Nature Taking Over

One of the things we really loved when we first bought our house was the mini "nature trail" that was right behind our back fence. It became pretty clear after the first year, however, that the people who owned the property before either did a lot of upkeep or just did a bunch of clearing right before selling the house.

Here's what it looked like in January 2017, the month after we moved in.

That "rail" is the remnant of a platform and step down into the grotto. I can't tell whether it started coming apart from age or if the Lower Colorado River Authority, which owns the property ours kind of surrounds, told them to take it down and they half-assed it.

Anyway... want to see it now?

BEHOLD! The triumph of NATURE!

While I'd like to be able to access the back part of that lot without having to be super wary of snakes, I also like the wildness coming right up to our fence. Here's one of the gates three and a half years ago.

Here's what that area looks like now.

Is there still even a trail? We have no way of knowing.

It would cost a lot, either in time or money, to un-wild that portion of the lot. I'm not willing to do it. I love how, in a few years, we won't be able to see the fences at all.

Especially as our neighborhood grows, in terms of new homes, the better "hedge" we can have from having to stare at development, the happier I'll be.

Grow on, wild plants. Grow on.

Let's talk about chicks, baby

For the first couple of weeks that we had the chickens, I kept glancing out and telling James, "I'm sure it'll get to the point that I take it for granted they're just out there and doing okay unless I have reason to think differently." Well, friends, that time is here.

The past few days, when Mal and I have gotten ready to leave the house, I look out back and don't see the chickens and think, "Great! They're hiding in the shade! Smart birds!"

We're still learning a lot and having fun. We think we have at least one and maybe two roosters, possibly three; hopefully none. If they start crowing, we'll have to figure out what to do next. But for now, the one that seems to be trying is still a quiet li'l gender-non-specific cutie pie, though it is definitely larger than the others.

It's been hot, and the birds seem to be doing their best to stay cool by camping out under the green in the yard, or chilling on the back porch (yay! poop!). I put ice in their water fairly early in the day and then try to take them refrigerated or frozen fruit or vegetables at least once a day to give them something to snack on. They REALLY like snack time.

What's kind of cool is that they've adapted to the pigeon loft a lot better than we expected. Chickens are, as James told me, "floor birds." Given that, even though I'd modified the loft with a couple of ramps (one is 45 degrees, which is supposed to be the max they can comfortably handle; the other is about 47.5 degrees), I didn't have high hopes about their utilizing the flight deck.

But they figured it out!

I'm so happy, as it's a bunch cooler out there with a breeze than it would be inside on the floor (which should be perfect for winter).

They don't seem to have ventured into the nesting boxes, which I am afraid will be much to small for them by the time they're old enough to lay eggs... if we have any hens (fingers crossed!). They're about 13-14 weeks old now, so we still have 7-15 weeks before they're mature enough to start laying. Glad they're not having to work too hard in the heat. Also glad that a "cold front" is coming in next week. Hey, I'll take 92 over 98 all summer, if it wants to do that!

We spent a lot of time the first couple of weeks after we got the birds filling in holes at the bottom of our fencing, and around the sides of the gates, where they might slip through the cracks. For a while, it seemed like they found a new egress every day! Including, at one point, getting into the front yard by flying up onto the porch border, and going through the wrought-iron railings onto the front porch, then down the steps, and into the grass in the driveway. Fixed that by moving the porch couch "bed" over a few feet.

Simple, but thus far effective, work-around. They don't seem comfortable jumping up/flying while also trying to get through the rails.

However, all of this is really for naught because of something I witnessed earlier this week.

What's this? you ask. Well...

So, yes, they can get up onto the top of our back fence and, if they want to, into the back 1/3... but so far, they just hop back down on the inside. At least I'll know where to look for them if they go missing!

