A very happy Friday morning to you. It is a noisy Friday morning around here today. The traquility that I normally have here in the sunporch has been shattered. Friday is routinely trash pick up day from one of the companies that service this area. There was a time when they would drive down the street to their customer, get out of their trucks, pick up you trash and throw it in the back of their truck. It wasn't very efficient and was, I'm sure, hard on the drivers. Now their trucks are automated. They pull up to the trash can and a big old arm reaches out and picks up the can and puts it over the collection bin , shakes it empty three or four times and then swings the can back and sits it back on the curb. It is efficient, less time consuming, easier on the driver, --- and terribly noisy. The other company that services this area has fewer customers and still does it the old fashioned but less noisy way on Wednesday.

The other thing shattering my peace and quiet today is the roofing crew across the fence at the neighbors house. There is a lot of scraping and raking, and hammering with hammers and the air compressor. They appear to be a good crew though. They work hard and I'm glad to say their conversations don't contain a lot of foul language. That hasn't always been the case from roofing crews that have come through and worked in this neighborhood. I can fully appreciate the hard work those guys are doing though. Back in the early seventies, I did a few roofing jobs with a contractor friend of mine. That was long before portable air compressors and I thought my thumbs would never heal from all the times I hit them with a hammer.

I filled my feeders and cleaned and refilled the bird baths yesterday afternoon. This morning, so far, I have had a few Cardinals, a Robin or two, and Goldfinches and the House Finches. Mr. Robin seems delghted with the filled bird baths and has already been here twice for a dip and a wing flutter in the "pool". Yesterday even the Cardinals were trying to take baths, which I don't see happen very often. My squirrels have yet to arrive which is really fine by me. While they are entertaining to watch, --- I can do without them.

Ms. Kate has some Stargazer lilies out there and one stalk has at least four big blooms on it. While I was filling feeders yesterday I had to stop and smell them several times. The smell is simply overwhelmingly wonderful. Many people don't like the smell because they say it is too strong and reminds them of funeral arrangements.

God has given us yet another beautiful day. The sun is shining, the sky is blue, the heat and humidity aren't too bad yet today. Ms. Kate and I need to go do a bit of shopping today. It is a great day to once again take stock of your life and the wonderful things God has done for you. Your life was freely given and your blessings should be passed around like the fried chicken platter at a family dinner. I hope you have a marvelous day.