I'm not sure what this is......

........but I took pictures of it!

I took off work last Tuesday and a miracle happened that afternoon. It rained. It rained real good.

And the temperature dropped from 105  

to 77!

I can't remember the last time we had a good rain. The next day was wonderful, with the high barely hitting 90 and a bit more rain.  This broke about 24 days straight of 100 degrees or higher.  That would be since August 1st........... It was truly a blessing.

It was a Monday.........

The work week started off okay. But then only a few hours later, I was home eating lunch and when I went to let the dog in.........she had a bird in her mouth.  I tried to bribe her with a dog treat to come inside, but she wasn't going to let go of the bird. Got hot going outside to deal with the dog. I eventually left her outside while she was eating the bird (almost lost my lunch). We broke another record high today. It was 107. The A/C at work struggled to keep up and lost. The last 2 hours were pretty miserable. It was 82 when I left. The truck's thermometer showed 116 when I started the truck. It eventually dropped to 109 by the time I got home........Shortly after leaving work, while at an intersection on a bridge, just as soon as the light turned green......I heard a siren. Well, there was an ambulance right beside me wanting to turn left. It would have been nice if they had turned on the siren BEFORE the light. With the A/C blowing full blast, it took me a while to determine where the siren was coming from........

Let's see, on Sunday morning I discovered my new water hose was stolen from the from the front of my house. Such a strange and scary thing to happen. Let's think positive........

I'm off work tomorrow and will probably go buy another water hose. Yeah!!!!  It's only money and the high is predicted for 104 or so. 

Dr Pepper

Instead of fighting the Tax Free Weekend shopping crowds yesterday, I decided to mingle among the crowds of visitors at the Dr Pepper Museum in Waco. They were having the second annual Dog Days of Summer event which meant free admission! Dr Pepper was created by a pharmacist at the Corner Drug Store in Waco in 1885. It is one of the oldest soft drinks in America and was bottled in Waco until moving to Dallas around 1923. The museum is in the original 1906 bottling company building.

Can you imagine how many glass bottles bounced out of the wood cases while driving down bumpy streets/roads?

I know these photos are rather poor quality. I blame: all of the light coming through the glass windows and doors of this 1906 building, the height of some of these items, all of the people walking in front of me and behind me, a point & shoot camera, and finally the OPERATOR of the camera!

The bright spot in this photo is me behind the camera :)

Guess I need to visit Dublin (TX) and report on what is known as Dublin Dr Pepper. They started bottling DP just a few years after Waco and are still operating. They still make Dr Pepper the old fashioned way...with Imperial Pure Cane Sugar (from Sugar Land TX)!

Tax Free Weekend

It is Texas Tax Free Weekend.  That means Friday, Saturday, and Sunday are "taxing" for those who just want to run to Wal-Mart, Target, or the mall for an everyday item. Maybe you need some milk or laundry detergent or toilet paper. Now you have to fight the parking lot and checkout crowds! Wish I had planned ahead........  I drove by a Wal-Mart today and the traffic was terrible. The parking lot at the mall was full, just like the Friday after Thanksgiving.

Geckos

I have some small buddies that hang out at my house. I've been trying to take pictures of them after dark the past few nights, but..........they are fast, camouflage against my house, and hang out in low light areas.  At least that is what my point and shoot camera tells me........  They do like for me to leave the porch, bathroom, or kitchen lights on at night since that attracts bugs to the windows. I get to see their undersides when they are hanging on my windows. This one was taken on my textured bathroom window:

The year on the above photo is wrong. That was explained in my Friday the 13th post! 

This is a medium size gecko with a long, striped tail. That means the tail has never been broken off! That's one of their escape/defense features. I've seen many a broken off tail (still moving) while trying to rescue them from my dogs.....  The tail re-grows, but it is shorter and wider from what I have read. 

I have 3 large geckos that hang out on the back porch each night. I just haven't been lucky enought to get their photos. A couple of them have fat, non-striped tails!  My adventures have included opening a front or back door and them falling on me because they are hanging out on the door. Or, maybe moving a flower pot and them being underneath. I've also rescued several from my house and relocated them back outside. Sad stories are closing the door on them and flower pots on top of them........

Cool Thoughts

A cool pic from earlier this year during a rare ground covering snowfal since......we've had

18 consecutive 100 + degree days so far, 106 yesterday which broke 105 record for the day.