Thus far, they have been easier to clean up after and care for than the pigeons. This is due largely, I believe, to the fact that during the day, they are basically self-sustaining. They do their business outside, so there isn't as much to clean inside the loft. They entertain themselves enough that I don't feel badly if we don't interact much with them on any given day... Speaking of which, I read that when it's this hot, it's best not to check on them in person very much during the day because they get excited and, therefore, hotter.

That's probably all of the chicken news for now. Here are a few pictures of the babies.

They were way more interested in the ice-cold water than the corn on the cob!

This one seems to be trying to crow. Did you know some hens crow?

This one has tail feathers that look rooster-ish.

This one looks almost too beautiful to be a hen, but is also the smallest bird we have.

Chillin' out, maxin', relaxin' all cool and all...

Traveling to Galveston

This morning, Mal woke up super excited to leave on our awesome trip. He had eaten breakfast and was raring to go about the time James got up and around and was trying to organize and pack some last-minute stuff, and eat breakfast himself. Mal and I ended up going outside and hanging out in the car for 15 minutes or so because Mal just couldn’t contain himself inside the house any more.

We drove for a little over an hour, stopping first at Giddings for a Buc-ees restroom and cheap soda break.

After that, we went on to Tomball to the Kleb Woods Nature Preserve. I’d read a very interesting story in our electric co-op magazine about how Elmer Kleb loved his homestead and almost lost it due to unpaid back taxes, and how many people and entities came together to preserve this beautiful site he’d carefully crafted, agreeing to let him live there for the rest of his life, at which time it would become a nature preserve.

Mal was not interested in doing this. He wanted desperately to head on to “the hotel” (which I’d told him was an RV and he also did not like the idea; he wanted halls to run up and down). I wasn’t the most tactful in explaining that we were ALL on vacation and we’d end up doing things that we ALL wanted to, but this might be one thing he wasn’t too excited about but would have to do, anyway.

James helped even more by giving Mal a pretty brief piggy-back ride up the paved trail from the parking lot to the nature center. It was lovely. Mal did love the nature center. It had a kids’ room, with lots of interesting artifacts, such as bones of animals found on the property, lots of books, stuffed animals, a few live reptiles and amphibians, and just air conditioned space for him to move around.

The whole area is becoming housing tracts (nice ones, but cookie-cutter neighborhoods, nonetheless) so it’s really neat that such a pastoral place will live on right in the middle of it. If James and I had been alone, we could really have enjoyed the trails… well, I guess, if James’s legs weren’t shot. I might have enjoyed them alone, but there were lots of signs warning to beware of venomous snakes, so I likely would have preferred a partner.

Regardless, the stop was lovely, and a great break from the driving.

We were going to stop at a taco truck I’d read about, but learned as we drove up that it was closed down (this was after I accidentally drove on a toll road on which I am not authorized, as I don’t have a Harris County EZTag pass, but Google told me to!). This lead to our accidentally eating at Mannie’s Seafood on the southeast outskirts of Houston.

This was a happy Plan B! James had some salmon, and the texture was amazing. I liked it a lot, but I think they used a sweetish glaze, and I’m not sure it’s James’s favorite. I got a fried fish combo: two fish fillets and three jumbo shrimp. Mal ate my fries. The fish was perfectly flaky but not dry, and the shrimp were not too chewy. They were lightly breaded and not greasy. It was just a great meal we hadn’t intended on having.

When we arrived at the Galveston RV Park and Marina, Mal cried. He said he didn’t want to go into the RV. He did, though, and by the time I got the second set of bags out of the car, he told me he loved it and wanted to stay here the whole trip. (He has no idea how much he’s going to love the cruise ship.)

Mal wanted to play with Legos, and I wanted to go to the store while James heated up his knees. James is seeing “Avengers: Endgame” right now, and I wanted some sodas before he took off. Mal didn’t feel like going, so I drove down to the beach (I mean, we’re so close; I had to see it!) then grabbed our drinks and a couple of pieces of fruit for Mal. When I got back, he said, “Mommy, I should have gone with you. I’m sorry.”

