SNOW!

I know it isn't a lot. But since it is supposed to be 70 again by the weekend, I thought I'd savor the little bit of snow we actually received this evening.

Weeeeeeeeeee!

High to Low...

Dude. It is cold outside.

I know, I know. “Cold” is a relative term down here in Texas. But consider the following:

• Yesterday's high was 71 degrees. The low was 52.



• Last night, we had a spring-like pattern of thunderstorms roll across the metroplex.



• This morning’s temperature was 69 degrees. I wore a t-shirt and mesh shorts to the gym.



• It is currently 6 PM and 32 degrees outside (feels like 25 with the wind chill).



• Tonight, a wintery mix of sleet and snow flurries is expected as temperatures continue to plummet into the 20s.

I cannot even begin to describe how long it took me to get dressed this morning. Because, seriously, how do you dress for a day that begins in the mid sixties and ends below freezing?

I finally decided to bundle up in a wool turtleneck sweater and thick, winter-weight chinos. I felt like an overdressed idiot as I climbed into the car this morning, and it didn’t help that I had to turn on the AC on my way to work (lest I overheat).

Of course, on my way home, I felt underdressed and cursed my decision not to take my coat with me to work. The cold 22 mph wind is quite a shock to the system.

Haskell is dealing with the temperature change by refusing to go outside. No amount of coaxing on my part seems to make any difference. He’ll have to go out eventually, of course. But until then, Haskell is determined to hold it. Not that I blame him. It’s times like these that remind me how grateful I am for indoor plumbing.

Change is in the air...

Today was balmy and beautiful, but tomorrow it might snow.
Makes for a pretty sunset, though.

The harder you try, the less obvious it will become...

“Everything you've learned in school as 'obvious' becomes less and less obvious as you begin to study the universe. For example, there are no solids in the universe. There's not even a suggestion of a solid. There are no absolute continuums. There are no surfaces. There are no straight lines.”

- R. Buckminster Fuller

This warning seems obvious. That is, until the sprinklers come on unexpectedly, and a woman in a skirt and high heals shrieks and nearly wipes out on the pavement.

Evolution of the Dance...

This was recorded at the Leukemia Texas ball on November 1st, 2008.

I wish I had been closer to the stage, but whatever. It was still neat to watch! Even Trevor put down his PDA long enough to see the guy dance (which is REALLY saying something since this was the same night Texas Tech beat Texas in Lubbock)!

And the plot thickens...

About two weeks ago, Bert asked me whether or not I had received anything “special” in my mailbox. I hadn't, and inquired if this special something could have gone astray in the Federal Mail. She assured me that it could not have, which made me think that Bert had physically placed the special something in my mailbox for me to find.

I racked my brain for anything out of the ordinary that had appeared with my mail recently, but nothing came to mind (except for the surplus of catalogues I seem to be receiving lately – what’s THAT about? I hardly ever order anything from catalogues or online. How did they find me? Stupid junk mailers...). Seriously. Nothing.

Then, over the Thanksgiving holiday, a box of recycle bags appeared in my mailbox. This DID seem like a gift from Bert. Only one problem: Bert was in Houston celebrating Thanksgiving with her family. This makes it unlikely the box of recycle bags were from her, but I cannot think of anyone else that would randomly leave such a present in my mailbox. Bert is, after all, the ONLY person that has noticed (and seems annoyed by the fact) that I keep forgetting to buy more recycle bags when I go to the grocery store. I still recycle (no worries!), but I’ve been using the brown, paper bags from Whole Foods instead since I’m STILL out of the other ones.

I guess it is possible that my neighbors “borrowed” the box of recycle bags for a week (they’ve done stranger things – especially lately), but why?

Sigh. I am so confused…

A story with no real point except to confirm (yet again) that my sister is my father's child...

So, I get home from work tonight and call Trevor. He tells me that my sister, Amy, has been trying to reach me.

Me: “Do you know what she wants?”

Trevor: “No. She called and asked if I was with you. I said, ‘No’, and she hung up. Give her a call. She sounded like she needed something. It might be an emergency.”

Me: “Um, okay. Bye”

While dialing Amy's number on my house phone, I take a look at the missed calls on my cell. Sure enough, I discover that Amy has called me several times in the past half hour.

On the forth or fifth ring, Amy finally answers her phone.

Amy: “Uh, hello?”

Me: “Hi. It’s me. Are you okay? Trevor said you’ve been trying to reach me. Is everything alright?”

Amy: “Oh, yeah! I DO need something! I still don’t have cable. Can I come to your place and watch TV?”

Me: “[Long pause] Really? That's it? You want to watch TV?”

Amy: “Um, yeah. I really miss TV.”

Me: “…”

Amy: “So, uh, is it okay?”

Me: “Um…yeah, it is fine.”

Amy: “Cool. I’ll be over in fifteen minutes. Bye.”

Me: “[Calling Trevor back...] So, you will never guess what Amy wanted.”

Trevor: “What? Is she okay?”

Me: “Um, yeah. She’s fine. Just wants to come over and watch TV.”

