The Aftermath

So, as I said in my last post, on Memorial Day a house in my neighborhood blew up and burned down. 

Here's what the final result looks like.

And yet another shot.

 

This is what happens when you store propane tanks inside of your house and then they blow up.

Papillon

Weird and Scary Memorial Day Morning

I normally sleep in on weekends and holidays.  Today is Memorial Day here in the USA so, not surprisingly, I slept in.

I did briefly wake up around 7:00 AM due to an odd and loud noise.  At first I thought it might be a sonic boom or perhaps someone playing with a large firework.  It was not crisp enough to be a sonic boom so I decided to go back to sleep.

Later, I got up and headed out to run errands.  Imagine my surprise to see a LARGE number of emergency streets on the next street over in my subdivision.  Later on I found out that the loud noise I heard was a house blowing UP.  WTH?

Here's a link to a local newscast:
http://www.krqe.com/dpp/news/local/central/none-hurt-in-rio-rancho-home-explosion

It's good to know the house was not occupied so nobody was injured.  It's also good that none of the neighbors' houses were damaged.

As of about 2:00 PM, there were still fire department folks hanging around making sure the fire was completely out and also doing some research on how the fire started.

In the picture below, you can see some of the remains of the house just to the right of the fire engine.

The news reports said the fire involved some propane tanks inside the house.  They don't know what ignited them. 

This all has me wondering.  The house was allegedly not occupied and all utilities had been turned off.  So why would anyone have propane tanks INSIDE of their house?  I'm just saying - it makes you say HMMMM.

Papillon

Big Decision

I've been thinking about this for a long time. 

When I bought my house 21 years ago (moved in 21 years ago this first weekend in May), I had plenty of room.  However, after all these years, I've acquired a bunch more stuff.  Granted, I could get rid of some of it, but most of it I want to keep.

That said, I've decided to buy a bigger house.  No, not a McMansion.  If you buy a big house, you also have to clean all that extra space.  Instead of 2 bedrooms/1 bath, which is what I've got now, I want 3 bedrooms/2 baths and about half again as much space. 

I want to be like Goldilocks.  It can't be too big or too small.  It needs to be just right.

This morning I went by the credit union and was pre-approved.  This afternoon I met with my real estate agent.  (She's the same one I used 21 years ago.)  We spent a bunch of time getting caught up on what's happened since then.  We've got an appointment set to look at houses on my next Friday off.

I'm feeling happy - a new house!  I'm feeling scared - I'm getting a new mortgage!

Papillon

Treasure Hunt

I love going to Goodwill.  It's always rather like a treasure hunt.  Some days you find nothing much, other days, treasure!

I primarily go for books.  I like to have a good selection of reading materials on hand and I've found a lot of good things over the years.  One of my more fun book finds was a signed copy of Hedda Hopper's autobiography.  ("Thanks, pal!  Hedda Hopper")

However, starting a couple of months ago, I found some REALLY good items.  Specifically, some lovely cut glass.  I was at the Goodwill store on Paseo del Norte.  I'd found some books and was waiting in line to check out.  I looked into the glass-front case at the cash register and spotted three bowls.  One was a large bowl, about 10 inches across and about 4 inches deep.  Here's a photo looking straight down into the bowl.

The other two were smaller bowls, each with a different design.  They're about 4 inches across and are about 1 inch deep.  Here are photos looking down at each bowl and a side view of one of the bowls.

This is a side view of the 2nd of the two small bowls.

I got all three bowls for an average price on the tag of about $15 to $30.

At that point in time, I thought woohoo!  And that I'd gotten three lovely cut glass bowls for a great deal.

Yesterday, I was at the Goodwill store on Coors.  Once again, I found several books that I wanted to buy.  There was a line at the cash register so I wandered around the store.  I checked out their glass-front case but there was nothing in there I wanted.  I then wandered through the glassware section.  I didn't see anything I wanted on the first set of shelves.  Then I turned around and while perusing a second set of shelves, there was a lovely little cut glass dish.  It's a smaller version of a larger, similar piece I bought 25+ years ago.  Here are a couple of shots, one looking down (with an odd reflection) and one from the side.

