Texas Fall/Winter thread!

[bindian]

Have a crew stuck in Houston because of rain last night, hopefully they will be hard at it tonight. (dont think it will be as cold that far South.) Up here in the "North 40", it will be plenty cold, near 21* they say, I will leave it up to my guys if they can "handle" it or not, work = Christmas money so we'll see.

It suppose to be below freezing in Houston tonight for about 4 hours. It is suppose to be 26 here for a low and between 8-10 hours of freezing temperatures. I'm about 45 minutes north of downtown Houston.
hugs, Brandi

 

[Western]

It suppose to be below freezing in Houston tonight for about 4 hours. It is suppose to be 26 here for a low and between 8-10 hours of freezing temperatures. I'm about 45 minutes north of downtown Houston.
hugs, Brandi

Well, they are out of town and likely "homesick":laughing: So they will work if they can. Me, I took off tonight right now it's 18*, no wind, but cooler than my old self cares to work in. Funny thing, I will sit on the side of a mountian in Colorado all day in a blizzard to catch a Bull elk :confused3:

 

[NativeSon]

25* this morning, but the wind has laid down. Yesterday's wind made it really tough. The front is through so the wind should be lite today.

Charlie

 

[mikim]

3/4 in of rain yesterday and 27* this a.m........not so bad. Will be warm enuff this afternoon.

 

[Bird]

17 degrees this morning, going for a high of 50 (maybe) and not even a slight chance of precipitation before Thursday night.

 

[jinman]

It's 14 F here at 6:30 this morning. Brrr!

We are making Christmas fruit baskets this year to give to family and friends in our neighborhood. Except for a few candies and nuts, most of the fruit will be California Navel Oranges. In mid-November, I ordered 40 lb of Navel Oranges from Pearson Ranch in California. 40 lb is about 80 oranges if they aren't huge. It's a normal orange crate/box full. About a week ago, my oranges arrived. Oops! They doubled my order by mistake. They only charged for one order, but sent me 80 lb of oranges.:shocked: After the initial shock wore off, I told Kathy that they had just provided me with Christmas presents.:cool2::thumbsup: BTW: The oranges are deeeee-licious! :licking:

EDIT: One more thing. Since August 8th of this year, I've been on a diet. I started out around 265 and last Saturday my scales said 202 lb. That's something to celebrate. I didn't overeat around Thanksgiving and could be under 200 lb by Christmas. If so, it will be the first time in 10 years I've been under 200. That will be my Christmas present to myself. I feel like a new man: not tired, not hurting, always on the go. :dance1:

 

[Bird]

EDIT: One more thing. Since August 8th of this year, I've been on a diet. I started out around 265 and last Saturday my scales said 202 lb. That's something to celebrate. I didn't overeat around Thanksgiving and could be under 200 lb by Christmas. If so, it will be the first time in 10 years I've been under 200. That will be my Christmas present to myself. I feel like a new man: not tired, not hurting, always on the go.

Congratulations . . . and I'm jealous. I guess I just lack will power; staying right around 230 pounds, which of course is 50 pounds more than when I retired.

 

[txdon]

Jim and Mike congratulations on your will power and weight loss.
Now the hard part - sustaining it for the long term. That means you no longer calling it a diet - it's just the way you eat - from now on - forever - and even though you might miss some of the types and quantity of foods, you know you are better off and don't feel deprived (well at least not deprived enough to start gaining).
In a year I hope to congratulate you on your new lifestyle.:thumbsup:

 

[jinman]

Thanks Don! This type of eating has been my lifestyle in the past, but I just let it slip until I got careless. I now have one restaurant meal per week and eat lots of salads, low-cal soups, and veggies. Beans are one of my staples. The primary things are the DO NOT EATS for me. I don't eat breads, fried foods, or sweets. For something sweet, I eat fruit. Staying busy and away from the kitchen is a big help. I don't miss junk food or fast food at all. I'm to the point now that if I don't have a big salad at a meal, I feel like something is missing. Luckily, there are very few vegetables I don't love. I even tolerate raw cucumbers.

 

[bindian]

It's 14 F here at 6:30 this morning. Brrr!

