Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Barns, Banks, Bridges and Birthdays

We celebrated Aunt Louise's 93rd birthday this past Sunday. She's still incredibly self sufficient, able to manage her daily needs despite her fading vision and loss of mobility. She makes the sandwiches for lunch and washes the dishes after meals. Her cat Sugar is her best motivation to keep her up and going.
My cousin, Auntie's great niece, drove over from Fort Worth to spend a few hours with us. We drove into town and picked up KFC for lunch and celebrated with birthday cake. Saturday night we celebrated at our favorite Chinese food place and Asian Bistro, Mr. Wok's where she ate sweet and sour shrimp. Yum.

This morning Dallas had a record breaking low temperature of 37 degrees. For this late in April, it's amazing after the 89 degrees we had a few days back.

The news on TV is filled with the disaster at West, Texas where a fertilizer plant exploded killing at least 15 people and leaving over a hundred injured. Others have lost their homes, possessions and loved ones. The explosion cut a crater 93 feet wide and 10 feet deep. The blast could be heard for 50 miles and measured 2.5 on the Richter Scale. West is 80 miles south of Dallas.

NBC DFW Channel 5 says, "The town of West is still struggling to its feet after the April 17 explosion at the West Fertilizer Co. plant killed 15 people, injured hundreds, destroyed 140 homes and wrought havoc on the town's infrastructure."


Old Bank Building in Lavon, TX on the Detour
I headed out early this morning to run some errands; stuff I used to get done on my lunch break now seems to take half a day. Started the morning dropping off the cardboard and plastic at the Recycling Center which is located in the fenced lot that houses the Cellular Tower and the RBS Shelter.

It brings back memories of my old days as a project manager to be this close to telecom equipment.



Cell Tower and Shelter across from the Recycling Bins

Last week's detour that reduced Highway 78 to intermittent one-way traffic is new and improved with a different detour that routed me through the City of Lavon. For a town with such a small population, they sure have the fancy police equipment. Very impressive.

The winding road led me to some picturesque views of the area and thankfully, I had the time to snap a few photos.

It was a gorgeous day.


Old Barn on the Detour


Detour on Hwy 78
New Bridge on the Overpass

2 comments:

  1. Hello Peg, A sense of nostalgia came over me while reading this work. I spent some time in the El Paso area back in my Army days. I had forgotten the wide open spaces. I just heard my 'Kylie's Blossoms' radio ad on:
    http://www.musiccityusaradio.com/#

    I seem to be the only one who is listening toit, lol.

    I am off to the Dr.s this morning.

    This was such a nice write.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Mck, Ah, the wide open spaces, where the deer and the antelope play... I'm going to check out your radio ad. The link wouldn't let me copy it but I'll type it in.

      Hope things go well for you at the Doctors today. We have an appointment for a check up for Louise on Wednesday. She's been having some discomfort. Please let me know the results of your appointment. I'm hoping you're doing well.
      Peg

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