It is summer in Texas
Summer came back in April with record breaking temperatures and our first 100 degree day of the season. The high temperatures will remain in the nineties or higher thru September or October--that's summer in Texas.Over spring break Rick built a second raised garden bed in our back yard which he planted with seeds. Our garden is in full bloom. We have harvested cucumbers for nearly a week and have tomatoes and corn coming soon. He also planted two apple trees, a peach tree, and a nectarine tree. The peach tree had two peaches--the ones the birds didn't eat tasted pretty good. We expect to have nectarines in July.
The last week in April we hired a local guy to paint the house and repair the chimney. After a couple of no shows and taking his pay in installments for the work completed (beer money?), he got the job done accompanied by music blasting from his boom box.
Our television had been on its last leg for several months--we had to warm it up for over 30 minutes before we could get a picture on the screen. We decided to join the 21st century by replacing it with a 37" wide-screen high-definition flat-screen TV. I never realized how many stations are sent in HDTV. We also got a new computer capable of burning DVDs. Rick has spent the last month converting our VHSs to DVDs. So far we have over 100 DVDs which fit in a space the size of 2 shoe boxes.
Sarah graduated from Allen High School last Thursday. It was held at the Coliseum at the University of North Texas in Denton, TX (an hour's drive away). The ceremony lasted 'forever' with 1005 graduates. Sarah was 19th in her class. She will be attending Texas A&M in the fall. She has received scholarships of $4000/year from A&M and a $500 scholarship from her old elementary school, plus over $7000 in grants for next school year.
Michael and Meghan came for a visit over Memorial Day weekend. Mike started a new job as a claims adjuster with Farmers Insurance in Oklahoma City a couple weeks ago. Feeling flush with money he traded in the old purple truck for a dark blue Scion (the new boxy cars). It is surprisingly roomy inside and gets 34 mgp on the highway and 30 in the city.
Now that all the kids are graduated and out on their own, we are in the process of transforming their old bedrooms into two guest bedrooms and an office. We moved the twin beds into one room and the double bed into Sarah's room, which she is thoroughly enjoying. The office looks spacious, clean (Rick painted it this week) and more like an office with the bed moved out and the bookcases lining the back wall.
posted by Richard Crookston @ 9:01 PM
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