The Harvest

When we were in Texas last month, I picked one of the bananas off our tree to check it out. It was hard as a rock and almost impossible to peel. I had to use a knife to slice it open and once stripped down, the fruit released an odor unlike any banana I have ever smelled. Needless to say, no one wanted to taste the thing. I left it sitting on the outside patio table for a few days and even the bugs and iguanas steered clear. I ended up throwing it into the trash.

Recently I have been reading about harvesting bananas. Apparently there are over five hundred varieties of bananas and I have no clue which type is growing in my yard in Houston. I do have a better idea now of when and how to pick the fruit, so I will give it another try later this month.

I wonder if Jacob would wear one of those banana costumes on Halloween? How cute would that be? I will suggest that to him tomorrow.

Not yet ripe.

At least it looked like a banana on the inside.

Birthday Weekend

Jim and I were invited to a party at Comerica Park on Saturday to celebrate a friend's 50th birthday. We ate dinner at the Tiger Club Restaurant, then watched the Detroit Tigers vs. Minnesota Twins baseball game, which lasted four extra innings! The temperature dropped into the mid-50s before the duel was over, and my Texas-acclimated blood was secretly whining about the cool weather. The game was exciting, though, and the Tigers ended up victorious in the 13th inning.

On Sunday, Nancy hosted a BBQ for those of us with birthdays in September. A friend of mine offered to bake me a cake, and, wow, was I ever surprised when I saw the size of it! The thing was so huge and so heavy that I could barely pick it up. Jim stepped on the scale while holding the cake and it weighed 21 pounds! It had a total of eight sticks of butter in the frosting & mix, and, boy, was it ever delicious!

Saturday in the the park, bottom of the 13th and 54 degrees.

We stayed after the game to watch the fireworks.

Check out the vastness of my monstrosity next to Laura's cute cat-shaped cake and Pattye's normal-sized two-layer one.

Life is a Highway

We left our house in Texas late Tuesday afternoon and arrived back in Michigan Wednesday night. Our trip was relatively uneventful, with the exception of an 18-wheeler blowing out a tire right in front of us on I-40 in Tennessee. It made an extremely loud popping sound and sent debris swirling all over the freeway, but we managed to safely dodge the flying rubber. Other than that, the weather was good and the traffic was light along our route - until we got to Cincinnati. It seems as if there is always construction and some sort of jam between Cincinnati and Dayton. Always. The Michigan temperatures were well above normal today, but a cold-front will bring us much cooler weather this weekend. Jim and I are going to the Detroit Tiger game on Saturday night and the low is predicted to be in the mid-40s. Brrrrrr! I guess it is finally time to hang up the shorts & flip-flops and break out the blue jeans & sweatshirts!

A view of our little Texas palm tree that we planted in the spring. It has grown almost two feet. The orange lily-type things were in the yard when we bought the house.

The banana tree just keeps getting taller.

The yard from a different perspective.

Baseball

Jim, Jacob, and I met Jean and Jenna today at Minute Maid Park to watch the Houston Astros take on the Cincinnati Reds. There was a chance of rain, so the stadium's retractable roof - which is usually open - was closed. Being indoors for a baseball game seemed rather odd, but, at the same time, we were happy to leave the warm & muggy Texas weather outside.

Jim and I were torn over which team to root for this afternoon. While we would normally want our hometown Astros to win, the 27-year-old son of Jim's boss is a shortstop for the Cincinnati Reds. He did play in today's game, and we cheered him on, but in the end, Houston won.

Jacob found a big Astros boot.

Jake and I in our upper deck, front row seats, enjoying the cleanliness of the floor before the guy who showed up next to us spilled his giant-sized Coke all over our feet.

Our view, looking out towards right field. Notice the uphill slope in center field behind Jim's head. Also, there is a definite lack of seating in left field.

Jim, Jake, Jean, and I watched the game. Jenna posted important messages on Facebook.

Entomology

I have a collection of insects that I keep - outside - at our house in Houston. As soon as I capture a new specimen, I search the internet in order to determine whether or not it is dangerous. So far, I have not discovered many harmful creatures. Just very gross-looking ones. The bugs down here are enormous compared to those up north. The Banded-Winged Grasshopper in the picture below is about two-and-a-half inches long. The lovely Palmetto Bug (read: American cockroach) next to it is over two inches in length. The Cicada Killer, second from the right, curled up after it died. It has a stinger, but allegedly is not aggressive toward humans. The scorpion-looking thing is actually a gentle Southern Mole Cricket. Even though these critters appear pretty repulsive, they are fairly innocent. I must admit that I am becoming somewhat desensitized to all of the insects in Texas . . . as long as they are outdoors!

Some of the interesting bugs in my collection.

Sold

After almost nine months on the market, our house in Michigan officially has new owners tonight. The buyers made us a decent offer over a month ago, and we have been patiently waiting through counter-offers and inspections and repairs and more. The contract originally listed September 10 as the target sale date, and I must admit that I was surprised when everything actually fell into place before today's 4:00 p.m. closing time.

Back in June of 1991, Jim and I had put a down payment on an empty lot and a not-yet-built house in a new subdivision. We excitedly chose the brick and the siding and the carpet colors and the cupboards for our new digs. We watched the construction of the structure from the basement up to the roof. We eagerly moved into our new home on November 15 that year and lived there for nearly two decades.

