I had a nice long walk today with my dog, the weather was great.

[texanwitch]

Between my sprained ankle and working early voting the poor dog hadn't been anywhere.

I am a little sad, the damn townhouses are taking away all our green space and I am talking a lot of green space.

The railroad track area the meadow will soon be covered in townhouses.

Took lots of pictures but to sad right now to deal with them.

I hope the people who buy the townhouses have flood insurance because they will need it.

All this area floods.

[tinfoilinfor2005]

1. Hey, it's happening all over the country.

I live in the Florida Keys, and they are building a bridge...no that's not right...they are building A BRIDGE(!!!) into the Keys that looks like something out of Star Wars. It is disgusting and scary and totally misplaced. And I too am a little sad.

Maybe it's time to move.

ps - hope your ankle heals soon and well.

[texanwitch]

2. Thanks, my ankle feels a lot better now, the walk helped alot.

I have land in the country, no house just a water well.

I will be moving in a few years, all the townhouses are just killing inner city Houston.

My neighborhood was so cool, I grew up here so when I had a chance to buy a old house I took it.

We were a neighborhood, people knew each other and helped each other. We were like a small town.

There are still many of us left in real houses, not these chipboard houses.

On Thursday we will be having a neighborhood Thanksgiving.

I have been to the Keys, what a special place that was.

Seems like we can't have special places anymore.:hug:

[Shine]

3. Hey, but you get to have your Thanksgiving dinner al frecso, with a bunch o' friends.

that's pretty cool. :thubmsup:

:hug: you got more exercise than me today. lucky.

[texanwitch]

4. Today was just to pretty to do anything else.

The dog had a great time, she is now sleeping.

I had a hard time getting her out of the woods, so I let her stay until almost dark.

The owls came out, that was nice.

The hawks were flying, now that is a great sight to see.

I had a good time sort of.:hug:

[Shine]

5. Hey, isn't today your BIRTHDAY!!! I just saw newyawker's thread.

:toast: :party: Congrats and best wishes to you! It's always nice to do something special on your birthday that represents what you want to pull in for the rest of the year. Your ankle being sprained doesn't count, of course, but being out and renewed in Nature certainly does. :hug:

Enjoy! May your blessings outnumber your birthday candles. :hug:

[texanwitch]

7. Thank you.

This birthday is special, I was born in 1953 and I am now 53.

My ankle is a lot better now, almost healed.

I just have to wear this ankle guard thing, but it isn't bad.

I just needed to be alone today with my dog and she needed to smell things.

By next year a lot the places we walked will be gone, just hundreds of chipboard townhouses.

I took a lot pictures.

[Shine]

8. Cool, so it was almost like your "Golden Birthday"

have you ever heard of that? It's when you turn the same age as the day of the month you were born. So, technically, yours was when you turned 19. 19 on the 19th.

I'll have to wait til I'm 64 to experience your version of a Golden Birthday. :D Only 22 more years to go!

Our son just had his Golden Birthday last Monday, in fact. 13 on the 13th. Yup, I'm now officially the parent of a teenager. :scared:

[texanwitch]

12. Congrats on your son's birthday.

Just think you have only seven more years until he is 20 years old.

These will be good years.:pals:

[Shine]

13. OK, stop freaking me out.

he keeps reminding me it's less than three year til he's driving!

but thanks, he's a good young man....so far. :D

[texanwitch]

14. I am very sure that he is a fine young man.

Just remember the teenage years are not forever, they just seem like forever.

I had my niece stay with me for two years because she didn't get along with her Mother, period.

I had her from 15 to 17, the first year was a lot of fun.

When she turned 16 it was like magic, she turned into this fine young woman.

Just hang in there if things get a little rocky, teenagers can change very quickly.

[Shine]

15. Thanks, texanwitch.

:hug:
I read somewhere once that adolescence isn't for teenagers....it's for the parents, to give them time to adjust to letting go.

Boy, that's the truth. It makes me sad to realize how little time we've got left with him. :cry: My "little boy" is growing up.....

Time passes. Sigh...

[texanwitch]

16. When she turned 17 she left home for school, did very well.

She is now 30 years old and she is like a daughter to me.

It is hard to let go, but you must.

Train them well, that is our job as parents.

Did I tell how much fun(not) her 15th year was, she must of told me a thousand times how much she hated me. I wouldn't let her hang out with her friends. I had destroyed her life. Stuff like that.

Her mother never made her mind at all, let her do what she wanted. Said she couldn't control her. I just set limits and it worked.

Just hang in there.

[Shine]

18. Yeah, they need limits.

but they need freedom, too.

Our task is to find the balance. Easier said, than done.

Sounds like you did a great job with her. :thumbsup:

[texanwitch]

20. She was a handful.

Her mother(my sister) was going to put her in a home.

If my sister would have been a parent instead of a friend things would have been different.

You are right about the freedom part, but my niece was so out of control it wasn't funny.

I won't go into detail but that year was a nightmare.

I don't want to scare you, just enjoy the next few years.

[Shine]

21. Thanks, again.

:hug:

[auntAgonist]

6. Lovely .. and Happy Birthday to you.

We have a lot of townhouses going up around us too. The deer will soon have no forested areas to roam in :( very sad.

Hope your ankle is feeling better!

:hug:

aA

[texanwitch]

9. Thank you.

I don't see me living here in a few years, I just can't take seeing the old neighborhood die.

I wiil keep the house and rent it out to my friends who will take good care of it.

There are many trees on my land so I just can't sell and let the trees be cut down. I have many old trees planted over a hundred years ago, yep I am a tree hugger.

The birds need a place to hang out, and I have a large number of them in the summer. I buy bird seed in 100 lb sacks, and have a special bird feeding station set up.

So sorry to hear about the deer, I have deer on my land in the country.

Where will the animals live in the future.

I am glad I am 53, the future doesn't that great to me.

[auntAgonist]

10. ...

:hug:

may the future start to look great to you.

aA
kesha

[texanwitch]

11. Thank you auntAgonist

I think it is because I have not be walking lately and there were so many changes since last time.

The sad thing inner city Houston cannot handle this many people or houses, the traffic is already bad.

We now have streets which flood that never, never flooded before.

Not alot of thought is going into this townhouse building.

There was a good reason behind the layout of the old innner city neighborhoods.

Houston isn't called the Bayou City for nothing.

When we flood the water has to go somewhere, and all that green space was the somewhere.

[Lady Effingbroke]

17. Hi, texanwitch, and happy birthday!

I hope your sprained ankle feels better soon.

I also live in Houston (aka Sprawl City). I grew up in Clear Lake, which is at least 5 times the size it was when I lived there. All this development doesn't bode well for the flooding problems here. When Allison hit a few years ago, some townhouses down the street flooded so badly that they were condemned - and remodeled and rented out again! I wouldn't live there unless the lease included a canoe in case of high water. Houston is foolishly paving over green space which is desperately needed to soak up the flood waters!

:hi:

[texanwitch]

19. Our yard flooded back then to.

We had between 13 and 17 inches water in the neigborhood and we are on high land.

When my neighborhood floods Houston is in trouble.

I had just had my house raised just a month before or I would have flooded in the house.

I just can't believe that after that flood, the county and city would allow building in the flood zone.

It is amazing how greed can over come common sense.

I now have a john boat for the next flood.

My ankle is a lot better, the Dr. said to walk on it so I did.

Thanks for the Birthday wishes, I am feeling better now.:pals: