Still Enjoying Texas

Let's see....when I last wrote we had just arrived in Texas and that's been about three weeks ago. It's about time for an update, I guess.

Downtown Houston
Flags are in abundance here in Texas and I must say, I like it. I'm finding that they remind me to pray for our country and its leaders.

Before I move on, I must go back to the statement in the last post regarding the lack of people who spoke English at the mill. As George began to work, it soon became evident that speaking the same language wasn't necessarily required. For the most part, they watched and anticipated what he needed and had things ready when he needed them. He remarked that had he not had so much excellent help, he would have had to put in a lot more hours to get four sets of rails done in little over two weeks.
The above picture is an example of their anticipating the need and acting on it. The mill yard was quite muddy and when trying to leave one day George had decided he was going to have to put the truck in 4 wheel drive. As he opened the door to get out and turn the hubs, he saw two guys coming with a chain and another on a forklift. They had seen the need and came to help! They did, on the other hand, find it humorous when his pant leg caught on fire from the grinding sparks (not uncommon), gesturing and saying, "Meester, Meester!" to warn him, then laughing when the fire was out. I suppose it would look a little funny. George informed me that I would have laughed with them; he's probably right and it's his fault. He's taught me to see humor in things I never found humorous. OK, I wouldn't laugh if he was hurt, and I DO have to mend the pants.

Two set of tracks done, two grinding motors burned out, so on Monday, January 5th , we set off for Houston to try and find replacements. Found one but it was a bit high in price so George decided to see if he could find someone to fix the broken ones. We then drove around Houston a little.

I love these oak trees; there are lots of them around the area.


The BIG church.

High up window washers.... Yikes!

Downtown building and reflecting pool.


Downtown reflecting building :)

Figuring to get a jump on the next round of rail grinding, George went in to do some prep work after shutdown on Tuesday. On arriving home he said, "Forget that. We're going to Galveston tomorrow." Seems while at work a maintenance person had started the 'roller' he was standing on, causing an uncomfortable landing. Fearing what else could be turned on while the cleanup crew was working he decided to wait for the weekend to continue. So Thursday the 7th we set out for the Galveston area, just to see what we could see.
We took a short side trip off the route to get a look at the Houston Space Center. Unfortunately the visitors Center wasn't open.

Jake and Max, this is for you.
The McDonald's next to the Space Center has an astronaut on top that looks like you in your costumes! He was LARGE.

Leaving the area, we passed this mass of scavengers fussing over some sort of carrion.
They were first of several interesting bird sightings that day.

Near Seabrook we began to see a lot of evidence of Hurricane Ike that hit the Houston area last September. What a mess.

However, life goes on amidst the cleanup.

Next bird sighting; a tree full of parrots!

Then we were greeted at the fish market by these beggars waiting for a handout. I must say they were a bit intimidating, but politely moved aside as we approached the door, then followed us in, keeping a close eye on the cat.

Goodbye, Big Guy, and no, I'm not sharing my shrimp!

Nice shack in Galveston.

I took this picture because I remembered the building from the newscasts during the storm.

Shell seekers on the beach.

All in all, a good time was had by all.