days in the life of a

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July 2011

click here to read older July 2011 posts....

July 21, 2011

NATURE'S FIREWORKS

Fireworks are beautiful...colorful, bursting flowers across the sky.

But as beautiful as manmade fireworks are, they don't even compare to the colorful designs and intricate starbursts that God creates in the world all around us.

Everyday, ordinary plants and flowers are nature's fireworks!

And we don't have to wait until the 4th of July to enjoy them!

July 22, 2011

ALMOST-SATURDAY SNAPSHOTS AND SNIPPETS

Since we're leaving before the sun comes up tomorrow morning and I won't be posting, I thought I'd share a few random thoughts and photos before we skeedaddle out of this hot-as-an-oven place and head south where it'll probably be even hotter.

But when I weigh being scorched in Indiana or scorched at the beach.....hmmm..........

I think I'll take scorched at the beach!

Anyhoo, here are some snapshots and snippets one day early!

I'm going to whine and complain one more time about how stinkin' HOT it is, then I'll hush up and move on and not mention that 3-letter word again.

But, oo-doggies, it's been HOTTER 'n gee-whiz around here the past week or so!!!

And we haven't had rain in about 4 weeks, so things are pretty dry around here too.

Now you'd think with no rain, it'd be a "dry" heat, but, oh no.

It's a very humid heat, with actual temperatures in the high 90s (it even hit 100 degrees in the big city yesterday) and heat indexes in the 110-120 range. 

Now that is plumb HOT!!!

Even the honeybees are hot!  When it gets too hot and crowded inside the hive, they congregate on the outside to cool off. 

I hate to tell them, but it sure ain't cooler outside!

Our lawn is just drying up.  It's crunchy to walk on, even hurts to walk barefoot in what should be rich soft lush grass.

So imagine my excitement when I was driving home through Middletown, only a few miles from my house, when the thunder was rolling and the rain was pouring down so hard my wipers were swishing at high speed.

Yes!!!  Finally some RAIN!!!

But....when I got home 5 minutes later, there was only a sprinkle or two to be found.

If you look very closely on the left geranium petal, you can see the result of our shower.

Somehow or other, it rained hard all around us but missed our little homestead.

The up side of no rain is that the construction workers on the cabin haven't had to deal with bad weather (unless you call this suffocating heat wave bad weather, which I guess really does count in my book.)

Suffice it to say, it's utterly miserably ridiculously HOT!!!!!!!!!!!

The pheasants are growing and getting prettier all the time.

They're getting the red around their eyes and starting to get the ring around their necks.

Now if they would just stay IN their pen and the varmints would stay OUT....

We've only got about half of the 35 we started out with left, and Kim has caught (besides the kitty cat) 3 skunks and 2 raccoons in the trap so far.

But as far as these survivors go....aren't their feathers gorgeous?!

Speaking of birds (we were, weren't we?....)......

I was bending down to get a very close photo of Queen Anne's lace for yesterday's post, and when I stood up I was like 6 inches away from this little fella.

Literally 3ee to eye with this baby robin.

I don't know who was more startled...me or him!

He didn't move a feather, frozen in his spot on the bush.  I could have reached up and grabbed him easily.  In fact, I was so close I had to take a few steps back to even be able to take his picture.

We have so many robins around this place...very fertile little birds, they are....

Seen at a stoplight in Missouri

Those University of Missouri - also known as Mizzou - Tiger fans really love their team!

It's not even football or basketball season right now.

But don't you love the tiger tail?

Kim and I have had our Chase Sapphire VISA

card for about two years or so.  (We can't really

agree when we actually got it.  I say it's been

about 3 years but Kim says it's only been 18

months or so, so since I'm feeling generous we'll

go with 2 years.  And yes, it does matter when

you read the rest of the story.)

With the card, like most other credit cards as

well, you accumulate points for using it (1 point for every dollar) that can be redeemed for all sorts of trips and merchandise and such.

We've never been one to mess with such things, believing that nothing is really "free" and if it is there are usually all sorts of requirements and stipulations and black-out dates and all that.  So I've never really paid much attention as our points have added up.

Last week, we got in the mail a brochure from Chase showing all the things you can redeem points for and as I was quickly flipping through it, I came upon a page where you can redeem points for cash or for a credit to your bill.

Now THAT'S something worth looking at.

I looked up my account online and found out we had....get this...47,901 points!!!

So I clicked around the website and quickly got myself a $479 credit on my credit card bill and was feeling pretty darn proud of myself.

When Kim got home, I couldn't wait to brag about what a thrifty wife I was, getting such a big refund and all.

Kim looked at me in disbelief and said, "Terry, you realize that means we've charged $47,901 on our credit card in the last year."  (This is where I quickly corrected him that it's been more like 3 years and we've had the card longer than he thought.)

It didn't faze him in the least.  All he could think about is that we've been spending too much money.

He wasn't impressed with my financial savvy one iota.

Heading out for a week of sand and sun and surf and shrimp and so-much-fun with my family!!! 

There'll be lots of activity around our home place while we're away and some big changes when we come back.  But I'll save that for later.

I'll take a few photos and have a few stories to share and I'll catch you on the other side of my relaxing time on Emerald Isle!