Life in Texas

The weather here in Houston has warmed up considerably since our arrival last Friday. The cool temperatures did give the Texans a chance to wear their scarves, hats, and gloves, though. Evidently, they do not have much experience with winter clothing, because they all leave their scarves, hats, and gloves on while inside stores, restaurants, etc. I couldn't believe how many gloved hands I witnessed pushing shopping carts through WalMart, Home Depot, Target, and Lowes the past few days. Odd. Obviously, Jim, Jacob, and I do not consider 50 degrees to be cold, so we have been wearing t-shirts and flip-flops. We assume that everyone here thinks we are freaks. On Tuesday, the temp rose into the upper 70s, so we opened our windows and used our pool. It was wonderful to feel such balmy air outdoors in December!

While in the backyard yesterday, I smelled gas every time I walked near the gas meter. When I put my nose right up to the pipes, I knew that there had to be a leak. I went inside to call the gas company, and realized that I had no idea who supplied the gas to our house. I called Jim and he had to look up the name of the company. Long story short, the gas man was over in about a half hour, found the leak, checked all of our gas lines, repaired the leak, and left.

Our pool guy came over in the evening to give us a crash course in pool maintenance. (I actually took notes.) When I questioned him about the specifics involved with operating a saline pool, he just stared at me blankly. To make another long story short, he assured us that our pool was indeed a chlorine pool and not a saltwater one. Huh? We showed him the sales flyer which clearly stated that the pool was saline, and he was as surprised as we were. We have been in contact with our real estate agent and he, in turn, has been in touch with the sellers. When we get to the bottom of this story, I will post it here!