A Little of This, Some More of That

Eating lunch outside reminds me of a Disney movie. Picture a girl sitting on a park bench and slowly all these animals start gathering around her. Birds perch on the tree branches above, squirrels assemble in the bushes nearby, and she sits on her bench taking it all in. Should she burst into song and dance about? Or should she be afraid the vermin are going to gnaw at her ankles?
A couple weeks ago I was reading a book on a bench enjoying the shade. Out of the corner of my eye I see this squirrel coming towards the bench. Usually the animals poke around for crumbs at a safe distance from those of us on the benches. This little guy stretched flat out on his belly and laid in front of me. At first I thought this was comical. Who sees a squirrel on his belly? I looked at him, he looked at me. I swear we looked each other straight in they eye for at least 3 minutes. Then, all of a sudden the squirrel gets up and starts walking right towards me!
I was alarmed! He looked like he was on a mission, and my cheese crackers may be an integral part. As he drew closer I moved my leg to try and shoo him away. He would move to the side, but you could tell he was not going to deter from his goal. I kept moving my leg trying to scare him away, and every time I did the squirrel's tail would get bushier and bushier like he was getting agitated. The lady sitting on the bench with me told me to stop kicking at the rodent because she thought I was upsetting the squirrel and it might jump on us. Well duh! The whole reason I was kicking at it in the first place was because I didn't want to share my bench with Alvin, Simon, or Theodor!
The lady switched benches, leaving me alone to fend for myself. I kept moving my leg, and the squirrel kept trying to come towards me. Finally, I was freaked out enough to just leave. Forget my book! Forget that I still had 20 minutes left before I had to be back to work. Forget it!
As I walked away I turned to see the squirrel dart under my bench, and grab a enormous walnut and run under a nearby bush. Well shoot, if I had just known that was all he wanted, I could have saved myself a lot of energy. All that kicking and flailing and looking really dumb for what? A walnut?
If this had been a Disney movie, I would have understood the squirrel, and I by allowing him to retrieve his precious nut, I would have been rewarded with a pumpkin coach or pretty princess dress. Instead my tranquil afternoon lunch ended with me scared of squirrels and my cheese crackers uneaten. But a happy squirrel in the end!
I'll let you decide on the moral to this story!

Can't type....too hot.
Just kidding! I really can't complain about the heat too much cause I am inside experincing a whole new kind of weather. Non stop air conditioning. People here at work make fun of me cause I have a sweater on or have my blanket drapped around me. They question if I really came from Wyoming. I tell them in Wyoming we only use the air conditioning maybe 3 months out of the year.

A few weeks back one of my coworkers said that in the summer, TEA allowed their employees to wear jeans. We waited and waited for the e-mail to announce the beginning of our relaxed summer attire. Sigh. My coworker must have been dreaming, because TEA has never allowed its employees to wear jeans all summer long. It was only recently that we were even allowed relaxed Fridays.
My heart sank when I heard the news. I miss wearing jeans, I miss wearing comfortable shoes, I miss a non stuffy work atmosphere, I miss the respect my old boss had for his employees, I miss laughter outside my office...I miss the fire dept.

I knew as soon as we left Wyoming, some kind of disaster would hit! I told Lori and Cindy that the big one was coming since I was leaving. It seemed like every time Paul and I left for a weekend or went on vacation something would happen in Laramie. Freak snow storms, murders, car chases, ice storms, and now TORNADOES!
GRRR! I got a text from my old boss with a picture of a car with its windows busted out from the tornado, and then I got e-mails from my friends in Laramie telling me all about it! Where was it last year, or for that matter 5 years ago!
This has just made me realize that I do indeed love disaster work, and that I really do miss being in the loop with all the exciting stuff that goes on in town.

I guess I should go find the Red Cross here and start volunteering again!

See what I missed!

Here are some pictures of the damage (Sorry about the various sizes in pictures, I am still learning about this software)

And this is what I saw when I looked on line after I heard what was happening:

DANG WEATHER!

When we first moved here Paul bought running shoes, because the shoes he was using made his feet sore. Then we bought some soccer cleats for our weekly games for me. Plus I had to buy shoes for work, since I am required to wear "professional" outfits. I doubt we will buy any more shoes in the near future (since we are trying to save our pennies), but if we wanted to we could buy dancing shoes.

Yep! My man is awesome and he willingly signed up with me for swing dancing lessons. It wouldn’t have been so easy, except Paul's friend at work actually teaches swing dancing every Tuesday night. We had no excuse not to go, and Paul had his little reminder everyday at work.

What I didn't realize was that we would be switching partners every couple minutes. Just when I would begin to get used to my new partner it was time to get uncomfortable again and move on. It was like a singles dance, only you had to dance with everyone, except the guy you really wanted to dance with. The night included sweaty hands, awkward eye contact, stepping on each others feet, oh and dancing. All the while my husband was across the room getting to hang out with other girls! I don’t think I am a jealous person, but when I get stuck with a creepy sweaty guy, I was envious of those girls. I told Paul the whole reason I got married was so I wouldn't have to dance with other people! It was still fun, and now Paul and I have to practice so next week we will ready for some new moves.

The weather was exciting here in Austin this week. Paul and I talked ourselves into running, changed our clothes, and got outside to see lightening everywhere. I think my friend Lori may have rubbed off on me, cause I am a little more cautious with lighting now then before. We decided to head back inside just in time to get a phone call from my uncle saying there was a tornado warning and the storm looked like it was going to come right over our place. We watched the news, we looked out the windows, and we even got our 72 hour kit out and put it in the bathroom, and waited. The winds picked up for maybe 5 min maybe a little rain, and then it was over. Talk about a let down! Nothing!

The next day on my way to work I saw tree limbs busted, power lines down, and leaves everywhere. I guess the storm took all its power and headed for downtown instead. I'm not saying I wish we had been hit with a tornado, but the wind we saw couldn't even be considered normal WY wind. Either way we survived our first tornado warning in TX.