She’s Young and With It

I cancelled cable tv today. We only had super basic cable, mostly to avoid using an antenna. However, the lack of NBC was really getting to us so we bought antennas. For those of you outside of Austin, the local NBC affiliate and Time Warner had a breakdown in contract negotiations and we lost NBC nearly a month ago. Since we now have antennas, there is no reason to keep the piddly cable we had so I cancelled it! Of course, they tried to talk me into keeping it, saying they would work out the NBC issue soon and even offered me a substantial monthly credit, but I declined. Then they offered me a nice internet deal and I snapped it up. We already have Time Warner internet so it is simply a savings. Score!

I did not do much over the weekend. I felt a little guilty about it, but it was also nice to laze about. I mowed the lawn and shredded some papers so I guess that was semi-productive.

We early voted last week!

Just after leaving the library where we voted, we passed this house. I am taking it as a sign.

The weekend before last was Maker Faire. Jennifer was kind enough to share passes with Clint and myself on Saturday in exchange for my help in her Bazaar Bizarre booth on Sunday. It was a pretty sweet deal. I had a lot of fun and I will definitely consider going next year. Clint bought a camera parts t-shirt from Shop Shop Designs and I bought some earrings from Kristin Freeman.

Clint just sent me this link to Jeff Mangum performing “Engine” and it is awesome even if the video is terrible.

Maybe there is hope yet for future works or live performances.

Hey, didn’t I dream this very thing recently?

It is becoming increasingly apparent that I miss my early to mid twenties.

On Tuesday we saw The Magnetic Fields at The Paramount. I was very happy that Shirley Simms was present to sing some songs in her pretty voice. They played for nearly two hours, complete with an intermission during their set. The crowd was sad when we were told it was the last song, but we were quickly told not to be sad because there would be an encore. Michael Hearst was entertaining too. Who else tells you it is OK to boo a song just because it is about Sarah Palin?

On Saturday we plan to stop by Barkitecture to see the dog houses. We found Callie just a few days before Barkitecture two years ago. I remember carrying her photo around and talking to rescue groups about the sweet mangy puppy that we needed help in finding a permanent home. Little did we know then that her cute little mug would stay with us.

On Sunday I will be helping Jennifer with her Bazaar Bizarre booth at Maker Faire. Stop by and say hello!

I have trees on the brain. I guess it is that time of year! We planted a Mexican Redbud to compensate a little for losing the chinaberry. The Redbud is about six feet tall. We splurged on a bigger tree because it still stings when we think about the size of the chinaberry, which you can sort of see in this photo. Sigh.

We plan to add a second redbud to the right side of the driveway and then maybe two Anacacho Orchids on the left side of the driveway. We also plan to begin planting some shrubs (Sweet Olive maybe?) along the sides of our fence in the backyard. Do shrubs go with clumping bamboo? We need some privacy between the neighboring yards.

We also need to add a few trees to the backyard. All in good time, I suppose.

I wish we had unlimited funds to do it all at once. I was walking through an older area of East Austin today and found myself envying all the yards with dense greenery around them. One day!

We took Basil in for his first check up post radioactive iodine treatment. Everything looked good! He has gained 1 3/4 pounds in the six weeks following treatment and his fur looks much better. The vet was pleased with his appearance and his bloodwork all came back where it should be except for one pesky little kidney value, which was slightly elevated. The vet said it was nothing to be alarmed about. He will need another check up in two months. Whew! That was a relief.

We took Callie and Sherman to the dog park last Friday. We broke the no dog park rule! I was suffering major anger and depression over the tree situation so I needed to get out of the house. The park helped my mental stability and I think that the dogs had a good time. Callie was very well behaved, but Sherman kicked dirt and mulch all over people, which was not very nice of him.