It was just as well. We decided to let James drop us off at the seawall on his way to the movie.

Mal LOVED the beach. He found a kid a little younger than he, and they ran and ran. Mal ran so much, and chased seagulls, and finally worked up the courage to let the waves roll over his feet a few times. It was a perfectly sunny golden hour, and erased every bit of travel stress from driving so many hours earlier!

We were going to get a Lyft to bring us back to the park, but ended up walking to a McDonald’s to see if they had a play area; they didn’t, which I knew, but Mal needed to see it for himself. They DID, however, have an aquarium, and Mal enjoyed that a great deal.

We kept walking inland up 61st, past all of the cemeteries. There was the Serbian Cemetery first, then Orthodox Jewish, then Greek Orthodox, and then the “main” (biggest; like blocks long and wide) cemetery with the huge catacombs. It was haunting and beautiful. 

By then, we were almost back to the “resort.” We scoped out the nearby restaurants (alas, all chains) and walked through part of a residential area, looking at the stilt-built houses. We saw a cat, several dogs, and at least one feisty pygmy goat.

In all, Mal walked over a mile and a third, plus all of the running he did on the beach. I guess he needed to make up for sitting in the car, too.

I showed him the Nintendo Switch James bought for him, and while Mal was extremely pleased, he was also too nervous to play it, but wanted me to do all of the mini games for him. Sigh.

The internet doesn’t work on his computer, which is just as well that he gets used to that now, as it won’t work on the ship, either. And the channels here are just weird. It’s like all of the shows are from 1974. Literally, I switched over and saw a Joan Rivers talk show, a la Phil Donahue.

Instead, Mal had fun playing a game where he’d run in circles in the RV: through the bathroom into the bedroom, then up the tiny hall and back around into the bedroom. Then, after I made the dining area into a bed, he did flips and jumped onto and off of it repeatedly. So much better than a hotel room: we don’t have to worry about anyone being bothered by the jumping… err, landing.

By the time he went to sleep, Mal was a weepy mess. He was mad we didn’t have chocolate chips, and then crying that I was so sweet and he loved me so much. There are a universe of big feelings crammed into that tiny body.

Tomorrow, we’re going to try to eat at three restaurants I want to try (plus, I really want to walk over to Darlene’s Shrimp Shack, but we just don’t have enough time for all of the food!); go to The Strand, specifically LaKing’s Candy Shop; visit Seawolf Park; maybe swing by Moody Gardens. I think that’s it? There’s a Catholic Church I’d like to visit, too. 

Now Mal is asleep and I’m just waiting for James to get back to I can let him into the trailer and go to sleep!

Good travel day; can’t wait to be a tourist tomorrow!

Also, no pictures yet. The internet here sucks, so it'll be later before I can post anything. It'll be worth the wait, though! If you want a link to the photo album, let me know and I'll get it to you!

What I Did Today

Today was story time at the library. Mal acted like he wanted to go, until it was time to go. Then he didn't.

We haven't been to story time in months. Every time I suggest it, he literally starts crying. I don't know why; he can't articulate anything beyond, "I want to stay home!" So we do.

Today, after deciding not to go to story time, Mal told me he wanted strawberries. I was excited about the thought of going to 365 by Whole Foods, where berries are always 10% off for club members, but that was not what Mal had in mind.

Due largely to the influence of "Ryan's Toy Review" (Google it if you're uninitiated), Mal wanted to go pick strawberries. I did not. It is humid and hot, but not as hot as it's going to be next week.

Here is where the parenting rubber hits the road.

Allegedly, James and I are committed to giving Mal as much power in determining his own fate as it is possible and practical to do. And I had no reason to say, "No," so I didn't. We headed west on 1431 for what is, I believe, one of the prettiest drives in this area. It's about 45 minutes, and I knew Mal would fall asleep on the way home (which he did).

