Recent travels...

Work took me to Granbury yesterday. On the way back I was blessed to watch a Richards male tradition. In the 103 degree heat, I had the pleasure of watching the Coach Pitch Angels, of the University Little League in Fort Worth, hold a practice. 
Our son is coaching and his son is playing. 
I can close my eyes right now and see my grandfather calling me out on a bang-bang play at the plate when I was 10. My grandfather, father, me, and my son have now all coached a Little League team. 
I had my first team at 15 when dad's workload basically had me in charge. I coached for 17 seasons in College Station, Waco and Merkel. 
It was a real treat, watching Joey and Case, and 9 other 6 year olds Carry On. I am sure my grandfather and father would agree.
Taco Tuesday at Rosas afterward with Allison was the icing on the cake.

Catching up

The new job is taking me to a lot of places in Texas i had not been before...
If you are ever near Murchison, eat at the rib place on the highway, excellent...
Edom is a very nice small town and worth a stop. Met with the city council at Weinert Tuesday night and one of the councilmen said it was good to have a consultant that knew the area even though it was a 4.5 hour drive from the lake...dove hunting will be good around there this week.
Got to celebrate mel's birthday with a short fast trip to the "boats" in shreveport.
Garden kicking out lots of eggplant, peppers and okra and mel and i hope to fish some this weekend. Had to move the boat out of the cove as it is drying up.... Again
Did get to see allison for a few minutes tuesday...
No travels until tuesday of next week...

Sand bass

Brother in law Johnny Qualls came for a weekend fishing trip and we caught a lot of sandbass yesterday near the greenville pump station. We had a blast but had to jump in the lake a couple of times to cool off.

Catching up...

The work for GrantWorks has certainly been exciting lately. A week ago, I attended and participated in city council meetings from Cranfills Gap to Aurora with several stops along the way. Got a bunch more to go. I am making some rookie mistakes but am starting to feel more comfortable with the process. I enjoy working with the folks who run small communities, listening to their stories and going over our shared experiences. There is a lot I have learned over the past few months, and I have more learning to do. Our small lakeside garden is kicking out tomatoes, okra, jalapenos, dill, eggplants (white & purple). We are canning a pint or a quart of something daily, mostly pickled okra. Melanie spent 10 days with her sister Merikay in Sherman. Those who know us, know why Mel was there. She and Bully had a good time there, it was nice to get them back home last week. Got to have a short visit with Joey, Allison and Case right after Joey's 35th birthday. Have not fished a lot in all this heat. Brother in law Johnny did come last weekend and went home with lots of sandbass fillets we caught. Short trips this week, lots of stuff to do...

Case visit!

Joey, Allison and Case came for a long weekend. We swam, towed the tube behind the boat while Joey and Case enjoyed the water, caught enough white bass for fresh fish tacos, and had a great time catching up. Great seeing them all and we have a new artwork on the fridge from Case Andrew.

Dad Day

Just remembering a great day with a great man. Dad is his one and only meeting with his great grandson Case.

Another Crappie tax day

Only had a half day of work today so Melanie and I made lowquat jelly, worked some in the garden and then I hit the cove behnd the house at 5. By 7:30 i had filleted 21 and never went more than 125 yards from my back door. I love living here (remind me I said that in late August).