Happy Independence Day!

Happy Birthday, America!

Yes, I know tomorrow is the 4th but I bet a good many working folks have the day off anyway since it lands on Saturday.  I am borrowing an earlier posted image as tt is pouring down rain here.  Any plans I had of draggin out and climbing up the ladder to put our US Flag up are NOT happening today.  It started in about 6:30 with distant thunder rumbling and has been pouring intermittently with a hair less than 1.25 in the gauge at this writing.  It seems a bit unusual to be having morning rain and storms as our weather patterns in NE Central Alabama tend towards heat and humidity percolating to the point of afternoon and evening happenings more often.

Oh speaking of 4th of July.  FYI:  The Winn Dixie, Hi-LO and Harveys stores will be donating 100% of their July 4th profits to the Wounded Warrior Project.  Strikes me as a good cause so I have a little list started.  You can read the press release HERE as to which states are participating.

Needless to say, I am not walking if thunder and lightning are part of the occasion.  Gentle rain, maybe but I walk in the park and there are tons of tall, tall pine trees.  Even on the Chief Ladiga Trail, our Rails to Trails walking/biking path, there are lots of trees on either side that you have to walk through to get to the parts where there are fewer ones.  Us fair haired folks with warning labels on their meds need to avoid too much sun exposure.  Get enough for vitamin D but not too much, LOL.

  After all,
The National Weather Service recommends taking cover if the time between the lightning flash and the rumble of thunder is 30 seconds or less, which indicates the lightning is about 6 miles away or closer.  "Remember the 30/30 Lightning Safety Rule: Go indoors if, after seeing lightning, you cannot count to 30 before hearing the thunder.  Stay indoors for 30 minutes after hearing the last clap of thunder."    
(See this LINK)

Now I am not entirely sure how you know which IS the last but maybe when you take note that the storm is petering out and then start timing it??

So here is the view this morning as I am writing this post.  I guess they both want to be near me.  Skyler is not upset about rain but will high tail it under the bed if it begins blowing and raining hard enough to make noise on the chimney stuff up above.  As you can see. he is still stealing Oscar's spot on the couch, not playing with the toys of course but not letting Oscar on it either.  Oscar took my spot near the light source.  Well, you know Skyler is not vacating until he is good and ready or treat bites are offered.  He sure isn't going to let Oscar lay that close to him.  Pics like the one I took of the two of them giving me a moment of Christmas peace are rare.   I'm allowed the middle of the couch.

I took this one a couple of nights ago.  Skyler gave up the coveted spot.  Oscar and I were playing with his frog.  It was close to his bedtime.   I say "Oscar, time for bed." He runs to the back door as if he needs to take care of business.  Sometimes he does but most often he just barks to let the neighborhood know he is still on the job (I guess!).   When he comes back in, he hops right in his bed and he settles in till morning.  Occasionally we get the whiny bit, and I repeat the going out part, just in case.

What else has been going on?  No sewing though I had hopes of getting back in there the window slammed shut for whatever reasons.  I'll get in there when I can.  If I thought it were pressing, I would drag the table back in here, pain in the butt or not.

Jane and I went over to Pell City on Wednesday to drop off our finished pillowcases.  We thought Aline might go with us and we would take a side trip to the quilt shop in Ashville as her machine (purchased at the shop) needs servicing.  Her schedule would not permit it.  To our surprise, they were not sewing and finishing up with the pillowcase project as I thought was planned. They were having a quilt show organizational meeting and wanted us to sit down and participate.  Jane had to get home as she and her husband had something planned that afternoon and we had about an hour's drive back.   Also I am not re-joining next year.  My opinions and suggestions do not matter as I will only be a spectator/attendee.   Truly, we went to deliver the goods. There were a few things that needed to be changed/included in the newsletter I needed to get out.  Usually takes me 3-4 hours time to get it all together and I'm always waiting for one last thing.

Without DJ here as a backup, I worry about the house being unattended but mostly, I worry about the critters.  It is too hard to be gone a big chunk of the day several times a month and know Oscar is stuck outside in the blazing sun (or crap weather) or stuck in his crate all day.  Bama Belles are my first priority.  Lately we break up after lunch though we have the building till mid afternoon if we want.  Sometimes I stay and sew but that's no fun by myself.  I can, in theory, do that at home any other day of the week.

However, I can do something about the Pell City trips.  I love the ladies in the guild but not the running back and forth part when home responsibilities fall solely on me.  I'm tired of committee work too as all but the first year, I have had a job.  1st, secretary for two years, then website and I'm 1 1/2 years into newsletter person.   Frankly, I don't feel like going through another quilt show set up.  It is time to step back when this year ends and my obligations can be passed on. I have done my part.  Don't worry---I'm not going to become a hermit or anything.   DJ never wanted me to join an other guild anyway.  "You are always gone"  "Who gave you all these jobs?"   As much I loved the man, at that point I needed a little time away with the girls.  Now, I still do but not for the same reasons.

Anyway, the newsletter shot the rest of Wednesday once we got back and a chunk of yesterday.  I got my hair cut, ran errands, the usual household stuff.  I took Wednesday off from walking as we were going out of town and then got rained out today.  I did tally up my totals  45.3 miles walking in circles at the park, kind of alternating 1.68 or 6 laps with 1.96 or 7 laps though one day I quit after 4 laps as my shoe was rubbing a blister.  Another day I simply lost count and did 2.2 miles.  Then add the Oscar trips up and down the lane, mostly 3 times a day, for another 25-30 miles.  Weight is about the same as it was a month ago.  I keep gaining and losing the same two pounds, it would seem but 1 pound is often sweated out.  I wonder how much will drop with the colonscopy prep in a few days??  Oh yummo, plain jello--- but no red or purple.  I'm stocked up with clear liquids and gatorade which I never use to mix with my laxative overdose.

After a bit of phone tag,  Tuesday I did have a good talk with DJ's son Tracy after months of no contact.  At the time he was driving the moving truck through Macon, GA on the way to their new home in south Florida.  His wife was driving one of their vehicles and their son Josh, the other.  Josh will have to get back up to IL though once he helps his parents unload. I assume he is flying back to the STL area where he and his fiance live.  They were to close on the house yesterday so this will be anything BUT a typical 4th of July holidays for them.  I see LuAnn on Facebook occasionally and she messaged that they had not gotten in til 4 in the morning Wednesday.

The neighbors and I were revved up about the conjunction of Mars and Jupiter on the 30th.  I had seen them earlier in the month but didn't know what I was looking at, thinking it was airplane lights, LOL.  Unfortunately on the day in question, we could see them but not as brightly as the previous night when they had tried to call me to tell me to come see (phone was off)  What we did have was a orange red sun and a orangey golden full moon!  Not only the clouds of the evening but the effect of smoke from the wildfires in Alberta and Saskatchewan.  BUT we could see them close together with the naked eye, if faintly.  I had taken my binoculars out but trying to stay focused on the night sky and looking at them whirl around started giving the same headache and woozy feeling that riding and looking at Christmas lights does.  (The way my eyes track or something).  I went out an hour later and I could still see them.  Then they disappeared behind the clouds so I never did see them right on top of each other.

My mind is going blank.  Seems like I had something else I was going to post but it flew right out of my head. As I close this up, it  is now a little after noon and I believe Oscar and I might be able to go do walkies---cue the dog running to get a bit of food before I get the leash on him, LOL.

Have a safe and relaxing if possible 4th of July weekend.  Happy Birthday to my pal Cindy and the good ol USA