San Angelo, Texas

This is my last morning of leisure, and I wasted half of it in bed. My dad would never have slept this late, but here I am just listening for the beeper on the coffee pot at 8:28 am. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday I drove to San Angelo for my last three workshops. On Wednesday I didn't take the loop, and instead drove through town just to see what was happening. Looks like this hand is ready to go to work!

We are required to get six or seven days of inservice in the summer so we can have the entire week of Thanksgiving out of school. Believe me--we are ready for a week when it gets here. It is a long haul from August 24 to Thanksgiving! And this year our first grand boy is supposed to arrive on November 21, so I am already looking forward to it! The Education Service Center is located near the Concho River, and all I had to do was get in the car, drive down Rio Concho Drive, and in two minutes I was in the San Angelo Historic District. FUN! You can see these sheep in various places, because San Angelo is sheep country.

I spent all my time on one block, because there is a lot to see, and not much time for looking.

Leddy Boots are still being made downtown San Angelo. The Leddy's moved their business from Brady to San Angelo in 1936, and by 1941 they opened a second business at the Ft. Worth Stock yards. Wish I had had the time to go in and visit.

I did take time for lunch one day in Sealy Flats Shana's Cafe and Bakery. They had the best chicken salad sandwich I have had in a long time.

Eggemyer's General Store is one of the most fantastic places I have been. It has showcases of jack knives, cookbooks of all kinds, kitchen wares, toy tractors--John Deere and IH, fudge and truffles, Spode China, jams, jelly's, and more. They did not allow picture taking, so you will just have to go there yourself.
This is an iteresting bookstore--no time to go in.
Miss Hattie's Cafe and Saloon. And....
the Sassy Fox, where I spent all lunch hour, tried on clothes and took pictures. The next day I spent lunch hour in J. Wilde's
This is the sidewalk display of J. Wilde's. I will do a blog on Sassy and Wilde's because they let me take pictures. Pictures just can't convey the atmosphere, but maybe you will get the idea. San Angelo is a very interesting small town (a little over 88,000), and has a culture all it's own. Wish everyone could visit there just once.

PePe` ......

...the tuxedo cat came out to meet me, and demand attention while I was on my morning walk. I haven't seen him all summer, and he is just so cute with his white gloves, and white shirt. He wouldn't leave me alone long enough to pose. You can tell he is in the mood for a good head scratchin' this morning!

Yesterday I got in a bidding war on e-bay. Don't ever do that! Cowboy Sweetheart introduced me to the neatest gadget--granted I am not much on gadgets, but this is the best, and I just had to have one. You know what a pain spaghetti straps are! Well, the Fasturn makes them fast, neat, perfect and best of all, painless, so I looked on e-bay. Sure enough there it was, and I lost the bid. Tight old me, I just wouldn't go high enough, but I didn't really care, because I knew I would get another shot at it. Not to fear! The next day or so there were FOUR on the auction block, so I patiently waited for the days to run out, and for the last minutes to countdown, then I started raising the bid. I conservatively posted each bid, going only as high as necessary, trying my best to get it as cheaply as possible only to find out I had been out bid. Then something in my brain kicked in--meanness, actually. I decided, "OK, if that's how you want to be, I'll just make you pay, and pay dearly for this little apparatus, and then I will drop out and leave you holding the bag." Well, "Hello!" I won the thing! It's probably a good thing, now I can get on with my life, and not be tied down to waiting, and hoping I don't forget to bid, except that I won't have the fun of bidding someone up on those other three Fasturns. I did learn a lesson--patience is a virtue that I need more of, and being mean doesn't pay!

Grasshoppers!!!!!!!!!! and hot weather

I am furious! The grasshoppers are eating the petals off of my Mexican Sunflowers. At least this butterfly is able to find one that is altogether. He stayed here a long time, fanning his wings in and out, and doing what butterflies do. I never could see how they got any necter out of a flower.

We have had a lot of these black butterflies lately. The bottoms of their wings fade into a beautiful blue. Wonder what kind of caterpillar they make?