There was almost no one there, and the berries are dwindling. But we got enough to eat and maybe make something delicious. The heat got to us when the clouds weren't obscuring the sun. Mal lasted about 25 seconds on the bounce pillow thing. We caught lunch at Chick-fil-A and then found two new Cars at H-E-B before napping and/or enjoying the vistas on the trip back.

Pretty much any parenting style demands doing things that inconvenient to the parent. But you have to do it so you can look back with as few regrets as possible. And Mal was so much fun to hang out with today; I'm glad we went. I'll go to 365 tomorrow.

Adventures With Tentacles

The other night, my day job sponsored an "end of fiscal year" celebration at Dave and Buster's.

I was one of the few who invited my wife. I'm pretty sure I was the only one who dragged along a small child.

It was fun. And Laura got lucky enough a couple of times that we were able to pick up enough points to walk away with some good swag (including a couple of spiffy novelty glasses).

We also got a little glow-in-the-dark rubber tentacle finger puppet thing. Every time Mal breaks it out, I act completely grossed out and terrified of it. He assures me that it's nice, and it's okay again until the next time.

This evening, I woke up from my knee-heating nap to hear her on the phone, engaged in some sort of serious conversation, and Mal demanding that she count for him.

So I shouted out that I'd do the counting and dived in to try to give her a breather.

We spent a while playing "scare and seek." Which is basically hide and seek, except that suppose the hider is supposed to leap out and scare whoever's "it." Something along those lines.

I'm not very good at it. I just hid until Mal tracked down Laura to ask for help finding me. The first time, she might have helped a little. Or maybe just encouraged him enough to convince him to put some effort into looking). The second...he wound up sitting outside with her for long enough that I just gave up on it and move to the recliner in the living room and broke out my phone to check the news.

He decided he was ready to move on to running races. Which basically amounts to lining up in a single file (we take turns in the poll position) and chasing each other in circles around the house. Eventually, we wind up in his room, with Mal proclaiming the he won.

I spent about 45 minutes doing this Friday or Saturday night, while Laura got some alone time. It was long enough that my ankles are still sore, but it was great exercise that the rest of my body desperately needs.

Tonight, I'm sore enough that I couldn't.

So Mal decided to just join me in the recliner.

He played a "game" that starts with cleaning Pepa Pig's teeth using a variety of dentist implements. He's already fixed hers, so he's unlocked Rebecca Rabbit's, which are much nastier. He always gives up as he's getting close to the end of hers, so he hasn't unlocked Emily Elephant yet.

Today, I messed with his ear with that tentacle thing from D&B while he told me that he couldn't and needed help.

I finally told him that he totally could, but didn't have to. It's a game, so he should stop playing if it isn't fun. He jumped right over to "What's a tentacle?"

I tried to explain it, then came up with the brilliant idea of showing him videos. So I googled for "tentacle."

For the sake of your sanity and whatever innocence you may have left, never make that mistake. Luckily for the sake of my illiterate child, the results didn't come back with pictures.


Searching for "octopus tentacle" returned results that were safe enough that I felt comfortable switching over to focus on videos.

We watched a couple of those. I don't think he was impressed enough by the ability to squeeze your entire body through a hole the size of your beak.

Fun fact: the real plural for octopus is "octopuses." A bunch of academic snobs managed to foist "octopi" on us a couple of hundred (or so) years ago. But that's Latin. Since the roots are Greek, the "proper" plural would be octopodes.

I don't think Mal appreciated the subtleties of these distinctions.

He got bored with the octopus video (it was too long, and the predation didn't have enough cheesy dialog), so we moved on to one about the skin of squids. I thought it looked fascinating, but he wasn't interested.

So we watched one about jellyfish for a bit. He proclaimed that they're "bad." I tried to explain that we should stay far away, but they aren't really "bad." That's another distinction that's lost on him. I probably should have just agreed, but I don't want to be one of those parents who tells their kids something's bad just because it can hurt you a bit.