When Jim's job was relocated to Houston last year, I was especially sad that we had to put the place up for sale. Finally, we were buoyed and delighted when - after 110 or so showings - a family came along that genuinely loved our house as much as we did. There were problems and issues and troublesome obstacles on the road to today's closing, but the buyers hung in there.

Welcome home Rebecca and Anthony! Take care of our old homestead.

Hermine is Here

On Sunday, Jean and Jenna came over to the house for a BBQ. The weather was very cooperative and we were able to go swimming and eat outside without sweltering too much. While watching tv later that evening, I was surprised to learn that a tropical depression was brewing offshore just south of Brownsville, Texas. Although the area of rain and wind was situated in the warm, hurricane-prone waters of the Gulf, it was close enough to land to assure that it did not have time to develop into anything too strong before going ashore in Mexico. The system became Tropical Storm Hermine and the outer bands of precipitation reached Houston on Monday. It rained in the morning. It rained in the afternoon. It rained at night. We didn't experience any terribly high winds, but it was blustery enough to delay Adam's flight out of IAH for about an hour. Luckily, our house is about 400 miles northeast of where Hermine's eye made landfall Monday evening, so we did not endure any real tropical storm conditions. Hopefully, this trend will continue for the rest of hurricane season.

The Beach

Jim, Jacob, Adam, and I met Jean and Jenna at the beach in Galveston today. The weather was perfect - in the upper 80s and a bit overcast, which was good because when the sun is out full force I tend to whine about the sizzling heat. The water in the Gulf of Mexico is at the highest temperature that it typically gets to all year - 87°. It was great to be able to wade comfortably right into the ocean, and it feels so different from the shocking cold of Lake Superior's summertime 60° water temps. The wind was blasting along at around 15 mph today, and that made for some fun waves to bob around in. We all had a wonderful time, and, in my opinion, one of the biggest advantages of living in Houston is the close proximity to the Gulf. (But, don't quote me on that if a hurricane happens to head this way . . .)

Jacob, Adam, Jean, and Jenna frolicked in the swells. They are the ones on the right - I really need a better zoom lens on my camera!

Tales from Texas

The air conditioner at our Houston house stopped blasting out cold air one day last week. Fortunately, we have a one-year homeowner warranty that was included when we bought the place, so the cost to repair the unit was covered. We were only without a/c for about 22 hours, but with the temperature in the upper 90s and the high humidity, it was like living in a steam room for a day. I'd love to say that I sweated off a few pounds, but for some reason that didn't happen.

Jim, Jacob, and I drove out to visit Jean and Jenna on Saturday. It was nice to see familiar faces, and we had a great time. The kids went swimming in Jean's awesome apartment pool while we adults sat in the oppressive heat watching and perspiring. We then went to check out the Katy Mills Mall, and especially liked the huge food court & the Texas-themed store there. Adam is flying to town from Colorado for the upcoming Labor Day weekend, and we plan to get together with Jean and Jen again. It is fun to have family nearby when we are so far from "home."

We have Bananas

Jim, Jacob, and I departed Colorado Sunday afternoon and pulled into the driveway of our Texas house Monday evening. Upon our arrival, Jim was eager to show us the fruit that he had recently discovered growing on our banana tree. The three of us scurried to the backyard to marvel at the wonder of nature - imagine, our banana tree was actually producing bananas! Well, one clump anyway. As we stood admiring the splendor, I began to feel stings on my flip-flop-covered feet. I glanced down and noticed that ants - many, many fire ants - had crawled onto the bare skin of my feet and were having a field day biting or stinging or whatever it is they do. I hopped off of the grass swatting at the critters, and saw that Jacob was doing the exact same dance simultaneously. Jim, wearing shoes and socks, looked on amused and without sympathy. He did go out and purchase some fire ant repellent to put on the lawn. Note to self: watch where you walk and never go barefoot.

Other than dealing with creepy bugs in Texas, we are having a great time down here. Our pool temperature hovers around 90 degrees, and contrary to popular belief, that does cool you off. We have had a number of chores to take care of both inside and out, and it is especially nice to jump into the water after working in the sweltering yard. Among other things, the wooden pole holding up our mailbox rotted, broke, and tipped over the other day, so we had to go out to buy a new post last night. Until Jim finds time to install it, our mailbox is out at the curb precariously perched on two old milk crates. Yes, we are the classy neighbors.

The bananas.

We got in 18 holes of putt-putt before we left Colorado.

Go West Young Man

Ten days ago, Adam hopped into his loaded-down Jeep and headed west on I-80. He had much to do prior to the start of his grad school year in Colorado. Besides the normal college orientation & registration stuff, he also had to get a Colorado driver's license, buy Colorado insurance & plates for his vehicle, sign the lease at his apartment, switch his address at the bank, arrange for his utilities, etc. He has been busy from the minute he stepped foot in his new hometown.

Five days ago, Jim, Jacob, and I hopped into our loaded-down (mostly with Adam's stuff) CRV and traced Adam's western trek. We met up with him in Colorado and have been shopping and helping him move into his new apartment ever since. His unit is very nice, but a bit disheveled at the moment. I like the fact, though, that now it is Adam's turn to declutter and organize his belongings. I have certainly had enough moving and unpacking to last me for a while!

Adam left from the condo on the 12th.

Here is Adam sitting in his new, barren research office in Colorado.

A room with a view - this is looking west from Adam's office window. See our CRV in the parking lot!