Clouds on the Horizon.

 Clouds on the Horizon.

 

Oh! We can wish! At least it is not so hot today, and the clouds in the east look promising. Not sure for whom the promises might be offered, but at least the breeze feels good.

 

Some friends stopped by this afternoon and looked out at the lake and the surrounding dirt track around the puddle. Yes, it would be wonderful if it were to be dredged, but just that tiny little Sikes Lake had two possible dollar amounts to return it to lake quality: the north end was something like 1.8 million dollars and the south end was estimated at 4.3 million to dredge just that end. We would have to guess that Wichita County or city government would not want to put a million into our lake out here just for recreational purposes. But Sikes Lake may develop into a salt marsh which means that it could not be used as a lake AT ALL. Talk to the EPA. My friends said that their boys went fishing out here on Lake Wichita and caught something every time they dropped a line because the fish have zero to eat and very little water for swimming. So, the pelicans and the sandhill cranes are having a feast out here. They are probably stuffed!

 

One small egg today. This is just not a good time to be a hen who is supposed to lay eggs. And what is more, it is not a good time to have to roost in the heat! Some of us have an AC in every room. Not the hens. They get water under the deck to cool off the ground, but that is it. Sometimes they get ice in their water bowls, too, but that does not last long. Let’s face it: anything over 85 degrees is pretty warm and anything under 30 degrees is just about too cool. We can always put on a few more layers to keep warm, but getting uncovered enough to stay out of the broiling range is a little bit more difficult. Gripe, groan, carry on. Sterling says that Jacqui keeps their house at 70 degrees all the time. He goes outside or shuts the door to his room. That is too cold for him. He reminds me of Roger Thonton when he says it is too cold! Little ol’ ladies have to have it cooler than a freezer in the summer and then warm enough to go barefoot in the winter. Oh well.

 

Have spent most of this day reading. Just about makes me feel that the world we once knew has become crazy. Hillary can make up her own rules of how to treat White House documents or emails. The Bidens have given plenty of proof of both the father and son’s dishonest involvement with other countries, but just let Trump grin and someone is on him like ugly on an ape! His manners may not exactly make me feel that we have accomplished much in the way of stability, but he was better than having someone who suffers from dementia and who is a crook on top of that! Argh! So sick of the entire system’s dishonesty and lack of responsibility. Diapers and Congress: You can smell ‘em quite a way off.

 

A conversation last year with my oldest son made me decide to give up trying to explain why something is rotten in Denmark. When a supreme court justice leaves town and goes to Nevada and is killed, no autopsy, no medical examiner, no secret service accompaniment, and then a quick cremation: Yes, something stinks to high heaven. His wife would know that if they could bump him off that easily, the rest of the family would be fair game. And there is not a news source out there with anyone who wants to publish anything about it. Just accept it. Brutus did his part.

 

My sisterly friend Cindy is getting ready to design some jeans for her daughter who is a farrier. Those things tear out so quickly when a big ol’ horse has its foot on the material. She said that she has mended until there was hardly anything left to mend. My dad was a welder and had an apron made of leather for a long time, but something happened to it. Kinda think it walked off. Anyway, it is expensive to use leather aprons as a farrier, but can’t imagine that anything else would be tough as leather for that kind of work.

 

Really don’t know doodly squat. Have to look online for pictures of green when everything around us is brown and crispy critter dry. Keith Mattson has been posting pictures here on Common Sense to show us that green still exists. Sigh

 

Not sure if the folks in Death Valley are ready to start any water parks just yet, but maybe someone in Las Vegas will do that now. Kentucky would be happy to give them the dirty water to fill up Lake Mead, but someone else would have to haul it. Still think a pipeline from the Mississippi would work. Oh well.

 

Let us pray for rain where it is needed and for peace for our entire world. Let us show God’s love as we are best able. Rest when you need to. Stop and listen to the sounds of nature and feel refreshed by the promises. You are loved.

And Some Got Rain.

 And Some Got Rain.

 

Yes, it may have sprinkled here last night enough to dampen the ground and make the outside air just feel a little bit better. But then, some folks actually got real rain. Jennifer sent a picture of one of the cats sitting in the window watching the rain hit the pool. Told her that it made me jealous, but she thought that we had already had some. Sprinkles and rain are two entirely different beasts. One is a butterfly that hardly even touches anything. The other is a flock of sea gulls looking for a place to land and go poo.