Somehow, that led to a video about "the glass couldn't contain it."

It was a long video, but it was Mal's speed. Because it was basically a sequence of 3 second clips of predators in zoos trying to what they do. Except for the glass.

I think the scariest one was a polar bear in a swimming pool. There was a kid about Mal's age crouched down just below the water line. The kid stood up, popping his head above water, and the bear struck. You could see its jaws clamping down.

Mal thought the entire thing was hysterically funny.

He got bored when the pace slowed down and they switched to discussions about this time a bear (grizzly? it looks to big to be anything else) managed to splinter the glass, but it looks like it didn't actually break through. One of the witnesses commented about how the bear was a clown that had been playing with the rock for a long time.

He made me go back to the beginning so we could watch the first 12 minutes (or so) again.

The second time through, he allowed us to keep going. They showed a segment of a gorilla charging the glass and managing to make it spider web. They showed that segment over and over.

I'm not sure where they were going (the volume was way down). We moved on to playing Mal's "I don't know" game.

Laura wrapped up her conversation by describing that, then rejoined us before I could show him what that gorilla had really done to that plate glass. I think her conversation up to that point revolved around dysfunctional relationships and the difficulty of finding a good man.

I'm pretty sure it didn't have anything to do with the tentacle videos.

Honest, sweetheart. That's why that's why such an awful thing is in my search history.

Lake Season!

Today, Mal and I walked down to the lake for the first non-post-storytime visit in a while.

Lesson 1: If the sun's out, wear a tank top, no matter what the temp feels like at the house.

We didn't stay long, but were there for enough time for me to notice a few things.

Mal played with a little girl who had probably just recently turned 2. When we first got there, the dad was with her. A few minutes later, the mom came (back?) with a drink for both of them. The mom had backed their SUV into the parking space nearest the playground, which is a space reserved for the handicapped. It's entirely possible that they had a tag; I have no idea. But when they left, the dad is the one who drove. He cut to the right too quickly and rubbed an orange wood pylon all down the passenger side back door. Oh, I hated that sound for them. I've done the same with a borrowed truck in a parking garage! And their SUV looked flawless otherwise. Hope they do what I'd do and just ignore it. Poor kids.

When Mal and I were getting ready to leave, there was a couple getting ready for the boat launch. The guy was climbing into the boat and the lady was getting into the truck to back down the ramp. The guy asked her if she had her fishing license. She responded irritably, "I don't know. I'll check when I get into the boat, and if I don't get to fish, it won't be the worst thing that's ever happened."

Once she started easing backward, he was hollering directions to her: "Straight. A little left." She had both windows up and I wouldn't be surprised if she was blasting the radio and the air. I don't know why she was so miffed, but she was. Then he yelled really loudly because they hadn't unhooked the boat from the trailer and he wanted to do that before they got into the water. She did stop for the yelling. I hope they had a great time once they got out on the water.

Finally, we left via the exercise stations they have near the walking trail. Unlike some trails that have the exercises spaced out, these are all just scattered in the same area. Mal calls it the "grown-up playground" and he loves to see what he can do. While he was doing them, I noticed, again, a truck idling in the boat parking. I'd been aware of it, on and off, since we'd gotten to the park.

I mentally put the pieces together: When we'd arrived at the park, there was a guy sitting in a docked boat. A few moments later, a woman wearing (carrying) a baby and walking a preschooler went down and put the older child into the boat. The guy and older kid took off, down the arm of the lake, and the mom and baby disappeared. They had apparently been sitting in the truck the whole almost hour we'd been there and I presume were just waiting for the others to come back.

I HATE noise pollution in places like this. I get that it was borderline hot today (low 80s), but in the shade, it wasn't bad. I can't imagine sitting in an idling diesel for more than an hour. It wastes gas, plus it means everyone else around has to listen to your truck running the whole time they're trying to enjoy nature! It might not be as bad as when people rent pavilions and they think it means they get to blast the whole park with their music and/or public addresses, but it still detracts from the whole "we're outside getting closer to our host planet" vibe.

