Treading the Pandemic

For posterity's sake, I'm going to note that two different vaccines have been announced within the past week as having been 90-95% effective, and that it's entirely possible that, by this time next year, we'll be back to "normal." Then again, an asteroid that's hiding behind the sun could also hit Earth, so who really knows.

Mal's stomach stuff continues to be a thing we have to stay on top of. It's looking like about 1 generous tablespoon of Miralax is a good dose for him, and we still have to wrangle him to the restroom or he just... doesn't go. Hopefully the maturity/behavioral part of this will be on his plate soon enough. Between the hour a day James and/or I spend with him camped out in the bathroom, the twice a day we have to cajole him to let us brush his teeth (actually, he does okay at night; it's the early daytime brushing that he resists, for some reason), and keeping track of time to remind him to get a snack around 9 PM so that we're not dealing with making macaroni and cheese at 10:15 at night... it's a lot. But he's happy and pretty healthy, so that's a good thing.

We've been spending a lot of time outside lately. It's one of the two really beautiful times of the year in Austin, so we're trying to take advantage of it.

Construction on the houses in our immediate area is finally wrapping up, and I think we'll get a break in the heavy machinery and its assorted noise pollution soon. We can't actually see any of the building from the house right now, but there's one house going up behind our back lot that seemed to have a lot of trouble breaking up rock to put in the septic tank last week.

I've been really thinking about environmental waste and harm a lot lately. I'd decided somewhat recently to only buy sustainable/natural clothing, but then realized we were talking $70 for a casual shirt and $175 for a pair of shoes. So I instead committed to buying second-hand clothes whenever possible, then finding more environmentally-friendly alternatives where it's not possible. In fact, except for the Sonic underpants in that top picture, everything Mal has on in the photos above is either from Kid 2 Kid or a hand-me-down from one of his friends. And we'll pass them along when we're done. 

As countries move to zero-net carbon policies, I'm hoping our own nation will soon follow suit. Along with that, I hope builders (like the ones I mentioned above) will find better options than cement slabs. It's bad for drainage (even though our town has a maximum 40% impervious cover ordinance) and making it is bad for the environment. Plus, it traps heat.

James has been looking at building a work shed and found an alternative based on French drains and gravel fill, I believe. I'm on an alternative housing committee for our town and am hoping that eventually, we can move the whole city to zoning ordinances that would favor more environmentally-friendly alternatives in house-building. 

Speaking of which, the meeting has just started (still waiting for everyone to join the Zoom), so I'm out. Have a good week!

A Dreamy Sign of the Times

My "nightmare" last night shows the dystopian times in which we live: I was waiting in a VERY long line at See's Candy and realized that I wasn't wearing a mask. I'd been in line quite a while and was almost to the front. I looked around and realized that literally no one else was wearing a mask, either, which both made me feel a little better that I could finish my transaction, and also worse because I didn't want them to assume that I'm one of those people who doesn't care about public health and safety. Then a customer coughed right in the face of the cashier, who immediately disappeared and another employee took her place. Mal was somewhere in the store reading a book, too. I don't remember whether he had a mask or not.

Roots in the Time of the Pandemic

It's official: James put in paperwork to work from home for the foreseeable future. Of course, the question then is (as VRBO's ad campaign so poignantly puts it) when you can work/school from anywhere, why not make it somewhere you want to be?

First, we LOVE our home. We love the yard and the location. We dig the neighborhood, and the trade-offs for increased construction/density is a more diverse demographic of neighbors. When we first moved in, it was largely older white folks and now there are families of all stripes and a bit of melanin. So that's good. 

What we do not love is the heat. Pretty much four months of unmitigated heat, often paired with humidity... not Florida humidity, and not even Houston humidity, but still pretty damp grossness. And we know D is going to move away ASAP, but with the pandemic, who knows when that will be? Still, it'd be nice to be somewhat close by to... wherever that is.

We looked at Temple, where my parents live, because housing is so much more affordable there. We also looked at Wilmington, Delaware, because it's cooler than here and not likely to have a natural disaster, which is a plus. We'd just rent if we went there.

