Weather and other things

We are in the middle of an incredible period of perfect weather; the only thing that would make it more perfect would be a decent rain; but the temperatures are cool and refreshing, giving us a chance to sleep with the windows open at night.  This cool-down follows a few days of temperatures near 100º, so I am doubly grateful.  Of course it will warm up again, but I can keep in mind that we are that much closer to autumn.  Gabe and I can wait until 8 a.m. or so to go for our walk, instead of leaving as the sun is about to come up.  

The crazy cat insists on following us if he sees us walking through the gate, but he usually stops early and spends the whole day in the woods.  That would be great, except that coyotes and foxes eat cats, so I usually worry my daylight hours away and then make Cliff take me back there on the four-wheeler in the evening so I can bring him home; silly, I know.  Blue always comes out near whatever spot we left him in that morning.

Yesterday, however, he came back on his own before noon.  Sometimes I think maybe he just stays because he enjoys riding on the four-wheeler.  This morning he wasn't in sight and wasn't following us when we left, I thought; but when we reached the giant mud-puddle small pond in the pasture, he came bouncing up from behind, then stayed behind as Gabe and I moved on.  Now that he's come back on his own once, I'm not going to worry about him (sometimes I lie to myself like this).

On to another subject:  For years I've been searching for the world's best biscuit.  I googled the phrase "biscuit nirvana" on my blog and found several entries where I've used that term in a post, many of those times mentioning yet another wonderful secret I'd found to making the perfect biscuit.  However, I recently watched a video that gives probably the best suggestion of all, and it's something I hadn't been able to force myself to try before; turns out I had been over-working the dough.  If you like, feel free to watch the video and see how Chef John makes biscuits.  Click HERE.  I found this recipe on allrecipes but had never taken time to watch the video.  Cliff is very impressed with the difference this method makes.  No matter what biscuit recipe I use, this is bound to improve the final product.

Gabe survived his fourth birthday yesterday.  If he makes it to 14 years of age, I will be 87 if I'm still around, so he could well be the last dog I ever have.  I used to worry about what would happen to him if I died, but Cliff has come to like him, and I think he would take good care of him at this stage of his life, other than the fact he'd feed him too much of everything he shouldn't have.  However, my mom's old poodle lived like that to the ripe old age of 17... and died obese, blind, deaf, and happy.

Of course, what if Cliff goes first?  He always says he expects to die before I do because he thinks I'm in better health.  I won't worry about that just now.