Like I have nothing better to do today

I spent the morning looking up tree leaves and I finally narrowed the 2 maples in the back yard down to this - Acer Rubrum, shown in the picture above. My leaves look like the top two small leaves. According to the references I found (from Oregon State no less) my tree could also be some variation of this species. Apparantly there is a maple that is often a cross between the red maple and the silver maple (which I originally thought my trees were) which is called a Freeman maple. There are three kinds of Freeman Maples and my leaves also look like one of those: the Armstrong Maple, shown below.

The issue I have with my tenative identification is that my leaf is not as flat at the base where the stem attaches to the leaf as the first picture, and is very serrated on the edges.But hey, my leaves are turning red!!! So I am close.

Oops !

I managed (my fault entirely) to mess up my email program this morning and I have lost every email address, every phone number, every street address and yes every birthday for everyone I know ..... you got the drill. I am so upset with myself (not to mention how upset Eric is). So, anyone who stumbles upon this entry who is someone I contact, and has family or friends, children, or whom ever that I write too, please send me an email to rootjoanna@comcast.net. Please send any important information, like birthdays and anniversaries, work and cell numbers, etc!

Cat keeps eye on construction crews!

Cat Perch
Originally uploaded by Joanna Root.

We are having a neighborhood uproar about the construction trucks that are using our street to access the new homes being built in our area. To make a long story short, it won't change, and other than attempting to make them obey speed laws, there isn't much that is going to be different.

We personally, haven't found the noise or traffic to be annoying. Some people say their houses shake - maybe that might come about later, but I don't think so. Luckily we already have a buffer on both sides and all the houses on the other side of the street are mostly finished. Mostly we will just have to put up with the parade.

However, the constant stream of traffic does give Silly something to watch. She has no complaints.

Re-connected with the WWW

Today was a big day, the newspaper finally arrived and we were able to get connected to the internet again. I know this doesn't seem like a major thing, but it certainly turned out to be a trial by fire. Our first hurdle was the USPS. For over two weeks they did not have us in their national database. Now, this only seems strange because we were getting mail from them. Go figure ... they don't use their own database maybe? Because they didn't undate their database, Getconnected.com which is an internet company that is used to see what internet service is available was unable to validate that we were actually there. Once we finally showed up in the USPS, then we found out that not only Getconnected still didn't have us, but neither did Comcast. Go figure that one, since we already have cable TV from Comcast. Anyhow, someone higher up at Circuit City was finally able to get around all this .... and we are connected. And it is way cool to be connected at this speed! It's like driving a race car after being in a child's pedal car.

Lufkin News Pictures

I found this link this morning from the Lufkin Daily News and though I would share it with everyone. Pay special attention to the second picture! A Lufkin landmark has fallen! I do hope they put the bull back up, he's been up there as long as I remember, since 1966 for sure! Also the last picture, number 9, of the tree on a house speaks mightily of what many in Mom and Dad's neighborhood are facing. Their old mature trees just couldn't take the high wind. It seems to me that most of these pictures were from the wext side of town. I expect they will have more on their web site later today.

Rita Rita on Her Way

Be sure and check this link, especially is you have a good Internet speed connection. If you click on the little boxes at the top you can see the counties, and pick out Angeline county. (It is the county that has 5 counties on it's borders- left of Lake). Tropical Forecast Path is the last box to the right. Play with clicking on and off the boxes, you can see the Radar sweep, winds, etc. Be sure and refresh (down below) to keep it at real time. Lufkin should get a huge amount of rain soon and I see on the KTRE blog Angelina County is under flood alert.

Lufkin KTRE Blog

Here's one of the most up to date sites I have found for Lufkin news. I see on the morning reports they are getting gusts to 40 MPH now. For your information, Lufkin is 31.34N and 94.73 W.

Rita Rita Go Away

Click on the link above (Rita Rita Go Away) and you will see amazing loop photo of hurricane Rita. As far as I know this is real time and should continue to be accurate on through the day today. I pray everyone is safe and sound as this passes over.

Friday - After the Walk-through

We met the Eagle walk through person at 2 and finished up at 4:45. I think it took longer than she thought it would, but we were pretty ruthless with pointing out places that needed touching up.If you could see inside there are about 150 pieces of blue tape pointing out dings, and paint boo boo's. Nothing major at all. The most serious was a spot of stain (varnish) on the carpet right where you walk into the room. Not sure what they will do about it.

