Loving this summer weather

Last night I took Max and walked at the subdivision behind us again (I feel weird "invading" their subdivision to walk, but I'm hopefully not bugging anyone, so I hope they don't care)! I took the car this time because I had snuck through the back of someones yard the first couple times and felt guilty about that, so I figured I could drive and park along the side of the road next to one of the houses still under construction so I wasn't in anyone's way. I drove one complete circle to see how far it was, .6 miles per lap so Max and I did 4 laps for almost 2.5 miles and that took almost 40 minutes of walking/jogging. My shins were getting pretty sore and my knee has been bugging me since I started all the pavement walking. I had gone to the doctor yesterday afternoon to have some labwork done and asked her about my knee and she said the only thing I can do is baby it (she said it is probably beginning to get a little arthritic from the prior injury I received when I was a kid and there's nothing I can do about it)... that doesn't really work for me! I am hoping as long as I listen to my knee and my shins and don't really over-do it, in time as the muscles strengthen it will be less painful and they'll be able to handle more. I'd really like to be able to run with Kenneth, and that's not going to happen if my legs don't improve a lot. I felt like I COULD have picked up the pace more, but didn't want to push my legs too much yet, so I did what I could and tried to walk faster when I had some extra energy so I still wore myself out as much as possible. Max was pretty tired by the last go round too! Kent says he'll walk tonight, so I'm hoping to take a 2nd dog, one he can hold and walk so we can give 2 of them some extra exercise.

In any event, my point of the title was that the weather could not be MORE perfect right now, in the evening it is just GORGEOUS outside - a nice light breeze so I don't get overheated, and I can wear shorts and a tank top and be perfectly comfortable and I get to watch the beautiful sunset. This is such a great time of year to get outside!

We had a Dinner A'Fare meal last night, mojito pork kebobs with a cherry barbecue sauce. They were REALLY yummy! I took it easy on the sauce since that looked like straight sugar, but I enjoyed the pork pieces a lot. The mint sauce they used for marinade made the house smell so good while it was cooking. Kent thinks kebobs are very fun to eat off of and doesn't understand why I take mine off the sticks before I put them on the plate! :) He wasn't so thrilled with the veggie dish I whipped up. I'm trying to expand his horizons and get to enjoy some new fresh veggies, so I picked up okra yesterday and made a dish with sauteed celery, onion, and okra which is then simmered on low for about 15-20 minutes with a can of tomatoes in juice and some garlic powder, onion flakes, salt and pepper. I thought it was YUMMY. Nice and fresh with just a hint of flavor. But I really like fresh okra, Kent not so much. I tried.