The thought of getting our house ready to sell and move is overwhelming, though, and we've put so much into it that we wouldn't get it all back out. 

But as I was thinking about it this weekend, I realized something: I've agreed to be on 3 committees that require my presence here, and I really hate to bail on that. So I guess we're hanging out for a while.

Relaxing Close

It's 7 AM and I'm sitting out on our (muggy) patio, as I have every morning since we got here. It's so nice; a lot like having a verandah on a cruise, but less noisy. I mean, the ocean and the wind can get pretty loud when you're speeding through at 12 knots. Here, instead, it's pretty still this early. Still enough that I can hear "Born in the USA" playing on the speakers in the pool/water park area.

Yesterday, Mal finally did get to swim and go around the lazy river a few more times.

He did not see his friend again, and was extremely sad about that the first half of the day. He played with other kids later, but told me, "I don't love them as much as I loved her."

We met the Shetland ponies, walked down by the river (James hadn't seen it yet), hung out in the room, realized that the general store serves pizza at night so Mal was able to eat something besides the snacks we brought and chicken nuggets, and ended the day on the lawn watching "Scoob."

Here at the resort, they keep alpacas, longhorns, Shetland horses, and goats (which we should get to see today); on-site, we've seen raccoons, frogs, and an armadillo (not me, darn it; but James did); and then across the river, we saw the happiest-looking cattle I've ever seen. They have a shaded, forested hillside, and can wade down into the water to cool off and drink. California might advertise happy cows, but I think these babies have them beat.

Today we were going to go to McKinney Falls State Park, but since this is Texas, it's heating back up. It's been warm enough, with highs in the mid- to high-80s. Today it's supposed to be in the mid-90s. And the falls have NO shade. And they're likely not really "falls" at the moment, either. Plus, we have some amazing Shiner Bock queso left over from James's dinner last night that we want to get into our fridge posthaste. It should take us just about an hour to drive across Austin to get there. And, surprisingly, our largest ice pack hasn't thawed all the way, even though the refrigerator stopped working and got up to 60 degrees for a few hours before they switched it out!

Typically, I plan pretty packed vacations. But this time, 1) COVID and 2) I've learned that doesn't work for these guys with whom I'm traveling. So I've taken advantage of the downtime and the amenities to do laundry twice. The only clothes I'll need to wash when we get home are our swimsuits and what we wore yesterday.

Have a great weekend, friends and family!

Wimberley and Beyond

Yesterday was full and fun. Once we got up, we went straight to a playground. Mal had been disappointed because the park where we considered eating in Blanco (and moved to the courthouse because of the mosquitoes) was just a walk-and-contemplate park) didn't have one. Morrow Park is buried behind the old entrance to Jacob's Well, and we had to drive over some gravel roads to get there, but Mal ended up meeting a few kids and having a great time. 

Since we were in the area, we went to Jacob's Well, also. Not familiar with the new setup, we made the mistake of parking in Lot A. Pro-tip: Lot C is a lot closer to the well, see? The walk wasn't long, but it was across a mostly-unshaded prairie, which I thought was lovely but Mal thought was hot and purposefully knee-hurty. We made it to the well, but he was unimpressed. He thought it would be a wishing well. Unfortunately, it was only a 140-foot cavern under pristine water. Bummer.

 

I think it's a lot prettier and more impactful from the lower level, but, again, the layout was different than when I went when I was expecting Malcolm, and we weren't pressing our luck to do anything other than get there and leave.

I'd had left-over pizza for breakfast so wasn't hungry yet, but we went by Shamrock Tacos (which is inside a Shamrock gas station) for James, and then went to Cypress Creek Nature Preserve so he could eat them. They had a little playground! And it was right across from Monster Treats, which serves Amy's Ice Cream. So we did.

On the way back for an afternoon regrouping (it really was getting toasty out), we went to Pioneer Town. Kitschy little western movie set. 

Much-needed rest over, we ventured back out as the sun was getting ready to set. First, we visited EmilyAnne Theater. It's closed, obviously, but has a series of gardens, including an interactive music area that Mal loved.

