Condolences and Car Trouble... and Hicks

Tuesday- Car Trouble

Well, actually we had trouble Monday also. But the real trouble started Tuesday. Monday after going to the gym our car wouldn't start. We figured by some quirk the battery had died and asked our friend Dane to come jump us. After he was half way there Lewis said, "I wish this car would just start!" and he turned the key. And the car turned on. It was a miracle. We started it four more times that night and it started just fine. Tuesday morning I left our apartment about 10 minutes after Lewis had gone to work. Again, the car wouldn't start. The roadside assistance guy that came to jump the car couldn't get it started and told me there was nothing wrong with my battery. I didn't get to go to work that day. But I got a lot done at the apartment, and even had time to experiment a little with glass cutting! All I did was get a string, dip it in wax, tie it around the middle of a glass coke jar, and light it on fire. If I had thought it would work, I probably wouldn't have done all of this in our bathtub. After it burned a good little bit, I turned on the water and the top broke off! I admired my work, and then cleaned the bathtub Really well. 

When Lewis got home he poked around the car for a while and then decided to jump it just for kicks. Guess what? It started. We drove to Wal-Mart and got a new battery thinking that would solve our problem. I got to work just fine the next day, but after work I went to the gas station and it would not start again. We gave in and finally paid a guy to replace our starter. It's so painful to get the quote for how much it would cost just to get our car working again and imagine all of the things we could do with that money instead. It took four hours for him to fix the car, and we spent the majority of that time at Hobby Lobby. Words can't do justice to the wonders of that store, so here are a few pictures. 

Friday we woke up to the news about the shooting that happened at the midnight showing of The rise of the Dark Knight in Aurora, Colorado. It was really sad to follow the story all day as more and more information was released. I think in the end 12 people were killed and over 70 total injured. It's interesting to reflect on the human mind and wonder what would cause a person to do something like that. And also to watch how society reacts to a tragedy like this. Some people are saying we need stricter gun laws, other people are saying we need more citizens bearing arms. I think we like to try to point fingers at one cause or another, just so we feel like we have some sort of control over the situation. My thoughts are that if everyone just strived to be the best parent, sibling, friend, neighbor, coworker, and stranger they could be, we would see a big change in this world. Maybe some things like this just couldn't be predicted or prevented, but I know I'll try harder from now on not to take the people I love in this life for granted.

Later on Friday Lewis took me to see the giraffe that had just been born at the zoo. It's pretty elusive for a newborn, because we didn't see it that day Or when we went back on Sunday. 

We spent the better part of Saturday in Galveston celebrating Chris's birthday. We had a BBQ with carne asada, guacamole, and grilled pineapple. Later that night we went to an Imax theatre in Galveston to watch the Batman movie. I did feel a little guilty going after everything that happened, but we had been planning this for a few weeks. I will say honestly that the shooting probably effected how I watched the movie and as a result, I didn't like it. 

Sunday evening we decided to go to the zoo again. It cooled off a little and there was a breeze blowing so it was bearable to be outside. The first thing we always do when we go to the zoo is check on the red panda to see if it is mobile. Usually it's snoozing in a tree and is kind of boring to look at. Today it decided to wake up and take a little walk around its habitat. We heard the Funniest conversation that day. This family came up behind us. The dad was about my height, wore cutoff jeans and had a dirty, sleeveless t-shirt that he had pulled up around his chest (either because he was hot, or to show off his beer belly) and a cowboy hat. The son was about 16 or 17 with bright red hair and was dressed, well, like a redneck. I didn't see the mom, because I was afraid if I tuned around to stare at them I would start laughing. Here's how it went, and imagine hearing this in the most southern hick accent ever...

Son- This ain't a panda! This AINT a panda! It looks like a... It aint a Panda! 

Mom- It IS a panda it says so right on this sign! (raps repeatedly on the sign) Says its a red panda. 

Son- Well I wanna see a black and white panda. Not a red panda. Where's the black and white panda?

Mom- Black and white pandas are in australia. You think your going to go all the way to Australia to see a black and white panda?

Son- Yeah I will! 

Mom- You know how much that's going to cost?

Dad chimes in- They say panda's are native to North America, but I have Never known a red panda to be native to North America. They're just not. 

(I don't know who is saying that panda's are native to North America... but I'm pretty sure that they are found only in remote areas in China. That kid is going to be so disappointed when he gets to Australia and can't find any pandas :)

After the zoo we decided to take a walk around the lake in Herman Park. At one point we stopped while I tried to get a picture of all the turtles swimming around in the lake and Lewis grabs me and says, That kid is killing a bird! 

This kid who looked like he was about 7 had caught a pigeon, and had a wing in both hands and was just shaking the poor bird. I wasn't sure if I should yell at him, or go smack him. I looked around for his mother and saw her sitting on a bench a few feet away, with this little smile on her face like, Oh! my child is so adorable. The kid threw the bird at another kid and the bird had enough sense to flutter away. Did the mom not think he could hurt the bird? and even if she was Cruella DeVille and just didn't care, doesn't she know how dirty birds are?! Especially pigeons?! We had barely recovered from that when we saw the craziest thing ever. Two huge muskrats were out of the water hanging out around this group of people, and there were four more smaller ones in the water close by. In the water they look kinda cute, but on land they looked nasty. One of them was about three feet long, with huge yellow front teeth, like a mole or something. While we were watching we saw one mother put a tiny piece of bread in the hand of her three year old and held it out to the muskrat. SERIOUSLY PEOPLE?! Are you naive? or just dumb? Later as we were talking to our neighbors about our walk they said, "Oh on one side of the lake there is is family of otters that will get out of the water and let you feed them! It's so cool!" I showed them a picture I took and asked if that was the "otter" they fed. Sure nuf, it was. "That's actually a muskrat." I said. They weren't convinced. "Well, somebody there told us it was an otter. Maybe otter and muskrat are two names for the same thing."

Otter... So not the same as a muskrat.

So... I'm not sure if they only teach you what muskrats are if you grow up in the Rockies, or if these people just have never flipped over to animal planet in their lifetime. 

 As we finished our lap of the lake we sat on the steps by the water and watched a couple of young men sparring with padded pvc pipe swords and spears. I had a flashback to when my brothers and their friends made padded weapons and beat the crap out of each other in our front yard. It's good to know you can find the same small town hobby in downtown Houston. :)