Phisch's blog

Saturday

nobody@vox.com(Phisch) — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 15:28:50 -0500

I failed to mention what we did and mainly because I had absolutely no photographic evidence to share with you. I am sad. I failed to charge the camera battery and it died as I tried to take what would have been the first photo. Tsk!

[hangs head in shame]

Butaniways. We went to Pace Bend Park which is located on Lake Travis but a further drive from Mansfield Dam area. This is not as developed as Mansfield Dam park.

The water was colder than the day before (generally the whole lake has the same temp) but it was cloudy and overcast. And rainy. We got rain! Sad because we did pack responsibly this time and brought a cooler, our folding chairs and swimming gear.

I spent a few minutes in the water, thigh-deep only, and then the rain started. The breeze---not yet a gusty wind---was cooler than I was comfortable with (oi! 80s and I'm cold already?). I headed to the car. NM was of the same mind. Kinda. He really wanted to "play house" in the back of the car and set the truck up so he can convince us it's possible to sleep in it comfortably without a tent or sleeping bags. He wants to go camping very badly! J headed into the truck not long after.

Not much later, hubby comes in with all the folding chairs since it's not just rain anymore. These drops are huge and they hurt! They were pretty loud, too. We found out that there was hail in some places which makes sense.

It didn't last long and we decided to drive to the other two swimming-only areas in the park. The second was only ok though the beach was nice, but not as nice as the first. The third was interesting. There were signs that said "jumping from cliffs is not advised" and we found out why. There were, in fact, sort of cliffs. But the water wasn't clear at all so you have no idea what you're jumping into or how deep it is.

The boys' gut reaction was to stay out of the water; they weren't happy about the imperceptible bottom. Hubby jumped in, swam to the other side and managed to hurt himself badly on a rock he couldn't see. He scrapped the front of his shin. We ended up running home after that. It's lake water, after all, and he needed to get it cleaned up.

We did have lots of fun in spite of the injury. J spent a lot of time in the water and NM and I played in the truck (well, he played and I napped). I was so tired I fell asleep in the car on the way home! I don't think that's happened since J was a newborn (trip from CA doesn't count here). We hope to go back when we have a tent and two more sleeping bags so we can enjoy real camping!

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Kinda Camping

nobody@vox.com(Phisch) — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 04:01:17 -0500

Snake!
Originally uploaded by Phisch

Day one, day two pics. Link on the right goes to a video, hence no image.

Let me explain.

We were invited to go camping with the children's ministry folks at church (we love them...they invited us though we're not really a part of CM) about a month ago. The venue was McKinney Falls State Park which we visited when we were in Austin two years ago. We originally told them we couldn't go because our friends were coming to visit us for a couple of days and we thought that it would interfere.

Once they finalized their trip dates, we realized we could go camping. We figured out it could work this past Thursday. Too soon to go buy a tent, camping stove and two sleeping bags (for the boys). Those kinds of purchases can't be rushed, you know?

So, instead we went to the camp site Friday night, went home and then went back the next day. It cost us $ each time, but since we planned to pay for four people and only had to pay for adults, it worked out. It is also really nice that it's only 30 minutes away from home at most. Not really camping, is it?

Friday, the older kids had a scavenger hunt then we had dinner. J had gotten really upset when he put his hand on a rock wall to lift himself up so he could get over it only to find his hand was covered in fire ants. I got to him quickly and brushed them off. Though he was crying "OW!" a lot, we didn't find any bites. I did get bitten once, on the foot at another time so I decided it was a good time for bug spray. We had our dinner of hot dogs after the scavenger hunt but since the rangers said no open fires except for camping stoves, we didn't make any s'mores. They're in the pantry waiting to be made, though!

The following day, we arrived as they were packing up. We headed for Lower McKinney Falls where the kids were hanging out while some of the parents packed the gear. J didn't want to go in at first, then when he finally did, he was really upset when he was told "no" by his Abba. The other dads had admonished us not to let the kids stick their heads under the water in case of bacteria (I have a photo of some standing water in the Flickr set for today). There have been scares of bacteria/parasite that can kill you if it enters your body through the cavities in your head and that stuff lives in standing water.

But the real excitement is not J's crying over being told no--nor was it one of the kids crying because she, doing her best being a toddler, was told to throw the used chewing gum in her mouth--but the kids' sighting of a snake in the water.

I had heard from hubby who was in the general vicinity of the thing that it went towards the boy who saw it first, but after the kids on the rock near him started hollering "A snake!" well, the thing turned tail and swam to safety. I got the movements on video, but that's about it. I didn't have the presence of mind to zoom, just to get it on video. The pool did empty (I was glad NM was on the rock and J was with me) but it didn't take long for everyone to go back in after a while.

Our guess is that it was a water moccasin which is a venomous snake that's pretty common here in Central Texas and lives in water. I guess they've got a nasty temperament, too, so you do want to keep well away from them. Ick. I can deal with bugs (mostly) but venomous snakes aren't my thing. I'm glad no one panicked though.

