American Coots

Here is picture of water birds we saw on Sunday (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Coot). In other news, my father's company offered him a severance package today, so now he has retired rather suddenly. I'm a little jealous, being only about halfway through my employment arc (if you consider starting at 16 or 17). Well, my folks certainly earned their retirement and I hope they enjoy themselves.

Zilker Park Revisted

Today we visited Zilker Park again. We rode the train, climbed on a rock outcrop, flew kites (until I unbelievably wound up placing both in the same tree), and played disk golf (did not find much cacti in the rough, but it did us pause).

WeatherFest

Katie and I visited WeatherFest at the Bob Bullock Museum today. Kris stayed home to finish the book "Jurassic Park", which her friend made her read. Some of the stuff there (e.g. spotter training) would have really bored her, so the thing we did most there was visit a hands-on area put together by GirlStart (http://www.girlstart.org/). This included doing a pretend weather forecast, which was fun but challenging. I would not mind having some of the storm-chasing toys on my car. Other pix include Katie under one of the many pretty purple fragrant trees in the area - thanks to the power of the internet I found out they are Texas mountain laurels (http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=SOSE3). Here is a pic of the moon, Venus, and Jupiter close in the sky.

The Two Towers

I thought I had posted a picture of the vultures that hunker down at night in the electrical tower near Walnut Creek and Metric Blvd. There are sometimes more than 80 of them. Interestingly, there are few that roost in the next tower over and none that nest in the nearby St. Albert the Great church steeple. Yesterday Kris found a 4-leaf clover; her friend found a couple of 5-leaf clovers. Today I'm pretty sure I saw redbud tree in bloom. Highs in the 60s today.

Warm Day

The weather was warm enough today (92 F) that the girls decided to go swimming. They reported that the water was quite cold. I had heard that the live oaks dropped leaves in late winter, and I noticed a couple trees turning yellowish near a UT bus stop.

Ash Wednesday

Today we went to Ash Wednesday sevices. Our church here had four services, and at least two were quite well attended. Our wily pastor did the whole Mass first, then did the sermon and then did the ashes at the end. I got the impression that he does this to get people to actually attend the whole Mass. He also pointed out that Sunday Masses were more important than Ash Wednesday. Today's temps got to 88; Thursday's high should be similar. After that temps will be more like the average for this time of year (60s).

Yesterday was Mardi Gras, and also Karen's and my 18.5 year anniversary. Kris was not feeling well, so we took Katie to a Chinese restaurant and then later went for a walk. Yesterday my parents also arrived safely in Green Bay from their trip to visit us. One last tidbit: yesterday morning I finished rereading 1 Kings on the bus ride in. As I was finishing, somebody got in the bus and started ranting loudly, obscenely, and racistly (?) about people going to hell. I thought the timing was interesting because 1 Kings has a lot to say about good and bad prophets.

Weekend with Parents in Austin

Rainy day Saturday - I saw my first couple earthworms since I have come to Austin. We did touristy stuff anyway:

-LBJ ranch - saw a 2-day-old calf and a couple jackrabbits; Katie thought the concept of a chamber pot was funny
-late lunch in Fredericksburg - a place called Porky's; it was OK

-Luckenbach - small, but less hidden and more commercial than expected; we cajoled Kris into doing a little singing on one of the empty stages

-Mansfield (Lake Travis) dam - despite the rain the water level is still low

-IKEA in Round Rock

Sunny and cool day Sunday:
-Mass

-lunch (and live music) at the Salt Lick - yummy barbeque!

-Goodwill Computer Museum - we all (especially my dad) enjoyed the trip down memory lane
-Zilker Park Nature Center and Barton Springs Pool - nice, and at least it was not 90+ F

-tonight we watched the movie Dolphin Tale - it was nice

UT and Blue Bell Ice Cream

Yesterday, I took my parents and Karen and Kris on a UT campus tour. Today, my parents, Karen, and the girls drove to Brennan, TX, to visit the Blue Bell Ice Cream factory. Both were enjoyed.

Visit continued more

For Valentine's Day, my parents, Karen and Kris visited Katie at school. Later, my dad cooked shishkababs for everybody. After dinner, he helped Kris dissect a clam. We have been seeing a fair number of crane flies lately, see: http://insects.tamu.edu/fieldguide/bimg215.html.

Visit Continued

Rainy this morning, but then turned nice. Tonight we took my parents to see the sunset at Mount Bonnell and then went to Phil's Icehouse and Amy's Ice Cream.

Cold Weather in Austin

Yesterday we went to Pioneer Farms. It was cold, but we got a wagon ride and saw some interesting sights. Last night after church we went to a Chuy's for supper. Today we went to the Bob Bullock State History Museum and state capitol building. We got snow flurries/ice pellets, but not a dangerous accumulation.