Twin Kids

Girl and Boy - 1 day old

The boy reminds me of a rabbit in the above picture.....More pictures of the girl, my favorite.

This is the mother. It's fairly obvious....

And here's Billy, who kindly posed for a photo, goatee and all.

George Strait

And on the 7th day ... .......

I have been a George Strait fan for a long time. I remember seeing him on TV when I was at my parent's house in the late 70's. It was a Ralph Emery show that I watched frequently. I think it was Pop Goes The Country, which later became Nashville Now. It was so long ago, that my memory is fuzzy........but I remember Ralph Emery's introduction of  "and here is a new country singer who is a real cowboy from Texas"...or something like that. It caught my attention, but then the sight and sound of George really caught my attention. He wasn't a lot older than me, but already married and had a daughter. Thus began my faithful following...
In the early 80's, when he had only had 1 or 2 number 1 hits and before the huge arena concerts, I attended his concert in Waco. I think it was at the Convention Center. As you can see from the photos, we were able to stand right in front of him on stage. Warning: this was taken with a Polaroid camera :)

He was so young. And so was I....... I used to watch him on Austin City Limits in the early years. I remember hearing the terrible news that his daughter was killed at age 13 in an automobile accident. My older brother's daughter, my only niece, was just a few years younger than Jenifer at that time...... I remember him doing some Chevy commercials and some with his blue heeler. I even found a box of George Strait dog treats with their picture on it.........then I heard the news that his dog was missing.

Of course, I saw the movie Pure Country when it was at the theater. The closeup shot of his fantastic smile, what an ending! I have the DVD, but I swear, every time I run across the movie on TV, I watch the rest of it........ I've seen him at the huge concerts in the Astrodome at the Houston Livestock Show. I also have a DVD of From The Astrodome, For the Last Time.  I attended one of his concerts at Texas Stadium which had numerous other big country performers. Most of them headline their own concerts now. Sure, I have almost all of his records and really enjoyed when there was a whole XM radio channel devoted to him. Then there is the George Strait Team Roping Classic. I've seen his son, Bubba, compete in team roping. He was competing at the Texas Circuit Finals a few Januarys ago. George was there. He was sitting on a horse in the alley way, wearing a cap and glasses. I'm not a fanatic fan. I just respect George keeping true to his Texas cowboy roots, his family, and still being a successful country singer. Guess I better sign off for now. And please remember:

Robert Duvall promo for The Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum (Long V...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-W_r_pyCt7w

Friday the 13th / Dog Days of Summer

Here it is, Friday the 13th.  I'm really not superstitious.  I like black cats and not afraid of ladders (under 6 feet)......  I'm just glad it's the end of another work week!!!!  However, strange things do seem to happen on Friday the 13th............

100 degrees in the shade

How does this fit in her cute, small mouth?? And yes, we need to get a big bone or a visit to the vet for dental cleaning or her mother needs to brush her teeth.**Ha, I just noticed the date stamp on my camera has 2011. What can I say?  Happy Friday the 13th!

My loyal helper

It's been too hot for us to work in the yard, but she still stays by my side.....whether pulling weeds or watering to keep the grass (and weeds) alive.

104 degrees here today. 

Sunflowers

I love sunflowers, real and artificial. There's something so country and warm about them. I try to grow them every year.

Birds love sunflowers also. I think they love them more than I do because they always steal them from me................

They never get a chance to go to seed. Sometimes they are just starting to bloom and they are gone......

Would you mind sharing........

It's amazing to see comradery among the animals........

Lucky shot

It's Monday night and I'm too tired to do much of anything........

Horses always warm my heart, so I'm ending the night with a shot that I took of a friend's horses. The sorrel is Punch, who is a team roping horse. Buckshot is a lineback dun and was a just a little over a year old. He's a big, friendly baby for a young stud.

Lazy Sunday

It's been too HOT to do much of anything in HeartOfTexas, so Bandit and I have been lazy today. Sure, we took an early morning walk, along with checking out the withering plants and yard a few times during the day, but we  mainly stayed inside with the A/C blowing more often than not.  Tonight we are watching National Geographic's "And Man Created Dog". It's amazing how she is intently watching TV when hearing the dog and wolf sounds. Of course, she moves to the computer desk to guard my legs while I'm sitting at the computer........