Mom's Fiesta Visit

Happy Mother's Day!

Last month, my mom came down to San Antonio for a visit. It was during Fiesta so we took in some of the events while she was here.

When she arrived on Saturday, Mike, Rhonda, and I picked her up at the airport and we all went up to Bulverde, north of San Antonio, to view a new home being built "off the grid." It had it's own solar power and water tank. I guess technically it wasn't off the grid, it was connected and could supply power to the grid, but it generated enough electricity to power the whole house. It was a very modern and luxurious house and it was about twice as big as ours! Very cool stuff people are doing around here!

After that, we came back down to San Antonio and made a stop at Central Market to pick up some stuff to grill out at the house. We got stuff to make burgers along with chips, salsa and guac!

Rhonda and I enjoying the patio!

Mike is in his doman...

On Sunday morning, we made plans for Ellie and I to ride our bikes along the Salado Creek while Mom and Rhonda walked the same path. Mike and Geoff would then meet us at Los Patios and we'd all have some brunch.

We're ready to ride!

Walking off our brunch on the grounds at Los Patios

Mom really enjoyed going to collect the chickens' eggs each day. On Sunday, we got 2!

The chickens have been laying their eggs in a bag of leaves for  about 4 months now...

Later that day, we opted to check out the Andy Warhol "Fame and Misfortune" exhibit at the McNay Art Museum. I had seen many pieces at the Andy Warhol museum in Pittsburgh, but there were some different ones. We also took a guided tour of the exhibit and I learned some new things.

On Monday evening, when Mike and Rhonda got off work, we went down to Market Square to check out Fiesta de los Reyes, basically a block party type event. It was free, with street food and live music. We ate at Mi Tierra on the patio where we could people-watch.

On Tuesday, Mom and I laid out by the pool for a little while. Then we got some picnic fixin's and we all went down to Brackenridge Park for a picnic to celebrate Mom's birthday before checking out the Fiesta display at the Witte Museum.

The perfect evening for a picnic by the river!

The Witte has some amazing Coronation Gowns in their collection.

While we were there, we took in a few of the Witte's permanent exhibits, also.

Me in the Weather Center (of course)!

"Hey! I think I see our house!"

When we got home, we finished celebrating Mom's birthday with some cupcakes and ice cream!

On Wednesday, we took in some more Fiesta at the Lackland Military Parade. A couple years ago, Mike marched in the parade. This year he met us in the stands to watch with us.

The next day, Mom had to go back home. We had a fun visit and we enjoyed getting out to celebrate Fiesta 2012!

A Wild Chicken Chase

I was in Birmingham last week for a conference (on my birthday, no less!). I had a great time and it was fun to meet up with colleagues and hear the talks. Mike picked me up from the airport Wednesday night. After the welcome home hug and kiss he said "I have some bad news, kinda." UH OH! What happened?! He went on, "I can't find Omelet." It was dark and poor Mike works such long hours that he leaves the house before the sun comes up and gets home after it sets. This is not optimal for caring for chickens. He told me about how he'd searched the entire backyard with a flashlight and still couldn't find her, but he was positive he saw her that morning. I told him not to worry about it and we'd look together when we got home. As we were looking, we found a pile of black feathers next to the Fowlamo. Yep, something got her. We weren't sure what, but we at least established that it was Ana who was missing, not Omelet. 

The next morning, I went out to check on the chickens and I heard one squawking that wasn't one of the two in front of me. It was Ana! I ran into the alley behind our house to see if I could tell where she was. That didn't help so I went back into our yard and peered through the fence to the neighbor's yard. There she was! No problem! I'll just go over there later this morning and get her back! Perfect! I rang the doorbell about 10am with no answer. I left a note, "Saw you found our chicken! Here's my number, call me and I'll come take her back."

Hours went by with no call. Of course not. It's Thursday. They're at work. I checked again before heading to a function that evening. Still no answer. Mike left the function early and I asked if he could knock on the door and see if he could get Ana back. 

When I came home, Mike informed me that there was still no answer and our note was still on the door. However, there was a 2nd note from our across the street neighbors saying they, too, had lost a chicken and were wondering if it was theirs (an e-mail had been sent out to the neighborhood saying a chicken was found and being kept at our neighbors house). We really need to get to know our neighbors better.

The next day I tried ringing the bell again, but a bit earlier while I saw a car in the driveway. No answer and I didn't see or hear Ana in the backyard anymore. Around 4pm, I got a call from a guy who said he's friends with our neighbor and he had found and captured Ana.  A woman who lives on the next block over had responded to his e-mail and said she also has chickens and would take ours in until the owner was contacted (the more I think about this the less I understand why he didn't a) call me, b) knock on our door, or c) toss the chicken over our fence). He gave me her number and I called her. Well, apparently Ana didn't get along with her chickens so she put Ana in her neighbor's yard. She gave me her neighbor's number. I called him after running a couple errands to allow him some time to get home from work. He was there and I drove over immediately and brought her home.

Mission: Accomplished