Tag: Texas

How we celebrate in Texas

On Sunday, April 23, 2017

It does not get much better than this. Our friends, Phil D. and Eric P. went to our Sunday morning church meeting this meeting. Afterward, out little home church had a going away party for us. I can not tell you how much we appreciate and love these people. We have met with them only for a year, but it has been a joy. The party was Mexican themed and, boy howdy, they know how to do it. Here are a few pictures to give you a flavor of how it went. Please note that the last picture was absolutely a result of the first two.

Mexican food at our going away party
Exhibit A

Virgin margaritas at our going away party
Exhibit B

Sleeping it off with Kiwi
Exhibit C

Texas bluebonnets

By Dad

On Thursday, April 13, 2017

In General

Texas bluebonnets--April, 2017

Being from the Pacific Northwest, we have fairly high expectations when it comes to wildflowers. Our dear friend Marie Mounce sent this bluebonnet picture she took about a week ago. The exceptional quality of this years bluebonnet crop is the talk of North Texas and I have to admit they truly are beautiful and abundant. There are fields and fields of them just about everywhere. We understand now why the bluebonnet is the Texas State Flower.

More Thanksgiving (in Texas)

By Dad

On Thursday, November 24, 2016

In Cooking, Milo and Sarah

Tom Thumb turkey pan and flan for Thanksgiving Lorena has been earning points for shopping at the Tom Thumb supermarket near where we live. She used all her points to buy a new turkey cooking pan and rack because our old pan started to rust. She is giving it double duty to cook the flan. It does not get much better than that–flan and a turkey in a free pan! Lots of reasons, big and small to be thankful.

Grandpa Milo called this morning, too. His Thanksgiving with my siblings and all the kids’ cousins will be tomorrow afternoon just because of how all the timing worked out. The reason he called is because he remembered a hymn he thinks might be good for Grandma Sarah’s funeral. We have to look up–we know the hymn really, really well, but do not know the number off the top of our heads. He sang “…we’ll gather round the throne, a victor throng” and a few more lines we could not quite make out. He is obviously very sad, but much better than a week ago. These are more things for which to be thankful–a recently passed Mother/Grandmother in a good place and Grandpa Milo who stays optimistic in the face of a very difficult time.

Up and running in Texas

By Dad

On Saturday, March 19, 2016

In House and home

We left Christian’s place in Tempe last Sunday afternoon to arrive at Lorena’s cousin Beto’s place in Mesquite, Texas on Monday evening. The next day we had the extreme good fortune to find a great little apartment in Lewisville a short way from my work and only a half a block from Anytime Fitness. The proximity to Anytime Fitness was a happy accident that made Lorena very, very pleased. We stayed with Beto two nights and have been in the apartment since.

Since we arrived, we have been out buying “stuff.” Since we sold the old washer and dryer, the gas barbecue grill and all our beds we had to replace all that or go to the laundromat, cook on the electric range and sleep on the floor. We will have to continue to sleep on the floor until Monday because the Nebraska Furniture Mart does not deliver our bed until then. Amazingly, we got the best price on the washer and dryer from the Lowes right around the corner from us and it included free delivery and installation. We still need to buy a breakfast nook table and a sofa, but after that we will wait until we are in a house before we do too much more furnishing of the house.

It is great to be back in the saddle blogging again.

Betty Blonde #497 – 07/13/2010

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All our bags are packed and we’re ready to go

By Dad

On Saturday, March 5, 2016

In House and home

All our earthly goods in a UHaul headed from Oregon to Texas This morning we packed all of the things we had accumulated from a year of fourth floor studio apartment living in Wilsonville, Oregon into a 5×8 U-Haul. It is amazing how much stuff one accumulates, even in such a cramped space. Dinner is planned tonight with our dear friend Gladys followed by church tomorrow morning and evening with Grandpa Milo and Grandma Sarah. After that, we are off to Texas.

