Scrambled Eggs.

 Scrambled Eggs.

 

No, they weren’t dropped before or after being gathered. In fact, they made a mighty fine breakfast this morning. Each dog got ONE bite, and then Sylvia got the paper plate to lick. To be fair, Thompson’s bite was just a teeny bit bigger than the one Sylvia got. Children notice these things.

 

Got a call from brother telling me that my sister-in-law was out there in the shop with him checking out all the “shtuff” that the church had brought for their garage sale. Oh, that is going to be a sight. No clothes or very few, but all kinds of junk and stuff is crammed into his nice workshop. He has a philosophy about garage sales: he has plenty of his own junk; why would he want some else’s junk? Even so, watched Beth Graf get any number of neat toys and things for her pre-school back when she had The Treehouse. She kept her eyes on just the stuff she would be able to use, however. The one thing that came home with me from an estate sale was an antique egg scooper that a person could take eggs from a boiling water bath without any other tool. It seldom gets used, but it pleases me.

 

My son still has that danged virus—mostly just congestion—but he can’t return to the building until he tests ok, and so far, that is a no-go. Tracy called her boss at the library and asked if she could return now that she is testing negative. Her boss told her that she could if she could consider it minimum security with work detail. That was enough to make me laugh. But then, that was the idea her boss had, too.

 

Stayed up late last night and read a book on my Kindle. Couldn’t sleep anyway, so reading was the best bet. Can’t go outside when the mosquitoes are big enough to make you need a transfusion after they get ahold of your legs, arms, or any other spot on your body. And daytime is too freaking hot after the sun gets up very high. It is already 105 degrees on the east side of the house. Bleah.

 

Put some macaroni on to cook and stirred until the old woman was as hot as the pot it cooked in. Making macaroni and cheese with some Velveeta cheese that Patty gave me. May throw in some cooked chicken and sweet pickles just for the heck of it. What the old woman can’t eat, ya know, the dogs will appreciate. [It turned out mighty fine! A stick of butter, several slices of Velveeta, canned chicken, and bread and butter pickles.]

 

Someone or some two are over at Jerry’s house working. Feel for anyone working in this heat. It just makes sense to stay inside out of the sun. But then, these guys seem to be working mostly on the inside. One looked like an electrician, maybe. Who knows? They could be chicken pluckers! Someone needs to mow the grass around the other part of the lots. Jerry’s house is on solid concrete—no grass or living things except a couple of determined weeds.

 

Smelled skunk last night. The water bowl put out front for the birds might just be an attraction for other critters. Bobcats, skunks, cougars, or assorted small animals need water, too. As long as they stay out of the backyard, things should be ok. The one thing that amazes me is the number of cottontail rabbits! They are multiplying—well, like rabbits. But the same could be said about the feral cats. Have seen at least two momma cats with kittens around here. As long as they don’t get where the dogs are, they have a chance of staying alive. But with a water bowl out front, they can at least get a drink.

 

Still have not gone anywhere to buy milk. A person does not REALLY have to have milk in order to eat, but Cheerios with canned milk just does not appeal to me. Before gasoline went out of sight expensive, a few trips here and there did not bother me that much, but right now, the old woman can just stay at home and do something else—scramble some eggs or make macaroni salad.

 

Noticed that Dawn Thompson and a crew are on their way to California with the “You’re Enough” message. The heat and the cost of diesel is outta sight, but maybe they will help at least a few people realize that they are truly loved—even if not in the way the world portrays love. A prayer for their safety and success would not be amiss.

 

Sometime last year yours truly bought a box of little packets to go in water. Think they are entirely sweetened with fake sugar, but they are not bad tasting with that whang caused by most fake sugars. They are called Skittles to Go. When plain ol’ water is just not all that satisfying, these things are not too bad. They are probably the next best thing to giving one’s liver river water, but they are a lot less trouble than making one’s self drink water plain. Hydrate! It’s summertime!

 

The dogs seem to have no trouble taking naps and then sleeping all night. They lie down on the floor, on a dog bed, or in a chair to take a nap. They don’t seem to mind the location. When we had dogs back years ago when we lived in Petrolia, the dogs did not sleep in Mom’s house. They dug holes around the foundation and slept there. Dad would go spray them down once in a while when he sprayed the old swamp cooler to keep it a little bit wetter than the water pump could. Honestly! Do any of you ever remember it getting this hot and staying that way? If memory serves me, we had a drought back in the 50s that dried up our lake. Water was more or less rationed. They would turn the water on late in the afternoon and then turn it off a couple of hours later. The water may have come from wells, but we walked across the lake that had these huge chunks of mud that had dried into a network of heavy clay. Not even the crawdads could live in that mud.

 

Whatever the state hospital is doing with the old round road on the grounds, they just dumped a bunch of pavement stuff and ran road graders and heavy compacting machines over it. Guess they were just rebuilding it for some reason. Seems awfully hot to be out there doing that kind of work, but then, Lewis used to work in this kind of heat working on transmissions or whatever kind of work that Darr had him do. This time of year, he would come home soaking wet and need help to peel his clothes off. Feel for anyone who has to do any kind of asphalt work, much less welding or fencing. Read something about a cool front coming in this week so that the temps might get down to just 100 degrees. If it were to rain right now, it would be steam!

 

Sylvia just brought me her toy. She doesn’t really need any treats. She just likes the attention. The hens are like that at times. When the kitchen door opens, they come out from under the deck to see if they are going to get any goodies. A while ago it was so hot out there when the bowls had to be cleaned and fresh water put in, that it seemed like a good time to wet down the underside where they were lying down. Put the hose in one of the cracks and let it stay there long enough to get it good and wet. They came out and then went right back under there. This heat is not good for them, but it’s not like they can have AC in the coop.

 

Looked at my living room floor a minute ago and thought about my daughter. She used to take her shoes off wherever she was and leave them there. We sometimes had several pairs of shoes in the middle of the floor. But in this case, the three pairs were all mine. Guess she came by her habits honestly.

 

Don’t know any good funnies to share with you. And can’t really ask for weather reports and expect any good news. Well, one of my online acquaintances is heading out to Alaska soon. Maybe we should ask her to keep us in mind when she goes up there and cools off. Cooling thoughts? Even some rain would be wonderful if it actually got to the ground.

 

Pray for the farmers and ranchers. It is not just their livelihoods that matter. Without their crops and livestock, we won’t eat, dear hearts. If they were not willing to gamble on the weather and the markets, we would all go hungry! May God bless them and their efforts.

 

Rest well, my friends. What we face each day may be different in many ways, but it all works out to be the same in the end. We depend on grace and His love. May He give us peace.