Anyway, we also saw these. which was nice. And Mal got to taste his first drop of honeysuckle nectar, which he liked.

I neglected to mention in the last post that we'd acquired an inflatable kayak. Now that it's heating up, I'm super excited to get down to the lake to try it out! Hopefully soon!

Homeowner's Week of Fun!

The past few days, we've definitely felt the full brunt of home ownership.

First, after some on-and-off really heavy rains Tuesday, that night, we had the windows open as it was gorgeous out (immediately after rains are often the only times it's not ick humid... except when it is). There was a very obnoxious noise coming from the neighbor's yard, maybe? I asked James what it was, and I went outside. It was to the east of our house... As I was looking to see if maybe someone was using a saw or grinder, I saw the light on the mystery box at the back of our fence lit. Uh oh. All I knew was that it was ours, it had something to do with the septic tank, and that can't be good.

I had no idea what to do, and more than concern over the septic was concern over how to make that box STOP MAKING THAT NOISE, and how much is it going to cost to get someone out here at 7:30 at night? I looked up the name on the box, and tried to find a way to shut off the noise, but neither proved helpful. So I called non-emergency police and said, "I'm sorry, but I have no idea what to do here..." They put the fire department on the line, and that lady told me I'd need to call a septic service. By the way, the reason I called local authorities in the first place is that our septic tank is kind of "governed" by the Lower Colorado River Association, and they were closed, so I didn't know if there were a protocol about which I was not aware.

AND THUS, I called a generic septic service. They told me that I could indeed turn off the alarm myself, and then I needed to give the drain field time to dry out, as it was likely saturated from the rains plus my having done laundry. I didn't realize that we needed to try not to put a lot of water in the system during heavy rains. I had a septic tank for 7+ years in Sherman, and never ever heard that.

Anyway, I went back, and, sure enough, there WAS a "silence" switch. I hadn't looked really thoroughly because 1) it was loud, 2) there is a lot of growth, including poison ivy, back in that corner (probably outta do something about that), and 3) I was kind of freaking out.

After 24 hours, the light was still on, and that was a problem. The stuff I'd read said 10-15 hours and the light should go off. It also said the alarm gave us 24-48 hours before it would reach critical mass. So something needed to happen.

A tech made it out on Friday (yikes!) and, as it turned out, the drain field wasn't saturated. The septic pump was burnt out. It was kind of funny: The tech gave James the price for the pump, and when James said, "Yeah, of course... what am I going to do?" the tech kind of laughed and said, "Yeah. You have to."

As a consolation prize, here is a thing I saw in our yard this week.

During this same time frame, our Nest thermostat gave us a warning that something specific was going on, complete with a URL to look up. I did, and it gave me trouble-shooting tips, THEN asked me to do some wire stripping and reattaching, that I did not feel comfortable with doing. So I called them, and they talked me through some stuff on the phone, and between what they can tell on their end and what I was able to read from our system, they were able to determine that the original message error was gone.

However, at that point, our actual air conditioner wasn't working. I'd reset every breaker when we were doing the thermostat stuff, but the house wasn't cooling down. It took us about 45 minutes, but finally, for some reason, at some point when I flipped the breaker, the unit came back on. So that was a fix without having to spend any money. Yay!

Saturday, we'd come back from a walk or something when I started wondering why there was so much Chinaberry debris in our front yard. Looking up, I realized that a large branch had mostly broken off and was just wedged in. Heavy winds, and it would come down. We tried stuff with our ladder, rake, etc. and it didn't work, so we had to buy one of those telescoping-handled saw/branch snipper thingies. The only ones I saw in Lago Vista were chainsaws, and those were $400-600, so James went into Cedar Park and got a hacksaw thing for like $50.

