Today was John Deere day on the homestead here. Spent the early, cooler half of the day out doing the Texas pinwheel. You know what I mean…’round and ’round she goes. Luckily, the wind was blowing lightly.

The anticipated rain from earlier in the week bypassed us as usual. I doubt we had even an inch fall all told. Lots of clouds…some winds…Not even enough rain to soak the ground. So my riding around in the heat today stirred up enormous amounts of dust. I was covered from head to toe. Needless to say, the shower ran black after I was finished.

I am glad I finished up early because this has become a 90° day. After the “cool” front blew through you would think it would have been cooler…Not happening. Though the humidity is lower than normal. That could explain the dryness of the grass.

My week has taken me over to the northwest side of Houston a couple of times. I have been spending some time killing time waiting for my daughter to visit a friend in the hospital…The first time I spent my time with Fred First’s new book, the second time I visited with Wendell Berry and “the art of the commonplace” collection. A nice way to spend a couple of hours on each day I must admit. Luckily for me I found shaded parking spots to enjoy the time.

I found a neighborhood park in the Garden Oaks area to hang out at…Like a lot of Houston, driving the streets of these neighborhoods is a bit strange. These older tract houses from the 40’s and the 50’s are in the process of being gradually replaced by the McMansions of the newer “master planned” communities further out on the “freeways”. Where the builder has been careful and the style of the house matches the existing homes it doesn’t look too bad. Just bigger homes between the smaller houses. But when you see some of these architectural monsters sitting there between two 1200 square foot, three bedroom, one bath homes…You have to wonder what these folk were thinking.

Oh well, me, I am about ready to say goodbye to these city byways and head to the rural landscape of the blue ridge mountains. Sanity indeed, if not in deed…