July 4th Eve

I was just thinking that we should start hearing fireworks popping at any time...and right then and there one exploded.  Tonight is the fireworks display here in town.  We will just listen to them!  They aren't all that far away from us, but the very tall trees that surround us prevent us from seeing very far beyond our yard!

Woody returned a while ago from walking to and from the Prayer Room at church.  On the way home he encountered a gentleman that he had met the night before at the Furnace Room Prayer meeting.  He just happened into the prayer room last night.  He is walking from PA to CA!  Woody found him a place to stay last night and when he encountered him earlier today, the gentleman was wanting to go to Shelbyville...a few steps closer to CA...I guess?  Anyway, Woody told him that he would go home and get our car and then take him to Shelbyville.  When he got home he called our friends in Shelbyville to find out if there were any homeless shelters or inexpensive motels there.  Woody got the information and headed back to pick the gentleman up.  He left him sitting on a park bench in downtown Tullahoma.  When he got back, the man was sitting on the bench.  Woody had to go around the block so he could park and when he got back the gentleman was gone!  Woody waited on the bench for a while and checked in a couple of eateries that were in the area...but no sign of him...so Woody just came on home.

My task of the morning was to get my mother's recipe for Boston Baked Beans cooking.  I got them in the oven before noon and then they cooked the rest of the afternoon.  We are going to have a modified cookout tomorrow...it will just be Woody and me and Nathan, Esther, Elijah, Isaac, and Joseph.  Kathy and their youth, Graham, Abigail, and Joy are at church youth camp this week.  Woody can't eat most of the things that we usually have for our cookouts...but he says that he will eat in moderation...and mainly enjoy the corn!  We did find a potato salad that told how to make it friendly for a low potassium diet...you peel the potatoes, cut them into cubes, cover them with water and bring to a boil.  Then you pour the water off and cover them with cold water and bring them back to a boil and cook till done.  I have done that.  The potatoes are cooling while I write the blog.  I have the celery, red pepper, onion all chopped and the eggs are cooked.  I will go down and make the dressing that goes on it after I blog and then get it all put together so it will be nice and cold tomorrow evening.  Woody bought a rack of ribs that I will put a dry rub on and cook in a slow oven tomorrow prior to our meal.  And, there are some hamburgers and hot dogs for Nathan to cook.  Woody says that he is going to have at least one rib!  He has been trying to be so good on his kidney diet and I don't want tomorrow to blow it for him.  Of all things he has his next labs done Thursday morning.  Surely tomorrow won't mess things up too badly.  He probably won't eat any of the beans...or if he does only a bite or two and he will have only a small serving of this potato salad even though it is more kidney friendly.  This diet is very limiting...or so it seems to me!  I'm hoping that his labs will be so good that the restrictions of the diet can be lifted a bit.  He goes back next week for the results of the labs.

I finished another book this afternoon between cooking jobs.  Woody has read, done crossword puzzles and challenged the computer to several games of Scrabble.  It has been another very "warm" day...as in it got to 90 degrees again today.  It definitely feels like the day before the 4th of July!

What It Was Meant to Be!

Here is what we meant to feed at this feeder!  But...no more thanks to the rascally squirrels! Hope the birdies are understanding of the disappearance of this feeder!  They need to peck a few squirrels to get the message into their heads that bird feeders like this one are a "no-no" for squirrels!  Our squirrels didn't get the memo!

Woody walked early this morning.  Then he paid his usual visits to the Life Care Center.  He has also worked in the yard.  I know that when I went out to give him a message that he was coming back in to throw away the bags of mulch that he had emptied.  After supper, he went to the Furnace Room Prayer meeting.  He has just come home from that.

I did a little picking up of the sewing room...always a necessity after a major sewing project.  I still need to straighten up the sewing cutting table.  But before I got to that I decided that I would work on my "new job" of making PDF files of sewing techniques for my internet sewing group.  I have another file ready except for Woody proofing it.  He should be quite the sewing techniques expert by the time he proofs all these files! There are a few things that lose something in the translation when one doesn't know sewing lingo!  The mathematician in him doesn't understand a stitch length of 3.5...he wanted to know what kind of measurement that was...it is stitches per inch...not a common measurement for him!  I don't have "spi" behind the number because most modern day sewing machines measure their stitch length that way.  And, we, who sew a lot, hardly think about what it means...we just know that smaller number is shorter stitch and larger number is longer stitch.  I had to think a minute to come up with "stitches per inch"...just something that I know because I use those numbers so much...changing them for the task at hand. Well, it has been proofed by him so it is time for me to send it to the head of the club and get her to read it and okay it and then I will post it.  Making these files is just like me preparing a Sunday School lesson to teach...I learn so much more than the ones who are just sitting in on the lesson or just reading the files.  By the time that I get everything in the right order and get it worded the best way that I can, I pretty well have the technique committed to memory.  At the moment I am doing more technical things for the sewing club than actual sewing.  Once we get caught up with the files then there won't be so many.  Hopefully in the next year's club we won't get behind with them...I'm hoping to do them shortly after she posts the videos...two videos a month and two PDF files a month...unless...she posts something extra which she has a very generous tendency to do!

