It Has Been A Long Hot Summer

We are just a few days away from taking the record from 1980 as the hottest summer on record for the Dallas area.  This has been a miserable one with 65 days over a hundred degrees and a feels like temperature of 110 for most of those days.  We went from a windy spring to a still stifling summer.
We also are now the driest year on record. 

Pam retired on May and we have worked through the summer rearranging our lives to deal with the two of us being retired.  Nothing drastic but there are a surprising number of thinks that need to be taken care of.  We have a pretty good financial advisor and insurance people so we have been working through many things.  We also have the advantage of several friends and family who have recently retired to build on.

Pam has taken a part time job with our church teaching preschoolers how to read (or more correctly pre reading skills). It will keep her busy several days a week from mid morning to mid afternoon.  I still have not committed to anything and have been carving a lot due to the heat.  I have a lot of projects around the house but it is just to hot to do them.

Hopefully this weather pattern will break soon and I can get to some of them before winter sets in.  So in parting here are Smokey and Blaze engaged in their favorite pastime sitting in our laps.

Hope all is well.

Bruce and Pam

The Heat Goes On

Dallas continues to be in the grips of a record setting summer.  By Friday 8/12/2011 we will have tied the record for the longest consecutive number of days over 100 and there is no end in sight.  The bad thing is it is not really cooling down at night.  10 pm and it is still at or near 100.  Lows are staying in the high 80s.  To add to the problem after a spring where we thought we would blow away no there is no wind at all. 

In the midst of all this Charles and Heather have moved back to Dallas.  Charles has taken a position with a new firm and they found an apartment in the Northpark area.  Pam and I are glad to have them back but moving in the heat was less than fun.  Heather is currently finishing up with her job and will join Charles here at the end of the month.  She is looking forward to starting a new career as of yet undetermined.  After four years of litigating for the State of Kansas on child support cases she is looking for something more up beat.

Pam has decided on her retirement career.  She will be working with our Church and its Pre-K programs teaching reading skills three days a week.  I am still undecided.  I have been spending a lot of time carving and am being told by those who have seen the product to sell them.  I may play with that a while before committing to anything else.  I have surprised my self so far having taken no lessons and only reading a few books (Reading my be a bit overstated as most carving books are mostly pictures.

I am currently grand dog sitting and it is funny to watch our two spoiled cats share their castle with Sophie.  Sophie is a LapsaPoo and wants to be friends with the cats in the worst way.  Sophie is the only dog our cat Smokey has ever seen and since we got him as a kitten from a friend who fosters for the ASPCA he hasn't been around that many cats.  Blaze who we got from the Plano animal shelter was the cat used by the shelter to test dogs to see if they would tolerate a cat.  That is how I found him at the shelter he was in the room with a couple and a dog.  I wanted a gray and white cat that was calm.  He seemed to be undaunted by the dog and the couple.  When I asked the attendant if they were adopting the cat he said oh no Blaze was their test cat. He got along well with dogs so they would bring him in when someone wanted to know if the dog would get along with a cat.  Oddly enough in our house Blaze is the shy one.  He also has a different outlook on dogs these days.  It seems he knew how to get adopted.  Oh yeah the calm thing didn't turn out to be true either.  He tears around the house like a banshee doing acrobatics and then looking to see if I was impressed.

Off to take the dog for a walk.

Hope you have a great day.

Bruce