Ugh!! 0800, seventy-six degrees with a “real-feel” already of ninety. Suck in a lung full of that air. And — this isn’t even designated as a weather-alert day. Those come tomorrow and Thursday as the heat index climbs to over 105 degrees. So I don’t think we will be doing a lot of venturing outside for the next few days. We need to go to the bank today sometime but that won’t take much; just a down and back trip.

We had a fairly heavy “pop-up” thundershower yesterday afternoon and I’m sorry to say, our little little leak problem in the bathroom shower still isn’t fixed. Bless my contractor’s heart, he has been all over that portion of the roof and in the attic. He caulked and caulked in all of the places he can think of and yet it is still there. I hate to even call him today to let him know. The next thing he’ll have to do is start pulling up shingles and trying to trace it down. It is such a minor leak and. It is in the perfect place for it to drip — in the shower, but it has to be fixed. I’m already concerned that I’ll have a mold problem up there in the attic.

My feeders are mostly empty again this morning so I’ll have Backyard Buffet duties to take care of this morning. I need to go get some more supplies. I’m out of thistle seed and I think I only have one package of the peanut butter bits left. I could stand to get some suet balls too and put some of those out. Maybe while we are on our bank trip we’ll swing down to Meijers or Rural King and pick some stiff up. I also need to fill all of the “log-feeders” with peanut butter again.

I’ve been scouring the web pages looking for a place for next vacation. Last night I was checking out places to saty in Gulf Shores, Alabama and Gulfport, Mississippi. Earlier in the week I was looking at places in Seattle, Washington. The question always comes down to; “what are we going to do once we get there?” The answer is always the same —- we don’t know. We are limited by health issues from doing a lot of walking and hiking any more. It is nice to go and just enjoy the atmosphere and peace and quiet; —- but you can’t get anymore peace and quiet than we have around here at the house every day of the week. I always lie to myself and say I want to just sit and read some of my novels, listen to the waves crash on the beach. But the truth is that Ms. Kate has a hard time walking through beach sand too so she doesn’t like to do that. And —- I get bored just sitting there, book or not after very much time. The places I’ve been looking at are condos and are really nice but they cost a lot of money just to go sit in somebody else’s living room. Am I getting so old that I’m losing the adventure in my soul??? Gosh, I hope not. But, the answer to the original question maybe Togo to Gulfport, MS. There are aa couple of casinos close and it is only an hour from New Orleans and a couple of favorite restaurants. I guarantee you will hear more about this down the road.

Tomorrow is the 4th of July. Take time to celebrate and also to pray for the leadership of this nation. Take time to remind yourself that this is a great country and while we may have a lot of social strife going on, we are American citizens and only by working together as a nation and as a people will this nation remain free. Freedom is such a precious gift and it has been bought and paid for through the sacrifice of many thousands of lives. Give God thanks and praise for bountiful blessings. Peace.