July 2024
July 31, 2024 - Wednesday - Today I stayed really busy with work. At the end of the work day I took the pups for their evening walk. There’s this really large spider web on the stack of firewood by the fire pit just glowing in the sun. We finished our walk and then I got my camera and came back out and got this.
July 30, 2024 - Tuesday - I’m finally back home to stay. No one here is happier about that than Zak. He’s such a handsome boy. He loves hanging out with me on the couch, but not so much if I’m trying to work. I got this photo of him during a brief moment of him being awake this afternoon.
July 29, 2024 - Monday - This is Sophia, my friend’s other dog. She does have eyes, I promise. She’s a standard poodle and I don’t think she’s too thrilled at the idea of having a little sister. I understand. Hahaha By the end of my stay she really started being much more tolerant and okay with being near her sister.
July 28, 2024 - Sunday - This is Penelope. She’s a little baby poodle and it’s her first time here on my Photo of the Day. She’s my friend’s new puppy. She’s only had her for a week or so. My friend also has a standard poodle. It’s so funny how they play together even though they’re such different sizes. She’s not afraid of her big sister at all.
July 27, 2024 - Saturday - I spent a lot of the day cleaning and doing laundry. I’m going to be house/dog sitting for a friend for the next couple of days so I had to get ready to be gone for a bit. I’ll be going back and forth during the day so I won’t be gone gone. At the end of the day I was on the couch watching TV. I looked over and saw Pancake’s hair. It always makes me laugh.
July 26, 2024 - Friday - Today was kind of busy at work, but I took a break during the day to head down south to the Country Store in Itasca. I was craving one of these Whoopie Pies and some of their sourdough bread. I picked up some of their fried pies for the family too. I may have bought more than one Whoopie Pie. To be honest it’s a long drive so I had to make it worth it.
July 25, 2024 - Thursday - A very good friend of mine got engaged recently and we went out to dinner to celebrate. His soon to be better half, his daughter (one of my God Daughters) and her bf joined us. It was good to see them all and share a good meal. I’m not a fan of most restaurants here in Burleson, but this place may be my only favorite.
July 24, 2024 - Wednesday - I had been using an old hard drive to back up my computer. It’s an old regular USB that took forever to do the backup. I finally just bought another one of these to replace it. Thankfully they come in three colors so I can tell them all apart. The one in the back is my work drive back up. My original is still connected to my laptop.
July 23, 2024 - Tuesday - So I finally had my follow up appointment with the orthopedist. Wearing that boot was pretty inconvenient. The doctor said that bump on the left side in new bone repairing the fracture that I couldn’t see before. It still hurts a bit when I walk but he said I could stop wearing the boot unless the pain get’s worse.
July 22, 2024 - Monday - Driving through Dallas on my way home yesterday I also made a stop at a Farmer’s Market to see a friend and buy some of her homemade jams. This is her Blueberry Serrano, it’s delicious and not too sweet. You don’t feel the heat until about the third bite. The only bad thing is it’s hard to spread because of all the fruit in it. That and I wish they came in larger jars!
July 21, 2024 - Sunday - On the way home I did stop at Eatzi’s and picked up a lot of goodies. One of them was a loaf of rosemary sourdough. When I got home my sister-in-law called and asked if I wanted some tomatoes. She brought over some fresh basil and eggs too. A few minutes after she left I had this on a plate. Not too shabby.
July 20, 2024 - Saturday - Went out with my friend and his family to dinner to celebrate his birthday. The best part of smoking a cigar is when you can light up a good one with a friend and spend a good 45 minutes to an hour relaxing with a good drink and great conversation.
July 19, 2024 - Friday - My friend left me a really good thank you gift. She also left me an Eatzi’s gift card. I think I’ll have a sip of this tonight and save the card for the ride home. Maybe take some of my old favorites back to the house with me.
July 18, 2024 - Thursday - This is Phoebe. I’ve not been around to sit her in a long while, but she still remembers me. She came and sat at my feet shortly after I showed up. She’s such a sweet, lovable girl. She’s good at snuggling too. I forgot what it’s like to have a bigger dog that licks though. She really likes to give kisses.
July 17, 2024 - Wednesday - Work was very busy today and I have a lot to do to get ready to be gone for a few days. I decided to take the pups with me for a ride into town. Zak doesn’t do well in traffic and when it started raining he got worse. Unfortunately Zak added “clean the back seat” to the things I needed to do before I leave tomorrow. This was before that happened.