Then we went basically across the highway to Old Baldy. It's a hill you reach by ascending 213 steps. There are encouraging painted rocks along the way, and I'd tried to prepare Malcolm for the adventure. He did great! He even had energy to spare once we got to the top!

We hung out enjoying the panoramic Hill Country views for a while before descending. Then we went back to the cabin to finish up the pizza.

This morning, we packed up and made our way northeast. We got breakfast at Sugar Shack Bakery (James had the Sunrise Hash and I had a terrific chicken salad sandwich), and ate it near the playground at Blue Hole Regional Park. Mal made some more friends and played for an hour or so. Then we drove over to look at Blue Hole. It's so still and pretty when no one's swimming in it.

Later, I'd pulled over to get a picture of a giant slice of pie in Kyle, when Mal noticed "a REAL wishing well!" So apparently, this is what he thinks a wishing well looks like.

Yeah. A fountain. I won't tell him if you won't.

Then, man, was this the highlight of our trip? We saw... THE WORLDS LARGEST SHOVEL.

It's made from items that were in a landfill. And, really, what can you possibly see that might top the World's Largest Shovel?

How about a fairly large pecan-loving squirrel wearing a COVID safety mask? Ser kurt.

And, at long last, we arrived at our final destination: Hyatt Lost Pines Resort. It's a very nice hotel, and has lots to do. Since we got here at 3, we've relaxed in the room, gone swimming, ridden on the lazy river, Mal made a friend on the "beach" at that pool entry, we locked ourselves out of our room by exiting through the patio and not remembering that I had the safety lock engaged on the actual room door, had an AMAZING dinner, and roasted s'mores while listening to a guy playing campfire songs on his guitar. Mal made more friends at the fire pit, and we're supposed to meet them at the alpaca feeding tomorrow.

 

 

Now, I'm super tired and my computer is about to die! Night!

"You're in Trump Country"

We drove around a lot yesterday. About 150 miles, give or take. But we didn't get very far, as you can see from this map:

During that drive, we learned two things: 1) Ranchers overwhelmingly seem to support Donald Trump for reelection. I've never seen so many signs, flags, giant banners, etc. Admittedly, I don't often drive through miles of ranches, either. For every sprawling hill country pasture with a Biden/Harris sign adorning the fence, we saw 50 or more for Trump. Also, a popular sign in Johnson City said, "Vote Republican to preserve your freedom!" I'd love to interview the Biden supporters, see if they know their neighbors and whether it's difficult to be the lone blue in a sea of red. Also, I'd love to ask the "freedom" people what and whose freedoms they mean.

However, the more important thing we learned was: 2) THEY ARE BUTTERFLIES, not moths. Oh, man, the slaughter was worse driving around yesterday. I took a picture of our grill, which I won't share here because it's really brutal in a kind of beautiful way. One of the first items on our agenda today is to find a car wash; we also drove over some fresh tar so the undercarriage is likely a mess, as well. (According to Mal, our first order of business is finding a playground.)

Let me tell you about our adventures yesterday, in words only because the internet where we are is super slow. Like downstream is about .37 mbps. So there's no chance of uploading pictures until we get somewhere less... country. In fact, where we're staying is on a property literally called "A Country Place," which has a selection of differently-sized cabins. We're in The Woodshed, which is adorable and more spacious than it looked online. You can see it here.

We left the Exotic Zoo Resort after a last swing on the playground, and having emptied our last bits of food for the animals. They'd just been fed their official meal, which looks like sawdust, but were happy to leave the troughs to come get treats from us. One llama exhaled a mouthful of his feed into James's window, then promptly threatened to spit after consuming a few bites of the pellets we gave him. Also, a camel tried to eat my windshield wiper. Which we really need to work because, as I mentioned, suicidal butterflies.

Mal wanted Home Town Donuts, so we stopped by there (James had a breakfast taco and kolache), then drove over to LBJ park complex. There is a state park on the south bank of the river, then a national park to the north. The state park has a living farm, operating as though it were 1917. There are a couple of cabins, one dating back to the 1850s, and then the farm is a homestead where the family started off with a modest little cabin, and then the husband built the wife a Victorian home that resembled her mother's house. They have sheep, cows, chickens, pigs, and a garden. They were cooking goulash for lunch and it smelled heavenly. In addition to the homes, there is a dormitory that the husband built for his 10 kids, and which has since been turned into a smoke house; a barn; a nice big chicken coop; a well house; and a smithy. 

