Yesterday we were with the San Antonio Parrot Heads for our quarterly volunteer time at the San Antonio Food Bank.   In three hours the team of volunteers portioned out over 10,000 pounds of pinto beans and rice.  We were fairly tired by the end of the three hours, but we all felt good about the work we did.   The San Antonio Food bank serves 16 counties in South Texas -- for the area that they serve, the overall poverty rate is 16.5% and the child poverty rate is 25%.  That makes for a lot of hungry people that wouldn't have enough to eat if it weren't for our food bank. 

I urge you to volunteer your time or donate food and/or money to a food bank near you.  If you don't know where the nearest one is, the  Feeding America website has a handy lookup tool located here: http://feedingamerica.org/foodbank-results.aspx.  I'm not sure about the statistics in other states, but in SA, even a small donation can make a huge difference. 

I was on Marriott's website, and noticed that they have a new Courtyard hotel coming to the San Antonio Riverwalk.  It opens in June of this year.  I only hope that by the time they open, they update their photo tour and replace the "artist's renditions" of the hotel with live photos, since the "Artist" has apparently decided that San Antonio is next to the ocean.  (Which would be swell if it were true... )

Perhaps the artist was making sure the hotel was tall enough to survive if the Riverwalk flooded?  I dunno.

Not sure if our local news ever gets reported outside of our area, but there have been confirmed cases of swine flu in San Antonio. Here are the details on the bigger new stories related to the swine flu:

• The Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City ISD has shut down all schools in the district and two district facilities, and canceled all activities.
• The mayor of Cibolo issued a statement closing all city parks and asked local churches to postpone activities.
• As a precautionary measure, Gov. Perry has ordered 850,000 more courses of antiviral medication be placed in Texas.

So... We are going to try to avoid public places.   Unfortunately, yesterday was the final day of Fiesta -- so for the last eleven days, there have been 3.5 million people attending over 100 events around our city (carnivals, concerts, parades, festivals, fund-raisers, exhibits, block parties, athletic events, banquets, and so on) all of which were places where a mysterious flu could easily spread. 

I'm hoping the outbreak stays limited, but it has already reached 5 states in the US. 

The idiot who bought the house next door to ours never moved in -- he just bought it and is trying to flip it for a profit  (which is a joke since there are plenty of new homes still being built in the neighborhood).  

It's been vacant for several months now, and the backyard is hideously overgrown with weeds.   Oscar took this photo of the yard looking down from our deck (which is around 8 feet above the ground) so it's slightly deceiving.   Some of those weeds are actually taller than our 6 foot privacy fence.   Does he really think some potential home buyer is gonna fall in love with that mess???  

Yes, the HOA association has sent him letters.  They might even fine him.  Somehow I don't see that making a big difference.  He obviously doesn't care about keeping the house and yard attractive -- in spite of the fact he could sell the house faster if he did.

Me?  We're trying to landscape our back yard -- and I'm tired of their unkempt yard o' weeds constantly blowing seeds into our yard.

Heck -- isn't  it bad enough that the lady who moved in 2 doors down has 12 foot sunflowers in her backyard?  
 

Do you think the boss will believe that I'm an hour late for work because a gator had me trapped on the freeway?

http://www.ksat.com/video/13219351/detail.html