The pond still flows, but our friends are gone.
Our fish have been re-gifted to Nevada Water Gardens where quite a few of them began their lives. When Jean and Larry told my husband they’d take our fish it took a huge burden off of us. Not unlike when we found our peacocks a new home. Delivering the fish, everyone was very excited to get our huge koi, but also our beautiful butterflies, as well as an exotic Chinese gold fish and all the other beauties. Mark is the pond genius, and if you’ve never experienced the serenity of running water at your place you really should give it a go. We’ve had 3,500 gallons of cascading water to a very small pond and we love the peace it provides no matter the size.
The details of getting ready to move to Washington, D.C. are in full swing at our place, something that takes a lot of time, especially considering how long my husband has lived here. Very early retirement for him is something I certainly never expected nor asked, but it’s a gift born of trust and faith in our life together, manifested from a promise he made when we met. The adventure has begun.
Lots of news today, so consider this your Friday free for all. No topic off limits or out of bounds. Also wanted to add… that everyone really should take the time to read the posts “In the News.” Comments encouraged. (Writers welcomed to trumpet their posts.)
Girl, you’ve earned it!
And cheers to your hubby for letting you have your turn. It sounds like he’s the kind of guy who is willing to jump in feet first with you and make every effort to enjoy the ride.
That’s a real man! And, even better, that’s a good partner!
Heya JoeChi, thanks. Honestly, I’m not big on sharing personal stuff, but what this man is doing chokes me up. He is the best.
Wonderful for both of you Taylor.
thanks djjl.
You’ve been posting great stuff “In the News.” Thanks!
President-elect Barack Obama pledged yesterday to shape a new Social Security and Medicare “bargain” with the American people, saying that the nation’s long-term economic recovery cannot be attained unless the government finally gets control over its most costly entitlement programs.
That discussion will begin next month, Obama said, when he convenes a “fiscal responsibility summit” before delivering his first budget to Congress. He said his administration will begin confronting the issues of entitlement reform and long-term budget deficits soon after it jump-starts job growth and the stock market.
thanks Taylor. BBL
I hope everyone will visit the advertiser in the big box!
…so on that note, I thought this was a very interesting post on the coal lobby:
http://www.desmogblog.com/coal-lobby-pr-firm-memo-boasts-about-manipulating-democrats-and-republicans
djjl, I responded to you down thread. It’s 55 degrees here today and supposed to stay this way for at least a week.
Taylor, loved your picture. Hubby wanted to put in a pond here but worried about the freezing weather with the fish. He has a 100 gal tank here in the house. But was fearful that koi wouldn’t survive here.
In the winter, koi don’t eat anything at all, which took some getting used to for us. They can survive very cold temps, though Colorado is at the extreme of that, though you should check it out.
He did check it out and decided against it. Simply because it was iffy. He talked to several people, some said their fish survived and others said theirs didn’t. So now we have dogs, LOL
Since this is an open thread I have to tell all about our two trips across the border when we were at South Padre Island.
First we went to Matamoras which is about 30 miles away. Right across the border from Brownsville. When we got to the Mexican side we saw 3 Mexican military men with flack vests and machine guns. We were told that they were watching out for drug dealers.
On our way back across before we got to the place where you show your passport, we saw many Mexican men going back into Mexico with plastic bags. Saw 2 buses behind a cyclone fence and lots of border patrol going through the bags. Found out later that they were illegals and were being dropped off there whether they lived there or not.
Two days later we drove to Progresso, Mexico which is about an hour away. Again soldiers were there. Only this time they were behind sand bags and in armored trucks with lots of machine guns. It scared the crap out of me. Hubby wasn’t scared but he’s been to Vietnam so I guess this didn’t bother me. It bothered me because they were all pointed toward us as we were leaving.
On our way home from SPI you have to go through a checkpoint where the federal agents check every car. There were two lines of cars. On one side there was an agent with a dog. This dog dragged him in front of our car to the car next to us. The dog went all over the car sniffing and stopped at the trunk. They pulled out the men at gun point. What blew my mind was that all they asked us “are you US citizens” and on we went.
