Month: December 2022

We’ll, forgot to post this, but here’s some old news if you’re not busy.

As I write this, I am sitting near Bob with his post-cataract surgery eye shield on. His surgery was at 8:30 this morning, and we were back by 11:30. The procedure went fine, although we’ll know more about the results tomorrow at his follow-up appointment.

Since the weather has improved considerably (high of 60 F), I was antsy to see more of our area so yesterday I drove a couple miles down to Common Ford Ranch Park to walk some of the trails there. The following are some photos from my visit.

How can it possibly be the end of 2022 already?! It’s been an event filled year for us and one for which we are so grateful to have been able to revisit friends in Scotland, make new friends in Cambridge, France, Canada, and the US, host my mom’s 80th birthday extravaganza, and see lots of other relatives in the Midwest and good friends in Austin, Denver, and Tucson. We are blessed!!

We are currently hunkered down for a few days while a serious cold front impacts Austin and many other parts of the central US. While we have it much better than areas farther north (We’re still on the right side of 0 degrees F), we noticed that our homeowners who are visiting family in Canada are currently having warmer weather than we are here (32 vs 15 degrees F when we checked this morning).

We continued the medical focus of our visit this week with a consult for Bob regarding his cataract surgery for next week, a 2-week follow-up on his hip surgery, and a mammogram for me. I won’t get my results for a week or so but was happy to learn that the results of an ultrasound that I had last week came back fine. No use to worrying about these things, but my sister’s death from cancer has taken away my former assuredness about my health status.

Bob got a great review from the orthopedic surgeon, as he is very mobile already, having ditched both the walker and cane. He is mostly pain free except on inclines and if he pushes himself too much. His gait isn’t quite back to normal, but we’re trying not to expect everything all at once. We’re just hoping the eye surgery is as effective.

In the meantime, we had a lovely meet up with another couple that we’ve known forever. She was one of Bob’s co-workers at his first job in Austin and is also from Iowa.

We have also been enjoying the aptly named Hollywood, who loves to be the center of attention and is quite the ball/toy fetcher, enjoys her walks and treats (She rolls over for cheese.), and stays close. She does not, however, approve of her winter jacket as we learned this morning.

Bob got an early Christmas present at our current house when he noticed a sculpture out by the pool. Yep, he’s added to his big head photo collection.

Merry Christmas and best wishes for a happy, healthy 2023!

The University of Texas Women’s Volleyball team won the National Championship last night, beating the University of Louisville in 3 straight sets (best out of five). Since the game was played on a Saturday night, and we’re a football country, it was on a channel that we couldn’t get in our inn in Comfort. We didn’t hold out much hope of finding a place that would show it, so we monitored their progress online. Probably just as well, as we were pretty nervous. They won the championship in 2012, but also had two years in a row of winning the first two sets only to lose the match.

This morning we left Comfort about 8ish to get to our new housesit by 10. We didn’t see the home owners, as we had done a walk through with them a couple of weeks ago. We are in a home in a subdivision in the western part of the city and are caring for one small dog, Hollywood, while her people folks are in Canada visiting family.

The homeowners are both artists, and their home is decorated super cute. We’re excited to experience a different part of Austin while fitting in some more doc appointments as well as care for our young little diva, who can roll over for treats and loves to play with her toys but sleep too.

Today was our last day in Comfort. The day started in the high 30s at running time (about 5:30ish) but warmed to a brilliant, sunny 60, which made for a lovely day out.

We traveled by car today as we ventured further afield. We started with a quick photo of a cool Comfort sign before moving onto a war memorial unique to this community.

The Treue der Union Memorial is a limestone obelisk that was dedicated to the German (mostly) Free Thinkers who were loyal to the Union during the Civil War and who died in battle in 1862. In 1865, friends of the slain union loyalists recovered remains and buried them at the site of the memorial. Much props to Comfort for honoring these men, as much of Texas still doesn’t appear to like the Union.

After the memorial, we did an inexpensive driving and photo tour of the three wineries closest to Comfort. No drinking was involved, which made it easier on the wallet as well as the driving on the narrow, windy roads. First stop was Sister Creek Vineyards in nearby Sisterdale, Texas. We had been to this winery before so just snapped a couple of quick pics outside.

