Tuesday, July 6, 2021, 5:40 p.m., mostly sunny, no breeze, and 91 degrees. It is nice in the house at 75 degrees.

A quiet day. I had PT this morning and haven’t done much else the rest of the day. A good day to answer letters. My calendar is good today so will quote Barbara Johnson’s message for today.:

“If we can keep our minds open to the blessings, humor, and education in whatever happens to us-if we can set that little invisible radar dish on top of our heads to constantly search for blessings instead of disasters-our lives will be enriched by the experiences we endure and we can grow from the calamities that fertilize our lives.”

Yesterday we had the first trash pick-up by the new trash company. We now have to roll our new bright blue garbage cans up to the street. They have to have the arrows that are on the side of the containers pointing to the street, and they have to be so far apart from anything else. So all the blue cans are on the street, in order, just as instructed. The garbage man (1) comes with the shiny new truck with the long, large yellow claw arm and attempts to use it to pick up each garbage can and dump the contents into the truck. some he managed to do just perfect. Some not so perfect. One up the street from us got mangled, one of the wheels flew off and it is pretty well crushed. Several others were damaged including outs. There is a dent, the lid no longer fits on correctly and there is a big dent by the wheel, causing it to not roll properly. Tomorrow those in charge of the garbage department well get a call from us. Their lines were a bit busy today.

Have a wonderful, productive, creative, safe, healthy, cool and blessed day.

Monday, July 5, 2021, 4:48 p.m. Mostly sunny, slight breezy, 89 degrees, humid. This is summer in East Tennessee

How was your 4th of July? I hope it was fun and safe and healthy. My hope is that all are remembering the foundation and principles that our great nation was founded upon, and the price of the freedom and liberty we all enjoy and tend to take for granted. My heart goes out to Afghanistan and all the people there who are and will be suffering at the hands of the Taliban and Isis. My prayer is that God will allow our nation to remain under Him, inadvisable.

The 4th of July was beautiful..Weather was nice, warm but not hot, clear and a little breeze. We enjoyed chips and dip, ribs, macaroni salad, fresh green beans with new potatoes, corn bread and a sheet cookie, iced with white icing, strawberries and blue berries all in the shape of the American flag!. So pretty, and good. Around 7 P.M. we went to Kroger’s parking lot, set up lawn chairs and prepared to watch the fireworks. The place was packed as most everyone did the same thing. The fire works didn’t start until a bit after 10:00 p.m., but they were good and very pretty. I loved the little kids that were next to us with their oohs and awes. Most every child out there had sparklers or some type of fun and safe fireworks type thing. The police drove around making sure all was safe. One person was arrested for drunk and disorderly, and got his car towed. Other then that it was very peaceful and nice

Hope you are having a wonderful day and enjoying a quiet, safe and relaxing Monday. Have a blessed day.

Thursday, July 1, 2021, 5:25 p.m. Cloudy, rain drops on the window, 82 degrees. Summer thunderstorms predicted.

The above picture is a mamma goat and her babies. They are so cute and fun to watch and play with. When they grow up some will be hired out to keep weeds and poison oak and ivy away. I guess it is true that goats will eat anything. They make good pets and are full of energy, fun and entertainment. And a great lawnmower!

A trip to Kroger.s this afternoon tells me everyone is stocking up for a large 4th weekend. One guy’s cart was over the top with cases of water, sodas, beer, chips, cookies, hot dogs, buns, and I don’t know what else. Several were in there shopping just for the weekend. We were in there for frozen veggies as we forgot them when we did our shopping. And a bit of fruit, like bananas. And a bit of ice cream. A banana split in the making!

The raindrops have now turned into a regular downpour! I know that Oak Ridge is on flash flood warning until tomorrow morning so maybe we will get a good rain. The flowers sure do like it and the grass grows so fast. The wind is blowing pretty good now. Would be nice if we could share some of the rain with those who are in the drought.

Have a great rest of your Thursday. Make it a positive, fun filled, productive, kind, sharing, and blessed day.