I was able just to manhandle the branch down, after a few tries, standing on the porch and therefore under the roof so the branch wouldn't maim me (yes, I wore goggles). Then I realized there was ANOTHER branch above that one that was also dead. James came out and helpfully pointed out that I didn't actually have the thing fully extended, which would have helped with the first branch, but was absolutely necessary with the second. I had to saw that one off, as the break was on top of a branch, and the dead part was pretty securely wedged in.

That was a work-out! But it finally came crashing down, and Mal even helped me clean up the front yard of all of the sticks and leaf bunches.

Between that maintenance stuff and then my spending 4 hours Friday mowing and weed-eating, then James spending really untold hours all weekend planting irises a neighbor gave us, we've been feeling very much like fully-fledged homeowners.

And while we're outside working and enjoying stuff, here is a little record of what our back yard looks like right now, if you're interested. I took the video to mark this for posterity's sake, so if you don't want to watch it, I'm not even offended. Also, the wind wasn't that bad; I need to get a muffler for my camera, or a remote mic with a cover.

Lots of other stuff, but we'll save that for another time. Happy Easter, and have a good week!

Out Mal's Window: A Year in the Life of a Tree

We have been at Vogelfutter for a year now, and have really enjoyed the nature aspect of these apartments. Besides the road runners and other birds, rabbits, and coyotes, we've appreciated the greenbelt surrounding the complex.

Most of the trees immediately around the buildings are evergreens. But looking out Mal's window, you can see (to the far right) one taller tree that I believe is an oak. You can't tell from this angle, but we've walked out to it and it's in the middle of almost half an acre, all by itself.

I took this picture one evening soon after we'd moved in last year. (That building in the distance is ACC.)

By September of that year, the tree was thinning out from extreme heat and the onset of fall. One afternoon, under overcast skies, I took the picture below. The tree is at the very far right, almost out of the frame.

Austin doesn't have a fall season, per se. But one December as the sun was sinking in the west, it lit up the yellowing leaves remaining on the sole oak tree.

A few short weeks later, after the new year had started, the tree was bare for whatever winter we might have had.

So now the tree has come full circle, filling back out during the spring and ready to face the sauna of the summer that started in its strength a couple of weeks ago. I took this final picture out Mal's window today.

We've had a lot of rain, so everything is super thick and lush. It's such a tease, though. You look out that window and think, "Gosh, how beautiful! I should go out there." Then you open the door and feel that wet heat roll in, and you slam the door and swear not to leave again until Halloween.

So there you have it: a tree looks at 2015 and 2016. And we look at the tree. Happy summer, you guys. Hopefully it's more comfortable wherever you are.

Stuff around Vogelfutter

Our patio is awesome. It's really hot at the moment, in more ways than one. For the past week or so, the temperature has been in the high/mid-90s with heat indexes in the 105-area, due to humidity and general awfulness. Also, two pigeons just tried to make babies. It was noisy, both in terms of their vocalization and the fact that they kept running into the bars, so it sounded like someone playing a giant xylophone. Badly.

James' mom visited last weekend, and she and Mal had a great time together. I told James that's what we need to raise a toddler: three adults. There's one to take care of the income, one to take care of the house and primary care of the kid, then an alternate who can jump in and play with the kid during meal preparation and errands.

Patsy got to visit Mal's gym a couple of times (once with Mal's cousin, Tian, in tow), meet Mal's friend Luna while visiting our church, eat at a couple of our favorite places (Kerbey Lane on the patio was such a perfect breakfast for Mal... there was even a 17-month-old who wouldn't sit still except to nurse sitting right beside us!), and see a lot of Mal's nakedness. That's kind of our life right now. That kid hates wearing clothes.