It is cooler today--98 compared to 101 yesterday. Dog days are here; the cicadas are in a constant chattering-buzz, and the boys are doing two-a-days up on the hill, and I am sure their little tongues are sticking to the roofs of their mouths, and the sweat is pouring off of them. I don't know if they are working out in pads yet. Just glad it's them and not me.

The Count Down for School is On!

Good Morning! I am out as early as possible to walk off a little blubber. I haven't been on the scales since I got back from Montana, just can't face the truth right now. After the walk I pulled grass burrs in the back yard so I can mow. T. Tom (cat) competed with noxious plants for attention, by flopping down in front of me every few steps. Have you ever noticed how cats love to have a person work in the yard? In just a little bit it will be time to go read to one of the students who is home bound, and then I am going to use the big tables in the home ec. room to cut out the back to that quilt. Yesterday was a bust, because I spent most of the time talking to teachers who were also supposed to be getting things shaped up for the new year. That's the fun part of getting ready!

I am thankful that the full moon will be over by the first day of school! I think the kids are wilder, talk more, and don't focus as well during this phase of the moon! Some say, "It ain't so," but I know differently.

Time is running out!

As I came to the school marquee during my morning walk, reality hit. Teachers, and or course, students have only a few days of leisure left (actually teachers go back the 17th). When I went to the Big Dry School I would actually get sick at the thoughts of going back. At least it isn't that bad anymore. I spent the weekend "dogsitting" Lola and Snoopy while my son and daughter-in-law went to visit family. Here is Lola bringing me her "baby." She looks sort of mean, but she is very loving, and sort of a chicken. I didn't a good picture of the Chihuahua named Snoopy, but he is very dear, and likes to sleep with you. Then on Monday, I spent all day running around Odessa going to all the doctors. Odessa is quite different from Midland; some parts make me think I am South of the Border. It has better Mexican food than Midland; I am sure you already had that figured out!

This grocery store advertises that it will also wire money, and take food stamps.

Pinkies sign in Odessa.Here is a pasture south of Midland. This picture just doesn't do it justice, because the amount of cactus is amazing! The good thing is, cactus doesn't take much water, and the grass is green after the late rains we have had. You don't see many mesquites in this pasture, so I think maybe they tree plowed it years ago, and in the process scattered prickly pear all over it, and here it is--cactus everywhere. Now I am going to school to see what kind of mess my room is in.

Critters ...

This interesting creature is called a vinegar roan--big and ugly. They have pinchers similar to a crab, and give off a vinegar oder when they get upset. He was in the highschool hall, so I took this just before I put him outside. I hope my neice, Jen looks at this!

Odessa Trip

I went to Odessa last night for the second phase of my sleep study, met with the doctor this morning, and yes, I have sleep apnea, so now I have a CPAP machine. While I was waiting to see the doctor, I took some pictures of just, some of the neat signs in town. For some reason Odessa has quite a few 1950ish signs, and I just love them! This is St. Luke's Methodist Church on 42nd street. The pipes look like something straight out of the oil field, which is quite fitting.

This is the Sherwood Shopping Center sign on 42nd.

Scott Theater downtown.

Ector Theater, just down the street from the Scott Theater.

One of the little stores down town.
Lassa Optical Company, downtown.
A beat up, old motel over near the hospital.
Drugs and alcohol near the hospital.
Desert landscaping at a spa downtown.

I also went to a cute little restaurant near the hospital on Sam Houston Street called Yana. It is owned by a German woman who stays in Europe most of the time; she has a good manager running the place, and they claim to specialize in European cuisine. I had baked potato soup and creme brulee. Shopping in Wal Mart and the mall was very exasperating. I swear there were screaming, bawling kids in every nook and cranny in Odessa, worse than Midland. To top it all off, I got a bad shopping cart in Wal Mart. It would have been perfect if all I wanted to do was go in a circle, so here I was fighting it every step of the way, and trying to ignore all the noise. I am ready for a night of rest!