Autumn leaves

Song titled Autumn Leaves (from the 1940's - 1950's): "The falling leaves drift by my window, the autumn leaves of red and gold." "And soon I'll hear old winters song." Or lyrics to that effect.

Boy, autumn starts EARLY in this neck of the woods. Already, in the heavily wooded area in which L's house sits, or along the similarly wooded areas we drive along - touches of color (pretty oranges and some reds) are appearing in a few branches. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love the changing leaves. But it is WAY. TOO. EARLY. for all of that shit, for me. It has been (by accounts of the locals) a very cool (I call it COLD) summer. So I rarely have had occasion to wear capris or shorts or sandals. My tan faded weeks ago, and it had "taken" so easily, when I was still in Houston. I have only been on my bicycle twice since I got here (part of that is the unpacking which takes forever - and part is the fact that I spend too much time at the shop).

The hummingbirds which frequent our nectar feeder, appear to have left -- and that might mean that they have only moved on to a neighbor's more-frequently refilled feeder. I don't know much about the migration of the birds around here (yet). I was so used to birds that stayed year-round in the Houston area, such as mockingbirds or doves. Don't get me wrong - we also had migrating birds in that part of Texas. I'm just sorta surprised that birds move out so early in the season, and that the leaves are beginning to turn this early, too.

Finally FINALLY got the news about the cost of repairing the outboard motor which conked out and set us adrift in the pontoon towards the end of July. Five hundred smackeroos. Ouch. However, a new outboard would run into several thousands of dollars - something we are not prepared to cough up at this point. Gotta have the motor in order to move the pontoon next door to the neighbor who so nicely allows L to launch and eventually pick up the pontoon using his easily-accessible shore. L's place has a steep drop and is NOT pontoon-launching friendly.

We are still trying to connect with the real world from L's place. Yesterday we got DirecTV installed. Now we can watch some REAL tv, instead of what is only available on local stations.

Next on the checklist is trying to get internet connection - L is currently using something from his cellphone service - some kind of mobile broadband that snaps into his laptop. He saw a sign posted by a new provider - high in one of the trees, down the dirt road which eventually meanders to L's driveway - and L talked with them. It will be nice, IF their signal can be used back-and-forth between L's home and an antenna across the lake from his place. They will notify us if this is possible. Please, everyone... cross your fingers that this IS going to happen. That mobile broadband crap is the pits - s-l-o-o-o-w and then it cuts out on a whim. Trust me - we used this back when we were Skype-ing. It sucks.

My dining room table is set up in his house now, and also a desk that we can (1)work on and (2) stash computer-related stuff (software, etc) on, too.

*** WOW -- I entered this a while back and just gettin' around to posting it now. Had hoped to have photos downloaded to go with this, but that will have to wait! Yes, I am alive and well (a judgement call, I am aware!), just busy. I will try to post the next update much sooner!