Tuesday, February 16, 2021

Texas, Wow Too Cold

 It seems topsy turvy that Houston is waiting on the much anticipated as well as dreaded winter storm. If snow comes with it, I will get to marvel and wonder over snow pictures posted by friends. Here, we are in the low 40s, with overcast skies with a slight chance of both rain and some sunshine. 

I feel like I am being kept under surveillance by Buddy. On Friday I tried bringing HP in under controlled circumstances. Buddy was not very happy at all. Since then HP wants in and Buddy follows me downstairs when she suspects I might be seeing other cats. My neighbor thinks I should just let it be a free for all with those two but Buddy is old and fragile. If a fight killed her, I would be so upset and beyond being consolable. 

Once again, I will say, this group of the Feral Family has been my favorite of all the Fams that have come through. They are fun to watch like the others have been but they play with the toys and are a little more interactive with me. Radley let me pet him yesterday. Bobbsey is more friendly and even the family of Boos are trying. The orange cats, still skittish. On some of the coldest mornings I go out to the garage and the Fer Fam is in the corner, some asleep, some looking at me, orange cats run out the door but come back in when they hear the clinking of their metal dishes. HP, is at my feet, with Biggio close by. I fix them a small bowl of food next to me. Radley climbs up toward the back of the area where I am dishing the grub and I give him a bowl too, which he will sometimes share with Baby.  Then I get the other dishes fixed and on the carpeted area I set up for them. Their paws gets so cold and to give a little warmth break to them is something that doesn't take much effort to do, and hopefully, appreciated by them. This morning the heart pillow was on the steps again to the backdoor. Yes, I know they have no idea what that heart is but it is a little thing that I appreciate greatly, cause just maybe, that is God letting me know I am doing a good job at taking care of those He has sent my way. A little Valentine's from the Feral Fam. 

After several instances of having heard asides in the past few weeks, I still think that is where the truth resides in conversations or listening to someone talk, in asides. They are those words that the tone drops a decimal or two after stating a sentence. There is where you hear the heart of the matter. 

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It is so hard to look at Texas and winter weather right now. It is more unbelievable than hard I guess. Houston, over a fourth of the city and surrounding areas are without power and have been for hours. ERCOT who regulates the grid and power for Texas aren't able to meet the demand due to power sources being maxed as well as wind turbines are frozen and can't produce. Roy has power but just lost water. He had faucets dripping and to Roy dripping means a stream but he thinks it is a problem at the water company cause it all just went off like that and with the house being warm, probably not due to frozen pipes. I am so used to this being here that I keep thinking like I am in the midst of all this, but no, in a balmy 45 degrees. We will get colder temps tomorrow, but for now, NC seems a bit tropical compared to TX. Meanwhile, water has returned for Roy. He wanted to go out and take pics but not enough communication with our cell phones in case anything happened. 

The road crew is back at work and it has started to rain. Lots of noise happening and guess it is getting me ready for the coming months of construction noise. 

Just saw that Sephora is carrying Oribe now. Wow! Wish I still used a lot of their products but I am slowly making that shift away. I do like the dry texturizing spray and think it is about the best out there. 

Buddy is out like a light. Checked on the Feral Fam and most of them are in the garage with the exception of Radley. 

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Roy still doesn't have electricity. The water came back yesterday afternoon. We have a generator so he is warm but the furnace is doing some funky things and he has a call into the AC company. Without much water yesterday, he didn't go to our neighbors but he is this morning to see if they would like to come over and get warm. No internet, so he is limited on what he can do to work from home today. I am so glad he added a Houston TV channel to stream here and I keep him up to date on the Houston local news. When it starts cycling stories, I turn it off. Last night he called really late and said I just need to talk to someone about what I am planning to do with the furnace situation. I think is so concerned about a fire starting, he just wanted me to know. The connection wasn't very good so I only understood every other word. His plan has worked so far. This morning's phone connection is much better. Despite everything, he sounds in good spirits. 



 


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