We are making Christmas fruit baskets this year to give to family and friends in our neighborhood. Except for a few candies and nuts, most of the fruit will be California Navel Oranges. In mid-November, I ordered 40 lb of Navel Oranges from Pearson Ranch in California. 40 lb is about 80 oranges if they aren't huge. It's a normal orange crate/box full. About a week ago, my oranges arrived. Oops! They doubled my order by mistake. They only charged for one order, but sent me 80 lb of oranges.:shocked: After the initial shock wore off, I told Kathy that they had just provided me with Christmas presents.:cool2::thumbsup: BTW: The oranges are deeeee-licious! :licking:

Shame on you Jim for not buying Texas oranges.
hugs, Brandi

 

[jinman]

Shame on you Jim for not buying Texas oranges.
hugs, Brandi

Brandi, would they send me a double order?:laughing: You are absolutely right. My intention was to buy a box of California navel oranges and then buy a box from Texas to make a comparison. However, there must have been a conspiracy to keep me from buying Texas fruit by sending me so many from California.:confused3:

Actually, several years ago, my wife and I were in California and bought some navel oranges right at the orange grove. They were so good, I decided to buy some from both CA and TX. I will still buy from the Texas growers, but not before Christmas. They'll still have plenty of oranges in the valley in January when I finally get rid of all the ones I have. Besides, why would I want to give away my Texas oranges? I'll keep all of them for myself.

 

[Lou66]

Congratulation on the weight lost Jim,, I am on a reduction plan myself but having seen the results you have.. I have lost about 24 lbs in the last year,, Jan first,, still have about 30 to go before I get to 200..
We have a lot of oranges in my area of the woods,, lots of people grow them in their back, front, side yards.. so everybody is always giving us oranges, tangerine and grapefruit,, I know they mean well but you can only eat so many of them.. But I give away tomatoes most of the year to pay them back.. Lou

 

[Bird]

I always knew that California, Florida, and Texas were citrus producers, but we spent the month February, 1990, in the Phoenix area and were given more locally grown, freshly picked oranges and grapefruit than we could eat. And while we like the Navel oranges, we've been buying the Clementines at Walmart. They're small, quick and easy to peel, and quite tasty.

 

[jinman]

Lou, peaches, plums, apples, pears, and nut trees all do well here, but this is just not a good citrus area because of our late frosts. Citrus can handle our heat, but not the late frosts. I believe that's the major reason we don't see much citrus here.

Bird, I love the little Clementines, but I think these navel oranges are just as tasty and not as dry. Also, the Clementines can be pretty expensive. I have an old bartender's trick for peeling oranges using the small rounded handle of a fork or spoon. I can "peel" a whole orange and leave it in the skin by only making two small cuts at the stem and navel end. My grandson loves it when I give him an orange to eat that is loose inside the peel.

 

[bindian]

Jim,
I'm partial to Texas oranges because we used to sale oranges and grapefruit in high school FFA. My family is not big on grapefruit, but the oranges we bought were thin skinned and awesome to eat. Every now in then, when I can not find Texas oranges in the stores, I purchase non Texas oranges. Not the same. I am spoiled.
hugs, Brandi

 

[txdon]

Jim, don't be so sure those were not California oranges grown by Texans. My grandfathers brothers left Texas and started orange groves in California.
Hope this helps the non-Texas product angst.

 

[jinman]

Hope this helps the non-Texas product angst.

I had angst once, but cured it by letting the sweet juice of one of my oranges run down my chin and drip onto my shirt. :laughing:

 

[pacerron]

I had angst once, but cured it by letting the sweet juice of one of my oranges run down my chin and drip onto my shirt. :laughing:

If you get much skinnier the drip will miss your shirt and hit the tip of your boot which you haven't been able to see for years.

 

[mikim]

Jim and Mike congratulations on your will power and weight loss.
Now the hard part - sustaining it for the long term. That means you no longer calling it a diet - it's just the way you eat - from now on - forever - and even though you might miss some of the types and quantity of foods, you know you are better off and don't feel deprived (well at least not deprived enough to start gaining).
In a year I hope to congratulate you on your new lifestyle.:thumbsup:

Thanx Don ...I'm not doing as well as Jim but I'm hanging in there. I did gain 5 back over thanksgiving but my goal is to be at 195 area by April. Not trying to lose it all at once ....took several years to get into that poor diet ....figure by making changes slowly my eating habits will become more automatic. Funny though ...Jim and I seem to be on the same page...I started my "diet" Aug 9. I went from 266 to 216 but am currently at 220....so I still have work to do.

 

[Bird]

the Clementines can be pretty expensive

Yep, I was in a Walmart this morning and they had some fine looking sweet Navel oranges in 8 lb. bags. It figured out at $0.81 a pound. Their Clementines in 3 lb. bags figured out at $1.32 a pound.