July has decided to sleep in again on this 62° bright morning. I love this roller coaster weather pattern we have been having. As I suspected, rain did not materalize, at least for us, yesterday at all. I think the weatherman said we had one one hundreth of an inch. That hardly makes it to the status of dew! On the other hand --- this is perfect weather for the county fair. Animal owners don't have to worry about their animals overheating there in the show barns.

The Starlings are in for an early morning bath today. They have been lined up on the concrete deep water bird bath for quite a while. No doubt I will have to refill it if the splashing I see happening is any indication of what will be left out there. I see that a lot of the feeders are low or empty this morning. I guess it is time to refill the buffet table. I have mostlly the smaller birds out there this morning so far except for the Blackbirds and Starlings. I haven't seen my Cardinals for a couple of days nor has the Blue Jay been around. I was pulling some weeds in the flowerbed yesterday and heard  the Pilated Woodpecker somewhere close by with its weird call, but I didn't see it.

I was up late again lat night thanks to my Stephen King novel. I'm down to the last 120 pages and it is extremely hard to put it down at that point. But, I was getting bleary-eyed at 0115 and just had to quit. Hopefully I'll be able to get back to it today so I can rescue this little girl in the story and the creepo's won't get her. Besides, thanks to Julie, there is a brand new Stephen King novel sitting on the table beside my chair that is already calling my name.

My brother in law, Byron, goes for his oncolgist appointment this morning to learn about and make decisions about this new treatment plan for his cancer. Our prayers are certainly with him.  We pray this will really be a good answer for him. The biggest thing he has going for him at the moment is his attitude. He is upbeat, basically pain free --- and looking forward to building a new house and playing with grandkids for at least another five years. I hope he and God are reading the same set of life's blueprints. That would be wonderful.

My prayers also go out for my 101 year old parishioner who is now in a nursing home but fell this week. Fortunately she didn't break a bone but she does have a fracture. Alzheimers has robbed her of most of her memory and she no longer remembers her loved ones, including her daughter who constantly is with her. So, my prayers are for comfort for the both of them.

Since God has provided such a beautiful day; I better get started making use of it. I have lawns to mow and birds to feed, and a garden to water. Here's hoping your day contains only joy, and that you stop to give God thanks for it.