actually getting off my butt and doing stuff

The weather peeps say that yesterday, Friday, was our last triple digit day of the year and sure enough today's predicted high is a mere 98˚ (currently 99˚ at I PM) and this morning was, dare I say, almost pleasant? I mean I didn't ooze out a single drop of sweat while I was out watering. High temps will slowly diminish over the next two weeks to the low 90s with lows in the mid to low 70s and on the 23^rd, gasp, a high of 86˚. I think I'll just swoon if that happens.

Yesterday I finally got the piece for the gallery boxed up and ready to send. It'll go out Monday.

I had gone over to the shop to get boxes and packing material and determined that none of my boxes were big enough or square enough and no bubble wrap so I grabbed the scale and the big bag of shredded paper (old shredded records from SHARE) (I'll take that to the recycling center I told them, that being my shop for packing material) turning my back on the last big box of miscellaneous foam pieces from previous years of sending to and receiving work from galleries that are no longer existent. A trip to the Evil Empire and I had bubble wrap, tape, and three different sizes of boxes that surely would do. And yes, I used the smallest box and the biggest of the three but I had to cut down the height of one by 5” and the other by 7”. Anyway, this was probably the fastest I have ever packed up a piece. That shredded paper is genius. No dicking around with foam, cutting it down or finding shapes and sizes that were usable, no fucking peanuts to bag up and stuff in. A 2” layer on the bottom, the bubble wrapped piece with more stuffed around the edges and a 2” layer on top, done. Same for the little box inside the bigger box (I always double box my work when sending it to the gallery).

Well, Cat did not learn her lesson spending the night outside Monday night. Wednesday evening sitting on the deck with Cat stretched out nearby

when my neighbor (the Wicked Bitch of the West's son) pulled into the empty lot next door with his big truck and trailer. Cat is easily spooked and she shot off the deck and under the house and would not come when called. So she spent another night outside but I had once again propped open the garage door and left the light on and when I got up Thursday morning and opened the door to the garage, there she was on the mat. She's shown no interest in going out since.

I finally got some caulk in my constant battle to outsmart the ants. I've actually gotten kind of blasé about them. They've been in the trash can in the kitchen the last two mornings so I moved one of the ant baits there which they got all excited about and today there were far fewer. Regardless, the afternoon's activity is caulking all around the pocket door casing between the kitchen and the activity room. Which I did and man was that a chore, mostly because the side with the door only provided a slot about 3/8^th of an inch access so I had to use a putty knife to slide it in there with caulk on it and goop it in there as best as I could without really being able to see what I was doing all that well. So it ain't pretty on that side but you can't tell unless you look in there with a flashlight.

After breakfast today I drove out to the Peach Creek Market just down the highway. It's recently been bought by a new guy and he's expanding what they offer bringing in locally grown produce to augment the peaches, pecans, local honey, all kinds of canned stuff...pickled everything and sauces and oils and stuff like that. Today I got peaches (unprecedented to still have Hill Country peaches at this time of year but apparently spring was late and the trees flowered late), okra, cucumbers, and garlic. Then I went next door to the new seafood market that recently opened and got a pound of medium sized Gulf shrimp. I guess gumbo is in our future.

Despite the horrible heat the yellow bells are blooming, the porterweed just finished a round of blooms, the pink trumpet flower shrub thing, andthe rangoon creeper.