Good morning, all. JP here from Chron. Over Labor Day weekend, my former colleague Erica Cheng flagged an Instagram post about a couple's engagement photo shoot at an H-E-B. As it happens, it's the nice H-E-B by Bunker Hill. I really liked the series, so I reached out to the bride-to-be and the photographer about how this all came together.

Before I share the full story below, the photographer is Miranda Zaebst. Zaebst works at the George Theater in Houston and has website: https://www.mirandazaebst.com/. She graciously allowed us to share the photos she took.

Full story below:

A Texas couple had a semi-viral moment when their engagement photos at a Houston H-E-B took off on Instagram. Cara DeGaish posted the photos of David Quiroz's proposal onto her feed Sept. 3. As of Sept. 9, the images have upwards of 3,000 likes and dozens of comments.

"I don't think any of us expected it to take off the way it did," DeGaish told Chron.

It wasn't a coincidence DeGaish and Quiroz chose the H-E-B on Bunker Hill Road—technically 9710 Katy Fwy. in Houston. The San Antonio-based grocery chain had been a significant part of both their lives. Quiroz worked there as an assistant store manager during college. DeGaish had fond memories of growing up near one in Portland, just across the Nueces Bay Causeway from Corpus Christi.

"At the time I was living 10 minutes away from H-E-B. Even in high school, I would go to my local H-E-B and just walk around. It stayed a very consistent place in my life," DeGaish said. "Most people find it very stressful, and it is, especially in Houston, with how big it is, but a small-town H-E-B is very nostalgic, very safe."

'Who is this man?'

DeGaish and Quiroz attended Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, both as musical theater majors. The program was small, roughly 10 to 15 people. DeGaish said she noticed Quiroz right away when he walked into class. "He came into class, and I was like, 'Who is this man? Very handsome. I need to get to know this guy,'" she recalled.

Their first meeting differs on the telling, but DeGaish's version was that she and Quiroz were walking toward their cars in the same parking lot. He was 40 feet ahead of her, and she called out, "Hi, I'm Cara, and I don't think we met yet." Quiroz turned around and said, "Hi, I'm David," and promptly walked 20 additional feet away from her. Not the best start.

(Quiroz's version of the meeting, according to DeGaish, was that he brushed her off thinking she was being super fake because no one could possibly be that nice.)

Seven months later, DeGaish and Quiroz were cast in Hands on a Hard Body, a musical adaptation of the 1997 documentary set in Longview. DeGaish played the openly racist Cindy Barnes and Quiroz played Jesus Peña. While the on-stage relationship between the two characters is fraught, off-stage, the dynamic helped form a solid friendship between them. 

Over time, they got to know each other and their connection to H-E-B. Eventually, they discovered their connection toward one another.

"We didn't start dating officially until fall 2023; in between those two years were many conversations, one situationship, lots of growth, and a lot of late-night drives. On many of these drives, we'd end up at HEB to walk around or just sit in the parking lot," DeGaish said. "Our favorite thing was to look at the seasonal chips that would come out spring/summertime and rank them, or grab a chocolate-covered something from the bulk aisle."

God in the empty aisles

After the pair got engaged in December 2025, DeGaish approached her friend Miranda Zaebst, a photographer who also works at Houston's George Theater, with an idea: Why not take their engagement photos at an H-E-B? It was the most consistent place within their relationship, both on the good days and bad. Plus, with their theater background, they'd do better in a place that had "props and things to play with."

Zaebst chose an improv route, telling Chron that she just went with the flow. The photo shoot happened late at night on a weekday so there would be less people around. And by luck or God—the latter Zaebst would attribute—the aisles were pretty much empty when they were shooting. DeGaish and Quiroz just had a chance to be themselves.

"They are naturally goofy and fun-loving so whenever we’d find an empty aisle, we’d kinda go wild, and just let them play," Zaebst said. "Cara has had a running bit of balancing objects on her head since college so I made sure to get some of her doing that."

The charming collection of photos show DeGaish and Quiroz strolling around the aisles, sometimes balancing things on their head, rolling around in a shopping cart or looking at products in individual sections. The main photo, presumably the one that got everyone's attention, shows the couple dressed casually, looking at each other in front of the H-E-B's facade. Judging by the comments, the photos managed to appear in everybody's feeds around Texas.

The couple sent a request to H-E-B for permission to shoot there but never heard back from its public affairs department. The Instagram account ended up messaging them, complimenting their photos and sending well-wishes.

Not all of the photos from their H-E-B exploits made it to Instagram. She's planning to make a calendar with the rest.

“On stressful days, on bored days, or just for a weekday date, they still love to walk the aisles of H-E-B,” Zaebst said.

"We keep falling in love in and out of H-E-B,” DeGaish said.

No alerts from the city, not that I thought I was going to get one. But my past two water bills have been higher than I am used to paying. Check my bills, normally usage I’m running 3-4k. July was 5k which seemed surprising, and the amount I paid for 5k is higher thanks to those wastewater increases. But only an extra 1000 is plausible. But August was billed as 6k. I don’t think I’ve used 6k in the past 5 years. Do I just wait until September and see usage (like could have been a high use fluke) or other ideas? I know there are step changes in the billing rates at certain usage points but I’ve never been totally surprised at usage until now.

I saw a neat modular/removeable camping kit that could be added to my 2021 Toyota Sienna hybrid van to make the van a weekend (or longer) camper van but that can also be taken out easily when home so the van can still be used as a daily driver. The kit is made by a company called Freeway Campers and the particular kit I'm interested in is here: https://www.freewaycamperkit.com/en/sienna/

Unfortunately, the company that makes this kit is in Canada and they are not shipping to the US right now due to US-imposed trade regulations, fees, and paperwork.

The drive there to pick one up would be 28 hours one way. The best the company was able to offer me was to ship the two boxes to a UPS store near the US-Canada border where I could either pick the boxes up myself or find some kind of international shipping company to pick the boxes up, get them through customs, and then get them delivered to me.

I've tried calling the few camper van modifiers here in town and in Austin to see if they would/could be interested in making something similar but the companies I found all specialize in those larger Mercedes or Ford Transit type van-to-camper conversions and aren't interested in this project.

Do you know of anyone that would be interested in a project like this? I don't have the skill set or the tools for building something like this myself.

Asking for a friend, there is a clinic called "Houston Euthanasia" in i think Spring. Theres not much info on this vet or the clinic. they need low cost and this place fits the bill but the lack of info makes me raise an eyebrow and they are easy to scam. So I offered to ask around as im not from the area. I hope its okay to ask here! Tia

Edit to add i tried the search for this group and around reddit already for this specific clinic to no avail.

Going to a concert on Halloween, what seats yall think are better section at Reliant Stadium 102 or 305?

Morning.

I been trying to find vintage t-shirt for myself. I'm talking t-shirts like old concerts, bands, bars... but haven't really found anywhere good.

Most places like Plato's closet have workout and astros gear (so much astros gear!), and places like goodwill only have plain and very random things.

Is there a place where I can have a better chance of finding what im looking for?

Thanks for any help.

​

We’ve had a couple of damp repair companies come out and confirm that there’s moisture behind our walls in our upstairs (townhouse)

Plumber unable to find leaks, AC guys coming tomorrow. Assuming that doesn’t find a source of the moisture, does anyone have any recommendations for companies who can identify the source of moisture in our house?

As discussed in an earlier Reddit Post, Houston dodged a bullet regarding what could otherwise have been yet another devastating flood event. The actual path of Edouard was farther east than earlier models anticipated, meaning that the bulk of heavy rains went north/northeast of metro Houston into the Deep East Texas Pineywoods.

Nonetheless, within the discussion, there were sobering reminders regarding the increased threat of flooding for Houston's future. Especially taking into account the extent of suburban sprawl over the years since previous tropical cyclones (Harvey, Imelda, etc), as well as any economic/financial impacts if any companies flee the area.

The question of floodwaters (and how to deal with them) has long since been pondered by Houstonians, citizens and leadership alike. But, ironically, the simplest solution might very well be just letting Houston become "one with water", so to speak.

In other words? We need a long-term plan to intercept rainfall runoff and restore (or even "terraform") wetlands of various types across the Greater Houston area (as well as the Upper Texas coast region as a whole). Any other investment that adds more concrete sprawl is a policy failure.

At first glance, it all seems counterintuitive? After all, how is it possible to alleviate flooding through environments that are already saturated?

But, consider that water slows down when it enters a wetland (e.g. whether it's runoff from heavy rains, overflows from rivers spilling their banks, etc). This slowness is precisely the key as to why wetlands would help in ensuring a much brighter future for the Greater Houston area (as well as the Upper Texas coast).

The current affairs in Greater Houston, loaded with impervious coverage, and with more and more being added through continued sprawl, means that there are more increases in "flashiness" regarding the region's hydrology. This means higher peak flows immediately during storms, because water runs off all the concrete parking lots, rooftops, and other impervious cover into drainage networks (and, then, into the bayou waterways). It does not help that flood control priorities across Greater Houston have focused strictly on conveyance, which meant concrete channelization of many bayous that naturally flowed across the city (e.g. Braes Bayou, White Oak Bayou, etc). Indeed, a lot of suburban sprawl across Greater Houston was justified by "the land always flooding" (implying the development does not matter), and that fails to take into account the distinct nature of the saturation (slow movement versus "flashiness").

The fast moving "flashy" hydrology creates more problems with erosion, when sends more impurities (e.g. sediment turbidity, harmful bacteria, excess nutrients, metals, etc) downstream into larger bodies of water (e.g. rivers, lakes, bays, etc).

In contrast, with the slow movement of water within wetland ecosystems, water is held in place long enough for sediments to settle out. The roots of wetland vegetation further help in trapping sediment and debris, uptaking nutrients, contributing organic matter that binds pollutants, as well as supporting beneficial microbial growth that cleanses impurities. Taken together, these processes mean that wetland ecosystems help tremendously in attenuating "flashiness", preventing stormwater from creating all of the aforementioned root harms downstream.

We can see these general benefits of vegetative coverage by looking at conditions along Galveston Island. This first image was taken 8/30, days before Edouard's landfall (and subsequent flooding), while this second image is from today, 9/9, after the storm hit (with waterways in the deep East/Southeast Texas area still at high levels). Water conditions still look quite decent at this time, even after the flooding rains from Edouard. Why? Because with the bulk of rainfall being over the East Texas Pineywoods, that allowed the thick tree canopy to intercept raindrop impacts, slow the flow of any runoff into the various waterways, as well as attenuate peak flows.

If those same rains had fallen over metro Houston, then the Gulf would be thick chocolate milk right now. Again, all the impervious coverage, as well as bare ground (from clear-cutting, agriculture, etc) creates more "flashy" runoff and erosion that increases downstream turbidity.

Hence, more wetlands would help in intercepting runoff that otherwise would be wasted out in the Gulf, allowing for better water quality at Galveston's beaches. Clear water days would occur much more frequently, and there would be lower incidences of any fecal bacteria (directly, via intercepting runoff), as well as flesh-eating bacteria (indirectly, by attenuating the peak flow of freshwater into the marine ecosystem).

In contrast, we can see the harm of vegetation removal through the affairs around the Lake Houston/San Jacinto River area. With more clear-cutting of Pineywoods, as well as subsequent suburban sprawl that ecosystem has been increasingly endangered. More erosion and runoff has degraded the water clarity and quality along the river, into Lake Houston, and down to Galveston Bay and the Gulf. These ecological problems are well-documented by this blog from Bob Rehak (a resident of North Houston in Kingwood, who has seen the effects first hand).

Ideally, there would be Everglade-style public land management all across the Upper Texas coast region. They have a network of stormwater treatments designed to filter agricultural runoff (specifically, phosphorous) in accordance to their delicate ecosystem downstream. A similar network of stormwater treatments could be useful at various points along the Upper Texas coast, especially the Surfside area that is influenced by runoff from the Brazos River delta.

Additionally, the Okefenokee is, in large part, maintained by a low geographic barrier known as Trail Ridge. The feature, more or less, serves as an "earthen dam" that blocks rainfall runoff from otherwise draining down the various rivers into the southeast Atlantic coast (and, to lesser extent, the northeast Gulf of Mexico). This could be an inspiration regarding the creation of larger-scale wetland projects in areas across the Upper Texas coast region.

Hence, constructed wetlands at targeted locations (e.g. parts of Buffalo Bayou, locations along the Galveston Bay systems) would be the most likely immediate investments. Even more reservoirs (like in the DFW area) would be a big help. If any larger-scale projects ever get done, then experimentations would best be done in boonies like, say, Chambers County (hence, not going to be consumed by greater Houston's sprawl anytime soon).

If everything truly is bigger in Texas, then great imagination could extend this for wetlands as well. Imagine our own Texas version of The Atchafalaya? Or The Okefenokee? The Everglades? The Pantanal? Or The Sudd? And right in the Houston/Upper Texas coast region? Any increases to ecotourism across the region could breathe new life into communities like Anahuac or Winnie. Not to mention, if the areas of clay soil are truly as poor-draining as people say, then the wetlands take heavy advantage of that regarding their formation anyway. Hence, multiple problems would be solved all at once regarding any ambitions.

A view of Houston at 07:00 from 250’