Sunday, November 5, 1972

Nov 5, 1972

13119 Hermitage, Houston

Dear Family,

It’s a little before 3:30 PM on this rather hazy Sunday afternoon and before we leave to pick up Palma from the bus stop at Katy (she spent the weekend with Muriel in Austin as Friday was a day with no school — some teachers’ convention or something — and she’s coming back on the bus this afternoon) I’ll get started on my weekly letter. Katy is a small town about 10 or 15 miles west of us and it’s just as close to us to pick up someone from the bus from Austin as it is to go downtown to the station there — there are no stops between the two places. As I write I’m also watching the football [game]between the Dallas Cowboys & the San Diego Chargers, being played in San Diego — right now the Chargers aren’t doing too well mostly due to their own miscues.

Now, as I resume writing, we’ve back from Katy and I’m back to watching the football game — San Diego seems to be doing somewhat better now but they are still behind by 10 points. Palma reported she had a goof time but decided to come home a little early (originally her plan was to come home this evening) as she said she & Muriel started getting in each other’s hair, as sisters will. Though as a rule the two of them get along pretty well together. She went with Muriel to her philosophy class, which is Muriel’s favorite, and found it quite interesting.

She doesn’t think much of Austin as a future college for her, tho she does think it resembles Berkeley in some ways (the trees & arrangement of campus relative to the town). So it’s a question where she’ll end up going to college, and for that matter where Muriel will be next year. Their inclinations are strongly in the west and I rather wonder what we would do about staying here in Houston if both of them end up in school on the west coast.

Palma said Friday was a beautiful day in Austin — it was quite a rainy day here. Just before I left for work there were several loud thunderclaps and I was hardly in the ride car when the rain cut loose — it kept on pretty heavy all the way to work and then off & on all day; all in all some 1.2 inches came. Yesterday tho was beautiful here with a clear blue sky and quite moderate temperatures.

It would have been nice to spend all day yesterday outside doing gardening jobs but I did only a modicum of gardening. Instead I used most of the day doing a wiring job that I had been putting off — namely connecting up the chandelier in the family room that we took out of Jean’s dad’s house and brought with us. I’d installed it some time ago but hadn’t done the wiring, connected it up or installed the switch. Not being a very expert electrician it took me all the day to get the job done, but now it’s working and it contributes some needed light in the family room. By the end of the day, what with all the crawling around in the attic and going up & down the ladder to the attic umpteen times, I was all ready for a bath, a snooze in my easy chair & bed. Today after lunch I took care of another job that’s been on the list for awhile — patching some places in the dishwasher where the plastic lining had come loose. This I did with some epoxy glue, as recommended by the GE service company here.

Laurel had a rather unpleasant experience today. She had gone outside to get the car and knelt down in the grass and immediately felt a sharp pain in her knee. She came inside and presently she began to feel upset to her stomach and in her own word to feel just “crummy.” After about an hour we began to feel worried so Jean called the doctor, actually talked to his wife I think, and found out that she’d probably been bitten by a fire ant. Perhaps you’ve read about how they’ve penetrated the southern states. Anyway the insect bite was pretty painful and the accompanying upset stomach is a typical reaction. Presently the side effects department and as of now she’s pretty normal — but I’m sure she’ll think twice about kneeling in the grass again — or of walking around barefoot outside. Texas is truly a “buggy” place. I guess I’ll let this be all for now.

With love,

Carl