Speaking of that, Mal has had what I've come to believe is a heat rash for like two months now. It started out as what I thought were ant bites, but now it's all over his abdomen, upper legs, and some on his upper arms. I was just reading about it here, and they recommend staying out of the heat and humidity. Okay, thanks. That's really helpful advice here in Austin. The rash doesn't seem to bother him, so we're just putting some Gold Bond on it when it looks red, and waiting it out otherwise.

Mal is trying to talk more, repeating words we say in his own way. One word that he has down pat is "die." Like when he wants to climb up on the cabinet, and I say, "Be careful, Mal. I don't want you to die." Or, "Get down from there or you're going to fall and die!" So now, while he's climbing, he gleefully repeats, "Die die die!" over and over again.

When Patsy was here, Mal started interjecting every time I'd say "James." He'd respond with, "Daddy! Daddy!" and the sign. I guess he knows his dad's name. He still won't say "Mommy," though. 

For some reason, I'm famished like all of the time. I don't know if it's because Mal is still nursing so much or because I'm just trained from the past two years of eating to, well, eat. But I am trying to hold out until dinner (which might be at 6:30 and might be at 8:45; we never really know until James texts that he's on his way home). I had a good breakfast, a snack, a great lunch, an afternoon snack, and, honestly... It's like I've lost the ability to sustain a hungry feeling. I go from mild stomach growl to beginning hypoglycemic occurrence really quickly. 

D recently bought herself a MacBook Pro. She was wanting to write more, and said that she felt like writing sitting on her bed or a comfy chair would be nice. She was also able to hook her drawing pad up to the Mac, so she can do that from the mattress, too. She is rarely on her desktop anymore, except for when her cousin TJ comes over to game. She also just read almost entirely through the Harry Potter series. She's toward the middle of book seven, but the book light I lent her has dead batteries, and she has been consuming the books at night. I need to get her a headboard-mounted lamp.

Done. Gosh, I love the internet.

Today, I was cleaning up my email folders. I actually moved the "writing" folder to my archive. It's kind of sad, but it's a season. I'm sure when Mal is 5 or 8 or 12 or 19, I'll get to write again. For now, the blog is the thing, and I'm really fortunate that I get to watch yet another amazing kid grow up.

Making  friends at Mozart's.

Now that he's older, I think we're ready to try story time at the Bee Cave library again. Maybe we'll hit it next week. This week got away from me, plus I have been so tired. I told James the other day that I didn't feel motivated to do anything, but once I mentally listed everything I'd done that day, I'd done quite a lot! I guess I just didn't feel like it. Anyway, last year, Mal couldn't sit at all to listen to the stories, but I feel like now maybe he would. He doesn't sit to listen to the 5-minute children's message in church, though, so I could be wrong. If all else fails, there is a splash pad right across the street from the Bee Cave library, so we'll have a nice morning, regardless.

One final thing Mal is really into right now: bringing everything from somewhere to somewhere (usually someone) else. It started one night when I was trying to get Mal to go to bed. He had gotten up and gone into the living room where James was hanging out. I stayed in bed. A few minutes later, Mal brought me one of the blocks from the set we keep in an ottoman storage thing. I said, "Thanks, but I don't want a block." However, he sat it on the side of the bed and ran back into the living room. A few moments later, he came back with another block. He set it on the bed, then sped back into the living room. This happened over and over again. 

Eventually, I asked James, "Is he going to bring every block in here?" James said, "It looks like it." I opened my eyes and saw that he'd laid each side by side, so that the to open sides of the bed (the foot and one side) were both bordered with nearly 40 blocks. When there were about 5 blocks left, Mal decided to drag the ottoman into the bedroom instead.

When his grandma was here, he pulled everything out of his kitchen and put it on her bed for her. Last night, while Mal's dad was in the restroom and I was in bed, Mal brought me my brush, then my comb, then some leave-in conditioner, then my pick, etc. He just zooms from one place to the other, then back and again. I think it's his way of running off some excess energy? He's not as big on putting everything back, but it's pretty entertaining to watch, anyway.