Floating over the Texas Brown

What color is your parachute?

Sheesh.  Forget parachutes.  What color is your lawn?  Mine is brown with patches of green.  We are about to break a record here in north Texas.  We're not proud.  We'd like to pass.  It's been 100 degrees or higher for 39 days in a row.   The record is 42 set in 1980.  We should break that record on Saturday.

Ugh.

Ah, yes.  The summer of 1980.  Memories of sweeping trash at Six Flags, flirting with boys, and developing boobs....er...biceps from lifting heavy trash bags.  For some silly reason, I liked that job.  It must have been because I could walk around all day thinking I looked cool.  It was a strange summer, not a cloud in the sky.  August rolled in and a cloud appeared over the park.  It got heavy and opened up with pouring rain.  We stood there letting it soak us to the skin.  Ahhhhh.  When I got home later, our house had not received a drip.  Even back then, Mother Nature was a finicky bee-otch.

We are hoping that 1980 will still go down as one of the worst summers in history with 69 total days of 100 degrees or higher temps.  

Uncle, I say, UNCLE!

Speaking of uncles, my oldest uncle turned 90 over the weekend: 

I felt bad about eating George but that cake

was tasty!  It was 1/2 chocolate 

and 1/2 white with a strawberry filling.

Burp.

In other news, Oreo Cat and Evil Twin are doing a great job making sure I don't sleep through the night.  Play time starts early, way before dawn thinks about cracking jokes.  I'm sure they are trying to weaken me so that when the men in the pretty white coats come for me, I'll be complacent.  During the day, when he's trying to sleep, I try the same tactics.  Sigh.  They don't work.  

I am such a good slave.

Let's get back to parachutes....

No, let's go past parachutes into hot air balloons.  Hubby and I attended a Family Day event for his work at a lodge down south where they have real hills and wind.  Holy Light Bulb, Batman!  Hubby and I almost got to go for a "ride" in that beautiful balloon but we left before they started to let people get in the basket.  Earlier, the balloon was struggling with the wind and it looked like it was going to make a nice decoration for the lodge's lawn instead of actually being able to rise.

Tethered balloon at Rough Creek Lodge

Please do a rain dance and send clouds.  We don't remember what they look like.

Photo credits:  Birthday cake: Reffie, Balloon at Sunset: Rohr Balloons

The Girl with Two Heads Jumped the Couch on a Bike!

Summer is heating up again down here in Texas just as the kiddos have about another week of freedom from their respective prisons. Most of the teachers report for incarceration today.

It's been a wild and crazy summer. Da Old Man Joe helped out the medical and insurance industries by spending way too much time in the hospital and rehab and Chelle has apparently been nibbled on by a zombie and requires brain surgery. So what's a friendly and helpful geek to do for her blogging buddies during these tough times?

I'm glad you asked. Since Crotchety's couch was destroyed or maybe I should say sacrificed during the process of getting needed medical attention (for him, not the couch), I started saving up my pennies and was able to find another couch at a great price:


Joe, it will ship Monday. I think the shipper is something called Allied Waste Services.


As for Chelle, well, I think that all she needs is a spare head. That's right. Just in case the zombies take too much out of the one she currently has:


Chelle is scheduled for surgery to append the extra head on Thursday. I'm a little concerned. Something seems to have happened to her suntan.


Oh wait. Isn't this blog supposed to be about me?

Of course it is.

I've started shopping for dikes. I googled but the results didn't show anything with wheels. I was rather embarrassed at what Google showed me. Um....I just don't think geological formations, dams, and.....er....

Uh, ReformingGeek?

Yes?

I think you mean bike, B-I-K-E. Are you dyslexic or something?

Oh wow. Mayde.


OK. Let me try the Google again. T-R-I-A-T-H-L-O-N B-I-K-E-S

Phew. Much better.

Now this one would be nice:



But I'm a little short on pennies so maybe I can find something like this that reminds me of my first bike:



Most likely this is what I'll be able to afford:


I'll pass on the lock.


Photo credits: flickr.com, Creative Commons license (see sidebar): couch: awhyzip, 2heads: Mooi, big wheel: srossi, banana bike: Here in Van Nuys
Tri-bike: online biking retailer