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On this page I will be putting those pictures that I want to include in the photo album even though they don't have anything to do with a specific trip or event, although you may also find pictures from the occasional trip or event where very few pictures were taken.

January 23: An Unfortunate Occurrence

I will say at the outset that I am not the world's best housekeeper. My next-door neighbor Cynthia, who sometimes takes care of the cats while we are gone, and who has had numerous opportunities to see my house up close (and personal) has offered more than once to connect me with her own housekeeper, certainly a hint that I need some help, what with the cats and all.

Since Fred and I were planning to be in Florida a bit longer than usual this January, I thought this might be a good opportunity to try the housekeeper out. So a day or two before we left, I talked with Cynthia about what I needed the housekeeper to do. On the list was whole-house dusting and vacuuming, cleaning all the bathrooms, and putting new shelf paper down in the kitchen cabinets. I asked Cynthia to let Yaneth (the housekeeper) in on the days she could be there and, as necessary, call me with any questions or concerns. It's a big house, and I was well-aware that this would be a multi-day project and, since Yaneth has other clients (including Cynthia), I thought that being away as long as possible would allow Yaneth the maximum time to work without anyone, save the cats, underfoot.

During our time in Florida, I talked to Cynthia on the phone a few times, asking after the cats (two of them remained in Dallas) and offering to answer any questions Yaneth might have. I was assured that the cats were fine (as indeed they were) and that everything was going smoothly. The last time I talked with Cynthia, the day before we started for home. I got the odd request that we delay returning for a few days to give them time to complete everything. I explained that appointments in Dallas meant we had to return as scheduled, which we did.

The first indication that something was amiss came when we opened the garage door to drive the car in. Lining the wall where my car should go were five or six big white garbage bags, filled with stuff. I had no idea what it was until I went to open one of them. Inside were boxes, cans, and bottles from my pantry! A few of the cans really should have been discarded, but most of the food items were perfectly good. My first thought was that, of course, Yaneth was putting the shelf paper down and had to put the stuff somewhere, but it just all seemed to be jumbled together, so that didn't make sense.

Anyway, we unpacked the car and brought Bob and Cole in to rejoin their brothers, and then I took a look around the kitchen. The first thing I noticed was the fridge. Now, you might not think the fridge looks anything out of the ordinary, but when we left, my collection of refrigerator magnets, magnetized calendars, and other "fridge magnets" covered almost the entire front, and some of the sides as well. All of these had been removed. I didn't see them anywhere around, but again, I surmised that Yaneth had not had time to put them back.

Next, I noticed that most everything in the kitchen had been moved around. Appliances that had been on the counter had disappeared, and others, which I had been keeping in the cabinets because I used them so infrequently, were now on the counters. The items that had been sitting on top of the cabinets had been moved around and changed. And all the baskets that had been on the pot rack and atop the cabinets had disappeared. It quickly became apparent that my kitchen had not been cleaned so much as totally reorganized. This was certainly NOT what I had expected. Finally, much of what was inside the cabinets had also been moved around, and many odds and ends had disappeared.

When I opened the pantry, it looked sparse. Some of the cans, bottles, and boxes were still there, but MOST of them were not. My very first thought was that this was because everything had to be removed to put the new shelf paper down, and that the intention had been to return the stuff in the garage to the pantry. The only problem with that theory was- you guessed it- the shelf paper had not been put down (although Cynthia or Yaneth had apparently bought new shelf paper as rolls of it were on the dining room table). Some new cabinet organizers had also been purchased and installed, however.

As for the rest of the downstairs, I will admit that it was clean, although it, too, had been significantly reorganized, with some things having been moved from one room to another, and others put away in closets. Again, this was not what I expected. I expected that everything (or as much as Yaneth had time to do) would have been dusted and straightened up, but left in place. It seemed as if someone had instead come through and made their on decisions about what should go where.

All this was quite a shock. I had no idea that any maid would take it upon herself to reorganize a client's house the way mine had been. And when I checked the food in the bags in the garage, I found that the vast majority of what was actually about to be discarded was perfectly good. In fact, there was a box of Indian spices in the discard pile that Fred had given to me for Christmas- less than a month ago! Fred suggested that if we HAD delayed our return for two days, one of them would have been the day trash is picked up, and he bet that all that food would have been irretreivably gone.

All this was very maddening, but I kept my cool when I went next door to inquire whether a FedEx package that Fred was expecting to be delivered today or tomorrow had arrived. It had not, and when Cynthia asked what I thought of Yaneth's work, I was noncommittal. I said something like "It certainly looks different" rather than what I was really thinking. Because, I thought, I could return the food from the garage that was good, and go ahead and discard stuff that was too old. No harm done there, save that it would take me hours to go through all the bags. And I could see where things that had disappeared had gone, and I could put them back if I wished. And the things on the counter could always be put back where I had them. I thought to myself that this was just an object lesson; don't choose to be absent when someone new is working at your house.