July 16, 2024 - Tuesday - Today was a long, full day of work. I did take a break to have a virtual lunch with a friend over FaceTime. When I finally wrapped my day job I took the dogs for a walk and then had dinner supplied to me by my nephew’s wife. Perks! I did a little bit of freelance work while hanging on the couch with the pups.
July 15, 2024 - Monday - I bought a big bag of cherries a few weeks ago. They weren’t very good. I didn’t even finish the bag. I got another bag the other day and I must say these are so much better. Bigger, sweeter and juicier. I had a bowl of these for a late afternoon snack. I need to finish the bag before I leave later this week.
July 14, 2024 - Sunday - Today was a good long relaxing day. I met my brother and his wife for lunch in town to talk about what we’re going to do with Dad’s property and some other arrangements with Dad’s stuff. Since he passed I’ve not been sleeping well. Actually just not sleeping enough. I’ve been waking up between 4 and 5 so afternoon naps are high priorities. Zak likes them too.
July 13, 2024 - Saturday - My nephew and his family are helping take care of my pups while I’m away later this week. I took them out to lunch as a “thank you.” We went to a good restaurant near TCU. My brother called while we were out and told us this bbq place was open again. They used to have the best bbq sausage ever. Not anymore.
July 12, 2024 - Friday - I took the second half of the day off work to spend with Riley for her birthday. We went out to a good lunch at Ziziki’s where I also bought a large container of their seasoning. After running some errands we hung out at their place until her fiancé finished work. We went to pick up some really good street tacos for dinner.
July 11, 2024 - Thursday - I met a really good friend for dinner this evening. We went to this cool old house in South Dallas. Our table was near a window and my Old Fashioned was put down where the sun was shining in. It looked like it was glowing against the black table. It was easily my photo of the day in spite of the selfie I took with my friend when we were leaving.
July 10, 2024 - Wednesday - I watched Zombieland the other day and it really made me want to try a Twinkie again. I was at Kroger picking up some prescriptions and decided to pick up a package of them. The one time I want to catch a red light I got green lights almost all the way home. This is the last light before the long ride through the country to the house. PS: They weren’t that good.
July 9, 2024 - Tuesday - They did the gun salute at Dad’s service. Taps means something significantly more now. I don’t remember who it was, it was a bit of a blur, but they collected the shells and gave one to each of my brothers and sisters. I brought it home and put it on my desk next to my grandpa’s wooden folding ruler.
July 8, 2024 - Monday - It rained this afternoon for a little while. When I went out to take the dogs for a walk it was only around 85° which was really nice. I’m still wearing my boot so we’re still doing our short walks down the driveway, out to the mailbox and back around the house. I stopped at the same spot where I get a lot of my sunset photos.
July 7, 2024 - Sunday - Today I got out to meet a friend for lunch. I’ve not seen my friend in a long while and it was good to catch up. One of the best things about seeing this friend is our love of dessert after whatever meal we have. We found this somewhat new place to try. This brownie sundae was pretty darn good!
July 6, 2024 - Saturday - Today is the first day in a very long while that I didn’t have something to do or anywhere to go. I did get in a nap sometime in the middle of the afternoon. I spent a good amount of quality time on the couch with the pups. Zak would be up here periodically, but at this moment Biscuit was in the spot right next to me.
July 5, 2024 - Friday - Today was another busy day of work. I think it’s funny that Zak sleeps like this quite often. I don’t know what he has to look so exasperated about I’m the one working all day while he sleeps here, in the hallway, on my bed, wherever. I really could use a nice long nap too.
July 4, 2024 - Thursday - I did a bunch of freelance work this morning. I’ve been busy with work and freelance work for the last week. It was nice to get out and even though our plans to watch the fireworks by the lake didn’t work out it was still a good time. It’s been a long while since I watched fireworks on the 4th of July.
July 3, 2024 - Wednesday - Today was pretty much the same as yesterday. I worked at my desk until around lunch and came out to the couch to work and spend time with the pups. I guess Zak didn’t feel much like sharing the couch today. Biscuit and Pancake never pass up an opportunity to lay on the couch.
July 2, 2024 - Tuesday - Yesterday was another busy day of work. I spent most of the day working at my desk but then moved to the couch for the later part of the day. I spread out this blanket and look who’s laying together!!! Zak was at the end by himself but when Biscuit came up he scooted over to make room for her.
July 1, 2024 - Monday - While we were hanging outside yesterday I noticed the sun shining on this dark red crepe myrtle. I got this photo after walking the dogs this morning. Today is my first day back at work. I had 67 emails this morning. I know that’s not a lot for some people but that’s a ton for me.