^_^

Note the time I'm posting. It's not that I couldn't sleep. You know I don't dream at all, right? Or rather, I don't remember any dreams I've had for months and months now (if not years). Well, I finally got myself up after back-to-back dreams about identifying this snake and videos of this snake and boys and this snake. I'm posting this in hopes that I can get it out of my system! Blech. Indiana Jones and I have one thing in common. If I make myself that khaki safari dress then we'll have two: snake heeby jeebies and khaki clothes.

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Our Short Hike

nobody@vox.com(Phisch) — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 10:22:32 -0500

IMG_6721
Originally uploaded by Phisch

(One of several updates I finally am taking the time to post)

A few more pics here.

Last Friday, on a lark, we decided to go somewhere. Actually, I just wanted to get out of the house and walk. Hubby decided Zilker park proper would be good (parking free during the week right now).

No, we didn't bring our swimming duds. I did mention looking for a letterbox near Barton Springs Pool but that was met with silence (hubby, deep in thought), "let's go to the park!!!" (J, realizing where he was) and "Yeah! Let's go!" (NM, who was disappointed as I was that my remark went unnoticed).

It's ok, the boys still enjoyed the playground and NM---only once---mentioned missing his soccer ball.

Doesn't that pool look gorgeous? It's too bad it's a chilly 62 degrees F year round!

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Barton Creek Greenbelt

nobody@vox.com(Phisch) — Sat, 03 May 2008 14:18:35 -0500

IMG_6498
Originally uploaded by Phisch

Look at our pics. Edit: we did this last weekend, when soccer games were canceled due to recent rains.

The last few times we've hiked at the Greenbelt, we chose to exit at the Mopac frontage road and entered the trail from there (west side). We found that there was a trail entrance off 360, so that's where we went this time.

Good thing, too! This part of the trail was gorgeous. The weather was so perfect. It was in the 80s but there was a perfect breeze that made it just so nice in the shade and not awfully hot in the sun.

The trees are all green now, no real sign at all of the sparse grey of winter. We even found this very out of place poppy (made me wish I had a camera that let me pick the depth of field).

The boys had a great time and we could tell we were well overdue for a family outing!

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Break Into Song

nobody@vox.com(Phisch) — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 15:37:58 -0500

I got tickets for all four of us to see The Musical Adventures of Flat Stanley this Friday. Yay! I love me a good musical*. I hope the boys will enjoy it, too. The little one will like the larger-than-life feel of a stage production, I think, and the older one will love reminiscing because they did a unit study on Flat Stanley in first grade.

The musical will be staged at the Long Center, one of the first performances for this new facility. Adjacent to it is a large field, grassy knolls and a park with lots of water fountains for the kiddos to run through. Just another reason to love Austin :)

I went to buy tickets at the window in person mainly so that I could do a recon to figure out where to park. I was surprised to find out that I saved $30, all told, for our four tickets. Can you believe it? I thought at most I'd save the $1 per ticket fee to print the tickets via online ordering.

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Wildflower Center

nobody@vox.com(Phisch) — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 23:32:34 -0500

IMG_6245
Originally uploaded by Phisch

Pictures here. Many pretty pictures!

It's definitely wildflower season here in Central Texas. It's not hard to find patches of bluebonnets, primroses and black-eyed susans along the sides of roads and freeways.

Hubby decided to take off from work tomorrow and deal with taxes instead so we could have an afternoon outing today. We had planned to drive out to Fredricksburg since the road there is one of the better places to see flowers. No doubt, since the biggest proponent of wildflowers, Lady Bird Johnson lived in Johnson City which is on 290 near Fredricksburg and on top of that there's a big wildflower seed farm somewhere there. We didn't make it far. There was a marquis set up announcing an incident on 290. It had to be bad for the sheriffs to take the time to set that up (second bad accident we saw today...so sad*).

We turned around and headed to the Ladybird Johnson National Wildflower Research Center instead. The last time we went was in the middle of winter. It was nice, if a little stark and grey. This time, it was like pretty exploded everywhere. Hubby had a blast taking the camera away from me to take photos. It was nice because NM and J kept asking to get their photos taken, too =)

+ + +

*The first bad accident of the day was on the way to church. Hubby had to let a police car go ahead of him and that guy did a U-turn on the freeway. We look to our left and on the other side of the freeway was a white minivan and there was a guy who was laying a tarp or sheet over something. Judging from the condition of the minivan, it was probably a person he was covering up. I hope it was to keep them comfortable. There were several other cars stopped nearby as well, probably to help.

At church, Bunjee's message was about witnessing. The thought of forever in hell is so awful. If we don't have compassion for others enough to share Jesus' love to them, in a very real way it's cruel.

When I saw the accident I just about cried because my first thought was for that person and to pray for the ones around him or her. What if they didn't know who He is? Forever is such a long time.

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Austin Zoo

nobody@vox.com(Phisch) — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 14:51:43 -0500

IMG_5476
Originally uploaded by Phisch

Photos over here.

