August 2023
August 31, 2023 - Thursday - I’ve used a front pocket wallet for all of my adult life. A while back a friend gave me a metal one. It’s a bit smaller than the leather ones I’ve used for a long while. One of the down sides is that I keep my phone in the same pocket. My wide angle lens didn’t survive. Thankfully it’s the one camera that I use the least and the new ones come out later this month.
August 30, 2023 - Wednesday - The two little ones are always the last to come over for breakfast. The smallest is still really skittish. The one that’s a few months older is starting to be more curious. He let me get a few photos of him through the fence while they were all eating. You can see the other little one in the background. He moved away as soon as I approached the fence.
August 29, 2023 - Tuesday - The cows are getting more and more used to me. The babies don’t always come over but the big ones start coming as soon as they see me crossing the field. They don’t seem to mind my taking their photos while they’re eating despite the look on this ones face. It’s funny they actually seem to be interested in the phone.
August 28, 2023 - Monday - Going for a walk later in the evening is so much cooler today than it’s been in a very, very, long time. The low 80’s is a whole lot better than the upper 90’s. Zak’s getting better about walking when it’s darker. He doesn’t react to every little noise we hear coming from the darkness. I got this glimpse of a beautiful sunset just before we turned down our drive coming home.
August 27, 2023 - Sunday - This morning I got up early to help my brother tear down an old shed on his property. Even though we got an early start it was still really hot. He mentioned we had a chance of rain but I never thought it would really happen. This afternoon it poured really hard for about 20 minutes. So much so the ground was still a bit muddy when we got up Monday morning.
August 26, 2023 - Saturday - Today we had a reunion at my friend’s house of all of us who went to Mexico a few years ago. It was good to see the other couple again. Their daughter is already off to college. Time goes by so fast. Our friend brought these with him and even though he couldn’t stay to enjoy with us, we smoked them in his honor. A little Jack with a splash of water completed the night.
August 25, 2023 - Friday - After a long week of hard work and a long evening walk in the heat the girls were just completely exhausted. We came back and had a delicious dinner prepared with lots of love and then joined dad on the couch for a movie. Of course like most nights we barely started the movie before they were fast asleep.
August 24, 2023 - Thursday - This is one of the oldest customers at the breakfast table. She’s been with my brother for about 20 years. She doesn’t look too impressed with what I’m serving either. I hope she appreciates the fact that I’m out here in almost 100° heat slaving over a hot wheelbarrow. We’re both fortunate to have a little cedar tree out here to provide a little shade.
August 23, 2023 - Wednesday - Today was another really good day with friends. I mean I worked today, but got out for a bit to see a good friend for lunch. We had pho in Mansfield. Not too shabby. It’s not I Love Pho but it was pretty good. I met another friend for dinner after work. She picked one of our favorite places near her house. This has been my photo of the day several times. The delicious Attitude Adjustment!
August 22, 2023 - Tuesday - My friends landed much later than they expected so I spent one more night in Plano. I left early this morning, but not before they shared some small gifts with me. Almost anything chocolate covered is always appreciated. I was going through my bag before bed tonight and got this photo. They also brought a bag of Colombian coffee for Riley.
August 21, 2023 - Monday - I really took advantage of being in the city these last few days. I hit a lot of my favorite restaurants and met up with some of my dearest friends. Today I met a friend for lunch and ate vegetarian. Still don’t like tofu. It’s just squishy weirdness. One of the topics of discussion was the validity of opening a fortune cookie and not eating the cookie messing with the accuracy of the fortune.
August 20, 2023 - Sunday - Today was a really good day. Before I knew I would be up in Plano this weekend I scheduled brunch with Riley and Rane at Ziziki’s. It was the first time Riley has seen the kids since my 50th birthday. I don’t think Rane has ever met them. We all got to hang out, eat some good food and enjoy each other’s company. After two great dinners the last two days, today was definitely the highlight of the weekend.
August 19, 2023 - Saturday - I was talking about where to go for dinner with my friend’s daughter. She kept flipping between Mexican and Italian. She finally landed on Italian. I got on Maps and look what I found really, really close by. My favorite Italian place in Dallas where I usually meet friends has a location up here in Allen. Dinner was delicious and the company was great.
August 18, 2023 - Friday - I took most of the day off today. I’m trying to take advantage of being in town and spending some time with friends without having to rush. I met my cookie making friend for a bit. Then met another friend for a late lunch. The place she picked makes a delicious Pineapple Mojito. It’s the prefect drink on a hot day. Later I went out to dinner with my friend’s son. Today was a good day!
August 17, 2023 - Thursday - Today was an early start to get my friend’s little girl to school on time. I came back and worked on the couch the whole day. Yogi has been my photo of the day several times. Here he is again. He’s killed over for the moment. I took him and Doja out to potty and play fetch a bit. It’s too hot for them to play too long out there.
