37th Street Christmas lights (December 10, 2021)

The 37th Street Christmas lights are back!  Papa Tom lived in this very house with his brother Jim and several guy roommates when he first moved to Austin from Amarillo around 1971 to attend UT.

Papa Tom's house has its very own Georgie on the doormat, just like we do at our house.

The Stuffed Animal Rescue Foundation headquarters. Yes, SARF is real.  Read all about their mission at thesarf.org.

It's SkeletorClaus!

River and Mya safely hanging with non-abductor aliens on our planet, not their spaceship.

Of course.  It's Texas, y'all!

Sock monkey nativity scene. Remember sock monkeys?

Willie Nelson's Christmas tree.

Live music.  Because.  Austin's the self-proclaimed live music capital of the world.  The world, y'all!

Joy to the Weird from River, Mya, Brandy, Piper, Ryder, and Papa Tom. 

Papa Tom and me under the disco ball.

Remembering Texans who lost their lives in Winter Storm Uri in February 2021. We were without water for 8 days, the first 5 days because we shut it off at the street to prevent pipes from freezing, the last 3 days because City reserves were too low thanks to everyone else (not us!) dripping their faucets for days.  Sigh.  We were only without electricity for about 16 hours but did have natural gas so closed off the kitchen and boiled snow for steamy heat. The temperature in the rest of the house was in the 40s. Austin had below freezing temperatures for 164 hours that week. 

Meanwhile, our esteemed Senator Ted Cruz fled to a sunny resort in Mexico for margaritas on the beach.  He claimed there wasn't anything he could do for his freezing constituents so there was no point in him freezing too. OK, he didn't say that last part. But he didn't stay and try to help.