Betsy | 01.16.2009 – 3:47 pm | #
A year ago we spent Christmas renting a house in Merida in the Yucatan. There frequent impromptu roadblocks with concrete barriers and soldiers with machine guns pointed at us. They always just waved us through because they saw we were gringos.
A local explained to us that they were on the lookout for drug smugglers, and the organized crime smuggling weapons and explosives.
Wow, Betsy. You really saw some stuff. Reading about your stay at Padre, it seems that other than your trek into Mexico, it was pretty tame and relaxing.
I’ve been to Padre 3 times. Each time there was something odd going on. Once there was an invasion of crabs. You couldbn’t take a step near the water without a crab under foot. Second time it was jelly fish. Third, we were camping with friends on the beach when we were notified to evacuate because of a hurricane.
I think I’d prefer my weird experiences over the guns any day.
LOL djjl. It was pretty unnerving to me. Then yesterday my husband sent me an email about the border wars over there. I don’t think we will go back across the border next December. Especially reading that the gangs are kidnapping people.
When were you there for the hurricane. Was it Rita? Reason I ask is because we split our weeks that year and went down there in Sept. the hurricane didn’t hit there but had high tides and vicious surf and waves. Also ended up with the red tide which is toxic. My husband got really sick with that.
justlen, the lady that is the desk clerk at our condo told me that they were looking for drugs. But she also said that the Mexican govt is very corrupt. I guess according to her the cartel has infiltrated the govt. So I do not imagine that this will ever be resolved.
And I’m not about to take a risk going over there anymore. Border towns are really bad news from what I understand. The past few years we’ve gone over and really enjoyed it. We’ve bought beautiful gold jewelry very cheap. And I love authentic Mexican food. But to me it just isn’t worth it anymore after that experience.
Border towns are really bad news
from what I understand.
Betsy | 01.16.2009 – 4:03 pm | #
Which is why we skipped the border and flew to an old Mexican town without a lot of tourism. It was wonderful.
The week in the bathroom afterwards wasn’t, but it was worth it.
Not Rita. I don’t remember the name because it turned out to be fairly mild. But it was after a very bad Hurricane called Celia. Growing up in Houston you don’t really realize how much you organize part of your life around hurricane season.
My husband and I lived in Houston a year after we married. He’s from a small town east of Pittsburgh and near Johnstown. I remember another hurricane that was headed toward Houston that summer there. I worked at Exxon on the 11th floor. We spent a good part of the day covering windows, moving things off desks and to drawers or on the floor (like telephones and office equipment). I came home to our apartment to tape windows and get our “inclement weather kit” out and ready. My neighbors and I were working together to get the pool area ready. My husband came home and alerted me that some vandals had thrown all the pool furniture into the pool. I looked at him incredulously and said – “I helped throw the furniture in the pool – that’s so it won’t turned into some destructive missals in the storm.” He knew about snow storms and I knew about hurricanes. We still laugh about that.
justlen
Do you know how to avoid the bathroom week?
The legal team representing Gov. Blagojevich in his impeachment case have decided to step down in protest. Latest developments in the Tribune’s Breaking News Center:
http://link.chicagotribune.com/r/UX0Z1O/YO4OM/EWICI0/S07N/18OBR2/7V/t
Do you know how to avoid the bathroom week?
djjl | 01.16.2009 – 4:19 pm | #
Sure, don’t eat the street food. Small price to pay in my book.
LOL djjl. Hurricanes are really scary. Hurricane Dolly hit SPI this past July and I was told some pretty amazing stories.
Just before Ike hit Galveston I had been corresponding with an Attorney who was interested in one of our dogs. I then got an email from him stating that he would have to put the dog on hold because they lived in Clear Lake which was right in the path. Later friends from Houston told me that Clear Lake was almost totally gone. I sent him an email saying I hoped everything was okay and that he and his family were fine. All he wrote back was “Thank you”. So I hope that all is okay.
There’s some other stuff you can do that has always been successful for us. We’ve mightily avoided water – even using bottled water for tooth brushing and careful to not ingest water in the shower. I love real Mexican food.
I love real Mexican food.
djjl | 01.16.2009 – 4:28
So do I. Most restaurants that cater to the gringos wash their produce in bottled water.