Then we headed back past Comfort about 5 miles to a much newer winery, Singing Waters, founded in 1997. The drive was beautiful among the rolling hills, and the winery wasn’t hard on the eyes either. This stop combined both wine and war, as the owner is a veteran, and they have lots of service stories and memorabilia on the walls of the tasting room.

Finally, we headed towards Bending Branch Winery, owned by the same person who owns California-based Ursa Winery with the Comfort tasting room that we visited last night. We learned from an employee in the tasting room that they lost their entire crop in 2014 due to a grape disease. They now have 56 acres of grapes planted in a number of different areas across the state.

Just a side note for future reference, the price per person for a tasting at the last two wineries was $30, and it was $18 or more to buy a glass of wine to drink on site.

First, the University of Texas volleyball team beat San Diego to head to the championship game against Louisville tomorrow night!! I would hate for you not to know that. Fingers and toes crossed for tomorrow. Not sure we’ll be able to watch the game as it’s on ESPN 2, but we’ll at least follow online on the iPad.

Back to Comfort. As we learned from our walkabout today, Comfort was one of a few communities in the Texas Hill Country settled by a group of German Freethinkers . Freethinkers we’re predominantly German intellectuals who advocated reason and democracy over religious and political autocracy. They were sympathetic to the Union during the American Civil War, so many chose to leave for other areas in the US or back to Germany during that time.

After my run and some online work this am, we ambled along High Street to peruse some really cute stores.

Bob and I have completed our first housesit in Austin and have until Sunday before our next sit starts. We have scheduled a short get away to Comfort, Texas, a small town in the Texas Hill Country southwest of Austin. We left “our” two sweet cats about 1:00 this afternoon and were in Comfort by 3:00.

It is always bittersweet to leave pets, especially ones that we have sat for for a long time or multiple times. Pancho and Lefty are very sweet and definitely are up for a purr-filled snuggle. Lefty prefers a lap snuggle when you’re trying to work on the computer or when watching tv in the den. Pancho is all about snuggling in bed — usually somewhere on or near your head.

Bob got us a room at the Meyer Inn in Comfort. It has 2 large rooms plus the bathroom. Also, a fireplace, which will be especially nice tomorrow after the cold front blows through.

This afternoon/tonight we restocked our breakfast and lunch supplies at the local market and ordered a basil garlic pizza from Comfort Pizza to have while we watch the University of Texas Women’s Volleyball team play San Diego in the first game of the final four. Fingers crossed that they’ll advance. They are ranked #1 overall but have broken our hearts quite a few times over the years.

In our December full of doctors appointments, today was a big one — new hip for Bob day. We had an early morning wake up at 4:05 to make sure we got to the outpatient surgery center by 4:45. We did, things proceeded as planned, and we had him home by 11:45 am. Crazy! Even crazier, he seems to be walking strong and steady (though with a walker for now). We have a follow-up appointment on the 21st unless things go sideways before then.

He’s been a good patient so far. I may need to remember this particular drug combo.😁

We have arrived in Austin and have nearly completed our first full day of our first of three house sits in Austin, Texas that will take us into the new year. These will be a bit unusual in that we will be doing some catching up with friends while also doing some maintenance work on the car and ourselves.

We have already had a road car inspection that happily found no issues to address. I have had a cap put on a tooth that I have been having issues on and off with since mid-October, and Bob has had three doctor’s appointments already to prep for his hip replacement surgery next Wednesday (arrival time of 4:45 am!). Our current health insurance ends at the end of this month, so it feels like a mad dash to fit things in while we try to pick a health plan for next year. While we realize universal health coverage has its own issues, it looks pretty good to us right now.

Enough about that unhappy US topic. We had a great catch up with our friends that we are currently housesitting for before their departure yesterday for Helsinki, Hamburg, Berlin, and Stockholm. We look forward to hearing about their trip when they return.

We are currently caring for their two cats — Pancho and Lefty. They are indoor/outdoor cats with a lovely yard to roam around in, although they seem to be mostly indoors now. We also were treated to see an owl in their owl box on our first night here.

Tonight we are having dinner with a gentleman that we use to live with (in the same condo building). He’s brillant and from the great state of Wisconsin, but that’s being a bit repetitive. Can’t wait to catch up and will be meeting up with more friends tomorrow.