It's HOT

We have had some record breaking heat in this area.  I seem to keep saying that the last few years but it's true.  In the city to my South they have had 5 straight days over 105 that broke records every day.  Fortunately we haven't had those high temps.  At times I find my thermometer 10 degrees lower, thankfully.  I have my sensor in a new location I am trying out in order to get more accurate readings.  I found out it had been in the direct sun for a few moments in the hottest part of the day.  That certainly won't be accurate.  We shall see how the new location works out.  But it's not unusual at all for us to be much lower than in town or higher at times.  It's crazy.

I have had an abundance of tomatoes lately out of the garden.  Most are very huge.  But I'm not sure I like those as much.  The meat seems a little grainy.  I managed to can 8 pints of tomatoes yesterday in order to keep them from going bad or 'K' giving them all away before I have had a chance.  I will use them for the salsa I make.  I don't have a canner so I use a process I found on utube.  It worked great last year, not sure if it worked this time.  I didn't hear the can lids popping when they sealed but with my ears that isn't surprising.  'K' said she heard something but didn't know what it was.  I guess I will find out.  

I will head over to Academy today and pick up some things that need to be replenished and maybe run by my Mother's for a quick stop.  I haven't seen her in probably two months.  I really can't tell you why but she gets a little off when I show up and it's better for her and me if I keep those visits few and far between.  However she has started complaining to others I don't ever come by.  It's a sad situation.  I am not looking forward to it.

Happy Trails

Hot Weather and Tomatoes and Clearing Out Clutter

Been pretty hot here this past week.  102* Thursday evening about 6:30.  An hour later it was down to 93.  On top of that we have high humidity from all the rain we had in previous weeks.  This heat will finally dry us out some and the humidity will drop.  It's a two edged sword.  These are pretty high temps here for this time of year.  

The tomatoes are doing great.  I have very big ones this year.  Some new breeds (to me) since I couldn't find my usuals.  We have more than a few waiting to be consumed.  Well that is until 'K' gave most of them away Friday to the pest control guy and the neighbor that showed up with some herbs she wanted to share.  I had planned on using them for salsa but no one asked me.  It will be at least a week before I pick anymore.  Then this heat will stop the development of more.  A little too early in the year for that.  They usually stop around July 4.  

The battle against clutter continues.  We moved on from the garage to my office that has been a catch all since the start of moving my Mother.  Tons of photos are being sorted and boxed.  We just need to find where we will store those,  It WON'T be the garage.  In the decluttering I have found some room in a small closet in my office.  There are two other small closets in the hallway that I would prefer they move to.  But 'K' says she decluttered those a couple years ago.  You can gather a lot of clutter in two years is what I was thinking without saying it of course.  It's funny how she has always said she has no problem throwing stuff out but I don't.  She is right for the most part.  I am pretty sentimental and keep things from my Grandparents.  But most of the things she throws out are my things lol.  She is really not interested in getting rid of all the left over components and beads (you have no idea) from her business.  She has been out of that business since 2012.  I think it's time.  She has no answer, just that she is not ready.  

Happy Trails

Unbelievable

I admit I don't understand all this debt limit issue with the budget.  I held out hope that the Freedom Caucus could put enough pressure on Speaker McCarthy and the rest of the RINOs to hold out for more spending cuts and in fact, add no more debt.  But alas, the taxpayer takes it in the throat again.  The uniparty is alive and well.  It still is to be seen if the Freedom Caucus will punish McCarthy.  They have that new rule that only one member can initiate a call to remove him from the Speaker office.  If they don't, that rule they negotiated and every other concession McCarthy made to get the Speakers role is meaningless.  

On another note, I went to get a couple new tires for 'K's CR-V.  The current tires are 9 years old(one is 7 years old).  We don't drive it far.  It may not be driven for a week or more at times.  Being a front wheel drive and me not keeping up with the rotation, the two on the front were in need of replacement badly.  So I headed over to Discount Tire to get a pair.  Four were going to be just too much $$ at the moment.  After their inspection they found something I missed.  One of the rear had severe dry rot.  Ugh.  After some discussion I left with 4 new tires.  Just over double what I paid for the ones I replaced, exact same tire.  From 450 for four to 990.  Ouch.  And I really need to replace three on our other vehicle.  

I could let the other vehicle wait a while longer and they are still serviceable.  However, we have committed to a vacation road trip with Son#1 and his family in late October.  I really want better tires for that trip than these with 35K miles on them,  I never liked these tires anyway.  So around early October I may be replacing them too.  I just want a vacation that is a little less worry free.

We had a quick violent storm Friday night.  Lots of loud thunder and lightning.  Must have been some very high winds.  There were a lot of fresh oak leave all over the yard.  That is usually a sign of hail/high winds.  I do not believe any hail fell thankfully.  but the high wind was enough to knock that very big limb down that I have been ben concerned about.  It had broken during the big ice storm we had a few months ago and I could not reach it.  One less thing to be concerned about.  It could have easily gone through a window on that side of the house.  It is now firewood.  I will still need to hire someone this fall to cut back the many limbs that hang over my roof.  

