Its a Saturday afternoon post.

The day has been busy and the house has been full of chitter chatter. Julie, Jim ,, and the pups are down for the Memorial Day weekend. But at the moment --- all is quiet because everybody settled down for an afternoon nap.

Ms. Kate and Julie went out earlier and took the flowers and the American flags out to the cemeteries and decorated the graves. In the mean time, Jim and I cut back the azaleas out in front of the house. They were growing out of control. We filled seven or eight large paper lawn bags full of clippings. I have a lot of that kind of stuff to do around here. I called our nephew, Kevin, and got his permission to take a truck load or two of it out to his brush piles. He told me I could bring any and all I want out there. That's a good thing because it gives me a place to go with it and it doesn't cost me anything.

I need to go out and fill some feeders before the afternoon flocks of birds come in. Although, the dogs have done an excellent job of keeping the squirrels at bay. Well, until they get bored with chasing, but never catching, that is. Then its like, yeh, yeh, its a squirrel. Last night they treed a raccoon that had come in for a midnight snack.


It has, by all accounts though, been a peaceful day for which I am grateful. I thank God for my family and my loved ones. I also give thanks for the generations of people before me who carved out this great country, and for the millions of men and women who have served in our armed forces to protect our country and our world. I am very proud to have spent thirty two years of my life among those brave defenders of our nation and our way of life.

Have a blessed weekend.