CRAWFORD, Texas (AP) -- The thermometer bumped past the 100-degree mark, but President Bush happily ignored it as he took a four-mile hike around his 1,600-acre ranch.

Beginning a monthlong vacation in parched-earth Texas, far from the ocean-cooled Maine coast where he enjoyed childhood summers, the former Texas governor stayed active.

"The president is enjoying being back home spending time with Mrs. Bush and being outdoors in the wide-open spaces and blue skies of Texas," spokesman Scott McClellan said.

Bush's neighbors down the road in tiny Crawford, population 631, also had been waiting for August, but not necessarily with anticipation.

"You came at the best time of the year; August in Texas is something else!" a visitor was informed by Norma Nelson Crow, a Crawford native with a flair for ironic understatement.

Though the president's new ranch house has two breezeways to capture whatever air currents roll across the flatlands, there was no way to placate the August heat.

But Bush apparently doesn't mind.

"The heat doesn't bother me in the least," he said last year.

In Crawford, a place that is gamely trying to capitalize on its new- found presidential proximity, Crow and her cousin, Larry Nelson, were modeling the latest merchandise at The Brown Bag. That's the souvenir shop they manage in the town's block-long business district.

Both cousins wore distinctive red-brown tee shirts with a slogan across the chest that tells the story: "The Original Crawford, Texas Dirt Shirt."

"These shirts are dyed from east Texas dirt," she says. "That's how they get their color. East Texas dirt is mostly red. When you wash them they get softer and turn a lighter color."

The shirts also make the presidential connection. Under a vivid Texas Lone Star flag are the words: "President Bush's Home On The Range."

Hanging on a nail in one corner is a small sign with a once-scary message: "The Russians Are Coming." That's a reference to the likely but still unscheduled visit to the Bush ranch by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Across the street at The Red Bull -- a gift store, art gallery and bakery -- the manager invited a potential customer to look inside. "We're actually closed Sundays, but with the president in town we're open," she said.

Further along the street, at The Coffee Station -- a combination gas station, coffee shop, general store and souvenir shop -- an outdoor sign issues a standing invitation to a president and first lady who have had little contact with the locals.

"George, Laura -- Come By For Lunch," it reads.

On this particular Sunday, they didn't.

But Crawford has something else to anticipate.

Residents say work is expected to begin this fall on sidewalks linking downtown to the neighborhood near the Crawford Elementary School three blocks away.

"We've never had sidewalks before," Crow explained.