Doug and Dara assured me that I would be able to handle setting up a blog - to keep those of you interested in what is going on in Chillicothe (and around) from my perspective. We'll see how this goes. Jim surely can't complain too much as this will strictly be a voluntary look-up on your part.
First a short synopsis of our trip to Austin. I've yet to figure out the photos, but I'll take one thing at a time and I know Dara has sent you their blog site so you can get an idea of some of our activities.
We left Abby and Trixie at the vet's office on Wednesday morning at 8:00 - and headed towards Austin. We had a good drive and even though we always like to stop at Norman, OK for the night - we were thwarted in this because of a convention going on. Instead, we stayed at Ardmore, OK ( 33 miles north of the Texas/OK line). I need to tell you of the fire status that we soon realized when we were north of Oklahoma City - blackened earth on either side of the highway and sometimes in the median area. Some homes seem to have escaped by my only 30 feet of earth - I can't imagine how many others didn't escape and the loss to property - human and animal as well. This periodic blackened condition continued throughout the rest of OK and into northern Texas.
Anyway, after we had gone to bed at Ardmore, we kept hearing what seemed like heavy machinery in the area - then discovered the next morning that we were some of the very few "civilians" at the motel as there were men from the various park service forest fighters there from coast to coast. They were eating breakfast when we arrived at the complimentary area the next morning - ages ranging from young to old. Jim got the idea that groups were being brought in for a two week time period - with more to come if rain didn't come.
We were in Austin by a little after noon, unpacked, and then rested.
We met Doug and Dara at their place on Thursday evening as Doug brews beer with a friend of his. Dara had prepared lamb shish ka-bobs for supper - and even though I like to think I don't care for lamb - they were delicious.
On Friday morning, we headed to Kerbey Lane for breakfast (almost comparable to the Omelet Parlor that we so love in LA) We did a few errands and ended up at Book People where I found a neat t-shirt with the message "The Top Ten reasons I Procrastinate: 1 - with blank to follow. I also found the newest Lillian Jackson Braun book as well as the latest in the Peter Tremayne and Margaret Frazer series - which I thoroughly enjoy. I didn't know the last two books had even been published. I was needing some wool yarn and asked one of the ladies as to where I might go in that area and she tracked down someone in the store that knits and they looked up an address of a marvelous yarn store on South Congress - about double the size of the yarn shop in Liberty.
We met Doug and Dara that evening and they took us to an Arena Football game - the first time for us. We had marvelous seats - on the 25 yard line (the field is only 50 yards long) and we quickly picked up some of the intricacies of the game. The game was in the arena where the Texas Longhorn basketball team plays so we will appreciate future viewings of these games even more. Of course I should add that we ate at Threadgills that evening before the game - where Janis Joplin practiced some of her musical skills many years ago.
On Saturday, we went to what looked like a "dive" called Taco Xpress and had a migas taco for breakfast - absolutely divine!!!! This has to be a repeat in the future. From there, Doug drove us into the country where we did some wine tasting and then saw an eagle's nest - probably less than 50 yards from the highway. Jim thinks the size of the nest was close to that of a small Volkswagon. There were other nests in the area, but out of sight of the general public. The state or county has prepared a drive area off the main road so that people can stop and watch the eagles - I would guess that 15 or 20 people were there when we were - there is even a web site that lets you keep up on what is going on with these eagles. We then went on to Llano where we had a marvelous BBQ meal at Cooper's - we were stuffed to the gills! We returned to Austin and attended an Austin Ice Bats hockey match.
On Sunday, Doug and Dara took us to a marvelous brunch at Moonshine - downtown Austin. From there Doug took us to Wimberly - sort of an artistic community with lots of small shops. If a person was in to crafts, they would be in heaven here. We returned to Austin and went to the Zachary Scott Theater to see "Urinetown - The Musical". This was actually a fast moving musical that kept the audience in stitches - and time passed way too rapidly.
After leaving Doug and Dara, we returned to the motel and began to pack for the drive home on Monday - intending on stopping at Wichita on Monday, but ended up arriving in Chillicothe about 8:00 in the evening.
We picked up the girls on Tuesday morning, let them romp in the backyard, used the comb on them to get many tangles out, and then carried them to the utility room to get a good bath - much needed. We dozed this afternoon and then I met some of the ladies for dessert.
