A Perfect Day

The temperature today was:  73 degrees

The humidity today was:  56%    YAY

Sunny with a nice 10-12 mph breeze

If the weather would stay like this the rest of the summer, I would be one supremely happy woman!!!  I promise--I wouldn't be cranky, or sad, or complain about anything.  Honest!!!

I got up at 8:00, which was a bit early as I had stayed up until 2:00, watching the approaching storms on the Weather Channel and the radar on my computer.  I can put the radar into a 6 hour future and see just where the storms are (maybe) going.  When I saw the really bad stuff was going to stay south of us--I finally went to bed.

It wasn't raining nor lightning, but just as I was about to climb into bed, there was a flash and then a thunder boom that scared the cats and me.  Weird!  Just that one instance, then all was quiet.  We did get a lot of rain, nearly 2 inches, but I like the sound of that.

I walked down to Pearl's this morning.  She said, "That thunder boom made me sit right up in bed.  I thought the world was ending!"

Later, she mentioned that she and Merle were sitting in their chairs when the thunder boomed.  It's little statements like that

that worry me.

She scolded me again about being afraid of tornadoes.

"I keep telling you.  We are not on a tornado path!  This park has been here over forty years and we have never had a tornado!"

"Then--statistically--the odds are growing smaller that we are due."

"Oh--statisti--whatever--I don't care.  We aren't going to ever have a tornado!"

"Well, there had never been a tornado in Dexter either, until last year."  (Dexter is a small town south of us.)  Never been a tornado in Cohoctah either, until two years ago.  (Cohoctah a really small town north of us.)

"I don't care," she says.  "God won't let that happen here."

Okay..................

Then Pearl showed me a whole envelope of birth certificates, death certificates and pictures she has of her ancestors.  Much more then I got from her the other day.  I brought it home and searched on ancestry.com and found out great grandparents, parents names that she had never heard of.  Then I decided something.  Pearl needs a complete record of her family tree--all in one place, not scraps of info here and there--put in a nice album, the pages in sheet protectors--like the ones I have.  So, I went back and got all the stuff she showed me and the print-outs I made the other day and I am going to make a nice family tree for her.  Individual pages of the people, their children, where they lived--all of it for her.  

I love that kind of stuff and I cannot wait to get started on it.

HOWEVER--since the weather was so extraordinary today, I went out after my Soap and took my new loppers and trimmed the Lilac bushes up from the bottom.  There were so many low hanging branches that they cut out the sunlight and a lot of my tulips and daffodils planted there, didn't do too well this spring. 

Man--if you don't take care of your yard/gardens--they seem to want to return to their natural jungle state!!  I had quite a pile of Lilac branches when I was done--bundled them up in three bunches, tied them securely with twine and will put them out for the yard waste pick-up next Tuesday.

Then--I dead headed all my annuals, filled the bird feeders, checked on my few strawberries (I think the birds got them all), and my veggies, swept the porch, moved some planters around and swept the cottonwood fuzzies off my screens.

My back was screaming by then and tonight the backs of my thighs are yelling and my calves are mooing, but gosh--I feel so good!!!

Fred had drilled two small holes in the brace under the roof of my porch.  This year I have one with my hummingbird feeder and one with my Oriole feeder and no place to put up my wind chimes. I have been wanting a couple more holes along that edge, but I tried to make one with a nail and it didn't work real well.

I walked back down to Pearl's and asked Merle if he had a power drill.

"Yep."

"Well--someday, when you got nothing to do and are out in your shed and see your drill--can you come down and bring your drill and a bit--I don't know which size--that will drill through aluminum.  I want four more small holes drilled along my porch roof brace."

"Yep."

I still have to drain and flush my hot water heater and I keep putting it off.  Because---I am scared of the whole thing.  I do not like natural gas--I am scared if I turn the heater to pilot light, that it won't come back on when I am finished.  I am scared that IF it does come back on, it will poof at me when the gas ignites.  I am afraid that I won't be able to get down on my knees in that tiny space to turn the gas down.  I'm just scared of the whole thing.  Now--if Fred was here, I could do it while he watched and encouraged me, but................

I ought to get Pearl to come down, sit on the bed and watch me.  I just might do that!!!

So--tonight it is going to be in the mid-50's and no humidity, so I will sleep with the bedroom window open.  Tomorrow promises to be low 70's and sunny all day!  YAY.

Oh yeah--one of these days I gotta paint the trim on the shed and trim the bushes on the east side of my house.  I can use the electric trimmers, but I know--that chore is going to kill me.  It did last time I did it and that was four years ago!!  I just am not going to pay $50.00 to have someone else do it--dangit all.

Okay--Buddy is pacing and meowing--apparently he thinks it is time we all went to bed.  

See ya tomorrow!!!

Jude