Day 5

     

     Day 5 has been a busy day.  First thing this morning, well, after feeding the chickens, ducks and dogs, I took the recycling, from all the presents that my son received for his wedding to the Bulverde recycling center.  It used to be a weekly haunt when I lived in Bulverde.  I worked at a winery in Stonewall, and since Gillespie County does not recycle glass (what??? With all the wineries around, they say it is not a money-making deal for them, which is so stupid, I mean, do you know how many wine bottles end up in their dump?  Can you tell this is pet peeve of mine?  Especially since they host a “Green” symposium every fall…..) I would take empty wine bottles to the Bulverde recycling center.  One day one of the gentlemen knocked on my window and I thought, “Oh great, they are not going to let me bring these anymore.”, so I opened my window and he said, “Excuse me, but you can’t bring those bottles any more unless they are full of wine!”  And we both laughed.  I used to take them cookies and banana bread, I wouldn’t want to work at that job.  After recycling I was at the Super HEB in Bulverde.  I just walked up and down the aisle of my old HEB.  It is fun to look at the promotional stuff going on.  I did buy a new shopping bag, Christmas themed, I figured I could use it during the Holidays and then as a gift bag for Christmas.  I also bought a pill smasher while at HEB. I am hoping it will work much better than the knife I have using for Sadie’s medicine.  If it works well, I plan on using it at home for the horse pill size Glucosamine tablets my husband bought for his knees.  Sometimes if I overdue it, mine hurt too, but I cannot take those pills.  I would not have been a good drug addict, I cannot stand needles nor pills and only take Tylenol if a headache is so bad I can’t walk.   My husband called while I was at HEB and said that my son’s truck was ready in New Braunfels.  My son had taken it to be fixed while he was on his honeymoon, so my husband met me at the Walmart parking lot in Bulverde and we drove to New Braunfels where the truck was, about 30 minutes away.  I then followed him back to Blanco where we dropped the truck off and drove back to Bulverde to have lunch at the new Schlotzskys and take him back to his truck.  When I got back to Blanco, I gave the dogs bones I had bought and they immediately devoured them in 10 minutes.  Need to get better bones.  I used to buy my dog ham hock bones at HEB, they would sell them for .79 a package, but then people started buying them for cooking (or maybe that is what they were for intentionally, I don’t know), but the price went way up, so I quit buying them. 

     Every hour the dogs and I do a “perimeter check” around the little house.  Phoenix, a mutt, who looks a lot like an Irish wolfhound, but actually more like a cross between The Grinch and his dog, is my daughter-in-law’s dog.  I don’t know him that well, and neither dog knows how to bark when they need to go outside, so we do these little walks around the house, and check the chicken coop for eggs, and sometimes walk up the hill to the well house.  Phoenix has a lot of energy and loves to run.  I hesitate about leaving him outside, because several times he has started down the driveway.  I do not want to close the gate in case UPS has a delivery.  I may start closing it after 7pm and let him out; he honestly would rather be outside.  Sadie, an Australian Shepard, on the other hand is never more than 6 inches away from my side.  Our family got her back in 2008 from a friend of ours who raised champion Australian Shepherds, but Sadie didn’t fit in because she wants nothing to do with sheep or goats, she just wants to be petted.  I did not have any part in getting Sadie, my son and husband brought her home one day, she was supposed to be a companion for husband for when my son went off to the Air Force, but that didn’t pan out, and like almost every animal we have had, she became mine.  When my husband was transferred to Grapevine in 2016, we moved to a one bedroom apartment and could not take her with us, so my son took her.  She then spent some time with my daughter and son-in-law, and then back to my son when he moved to Blanco.  It has not been easy on her.  She likes to be the “only” one.  She is now 11 years old and is having some health problems.  My son and daughter-in-law had gotten her a “thunder” sweater because she started shaking in her back legs, but since I have been here, it has been so hot, I took it off and she has not had the problem.  I know she is going to be sad when I leave, because she has gotten so much attention while I am here, but I can’t take her because I am currently living in a small apartment, plus my cat would not appreciate it much. 

     I am finishing off a bottle of JW, from Silver Spur winery in Hico, TX.  I had originally brought wine to pair with books I brought to read, but my mind is still mulling over the information from “The Journey Within” and I am not ready to read another book, but I am ready to drink wine!  It is a nice little red.  I probably wouldn’t buy it again, and I only bought it because I know from working in tasting rooms, how a sale can help my mood for the day.  I stopped on a Monday, while I was on way back from a weekend in Grapevine, and talked with the owner.  He wasn’t too overly pleasant, and seemed to have “other” things to do, although he did put his phone on silent when it rang several times.  I can get the same quality wine from California for about $8.99 a bottle instead of $30.00 a bottle, and honestly, the grapes were not all from Texas, but I do like supporting small businesses.  I hope to have my own small business one day, a cross between an antique store, shabby chic, cookies and maybe wine.  If you are ever going through Hico, TX please stop and visit the tasting room, I actually did buy a Pinot Noir from them, which I usually abhor Pinot Noir, but a good friend told me I would like theirs, which I did.  There are also a couple of little shops on the street that are fun to visit.  Silver Spur does not have a website yet, but please stop and enjoy Hico if you are ever in the area.  http://hico-tx.com/.