Saturday morning, 82 degrees on the way to 93 with humidity. If you listen carefully, you can hear the corn and the tomatoes grow. We could use some rain. Some of my farmers are getting nervous and I'll bet that is the number one comment I'l hear tomorrow at church: --- "Pastor John, -- we need some rain"; like I'm any closer to the source than they are. LOL

Yes, I missed writing to you yesterday. Ms. Kate and I took a day trip yesterday. We began the morning with taking Ms. Kate for her monthly blood work, then we went to her sister's house and picked up a rose to take to Julie's house. We had a rug that had been here in the sunporch and we took it out and put in a new one a few weeks ago. I had asked Julie if she wanted it for her patio and she did. So, I rolled it up and we took it to her place which is 120 miles from here. I have also been hungry for some Habachi food so wwe went to an excellent place in Julie's area for a great lunch. So, we planted her new rose, carried in her rug, went to eat, then to Lowe's for Ms. Kate to buy a couple of plants for our flowerbed; --- and the headed home. We got home, planted our new plants and took a nap! The day was full enough.

The backyard has gone from really pretty to looking a bit bedraggled. We still have some lilies blooming but their season is about done. The hydrangeas are holding their own but that is about it. With the heat, everything just looks a bit sad. I'm going to go out and spray some weed killer on some poison oak I saw yesterday and I need to fill bird feeders again today as well as the birdbaths. Between the splashing caused by the birds bathing and the evaporatin caused by the heat, filling those bird baths is a daily event. So far the front yard flowerbeds are looking pretty good. Again, we only have lilies blooming but they are hanging in there pretty well. I could mow today although I really could let it go this week. And, since we are in an ozone alert day --- I think I'll just not add to the ozone with my mower even though I did get my new JD back from the dealer.

I had some bread that had gone stale here in the kitchen so I threw it out in the yard for the birds. So far the blackbirds have pecked at it a few times and a couple of finches have tried it but they don't appear to be terribly interested. They are still trying to get the last bits of stuff out of the bark butter feeders. They are indeed spoiled. I still need to go get some more sunflower seed. It is at a good price now too. Pet Food Store had 40# bags for $14.95 the other day. I would have picked a couple up but the back of the Caddy was already full. I can tell I'm getting older because a 40# bag is a lot easier to handle than a 50# bag these days. Or maybe --- I'm just getting lazy.

That's it for this Saturday morning. I pray your weekend will be most excellent. I certainly plan for mine to be. My next week will be a busy one culminating in the 4th of July! So, if you can think of nothing else to be thankful for this morning --- give God thanks that you live in a free country and give God thanks for all of the people that have sacrificed to keep it that way. Peace.