FangTastic!

 FangTastic!

 

Went out to see if any eggs had shown up in the boxes. Found a lovely, long rat snake. And no, the forked hoe did not allow me the ability to rake him out of the nesting area. But his presence could definitely explain why no eggs have shown up in the nests. ARGH!! Another reason to miss Donny Anderson as a neighbor!

 

Two of those huge trucks are across the street. A bunch of men have been climbing all over that trailer house, and now they have the two sides meeting in the middle. Not sure just how they keep rain from going between the two sections, but am pretty sure they know what they are doing. Just my guess. Eyebrows up!

 

It has been a pleasant morning. At 1:30 the temperature is only 92 degrees. That is not bad at all. When Sterling answered the phone to hear his happy birthday greeting song, he said the weather up there in Arkansas was truly pleasant. That always helps the way we feel when we have things to do. Am hoping that Maggie and David Sewell have been able to work on the place that their daughter plans to live since the heat is not quite so bad. Her rent suddenly went up over $300 a month more than she was paying! Honestly can’t imagine how a person is supposed to be able to make a living and still have any money for gasoline and food when every tiny thing just hits the ceiling. Got my electric bill for June from Discount Power—the last bill for them: $52.50. The new electric company may charge more. The name of the new service is Energy Texas. It does not matter to me either way what Energy Ogre does about changing companies as long as the bills can be paid without breaking the bank.

 

Had a slice of ham sandwich meat with a slice of Velveeta cheese rolled up with it. Sylvia wanted to sniff, but that leads to begging. So, she just had some dog food with a bit of extra stuff on top. Will have to flatten out that bag of chicken meat and put it in the top freezer until this other meat is gone. It doesn’t do to give the dogs snacks when they need to eat what is put in their bowls. Dogs and small children have a lot in common.

 

The other day at Walmart, they had some of the dipping stuff that appeals to me—artichoke and spinach. Yummy stuff. It’s made with cream cheese, mozzarella, and asiago cheeses. Artichokes were a foreign food back years ago. When we were in Paris, the grocery store next to the hotel had tables of them to sell. Thought about just leaving some clothes behind and filling a suitcase with the artichokes. Preparing them since then has proven to me that it must take some doing to get it right when cooking them. The ones in cans are tasty enough, but the ones that are pickled like olives are fantastic. But then, not everyone likes pickles or olives or other things that seemed strange to me as a kid. Believe it or not, pickled beets and sauerkraut were an acquired taste. Even Lewis did not like beets until my Granddad Kennedy showed him how to eat them—butter, salt, and pepper.

 

It may not be as hot today, but doggone if it does not feel dry as bones in the desert. Filled up the blue pool for the dogs to lie down in the heat. Most of the time they stay in the house with me, but they run back and forth from one side of the place to down by the fence in the east lot. That is a lot of running, so they jump in the pool and cool off their feet. Thompson has not been favoring his back left foot as much and is no longer constantly licking it. Maybe it will heal quickly and not bother him too much. The dry grass feels like pokey brushes on my feet, so it is surely hard on the dogs’ feet.

 

Patty was telling me yesterday that she did not think the patients were allowed out on the screened in porches any longer over at the hospital across the street. Their yells and screams are no longer heard on the hill, so she is probably right. One of our older neighbors used to complain that he could smell the cigarette smoke when the patients were allowed to smoke on the porches. Mr. Fenoglio had lots of things to gripe about, but to tell the truth, the smoke smell DID come this way some days. That was a lot of folks over there all smoking at the same time. But then, that is no longer allowed.

 

Just got a news flash on my ‘puter that said an Amtrak train had derailed after hitting a dump truck at a crossing. The picture showed all the cars lying on their sides. The headline said the train was traveling from Los Angles to Chicago. Another sad situation. One thing different from our trains from those we rode in Scotland to London: they overbook or just crowd people in like cattle over there when a train is late or the tracks are down because of trees on the lines. At least here we don’t have people riding in the aisles and on top of the trains like they do in India and other places. It is understandable when more people get injured in those situations. Now will come the questions about why the hey the dump truck was on the rails at the crossing! That is just crazy!

