I wanted to capture in one place a visual timeline of the changes in our backyard during 2023. We’ve never loved our backyard. It was suburban-basic. At the same time we never had the funds available to hire someone to make it better. Finally in 2020, I got brave and decided to draw up our […]
Looking back: Launching our rental business
For several years we’ve debated whether rentals were something we wanted to do. They are a lot of hassle but, if done right, generate significate returns. Last fall we received our final share of inheritance after the death of Kelly’s parents in 2021. Rather than spending on immediate wants, we put the money in the […]
November 2023 wrap-up
Some months you’ve had enough. November was that month for me and, fortunately, it marked the beginning of a period of slowing down. Evan and I attended the TATOA Awards ceremony where we picked up three awards for his team’s work in 2023. The venue (in Deep Ellum) was wild! We had our first booth […]
Wayback Machine: October 2023 wrap-up
October is a bit of a blur. Why? Because of COVID and a life that has to keep moving forward despite COVID. That’s right: After three years of avoiding it, both Kelly and I came down with COVID. It meant four days of terrible sinus ick and four weeks of low energy and mental fog. […]
Wayback Machine: September 2023 wrap-up
Lots of travel in September. Lots. We headed back to Wisconsin to run the race that canceled on us last year. Despite a heat wave that threatened to cancel this year’s race, we successfully got it done. From Wisconsin to Florida for the 3CMA conference. I spoke at a session, hung out with the Texas […]
Wayback Machine: August 2023 wrap-up
A month at home! What a reprieve. We spotted our first sign of trouble in the neighborhood: A gang of young raccoons. At one point in the summer, one of them spent the night in our garage after I accidentally left the door open. Glory is still suspicious. Glory won the cutest dog in Plano […]
Wayback Machine: July 2023 wrap-up
July is usually a favorite month – birthdays, bonus holiday and so on. This year it was busy and hot. Not quite as much fun as normal. At first we weren’t excited about this garden visitor – a Yellow Garden Spider – until we learned how beneficial they are to the yard. We handed out […]
Wayback Machine: June 2023 wrap-up
June was insanely busy, thanks primarily to work. We hosted and (as a result of a rain cancellation) planned two birthday events plus had our annual conference. Kelly and I also kicked off season 9 of leading Dallas Galloway – now named Interval Run Club Dallas. If you thought we were excited over our first […]
Wayback Machine: May 2023 wrap-up
May flew by – probably because we ran three races in three states, in addition to all of the normal (and not-so-normal) life things back home. We headed back to the east coast to pick up two northeastern state races. First up was Rhode Island, which was a small loop-based race course. A definite benefit […]
Wayback Machine: April 2023 wrap-up
April was the month busy began. And wouldn’t you know, it started off with busyness at home and was made complete with two travel races and two trips to Tyler. We’d started installing a new backyard landscape in early 2021. That project went on hold when we took over care for Johnnie. Hard to believe […]