Sitting in a street stall in the church courtyard having lunch after having been to meat market to get dinner (they slaughter the pigs daily) eating God knows what because there’s no menu? Not so much on the bottled water.
Betsy
Clear Lake is not gone. But they did have a lot of damage. That’s where the Space Center is. It’s on the highway between Houston and Galveston Island. The roof of the Mission Control Center of NASA’s Johnson Space Center was damaged by Hurricane Ike. There was also damage to hangars at NASA’s Ellington Field.
Sorry to spoil the good vibes –
but this does not make me
‘proud to be an American’ :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FABqq_jjRRo
I wonder if he lost his house. Also discovered on his email that his office was in Webster before the hurricane and is now in Houston.
http://gsflower.wordpress.com/
Betsy, Here’s a first hand experience from Webster.
Sorry to spoil the good vibes –
but this does not make me
‘proud to be an American’ :
pmichael | 01.16.2009 – 4:47 pm | #
Funny, it makes me proud to not be a rabid, blind Zionist.
justlen
I think one should be proud to live in a country where one can protest peacefully anone and anything one wants.
djjl | 01.16.2009 – 5:00 pm | #
I am, and support their freedom to spout their ignorant, racist drivel.
Hey Betsy, you pretty much summed it up with your experience. I live in another border town and frankly, I feel very safe. There’s violence on the Mexican side on a daily basis and it never makes the newspapers or tv stations. The drug dealers have a nasty habit of machine gunning journalists who report the murders.
We just do not travel over there at all. I haven’t crossed the bridge in over 8 years. I don’t need anything they have over there, so I don’t miss it.
Our Texas border cities are extremely safe. We’ve been given a bad rap much too often.
And changing the channel — congrats to Ms. Marsh on her change of scenery. This place is set for a transformation and I can’t wait.
Agreed.
icemama
Where do you live?
Laredo, djjl.
Lot of songs about Laredo
LOL! Yeah, you’ld think we still ride horses to work.
That’s not an unusual reaction from folks outside of Texas LOL.
icemama
Can you imagine the reaction of non Texans if they venture into Houston during the fat stock show and rodeo? Or happen to come along as the Trail Ride is coming into town. What a hoot.
icemama, I agree that the border towns are safe. I should have been clearer. I meant the Mexican border towns like Matamoras, Nuevo Laredo, Reynosa, Tijuana, etc. Sorry about that.
Taylor, I just read all about your peacocks. We also had them when we lived on the farm. They are wonderful birds and I miss them sooo much. Our house was the old train depot from the town and due to the fact that it was built in the late 1800s it had a very high roof. Our peacocks all used to roost up there.
One day when I got home from the store my neighbor across the road came running over and was laughing so hard tears were rolling down her face. We had a shrub across the front of our yard which my hubby would let grow really high. Anyway one of the peacocks had gone over to her house and then started walking towards the road. A pickup truck was coming down the road and the peacock flew right across his hood. She said the guy came to a screeching halt and jumped out of the truck and said “what the f**k was that, superman?” The peacock had flown over the hedge so he never really got a good look at him. And of course as you know their wing span is quite large.
I LOVE ponds and waterfalls. They help to whitenoise out my Tinnitus so we are planning on a medium sized pond and waterfall/stream for the back yard. Collecting the rocks now. Have to have just the RIGHT rocks donchaknow!!! I plan on putting native fish and critters in the pond. Def minnoes, LOTS of minnows!
make that minnows
Your fish reminded me, Taylor, of my friends who built a Koi pond and a meditation garden. The racoons got in. oh good gravy, what a disaster!
It also reminded me of a terrific little program I saw by that Hugh guy in CA who does local stories. He met the guy who supplies the Koi to so many places.
It was truly not a fancy outfit by any shakes. Hard-working family venture.
I live in LA, but most of us talk, Justlen, about how we wouldn’t travel there right now.
It’s just too dangerous.
Glad you made it back OK with just a stomach ache.
But, then, I have Latino friends with family there, and they are scared to go to beauty shops right now.
If you’re poor, you’re probably safe.
Enjoy DC Taylor. I did when I was stationed up there years ago. A great city to walk in or at least it was. And if you ever get to Bocas del Toro drop in and say hello.