 

Out of several plants that came up from my cucumber seeds, it looks like ONE plant may survive. Watered, pulled it back into the shade, and still only one looks green. One had a bloom on it and then turned up its toes and shriveled up. Honestly don’t know if it was the heat or if a bug got it. But am guessing that heat will kill just about any living thing under the right circumstances. The herb bed that Jennifer sent to me a few years back is close to the front of the house and the water faucet out there. Rosemary, sage, cat mint, regular mint, and some thyme were doing pretty well, but the thyme curled up its toes recently. Water did not help. But the rosemary is still doing well, as are the sage and mint.

 

Sent a card to a friend who went to a church conference in Louisville. She said she knew the town would appeal to me with all the horse pictures. It made me smile. Have been there. In fact, went to one of the nicer hotels and walked to a conference for early childhood education. Everything was under cover—the walkway to the conference center was enclosed but open to all the views. The one day that we walked away from the hotel, we shopped around a little bit. Found a wooden wheeled grasshopper for one child and books that pleased me at the time. Funny what we buy when away from home.

 

Jenn said that they got about 20 minutes worth of rain the other evening. It’s not like that would be enough to do much good, but it certainly would be nice to cool off the air a bit. This is one of those cases where beggars can’t be choosers. As long as it is not those huge hailstones, the old woman won’t gripe. Snow? Not likely, but have a story about that. Grandmother Pollard was about to turn 50 and was depressed. Her friend Faye Lyons took her plum picking down on the river bed north of Henrietta. The road came right up to the river bank there, and it was fairly cool, but still, it was July 1 in Texas. Faye said maybe the kids would have a birthday cake for her. Grandmother’s disgusted response was that the likelihood of that happening would be about like a snowball’s chance. Would you believe a freak cold front blew in and snow started falling on them!? Don’t think it was enough for a snowball and am pretty sure she was not presented with a cake either. Ah, families.

 

Looked out the window and saw one of the young guys putting his electric cord down on the ground in circles to make it easier to pick it all up at once. It made me think of a YouTube video of a guy who doubled his extension cord to make figure eight loops of it to keep it from getting tangled up. Some of these men really get smart with their work. Lewis used to concoct his own tools for places on Caterpillars that were hard to get to. His hands were so huge that getting little things into itty bitty places was a major problem. Engineers never work on the finished products or they would do a better job of designing things.

 

This t-shirt that Connie bought for me down in Bowie is so soft. It says that Fenoglio’s BarBQ is the place to buy the best bowl of “crap.” That bowl may be a mix of different kinds of meat, but that is what they call it. Still like the shirt. Like that Fenoglio’s name is on it the best.

 

Looks like the work is done across the street and those wet, nasty looking fellas must be ready to go home to a cool shower. Rolling around in all the dirt with sweat dripping off your head is not the ideal type of job, but they seem to be pretty good at what they are doing. Satisfaction has to count for something.

 

It's too hot to cook, to clean house, to mess around in the yard, or to do much of anything else. Reading and playing games will just have to be the go-to activities for this old woman. FB has a game called Julie’s Journeys. It goes along with Pearl’s Perils. Both are search-and-find hidden things puzzles. It’s fun for me, but it is just something to do to pass the time. No sewing, not doing anything like cleaning up after my messy dogs, but then, who is going to gripe at me? The dogs really don’t mind if their tracks are all over the living room floor. As long as they have cool water and decent food, and they can bark at anything they find, they are happy. Takes so little, ya see.

 

July is almost here. How did that happen? Time went so slowly when we were younger. Days lasted until we were ready for bed. Now, we get up ready for bed. Guess it is all in how we think about life and what is going on. Okra grows this month. Can smile about that one. Now if only someone had some okra growing . . .

 

May you all stay cool and calm and enjoy the life God has given us. Drink your water and don’t get too hot! You are loved.