It has amazed us how everything worked out for us to return to Oregon, but then nothing worked out after that for us to stay. We are not too excited about spending too much more time in an apartment so we are working hard to find a house where we can settle down for the long term. In the meantime, we look forward to some time with Christian in Tempe next week.

Betty Blonde #493 – 07/07/2010

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Last day of work in Oregon

By Dad

On Friday, March 4, 2016

In Family, Milo and Sarah, Work

I am scheduled to go out to lunch with my manager and several others today as it is my last day of work at my job here in Oregon. These are always melancholy things. My theory is that work is never as bad as one thinks it is while they are in it, but never really quite as good as they remember it after they leave. The work in this job I am leaving is not nearly as “bleeding edge” as I hoped, but it has been a great place to be to have the chance to spend a year close to Grandpa Milo and Grandma Sarah. I am very grateful for my time here, but look forward to some new and very interesting challenges.

We pack this weekend. We do not have much because we never got out of our fourth floor studio apartment into a house. Everything should fit into a 5×8 U-Haul trailer. Lorena took our Honda CRV to get a trailer hitch so we are all set to go. I pick up the trailer and we plan to pack tomorrow. Kiwi the remaining twin cat sister, Lorena and I should be on the road to Tempe for a visit with Christian early Monday morning.

Betty Blonde #492 – 07/05/2010

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Davy Crockett went to Texas under similar circumstances

By Dad

On Friday, February 26, 2016

In culture, House and home

We really are going to Texas to try to balance family responsibilities. We have wonderful friends here in Oregon, I am a native son, we love the unparalleled beauty and we even love the weather (most of the time). That being said, Davy Crockett’s famous quote when he resigned from the U.S. House of Representatives resonates with us. He said, “…you may all go to hell and I will go to Texas.” The reason it resonates with us has to do with the draconian land use laws, the horrible Portland freeways, the outrageous new minimum wage that will drive small business into the ground, the abysmal public education system and a coarsening libertine culture that is abortion friendly, anti-traditional marriage and, frequently anti-Christian.

Oregon, we love you and our roots are here, but unless law, culture and our personal responsibilities change, to paraphrase Oregon governor Tom McCall, “We will come visit again and again… But for heaven’s sake, we don’t plan to come here to live.”

Betty Blonde #488 – 06/18/2010

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Dallas, Texas

By Dad

On Tuesday, February 23, 2016

In Family, House and home

I resigned my job in Portland, Oregon area yesterday to accept a position in Dallas, Texas. The part of the move that has to do with work is great. The part that has to do with leaving Grandpa Milo and Grandma Sarah behind in Oregon makes us sad. They are in good hands with my siblings and with the church with whom they meet so they will be fine. One of the main reasons for the move is to be closer to Grandma Conchita who is alone now, Grandpa Lauro having died over a year ago. We have a good real estate agent looking for a place for us close to the new job, but not so close that we could be characterized as big city dwellers. More about this as it moves forward.

Betty Blonde #485 – 06/15/2010
Betty Blonde #485
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Wildly cool reinvigoration of the GaugeCam project

By Dad

On Friday, August 14, 2015

In Technology

François installing GaugeCam in Harlingen, TX This photograph is of François working with a team from Texas A&M to install a water level camera in Harlingen, TX. It went very, very well. It is not complete yet, but images are flowing from the camera up to the GaugeCam server. Next steps are to calibrate the camera system and start plotting camera level. My buddy John from my previous job and Arizona and I are working on the next generation software for this project. If this goes well, there will be several other opportunities in Texas.

Technically, we are working on putting the software into a small embedded computer with a BeagleBone Black computer a camera and a cell phone connection. After that we plan to start working on commercializing both the software and the hardware. Up until now, the system has been, more or less, a lab project. As more and more people show interest, we need to harden the design to make it as robust as possible for field use and easy to maintain.

Betty Blonde #395 – 01/20/2010

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