It's A Rainy Day In Tampico

As you can see, Tampico has a hard time dealing with the rain. It was an all day rain but still all of the streets looked like this one. The guys told me that it is because the runoff water pipes are from 70 years ago.
This shows the water over the curb and filling up the medium.

When we finally went home that night, we found the water lapping at the emergency doors at the hospital.

Tampico

Well, here I am in Tampico, Mexico for a few days.

I didn't know what to expect from the city an was pleasantly surprised by how clean it is here. No plastic bags floating around. There are three parts of this city, the poor city, the medium city and the well off city. No matter where you live here, all parts of the city were tidy.

The weather is something else as it is apparently the rainy season. The temperature and the humidity are very much the same as Houston - hot and humid, and not for me.

The food has been very good and the cost is quite reasonable for what you get.

After having said all of that, the job is going well and I don't expect to be here more than a few
days.

I did find a sign that I am going to try and take a photo of - it is called Wisconsin Av.

Southern California

First let me tell you that Southern California is not all it is sun about. My eyes haven't stopped burning since my arrival yesterday.

Wouldn't You Trust This Man In An Oil Refinery?



So here is the story leading up to the "drug test" story.

Last week Nana noticed that Social Security had my birthday wrong on my retirement statement and so we called the SS hot line. I was told that this form had to be filled out, taken to a SS Office along with your birth certificate and everything else pertinent to proving that I was who I say I am and prove that I actually was born on such and such a date. After listening to babble on for a while I finally asked what would happen if I didn't change the birth date. Well this person was long winded and she commenced to lecturing me about how the government has been cracking own on degenerates like me since 9-11. I wouldn't get social security, I wouldn't be allowed on a plane etc.
I, like a fool told her that I get on a plane every week. After 45 minutes we finally departed ways. I id fill out the forms and all but did not make it to the SS Office yet.

Now fast foreword to this morning. I went back to the office that I report to for this job to drop off the drug test form. I was informed that there was a problem with my Social Security Number. I then had to go to the SS Office in Torrance, CA to get a certified letter stating that I was who I say I am and that I am the owner of my SSN that I have carried since my sophomore year in high school.
I got to the SS Office, took a number and waited for one and a half hours before I could go state my case. I told the lady what was going on and she asked me some questions tat only I would know. Satisfied, she stamps a form that says I am who I am.

So, the lady on the phone from the SS Office made sure that I would have trouble using my SSN from now on until I get the birth date changed.

I would love to tell my office that I cannot fly anywhere because the Social Security Office won't let me get on a plane. Fat chance that will happen.

Garden Booty

This some of the loot we picked from the garden this morning.
It is to bad that everything seems to come in at once and we have to eat so many things at once.
We are already planning next years garden and where we are going to move the rhubarb bed.

Season's Change

Nana's flowers never looked better than at the end of summer.

















We are ow in the season change, it was 51 degrees this morning and tomorrow it is suppose to be 48.
We have a new crop of mushrooms right now. It looks like we have maybe 2 pounds of them on the logs.

The blueberries are all but done and this year we had 6 bushes and got 30 cups, a bumper crop for us.

The trip within a trip

The trip was to Mount Hood and Timberline Lodge. We got a glimpse of the mountain early in the morning just before we left. (most of the time we were in the clouds)





The lunch and breakfast were enjoyed by everyone. After eating we just kind of hung out around the fireplace and played with the kids.

A Busy Week

Jonesie got to be the driver this trip, driving MS. Katie and Miss Em. to work and school each day.
Miss Em was always ready to go on to a new adventure at school each day.





Of course one of the highlights was to take the training wheels off Evan's bike. He was a little surprised at how easy it was to ride without the training wheels.






Emme ready for the ride to school.

Summer Vacation

The week started out with Jonesie and Evan going to Oaks Park for some morning rides. We did the big slide, the gun boats, Lewis and Clark expedition and the rocking boat. Of course we had to end it with a snow cone.














Little Miss kept Nana and Jonesie busy for most of the week. She was a great help getting the mail and feeding the cat.