Except that the homestead neighbored the Johnson ranch, that part of the park didn't have too much to do with Lyndon Johnson. However, they did have a museum with relevant displays. We didn't go inside, because Covid and masks and all of that. 

We drove over to the Johnson property, and it was massive but modest. After he became President, Johnson had an airstrip installed so he could travel to the "Texas White House" to work from there, and to host guests and dignitaries. It's still a working ranch, and we got to see quite a few cattle. It's really a lovely site, and it felt like we had it to ourselves. There is a half-sized replica of Air Force One at the airstrip. Mal was terrified that it would start up and fly into us. He enjoyed the bench swing in the trees between the house and the river, though.

Oh, hey! I got one picture to upload! Yay!

Next, we drove through Fredericksburg... I don't know if we missed the best part of town, but I've heard raves and didn't really see anything too impressive if you're not into wineries. Holy cow, there are more than 50. Also, a couple of places where they make mead, cider, and rum.

But you know what town was super cute? Ingram. After Fredericksburg, we drove through Kerrville to Ingram to see Stonehenge II. If you look at the map above, you can see how "off the path" we went to see it. It was worth the side trip, though! There are quite a few neat pieces of outdoor art in the complex, and one of the Easter Island heads is responsibly wearing a mask about the size of a queen sheet.

Ingram seems to have a bustling arts community and specialty shopping. I think it would be fun to hang out there for a couple of days.

Heading back east, we stopped at a quirky roadside attraction called "Cartoon Saloon." It was only a few miles from there to Old Tunnel State Park. It was a railroad tunnel that stopped operating in 1942. Now, thousands of bats live there and fly out at night a la Congress Street Bridge in Austin. We knew we wouldn't be there late enough to see the bats emerge, but it's free to enter the park so we stopped by, anyway.

Walking down to the tunnel, we were able to see HUNDREDS of bats already flying around like crazy at the far end of the tunnel. Also, it smelled really bad. But the view from the upper viewing area was absolutely gorgeous! It was our best view of the Hill Country so far. And we weren't even in the car, where we were having to view it though a bug-splattered windshield!

Once again, Mal was such a trooper. He complained a little bit about walking during the day, but he did it. And he was in generally good spirits. I did ply him with soda and Hershey's, but that just means I'm an adept parenting strategist, right?

We got dinner from Blanco River Pizza, and ate it at the picnic tables on the county courthouse lawn. Mal ran around the whole time, talking about and playing Minecraft. Then we came to our little Woodshed. On the way, we crossed over a one-lane "bridge" that was maybe five or six inches over a creek. It was very cool and I'm glad it hasn't rained lately!

Today, we're planning to explore Wimberley, but also taking it easy. Have a great Tuesday, folks!

Hill Country Getaway

About three years ago, my extended family started planning a trip to Hawaii, to spend a week a the beautiful beachfront bungalows where my parents took us way back in 2004. This time last year, however, we found out that the bungalows were for sale. The manager couldn't say for sure what would happen under a new owner, but the sales page for it made it clear that the historic buildings could be town down to make way for building "your personal paradise." Rather than wait until the last minute and have to scramble, we went ahead and canceled the trip.

A few months later, I planned a trip to California. We were going to do things that none of us have ever done before, like go to Disneyland, Legoland, and Huntington Beach. We were going to eat at Bob's Big Boy and Roy's Donuts. And since California is much cheaper to get to than Hawaii, we had even splurged to travel first class. Then COVID. We were very fortunate, and after barely any convincing at all, all of our money was returned to us, save a 10% service charge from the third-party reseller for Disney tickets; I didn't begrudge that at all.

SO, scaling back even more, we decided to return to the State Fair of Texas. We haven't been in two years and Mal's at the age where I think he'd really enjoy Little Hands on the Farm. But, of course, the fair got canceled. They have a drive-through food thing, but it's a minimum of three hours and I definitely do not want to sit in my car, staying in one place, for that long. Also, the Perot Museum is still closed. And we'd have to wear masks inside everywhere. The Dallas Zoo even has everyone over the age of ten wearing masks all of the time, even outside. Thus we filed Dallas away for another time.

I tentatively scheduled a little circle, staying within an hour of where we live, and expecting that we'd just need to stay outside the whole trip. I didn't get too excited about it because... see above. But we got to go! It's been a nice couple of days so far. Except for the suicidal moths. 

Yesterday at about 11, we drove over to Marble Falls for lunch at Local Eats Craft Food truck. It was so good! Especially the parmesan sweet potato fries.

We'd talked about going to Sweet Berry's farm just to look at the fall pumpkin scenes, but Mal decided he would rather go to the local park. I was kind of glad. There's very little shade at the farm, and though the day was mild enough for Central Texas fall (high in the mid-80s), the full sun could definitely bake.

We had a really nice time at Johnson Park, then passed a classic/souped-up car festival on our way out of town. We stopped to admire those for a bit.

Then we drove on into Johnson City. There must have been a moth harvest recently. We killed so many of them with our windshield. It's disgusting. They look like leaves blowing in the wind until they explode in your line of view. Good grief.

Our next stop was the Exotic Zoo Resort. We've driven past before but never stopped. There were tons of very friendly animals! They said we could hand-feed anything except the zebras, which bite, and the "birds," which are evil ostriches and rheas. They didn't have to warn me about the birds. I've been pecked by jerk ostriches right in the camera lens.

At one point, James was hand-feeding a full-sized camel on his side, when a second camel stuck its head all the way into my window and across, in an attempt to get the food. When James looked over and laughed at the unexpected animal in his face, the camel on his side tried to take the entire bag. We learned to moderate our window levels to control for thievery. 

As we were finishing up the drive, my car beeped to warn me "transmission is hot; hit brakes." That was concerning, but quick enough, we pulled off of the trail and into... our parking lot. Because we had booked two nights at the on-site cabins!

Mal wasted no time making himself completely at home, and we have the best neighbors!

Of course, one of the first orders of business was swimming. The pool has to be around 70 degrees. It is SO frigid. Also, it's 4 feet deep and the ladder only has the top rung. I was there was no one around to laugh at me when I hoisted myself out over the side of the pool. Mal used the ladder to get out, and I actually did once, but realized it was a lot less dicey just to beach.

James and I got dinner from Bryan's on 290, all appetizers and sides because that place is EXPENSIVE. But it was so good. Mal had a ham and cheese on flatbread from Subway, his favorite.

After the sun set, Mal found a couple of girls running around who were staying in the cabin next door and who were kind enough to give him a glow stick. Then they all three had a dance party on our patio, then ran around playing zombies for an hour or so after. I got a really cute picture. With my cell phone. Which can't take night shots. Just trust me. 

Today, we hung out around the cabin for a while after we woke up (early, all of us).

We ordered breakfast from Hill Country Cupboard, and ate it at Johnson City Park. Mal ran around the whole time we were there, talking like crazy and just super full of energy. I asked him if he'd save some of that energy for Pedernales Falls State Park. He said he was already getting tired.

However, when we got to the park, he did the short .2-mile walk to the overlook just fine. In fact, he was super excited about the stone stairway that led down to the river. I reminded him that if we went down, he'd also have to come back up. AND then walk back to the car. But he was excited! So we walked to the river's edge and had a great time throwing rocks and looking for things that are in Minecraft that are also in the real world. He flagged a little on the pathway back to the car, but he hiked just under a mile! I had kind of wanted to do the half-mile trail to the Twin Falls Overlook, but didn't want to press our luck. We'll save it for next time. James and I did get out separately and go into the bird blind while Mal sat in the car drawing on the full-sized MagnaDoodle we got him for the trip.

We came back to the cabin and Mal and I jumped into the pool for a super-charged cool-down. I'd thought I wouldn't go all the way in today, but after getting so warm at the park, it actually felt... well, I went in over my shoulders today, and Mal said the first time I did it that I screamed too loud and it hurt his ears. But by the third or fourth time, I was basically numb. It was super relaxing then to sit in the sun and dry out after that. 