 

Woke up early this morning with a bit of a clogged-up head. We definitely have something in our air that is affecting my allergies. Not so sneezy as just congested between my eyes. Saline solution and being still inside the house seems to help. Just a pretty good breeze going on outside, but the hens still have to have clean water each day. But then, they produced all of two eggs for me. Can’t gripe. Wouldn’t do any good anyway!

 

The man who bought Jerry’s place is over there this afternoon. It looks as if he is giving instructions on what he wants done. The city water guys were over at the mobile home earlier working on a meter connection. It seems to me that it is taking a long time to get the work done, but as hot as it has been, maybe that should not come as a surprise.

 

Have been looking up the causes and treatments for neuropathy and seeing if anything can be done with common sense to reduce the problems associated with it. Since diabetes or even high blood sugar is not a problem here, everything else seems to point to vitamin deficiencies or stress related problems. How different! It almost makes me want to laugh. So, we can all take a chill pill and the nerves will begin to heal themselves. Right. Oh well. The one article did recommend something similar to the keto diet with high protein and low carbs. Probably the most sensible suggestion was the reduction of any kind of sugar in one’s diet. Ah, the perils of learning that what one likes is probably what makes one suffer. Surprise, surprise, surprise!

 

The dogs had to go outside and bark at the behind the house neighbor. He has a different vehicle now. Guess his truck cratered on him. He was constantly hauling stuff from houses and apartments where they got stuff out of old places that were to be remodeled or torn down. Can you imagine the crud on those things! Sometimes he would pile the stuff in front of his gate and others would come get it. Pick a pile incorporated, maybe.

 

Talked to Sterling about the weather. Not like it does any good to complain, but he was saying that they got an inch and a half. Folks up there were so happy to get it! Between Jennifer and Sterling’s bragging, it made me glad to just see clouds. It’s only a hundred degrees outside right now. Strange what perspective does to make a person appreciate a hundred degrees.

 

Other than sleeping, reading, playing a few games and thinking about what tomorrow will need to include by way of cooking, this old woman has been a sloth today. It seems strange that Sterling was just griping about how all his youth was spent in really hard work from can to can’t. And now we work on things that matter to us and rest between the lines of can and can’t. Retirement is such a good feeling except when trying to keep up with which day of the week it might be. But if calendar concerns are my biggest worries, what does that indicate? Life just keeps on going on.

 

Let’s pray for peace, but let’s also pray for rain for all those rivers throughout this world that have dried up and can’t float a fish, much less power up an electric turbine or supply some towns with clean water. Our country is suffering the droughts, the wildfires, and the assorted problems that are being felt all over this world. When we pray for others, it provides perspective. We can at least be thankful that no one is tossing bombs into our major cities or blowing up the ports where we bring in imports like “chips,” oil, car parts, and assorted gizmos that make life interesting. Think about Israel surrounded on all sides by those who hate everything it stands for. How blessed we are to still have a relative amount of freedom. If we could remove racial prejudice, drug violence, and out and out thievery, we would still be the best place on earth to live. We are so very blessed.

 

Rest and stay hopeful. Remember that God loves you.

Lemon Cheesecake Ice Cream!

 Lemon Cheesecake Ice Cream!

 

Yep, it is plum tasty, if a little strange in consistency with the cheesecake part. It is the store brand: Signature. United Supermarkets has it here in WF.

 

Washed some linens and a handful of clothes. Lately it has been shorts and shirt per day. It feels as if the entire world is sticky. No idea what caused that, but we have some nice, fresh pollen in the air currently—yes, in our current of air!

 

Started the day relatively early and kept moving until about 9:30 when it was time to call Connie. Cleaned out a drain that is in front of the hen house. Guess it really was not that big of a deal, but this fall that area will need to drain away from the door. The ground is so dry at the moment that the water hose just melted the dirt in the line.

 

These dogs are so funny! They go up to the living room curtains and pull them back so that they can see out. Eventually those spots will have dog hair all over them—if they don’t already! At least the dogs are pretty happy in the morning. They got the zoomies this morning and pounced around out there for a while. Anyway, who needs movies when your family includes a couple of dogs!

