San Antonio Water Police: Go ahead, officer, take me away!

I received a notice today that I was in violation of the stage 2 water restrictions. I'm thinking to my self, WTF, my grass is completely brown, my xeric scape plants are starting to wilt. What could possibly be causing the violation. My fountain, of course! I have a pump that recirculates the water for the Koi and goldfish. Apparently I have to keep the "fountain" turned off to conserve water. My little pond is almost completely in the shade and does not lose water because of the pond liner. As far as I'm concerned, this is my outdoor aquarium. The Koi do not require that water move but it does keep it looking better. With all of the businesses that water the parking lots and streets, they have to concentrate on very small Koi ponds. How asinine!

July 20 was the day. I reached the goal weight that I set to cut my hair, 185 pounds! it was such a relieve to finally cut my hair. I have had a close cut head for the last 9 years and hair touching my ears was driving me crazy. My next goal is 180 pounds. This morning was 183 which puts the total to 14 pounds.

Garmin 305 Forerunner: you don't have to be a running nut!

I first saw this device at work. One of my friends uses it to keep track of his workouts. He is a big time runner. I am just getting into the walking/running thing. I usually bike. The great thing about this device is that it has a mode for walking and biking. It keeps the two files separate so each sport can be looked at individually. As you can see it is a little large but is light weight and after a few minutes you don't even know its there. The screen can be set up to monitor a variety of points. I have my main screen set to show total time, total distance, mile pace, and heart rate. My main tracking point was heart rate. I wanted to make sure that I was getting into a good aerobic rate. The heart rate strap is hardly noticeable. This device keeps track of the workout and then you can down load the data to your computer and see all of the data plotted on a chart. I'm far from being a running/biking nut but this sure helps me get a better workout. The device picks up the satellites quickly and works even when I'm off road in the trees. This is a great training device. Great even for beginners.

This is a sign that is posted on the fence at Boerne City Park. I had to get a picture of it. Where else but Texas. We were at the park for the 4th fireworks celebration. we had such a good time with family. Next year we plan on doing it again but this time have a BBQ at the park.

A walk in the park

These are some pictures from the park. I'm surprised that there is still water in it with the drought going on. There was a guy fishing and I saw him catch a perch and turn it loose. I enjoy walking this park.

wildlife update

If you plant it they will come. I removed all of the plants from pots and put them into the ground. I never had any problems with the flow beds...until now. Apparently something likes the fresh tilled soil. Almost every morning when I go to work something has been digging around in the flower beds. The dirt is pushed on to the sidewalk and the roots are exposed on the plants. The plants are doing well otherwise. I just need to keep the roots covered to prevent them from drying out. The temperature today was 103 so roots can dry up quickly. Now that plants are in the pond, I see leopard frogs around the edge every week. Way cool. I have been trying to get wild life in the pond for a while now, except the raccoons. Them I can do without! I planted grass in the back yard. It is doing real well. I have had to cut it twice all ready. I was putting some water down yesterday and caught a gardener snake that was about 18 inches long. I haven't seen a snake in the yard since I first put the pond in years ago. It's nice to see the critters enjoying the yard.

Mom's Birthday celebration

We went to Dads today to celebrate Mom's birthday. We had steak and shrimp with baked potatoes as well as a cucumber salad and a garden salad. The birthday cake was a carrot cake. Jim got mom matching shirts for their Vegas trips in the first picture. The next picture is Mom with all present grand kids and the next includes the one on the way. The last picture is singing happy birthday to the birthday girl. We had lots of fun talking. It was a great day.