Do you know how hot it is? No, how hot is it?

Sounds like an Abbott and Costello routine but there have been too many days of 100+ degree temperatures and counting here in Austin TX.

I posted this on my old blog last summer when we had 56+ days of heat over 100, and that is not even mentioning the heat index. Since we are now over 10 days, I thought it would be appropriate to share again.

I listen to our local NPR station each morning on the way to work and now I say in unison with Burton Fitzsimmons, "A 20% chance of rain today and temperature likely to reach near to 102 degrees." Now the 20% chance of rain means that it may rain somewhere in the state of Texas for 5 seconds and the 102 does not include the real temperature with the heat index. Next, I wonder aloud, "Remind me why I live in Texas?" and I never seem to find a solid reason.

Don't get me wrong, Texas is "interesting." I don't want to offend the people I've met, so let this serve as an apology in advance. One thing about Texas is that the people are friendly here. You can usually spend 30 minutes talking to a complete stranger about... you guessed it, the weather. (Don't even think of mentioning politics here, you'll likely to be hit with a rectangular object with a five-letter word embossed on the cover, but that's another blog note...) Most of these conversations start in a line for something and begin with "I remember one (insert season) when it was so (insert cold, hot, wet, dry, strange).

Now Texas is big about everything and Texans are happy to tell you that things are always bigger here. So this means that if its summer, temperatures can be triple digits. There is only one place in Austin one can stop the boiling of your blood: Barton Springs. The water is below 68 degrees year round.

http://s193.photobucket.com/albums/z162/Curt_057/2006-07-05/

I told someone in NY it was 104 degrees the other day and she said I could bake bread. I haven't tried that yet, but you can melt butter and fry an egg. If it really rains, there are flash floods, I never heard of a place with more low water crossings and the fools who attempt to actually drive their car through it to get home. If its dry, the ground gets so hard it cracks and the red ants go insane searching for water. Did I mention the hail storms? Out of nowhere a hail storm will kick up and the hail is anywhere from the size of quarters to the size of baseballs, yes my car was pounded by baseballs and I was nowhere near a baseball stadium. Sure, we get tornadoes too. I've only had to sit in my closet once this year and yes, the sky turned an eerie shade of green.

Oh, and I here tell (don't you love my Texas speak?) that since it is so dang hot, "they" are predicting a wet fall, as if this brings any relief? We'll have several days of car accidents as the oil in the roads seeps to the surface, followed by more days of accidents since Texans do not know how to drive, much less drive in the rain. And if we're lucky a wet fall will be followed by a wet winter which means icy roads. Did you know that Austin has like only a dozen trucks that can actually sand the roads?

See, you really can spend 30 minutes talking about the weather in Texas.

And the Winner is.....

Thank you to those who participated in my fun and games! We have taken a poll here at the Daley household and the competition and debate was fierce.  I know the anticipation is driving you mad but please be sure the winning results were protected by our guard cats, Poly, Ester and Snips, under the bed with all the other prized possessions.

My desktop rat friend now has a name,Fräulein Frederica Fancy Rat. Congratulations go to Kimberly, (visit her blog http://somethingiwantedtotellyou.blogspot.com/) and the Lady of our ring, Babes in Blogland.

Kimberly, contact me with your address so I can send the "Pink" prize!

From time to time I will do this again, everyone needs an excuse to get crafty!

All is Quiet on the Blogger Front or Work is Hell!

I know I've been missing from action for bit, but work has been all consuming. Sherman said, "War is hell" so I will take creative license here and say, "Work is hell!" Thanks history buff husband for the quote and encouraging to write my rant. Its cheap therapy after all.

I come home brain drained and play those silly games on Facebook. Something always has to be harvested, built or iced and the best part is that I don't have to "tally" "feedback" or "submit" a damn thing. Now if only those millions of Mafia Wars rubles were real.

Seriously, I'm in the weeds at work. Ever have one of those days, weeks (or dare I say a month?) when for every case you close you seem to get two more? If I was waiting tables, I'd be rolling in the tips.

I feel like I'm a treadmill going no where fast. If I was on an actual treadmill, I would have burned millions of calories, but nope, my butt continues to enjoy that "I sit in a chair all day" spread. I've been at this job for close to seven years and let me calculate it, that would come out to be gaining about 7 pounds a year!

Have I mentioned that I really thought that I'd only be at this job long enough to go through paid training? Now I'm "an old timer" and people know who I am and ask me how to get into my department. Simple, someone has to move away to work on a mission, get fired, or die. For my company, I'm well paid but when you compare it to the real world it can be insulting.

I don't have a clue who works in the other departments anymore, those chairs are twirly chairs and before you know it know it the chairs spin and new faces appear. The good thing is that I can nod at the other "old timers" with that "same shit different day" attitude and laugh quietly at the fresh happy people who will be beaten down by the man in no time at all.hhhhh, I feel better now.

For Thea

My best friend passed over four years ago and I wrote this several months later. My sister is still with me and I hear her laughter on the wind and feel her supportive presence in my darkest hours. A day does not pass when she is not in my thoughts. She is free and she still calls me, like good friends do.

Star, Anthea (Breeze) Padric Summer 2001

Grief, it engulfs you... at first...a blow to the soul
So long it has taken me to put the feelings in order just to
Begin
How do you catch up on nearly five years in twenty minutes?
How do you say goodbye, when you've just said hello?

"Star, you came. You are here!"
How could I not?
It was for the both of us.

For me... to see your smile and hear your voice again, old friend.
I did not, could not let you go without telling you that
I love you...

Love between women is unique.
We bare our souls,
Share our dreams and
Fight the good fight.
So many memories crash through my mind.

I told you to leave, to do what your heart told you, you said I gave you strength
Again, I told you to go, even though I knew a wedge would be driven.

You helped me heal and trust again... so many times
I want to crush herbs in the little room, to play the same song over and over gain, to dance under the moon, to go for wild rides nowhere, to sit under the tree at market

To make that promise
Never let a man come between us... and keep it this time.
Five lost years...I feel robbed.
I grieved then and I grieve again.

"Kisses like butterflies" you said then and
"More now" before you crossed over.

A light has gone out in the world.

Yet, I hear you, like always.

Connectivity, Sisterhood.