 

Did some white clothes the other day and used some kind of enzyme stuff that is supposed to remove smells and perfumes and all that junk and stuff. Will be trying to figure out where it was bought because those white things were really white! Bleach gives me a headache, but baking soda and some kind of decent soap usually takes care of anything in my wash, but that particular load of whites was forgotten by an old woman who had to rewash them!! That yuck smell of mildewed or whatever that smell is! They were NOT mildewed as they had only been left there one evening and discovered the NEXT evening. Oh well. She’s getting old, what can we expect?

 

Have just been reading mostly today after slowing down long enough to actually drink my coffee. Sometimes the old woman takes off like a barn on fire, and then when she stops for a minute, she cannot get out of a slow poke wobble. She talks about someone named Arthur, but she only talks quietly when she mentions him. Life in the fast lane!

 

Hope you will pardon the non-uplifting things we might consider, but the old woman needs to quit early and just be still. So much can be heard, thought about, considered, and expected. God knows that our plans don’t amount to a hill of beans. We just need to ask Him to guide us and watch over us. You are loved.

Sunday Songs.

 Sunday Songs.

 

The Scissortail Flycatchers don’t exactly sing. Their noise or production of sounds can be heard from a distance if you are listening. This morning before the sun came up, they were letting the world know that they were already listening to their own tales of challenges met and faced off. It sounded as if they knew it was going to be another of those days, but they greeted one another and the day all the same. It was refreshing to remember them from when we were young and spent the summer in Arkansas. Some Scissortails had a nest right outside my brother’s window in the big maple tree. Almost can bet the tree is gone by now, but the memory lives on. Sterling griped that they usually started about 2:30 each day fussing and carrying on. They would get quiet long enough for him to go back to sleep and then start again. And our days at the farm started early!

 

The summer we spent there together was one to remember anyway. Sterling was funny about playing with snakes. He had one he called Blackie. A black snake, naturally. He was sitting on the porch with Blackie when Granddad Kennedy called him to come help him with something. Sterling left Blackie on the swing there on the porch. Granny Connie came outside later to sit in the swing and cool off from working in the kitchen. Then she suddenly started screaming. Satchmo, their Leopard dog, was her personal protector and he ran to her—as did Granddad. She had put her arm up on the swing arm and had placed her hand on the chain holding the swing. Well, guess who else was on that chain. After that, Sterling was not allowed to bring snakes to the house even outside on the porch.

 

Then there was the job of cleaning up the jars that they put out for the first little chicks. Understand, this was way back in the 60s when they did things differently in the chicken houses. Sterling would put the truck in “granny gear” and have me steer it while he picked up stuff and put it in the back of the truck. Then he found a little snake. It looked like the one Granny Connie called a milk snake that we had seen early that morning. He put it in a jar with a piece of cardboard over the top and slipped it inside the glove compartment. When we got to the house, he showed it to Granddad. He told Sterling to drop it on the ground and Granddad killed it. Not a milk snake, but a baby copperhead. And it had tried to bite Sterling a couple of times and missed. God was watching over us a little closely that day.

 

The man who sold the farm in Arkansas to my granddad had planted fields of tomatoes all over the north field across from the kitchen. And then they had a drought and the well nearly went dry. Maybe it was just the last straw for that farmer or maybe he just wanted to try something else as a gamble—as that is what farming really amounts to. Anyway, Granddad used every bit of the stuff coming out of the chicken houses on his fields and bought some more land to be cleared across the lane from the house. He began to raise registered Angus bulls and sold them for a decent price. His bulls would come and rub their heads on his hands, but he always told us to never trust them. Pretty funny that Granddad Pollard raised Herefords and the Kennedys raised Angus. The Angus had small calves and the cows had no trouble with even their first calves. The Hereford calves were bigger and gave the heifers problems with their first calves. But both men thought their breed was the best. And both of them thought that those King Ranch cows were horrible, bony creatures that could not live on the grass without extra feed. And they were right. Nat Fleming had some of those cows that always pushed on the fence when Granddad Pollard was out on the hill feeding his cows. Nat did not feed anything! Granddad said something to Nat about needing strong fences when folks tended not to feed their livestock. Did not make a bit of difference to Nat. He still did not feed them, but at least he finally got rid of them.

 

Feeding critters is an ongoing situation around here. Fighting off the wild birds is just about as hopeless as trying to feed cows with other hungry cows separated by a barbed wire fence. Trying to scare them away has definitely not worked. Such is life.