The supervisor came by ( the one Eric had so much trouble with) - and made nice-nice with us. He will meet with us for a final punch check list on the day before closing. He said we would have grass by then. We could see that they had tested the sprinklers and the flower bed in front looked pretty nice. If these plants die they will be replaced. Right now we are getting a light rain, so that can only do good.

Look At Me!! I'm a Lamb!!!

You Are A: Lamb!

Peaceful and gentle, lambs have been used in religious imagery for millennia. Lambs are baby sheep, an animal tended by shephards since the dawn of history. As a lamb, you tend to stay together in a flock and graze on grassy land. Lambs don't mind being led and tend not to go off on their own.

You were almost a: Bunny or a Duckling
You are least like a: Squirrel or a ParakeetWhat Cute Animal Are You?

Sally had this cute quiz on her blog tonight, and I couldn't resist seeing what I most resemble! I'm sure it was the ears that did it for me ... what do you think Daddy?

Hummingbird Clearwing Moth

Tonight Eric called me outside the motel where we are staying to see somthing neat! I have to say, this is the first time I have ever seen a moth that was so beautiful. We watched it drink nectar from the flowers, and it was amazing. It looks so much like a hummingbird it is easy to think that's what it really is. I immediately came inside and googled moth that looks like a hummingbird, and there it was! Exciting to see something new!

Stuck in Houston

Well, Russell and Amy finally turned back after 12 hours of driving crawling in traffic on their way to Lufkin. In 12 hours they made 40 miles. Ridiculous! They are exhausted and have returned to Amy's parents brick home.

It's pretty obvious that Houston took some cues from what happened in Louisiana, unfortunately, too many people on the road, and the road were still only open in one direction until late afternoon. Russell told us they would try again if and only if the time frame for the drive to Lufkin changed. The highway (I45) to Dallas is a 100 mile backup and they were predicting the drive to take 23 hours.

Running Away From Rita

Russell, Amy and Skyler have left their home in Houston some time last night (in the middle of the night) and are headed for Lufkin.

I talked to Mom and Dad in Lufkin this morning and Russell and Skyler in his Honda, and Amy in her Jeep are on the road. They had been traveling over 4 hours (as of nine this morning) already, and just made it to Porter, which as many of you know, is not very far north of the Airport, no more than 20 miles. So their progress is really slow. I am hoping that their pace will pick up once they get a bit further north, as there will be fewer side roads feeding on to 59.

So, once again family members are in the headlights of a hurricane. Mike, Sally and Anne dodged at least three last year, Eric and I got one direct hit two years ago, family in Louisiana just three weeks ago and now this in Houston. Anybody up for moving to a mountain top in Colorado? We could have a commune!

Saturday excitement

It's two weeks to house closing, and it seems like the time will never get here. Meanwhile, I have had some fun moments here while staying with Rebecca and the kids. The biggest event for me (quite a new experience) happened last Saturday morning.

Tom, and now Becky, are long time fans of Bruce Springsteen, they love his concerts. Bruce announced a concert here in Richmond a few weeks ago, and of course the two of them were hot for tickets.

It seems tickets are a tricky proposition, requiring finesse and mind blowing strategies (To Becky and I). Well Tom, being up to the task, and Becky and I being game for anything, were up and on the road Saturday morning, with kids in tow, to be at the Coliseum in downtown to get tickets. But not tickets for the show, tickets to get in line for a lottery to try to get tickets for the show! We were each given a number at 8 sharp, 05, 06 and 07. You see, they do the line-up to buy a ticket by lottery, whoever's ticket is drawn is number 1 in line, and then the rest of the people line up in ticket order.This prevents scalpers from buying big lots of tickets. Online tickets are almost impossible without a high speed connection.

So, once we had our 3 tickets, we broke for breakfast, because the drawing for the lottery wasn't until 9:30. Tom went on to a ball tournament with Zack and left Becky and I (and Maddie) to take our chances, but not before briefing us to find someone to trade with for our number 06. The thought and logic being that if we had a group of numbers spaced out, we would have a better chance. If they drew 08 we would have been last in line. So, Becky went off to trade the 06, and I, looking older and innocent was offered another ticket by the man handing out tickets. He told me it was 55. I didn't even look at it, I just took it and smiled. We now had 4 tickets!!! becky traded for a 20, and my 55 was really a 14. We thought we were in good shape.

