As autumn began, I was reminded forcefully that I only have a year remaining until I have lived half a century.

Because it’s been three months since I last updated this blog (our 11th house-iversary), I felt compelled to offer this quick update of our lives since then. One thing that happened was that three of us celebrated birthdays — my son is the lone outlier on the household birthday calendar but the rest of us crammed our births into a 22-day period in early autumn. This year, my wife passed a major (traditionally unmentionable) birthday milestone and I had huge candles on my cake that proclaimed “4” and “9”, the last birthday I’ll celebrate during my first half-century of life. This gave me pause for thought, upon which I might later expound in a separate entry, about how few of us complete the second half-century.

As one might expect, many things occurred during these past three months, most of which were normal every day occurrences that I might have included in blog entries a few years ago when I tried to blog daily, but now I (think I) have matured a bit and will only hit the highlights.

• Soccer: (August & September) B participated in “fall” soccer (most of it takes place during summer) in Harker Heights. Again, he did well though his team did not (the Owls finished their season with zero wins and only one tie). We were lucky that few of the days were as hot as we normally expect in late summer.
• Chess Videos: (August thru present) In late August, I began creating and publishing chess-related content on YouTube, under the name Random Chess Person. The idea for this was similar to the idea of my blog, which was “if I’m writing these things anyway, I might as well publish them for anyone who’s interested.” Because I am studying chess and analyzing my games, often talking aloud as I do so. Why not click “record” first and then upload it later?
• Garbage Disposal: (Oct. 5) After several months of living with a broken under-sink garbage disposal unit — like many things, it quit just after passing the end of its warranty — as well as keeping a large bowl under there due to occasional leaks, we finally decided to replace the thing. It required just over an hour for two plumbers to extract the faulty unit and install a newer, more powerful one. They also replaced the sink drains and pipes underneath the sink. (This paragraph was added 2021.11.26)
• NYC Trip: (October) On or about the weekend of Indigenous Peoples’ Day, my spouse and children flew to New York City in order to visit family and friends. The children got to see a few NYC landmarks (like Central Park, the big library with stone lions out front, etc.) for the first time, see a few maternal relatives, and visit with friends M has known since childhood (and friends we met later on Flickr!) By all accounts, they had a good time and were well-behaved, though R said later she did not want to return. “There are too many homeless people and anti-vaxxers”, she said, which was a good time to point out that we have plenty of both here in Texas; it’s just that we rarely see either.
• Switching Electric Companies: (October) We switched electric companies (again), due to skyrocketing rates. I found a plan with another company that had rates about equal to our previous company’s rates before the skyrocket (but still higher than before). Interestingly, in the local and regional news, the reason given for rising electric rates is at least partially due to the winter storm earlier this year. In related news, I have also read that the electric grid in Texas has STILL not been winterized or upgraded in any way from the state in which it failed in February. So if it gets cold again this winter, we will likely experience another blackout.
• Property Taxes: (October) For the third consecutive year, I paid our property taxes in person (we can pay online, but the service fee is something like SIX HUNDRED DOLLARS for using a credit or debit card). I was the youngest person in the line, by at least a decade.
• Boil Water Order: (October) I almost forgot about this one. In mid-October, the entire city was subjected to a “boil water order”, due to test results at water treatment facilities. It felt like February all over again. This time was a little different: we did actually have water pressure, so we could shower and run the dishwasher and so on. And we had a backstock of bottled water leftover from February’s shenanigans. But this time it lasted for nearly two weeks. Infrastructure is truly not our state’s strongpoint. (This paragraph added 2021.11.21)
• Child Vaccines: (early November) RnB each got the first half of the approved-for-children Covid vaccine, within days of it becoming available in our area. In a few weeks, they’ll get their second half. I was encouraged to hear from them that many of their friends and playmates were also quickly getting the vaccine too.
• Water Heater: (Nov. 5) After 11 years, the extremely low-end water heater that came with our house failed for the last time (previously, only the single heating element had failed and we’ve replaced it at least twice). We bought a new one (dual element this time) and a professional plumber installed it the same day we called them. This set us back a few months on our savings plan, especially as it came right after paying the property taxes, auto insurance, and the trip to New York.
• Windshield: The same day our water heater was replaced, a mysterious crack appeared and began to spread on the windshield of M’s car. There was no impact mark; just a spreading crack. It’s below the line of sight but will still have to be replaced before inspection in March.
• New House Plan: I’ve mentioned before that our plan all along was to pay off this house and save for a down payment on the next one, both of which we did already. This year was supposed to be the year we seriously shopped for (and possibly bought) our next (and final) home. But housing prices surged unreasonably, so we put our plan on hold. One school of thought says to buy as soon as possible before the prices get even higher. I disagree; prices are already higher than is reasonable for our area (where there is no housing shortage) and think we should wait until the bubble bursts. Either way, after the water heater and other large expenditures, any big spending plan has to wait a bit.
• Thermostat Failure: (Nov. 15) Yesterday, we awoke to a blinking thermostat, which wasn’t cured by changing its batteries. I believe (hope!) that it’s simply a failure of the 11-year-old digital thermostat, because it works okay on a couple of settings, but goes haywire on others. I bought a replacement thermostat and plan to install it later this week. If it’s more than that (like the entire HVAC system)... Well, I really don’t want to think about that right now.
• Basketball: (November) For a few weeks, B has been practicing basketball in Harker Heights. His first game was last night and the final score (which isn’t officially recorded) was 6-6. B is among the older kids on the team, but still one of the smallest. He’s very energetic though, almost absurdly so, which helps a lot.
• School Choir: (November) After an application process, R has joined the school choir which will begin after-school practices soon. I think she will enjoy it — and I think she finally began to miss the camaraderie she previously enjoyed in dance class (which she quit last year).
• Covid Booster: (Nov. 24) I got my booster (Pfizer) at CVS. The following day (Thanksgiving), I was not feeling well, but all side effects were minor (the worst was a mild headache).

Conclusion

I think those are the important highlights — if I forgot something, I hope it doesn’t hurt anyone’s feelings. Please chalk it up to my aging brain. I’m almost 50!