After weeks of no rain, it finally poured buckets on Friday night. It's great to see that after four inches of rain that our little tributary has only become murky and gained approximately one inch of new water. I was scared we would be flooding here.
We've seen a huge influx of birds this past week. Besides the crow I hear now, I've also discovered a new species of doves I've never seen before. They are not the regular mourning and Inca doves we normally have in Houston. They almost have a smokers-like hack if that can be described as a bird noise. They are beautiful and almost look like a gray blue jay.
Ms. Clare de Lune, my spicy tabby cat, is loving all of this bird watching. Birds fly through our vines and trees, while she spots blue jays, cardinals, robins, sparrows, and our Texas State bird, the mockingbird. (The mockingbird, an annoying creature, mimics all the other birds and also loves to swoop in on cats just like the bluejay does.)
Ms. Clare loves to watch the water. I think the bullfrog's mating calls freaked her out earlier this week, yet she loves to watch the tadpoles, small frogs, turtles, and fish hitting the top of the water. When she meditates the water, she could care less about the birds. Cat logic, who knows?
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Sunday, May 9, 2010
An oil spill in the Gulf, and looking for work again...
Life has been fairly quiet since my last post. Ms. Clare de Lune, Tiny Pup, and Johnny Cat have all acclimated to the new apartment. They like to taunt me by putting both front feet over the side of my second floor balcony and giving me a little motherly jump start.
My next challenge is finding a new job here in Houston, especially now that the company I "retired" from is spewing gallons of oil into the Gulf everyday. There goes what little retirement savings I had to begin with. I always said that if some executive didn't use it for his own good, it would certainly be exhausted somehow. Some days I hate my own keen sense of reality.
That also makes me wonder about my current place of work. Another major oil company, where I work as a contractor, yet my co-workers have the luxury of benefits, many weeks off, and huge retirement plans, in addition to huge savings plans. I have to hope that they have invested their money in other ways, too. Heaven forbid that something major happens with this oil company. They are perfect, you know, and something like this would never happen at their company. I always say, in the oil industry, it's all a matter of time before it happens to you, whether it be a refinery accident, a blow-out in deepwater, or a shipping spill in Alaska.
As I look for this next job, I'm looking at all fields of work. It would be great to obtain another job in my beloved field of work, the oil industry. Realistically, I am looking everywhere. If I can learn Process Safety Management and write about it, I can learn another trade.
My next challenge is finding a new job here in Houston, especially now that the company I "retired" from is spewing gallons of oil into the Gulf everyday. There goes what little retirement savings I had to begin with. I always said that if some executive didn't use it for his own good, it would certainly be exhausted somehow. Some days I hate my own keen sense of reality.
That also makes me wonder about my current place of work. Another major oil company, where I work as a contractor, yet my co-workers have the luxury of benefits, many weeks off, and huge retirement plans, in addition to huge savings plans. I have to hope that they have invested their money in other ways, too. Heaven forbid that something major happens with this oil company. They are perfect, you know, and something like this would never happen at their company. I always say, in the oil industry, it's all a matter of time before it happens to you, whether it be a refinery accident, a blow-out in deepwater, or a shipping spill in Alaska.
As I look for this next job, I'm looking at all fields of work. It would be great to obtain another job in my beloved field of work, the oil industry. Realistically, I am looking everywhere. If I can learn Process Safety Management and write about it, I can learn another trade.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Moving near the bayou
My son and I recently moved to a cool new apartment on the bayou here in West Houston. We haven't had much time yet to experience the outdoors, yet are loving being next to a small tributary on Buffalo Bayou.
I am still discovering our outdoor space. We have ducks, a lone cowbird, turtles, and too many stray cats. One cat keeps all the others indoors. He skulks about, the lone, solitary, white male. The neighbors warn me about this guy. "Oh, he's torn up my cat. Do not let your cat outside, he'll tear her apart. I never should have let my cat outdoors in the first place."
So, Ms. Clare de Lune (interpretation "bright, clear moon"), my gorgeous tabby with major attitude, longingly stares out the window at the birds from inside her perch in my room. Oh, how she would love to capture a bird. She's only 1.5 years old, yet has never caught a bird that I know of. At our old apartment, she roamed freely whenever and wherever she wanted. She stalked, ran, flushed, and taunted the birds to her heart's delight. Mostly she caught small bugs as she jumped up in the air, using her paws as catcher's mitts.
