Day Forty...

THE NINTH OF TWENTY EIGHT THINGS I SEE BETWEEN MY HOUSE AND THE HIGHWAY...in no particular order...

Every body knows Big Tex. Big Tex is the guy (attack of the forty foot cowboy) that greets all the attendees of the Texas State Fair in Dallas. Well, this is another Big Tex. In the case of the Schwertner, Walburg, Bartlett areas of Central Texas, Big Tex is the fireworks stands, usually abandoned save for those eight or ten days every year when it is legal to sell those missiles and crackers imported from mysterious places around the world. Those swirling, spinning and exploding diversions proven to start more grass fires that a house full of pyromaniacs with a pent up desire and a full pack of matches. There must be a lot of money in fireworks because, as I said, it is only legal to sell them (in this area) for a few days before the Fourth of July and New Years. I can remember my cousins in Byhalia. Mississippi sold fireworks in the summer time, and then when I lived in Hattiesburg, Mississippi we would have bottle rocket wars out in the woods. THAT WAS FUN, and remember, I told you I was a product of slow maturity. Some issues took longer than others!

I have not been outside yet to get the paper, but I think I heard a little bit of rain last night, and when I got up, the patio around the pool looked wet, so that is a good sign. Or maybe the humidity is just up. The temperature on the nuclear thermometer said 61 degrees when I was making coffee, normal for mid-February in this part of the country.

I am off this morning to the Board of REALTORS for the first of my Leadership training. This will be a two day deal, and there will be a total of about 12 days of training over two or three months. We shall see...

Much later the same day. Well, we ended up with about 1.5 inches of rain today, that is really good, since we have been so dry and the drought conditions are really not helping things at all. Hopefully, the grass in the pastures will get a good start and produce well so I can get a couple cuttings of hay this year, and will not have to purchase hay. That was the original plan!

The class today was good, with about 19 attendees. Tomorrow will be another day, and we will take the DISC personality thingy...I have taken several of these over the years, and it will be interesting to see how I have changed since the last one. I am certain my personality type has undergone some transition in the last several years. I always thought that as you grow older you were supposed to become more tolerant of things that are unfamiliar to you...but I do not think that is happening in my case. I think I am becoming my mother, with very little tolerance for anything (period).

Now, I suggest that you go find a worthy cause, and donate some of your time to something or someone. Doing good things does not always mean spending money, but it is more about putting to good use the resources you have available to you at the time. If you just happen to be flush with lots of cash, I am certain a local shelter could use personal hygiene items, socks, shoes, underwear, you name it, all the things that most of us just take for granted. On the other hand, all of us have some time that we could put to good use. Go ahead, volunteer for something, and you will make the world a better place. And while you are at it, visualize whirled peas!