20K and a Year Away

Wow, it has been over a month since my last update. I need to pay closer attention!

Texas is throwing out all kinds of surprises. The weather is one. It has been raining a lot lately. Not just sprinkles, but flash flood levels of water. The first time it did it, the roads in the town where I work flooded and the public works people had to get out there and try to make sure it didn’t get washed out. Crazy rain. It is like the monsoon rains I experienced in Arizona. This is different than the huge drops of rain – more like just pouring it out of a cup – that we had in Florida, but impressive, nonetheless.

Work is going great. We are making plans for more programs and better marketing. It is all moving so quickly, too. It feels like time is flying by and everything needs to get done NOW. That might just be me…

Axel is here now, too. I went to get him July 31 and we returned August 1. My flight from Dallas was supposed to leave at 9:30pm, but didn’t leave until 10:30pm, which put me in Portland at 12:30am August 1 – Pacific time. Lydia came to get me at the airport and we went and got pie at an all-night diner. She could only hang out for an hour or so. She had to go home and go to sleep so she could start her first day of work at 10am. It was so nice to see her, even if it was super fast.

The flight home was going to leave at 5:30am, so Lydia just took me back to the airport and I waited until 4:30am when Axel was going to be dropped off at the airport. I sat in a chair in the mostly deserted ticketing area and waited – and catnapped – and waited.

Axel got there and we went off to TSA. We got all checked in and to the gate and waited another 40 minutes for boarding. We got on, got seated, and took off. Smooth and simple – for a change.

Now, the whole time I was in the airport and on the plane I wore my mask, Axel, too. When we got back to Dallas and in my car, we took them off. I went to work Tuesday and Wednesday and then Wednesday night, I felt sick…

Surprise number two. Yep, you guessed it. After traveling around the world and back, I got Covid. I was so disappointed that I had gone so long without catching it and on a flight home (more than likely) I caught it. I had to tell the girls I couldn’t be in the uninfected club anymore. They still love me, though. Axel never caught it.

I was sick. Not pretend or slightly, but sick, for one day. My temperature went up to 102F and I had snot pouring out of my nose while simultaneously being completely plugged. I was pretty miserable. I sweat so much that I had to get towels for my bed to lay on. It was awful. The next day, I felt a little better, but was not out of the woods, yet. I monitored my temperature all day. It was normal until bedtime, then it shot back up to 100F. What the heck was that all about? This happened for three nights. The congestion eased after the first day. After three nights of fluctuating temperature, I was fine. I stayed home from work for 5 days and wore my mask for 5 more days. After 9 days, I tested negative.

So, at work, my boss said the whole covid thing was a welcome present from Texas. Well, Texas, please, no more gifts.

Axel started school on the 17th of August. It is the first time he has been to school since March of 2020, when everyone was pulled out for covid. He did virtual school through the school district in Florida for sixth grade, then seventh grade was virtual through an online program while we were on the road. It was time for him to start hanging out with other people his own age. He likes it so far. He has 7 periods – Social Studies, English, Math, Art, Science, College and Career Readiness, and Comic Book class. The comic book class is his elective this year. He has been watching the kids around him. I asked him what he thinks so far and he says, “It’s interesting.” Things have changed quite a bit, too. His school does not have lockers because of covid and is not doing student ID cards. No idea why on that last one. We didn’t think he qualified for the bus, but it turns out he does. The bus has assigned seats with names on them. That is new to me, too. He likes taking the bus a whole lot more than walking. He walked home from school the first week before bus service was set up. That was HOT.

We are plugging away at all the house projects. I pruned all the bushes and small tree branches and started trying to clean up the landscaping. We have a lot to do. One thing really high on my list is to get rid of the fire ants. Yes, surprise number three, fire ants in the yard. Let me just tell you how I was introduced to these little buggers.

Right after I moved into the house, I had to figure out all the hoses and drip systems for keeping the foundation wet – something I had never heard of but is a thing here. I was just standing in the dirt near the spigot for the drip system and I felt a bug bite my foot. It was just one… but then, there were like six more. I looked and I was practically standing in an ant hill. How I had not seen it is beyond me. I did my best to wipe the rest off my foot, but was not quick enough to escape more bites. These suckers were out to kill.

I went in and did some other work and didn’t think about it again until I was sitting down and saw there were BLISTERS on my foot, like six of them, where the ants had bitten me. Those little devils! I didn’t even know they did that! I asked about them when I went to work. They said you had to put special ant killer on your yard to get rid of them. Apparently, they are quite tenacious. All this rain has just made them more so, too, so this is going to be a battle for the ages. FREEDOM!!!

We are getting a handle on life in Texas and plan to take some day trips when it cools off a little. There is a place with dinosaur fossils nearby and we have to go see the basement of the Alamo eventually. So much to do, so little time off.

Today, I finished my 350th day of studying Greek on Duolingo. I can’t say I am very good, but I can understand a lot more than I could several months ago. I am kicking my Greek studies up a notch, too. I have tickets to go to Greece next July… something to dream about while I am making plans. I can’t wait to go! The bigger question is, where can I go between then and now? Peru is still on the list. I am pretty sure the Dominican Republic can’t wait to meet me. I think Christmas on the beach sounds pretty spectacular. Axel wants to go skiing in snow, though. I am thinking he has never met me before.