Happy Trails

Total Disgust

I tried to watch the Texas State House proceedings on Saturday when they convened to consider impeachment of the Texas Attorney General, Ken Paxton.  What a complete waste of time.  In short, this was nothing but a witch hunt dreamed up but the current Texas Speaker of the House.  Some call him a RINO.  I think it's worse than that.  I believe he is a Democrat that runs as a Republican in order to gain his office.  The impeachment is more than just retaliation for Paxton's call for the speaker's resignation after videos of him appeared online.  These videos show that he is not in control of his faculties.  He appears drunk while conducting business as speaker of the house of the Texas legislature.  They say that that was in and of itself and illegal act.  If it was, where were those that enforce the law and why wasn't he removed from office instead of being asked to resign.  What a joke.  60 So called republicans sided with the speaker to vote for impeachment.  While many think Texas is a conservative state, they obviously don't follow what happens in this RINO house of representatives.  But I digress.  I believe the main reason for this sham is that 'they' are after Paxton due to his efforts against the Biden administration.  He had been very successful and has other things still in the works.  They want him gone and they orchestrated this BS.

How did my representative vote?  NO.  This is the first time I have had a true conservative that actually represents my views.  

Not feeling very Happy Trails today.  Thanks for coming by.

Morning Routine Changes

With the weather getting warmer my 'schedule' is a bit off.  I have been waking around 5:30 AM (sometimes much sooner) and will doze until 6 or 6:30.  Usually pain will force me to get up sooner than I want.  'K' also will get up about the same time.  She doesn't sleep well either and then there are the dogs that just wait for any movement or sign of life to jump on us.  Once that happens any additional sleep will NOT happen.  We have been taking advantage of the early get up times to get the dogs walked before the heat hits.  Times for that will get even earlier as the heat increases.  Not sure 'K' will tolerate walking before the sun rises like I have done in the past.  I hope she does.  It's been cool but also very humid.  It's pleasant but we get pretty sweaty anyway due to the humidity that has been running 80-90%.

We have pretty much finished with the garage clean out.  There is a lot more room but not near as much as I had hoped.  With all the rain we have had I have been cutting the grass more often.  And the Bermuda seed has been sprouting and starting to fill in bare patches of the yard.  The deer seem to be eating some of it, the newer sprouts from what I can tell.  Not a lot I can do about that.  Way too many deer and I don't stay outside long enough to chase them off.  I am thinking about getting one of those motion detector sprinklers to help keep them away.  Not sure I want to spend 70$ for that.

The 4 year old Granddaughter will be here starting Thursday and will be here at least through Sunday maybe Monday.  That is usually a good thing but we haven't had her that long before.  But the parents have a show in Houston they need to be at and she certainly would not enjoy that while they work.  We are happy to oblige, especially since Mom will be home from school for the Summer and we will get her less than usual.  

Happy Trails

My Heart Breaks

Once again I find myself forgetting to write a post.  I get busy with a chore or two and it keeps going for the better part of the day.  Thus this blog gets forgotten.  My foggy brain?  Maybe.  So what was I doing this time?  Still working on clearing out the garage for the most part.  I am making headway.  A little at a time.

Hope all the Mothers had a great Mothers day.  Ours was pretty quiet.  We had gone over to Son#1's on Saturday.  He grilled some steaks and we had a good time visiting.  We came home after church on Sunday and ate some of my homemade enchiladas and not much else.

On that note, things have not gone very well with my Mother over the last couple weeks. I think her mental abilities have declined some more.  She is now transferring memories, if that is what it's called.  Things that actually happened but she insists it was someone else when it was actually her.  And of course it's a very bad memory.    It is heart breaking.  'K' is at the doctor with her this morning.  She has not allowed anyone to go with her the last two visits.  We don't even know what the doctor told her or med changes he prescribed or why.  Then she will call 'K' and have her call the doctor's office to ask them what they told her to do.  This time 'K' told her she would be there to go with her and there was no argument.  I am not sure if she was even aware that she didn't let her go before.  But we need to find out what he says/prescribes.

Happy Trails

Garage Clean Out

We have been cleaning out things in the garage lately.  It is crammed full of things we don't or rarely ever use.  That storage has hopefully changed.  We have filled at least one of those 96 gallon trash cans with mostly things that were in the garage.  There are still a lot of things that need to go.  We work on one area at a time trying to free up space.  We are seeing some progress.  There is still much that needs to be tossed.  This will take multiple days/weeks.  Once the trash can gets semi full we stop in order to have space for our regular trash.  And then it starts all over again.  The real trick will be when we get to the shelves of things left over from 'K's' business.  If we can make a big dent there we can proceed with other plans.  No, I'm not picking on 'K,' I have my own share of things, tools and hardware I rarely ever touch anymore but I find very hard to turn lose.  There will almost always be a need at one time or another for a tool or hardware to repair things around the house.  But I am tossing some.  Miter saws (the hand variety) a couple other hand saws I have never used and a few other things I still have not gone through.  Especially random hardware.  I am finding so much of that that was always saved for later then more was bought since I didn't remember I had it or couldn't find it.  I am so bad about doing that.  But the less I try to undertake now days. and hire it done, the less I need or collect these things.  Hopefully.

I need to head out to the grocery and to Home Depot today.  The plan for HD is not to buy anything I will have to store in the garage.  LOL.  I do need some root killer for my Septic System.  I will try to find something other than the copper sulfate I have used in the past.  I am not sure that doesn't degrade my concrete tank.  The last time I had it pumped that there was a big Sulphur smell when they opened the lid.  They had no idea why it did that but I remembered I had used copper sulphate numerous times previously.  The concrete lid was brittle and fell apart and seemed to have a yellow cast to it.  I will look for something different.

Happy Trails