March Break

My visit to Austin as a “snowbird” was marked by a few distracting phases. The first was taken up with getting my laptop working and culminated in my installing Windows 7 when Vista began repeatedly breaking down. The second was the point at which I ran out of medication. Whether or not my erstwhile doctor would find it wise to quit blood pressure pills cold turkey he made the decision by default by prescribing 6 months worth of meds for a 10 month trip. Well he had said that he expected I could quit once I retired, but he certainly wasn’t around to monitor it. Finding a doctor here proved impossible. The third phase began the day my RV wouldn’t start. Turned out a squirrel had invaded my engine compartment. After all these years driving I now own both jumper cables and a fancy new battery charger. Fortunately the rewiring job didn’t bankrupt me.

It’s ironic that after travelling south to avoid it I got snow here in Austin before they got it back home in Oakville. While the municipalities in the GTA rejoiced in the savings they’ve made in their snow budgets Texas experienced its coldest winter on record. Although we didn’t get a White Christmas there were snow flurries. My bicycle didn’t see as much use as I’d have liked and flooding closed the Barton Springs Pool Basin for much of February. Plenty of rain had the arroyos filled to capacity, luckily very little flooding.

I’ve been thinking of visiting San Antonio to see the Alamo and Riverwalk but every time I considered making the trip rain was in the forecast. Since March 15 was the date I’d set for my departure from Pecan Grove it was now do or die and wouldn’t you know it. It would be nice if there were a few breaks in the widely scattered showers the forecasters predicted. It has poured steadily since nightfall yesterday. When I do visit the Riverwalk I’d prefer not to feel at one with the water.