Well, after a few more lovely blue screens:

we *think* we have the boot situation under control.  At least, until next time.  Yet again, I am being advised that updates are available.  Do ya think I really want to go get 'em??  HECK NO!  Not even if I need 'em!!  Poor Dick, tho, his computer is on its very last leg, and he keeps getting battery warnings and the thing runs HOT (to the touch) and SLOOOOOOOOW.  We both know he needs a new one, and we both know the answer is to replace it, but both of us are inclined to wait until Windows 7 comes out in a month or so.  Keep your fingers crossed that his doesn't simply fry & die between now & then.

We have made a couple of geocaching trips since my last writing, and you can see the results of one of them on our channel on Youtube (kcdc989).  It *almost* rained on us on the way home from that excursion.  And, I've had a couple more shots since we last wrote, too.  One in the hip & one in my butt.  Neither has seemed to do too awfully much for me.  They also changed my meds to a different (and cheaper) class.  I was only on it about a week, but, jeez, it about put me under!  My insomnia got so much worse, so that I wouldn't fall asleep before 4-5 AM, and once I did, I could only stay asleep for about an hour, max, and after that, I'd wake up sweating & in an absolute panic.  No known reason, just the drugs talking.  I only stayed on that for a week, and yesterday, when they refilled my former meds, I decided enough was enough, and simply STOPPED ALL of 'em!  Oh my gosh, what a difference!  Would you believe, I was asleep at 11:30 pm, snoring nicely, according to hubby, and stayed asleep until 4 am???!!  Got up, took a drink, let some drink out, then went back to bed & slept again for another 4 hours!!   Granted, I had some freaky dreams during those two sleeps, but I cannot remember the last time I slept that long or that soundly.  Whoohoo!  When I finally did get up, I felt good enough to ride on down to the farmer's market, down by the water (about 3-4 blocks).  We pedalled around down by the harbor, watched the birds, watched the shrimpers working their catch then came on back.  That was enough!  Got some videos posted up on our YouTube channel, so be sure to check them out!  (User name is kcdc989)

We can tell it's getting cooler up in the norther regions of our great country - our hummers have multiplied!  We've had one or two that have been here all summer & we've been feeding religiously, but now EVERYone has feeders out and the park is full of the little flying jewels.  We even purchased another feeder to see if that will make them a little less aggressive toward each other.  Not 5 minutes after we hung it up, we had 3 of 'em vying for the best hole!!  In two more weeks, the town is holding their annual hummer/bird festival, so we can't wait to see what that's all about! 

On the Workamper forum I frequent, we found out that we are eligible for a 15% discount from our monthly Verizon bill, due to Dick's being a veteran.  That's nice - something that Alltel didn't offer.  Well, we went to go take advantage of it, and guess what!  Since the bill (and the original account) is in MY name, and I'm not a vet, well, the offer is not valid.  Of course, if we want to switch our account over to Dick's name, we'll be eligible for the discount, but not eligible for the plan under which we are currently grandfathered.  OK, so what does that mean?  In plain English, which, of course, is NOT what Verizon uses, that means, we can relinquish our 11 friends which we call at no cost, reduce our minutes from 900 to 700 and, get this, pay $10 a month MORE than currently!!  Oh, and if we wish to upgrade our cherished aircard, we can go from unlimited gigabytes to only 5 gb per month, for the same money, excepting of course, if you run over 5 gb per month.  Well, what with all the video clips we get from our friends (and keep 'em coming, we love 'em) and the videos & pics I upload, well, we'd use up 5 gb in about a week.  And, of course, Verizon isn't gonna shut us off, they'll just rack let us keep racking up the gigs and charge us for whatever we run over 5!!!  So, do ya think we are gonna give up all our goodies to get a measly 15%?  Not on your life!!  Now, if they absolutely MAKE us, by refusing to renew our plans, I guess we'll have to, but we'll go kickin' and screamin' all the way, I promise.

As some of you know, southern & coastal TX is still in a great drought, and our ponds are almost totally dried up.  Every day, there's less and less water, less and less fish, less and less birds, and almost no turtles anymore.  It's the saddest thing we've ever seen in nature.  Last week, when the temps exceeded 100 every day, there were a couple of major fish kills, and the vultures & coons moved in for a couple of days to clean things up.  Very sad.  We are hoping for rain every day, but so far, it seems to have skirted all around us everytime it comes anywhere near.  Even this morning, after returning from our ride, the sky got dark & we hear rumbles, but we were able to count - 11 drops of rain hit our window.  The ground is crispy & brown and crunches when we walk on the grass.    But, at least it's a bit cooler during the days now.  We are only in the high 80's in the morning, and it doesn't get sweltering hot by afternoon - just in the 90's.  Too cool for ME to swim, tho, as the water temp has gone from 94-96 down to 86-88 the other day.....tooooo cooool for this guppy.

Our 20th wedding anniversary is coming up, and we've been blessed with a one-time manager's special offer, up in Hill Country.  That's what Texans call the inner section of the state.  Why?  'Cuz, it's hilly!!  Not really mountains, and not foothills, 'cuz there are no mountains.  Just hilly.  Up by New Braunfels & Austin area.  While we're up there, we plan to visit the Blue Bell ice cream factory (you can't be surprised at that!!) and do some geocaching.  We understand there's lots of history & charming old town to experience.  Our friends manage Blisswood B & B up there, and they have lots & lots of animals around the place to keep us entertained.  I believe they even have a kangaroo & an alpaca.  Should be lots of fun - look for lots of pics when we return! 

Hmmm...someone's gettin' antsy...looks like maybe I'd better start thinking about dinner and other things related to food.  We wish Jack & Diana safe travels while they galivant around the country.  Tim & Staples, what was the result of your efforts in the Senior Olympics out in CA??   May all your dreams come true, and may there be world peace sooner than later!

Much love to you all!