Jerry CGI+

A brief history of the favorite holiday in Austin, TX.

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Halloween began as a Celtic celebration, with the first day of the year being on November 1.  It was similar to our New Year’s Eve.  It was originally called Old Year’s Night, and referred to as The Night of All Witches.  It was a celebration of the midwives and their herbs and remedies, which were made to help survive the cold winter.  It was a night of drinking and potions.

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Now the Roman Catholic Church took the New Year’s Day and made it All Saints Day.  This was a common practice of the church, to take heathen celebrations and change them into Christian celebrations.  Saturnalia became Christmas, May Day became Easter, etc.  To encourage prayer coming into All Saints Day, which was renamed All Hallows Day to broaden the scope, Halloween was created as a PR spin.  All witches were black to the church, so it was an easy adaptation to go from praising the midwives to condemning then in favor of Catholic doctors.

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Since then, we have added all sorts of things that go bump in the night.  Hollywood hasn’t helped keeping their numbers down.

Can you see the gears turning in Myka’s eyes?  (She is grounded and trying to make me pay for it.  I gave her a quick outdoor preview, and she abused it by escaping to the front yard and into the street, ignoring my calls to her.  Brat!)

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Myka got spayed on Wednesday and has been inside since.  She has generally been lots of teeth and claws.  The last 24 hours have been in ignore mode, whenever she tries to bite and/or claw, there is generally a door between us.  The incision is healing well, a tiny bit of pink today, but not infection, rather healing scars.  She has no shortage of energy and wants out badly.  I will be glad when I can let her outside.

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Did some editing of Vince’s site, first in a while.  Mostly updating, but a new site should be in the works.  Modern New York jazz is the theme.  Some of the music inspires me, other musicians on the list need better representation on the net.

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Sleeping a lot.  Not all at once, but often.  Lots of naps.  I think part of it was my immune system adjusting back to Brenham.  End of summer leaf dropping, but autumn hasn’t started yet, even though it’s a month past equinox.  It’s still green.

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Watching movies, mostly ones I’ve seen before.

I think this space is going to work as an office.  1.8 M/s max transfer to the truly big servers like Apple and Java during off hours.  The space feels good.  Audio has to be a tad louder because of the space and placement, but otherwise it’s a definite upgrade.  I’ll be able to work and survive the winter here.  It feels good, ambient charm.

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The set up here makes it easy to go back to sleep after a short night.  That will be a big plus with Myka waking me in the morning, anxious to get outside.

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It’s easier to cook without the office in the kitchen.  More counter space and less clutter, easier to clean.  I’ll get by without eating at the computer (food doesn’t leave the kitchen).

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I’ll have a warm bath this afternoon.  I’ve already had a hot shave (knicked myself five times, including my nose).  Discussed fixing the hot water pipe to the kitchen (freeze pop) so I can wash dishes without carting or stove heating water.

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This will help me work and be lazy in one location.  I can create, watch movies, surf, communicate, play games, all those office things, and be one step away from horizontal comfort.

New mirror in the bathroom for shaving, etc.  New bath mat,  Office at the desk next to the recliner.  The office chair and lazy boy are one step apart.  Much different layout than before, thanks to the wifi extender.  Getting 1.4 M/s max feed.  (Depends on the local load to the trunkline.)  Very efficient, and it frees the kitchen to be a kitchen.  It should work well this winter.  And I’m 95% unpacked, things are in order, counters cleaned.  That is a relief.  So I’m off the clock.

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Now I can be as lazy as I please for the time being.  Then again, I could burn lots of DVDs.  My rough guesstimate is about 45 to 50.  Spindle, cases, and labels will be needed.  But they’re not on the shopping list yet.  I have to see what I have and use those.  I have the time to do them a few at a time.

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I have lots of movies to watch and naps to take.

Back in Brenham, unloaded but not unpacked.  Spent $90 on stocking the kitchen with food.  It should hold me for a while for non-perishables.  Grabbed two more Strawberry Cheesecake Blue Bells, to total six.  Not sure why they’re still available six weeks after they were dropped from the rotation.  I could have gotten half a dozen more.

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Myka is glad to see me, hopping up in my lap repeatedly to snooze.  And she appreciates the treats I give that were ignored in my absence.  I had to keep her inside yesterday while unloading and a run to the store.  So she hasn’t had much outdoor time in the last 12 hours.  She’ll get to make up for it tomorrow.

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Woke in the wee hours and couldn’t get back to sleep.  I have no schedule to keep until Wednesday, so it’s not a big issue.  I still need to unpack, but I’m in no hurry.  I need to figure out where to place the office, now that I have bandwidth everywhere in the house.  All in due time.

In my third week of house sitting, first in Austin, now in Bryan.  I spent ten days in south Austin caring for Pinot and Grigio (see below), a pair of very young rescued kittens, along with the tootoo girls.  Four bottle feedings a day…

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Now I’m in Bryan, caring for the parrots and China Mae and Blackie (aging dogs), in the midst of rainy weather with cooling temperatures.  Fall is finally here.

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Been downloading gigs, fattening the need to burn backups.  I will need to buy a new spindle of DVD blanks.  Fortunately, I have the funds.

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I can only wonder how Myka is doing.  She gets spayed shortly after I get back to Brenham, which is Friday.  Then I get to go back on meds.  I wonder if construction is happening at the house in my absence, as stated.

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