To me, Ms. Clare is my miracle kitty. I picked her up from my jobsite, where I discovered her on the very day that I got fired from my job. I had gone out at lunch time to pick up a cage and kitten chow from the Dollar General in the small town where I worked. After work, as I stumbled towards my car and her portable cage, I was crying so hard that I could barely see.
I walked into the shed where my co-workers were keeping her. The poor thing was so scared. I think she was the runt of the litter of the mama cat that they had just had fixed. She was so small. I couldn't figure out how old she was, possibly 4 - 6 weeks old, yet the other kittens were 8 weeks old and already adopted out. Maybe mama kitty had taken her in after all her other kittens had left. The place I worked was right across from a rice mill, so possibly her mother had come in from a train that stopped at the rice mill.
As I opened Ms. Clare's cage and attempted to walk to her, I fell hard (I'm great at falling down), and she lunged away from me, back into a hole in the wall. Mama kitty was scared, too. Eventually a co-worker saw me lying on the floor, crying my eyes out, and asking for her help in getting the cat. This lady could tell I was hurting, both physically and mentally, and she kindly helped me up, and picked Clare up.
Clare and I got into the car, started down Old Highway 90, and made the 30 minute trip home. The poor little kitty was so frightened from me crying all the way home. Then, she came into our old apartment and starting turning our lives around. We had not had a baby around for over 17 years. That's another story for another day...
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Post Hurricane Ike - How to make your neighbors mad!
Read more about it at www.chron.com, The Houston Chronicle, Houston's news source.
Facts
West Houston survived, as did most of the City of Houston! Hurrah!
Unfortunately, we did have a great deal of devastation along the Gulf Coast communities. The news media might be lying to you somewhat, as some of the areas in Galveston and Chambers counties were labeled as "no fly" zones, meaning...the government did not want you to see the human and animal debris along the Bolivar Peninsula, mainly out of respect for the loved one's families.
Personal Perspective
My family was very fortunate. Although most of the city had no electricity for 11 days, we received electricity 3 days post-storm. I was shouting praises when the electricity came back on. If the lineman had been at my front door, I would have hugged him for dear life. God bless these behind the scenes people who are away from their loved ones to help us out!
POST HURRICANE - DAY 1
Saturday morning - A few hours post-storm, the neighbors all got together in the rain and cleared the sidewalks of large oak trees and debris. I never knew we had so many kind neighbors. On the other hand, I never knew I had so many CLUELESS neighbors...LOL!
Saturday afternoon - Two of those kind men happened to have a generator and a window unit (swamp cooler) air conditioner that they hooked up and ran non-stop for 3 days. (On the positive side, they did share it with the beautiful ladies next door.)
For those of you who have never heard a diesel generator run,let me tell you they are LOUD AS HELL !
POST HURRICANE - DAYS 1 - 3
After the first morning of frayed nerves and attempting to sleep with my windows opened and the battery operated fan in my face, I had to admit defeat and packed up the family and headed out to Dad's for air conditioning, laundry and showers. When I got to my Dad's I couldn't keep my eyes open - I sacked out with my head back on the couch and SNORED so loudly and obnoxiously that when I woke up, there were no family members left in the room.
POST HURRICANE - DAY 3
Monday, 2:00 p.m. - When we returned home 3 days later, that obnoxious generator was still running and we still had no electricity. Luckily, my freezer only had one package of meat to be cooked. So, I dragged out one of my necessary hurricane supplies, my Coleman gas stove, and set up shop on the front patio. My son and I enjoyed delicious turkey tacos with corn and all the fixins. Who says hurricane living has to be dull?
The other thing I found when I got home was a laundry full of wet and soured towels. I put my towels out on the front bushes and let them dry in the sun. I knew I would need to wash them again, yet at least I could rest in the fact knowing that they would not be mildewing in the washing machine.
