May your stuffing be tasty
May your turkey plump,
May your potatoes and gravy
Have nary a lump.
May your yams be delicious
And your pies take the prize,
And may your Thanksgiving dinner
Stay off your thighs!
~Author Unknown  Happy Thanksgiving!

Talking Bout My Girls

I love these mums.  Each flower is made up of so many perfect little petals.

A beautiful creation.

Speaking of beautiful creations.

 

I went down to see Molly's class get started in the homecoming parade Friday.  The kids decorated a boat trailer. Some road, some walked and some road in the back of the pick up.

The boys getting the law rules of etiquette on pickup riding prior to the parade.

Here they are ready to roll.  There were many entries in the parade and they shut down west bound Belt Line (a major street) from the elementary school to the high school.

The kids were excited.  My girl was in control.

As you can see my other girls are doing well.

Rosie has appointed herself official lap sitter of anyone who happens to sit in this chair.

It's usually me.

As you can see mom is not so thrilled about this.

Rosie is much older than mom in people years.

Rosie takes "Age Before Beauty" very seriously and has declared herself queen.

 

 

It's hard to argue with this face.

Taking Time

Two weeks ago today my mother had to be hospitalized for Sepsis. 

An infection out of control that came with no warning.

We've been taking time to

Relax

Watch the much needed rain

Laugh

Heal

And She Has

I took this picture of her this morning.

My Mom

The "real" Wonder Woman

Finally Fall

Today is the first day of Fall

But it's not why these trees have turned colors.

This is what happens when you haven't had rain in months.

That is burned foliage and grass from 70 days of 100+ degrees.

The greens were kept alive with constant watering.  But the poor trees have suffered.

And the ponds.

The day after I took this picture it rained and the weather cooled off giving us a taste of cooler weather.  We have had a couple of days in the 80's but mostly it's been in the low 90's.  It rained again yesterday.  Even though the rain only lasts about 30 minutes we're grateful.

I celebrated by pulling out my fall decorations.

I found this little owl on the mantle at Pier One.  We have a couple of owls living nearby. 

 I love to hear them talking to each other at night.

I've been wanting a pair of brown boots for a long time.  I haven't had a pair since I was in college 40 years ago.  I splurged and bought myself these.

We all know that "New Shoes Cure the Blues".

I guess you could say "New Boots Make you Hoot".

Have a great first day of fall.

Ms Corny Kat

Breaking Records

IT'S SO DARN HOT!

I googled for a picture of a "hot sun" and came across this one.  I thought it was a little easier on the eyes than a picture of the glaring, eye squinting sun we have had endlessly here. 

It implies water.

We don't have any.

We haven't had a good any rain in months and are in a horrible drought.  We get teased every once in a while with some thunder and sprinkles but that's about the extent of it.

This past weekend Tom and I went to visit my ex boss, Dr. M-R for his 75th birthday.  He has a home on Cedar Creek Lake in Mabank.  Here is a view from his back porch.

The lake is 5ft below what it should be.  Normally the water fills up the front dock. 

Here is a close up of his boat dock.  They can't put their boat in the water because it's too shallow.   

We are probably going to break the all time record of 100+ degree days we have ever had in one really long hot summer. So far we have had

60 days 100 or over!

We've been breaking all kinds of heat records down here.  "Highest Highs" and my favorite "Highest Lows".  That's when it's like 90 degrees at 6 am when I'm on my way to work with the air conditioner on MAX.  It is not natural!  Needless to say we're all kind of cranky.

FYI

Today is "National Dog Day".  I don't have one.  Hug your dog for me!

Today in History (1920)

The 19th amendment to the constitution was passed giving women the right to vote.

I vote "The Highest Temperature May Never Exceed 90 Degrees Ever!"

Blog Changes

We are getting some sprinkles here in Texas this morning. It's been months since we have had rain. I'm hoping for a downpour. My Vinca are happy.

I'm working on my blog.  It will look like I've put a new post on when in fact it's just piddly little changes I'm making here and there on my web page.  This will probably go on for a while given the fact that I am not very good at web design.  My biggest challenge is my header.  I want it really simple. This one is temporary.  If you have any suggestions please leave a comment.  If you have a blog send me the link.  I would love to see it.


Kat

Hot Time In The Old Town

We are officially in 2nd place now with the most consecutive days over 100 degrees.  I think it's 36 days in a row now but if I'm wrong the heat is getting to my head.  The record is 42 days back in 1980 and from the looks of the long range forecast we're going to break that record.  We've been threatened with rolling black outs by the electric company.  They are actually pulling electricity from Mexico to help with the overload here.  That boggles my mind.  How do they do that?

The worst part is we have had NO RAIN!  All of Texas is in a severe drought.  I don't travel outside of the metroplex but I hear that it's a very sad sight.  Burnt cornfields, grapes that have turned into raisins, dried up ponds and lakes.  They even found a part of the shuttle Columbia in a lake in Nacogdoches because the water level had dropped down so low.   I remember that morning well. I heard the explosion, actually two. It woke me up. A horrible horrible tragedy.

Doesn't that look like something out of "The Day The Earth Stood Still"?   The original one with Michael Rennie not the remake with Keanu Reeves (even though Keanu is by far the better looking alien).

When the lakes get low the tap water tastes vile!  We always say it's because the lakes turn over in the summer.  Can you picture that? Ha.  It's actually because of an overgrowth of algae.  I guess that's why we say the lakes turn over.  I find myself buying bottle water every time I make a trip to the store.  We even use it for coffee.  Thank you Ozarka!

It's starting to look like fall.  The poor trees are really suffering.

Our yard is patchy and the ground is pulling away from the foundation in areas. "Not good".

I've managed to keep some flowers alive.  I've grouped them all together on the patio waiting for this heat wave to be over.  The geranium given to me by a dear friend on my birthday, is not so good. (I'm not giving up on it yet Heidi)!

Tom has been doing some evening hand watering on the dry spots.  Notice he is watering the neighbors yard in this picture.  I love this man.

All of North Texas is on watering restrictions.  Our area is only allowed to water 2 days a week before 10 AM and after 6 PM.  Tom and I (it took team effort) reset the sprinkler system to conform to the times and I think it will work better because we can do some deep watering at night.  It will be much better for the yard and foundation.

Yesterday early morning the sprinklers were running on the golf course.  Do you see the rainbows?

I'm taking that as a sign

A promise of rain

That August will fly by

That September October will be here soon

I'm so.... ready for fall, ya'll!