August 16, 2023 - Wednesday - Today I’m beginning a short tour in Plano again. This time I’m being entrusted not just with the house and pets, but the kids too. I came over this evening to get the low down on what I needs to be done. It’s been a long while since I’ve taken anyone to elementary school. I forgot that starts really early in the morning too. My friend and I enjoyed these before his trip starts in the morning.
August 15, 2023 - Tuesday - This is where I serve breakfast in the morning. My brother will haul this little cart out here with a bale of hay. If I need to I’ll move it into the shade of this little cedar tree and prepare breakfast. And by prepare, I mean cut the bindings and tearing it into chunks. The hardest part aside from the heat is trying to drop the hay where there’s no poop.
August 14, 2023 - Monday - Today Dad and I got out to run an errand. There’s not a lot of restaurants that I’m a fan of out here, but there’s a breakfast and lunch place out here where we got this on a waitress’s recommendation. This Texas Steak Scramble has biscuits, hash browns, two eggs over medium, chicken fried steak, gravy and a bit of cheese. I chose to forego the hash browns this time around.
August 13, 2023 - Sunday - This is another photo from our evening walk. I have no idea how large our block is out here in the country. I do know it’s a half mile walk out here to this corner and back to the house. On the weekends sometimes in the morning we’ll go for a walk around the corner down this road. There’s several really pretty horses down there.
August 12, 2023 - Saturday - Twice a day I take the pups for a walk. We walk at least to the end of the block and back. This is toward the end of our walk. Our evening walks are usually after the sun drops past the horizon and the temperature finally falls below 100°. There was pinkish glow in the sky so I got the pups to stop and hold still long enough for this photo.
August 11, 2023 - Friday - When I was in my 20’s I was at a family reunion. My grandpa was wearing a suit as usual. I told him I had a pinstriped suit like his. His words to me were, “Did you buy it to hang in your closet?” Hahahaha I was telling Dad this story when he mentioned the boots we got him for Christmas a few years ago. He’s only worn them a few times. He decided to wear them when we got out for errands today.
August 9, 2023 - Wednesday - This morning when I went out to feed the cows they were in a different part of the property. So I took some more photos to send to my brother to make sure they’re where they need to be. I few years back some of his cows got loose and my sister had to go play cowboy in the streets. That’s the last thing this guy from the city wants to do. Especially in this heat.
August 8, 2023 - Tuesday - I’m out feeding the cows again today. I took pictures to send to my brother when something doesn’t seem right. Today one of the black ones was up front and I couldn’t find one of the calves. I was talking to my brother about them before I sent him the photos. He describes them to me with all these details. To me they’re either black cows or brown cows. Look at the lashes on this one!
August 7, 2023 - Monday - During the week I take a mid-morning break from work and go feed the cows. Three of them come as soon as I call them. The rest take a little longer to come over and get some breakfast. These are the babies and they’re very slow to warm up to me. This one up front is the one born just after I moved out here. The one in the back is a little less than a month old.
August 6, 2023 - Sunday - I take the pups out for a long walk in the morning before it get crazy hot. When the temperatures are over 100° the road is too hot for the pups to walk on so we wait until later around sunset for our evening walk. I can’t wait until it gets dark because Zak is scared to go outside when it’s dark. And the road is lined with lots of trees and he reacts to every little noise he hears.
August 5, 2023 - Saturday - I am so over this hot weather. We were cooking ourselves earlier when we were grilling wings. Later in the afternoon my friend’s pool is in the shade. He almost always has lemonade in his fridge. That with a little bit of Jack is the perfect drink to sit with your feet in the pool and friends sitting all around. Today was a good day!
August 4, 2023 - Friday - Yesterday after work I went over to my brother’s to drop off the snacks I picked up for them. They invited me out to dinner with their son and his family. It’s always good to get to spend time with all of them. When we came back he gave me a big container full of this weirdly orange watermelon. This was the same melon in my photo of the day from last week. It was a deliciously sweet, perfect afternoon snack today.
August 3, 2023 - Thursday - Today I took a little time off work to go meet a friend for lunch down in Waco. I’ve not seen her in a really long time so we had a long lunch. On the way back you had to know I stopped at my favorite Country Store. I picked up a bunch of goodies for the rest of the family and a few of these Whoopie Pies for myself.
August 2, 2023 - Wednesday - Yesterday my brother asked me to help him feed his cows. With this heat and lack of rain he’s having to feed them twice a day since almost all the grass in the pastures is dead. I take the mid-morning shift. Apparently they like what I’m serving for breakfast. Some of them are skittish around me. After a few days of me feeding them I bet we’ll be good friends.
August 1, 2023 - Tuesday - One of the many, many, many perks of visiting my cookie-making-friend in her kitchen is the random bonus cookies added to my order. This isn’t currently on her menu, but it was part of a customer’s special order. This is her Texas Sheet Cake Cookie! If you like those you’ll love these! She does special order too. Just saying.