 

Got busy this morning and took apart Sylvia’s crate and folded and put it away behind my bedroom door. She refuses to sleep in it for some reason. She will whine and carry on until let out and then fusses with Thompson about his bed next to mine. Cleaned the dust bunnies out and mopped the floor. Now her bedding is piled up under the AC. Will probably have to do that differently, but we will see what happens when her big bag bed is brought into the living room and the other flat dog bed is put in her corner of the room. She probably won’t like that either. But there is nothing like trying.

 

Got two eggs today. We may actually get a day of cooler weather with a chance of rain. That is almost encouraging except that the forecast is for more days of hot weather after that. It is almost time for schools to start this month as witnessed by the “back to school” sales and give aways of school supplies. No one can imagine how glad an old woman is not to have to deal with these schools here in WF. It is not that they are necessarily bad, but sometimes the situations that develop there are pretty scary. Working as a substitute teacher showed me the facts of life rather quickly when moving from one grade to another in various parts of town. Sometimes the schools that might be expected to be pretty rough were better than the ones where the students were financially better off. Strange. One class got a bit out of hand when an ongoing feud between some girls lapped over into my classroom. A pair of scissors in art class and a knife were the objects taken from some girls that yours truly was supposed to be helping. The school principal came to escort me to a reading class before the police came. She did not want a substitute to be involved in any way whatsoever. Smart lady. But can you imagine being there every day when these students had so much animosity toward one another? And these things spilled over into the public rather quickly sometimes. One of the drafting teachers who taught our oldest son was stabbed in the heart by a couple of teenagers while he was out walking. He lived, but it was a miracle!

 

Now the grands are all about to start back to college. Grayson only has one more class and a certification test. It makes me happy to think that the children/grands are getting to be adults and are responsible folks. Grayson says he never wants to ever have to cut grass again, but he would love to have chickens. What is funny about that is that the hens kept their back yard clipped down almost to the dirt while the old woman stayed with them in Mansfield. Gary did not even realize that my six hens were keeping the yard for him so that he did not have to mow! Maybe by next year the old woman will be able to get on the mower again. My back is getting better, but it does not take much to make me sore as a poisoned pup. Just mopping is a bit much sometimes. But isn’t it wonderful to have clean floors!

 

Sitting here thinking about the children in Kentucky and eastern Tennessee. Hope things get better quickly so that they will feel as if life can be normal again after all the flooding. Imagine trying to go to school without a change of clothes or a home with a washer and dryer—or even a bed! They do well to be fed right now with all the problems in their communities. Let’s pray for all the students everywhere—not just in those states, but all over the world. It is hard to grow up anyway, but having what is needed—food, clothes, safety, good teachers, and a home life that is stable—does not come for everyone. In Africa the children’s parents have to pay for school. Well, we do as well, but ours is in the form of taxes. They have something more akin to tuition. Anyway, let’s pray for the children and the teachers that they will have a good year.

 

Remember when the Israelites were complaining to Moses about not having any cucumbers or melons when God gave them manna. Well, summer comes here in Texas with its problems, but the cucumbers definitely make some days worth the trouble. Not going to gripe too much except that we can’t grow things here in this heat and dry weather. But God has definitely blessed us to be able to bring in fruits and vegetables from Mexico or other countries. Lowry Mayo’s sister Debra said that she could not buy a ten-pound bag of decent potatoes, but she finally found a 15-pound bag of larger potatoes. Such is the problem of supply when the border gets closed down for drug interdictions. And yes, some of these dealers bring in drugs in vegetable containers. Sigh

 

You all rest and keep cool while enjoying what life has to offer. The best thing we can look at for this red-hot moment is the fact that all things change eventually. God has blessed us. Let us be grateful. And remember: you are loved.

Cooking Day.

 Cooking Day.

 

No, not talking about the temperature outside. Had to cook some meat for my dogs and then cut it up in small pieces and bag it in Ziplocks. The labeled bags say, “Dog,” 8-6-22. Anyone cleaning out the deep freeze and not knowing the old woman might get the wrong idea. But such is life. Pretty sure it would be my kids cleaning out the freezer. But the shoulder bone may be a true “bone of contention” unless it will come apart into two separate pieces. Two dogs, ya understand.

 

Dust mopped the big bathroom, moved the mirror (heavy!), washed the floor on that side of the room, and then put things back. Always fun. Ahem. But at least fewer bugs were in there. Spraying inside and out has diminished the numbers and the size, it seems. Despise these freaking love bugs!!

