Summer Settles In

 

Down here in Texas, thirty miles north of Dallas.

We’ve begun the Dog Days of Summer (which traditionally begins in August, but here we’re about two months’ ahead of the northeast in heat), with temperatures firmly in the upper 90s. Not bad, since I expect July will be 31 days of 100-plus temps, but the humidity is a little more oppressive than I remember from the past two summers.

Which is slightly less than optimal, as I’m beginning my first major home ownership project tomorrow (I’ve taken a PTO day Friday and have the entire weekend). I’m re-staining the fence that perimeters my backyard. We measured it before buying all the stain needed, and though I forgot the exact numbers, it’s a six-foot fence about a hundred or so feet in length, and both sides need to be done. I expect it will take all weekend, though I want to get the majority of the work done early in the mornings and in the evenings if possible.

Other than that its been a slow June. We had excitement for Patch’s Confirmation and Father’s Day, and Little One’s college roommate is in town taking classes over the summer, so she visits on occasion. Last Sunday we went to mass at the college campus and were pleasantly surprised at the reverence shown by clergy and laypeople alike. Little One goes to a Catholic college which takes its Catholicity seriously, unlike more larger, well-known “Catholic” colleges such as Notre Dame or Georgetown.

I’m currently a third into my favorite Clancy novel, The Sum of All Fears, my introduction to the literary Jack Ryan first read in the Fall of ’94. After that I have two remaining Clancy novels to plow through, Debt of Honor and Executive Orders, which should take me to mid-September. Then I think a detour into Westerns, as I picked out three L’Amours and Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry for $11. For Halloween I plan on returning to Clive Barker, as I did a few years’ back. Not sure about November and December. Maybe I’ll give Asimov’s Foundation novels a third go (it’s the only Asimov I’ve never been able to crack in my youth), or The Illuminatus Trilogy, another omnibus that defeated me about ten or twelve years ago.

As far as nonfiction goes, I’ve been winding my way through an 1,800-page exegesis on the Bhagavad Gita. Nine summers ago I read Roger Zelazny’s Lord of Light which piqued an interest in Hindu lore and mythology and I read a shorter Gita back then. This one kinda jumped off the library shelf at me two weeks ago, and, well, now I’m closing in on page 400.

After that I’m not sure what nonfiction I’ll take up. Possibly Bruce Catton’s Mr. Lincoln’s Army, which I picked up when we visited my sister-in-law in Idaho in March of 2022. A blogger I’ve been reading for 15+ years is a Civil War buff (among many side hobbies he writes about) and that caused me to consider Catton, staring down at me in silent condemnation at my twenty-seven months of neglect. In November, however, I decided to read the thousand-page A Thousand Days: John F. Kennedy in the White House, published in 1965 and winner of the Pulitzer Price a year later. This is in preparation for a visit to the Sixth Floor Museum in Dealey Plaza, which we’ve finally vowed to see this fall.

The girls are enjoying summer so far, having been out of school for about six weeks now. Halfway point will be the Fourth of July next week. We might go attend a minor-league ball game where we can swim in a pool in the outfield and watch fireworks afterwards, a repeat of what we did last year. It’s nice that Little One has her license now, as she takes my car to get dinner, drive Patch around, and drive to her college to hang with her roomie every now and then (and not to mention drive to work when I’m home remote).

The wife is currently in Austin until Friday evening. She’s doing such a good job that her superiors expanded her territory to almost the entirety of Texas and Oklahoma too. So on occasion she needs to drive out to Austin and spend a few days there visiting her people. Which is good for the family; more territory = more volume = more commission = greater bonus payout.

Me, I’m still at my corporate job doing my boring corporate thing. I’ve also taken on more responsibilities, but that only translated in a 4 percent raise. Which means I’m still making less money when I started due to inflation, but not as less as I could be making. Thanks Joe Biden. But even better, I’ve noticed the whole woke thing is starting to die out. “DEI out.” Thank God. Pride Month came and went with a tenth of the fanfare the company gave it last year, the same for Juneteenth. With any luck it’ll be gone next year and the company can focus on its real mission and allow its employees to work to accomplish that, without all this time wasting side nonsense.

Anyway, that’s pretty much a general update here in northeast Texas. Hope things are all going well with you all. Read something fantastic today!