God Bless Texas

Austin - Willy, Paul, and me

Paul and I headed south to Texas last weekend to visit our friend Paula and catch a football game. They play a lot of that in Texas. We'd talked about attending the ISU vs. Texas Longhorns game in Austin the past few years - and finally pulled the trigger this year. (a gun analogy seems appropriate - right?)

We landed around noon on Friday - just in time for some barbecue. Paula Bacon picked us up at the airport. She is a longtime friend from my hometown of Atlantic, Iowa. We've been pals since we met at Mrs. Luin's nursery school over 55 years ago. Through the years Paula and I didn't always keep touch. When reconnected at a class reunion and have been fast friends ever since.

Paula has lived in Austin, Texas for over twenty years - a real Texas gal! Not only that, her sister Jo and family live there too. A year ago, their mother Jean moved from her home in Arkansas to Austin to be closer to her family. Austin has quite an Atlantic connection. Recently our Class of 1976 glue guy, Roger Underwood, was in the area and put together a dinner that included Paula, Ted Simpson, Dave Stuetelberg, Steve Boots and Jan Kramer who all live in the area. Atlantic south?

Paula took us to Terry Black's Barbecue first thing. Meat anyone? The brisket was delicious! It gave us enough energy to go for a five-mile walking tour of the downtown Austin area. It was a gorgeous day for a walk - people were everywhere with dogs, bikes, strollers and just walking like us. We crossed the river to visit a new Central Library - which Paula, like me, is into. It's very cool. Libraries. like gourmet grocery stores are my happy places.

Crossing the river

We walked through the historic Driskill Hotel - beautifully refurbished. The artwork in the bar is worth the visit. It's fun to see the stores and restaurants downtown. I liked this frozen yogurt store. In the shadow of the Texas Capitol building, we stopped at a hotel bar with a deck for a refreshment. Later, we headed to the Blind Pig rooftop where ISU had set up their Friday night festivities. Did I mention Iowa State fans travel well to away games? We had high hopes for this game - B12 implications. It was fun to see all the Cardinal and Gold clad folks representing. There are a lot of Iowans in Texas - and they aren't all from Atlantic!

View from the library

Blind Pig

We didn't stay to party the night away with the Clone fans as we wanted to get a feel for the local music scene that Austin is known for. Paula favors the Saxon Pub. The band that plays the early (6 PM) set has some musicians that have been in famous bands. Now they play here, every Friday night. There is really no dance floor, but people still find a way to dance. We had a sweet table on a riser - with a great view. What a fun day!

Saxon Pub

Paula made us a big breakfast Saturday. We watched Gameday as we're all football fans. Paula and I text each other frequently throughout the season as she's a Longhorn fan and keeps an eye on my Clones too. She and I had a great visit with her mother who lives close by. We talked all things Atlantic.

with Steve

Then it was time to go. Paula had snagged ISU Alumni Association tailgate party and game tickets from our classmate Steve Boots who serves on their board. We parked in a nearby ramp and walked to the nearby neighborhood area gated off for Cyclone faithful. Guess what? More barbecue - and beer. We snagged our classmate Steve for a photo - even though he was busy running the event. The weather was nice - good times! We walked down by the stadium - Bevo Blvd. It's crazy, like the state fair wrapped up with football. They sell beer. Hmmm. Not sure if ISU will get on that bandwagon. We ran into the Downing family as we watched the ISU team, including frosh Trevor Downing, enter the stadium. Then we watched the Horns - it was senior night. There is a lot of tradition.

Darrell K. Royal Texas Memorial Stadium is something to behold. It's big! (like everything in TX, Right?). We had good seats, on the end zone in the first deck. We were surrounded by fans from both teams. Texas led start to finish, so they were very nice. I'm sorry to say ISU didn't show up this game. We looked intimidated and never got anything going on offense or defense. I've been to games in Boulder, Norman and long ago, Lincoln. This was the coolest gameday experience away from home. Thanks Austin! (and Paula). Several people talked to us after the game as we talked to our car - with upbeat messages about the direction of ISU's program. Nothing like losing to the home team to encourage goodwill messages, but it was nice.

The traffic cleared out pretty efficiently (better than Ames). We decided we were hungry and had a late night meal at Kerbey Lane Cafe. We got to Paula's late - midnight? She dropped us off at the airport the next morning for a 9:30 a.m. flight - back to the frozen tundra. There were a lot of Cyclone fans at the airport. We gave each other that "chin up old chap" look. We're Cyclone fans - we're here for the duration! We had basketball in Hawaii to look forward to. (Sneak peek - that went okay, looking forward to getting our full team back).

I'd like to go to more B12 venues. I wonder if I have classmates living there? haha

 

Language of Love

Bundled with my baby

Paul and I attended a Marc Cohn concert Thursday - he of "Walking in Memphis" fame. He is a singer-songwriter whose songs tell stories - about his family, career and what else - love. One love song, "Perfect Love" is about his brother and wife who have been married for over fifty years. Marc says his brother tells him the song should be entitled something more like "Enduring Love" - because no love is perfect - especially love in marriage. True dat.

