October 2025
October 31, 2025 Friday - There are no trick-or-treaters out here in the country at all. After work, we took our long evening walk and watched some TV. My sister sent me a little bag of Halloween candy. I snacked on those this evening too. At the end of the night, I took the pups out for one last pee break. I thought the sky looked like a good spooky Halloween sky.
October 30, 2025 Thursday - “Our trio is down to two!” I met one of my good friends at our favorite Italian place. I wish this place was close to my house. I miss not being near good Italian food. It’s always good to get to hang out with at least one of my good friends here. At least when we share dessert, it’s fewer people to share with!
October 28, 2025 Tuesday - Yesterday, my nephew’s wife returned my food container with a delicious pasta dish. I need to ask her for the recipe. After a quick evening walk with the pups, I walked over to pick it up. She surprised me with a Halloween cookie her daughter made. Not only is this really cool-looking, it tastes really good too.
October 27, 2025 Monday - I made a big bowl of guacamole yesterday. I shared some with my brother, my nephew’s family, and my sister. My SIL traded me for some chicken and dumplings. I saved an avocado so I could make the pups and I avocado toast for breakfast today. I think all the pups were very disappointed we weren’t having eggs, ham, and cheese on toast.
October 26, 2025 Sunday - I slept in a little after getting home late last night. I made some breakfast for me and the pups. I did some work around the house until the Cowboy game started. We watched the first half, and then I took a break to put up my tent. It’s been a while, and I need to know if I still remembered how. I should have put on the fly rather than watching the second half of the game.
October 25, 2025 Saturday - Today was a big day for me. Rane planned a wedding dress shopping event for Riley, and they invited me to be a part of it. Not that I provide any great input, but it was really nice to be there. I know I’m biased, but she looked beautiful in every dress she tried on. There was one that just brought tears to my eyes when she walked out. Four months and counting….
October 24, 2025 Friday - I took a half day today. I was just tired. I didn’t do much or anything. I know I have a lot to do tomorrow, so today I did a bunch of this, just relaxing on the couch. Zak does a good job of keeping me company. With the cooler weather, I opened up the house, so it was nice having him keep my side warm.
October 23, 2025 Thursday - This is what the Orion constellation looks like at 5:30 in the morning in front of my house. The looks the pups gave me this morning were so comical. Biscuit always has a smushed, bed-head face when she wakes up, but today was especially funny. They really looked at me like I was crazy when I told them it was time to go for a walk, and it was still dark outside.
October 22, 2025 Wednesday - I had a doctor’s appointment tomorrow that I was supposed to be there at 8 a.m. For me, that was way earlier than I would have liked. It’s 40 minutes from my house. They called me the other day to reschedule. Something about the doctor needing to be in the hospital. Whatever. I had to set an alarm for stupid early.
October 21, 2025 Tuesday - Yesterday when my niece came over to pick up Dutton, I put Zak and the pups in my room. I told them all to stay in my firm “daddy” voice. Zak knows how to open the door and has poor impulse control. I stood in the doorway talking with my niece for a while, but when they left I went to let the pups out. Zak had opened the door but was sitting in my room like a good boy!
October 20, 2025 Monday - A while back, I started bringing in all my camping gear. I’ve been going through it to make sure I have all the stuff I need. I love the cooler temps, especially the cooler nights. I need to put up my tent this weekend to make sure it’s all good. It’s been a long time since I’ve gone camping, but I’m hoping to change that soon.
October 19, 2025 Sunday - This is Dutton, we affectionately call her “Crazy Dutton” here at the house. She’s very young compared to the rest of us here. She likes to spend the evenings in my lap, but she doesn’t lie still very long or very well. She’s been staying with us for a few days, and she’ll be going home tomorrow afternoon.
October 18, 2025 Saturday - Today I got to meet a dear friend for dinner. We met at a good Turkish place in Bishop Arts. Their Old Fashioned was okay, but the meal I ordered was really delicious. I hope we come back here again soon. It was good to see my friend and get caught up on all the new details going on in her and her family’s lives. I picked up a dessert on the way out.
October 17, 2025 Friday - I had a doctor’s appointment today at noon in Ft. Worth. I wanted to bring the pups with me, but it was a bit warm to leave them in the car. I noticed this on the side of the curb next to my car in the parking lot when I got back. For a moment, I thought it was a bit of bark, but then it moved. Fortunately, it didn’t move too fast.
October 16, 2025 Thursday - For the next several days, I’m going to be sitting Dutton and watching my nephew’s two pups. This is one of them, Herbie. I’ve watched him and his brother, Hank, before. I’m glad his hair is a bit longer now. Every time I leave, he looks me directly in the eyes and looks like he’s asking me to stay a little while longer. With his longer hair, I can’t see that and feel guilty.