 

The postman brought a box that included a big bag of pink sea salt. Rearranging the pantry this morning and two smaller bags of salt showed up. Duh. It seems the older this person gets, the more she is like Grandma Dickerson. Every time we intended to go to the store, Grandma would ask us to get her a couple of cans of green beans. When Beulah Maude moved her out of here and took her to Decatur to live in a little house out back in her yard, we cleaned out Grandma’s cabinets. If there was ONE can of green beans, there must have been at least ten! She was NOT going to run out of green beans. Grandma was sweet with Lance, but she was as stubborn as any mule ever! She had two or three oleander bushes that she grew in five-gallon buckets. Every year toward winter, she had Lewis take them and set them on the steps of the cellar. And every spring he had to bring them up and scrape out the spiders and assorted creepy things that had taken up residence in those buckets! She did not want the buckets on the cellar floor because it always flooded down there, but she was sure they were safe on the steps. Nevermind that the water rushed through the door like a sieve. Oh well.

 

Thompson doesn’t act like he really feels good. He got inside the black rubber water trough and just stood there a minute before sitting down. Sloppy wet came back inside and tracked all over the floor. Sigh. Life with critters.

 

This morning the hens had a squawking fit. Ran outside to see what was wrong and saw a chicken hawk. He was big enough to get a smaller bird—doves left quickly—but just small enough that the hens felt threatened and cussed him. Athena took off for the deck and hid until he was gone. She is the smallest of the hens—about half the size of Dolly Parton, my big black-laced Wyandotte. If you could see Dolly, you would understand her name. Beautiful bird.

 

Ok, the floors are mopped in the kitchen and hall. Still need to do the living room. But all the pork shoulder is cooked, cut up, and bagged. That should last a little while when combined with peas and carrots and a little sweet potato. These two critters should be healthy if what they eat has anything to do with it. At least Thompson’s coat is so smooth and glossy. Like me, Sylvia has gained weight. Sigh.

 

Stepped out on the deck to flop a rug given to me by Susan and Roger Thonton. Noticed a man cutting low branches down on the lot by the road. It is looking pretty nice. Wonder if he bought the place. A sign had been up for some time now, but who knows. The guy who bought Jerry’s place now has started with the mobile homes, so that may what will be next down there. Figures. Can we say a pessimist is riding on my shoulders today?

 

Cantaloupe for lunch. Still have my headband on even though the sweat has stopped dripping in my eyes. Won’t take a shower right now, though. Might actually get busy and mop the living room floor. Or not. Sitting still for a few minutes is habit forming, ya know. But it really feels pretty good to have everything washed up and put away in the kitchen. Still have two loads of laundry to do, but that can wait until tonight because they asked us to conserve electricity during the hottest part of the day.

 

Sitting here wondering how Israel ever planted things in that desert. Drip irrigation has got to be very labor intensive to keep things growing without rain. Walked across part of the east side lot this morning and it felt as if a hard bristled brush was under my shoes. Can’t imagine the dogs like walking on that mess. But they have a trail around the perimeter. Of course, when Thompson believes that something needs to be chased and barked at, he just takes off across the entire stretch while barely touching the ground. Little clouds of dust float up behind his back feet!

 

Have some reading to do. Thinking about Enoch and the fact that he never saw death. Maybe he will return as one of the two witnesses? Can’t imagine that God would allow someone to be resurrected and then have to die again. Hmm. Thinking about what the witnesses are supposed to do when they come. And then there is the account of those who will be taken up when Christ returns. So much prophecy in so much of the Bible leaves me wanting to piece together time lines. Yet time lines tempt some of us to want to say that it IS time. Feels that way more and more, but the same probably was true for those in other eras.

 

Oh! Have you seen any of the UFO stuff online lately? Don’t remember who it was years ago who said that if other beings were out there, that meant the Bible was not true. Sitting here shaking my head. No matter how He did it, or when He did it, or even what other creations He may have put out there, He gave us His Word. In the beginning was the Word. You know the rest.

 

Rest and enjoy each day and what you find in it. Pray for peace and attempt to show love in whatever you do or say. You are loved.

Only Memories.

 

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Only Memories.

 

Lewis liked my flowers from the get go. He called them all petunias, but then he called all birds sparrows—except for the doves. Just memories.

