Down here in the South the folks have a way of saying “Bless his/her heart” about people who’ve made questionable decisions, shown questionable intelligence or just been straight up dumba**es. Sometimes the term is used as it was originally intended, as a way to show sympathy for someone who has genuinely had a tough time.

Pictured is the recipe for a chess pie written by my Granny. My lovely wife attempted to make the pie as a surprise for my birthday, and as you can see the directions lack a certain specificity so let’s just say that the result has me saying “Bless her heart.”

I’ve done nothing remotely good enough to deserve her.

Borders is in the midst of liquidating so I thought I’d see if I could find one of my daughter’s required reading books there and get a good deal in the process. I didn’t hold out much hope since the required reading books tend to sell out early under normal circumstances and I figured the chances were slim that I’d beat the organized parents to the punch when discounts were involved.

Much to my surprise I found several copies on the shelf and when I went to check out the clerk said “Oh you found one! We were out if them when I checked yesterday so we must have gotten a shipment in.” That surprised me because I always assumed that in a liquidation they sold the items already in the store and wholesaled whatever was in the warehouse. Shows what I know.

Anyway, if you’re looking for “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” you can get a copy at Borders. For now.

Want to know the difference five feet makes? When the city/county water department comes out to your neighborhood and digs a hole and that hole is over the water main five feet from where the water line for your house connects to the main, and the water department shuts off the water where the hole is, you miraculously end up with water while all your neighbors on the other side of that hole have no water service at all.

Note to the water folks – if you’re going to shut off the water for a bunch of folks on Sunday evening you might want to let them know. A note on the door letting them know what you’re doing and giving them an idea of what lies ahead (nature of the work being done, time til water service is turned back on, etc.) would be a good idea.

If you want to lose, oh, six or seven pounds in about two hours I know one way to do it. Try transplanting a bunch of monkey grass from one side of your property to the other in 94 degree heat on July 4 in an effort to beat the predicted thunderstorms. If you sweat like a Lowder, which means you have to be the kind of person who breaks into a sweat when you walk a block in 65 degree weather you might even lose 10 pounds.

The bad news is you put a bunch of pounds right back on when you suck down four beers to celebrate your accomplishment. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

One of the lakes in Runnymede (Lewisville) currently has a pretty low water level. I’d imagine that the homeowners who have dry docks would love to see some rain.

Sent from my HTC Inspire™ 4G on AT&T

Lewisville is getting its own brewery. That’s a good thing! http://www2.journalnow.com/news/2011/jun/21/lewisville-vineyard-plans-start-brewing-beer-ar-1140936/

This is the Paragon Award we won for the Labor of Love project last year at The Children’s Home.

This slide is part of the pre-show deck being shown while we wait for the keynote address by Condoleeza Rice at NAA’s annual conference.

Vegas isn’t just about gambling. Enjoyed this masterpiece at the Burger Bar near Mandalay Bay while celebrating PTAA’s Paragon Awards from National Apartment Association.