Home again, home again, jiggity jig

I'd never heard that nursery rhyme before Blade Runner.  Now I think about it every time.  "They're my friends, I made them."

Anyway, we're headed north soon.  Back to the cold(er) weather.  It is nice having a Next thermostat that I can leave off for the time we're gone (set to 60) and bring back up before we get there.  It is also nice to see on our security cam our neighbors put out the trash cans last night.  

We're going back a slightly different way that will probably cut off most of an hour partly as a result of not going near a Buckee's.  As much fun as Buckee's is the time factor is pretty significant.  You can't go there in less than half an hour if you breeze through.  The bathrooms make it worth it but still.

The dogs will be so happy to be back home.  Even more than us.  They miss their back yard badly and miss their house smells.

All in all a good trip.  So nice to have fresh fish and some beach time.

Five hour tour

It took us five hours to get back from Port Aransas.  Three stops.  One to get a picture of an interesting statue in Refugio, Texas.  I've got to research what is the story.  This is what stopped me:

Our family was not one to stop.  Ever.  And certainly not for a statue.  Trips were made to be completed ASAP.  

Turns out our trip was along a trail of towns that were in my Texas history book.  So now I've got to go back and read some more and think about maybe reversing part of the trip to see the places.  It is not Gettysburg and Manassas and The Wilderness but still interesting and a lot closer.  It is Goliad and Refugio and Cuero.  And I've got the book.

We also stopped for gas and crappy food as is required in the travel manual.

One very nice thing that I've not taken advantage of.  We have a Nest but never go anywhere so it doesn't do very much.  But I did not set the thermostat when we left.  It knew we had gone as my cell phone was gone and we were not moving and it was quiet.  So it turned the heat down to 60 (15) degrees and put everything in an Away status.  I saw this before we returned so when we got close-ish, I brought the heat back up so we wouldn't have to enter a cold house.

Ain't technology grand?

And our neighbors took the trash cans down so our trash was emptied.  

All is well in the neighborhood and Zoe is happily sleeping in my chair.