Tonight, we ordered dinner from West Henly Boil Shack. James got all of the Cajun stuff: étouffée and rice; shrimp boil with sausage, potatoes, and corn... I like boils, but James did say that the shrimp was spicy. I figured it might be, so I just got a patty melt and salad. It was all so delicious. Then I made my way down to the pond for sunset. My pictures... well, the pictures after the food somehow have a big old greasy finger-print in the corner. I mostly cropped it out, but they're not framed up right anymore. Still, I supposed having less-than-artistically-framed pictures is better than having patty-melt-prints all down one side, right?

See? I couldn't edit that smudge out without getting rid of Mal, and it's an adorable picture!

We played a few rounds of cards before shutting down (mentally) for the night. Tomorrow morning, it's on to our next adventure!

A birthday celebration, COVID-style

 We have a six-year-old! Here he is.

We usually have a party for him at a place where I don't have to do anything but pay people to host his birthday party, but, you know. This year. I mean, Chuck E. Cheese and Urban Air and all of those places actually ARE hosting birthday parties, but everyone has to wear masks unless they're actively eating, so... meh. (Again, I'm pro-mask but hate wearing them.)

SO... for my niece's son's birthday, his dad rented a bounce house from Austin Bounce Rentals, where they have a 4-days-for-4-hour rental rate. This seemed like a cool idea, and we decided to do it for Mal, and then invite one friend over every day that we had it. I mean, it was a cool idea. But we're just really tired and ready to stay home and be potatoes for the next week!

Anyway, they brought the bounce house Wednesday, the day before Mal's actual birthday. His friend Alexei came that day, and brought his little sisters Anya and Adelina. It was our first chance to see baby Adelina, and she's super precious! The kids had lots of fun; we haven't seen each other since February. They've all grown up so much!

They brought Mal a cool foam ball slingshot and a bunch of Mario magnets. Mal has had a blast creating "scenes" for us on the refrigerator.

Thursday, on the actual birthday, Fox came over with his big brother, John Paul, and his little brother, Rex. The bounce house wasn't wanting to stay up, and after a while we just shut it off. The boys found plenty to do, and had fun running around half-naked and then spraying each other with the garden hose.

Fox brought Mal a BUNCH of Hershey bars (which is what I'd told his mom Mal liked when she asked) and also a Star Wars LEGO set and a couple of Star Wars books. One of them is kind of a who's who and the other is an Eye-Spy-type book where you find Chewbacca and a bunch of bounty hunters on every page.

Friday was family day. Ken, Travis, Tian, Hannah and Chance, and Pappy and Nana came out. The bounce house place had brought us a second blower, so we were going strong again.

The Brownies got Mal four Super-Mario-themed Hot Wheels, and Nana and Pappy brought him some Sonic LEGOs (which they're building in the picture above). We'd actually given Mal a set of Super Mario LEGOs, so he really has an embarrassment of riches, building-bricks-wise.

Today was the last party day, and it went so well. I was basically exhausted this morning, and not terribly excited to have more company. But Mal and Harrison played together beautifully, and it was the first day that it was hot enough to turn the water on in the bounce house and have it feel REALLY good.

It was a great week, catching up with friends we haven't seen in a while, and playing outside SO much. It was fun celebrating with Mal!

In the midst of all of this, we had another episode of needing Mal to take magnesium citrate, and he's gotten to be such a dang trooper about it. Also, no, his tooth hasn't fallen out yet.

The bounce house goes away tomorrow, and when I reminded Mal of this, he cried. A lot. He thought I'd bought it. I tried to calm him down by saying we could certainly look for a bounce house (although a toddler-sized one I looked at earlier this year was $700; the one we rented would be about $1200 used and more than $2000 new) later, and I think Mal's onto my stalling tactics. He said, "Mom, I'm afraid you're not going to do what you are saying." He's not wrong. I don't lie to him, but I do sometimes say things to calm him down like this, even though I know there's no way we're buying a bounce house. Sigh. He's getting so big. And cynical. Just like everyone else in the household. I'm both proud and concerned because now I have to think of something different to do.