October 15, 2025 Wednesday - I was going into town at lunch and had to stop to put some air in one of the tires. I noticed a crack in the rubber near the rim. I got these back in 2018, and the tread was still okay, so I got my money’s worth. I made my way to the local Discount Tire and got a new set of tires. Right next door was an On The Border. I’ve been craving a beer for a while.
October 14, 2025 Tuesday - This evening, I got a call to help with some leftovers. I know some people only like hot “soup” type meals only when it’s cooler or even just when it’s cold. Good menudo, like pho, is good any time of year regardless of the weather. I will say it seems weird to have menudo during the week. It’s definitely a weekend thing to me. Especially a Sunday morning thing.
October 13, 2025 Monday - When I left my friend’s house Saturday evening, his wife sent me home with some goodies. His daughter made these chocolate chip cookies that were especially good. One was a great snack this afternoon. She also sent me a large slice of her Yummy Cake she made, but it didn’t last long enough for me to take a photo.
October 12, 2025 Sunday - Yesterday, my Aunt left her purse in my car. I didn’t realize it until I was way up in Plano. I made arrangements to return this morning. My Aunt is special for lots of reasons, but one of the big ones is that she’s a great cook and baker. As a thank you for bringing her purse, she gave me a small stack of fresh, homemade tortillas. I came home and had three with butter. A little bit of heaven.
October 11, 2025 Saturday - Last week I was texting with one of my aunts. We made plans to have lunch today. We went to one of our favorite places to get one of our favorite dishes, Shrimp and Grits at the Rim. It was good to spend the morning with her. After I drove up north to spend the day with my friend and his family. He grilled some pichana, we had some cigars and a glass of wine or two.
October 10, 2025 Friday - Last night I didn’t sleep well or enough. It was really tough getting through the whole workday, especially with this guy and Biscuit snoring on the couch all day. When I was finally done, I went to my spot on the couch and took a quick nap. Before I dozed off, I got this photo of Zak doing what he’s done all day.
October 9, 2025 Thursday - A while back, I went to see my doctor. He wanted me to get some bloodwork done. I forgot until last night, so this morning I took the pups with me and stopped at Chick-fil-A for some chicken minis for all of us for breakfast. This is my last box of treats from Kilwins. I made the conscious decision to keep the box in the kitchen. Hopefully, this will make it last longer.
October 8, 2025 Wednesday - Today was a very uneventful day. A whole day of work, nothing special for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. I’m sure I watched an episode of The Amazing Race. I recently started watching Ted Lasso again. I’m not sure if it was today or not. My only photo from today was this photo I got down at the mailbox on our evening walk.
October 7, 2025, Tuesday - I took a break in the day to go into town to pick up some prescriptions. I decided to take the pups with me and get some lunch while we were in town. I got a photo of Zak a while back that I thought was my favorite. I think this is my new favorite. This face gets him lots of treats, chicken, and other sorts of food that’s normally not meant for dogs. I bet he was the cutest puppy.
October 6, 2025 Monday - I found these chocolate muffins at the grocery store a while back. I’ve been craving them and tried them again. I think they put cinnamon in the battered they went a little heavy with it this time. I sure do miss being able to order my friend’s cookies online whenever I wanted. The stuffed carrot cake cookies showed up on my photo widget the other day.
October 5, 2025 Sunday - Reaping the rewards for grilling Friday. This might be my go-to lazy meal: chop a little lettuce, grate some Parmesan, fresh cracked pepper, some croutons, and a bit of grilled chicken. I know this looks like kind of a lot of dressing, but this is a big bowl with lots of lettuce. Once I mixed it all up, it was just right.
October 4, 2025 Saturday - I’m dog-sitting this weekend. Dutton, my niece’s corgi, is staying with us. The girls really don’t like having another dog in the house. She’s so young and curious, but Biscuit and Pancake don’t care; they just want to be left alone. They all do really well on the walk together, though. For having such tiny legs, she has a really strong pull.
October 3, 2025 Friday - Look at me meal prepping! After our evening walk today, I came back and prepped a big package of chicken breasts for the grill. I don’t know what I’d do if I couldn’t buy Ziziki’s seasoning. It’s good on everything, but especially chicken. I’ll be having a lot of Caesar salads and grilled chicken sandwiches this week. The pups will be pretty happy this week too.
October 2, 2025 Thursday - On one of my visits to Kilwins two weekends ago, I picked up a box of dark chocolate-covered peanuts. These are my last two. I think I’ve done quite a good job of not eating them all too quickly. To be honest though, I did still have a little bit of fudge that I got on one of the visits.
October 1, 2025 Wednesday - Since I hadn’t seen my cardiologist in a long while, he scheduled me for a stress test. My blood pressure was really high when I got there. I was worried I would have to run on the treadmill. My arthritis doesn’t agree with that. Fortunately, it was just a very brisk walk uphill. My blood pressure was actually lower during the test than before. I treated myself to a big bowl of pho afterward.