Marc Cohn Temple of Performing Arts

pre-concert martini

It may be hard for newlyweds to believe, but that giddy romantic love doesn't last. Not for 36 years anyway. It takes perseverance and some laughter. My honey and I had that this past week....he's been bowhunting. It's that time of year - when I usually start feeling a little cranky. It's my birthday dammit, and he spends days at a time in a tree. I don't mind alone time - but it can get old.

So last Friday I got a "take and bake" HyVee pizza that we ate after he rolled in from his tree down in southern Iowa. I ate a couple pieces sitting my comfy chair. When I went to put my plate in the dishwasher, I saw a black thing on the floor by my ottoman. Hmmm - sock fuzz? I picked it up and immediately recoiled - flinging it to the ground - it was squishy and warm. Worm! I appealed to Paul to save me. He picked it up - putting it right up to his face. Olive - he declared. We had a good laughed! He wished he would have popped it into his mouth.

On Sunday I was getting ready for a nice warm bath when I noticed a bug in my happy place - my tub. "Bug in the Tub", I yelled. Paul appeared in the blink of an eye. "Backrub?" he inquired (that's what he thought he heard), always hopeful, he. I pointed to the offending critter. The perks of marriage - bug removal. Yes, I'm a bug wimp.

What does the Internet think of you? Judging from the advertisements I see when I'm online, it's got me pegged as someone who really needs old lady slippers, pee proof underwear. I've tried to click on the slippers to get rid of the ad that hounds me on the New York Times. Even if I wanted slippers, now that they are trolling me, I refuse to consider Mahabis brand. Ever. And I'm not in need of pee proof undies - unless my girls make me belly laugh with a full bladder (bladder weakness courtesy of 2 9 pounder babies I believe).

huddled in the trailer - pregame

Yesterday's ISU game was one of the coldest I've attended. Big shout out to our fave tailgater host/engineer Kevin. He rigged up the generator to 2 heaters and we sat inside the small trailer eating soup, drinking beer. I suited up in ski pants and many layers with HotHands, toe warmers. Ugly but functional. Still, I shivered. Clones are now bowl eligible! This team just keeps winning. After the game we sat in the trailer again. McKims and Ehreckes are just fun to hang with. We laugh so hard - mostly at ourselves (but I didn't need the pee panties). Phew! Paul and I are off to visit our pal Paula Bacon in Austin for the Texas game next weekend. WooHoo. Hope there are no bugs there. 

Robyn sent me this pic on my bday. Friends for going on 58 years. We were adorable. Wonder who cut our bangs? Mom always put me in cute dresses for parties.

Medical Test Dummy?

I've suffered from migraine headaches since college. When I first started experiencing them, I thought they were extreme hangovers. Now I know they were more likely the result of dehydration from a night of beer drinking.

Partying at the White Rose in Atlantic

As I aged, my body found more headache triggers - menstrual cycle, air pressure, looking into the sun for long periods. In the early 1980's there weren't many meds for migraines. My family practice doc prescribed something that kinda helped.

By the time we moved to Creston and had kids, I was spending about one day a month out of commission - lying in my darkened room. Twice Paul took me to the hospital where they gave me injections to relieve the pain. If someone had given me a drill before the pain subsided, I may have put it into my eye. It's hard to describe migraine pain to those who haven't ever experienced one. 

Finally, I got a referral to see a neurologist in Des Moines. One CTScan later my headaches were pronounced likely migraines. Dr. Brenton tried various meds on me - but my cranium (and the rest of me) is a tough nut to crack. Finally, a new med came out as a self-injectable shot - Imitrex. At $10 a shot, I had an inner self-debate every time my head began to hurt. Is this headache "worthy" of a shot? I didn't have the guts to push the button on the injector - so Paul had to do it. He didn't have a problem jabbing me! Oh, the wonderful feeling when the pain started to ebb.

Our new house - Creston 1998

A few years later, Imitrex came up with a pill version of the med. Yay! I switched to a female neurologist who seemed to better understand how hormones can affect women and brain pain. Today, I have a different woman neuro. I've blogged about her before - Dr. Schmolck. She's very direct and helps me manage my migraines.

And about that. At my September appointment with Dr. Schmolck, we talked about new meds on the market for migraines. Finally after all these years! I had read about them - a story about a woman in Davenport who had almost daily attacks who had been helped.

In the past four years, each fall I've suffered from frequent migraines - 5 days at a time. They do respond to the medicine I take, but the medicine takes its toll. The doc said to call when this started - so today was the day after a long week of gobbling high powered meds nearly every day. The nurse showed me how to self-inject aimovig. I will do this once a month to see if it helps reduce the number of headaches I get. I'm happy to report that the self-injector is much easier than the old Imitrex one used to be and I was able to handle it no problem.

I hope this helps. I used to think fall was my favorite season. I do like it - but it doesn't bring out the best in my head. And I like heat. I pick summer. Wish aimovig and me luck!