A short stop in Houston

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It was nice to get back to my friend’s house in Houston. I was pretty tired from my flights and still sore from my fall, so much to the dog’s disappointment I didn’t take her for a walk the first day I was there. On on the second day I had to take her for a walk, or have my heart broken from all the sad looks and sighs. It turned out the neighborhood park was still too wet to walk in, so the rest of our walks were around the neighborhood on the street. It is a very quite area with little traffic, so the dog and I both had a nice time. The dog seemed to like how slow I was walking, after my fall. She is getting older, and walks with a stiff hip.

It was interesting to see how the area was changing. Despite the fact that a lot of homes were flooded not long ago, the once empty lots were being rebuilt. The new homes were being build elevated, but I am not sure if it will be enough. I expect that the storm surges are going to get worse.

One nice thing about walking on the streets rather than the park was getting to meet some of the folks who live there. I passed out a few of my business cards and I hope to see them following my blog.

My friend has a job where she is on call for two weeks and then has two weeks off. I happened to be there during her shift. I rented a car for three days since I had a whole list of things I need to do and to buy. I also wanted to make a fast trip to west Texas to see another friend. I was surprised to everything done in one day, even getting the haircut I needed so badly. The only problem was that driving made my back really hurt. I hadn’t realized how badly I strained it in the fall. There was no way I could drive out to West Texas and back. I called the rental agency and they said to bring the car back and they would just charge me for the one day.

Of course, as it turned out my friend wasn’t called in on one day, so we went shopping together. I had bought some pants at Ross Dress for Less, but when I was in the sporting goods store getting ear plugs I saw that they had lightweight Columbia pants on sale. I got two pairs. They cost a lot more than the ones I got at Ross, but I like them a lot better, they fit well and are very comfortable. Next time I need pants I think I will go straight for Columbia pants. Before heading back to her house we had lunch at Red Robin, it was the first time either of use had dined there. I have to say it was rather good.

One night my friend’s husband cooked a dinner of roast chicken. During the dinner we started talking about chicken pot pie. My friend and I love frozen pies. He didn’t understand why the two of us loved them so much. I am afraid, that like Ro’tel Queso and those ramen noodle squares, cheepy pot pies are attached to fond memories, and that a high quality version will not do when we are being nostalgic.

He was positive that he could make a pot pie we would like better. I told him that I would make the gravy for the pies if he took care of the rest. After dinner, I de-boned the remaining chicken and saved the meat for the pie, and the bones and scraps to make a stock. I didn’t manage to get enough gravy from the stock I was able to make from the bones and stuff, so I made some milk gravy to add to it. The pies turned out great. But, and this is a big but, they could never take away from the crapy little pies of my childhood.

My friend inherited two cats from a relative. They are older cats and are set in their ways. My friend and her husband are not to fond of them, mainly because their last cat was so wonderful. After they took Nicky and Shadow in, they renamed them, Cray Cray and Winston. I really like Cray Cray, but not the name, so I started calling him Eivnrude because he purred so loud. Winston, I keep calling Hamilton out of forgetfulness. I like the name Winston (i.e. 1984). Another friend used to have a cat named Hamilton, so …

I have managed to bribe the cats to like me by giving them treats, cheese, and potato chips. I was really shocked a how much the cats like the chips. Basically I wasted my time with the treats and cheese. Had I started with chips they would have been my friends for life the first day I met them. I am afraid I created a couple of monsters.

The night before I left to go to Peru the animals were settled in and I couldn’t help taking the photos below, with my iPad, because I knew that if I got up to get my phone, they would scatter.