SQUIRRELS!!!!!!!!!

Squirrels are in my doghouse! Last week this bird feeder was almost totally full.  I noticed one day this week that the seed had gone down quite a bit...more than it usually does with just little birds coming to feed at it so I wondered what was going on.  Then I thought that some how the squirrels had managed to swing it and make some of the seed come out of  the top.  It wasn't until the yesterday that I noticed that the bird feeder that only had teeny tiny holes for teeny tiny birds to get teeny tiny seed had two much LARGER holes than it was supposed to have!  Those rascally squirrels...hope they got a tummy ache from eating the plastic!  I guess now that I have taken a picture of it, I can put it in the trash!  Not sure what I should hang on my shepherd's hook...but I guess not a bird feeder...at least not one like this!  Bad squirrels!!!!! I want to attract birds not squirrels.  Lately it has been just about impossible to keep the food long enough for the birds to even know that we have any out.  The squirrels are quite the little piggies!

Woody got his walk in by walking to and from the library today.  It was another hot day.  Even at this hour when I walked out to take these two pictures it was rather close and uncomfortable.  I stayed in most of the day except for taking those two pictures.  The neighbors continue to wash our house.  We even got the back patio slab washed...mainly because Isaac started so his daddy figured that he had better finish it...it is a different color than it was yesterday.  The house is looking better too.  I have worked on doing more files for my sewing club.  Got another one finished and posted.  And have started on another one.  This afternoon I finished all the machine work on my shirt.  Now I just need to cut open the buttonholes and sew on the buttons and give it a good press.  Woody has done crossword puzzles, read, watched a library DVD and read this afternoon.  He is watching a Cardinal baseball game on TV at the moment. The heat just takes something out of me...makes me not want to do much at all.  I guess that is when it is good to have a good book or two on hand!

Boys and Their Toys!

Nathan and family found a little pressure washer at a yard sale this morning...for the great sum of $3.  It is the perfect strength for siding...not too hard of a spray.  The little guys and their dad have enjoyed trying it out.  Elijah tried it too and I think that Kathy may have.  Don't think that they got any of the others talked into this "Tom Sawyer-like" job!  It really is helping.  It really does sound funny inside when they are doing it.  They started up working on it again a little while ago and I couldn't figure out what I was hearing!

Woody got up and walked four miles early this morning.  It wasn't too far into the morning before he headed to the grocery store.  He made two trips for groceries today as he had to take his friend, who has no transportation, to the store, too. He dropped our groceries off for me to put away and he headed off again. He has spent a lot of time out in the yard weeding and at the end of his time spent outside today, he was able to report that the blueberry bush gardens have been weeded and are ready for mulch.  The blueberries reside in what we call the "Back 40," the lot that Nathan and Kathy own that is behind our house.  The bushes are loaded at the moment with berries and Woody attempted to order netting to put over them to keep the birds away, but the netting is on back order.  Looks like the birds may get a feast once again this year!

I have been doing a lot on the iPad today.  I got the first PDF file ready for my sewing club and got it uploaded to the club page.  I have also worked on the Sunday School lesson that I will be teaching to my ladies' class on Sunday.  I also finished another book...this time a "real book" and not an e-book.

I don't think that it rained today...amazing!  It was good to see the sun today.  When I went out to check on the house washing, it was quite warm...definitely a summer day after lots of rainy days.

Think It Will Rain?!?

This robin looks dry...and he was at this moment...but the way weather is going these days...give him a bit of time and his feathers will be dripping!

Woody got up and walked four miles early this morning.  He said that it looked threatening off in the distance and that he heard a few rumbles, but made it without getting wet.  I really didn't pay a lot of attention to the weather...but when I started off for breakfast with my Sunday School class I thought that it was going to be a dry humid morning.  I even cracked the moon roof on the car so the heat wouldn't build up in the car...big mistake on my part!  It was very pleasant out on the deck of the home where we had our breakfast.  There was even a bit of a breeze blowing so it didn't seem all that hot.  We all gathered and ate outside and then were sitting around on the deck...moving our chairs to keep out of the sun...when we started hearing rumbles.  The rumbles kept getting closer...close enough that we decided that we would gather food up, etc. and go inside to continue our visiting.  BUT I didn't think about the moon roof being cracked on my car...didn't think about it till it was pouring and the lightning was flashing!  This is a time that I was glad for leather seats...a couple of borrowed towels and the seats were dried off.  It was a very heavy thunderstorm...it got about as dark as late evening and the rain just poured down and the lightning and thunder were both quite intense.  Radar on phones let us know when there was going to be a bit of a break in the storm...didn't completely stop raining but it lightened up enough and the lightning moved on and we were able to get in our cars and head back into town.  We had more storms come through after I got home.

