Woke up at six thirty. This “no caffeine” thing that I have been doing for nearly two weeks now is really making me not sleep very much. It is amazing how much of my need for sleep is induced by the use of caffeine.
Liesl had a tough morning and got in some trouble and had to go back to bed but it really isn’t fair for her because she and Luciana have completely different sleep patterns and Luciana makes Liesl unable to sleep much of the time. Luciana has a terrible time going to bed but is bright eyed and bushy tailed the instant she wakes up at seven in the morning. Liesl goes to bed easily but needs to sleep in and wake up slowly. Having them share a room is a little challenging.
Left for work at eight. Very, very slow day. Was at my desk and my foot was really hurting this morning. It was driving me crazy (this is the damage from the pallet jack ending up on it last week while we were buying the treadmill) so I was getting concerned that maybe something was broken so I made an appointment and run to CareNow to get X-rays taken of it.
This is my first time doing anything with our new insurance and I had forgotten to have the card with me. So I ran home first to pick it up since CareNow is not that far from the house and is a bit past it. So not really out of the way at all.
As I approached the house I noticed that one block over all of the neighbours were out standing on the side street. I thought that they must be having a barbecue or something. It was very strange. It was about ten thirty, so way too early to find everyone out on the street. This is Texas, people don’t stand out on the street and talk to each other just as a general rule. I came around the corner and could barely get through, cars just were not moving. Then I noticed the Denton County Sheriff blocking the street at my corner. I was able to get to the house but go nowhere else. Then I saw the street behind him full of police and emergency vehicles and a fire truck sitting on our street.
I pulled up to the house and Dominica met me at the door. The house directly behind ours, the one that comes onto the alley square on with us and the only one that has windows that can see into our windows, was being raided by the Denton SWAT team! The SWAT truck, or at least one of them, was parked directly against our back fence so looking out the back door meant looking right at the truck. Dominica had been hiding with the girls in the front bedroom to keep them away from the windows and the back of the house. She had been startled by SWAT having sneaked into the alley and suddenly blasting away on the megaphone telling people to come out of the house. After a bit she heard some explosions, likely smoke bombs or some sort of tear gas to make people exit the house. There are several dogs that live in there, hopefully they are alright.
We don’t know the neighbours there at all. They moved in pretty recently replacing the Softlayer Engineer who used to be there for most of the time that we have owned the house (the one with the crazy barbecue wagon setup.) These new ones have likely been there a year at most and probably a bit less.
Not much news. So that was happening as I left to go to CareNow and get X-rays.
It took about forty-five minutes at CareNow. Got X-rays and the doctor agreed that it could be broken and X-rays were needed, so I had done the right thing. It turned out that there was no breakage. Likely just a very deep soft-tissue contusion. So all is well, I just need to take it easy. No real damage of any sort. Basically a non-surface bruise. So that is a relief. No idea how I would handle this week with a broken foot.
From CareNow I drove down to Irving and stopped quickly at Men’s Warehouse and grabbed two new dress shirts as none of the ones that fit me have been laundered so I needed new ones. Really need to find a dry cleaners!
Then to Subway for a salad that I ate at my desk back at the office where I worked a very slow afternoon until four thirty. It is just four thirty now as I am writing this update and I am going to go ahead and post for the day. I am leaving in a few minutes to head to the airport and off to NYC and then to Connecticut. I won’t have much time to post so I will do my best to add any trip details to tomorrow’s posting.