August 31, 2023
Four years since my last post, man does time fly. At this point in life it feels like a giant boulder rolling down hill.
Catch-up
That house we wrote an offer on, well I'm still here. This might be an all time record for me in my adult life for longest stay. I am hoping they carry me out feet first, I really enjoy where I live and its proximities to my two families. I am 15 min to Cords family and 20 to Cole's. I'm sure my Daughter-in-laws were hoping for more distance but.....it is what it is. I have enjoyed my life so much and still hoping for a few more good years (maybe 20+).
My crop of grandchildren has stalled at 6, I think that is the complete crop. Approximate ages 17 to 10, give or take a few months. Of course they are PERFECT. Well.......to be completely honest they are extremely entertaining. Next year I will have my first senior and then on to the college years. All of my grands are sooooo different but you can definitely tell they are related the gene pool is pretty evident. In my totally biased opinion they are perfect. Each one has such a unique personality. I sure hope they will continue to talk to me as we all age, they are so bright and extremely funny.
I have been blessed to have had the opportunity to do some traveling in these past few years Ireland, Bahamas, Nicaragua, and Africa. I love traveling I hope to see Italy again before I can no longer get around, for some reason I felt an odd connection to that place, I loved the landscape and quaint towns. The art and architecture was amazing. The wild wonderful colors on doors and windows, flowers everywhere and such friendly People Don't get me started on the food, that place ruined pizza for me. I haven't found any pizza since then that even comes close, its like we are trying to hard and have missed the entire point of the dish. Africa, was at once everything I though and nothing I had imagined at the same time. It is almost impossible to describe, so different. I don't think I closed my mouth the entire time we were there. After seeing all those magnificent creatures in their natural habitat ...I don't think I can ever go to a zoo again. Had the opportunity to see a cheetah stalk and take down an impala, once the chase was on it happened so fast I wasn't sure I truly saw it. Beautiful and savage at the same time.
August=summer. Everyone (not native Texan) is screaming global warming. We have had a streak of 45 days of 100+ degree days we broke the streak as of August 22 when we only hit 99. For all non native folks we get this about ever 10-12 years, hotter than normal (for us). It will pass, we will probably have a colder than normal winter and then it starts again. As I recall after a hotter than hell summer we usually have a couple of years of extremely nice summers (less than 100) only mid 90's. We really could use some rain, a lot of rain, hopefully a long soaking type for about 2 weeks. Let the lake levels come back up and the fauna gets a good soaking. Remember, if you don't like it hot, both temperature and food, this was NEVER the place for you (long term). I love Texas, always have, for a lot of reasons, but I do concede that as I get older I do stay indoors more on hot days than I used to. I was in East Texas a couple of weeks ago and I didn't go fishing one time. Yes, it is that hot. But if I think back to my youth, I wonder if it ever got so hot that we didn't go outside? I'm not sure staying inside was an option. I am keeping a few outdoor plants alive but for some reason the heat was to much for my tomato plants, it was a sad year for them. I was so looking forward to some fresh gazpacho but I couldn't find enough fresh homegrown tomatoes to make it work. Thinking of cold soup, my oldest grandson called two weeks ago and asked me to make chili, your wish is my command but my portion went in the freezer, hoping for that cold winter.
Well that's all for now. Hopefully it want be 4-5 years before I write again....stay happy (and cool)
