Another beautiful spring day in Houston

Sunny skies today. 65 degrees or so. Low humidity. Cool breeze from the north. Man, it doesn't get much better than this. Here's a new shot of our new place. We've been moved in for about two months now and still the roof deck isn't finished, but it's getting there. Nothing to worry about.

About the only thing better than dropping the top and going for a ride on a day like this is going for a long walk instead, so that's what we did. I forgot my walking stick, though. Good thing we didn't have to beat off....er, beat back, any stray mad dogs.

Pretty horrible story recently in Houston about two little girls attacked by pit bulls not on leashes.

Last Thursday, two girls were attacked by a pair of pit bull-type dogs while walking home from school in north Harris County. After attacking the 12-year-old girl, the dogs dragged a 7-year-old girl before neighbors and paramedics came to the child's aid. The dogs ran into some nearby woods but were later shot by sheriff's deputies.

A man died in Montgomery County in October after being attacked by a pit bull owned by a man trying to sell some dogs. The man and a friend were looking to buy a pit bull for security when the dog attacked both of them.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/4579396.html

Fortunately, we didn't get attacked. Damn shame that you need to be on such guarded behavior, but there are people out there who just insist on violating the city's leash law, and have large dogs. Not nice people, let's just leave it at that.

But it was a glorious day. Walked over to an antique store just west of here, a junk shop, finally over to a restaurant for an open-air patio lunch. And a huge piece of chocolate cake for dessert. How wonderfully pleasant. Sitting at a sidewalk cafe under an umbrella on a gorgeous spring day. Where am I? Europe? What? This is Houston?

So far, we have counted 25 restaurants in about a 10-minute walk radius. Then there are also two drug stores, a liquor store, three dry cleaners, a grocery store, a modeling studio (hey!), a coffee shop, bookstore, two art galleries, about 10 bars, and on and on and on. All within walking distance.

And we hear about blizzard conditions up north. Six people dead in Wisconsin from the cold. A tornado watch AND a blizzard warning? At the same time? Damn. Days like today remind you why you live in a sweltering hellhole like Houston. Why? Because the spring and fall, and winter for that matter, can be pretty nice. If you can just get through a coupla three months of real heat, humidity and pollution, the rest of the year ain't bad. Sheesh! The trade-offs we all make, eh?

There may be a housing slump in parts of the US today, but not in Houston. And no wonder, with weather like today. There are several hundred new units being constructed within about a 10-block radius of our new place. Some are clusters of three or four townhomes. Some are rather large apartment blocks. Some are single-family homes being put up by people with just too much money. For the longest time, just west of downtown was a pretty old, pretty run-down section of low-rent housing. Within the last five years, the dam has burst and a lot of it has been leveled, and townhouses have been springing up like daisies after a spring rain. We are going to have a lot more neighbors soon.

Here's a pic taken from just down the street from our new house. Nice views of downtown from around here. Yes, the trees are budding. Especially elm and juniper. Ok, now, about the only thing better than all of the above (except the stuff about the pit bulls) is laying back in a recliner in front of an open window with a fan pulling in fresh, cool air ... snoozing in the chair. Shoveling snow? Where? .... zzzzz