Starting to get hot now. The days are about as long as they're gonna get and as you drive down the country roads the grass looks not so green anymore because the hay's been cut, taking the good green new growth off the top. It's still June. There's a long summer to go. Thinking of a lot of things done in summer heat in Brenham.

- standin' out in the street in front of Nonnie's house in town throwin' and bouncin' tennis balls off the wall on the other side of the street in the hot sun

- hand planting bermuda sprigs with Kyle in Sandy Creek No. 2 on a hot summer day many years ago

- late summer pickin' up hay bales (with snakes in 'em) and pitchin' them up on to the old Ford truck then into the barn with hay hooks

- tearin' down the old house that hot weekend; Mark with his "Bar"; and cooling off with a beer in the trough/swimming pool at the end of the day

- mowing pastures from dawn to dusk in one hour "shifts" back in high school

- the screened in "sleeping house" on hot summer nights...Armadillos rooting and "those goddamn birds" (guinea hens)...

The heat of a Texas summer makes an impression.

Wondering what LaSalle and his men thought of it as they wandered lost around the Brazos.

Wonder why people stayed.

It'll be here for a while now.