"Dog Days" of Summer!

We are experiencing the "Dog Days" of Summer in Texas!  When I first wake up in the morning, it is so nice to open the doors and enjoy the remnants of the cooler night air, but by late morning, when the sun gets higher in the sky, and the muggy heat begins to creep into the house, I close the doors and turn on the A/C.  Such is life in Texas, following the wonderful, wet Spring we had this year!

My friend Mary Ann and I are still meeting twice a week to walk seven (or more) miles together, and Tom and I are trying to go for shorter walks on the days in between .  It is very warm, and we sweat a lot, but I suppose that is part of getting fit and staying in shape.  I tell myself when I sweat profusely, I am sweating out the impurities in my system!  Ha!  

My house painting project is nearing completion!  Yippee!! After applying lots of caulk and a coat of Kilz Primer, the back of the house is ready for the layer of color.  After that, I just have a lot of little "touch-up" areas, doors and screendoors, a few more plces to caulk and and then repaint, and call it finished.  I had no idea when I began this project in late April, that it would take me this long, or that it would be so labor intensive!  Also, my fear of heights, while working on the three "peak areas", slowed me down more than I thought it would.

I am beginning to get excited about my trip to Ireland in September!  Only five more weeks, and my sister, Norma, and I will be on our way to the Emerald Isle!  I look forward to vacationing with Norma and also going "across the pond" for the first time in my life!  What a great opportunity this is for me!

Tom has a week of vacation coming up in October, and since it has been five years since we went on a Cruise together, we decided to book a Cruise!  I emailed Tom's brother, Tim, and asked if he and his wife, Kathy, would like to go also.  What a wonderful surprise, they said "SURE"!  So, the four of us will set sail from New Orleans, La. for a 7-day Carnival Cruise, with Ports-of-Call in Isla Roatan, Belize, and Cozumel.  I am so excited that they are going with us on this vacation!  Several years ago, the four of us met in San Juan, Puerto Rico and went on a Royal Carribean Cruise to Aruba, Curacao, St.Marteen, and St.Thomas, and that was so much fun having Tim & Kathy vacation with us!

I enjoyed Sue's pool again last week when several of my Saddlebag women friends and I met there for a shared covered dish lunch and a swim.  Mary Ann brought her two daughters, Jill & Ellie; Pam brought her four granddaughters, Metchie, Crystal, Lexie, & Ginny; and of course Sue's son, Alex, was there.  It was so much fun watching all the teens & preteens have so much fun in the pool!  Poor Alex was so outnumbered by those six pretty girls, I'm sure it was overwheming for him!

                                          Betty, Mary Ann, Pam, Gillian, & Sue, enjoying the shade!

                                          "The Girls" and Alex doing a group "jump"!

                                          A neat gate I saw on my way home from the pool!

I left BooBoo "home alone", and this is how I found her when I returned!  Silly monkey!