One last thing- we'd been gone three weeks, but the only cleaning that had been done was on the first floor- the study, the powder room, the living and dining rooms, and, of course, the kitchen. The upstairs, front and back, had not been touched. Obviously this was because Yaneth had spent all her time redecorating instead of cleaning; reorganizing and culling my cabinets instead of just putting shelf paper down. My inclination to ever use Yaneth again evaporated very quickly.

So while Fred dealt with the litter boxes and such, I set about returning things to their proper places, and returning food items to the pantry. I said I was a bad housekeeper, and one of the sins I am guilty of is allowing some things to get shoved to the back of the pantry where they remain for a long time without seeing the light of day. I did find maybe one bag's worth of such things. There were no burst cans or anything like that, but just a bunch of things that I rarely used, or a spice bottle that was almost empty, or something that was really way out of date. After a few hours, I had put most everything back although, I'll admit, some things I left in the closets or the garage.

Then Fred asked me what we would have for dinner. I knew I had plenty of frozen leftovers, including a chicken/bean dish that I'd cooked in early December, so I opened the freezer to take it out. At left is what I saw when I opened my freezer.

Pretty normal, you say? Au contraire, mon ami! When I had finished deboning the Christmas turkey and packaging it up, and had prepared two-person "Thanksgiving dinners" with some turkey, some dressing, and some sides, and had put that and all my gravy fixings and other things from Christmas, my freezer was chock full. This is the way it always is after the holidays- full of plastic containers, individually labeled and dated. Old cans are one thing; old frozen food is something else.

So take another look, and you can see that at least THREE-QUARTERS of everything that had been in the freezer when we left on December 28 was simply gone- containers and all! And THAT, ladies and gentlemen, was when I totally lost it.

Fred could hear my yelling and cursing from upstairs; he thought something bad had happened and rushed to see what was wrong. Both of us could only stare in disbelief at what this "housekeeper" had done. She had cleaned me out. The frozen food HAD to have been simply thrown away, and there was no rhyme or reason to what had been left. It CERTAINLY was not the most recent, for containers labeled from the summer were still there, while most of the turkey stuff from Christmas was gone. Fred tells me that I was yelling so much that he thought I might have a coronary.

So I called Cynthia, not having Yaneth's number and not speaking Spanish anyway. When she answered, I will admit I yelled into the phone- "What the f**k did that woman do with the stuff from my freezer?!!" I was livid. But the only response I got was "I have no idea what you're talking about."

I'm not going to into what happened after that, or particularly when Cynthia emailed me with Yaneth's charges for the work she'd done. I'm not going to tell you how many people have told me that no maid or housekeeper they've ever heard of would have done literally ANY of what Yaneth did without specific instructions from the client. I will tell you that my previously close friendship with my next-door neighbor has been destroyed, for I am quite sure that Yaneth did not reorganize my house and clean out my freezer and pantry of her own accord. When I got the email bill from Cynthia, I of course deducted more than a third of it for the actual damages I suffered when things were discarded. And then I came to find out that, unbeknownst to me, Cynthia's partner Richard had already paid Yaneth the full amount, and was pissed off when I didn't reimburse him that amount. So, TWO friendships destroyed.

Incidentally, the last mystery was solved when I was cleaning up after dinner that same evening and went to put the dirty dishes in the dishwasher. At left is what greeted me when I opened it. There were all the food containers from the freezer. All the labels had been removed, so I couldn't tell what had been discarded.

At right is a picture of the containers with their tops back on, stacked on the counter. Missing totally were about ten small plastic containers with my gravy fixings. Apparently, Yaneth did not even think the containers worth saving. Every one of those containers was full of one food item or another. There was also, should you want to know, an entire pork loin wrapped in foil, and two or three store packages of ground beef. Those were tossed as well.

Why any housekeeper would EVER think to do ANY of this without direction or permission is beyond me. More galling was the fact that I had talked to Cynthia three times during our absence, and on two of those times she was actually in the house with Yaneth. No one said anything about the fact that instead of dusting, vacuuming, bathroom cleaning, and shelf paper, Yaneth was reorganizing and discarding instead. Had I only been asked, ALL of this could have been avoided, and two friendships would still be in place.

It is all very sad. It took me a while to get over this. For the next six months, every time I opened the freezer to get out something I thought was there, I god mad all over again. But I am over it now, and as I write this in February, 2023, my freezer is full again and I am back to where I was.

But two friendships have still not been repaired, and I seriously doubt they ever will be.

February 3: Snow! (or what passes for it in Dallas)

Well, this morning we had the season's first (and, if I remember correctly, only) snowfall. It was about an inch, but the ground was very cold and so it stuck around for a few hours into the afternoon.

This view looks out my front gate down our back driveway.

