July 1, 2022

 July 1, 2022

 

Yep, Dear Hearts, it is hot. But some folks are mighty happy about the weekend coming up because they get an extra day off. For old women who are retired, it just means putting the Thunder Shirts on the dogs and trying to keep one dog from crawling under my bed. Sylvia gets spooked easily. Thompson would rather not hear that noise, but he will howl at the sirens or bark at the explosions. Here’s hoping everyone keeps their dogs INSIDE the house and near to them. It is simply too hot for man or beast out there! And this is one of those occasions when the dogs run away out of fear. Not sure what the cats do, but anyone who cares about their cat(s) would have the critters inside.

 

Connie called a bit ago wanting to know if my friends who have cows will sell raw milk. Don’t think it is legal to sell it unless—well, not sure just what the procedure is, but think the government has some kind of oversight about what can be sold from the farms. Eggs, milk, butter---everything has to be inspected these days. One friend got around that by letting people “donate” something for fresh eggs. Not sure about the milk.

 

See some clouds around today, but the forecast is for triple digits for the next ten days. No surprise. It is July in Texas. Good time to have a swimming pool and some tall glasses of sweet tea. All the peach tea bags are gone, but have some orange spice and a couple of other kinds that might be ok this time of year. But the best is just plain ol’ Luzianne decaf tea bags. It still has some caffeine in it, but not as much as a can of Dr Pepper. And United has four boxes of Dr Pepper on for 12 dollars. Not bad considering.

 

Went out to check on my hens early this morning and noticed a young rat snake stretched out on the ground. Went to find a hoe—and yes, it is a “good” snake that should not be killed, but you have no idea what any snake does to my mindset! Anyway, the trash man took away that snake this morning when he dumped my bin in his truck. Now if only the big fat one could be found and removed. But, of course, yesterday a big rat ran through the two front coops. ARGH!!! Rats are faster than eggs, ya see, so guess which the snakes go after. Sigh Went out to see if the girls had laid any eggs and found two that were soaked in egg. Something broke an egg where the other two had been laid in the middle coop. Jenn told me that if the hens changed laying places, the snake would find them. Dadgumit! So now two eggs that have been washed are in the fridge. Nuts.

 

The Mexican man and his step-daughter have been across the street working on Jerry’s house today. She came over to my front yard to get some water out of the hose. She has some major muscles in her arms, but then she never stops moving and is working constantly doing something. Ah, to be young again. Nah, it would be nice to still have that kind of muscles, but appreciate all the things that have made me the mean ol’ woman around here. Besides, unless my spine could deal with it, the muscle strength in my arms would probably just cause more problems.

 

Reading some of the news blips tells us that Amtrak and the family of the driver of the dump truck have lawsuits to going to determine whose fault the wreck was. Amtrak is suing the company who hired the dump truck driver saying he was not trained to avoid the accident. Not sure, but the family may be suing Amtrak because there were no lights or cross guards on the crossing. Any way a person looks at it, we can bet that the folks on that train will think twice before getting on another one. Even so, most of them were able to walk away from the crash. Can’t say that about many airplane crashes.

 

The city of WF sent out a message a couple of years ago asking that people not flush trash down their commodes. Now California has made that into a law specifically involving baby wipes. It seems that some wipes have short fibers and will dissolve or tear apart just like toilet tissue. Other baby wipes have long fibers and don’t tear, so they gum up the works in the sanitation stations. Expensive problem. Many folks use baby wipes—including nursing homes—and probably should be aware of the difference so that they can prevent some of the problems. But am sitting here betting to myself that they won’t use the ones that fall apart because they believe they use less material using the others. Human nature is pretty selfish and self-serving.

 

Had a hummingbird out front in the trumpet vine the other evening. He/she messed around the flowers for a bit and then came straight up to the window across from my desk and hovered there a minute. Wonder if he was asking for a drink. Just went out and put clean water in a flower pot saucer (large one) for birds or whatever to get a drink. Semi-hid it under part of the rosemary bush. Wish rosemary would grow all across the front of my fence to the east. That would be so pretty—not to mention stable in the heat. Maybe next year. Or this fall. Wish the flower bed were tilled up and it could be planted later this fall. Miss my flowers. Jenn said all of hers were dying in the heat. Water is just not enough when it ends up scalding the plants.

 

Really don’t know anything worth talking about. Have already said that the stupidity exhibited by Clarence Thomas makes it very hard to have a submissive attitude about laws that are being revoked or changed that will damage lives. Common sense is honestly not very common. The next step will be to stop people of different races from marrying just like it was years ago. So very back-ass-wards.

 

Meanwhile, we know that God has given us blessings and each day of our lives. We can and should be grateful. Let us look for the good in each day and in each person we know or meet. Enjoy the fruits of the season and the swimming pools. You are loved.