Woody went outside after the storms were over and checked the rain gauge...THREE INCHES for this storm.  Summer has certainly been rainy so far.  We must remember these wet days when the days get dry as we move farther into the summer.  At the moment, though, drought is pretty far from our minds!

Despite the rain and storminess of the day, the ladies in our Sunday School class who gathered together this morning had a wonderful time...as we always do.  At the height of the storm, we just continued enjoying each other's company sharing stories from our lives with each other.  Such good friends!

Wednesday Doings

One of my favorite hummingbird pictures! One of my friends had this one enlarged and has it hanging in her house. I'm sure that I have used this picture before, but was looking for something in my photos and saw this one and decided to use it tonight.

Woody walked early this morning.  And, he has worked out in the yard quite a bit...busy with the gardens trying to weed and mulch the vegetables that he and the neighbors have growing in the gardens in our yard and in the lot behind our lot (which belongs to the neighbors aka Nathan and Kathy and family).  I decided that I felt like sewing this morning.  The results is that my shirt has two sleeves, two sides seamed up and some of the top stitching done.  I still have the hem, some more top stitching and the buttonholes and buttons and I "think" it will be done!  I haven't been in a great hurry on this as it is the last of the special fabric that I bought at a couture fabric shop in Arizona...so am enjoying sewing on this high quality fabric...not rushing it!

After lunch I headed off to the library.  Donna and I worked about an hour just doing maintenance and checking on some books that we want to order.  I would say that the library work is in the midst of the summer doldrums...not a lot happening...sort of sliding through "as if on vacation!"  I will be making an order some time soon so then we will have a bit more to do to get them processed.

When I got home I decided that it was time to do some baking.  Our Sunday School is meeting in the morning for breakfast at a class member's home so I needed to make something to take.  I got that all done so just have to pull them out of the fridge in the morning and head off.  I'm looking forward to good fellowship and good food with good friends! We always have a great time together.

Woody headed off to church after supper.  They are showing a movie tonight that is an introduction to a study that they will be starting on Wednesdays in a few weeks.

We had a message from Vanderbilt about an appointment change.  Woody was scheduled to go for his six-month scan, labs, and to see the doctor at the end of July.  Woody called them back and found out that it had been changed to the first of August because his doctor was to be away on his original appointment day. It was an easy change...they had already changed all three appointments and just needed to confirm the change with him.  We were very glad that they changed all three appointments and not just the doctor appointment...that way we just have to travel one day for all three.  It used to be that had had scans one day and then went back the next...not fun to make that Nashville trip two days in a row!

We have had a couple of thunderstorms roll through this afternoon...didn't bring a lot of rain...just enough to help keep our humidity way up there!

Sad Commentary on the Times...

Yesterday I asked Elijah where they were going to do a juggling program and he couldn't remember the name of the town.  He just knew that they had been in that area recently and that it was where the policeman had been killed.  Neither of those clues helped me to zero in...they travel around quite a bit so there are quite a few towns to pick from that hint...and, sad to think that there have been so many policemen killed that that piece of information didn't help me pinpoint where they were going.  When Kathy told me, then I knew and remembered the incident.  Recently there was an escaped prisoner who killed a policeman before he was recaptured.  I think that the reason that Elijah even knew anything about it was that we had gotten alerts on our phones here in Tullahoma even though this happened hours away and the way the alerts read it sounded like it was happening here.  Nathan had "herded" the children into the house when it was thought that the gunman was in our area...so that stood out in Elijah's mind.

I posted a bluebird of happiness to get us past the sad thought of so many bad/sad things happening in our society these days.

Woody didn't walk this morning because he walks to the prayer room at church on Tuesdays so waits till later in the day to go for his walk.  He just returned from the prayer room a few minutes ago.  He has spent a lot of time outside working in the gardens...don't know how he does it in this heat and humidity!  I have just done a little of this and a little of that today.  I have my shirt ready for putting the sleeves in...just haven't felt like going to the sewing machine...guess it is a lazy, hazy day of summer!  I did manage to put away a load of wash and I've read and worked some more on my sewing club notebook.  I am working on an index so I can access things easier in the notebook.  One of the other members made an index of techniques and I am adding more information to make it work better for me.  I am also trying to finish a church library book before I go there to work tomorrow. I didn't sleep the best last night and today I have sort of felt like I am in a fog!  Hoping that I can sleep better tonight!