to visit.  We still have the air mattress if too many people come at the same time.  We can set it up in the other bedroom.  Really hot here but nice and cool in the morning so got my steps in early walking with Sparky at 7 this morning.  We have a Route 66 challenge going on at work.  Winners each week win a fit bit if your name is drawn.  I already have a Polar but could use a fit bit for Jim or James.  I also get $50 deposited into my health benefit account if I average 7250 steps per day.  I am way over that so far since they give a lot of steps for curling and I went to Zumba which also earns a lot of steps.  Friday afternoon was Fit Friday so the whole corp office went for a mile walk together and got a fruit cup and water bottle at the end.  I am on Nutrisystem again so together with the extra walking should be good for me.  I still do not have my car back so I walk to the malls etc at lunch which gives me lots of steps.  The VW dealer called today and said that they had a free loaner car for me because they are taking so long.  It will be ready on Monday but not sure if I will take it or not.  Nice to have a chauffeur but then again I have a dentist apt on Tues which would be nice to have the second car for so that Jim could golf.  No other news down here.... just golf, work, walk, fitness.  Have to start Pilates again and then I should be back to normal.  Looking forward to seeing everyone at Thanksgiving.

Still have to get more pillows but a bed is a big start.   We put it in the middle bedroom which only has 1 window since James always complains of too much light in his room.  This bedroom we also think is a foot or so longer than the other one at the front of the house.  We just stepped it out so not too technical on the measurements.

Great Bonspiel in Houston

Went in a Bonspiel in Houston this weekend.  They have much better ice than Austin so it was great to be curling again.  I drove down by myself and Jim stayed at home to take care of Sparky.  It was my first time driving since the EOS broke down so I was pretty nervous driving.  I left at 6 am to avoid driving in Houston traffic much so got to the arena for 9;30.  Hardly any traffic since the highway going into Houston is the biggest freeway in the US.  At one point it is 26 lanes wide and yes I drove on that section.  You just have to anticipate where to go ahead of time and stay out of the toll lanes and the HOV lanes.  I made it Yeah.
Got to the rink - yes they play on arena ice.  The first game was 11:30 so I figured I could watch hockey or figure skating while I waited... no I read a book because it was EMPTY.  Curling booked the arena for all day Sat and Sun.  AMAZING...
These guys keep their rocks in 4 freezers when they are not using them so that they stay cold... helps to make them run normally fast down the sheet.  They pebble it normal and then drag the rocks over the sheets to smooth the pebble.  There was one rut from a zambonie that we had to deal with but I didn't have to throw as hard as possible not to hog it which was nice.  There was a team there from Oklahoma City, one team from Dallas, one girl from Denver, one from Boston, one guy from Hollywood and the rest were all from the Houston Club.  There are 45 members in their club.  In Canada, wouldn't even fill a league.  There were 8 teams and they have 4 sheets so we were broke into 2 groups and played round robin and then play offs on Sunday.  Yes I played 3 games on Sat.  Boy am I sore.  Our team won 2 and lost 2 so not too bad.  On Sunday for the playoffs it was cool... They had bagpipes playing on the intercom and we all walked in with our teams to the blue line and across.  They then gave us all shot glasses full of water or whisky and we toasted the spiel.  Really neat.... just something fun to do.  Hopefully someone sends be pictures of it.  There were the normal prizes that you bought tickets on.  I did my normal thing and put all my tickets on two items and... won both of them.  I won 3 stuffed squeaky toys for Sparky.  Base ball hat, deck of cards, key chains Houston Astro drink covers to keep drink cool, 6 pack of weird beer, huge bottle of Galveston brewed beer, 1.7L of Texas Vodka, Jar opener, light for key chain, flower vase, Not too shabby for coming 7th out of 8 teams.
The meals were great too.  The big meal Sat night was of course Brisket and Sausage with all of the trimmings.  When they say that you are going to have a BBQ in Texas... be ready for a treat.  Had Kolaches for Breakfast there at the rink which apparently is really common here.  I am learning lots.

On the way home I stopped at a restaurant in Katy and got some real Brazilian Food.  The restaurant is owned by a friend of Lu's so she told me what to order...Fejoada, Dudim de leite and mousse do Maracuja... two desserts... it was take out so I got both.  It was really good.  Unfortunately her friend wasn't there for me to say hi for her.  It was really good.

Note the caption on the wall of the arena Adult then Youth

Curling then Figure Skating - not bad order

Looks Normal Just on arena ice

Lots of good fun

Met lots of great people

Big disadvantage not having the centre line to figure out if itis curling when you are sweeping.

lines everywhere on the ice so you have to figure out which ones are for Curling

Empty Arena 9:30 on a Sat morning

Nobody on the ice that early in the morning

Nobody in the stands either waiting for action.

Kolaches - Ham or sausage with or without cheese wrapped in dough.. Really good.

Brazilian drink so they told me which tasted great.

This is the food that I ordered.  The main was a lot of pork with beans in a stew like texture.

Alegria Brazilian Grill in Katy Texas - really different food but very good.