Deposit is paid! Five of us are going on a cruise out of Galveston next April. Four are repeats from our 2010 cruise. We have an added tag-along. Two adjoining rooms on the Carnival Triumph with ocean views.
Texas has 254 counties. 250 have burn bans in effect. We are included.
On my way home from work, I noticed that a dark black roiling cloud of smoke was in front of me. I immediately called the sheriff's dispatcher and reported it. She said that it had been called in. As the road angled, the smoke was on my right...on the road parallel to the one I was traveling on. The other road...was the north end of MY road!
When I got home, I ran into the house and told Sam. This was due west of us.
My niece drove by (on the road that I travel on the way to work and back home) and took this photo. 
The forest service helicopter was picking up water from a nearby pond. Someone timed them...a turn around was only four minutes...the close proximity of ponds and as it got later in the day the wind abated...both were instrumental in our all volunteer fire departments controlling and extinguishing this fire.
Yep. My niece was rubbernecking. Had no business in the area. There was more traffic on this road in that short time than there is in a week!
A neighbor to the east of us was at her son's place to the west of us...that kept a much closer watch.
The only loss of buildings was the barn where the fire started. Thank God! We were told that the fire came within a few feet of that person's home. He was extremely lucky.
We are still waiting on word about why the fire started...and how many acres of timber were burned,
While the smoke was roiling...I had an evacuation plan. I called the dispatcher and verified my number and asked her to please call me if the fire got really out of hand and we needed to evacuate.
First...call the neighbors in the trailer immediate to our east...she was laid up with shingles...bless her heart.
Then...I scoped out my quilts, guns (Hey! Remember I'm in rural east Texas...it's okay here), and photo albums. And then we kept a close watch on the smoke.
Up the hill closer to the fire, neighbors and friends were gathered where they were told to wait with tractors outfitted with plows, discs, and blades to help the forest service cut a firebreak to keep the homes from succumbing. Sam had his mower attached to his tractor and didn't go change it out. The forest service and fire departments did their job.
We drove down the road this morning...the fire was far enough off the road, that we could see no damage. The house and barn where the fire started are isolated and cannot be seen from the road. Only 3 or 4 homes were evacuated.
I've rambled enough. All is safe.
We got a 3" rain...one drop every 3 inches. Sigh. But some of our area did get up to 4/10 of an inch. Not much...but better than nothing!
Remember this? 
I HAD to have the pattern. Made ONE blasted fish cat bed. Thought I had destroyed the pattern 'cause I was never EVER going to make another.
One day, I received a message from JessicaQuilts over on the HGTV quilting forum. Rita in Switzerland was looking for the pattern. Jessica looked high and low. Alas, the discontinued pattern could not be found. THEN she remembered me.
I proudly sent the pattern across the pond to Rita in Switzerland. I received this earlier this week in return.
Don't know about y'all, but I'm starting at the back of the book and working forward. Life is too short not to have dessert first!
We have no green grass except right against the beds where I've kept pouring water on a weekly basis. The rest of the yard...it's like walking across a field of Rice Krispies.
Yet, this morning, the neighbors were mowing their brown dead grass and dirt was flying everywhere! I noticed that down by the road something had really stirred the dirt. I walked out on the front porch...the neighbor to the east was mowing and the cloud of dirt was drifting across the front of our property and toward the neighbors to the west. We live up the hill, so didn't get any of it...thank God!
Lack of rain mixed with temperatures not only over 100 degrees F, but also 110 degrees has sucked the life out of my LOL brain has gone on a vacation can't remember what these are called...it'll come to me later. But as you can tell, the weed trimmer should've been run a week or so ago. I'm going to mix up some Round-up next weekend...not a threat...that's a promise! (Have I ever mentioned that Sam does not like Round-up? It's my secret weapon.)
This post will self-destruct in 10 seconds....
I've been sewing a bit, but not much. I've made a couple of tail-less doo-rags for Jonathan and have a new scrub top cut out. But, as I told Jonathan, every time I hit a glitch, I put it aside for a week. So sad. I'm going to make it this weekend so that I can get it in the mail.
Last April, I picked up a couple of friends to go to Longview to my cousin's annual Wa-hoo tournament. While Earlene and I waited on Nancy to get ready, we walked next door to a garage sale. Surprise! I know them! The daughter who is Jonathan's age remembered me...bless her heart! I went in and gave her mom a hug. There was a textile motorcycle jacket out on a rack...I kept forgetting to ask Jonathan ...besides at $10 I figured it was gone. A couple/three weeks back, Louann brought it by the office to give it to Jonathan. I brought it home. Sam looked at it and said, This isn't a summer textile jacket, it's a rain jacket. I got online...it's a $175 jacket! It's been in a box to mail for two weeks now. I keep tossing stuff in the box. The scrub MUST be finished this weekend and put in the mail.
It is so hot and dry. We've been 100+ degrees for so long I don't remember anything else. The only grass that needs cut is right against my planting beds and around the two live oaks we planted last year. 
It is so dry that a coyote is coming up and eating pears it finds on the ground. 
Poor quality photo, but this is through a double-paned UV window.
Speaking of pears...this is last year's pear...
this is this year's...
so sad.
The hummers are really going through the juice. 
This one is waiting his turn. They don't seem to be fighting like they have in the past. 
Friday morning temp was 78 degrees! THAT's really good compared to waking to mid-80s. I spent about 15 minutes outside before finishing my morning routine before work.
I haven't made much if any mention on my 40th high school reunion. We were the first couple on the dance floor...a friend, Ricky, asked me to dance. 
I love to dance, but can't. Ron and I did pretty good together. He could dance and adjusted to make me look good. Not an easy feat! Sam and I have danced ONE time. He will not dance with me. I've tried to get him to dance with me here in the privacy of our home, telling him that we can learn to dance together...he won't try. So when Ricky asked, I said I'd love to but don't dance good at all. He grabbed me by the hand, counted in my ear, and away we went!
I have to fill the birdbath every day...
That looks like the last of the photos.
Don't forget to smile!
At least with the analog signal we could see ghosts or snow or something!!!
Which reminds me...I have had some photos published! Elected county officials receive a monthly magazine called County Progress...you can find it online...but you cannot find my photographs of the county that were published in the August edition! I'll scan the two pages TWO pages...okay...two half pages...when I get a chance. I haven't even thought about it.
They tasted as good as they look! 
But the recipe made eight large muffins. Next time I'll divide the dough into ten muffins. Unless, of course, I intend to make hamburgers.
A few years back, Mama gave me an antique youth chair that she acquired during her antiquing days. When I mentioned "tying" Colt in the chair Erin looked at me. Sam brought the ribs in from the grill, and we were getting the rest of the food on the table, she asked what I meant about "tying" Colt in the chair. See the white around his middle? It's a cup towel slipped through the upright posts on the back of the chair and tied in the back. I just told Erin to watch that he didn't slip under it.
