The amazing thing is that we are finally getting some rain. We woke up yesterday to soaked lawns and water running down the gutters. Have not seen that in a long time! We had slow, soaking, rain most of yesterday. This morning we find that it has rained over the night time hours and the clouds are thick. It is also quite cool. This is a wonderful thing. Those poor playa lakes have gained some ground. It is around 09:30 CST as I write this, and I can hear distant thunder. YES! One can only give thanks. We are all hoping and praying that it will rain a lot more. There is a kind of weird coincidence in all this: a friend of my wife has been traveling, and everywhere she went it rained, a lot. Last stop before Lubbock was in Dallas and Dallas got drenched. Not long after she arrived in Lubbock the rain came here. One of those strange things...
I haven't had much to say about my exercise efforts lately. I have been routinely dead-lifting 250lbs at the gym, and recently managed 265. I've been trying to work my way up to 300lbs but I'm being cautious because I don't use a belt. On the chest press machine I've managed 4 reps at 190lbs. I can do a one rep max at 210. On the other hand, I can only do 5 reps of 145lbs using free weights (Olympic bar) on the bench press rack. One rep max with free weights is only 165, which is not even my own weight (175). But I seem to be making slow progress, at least.