Monday, 4:00 p.m. - Hurrah! The generator has stopped. Oh! It has only run out of diesel. One of the men comes out on the front porch. I yell across the courtyard at him, "Hey, can you guys give that thing a break, some of us haven't slept (slight lie, yet defending my neighbors) in 3 nights. Can you at least turn the thing off at 10:00 p.m. tonight so that we can ALL get some sleep?"
AMAZINGLY, those clueless guys gave into my guilt trip! They shut the generator right down, and put the window unit away!
Monday, 4:30 p.m. - I'm cleaning up all of the lunch mess off of my front porch. My neighbor across the way climbs down the stairs with her children in tow, points to my front porch, and states "I've had all of this I can put up with!" Oh no, now I'm the clueless neighbor!
I guess it's all a matter of perspective, eh? I cleaned up my front porch, slowly put all of the dried towels back in the laundry basket, and then the electricity came back on at 7:00 p.m. And that's how we Houstonians survived Hurricane Ike.
Facts
West Houston survived, as did most of the City of Houston! Hurrah!
Unfortunately, we did have a great deal of devastation along the Gulf Coast communities. The news media might be lying to you somewhat, as some of the areas in Galveston and Chambers counties were labeled as "no fly" zones, meaning...the government did not want you to see the human and animal debris along the Bolivar Peninsula, mainly out of respect for the loved one's families.
Personal Perspective
My family was very fortunate. Although most of the city had no electricity for 11 days, we received electricity 3 days post-storm. I was shouting praises when the electricity came back on. If the lineman had been at my front door, I would have hugged him for dear life. God bless these behind the scenes people who are away from their loved ones to help us out!
POST HURRICANE - DAY 1
Saturday morning - A few hours post-storm, the neighbors all got together in the rain and cleared the sidewalks of large oak trees and debris. I never knew we had so many kind neighbors. On the other hand, I never knew I had so many CLUELESS neighbors...LOL!
Saturday afternoon - Two of those kind men happened to have a generator and a window unit (swamp cooler) air conditioner that they hooked up and ran non-stop for 3 days. (On the positive side, they did share it with the beautiful ladies next door.)
For those of you who have never heard a diesel generator run,let me tell you they are LOUD AS HELL !
POST HURRICANE - DAYS 1 - 3
After the first morning of frayed nerves and attempting to sleep with my windows opened and the battery operated fan in my face, I had to admit defeat and packed up the family and headed out to Dad's for air conditioning, laundry and showers. When I got to my Dad's I couldn't keep my eyes open - I sacked out with my head back on the couch and SNORED so loudly and obnoxiously that when I woke up, there were no family members left in the room.
POST HURRICANE - DAY 3
Monday, 2:00 p.m. - When we returned home 3 days later, that obnoxious generator was still running and we still had no electricity. Luckily, my freezer only had one package of meat to be cooked. So, I dragged out one of my necessary hurricane supplies, my Coleman gas stove, and set up shop on the front patio. My son and I enjoyed delicious turkey tacos with corn and all the fixins. Who says hurricane living has to be dull?
The other thing I found when I got home was a laundry full of wet and soured towels. I put my towels out on the front bushes and let them dry in the sun. I knew I would need to wash them again, yet at least I could rest in the fact knowing that they would not be mildewing in the washing machine.
Monday, 4:00 p.m. - Hurrah! The generator has stopped. Oh! It has only run out of diesel. One of the men comes out on the front porch. I yell across the courtyard at him, "Hey, can you guys give that thing a break, some of us haven't slept (slight lie, yet defending my neighbors) in 3 nights. Can you at least turn the thing off at 10:00 p.m. tonight so that we can ALL get some sleep?"
AMAZINGLY, those clueless guys gave into my guilt trip! They shut the generator right down, and put the window unit away!
Monday, 4:30 p.m. - I'm cleaning up all of the lunch mess off of my front porch. My neighbor across the way climbs down the stairs with her children in tow, points to my front porch, and states "I've had all of this I can put up with!" Oh no, now I'm the clueless neighbor!
I guess it's all a matter of perspective, eh? I cleaned up my front porch, slowly put all of the dried towels back in the laundry basket, and then the electricity came back on at 7:00 p.m. And that's how we Houstonians survived Hurricane Ike.
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