I would have put on some shoes and walked out to the front, but it hardly seemed worth it.

March 8-10: My Niece Jeffie Visits Dallas

This year, a rarity. My niece, Jeffie, as made a trip to the United States. It was a trip to wind up some affairs of hers in Atlanta, but mostly to see friends and family. I was pleased to be one of the stops she made.

Jeffie arrived on Tuesday, and I had planned for her to stay with me for a couple of nights, but apparently, four cats combined with poor housekeeping threw a monkey wrench into those plans.

Jeffie had hardly been in the house for an hour before she had a reaction to the cats, and it was severe enough that we had to go get some benadryl for her and we had to realize that having her stay in the house wasn't going to be possible. I must be really bad at housekeeping, because my niece has cats of her own in the Czech Republic.

It was disappointing, but I was able to get Jeffie a place to stay nearby. That, combined with medication, enabled her to spend a fair amount of time with us at home.

We did the normal things (as many outside the house as we could), and Jeffie also had a chance to visit some of her old friends here in Dallas.

It was an enjoyable visit, and when we took Jeffie to the airport for a flight to North Carolina, we were sad to see her go. Fred was the photographer for the picture above and two below:

April 22: Roses in Bloom

I love the roses that are planted on the island in back of the garage; every year they put on a show, and this year was no exception.

June 23: North Dallas

I've been updating my will and other documents, and my lawyer is now up in North Dallas, north of I-635, rather than over by Northpark where he used to be. From his new office, there are good views looking south along the Tollway, and on this particular day, I took a couple of pictures. Noteworthy is the fact that none of what you see, including the building I am in, was here when I moved to Dallas; this was all farmland.

July 23: Only in Texas

Actually, it's perhaps "Only in San Antonio".

This screams something, but I'm not sure what.

It was after a dinner at Caparelli's, just up the street from Prudence's gallery, that we came out and found this car parked by the restaurant.

It almost looked as if it was some car being used in a movie- a movie that exaggerated some aspect of living in Texas for the benefit of folks who still think Texas is full of oil wells and oil barons.

Anyway, I thought it was amusing enough to have its picture taken.

August 6: Downtown Fort Worth

Often we meet Prudence and Nancy and sometimes also Karl and Ron over in Fort Worth when they come up for a meeting with their financial guys or perhaps to see one of Prudence's artists. Prudence will always ask us to come over for dinner, and we are always happy to accept.

On this particular evening, it was just Prudence, Nancy, and Jax that had come up to Fort Worth, and it was Fred's birthday, and that's what Prudence wanted to celebrate. So we were happy to make the drive over.

It's really an easy drive over to Fort Worth, and Prudence stays at the same place all the time so we know right where to park. It's the Kimpton Harper right in downtown, and she likes it because they are pet friendly and she can take Jax. We usually see other pets there as well.

The bar and lounge are on the 24th floor, where Reception is, and that's usually where we meet. I think Fred got a really nice picture of Nancy, Prudence, Jax, and me. And being on the 24th floor, there are always good views out the windows over downtown Fort Worth, like this view looking north. And here are two more views from the Kimpton-Harper's windows:

Looking North

Looking Southeast

September 21: Not Just Dials and Gauges Anymore

Recently, my friend Steve Lee got a new car, and he sent around a picture of his computer-screen-dash display, explaining all the information he never had before. On the way to Florida a while later, I had Fred take this picture of the Elantra's dual-screen layout so I could send it to Steve. My last Elantra only had a 5.3 black and white screen for the radio and USB; but that was 12 years ago.

I can't explain everything the screens can show, but I can generally describe what it shows when I have my preferred settings up (which is pretty much all the time). There are actually two screens- one in front of me with driving and vehicle information, and the other angled towards me between Fred and I for the infotainment display.

So let's have a look at the driver's display first.

The

The computer displays two main gauges- the tachometer on the right and the speedometer on the left. Part of the speedometer display is the gas gauge down at the bottom. Below that is the fuel indicator that turns orange when you have something like a gallon and a half left. Right next to it is the range estimator, which tells you how many miles you can go on the fuel currently in your tank. I have no idea how it calculates this, but it seems to be pretty accurate, as I have tested it a couple of times.

At the two o'clock position outside the speedometer is the Lane Assist indicator (if you turn it on) and it turns white if you wander off-center in which case the car pulls you back into your lane. If you start relying on that, and relax your hands or take them off the wheel, the center of the tach changes to remind you to put your hands back. Next to the lane assist indicator is the current drive mode (P, R, D, L, N, etc.). The tach is at the right and the temperature gauge is incorporated into it at the bottom. Below that is the odometer.