It's about 3 inches wide and about 6 inches long.  As with the first three pieces, it's in good condition.  Yesterday I got an even better deal since nobody at the second store apparently knew what it was.  It was priced in line with the regular glassware and was only $2.99.  I snatched it up and went to the cash register.  I checked out and it's now mine!

All in all, I'm definitely going to keep my eye out in the future when I'm at the Goodwill stores here in town.

Papillon

Winter's Last Gasp

A few years after I moved to the Albuquerque metro area, I learned the hard way that it's best not to plant any new outdoor plants before April's tax due date.

Today is a good example of why this is.  We are more than a week after Easter.  A cold front with rain moved through today.  As you can see, this left snow on the Sandias.

Tonight we'll be getting down to around freezing, possibly a bit below.  I'm just glad my heavy jacket was handy this morning.
Brrr!



Papillon

Spring Time

Since Spring has sprung so I decided it would be fun to go to the Botanic Garden.  152 photos later, my feet were telling me that the new sneakers I'd bought were not the best choice for an hour and a half of walking.  So I headed home.

In the meantime, here are some of the photos I took this morning.

Over the years, I've seen any number of photos that people have taken of closed doors.  I like open 'doorways' instead.  I rather like this archway with the flowers showing through.

Here are a couple of photos of some of the blooming flowers.  I do so like tulips and daffodils.

Not surprisingly, the Botanic Garden has a goodly population of water fowls.  They have some large ponds and they are close to the Rio Grande.  This is closest I've ever been to a Canada goose.

I do appreciate this male wood duck 'posing' for me.  He is a handsome lad.

The park has a small train that circles the park.  It used to run on a fixed schedule, but the schedule is now a bit more irregular because of budget cuts.  They're now operating on a 'volunteer' schedule.  I know in the second shot, it looks like I'm about to be run over by the train.  I'm not.  I'm actually standing off to one side and am in no danger.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Papillon

 

Two Fun Books

I ran across a couple of fun books and decided to share.

The first is Julia's Cats by Patricia Barey and Therese Burson.  It's a charming little book and touches on something that I had not known before.  It turns out that Julia and her family had dogs (Airedales) when she was growing up so she knew the fun of having pets.  It was not until she and Paul moved to Paris that she began to have cats as pets.

It started out as a preventive measure.  The apartment she and Paul rented had a mouse problems.  One day Jeanne, the maid, decided enough was enough and brought along a kitten.  In France most folks called their cats Minou (Pussy).  When Paul was introduced to the kitten, he discovered it was female, so they named it Minette.  This began a lifelong love affair between Julia and Minette and numerous other cats during her long life.

"Really, the more I cook, the more I like to cook.  To think it has taken me 40 yrs. to find my true creative hobby and passion (cat and husb. excepted)."  -- Julia Child

She even invented a word 'poussiequettes'. 

It's an easy read and makes me wonder why nobody seems to have bothered to mention this facet of Julia's life before.

The other book is more of a raucous read.  It's by David A. Fryxell and is called Good Old Days, My Ass.  As you can imagine from the title, it's an exceedingly irreverent look at what most people look at nostalgically.

Examples of why the 'good old days' weren't:
- A Western Union internal memo in 1876 dismissed the telephone as having 'too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communications.'
- When the Catholic church was at its peak of influence, at one point eating anything meatier than fish was forbidden on nearly half the days of the year.
- Before the pure-food laws and food inspectors, 'fillers' were often added to food.  Fillers included dirt, sand, plaster of Paris, and gypsum  One suspicious buyer in the Victorian era found his tea shipment to be almost half dirt and sand.  Henry J Heinz was a fan of food purity.  One of his early successes was horseradish sold in a clear jar to show that his product contained no turnip filler, leaves, or wood pulp (unlike many of his competitors).
- Before the trend for tanning - pale skin was considered desirable.  As far back as ancient Greece and Rome, makeup could contain chalk, animal fats, starch, and powders or pastes of white lead.  In the 6th century, women sometimes bled themselves to look more pale.  In the nineteenth century, whitening concoctions also incorporated mercury, silver nitrate, and acid.

I'm only part-way through the book but I have to agree with the author.  I much prefer the here and now.  It's a funny, albeit sometimes gross and gruesome, read.

Papillon