Trevor: “TV? What? You’ve gotta’ be kiddin’ me?!”

Me: “Yeah, no. With my sister, I’m never kidding.”

~ THE END ~

Watching a situation go from bad to worse...

"Love thy neighbor as thyself, but choose your neighborhood."

- Louise Beal

So, my neighbors, a.k.a. “the Toolsons”, are completely out of control.

I haven’t posted about them in awhile, but not for lack of material. In fact, a bunch of us (i.e. most of the people on my block, a couple of cops and a CPS agent) got together and had a meeting about the Toolsons back over the summer. We decided that we would all track the Toolson’s odd behavior on a private blog in an effort to help the police and CPS case agents gather evidence against Chase and Jane Doe. It worked for a while until too many people gained access to the blog, and we decided to delete it. Not that Chase and Jane have access to a computer or the internet, but one of my other neighbors down the block has seemingly befriended them. Since there is no way of knowing if this neighbor has access to the blog (as many on the block do), we decided to be safe rather than sorry. The last thing any of us needs is to have Chase and Jane seeking vengeance against us. They are already weary of most of their neighbors since CPS started making regular visits to their house earlier this year.

Anyway, I might go back through my original posts on the private blog, change the names and repost the material here. I think it is important to have it all documented somewhere – even if I’ve changed the names and addresses to protect the true identities of those involved.

But to give you a better idea of what has been going on next door over the last several months, here are some Toolson highlights:

• Chase is back on drugs, and his teeth are falling out of his head. Literately. He is only 30 years old, and he is missing six or seven teeth. Teeth freak me out, and I’ve had nightmares about finding his missing teeth in my driveway. Luckily, this hasn’t happened so far, but I don’t think it is outside the realm of possibility.



• Chase is a self proclaimed “expert” with the Chinese Throwing Star. During one of his practice sessions in the driveway, my bedroom window was broken. Of course, Chase didn’t own up to what actually had happened to the window for several days. I later learned that, thanks to his long criminal history (which includes charges such as possession and assault with a deadly weapon), Chase isn’t allowed to possess weapons of any kind.



• I’ve had to call 911 on my neighbors 5 or 6 times in the past four months. Once it was because Chase was running around after Jane in my front yard with a stick threatening to kill her. Their two kids (ages 3 and 18 months at the time) witnessed the entire thing.



• Both Chase and Jane have redirected their anger towards a same sex couple that live across the street. The two girls who live there (I’ll refer to them as L&L from here on out) are about my age, and have completely restored the old home they purchased about a year ago. L&L are good people. Very sweet and the kind of individuals who go out of their way to help out their family, friends and neighbors. I really like them.
  
  Anyway, for whatever reason, Jane got it in her head that Chase was sneaking out at night “to sleep with the lesbians across the street”. This prompted Jane to violently lash out at L&L – even though the very notion that L&L would even be interested in Chase is absolutely ridiculous. Jane would scream at L&L when they’d walk outside on their front porch, harass them in the street and even stole their house keys one day while they were bringing in groceries from their car.
  
  Then, Chase decided that L&L weren’t really interested in him, after all. Instead, Chase twisted it around that L&L were actually trying to steal Jane away from him. This prompted a whole new level of violence against poor L&L, who have now decided to put their house on the market and move away.

Things have only gotten worse since, and the Thanksgiving holiday was an absolute nightmare. Twice on Thanksgiving Day alone, Trevor and I had to call 911 at the request of Mrs. Toolson because Chase and Jane were completely out of control. Whatever drugs they had taken caused both of them to become extremely violent. Chase had ripped the phone lines out of the wall, and Jane had attacked Mrs. Toolson.

The cops finally arrived (it took almost half and hour because Thanksgiving is – tragically – full of domestic violence and drunk driving), and hauled Chase and Jane off to prison – but only for the night. They were back early the next morning, and poor Mrs. Toolson did everything she could to try and keep them from getting back in the house and away from her grandkids. She even filed for double restraining orders against Chase and Jane, and has supposedly filed for custody of her grandkids as well. The cops were called again on Friday, and Chase and Jane spent yet another night in jail. But they are out now, and still living next door.

I feel especially bad for Mrs. Toolson. She desperately wants Chase and Jane to leave (and they would be gone if Jane could find a shelter with enough room), but the last thing she wants is for her grandkids to go with them. Until she has custody, Chase and Jane can take the babies from her and she is powerless to stop it. It is a horrible situation.

This morning (when Jane rang my doorbell and demanded to use my phone), Jane told me that she’s still trying to find a shelter, but they are all full this time of the year. Apparently, once there is an opening, both she and Chase are gone (at Mrs. Toolson’s request, not theirs). I tried to ask what would happen to their kids, but Jane wouldn’t say. I just hope she’s not planning on taking them with her when they leave. It doesn’t look good, though. Jane thinks Mrs. Toolson is “crazy”, and I got the impression that Jane would take the kids for no other reason than to hurt their grandmother.

When it comes to the Toolsons, suddenly all my problems don’t seem like problems at all…