Bigger In Texas

While walking around in the Pebble Creek neighborhood in College Station, Texas, I noticed they have oversized drainage storm drains, which I measured at ten feet wide.  Texas utilizes oversized storm drains because it experiences heavy rainfall, the ground is generally flat, and the risk of flash flooding is high. The extra capacity is a safeguard against the powerful, fast-moving storms that are typical of the state’s climate.

https://pebblecreektx.com

Easterwood Airport

Easterwood Airport (CLL) is a regional airport in College Station, Texas, serving Texas A&M University and the surrounding area.  Unlike the 171 gates at Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) airport, which will expand to 202 in the next couple of years, CLL has just two gates and is owned by Texas A&M University System.  The airport is named after Lieutenant Colonel Jesse L. Easterwood, a U.S. Navy pilot and early aviator from Texas A&M University’s Class of 1909.  As you can see in the picture below, you can watch as the baggage handlers unload your bags on the carousel, which gives me a comforting feeling that my bag is not lost (or mishandled).  Although small, it's a very nice airport.

https://flyeasterwood.com

Butter And Pepper

The gnocchi pictured below came from a grocery store, which explains why its size and shape are so much more consistent than my homemade recipe.  I made a lot of different sauces for gnocchi, but the simple addition of a little butter and pepper is all it really needs.  Add a little medium-rare steak, a bi-colored ear of corn, and a glass of wine, and this quickly became a meal to remember.

Hydrant And Stick

The fire hydrant and stick come to you from Williamsville, New York, a cute suburb a few miles northeast of Buffalo.  At first, I thought its purpose was to alert snowplow drivers because running into one is not good for either the hydrant or the plow.  However, Gourmet Chef Elaine pointed out that perhaps a bigger purpose was for firefighters to locate a hydrant to fight a fire.  Well, either way or both, if the snow reaches six feet deep, even the stick is not going to help.  

70

On this day back in 1955, Earl and Rose Marie Moorman welcomed their second son into the world, me.  They gave me a wonderful childhood, sent me to Our Lady of Mercy grade school and Chaminade High School (which in my senior year became Chaminade-Julienne).  I lived at home during my first three years at Wright State University, allowing me to have minimal debt after graduating.  Mom and Dad passed away way too early, and I've missed them for more than half of my life.  I never thought I would make it to my 70th birthday, much less have all the blessings of family and friends I enjoy so much.  

Draining The Igloo

The only issue we have with the Igloo cooler you see below is that it doesn't have a drain plug, so when it's time to get rid of the water, we have to remove everything in the cooler first.  Or so we thought.  All it takes is turning it on its side, where the hinges are, and the water gushes out.  Never would have guessed that in a million years.

Big shout-out to my brother-in-law Albert for showing us this not-at-all-obvious feature!

Halloween Gone Wild

The display you see below is from a local Home Depot store.  Why anyone would shell out hundreds of dollars on a hideous front-yard Halloween display is totally beyond me.  What's worse is that some neighbors leave their twelve-foot skeleton up year-round, changing their costume to match whatever event is happening at the time, such as Christmas, St. Patrick's Day, or Cinco de Mayo.  Tacky knows no bounds.

https://www.homedepot.com

PB&BJ

A snack of Peanut Butter and Jelly hits the spot just right, and my twist is to use Blackberry Jam (hence the title of this blog) instead of the usual grape variety.  As you can see below, I like to use a little more jam than peanut butter and a thin-sliced, multi-grain slice of bread to make believe I'm being extra healthy.  Of course, the peanut butter is the smooth kind.  I never liked the crunchy kind as a kid, and I still don't now.

Altafiber

It has been almost 2 years since I blogged about Altafiber (the rebranded Cincinnati Bell) starting to run fiber down the major streets, and I've been (not so) patiently waiting for them to begin stringing fiber on the access poles, as you see them doing below.  Now I have to wait until they're ready to offer service to our house and allow us to save $50 per month over our current Spectrum Internet.  Hurry up, folks!!

https://www.altafiber.com

Golf Ball Picker Upper

New to the practice green at Walnut Grove Country Club is the ball sweeper you see below.  You attach an empty bucket to the rear, and as you push it across the green, the golf balls are gathered at the center of the diagonal pipes and conveyed into the bucket.  In under a minute, you can collect an entire bucket of balls without bending over.  This is genius!

https://walnutgrovecc.net