Last Friday, I took the kids to the Austin Zoo & Animal Sanctuary which turns out is really, really close to where we live. I'm still amazed at how much open space is around here and I have to make myself stop thinking that in a few years it will all be developed. Maybe not!

Anyway, the boys would have had a better time if I'd brought them more food. Hehe. My bad...next time I'll do better.

Actually, it's really more of an animal sanctuary than a zoo. Many of the animals here are rescues from people who keep exotic pets then decide they can't or injured animals or similar situations.

The main reason I wanted to go was so that we could go over this week's science topic: primates. We did get to see most kinds: monkeys, apes (well, one kind of ape) and prosimians (ever-cute lemurs). There was also a huge petting area and J really enjoyed feeding the sheep and goats, but he really got a kick out of the axis deer (and not just because mom squealed "cute" but he said so, too). There was also a little train ride through the trees, not the animals. Both boys enjoyed that.

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Barton Creek Greenbelt

nobody@vox.com(Phisch) — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 20:49:46 -0500

IMG_5418
Originally uploaded by Phisch

Yay! We went hiking again yesterday. J wasn't feeling too hot, but he was a trouper (they both were) and enjoyed it anyway.

At first, we followed my interpretation on the map and our NM was disappointed. I let them all astray; we took the route he said was the right way and, goodness, he was right of course.

The weather has been amazing. The temps in the 70s in the shade, a little breeze and humidity. It hasn't rained all that much so the creek has no water in it yet. We crossed it so we could get to the other side where the shade was.

The trail was interesting because it was split in two: one trail for only those on foot and the slightly higher trail that allowed for mountain biking. The way they separated it is by putting a fence at the beginning of the trail that made it impossible for a biker to get through. I'd never seen that before.

Of course, the boys had fun and we got to see new creatures as well. Well, only I saw the snake and I'm not sure what kind it was. I'm always listening for rustling around on the ground and the sound it made was really different from a bird or lizard spooked by our presence. It definitely was a "slither" and it caught my attention. It looked a lot like this one.

Central Texas is showing so many signs of Spring. The Creek was no exception. There were a lot of plants on the sides of the trails that looked like crab grass but with darker and wider blades. A little bit further, I found some of them that were topped with purple blooms. I wasn't manning the camera or I'd have photos of those and the other pretty flowers that were peeking out here and there, not to mention the trees' leaf buds beginning to unfold. Maybe we don't get snow here, but we sure get a sense of seasonal changes.

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Hamilton Pool Hike

nobody@vox.com(Phisch) — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 22:12:35 -0600

IMG_5151
Originally uploaded by Phisch

I'll go ahead and post this before all the photos are done uploading and they get their proper captions. ~~Promise you'll go back for those.~~

Photos are here.

We drove 20-ish minutes to Hamilton Pool Preserve today. The drive was through some farm land full of what I think are called "gentlemen's ranches" which is another way of saying "I have cattle so I can have a tax write off, not because I necessarily like cattle." Granted, we did see someone with a few bison.

We get to the preserve which has a hiking trail of a little over a mile long from one end (Hamilton Pool) to the other (Pedernales River). The water looked so pretty with blue-green colors but at 53 degrees or so F, not at all inviting! Sorry, too cold. The trail was rocky in parts but the boys did well and really had a blast. I mean really, really enjoyed themselves. There were so many smiles and NM was asking me to take his photo. The only trauma was at the end when someone twisted their ankle but that was over quickly. We ate out afterwards and had well-deserved naps. We were all so tired!

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Five Seconds of Adventure

nobody@vox.com(Phisch) — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 21:24:51 -0600

So we decide, in spite of the loud protestation of our children, to head to Costco so the youngest kiddo can have milk and that we can all enjoy the luxury of knowing we won't run out of toilet paper tonight.

Most of the way to Costco we drive a highway where the north and south bound lanes are separated by a very wide island and there are also a couple of traffic lights to accommodate east-west streets (think: highway, not freeway like California).

We were stopped at one of these lights, us on north Mopac and the cross street was Slaughter. All of a sudden, someone heading east on Slaughter turns in our direction. As in, if she didn't tighten her turn, she would have hit us head on. She was going kind of slowly which is why she managed to make it onto the island and only scrape some of her paint on our bumper. I doubt she was drunk: if she were, she would not have been so calculating in the way she turned her car to avoid hitting us (much). More likely, she would have had some surprise show on her face but there was none of that. She looked upset, but not teary or lit.

Unfortunately, after she made the turn she sped up and her license plate was indiscernible to hubby who was driving (the truck bed hid the back of her vehicle from my view). The person to our right caught on to what happened and I asked her if she was calling 911 since we didn't have a phone. She did and made sure we were ok since the dispatcher was asking. Hopefully, the woman who was now driving the wrong way on the highway wasn't going to hurt anyone.

On our way home we noticed a patrol officer going south on Mopac. I wonder if they were still looking for her.

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