Another weekend burned

It's hot as blazes down here right now, we are in our extended period of temperatures over 100°F with humidity, so the heat indices have been up around 108-110 (today it’s predicted to be 104° with a "feels like" 110°). Nothing unusual, it's just August, and September will bring more of the same.

Friday night we went out to Threadgill's for some good old rockabilly and rock and roll – big and heavy on the Texas guitars, with the Leroi Brothers and Bill Carter & The Blame (this time with Will Sexton, David Holt, Denny Freeman, rhythm section: Andy Salmon and Chris Layton). It was most excellent, and in addition to that several of us were keeping an eye peeled for Johnny Depp, who had (reportedly) been spotted in a club the night before, (plausible rumor had it) that he was working on a minor or quicky project with Q. Tarantino & R. Rodriguez, but the only verified fact in the matter is that he and Bill are old friends. No Johnny but lots of hot rockin' guitar which made for a sweaty night. Interesting and expressive dancers in front of us too. ;-)

The rest of the weekend was for daytime shopping, which provided enough heat in our systems to hold us over and keep us in during the evenings (while it was still in the high 90s after dark!). Goodwill was very good to me with bargain jeans, and this brand new sun hat that the manufacturer and REI sell for $36 or more. My price: $3. MrB has one just like it (REI sells it as a man’s hat but it doesn’t look gender-specific to me or to the manufacturer which sells it in both categories) so now we can dress alike. Is there anything more adorable than a middle-aged couple with matching hats? You don’t even have to answer that.

Also got a new rain barrel, stylish in black. Now all we need is some rain to go in it, and maybe to cool things down to 99° if possible. That is supposed to happen later this week. Come on 99!

On to the Natural Gardener to look for yard art [check them out!], they have a big selection. I love these ants made from wires and rocks.
It’s a very animal-oriented place, even for a nursery. They have a large enclosure for a couple of donkeys, a chicken coop or two containing some really unusual and beautiful birds. There’s also a little cottage on the grounds that is fixed up for cats, with fancy screened cat runs on the outdoor part. Spatz here is one of several resident cats and he just might be one of the mellowest cats in the world. Here he is being cute on the checkout counter, cuddling in a made-for-cats crinkle-sack.


Natural Gardener one of the places where we’ve been looking for kitty memorial pieces. Jax’s ashes will go in the same area with the ashes of Alex and Duncan. This is what we picked out to go in the area. It’s as big as a real cat and made of cast stone, weighs 29 lbs. (pretty heavy!), and I like it a lot.

I can’t believe that we have reached a point in our lives where we only have one cat, and he is so very old and fragile that we know we need to make the best of the rest of our time together. Henry will be 19 next month, so it will not be very long until we are completely without pets. It will take a long time to get used to that, it will be a life-change.