We had six for dessert - Marna, Peggy, Helen, Sue Jones, Mary, and yours truly.
B.
First a short synopsis of our trip to Austin. I've yet to figure out the photos, but I'll take one thing at a time and I know Dara has sent you their blog site so you can get an idea of some of our activities.
We left Abby and Trixie at the vet's office on Wednesday morning at 8:00 - and headed towards Austin. We had a good drive and even though we always like to stop at Norman, OK for the night - we were thwarted in this because of a convention going on. Instead, we stayed at Ardmore, OK ( 33 miles north of the Texas/OK line). I need to tell you of the fire status that we soon realized when we were north of Oklahoma City - blackened earth on either side of the highway and sometimes in the median area. Some homes seem to have escaped by my only 30 feet of earth - I can't imagine how many others didn't escape and the loss to property - human and animal as well. This periodic blackened condition continued throughout the rest of OK and into northern Texas.
Anyway, after we had gone to bed at Ardmore, we kept hearing what seemed like heavy machinery in the area - then discovered the next morning that we were some of the very few "civilians" at the motel as there were men from the various park service forest fighters there from coast to coast. They were eating breakfast when we arrived at the complimentary area the next morning - ages ranging from young to old. Jim got the idea that groups were being brought in for a two week time period - with more to come if rain didn't come.
We were in Austin by a little after noon, unpacked, and then rested.
We met Doug and Dara at their place on Thursday evening as Doug brews beer with a friend of his. Dara had prepared lamb shish ka-bobs for supper - and even though I like to think I don't care for lamb - they were delicious.
On Friday morning, we headed to Kerbey Lane for breakfast (almost comparable to the Omelet Parlor that we so love in LA) We did a few errands and ended up at Book People where I found a neat t-shirt with the message "The Top Ten reasons I Procrastinate: 1 - with blank to follow. I also found the newest Lillian Jackson Braun book as well as the latest in the Peter Tremayne and Margaret Frazer series - which I thoroughly enjoy. I didn't know the last two books had even been published. I was needing some wool yarn and asked one of the ladies as to where I might go in that area and she tracked down someone in the store that knits and they looked up an address of a marvelous yarn store on South Congress - about double the size of the yarn shop in Liberty.
We met Doug and Dara that evening and they took us to an Arena Football game - the first time for us. We had marvelous seats - on the 25 yard line (the field is only 50 yards long) and we quickly picked up some of the intricacies of the game. The game was in the arena where the Texas Longhorn basketball team plays so we will appreciate future viewings of these games even more. Of course I should add that we ate at Threadgills that evening before the game - where Janis Joplin practiced some of her musical skills many years ago.
On Saturday, we went to what looked like a "dive" called Taco Xpress and had a migas taco for breakfast - absolutely divine!!!! This has to be a repeat in the future. From there, Doug drove us into the country where we did some wine tasting and then saw an eagle's nest - probably less than 50 yards from the highway. Jim thinks the size of the nest was close to that of a small Volkswagon. There were other nests in the area, but out of sight of the general public. The state or county has prepared a drive area off the main road so that people can stop and watch the eagles - I would guess that 15 or 20 people were there when we were - there is even a web site that lets you keep up on what is going on with these eagles. We then went on to Llano where we had a marvelous BBQ meal at Cooper's - we were stuffed to the gills! We returned to Austin and attended an Austin Ice Bats hockey match.
On Sunday, Doug and Dara took us to a marvelous brunch at Moonshine - downtown Austin. From there Doug took us to Wimberly - sort of an artistic community with lots of small shops. If a person was in to crafts, they would be in heaven here. We returned to Austin and went to the Zachary Scott Theater to see "Urinetown - The Musical". This was actually a fast moving musical that kept the audience in stitches - and time passed way too rapidly.
After leaving Doug and Dara, we returned to the motel and began to pack for the drive home on Monday - intending on stopping at Wichita on Monday, but ended up arriving in Chillicothe about 8:00 in the evening.
We picked up the girls on Tuesday morning, let them romp in the backyard, used the comb on them to get many tangles out, and then carried them to the utility room to get a good bath - much needed. We dozed this afternoon and then I met some of the ladies for dessert.
We had six for dessert - Marna, Peggy, Helen, Sue Jones, Mary, and yours truly.
B.
posted by News from Chilli | 6:12 PM
|
4 comments