Things get more complex in the center. At the top are all the indicators for the Adaptive Cruise Control. You can pick out the set speed at the moment (78), and the little green icon to the right indicates that the Smart Cruise Control is activated. I have my car set to activate HDA- Highway Driving Assist- whenever the cruise is activated and I am on an Interstate Highway or certain other limited-access roadways. This system ensures that I don't get too close to the car ahead of me in my lane, and I have the sensitivity set to about eight car lengths. If I get that close to another car, another little auto symbol will appear to the left of the one indicating my car, and the green bars between us will flash and my car will automatically slow down. I like this feature, except in Texas, where leaving more than a couple of car lengths between you and the one ahead of you seems to be an invitation for another car to get in front of you. Rather than change the sensitivity (which would require taking my eyes off the road and onto the other display screen) I just don't use the cruise except on the VERY open road. Handily, the current speed limit is displayed to the right of this information.

At the bottom, the outside temperature is at the left, the current MPG reading for this tank of gasoline is at the right, and between them is a spot indicator of your MPG. The little white backward slash is at 39.3, and the fact that the slash with the red highlight is to the left of it means that I am currently getting fewer MPG than that. For those who are fans of hypermiling, this is helpful to know, but I tend to ignore it. Below that, there is nothing at the moment, but if the radio or music changes station or goes from one song to another, the title of the song or name of the station will appear briefly below that bar.

The middle of the center display is changeable, and there are a number of information tidbits that can be displayed here. You can cycle through as many of them as you choose by pressing a button on the steering wheel repeatedly. I usually leave it set on "Since Refueling" which tells me how far I have gone since the car was turned off AND the gas cap was removed and replaced, what my overall MPG has been since that time, and how long the car has been turned on since those two events last occurred. For example, if I were to just pull over, turn the car off, then restart it and continue driving, the timer would pick back up at 17 minutes. I don't pay attention to this much. There are many other displays to cycle through, including the tire pressures, the overall odometer statistics, just a big digital speed number, and so on.

The

The "infotainment" screen is at my right, but I don't do much with it when I am driving. It is where all the setup options are, all the menus for what the car's systems do, and which are activated and which are not, and so many menus that do so many things that it would be dangerous to try to use it and still keep your eyes on the road.

The setup that you see in the picture here is where I have it set most often, although when Fred's along he can mess with it and change it around when he cares to. In my common setup, I have the information the car gets from the USB stick with all my music at the left. The three lines of display for each song are its title, the performer(s) and the date it was released, and the name of the album it is from and the date the album was released. Of course, there are the normal media player options (pause, replay, skip), but I can control those from the steering wheel.

When your song has an album cover or other image attached to it in the "Properties" sheet for the file, that album cover is displayed as you can see here. Just above that you can see that this is the 452nd song out of 4700+ on the USB stick. If I prefer to see prior and upcoming selections, I can use the List option, or I can repeat a playlist as well as other options. There is similar information if it's the radio that's playing.

I usually have the map on the other side of the screen. I like to have it there because, unless cruise control is active, there is no digital speed indicator save what is shown in the upper left corner of the map. Now the car does have navigation, but I rarely use it unless I am going somewhere for the first time, or I want to see what route it would suggest for me. For example, I often set the navigation on the way to Florida just so when I get to southern Louisiana, the navigation system can tell me whether to avoid Interstate-10 and the bridge over the Atachafalaya Basin, because once you get on that bridge, there is no turning back if there is a slowdown or an accident. The navigation, like that you may have in your own car, brings together static and real-time information for its routing suggestions. If one knows soon enough that I-10 is a bad choice, the system can route you on US 190 east instead.

Fred likes to switch up the right-hand side of the display, for there is a weather screen, a compass/altimeter, and a couple of others.

I have had the car for a couple of years now, and still don't know all the things it can do, and I certainly don't know all the display options. It was Fred who discovered you could add your current speed to the map, and he also discovered that you can change the color of the arrow indicating the vehicle position. Since my car is red, he made the arrow the same color.

December 6: Fall in Dallas

It has been a warm Fall here in Dallas, and it wasn't really until after Thanksgiving, and our return from San Antonio, that the weather turned cold and the trees dropped their leaves.

By the end of the first week of December, it had begun to look wintry outside, although the golden leaves from the Crepe Myrtles were pretty, lying all over the ground.

On this particular morning, the sky was pretty clear and so the grounds around the house, with their light coating of fallen leaves, were about as picture-worthy as they were going to get, so I had Fred take the picture at left.

December 20: At the Crescent

In November, our financial advisor moved from one firm to another, and the three of us decided to move our accounts with him. Now, instead of being in North Dallas, the firm offices are in The Crescent, a very upscale office and retail complex in downtown Dallas at the foot of McKinney Street (near the Myerson Symphony Center). Fred and I went down to see him this afternoon to get our new apps and account access set up. In the courtyard of The Crescent, between two of its buildings, we found a couple of interesting fountains, and so we took the pictures below:

Those were the last miscellaneous pictures for 2022.

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