Saturday in South Texas

The live oak trees have scattered pollen all around the yards and deck. Our fuzzy cocker spaniel Baillie keeps tracking it into the house. Pollen strands fall into the dogs' water dish, so it is refreshed frequently. There are piles of pollen along our driveway and the sidewalks.

I remember when I first moved to TX in 1978, I could not understand why a tree would be called "live" oak--were there "dead" oak trees living?? Oh, well. They grow into beautiful shade trees and don't seem to lose some of their leaves until after January.

This is the end of the third nine weeks period in our public schools here. This is the grand computation time--when the seniors will learn their final class ranking. MJ has been #2 all through high school. In a few weeks we'll learn whether she's maintained that spot and will be one of the graduation speakers.

Last weekend I noticed that my left elbow was hurting. By Easter it was swollen and has continued this way all week. I self-diagnosed myself as having bursitis in my elbow, a new "condition" for me. The Mayo Clinic advises consulting a doctor after 10 days, so I'll see how it is on Monday. My elbow swelled more in the middle of the week when I tried to live normally, so I'm back to coddling that left arm and icing it down a few times a day.

The dead animal smell is almost gone, though still somewhat detectable by the kitchen sink. I learned on the internet to put out bowls of vinegar, and that seemed to help defuse some of the odor. Last night we even ate our dinner at the kitchen table, which shows how much better the situation is.

Here's a classic picture of a Texas live oak tree with bluebonnets, which are blooming at this time of year. TX wildflowers are wonderful!