Dirty Dozen Thursday.

 Dirty Dozen Thursday.

 

Dadgum the dirt, the dust, the heat, the mess, and all the other stuff that always accumulates unless one stays on it every day! Cleaned up the office: took things out—well, not the pantry. Rearranged the desk and sewing table, the coffee table, the stepstool, the vacuum cleaners and brooms, and took up the rug in there to wash outside on the rail after vacuuming it on both sides. Whew! Without the rug in there, the room looks much bigger than it really is. Honestly, it could be a nice bedroom for a kid or an old woman. And right now, my old desk that Daddy made for me is in the living room right under the AC. All the internet stuff is in the office as that was the easiest place to put it when we set up the internet to a little dish thingy. Anyway, it took about an hour just to get that room cleaned up. Had already started on the living room when it was necessary to go get the vacuum out of the old office. THAT is what set me off thinking it was a primary objective to get that room reorganized and cleaned up. Oh, the pantry still could use some stacking and organizing, but it can wait a bit. Did go look for the pink sea salt to use in the kitchen and discovered it was all gone. Oops. Oh well. We used Morton salt all the time years ago.

 

Have a funny thing that happened. Bought an African violet some time ago, and it took hardly any time before it looked as if it were on its last legs. Took it out of the kitchen window and placed it on the counter. Now it appears to be regrowing from the roots! Amazing. Leaving it alone has actually worked for once!

 

Remember how everyone was groaning and griping about gaining Covid weight? Well, some of us are currently gaining heat wave and drought weight! Sylvia and the old woman need to stop eating and start doing something a little more active around here. She would not eat this Royal Canin dog food unless it is put in her treat toy, but she keeps bringing the toy to me multiple times during the day. Yep, she is gaining too much. Have no treat toy to blame for my weight, however. Think the munchies just happen with boredom and inability to deal with going outside in this heat. Took that rug out to the deck and washed it front and back to try to remove any dirt, but all it did for me was get me totally soaked. This hose and the new spray nozzle don’t exactly gee haw. (If you don’t know what gee and haw are, just think mules and guidelines.)

 

Patty was telling me about how Donny and one of his friends used to raise their arms and yell: “Tundra!” It had something to do with a movie called Caveman with Ringo Starr. She said it was the key to smelling body odor. By tonight when everything is said and done, the old woman will be yelling Tundra and heading for the shower. Just work in the house—even with the AC going—and find just how quickly it takes to soak every stitch on me!

 

Chris Ohm has been across the street with a guy he hired to dig the holes for the water lines to the mobile home. So far, the street has not suffered any indignities. But this is just the water, not the sewer or the gas.

 

One egg today in the little chicken coop. Have moved their feed inside that one, and so far, the doves are not going in there. Thompson chased a grackle or starling out earlier, so maybe this will work and save some feed for just the hens!

 

One of Patty’s friends wanted to know if she could buy eggs from me. Nope. They are not for sale—even if the hens were laying. Patty told her she could probably buy a sack of feed for them and then she might get some. Kinda rather not do things that way. Guess it is a bit picky, but sometimes it just seems that folks think that they are owed something, so it is just better not to start that stuff. And then there is that one friend whose wife may not even want the eggs sent home with him. Who knows?

 

Had black-eyed peas with mushrooms for din-upper. Thompson let me know that he was hungry, so they got a can of dog food on top of their usual kibble. Guess the next step is to order some more groceries and include more dog food. That or maybe Chewie or Amazon will have an order tonight. Have found a type of canned food that the dogs both like. Amazing! Lots of pieces of carrots and peas make me think they are getting decent food along with the chunks of beef or chicken. Fingers crossed that it is good for them.

 

Know less than usual and not sure it even matters. Honestly feel as if life is melted into some of the worst situations. It is scary to look at the headlines or even some of the little clips on the main page for AOL. About all we can do is pray for relief from all the violence and hatred. Those two elements are worse than storms that wipe out cities or fires that take away forests and pastures. May God protect us and give us peace.

 

My joints need WD-40 or something. And my attitude needs an adjustment. Pardon my griping. Unlike my cousin John and his wife Wham, this does not feel like an adventure to me. Just slogging away like an old mare hitched to a plow cutting crooked furrows!

 

Rest and stay hydrated, Dear Hearts. Only God can give us the relief we need on this planet. You are loved.