Well, the number was drawn, and it was 05. I thought Becky would stroke out, as it was her ticket. I ended up 3rd in line, and the man she traded with for the 20 slot was 3rd. He was almost as excited as she was. Turns out we then had to decide if we wanted floor seats (she and Tom did) or other regular seats. Tom had committed to buying 4 of the regular seats, so I was in charge of those four. The ticket gurus split the line to those wanting floor seats, and those wanting others, so I was first in the other line, Becky first in Floor. Then they announced the “others” would be given a 4 minute jump on Ticketmaster. Seems most tickets for his concerts are sold in about 10-15 minutes. Floor people got a 2 minute jump.

To cut to the chase, I got the first 4 tickets, very good seats, for Tom's friends. Then Becky got her two, and the number 06 man got two, and then, the floor was entirely sold out. Less than 3 minutes. She was so excited, as this will be the closest they have even been.

First Day of School -

We'll it's been busy and hectic the last few days. We ended up having to purchase a new set of tires for the truck. Not in our budget plans actually, but obviously needed. We did notice a vast improvement in the ride of the truck with these new wheels, lots quieter. Silly did not wail as we drove over the bumpy stretches of pavement around Williamsburg so if they make her happy that's all that matters. We picked up our TV's from Sears and managed to get them tucked safely into Becky's garage. I was a bit worried about unloading them, but Eric managed nicely and we had Tom's hand truck which made it much easier.

Eric has gone on to Baltimore and I have been busy being Nana. Zack went to meet his preschool teacher today, and a picture of his first day of school follows.

Sunday after Katrina

As you can see I have added a link to the Red Cross in my sidebar. I'd like to encourage everyone who might read this blog or come across it to help the victims of Katrina in some way. If not money, prayers. There are several knitting bloggers Wendy and Margene and Susan who have set up sites and made arrangements for auctions and prizes as incentive to donate to a good cause. Be sure and check their blogs out if you have not seen them already. Give a Little has more information. Every Little Bit Helps!

Not much has happened here on the boat this weekend. We are having beautiful cool weather. A nice breeze. However most of the boaters who when out on their boats have returned because it is a bit too breezy. Those that had three day plans came back yesterday because tomorrow is supposed to be so iffy. I guess with the cost of fuel and gasoline it might be better. I actually wonder why the president didn't ask everyone to stay home this weekend in order to conserve fuel. Of course the businessmen in this country would not have liked that.

Where will it end?

I don't think any of us have even an inkling of all the consequences of Hurricane Katrina. Today I heard two very different examples.The UPS man came into the office while I was working to deliver a package. I asked him how he was, etc and what was new. He said all the local UPS trucks are no longer using the fuel that is in the tanks at the UPS local hub, instead they are going to be buying their gas locally. They hope they won't run out, but just in casegas gets scarce, they will still have their reserves to fuel from.

A man from the local plumbing company came in and said they have been notified by their distributor that there will be no more shipments of PVC anywhere on the East Coast. Seems all the PVC pipe for the East Coast comes from one plant that supplies all this area, and it is in New Orleans. Can you imagine what this is going to do to plumbers? Oh how about building? We speculate that getting anything related to building homes is going to be scarce and costly.

Spammed

Last night when I went to get email I had received a half dozen emails telling me of comments on this blog. When I read them they were all junk, advertizing other web sites. So, in order to remedy this, I have changed the way you are able to comment. If you make a comment, you will be asked to verify text before blogger accepts and posts the comments. It seems the spam that is generated by auto spammers can't pass this test. We'll see if it works or not.

New pictures posted

There are new photos at Flickr
See Family here.
See Househere.
Hope you enjoy the new pictures of the grandkids, Skyler, Maddie and Zack!

Look Out Below

Coming out of the yard towards the water.

In Position to begin lowering.

In the water.


This was the scene Tuesday as we put Auana Ke Kai back in the water.
The first picture might be a bit confusing, the red truck is not pulling the lift. The lift actually has a driver and it's own motor.