Toyota's Good Fortune

The best thing that ever happened to Toyota was the oil spill!

Since the spill in the gulf, have you heard even one word about the problems Toyota owners were having with their cars accelerating spontaneously?

Neither have I.

It's an ill wind that blows no man good.

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Allison and the Bean Stalk ----whoops, Century Plant

Allison sent these pictures of the Century Plant at the park.

She suggests that it is about 40 feet tall. And it's only a few inches in diameter.

That makes the slenderness ratio huge! Did you ever wonder who engineered such a structure, how it was designed, ---or even why?

Stanley makes a big deal out of a tape measure which can be extended 10 feet without bending. This plant has that beat by a long shot! And this one withstands Texas winds!

As Allison related, most years the plant is just a "bush." But occasionally it grows a stalk, as it did this year, and blooms as shown here. Because of the infrequent blooming, it is often called a Century Plant—even though it does bloom more frequently than once every 100 years.

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There is a Great Alternative!

I just received an email announcing the availability of Microsoft Office 2010. I can get it for my "whole house" (up to three computers) for $149.95.

Those who have attended my Computer Help Sessions at Rockport 35 RV Park know that I am not likely to jump for that deal!

There is a great alternative to Microsoft Office. It's called OpenOffice.org.

It's available to anyone for any number of computers for free.

Yes, FREE!

Files it creates are compatible with Office-created files, so you don't need to worry about incompatibility. And it works! You aren't being hounded all the time to upgrade to solve a problem or two or three.

Did I mention that it is free?

Here's their website: http://www.openoffice.org/

If you have any questions, I'll be glad to try to answer them.

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Look What Popped Up In Our Front Yard!

Yep, it's official: our number one project for this summer is selling our home of 32 years in the country and purchasing and moving to a condo in the city.

And what a job it will be, we're already finding out. All of that stuff we saved because "we might be able to use it some day" is going—one way or another.

We already have "frequent flyer" cards at Half Price Books, Goodwill Industries, and the Hiawatha Library.

We'll hate to leave our nice, quiet acre. But we're looking forward to getting the urge to go someplace and just walking out and locking the door behind us. No lawn to care for, no snow to shovel, no house to paint. (Just send money, of course.)

So the cleaning-up process is underway. Thursday was both garbage day and recycling day. We contributed. And will for the next several weeks if our energy holds out.

We'll leave Pat's beautiful flowers for the next happy owner!

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Tornado Hits Rockport

...but not Rockport 35 RV Park, thankfully.

You might be able to read about it in the little news clips in the right margin of this page. But if that is gone, Helen, who spends summers about 50 miles west of us, reported it like this:

"Received an email from Allison saying all is well, didn't loose electric, cable, or wifi, not even a tree lost. Sounds good.

An email from a friend living in Rockport said it was official, a tornado did touch down around Market Street and the 35 bypass. Happy Camper RV park out that way had quite a bit of damage. Didn't think anyone got seriously hurt."

Thanks for the info, Helen.

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Century Plant at Rockport 35 RV Park

This is the year for the Century Plant on First Street to blossom!

Nearly a month ago, David took a few pictures, which Sonia sent to me, so we could all enjoy it. She hoped that it would be in bloom when they return from a few weeks at their home near Austin.

If you'd like to learn more about Century Plants, you can do so here on Wikipedia.

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I Haven't Fallen Off

the Edge of the World!

Just thought I'd let you know that, as some of you might have been wondering due to lack of new posts.

But Pat and I have been busy, and that's my excuse. It is not because I've been flying too much (only five times) or ridden my motorcycle too much (a few times, including tonight). I have created a few new web pages.

It has been adequately rainy, so the lawn keep growing. I took out an ugly tree and planted a nice bush. And helped Pat organize her flower garden, including putting in a beautiful yellow rose. (I hope it looks as good in our garden as it did in Lowe's store.) And trapped one pesky mole, too!

We've been to see the great-granddaughters two or three times.

And we're working on a big project with about five phases, only the first of which is complete.

She had the one-year/10,000 mile checkup on her new knee last week; all is well. Her broken wrist and foot bones are back to normal.

So we're plugging along, getting done what we can as fast as we can.

That's my excuse, and I'm sticking to it.

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