God willing, today will be the day I move this blog to a new Web-hosting company.  So I’ll keep this one short.  During Saturday’s rain, I took this shot of ripples on the puddle that had formed just outside my basement door.

I thought it might make good abstract wallpaper for my computer’s virtual desktop.  So I worked on the image with Photoshop Elements.  And this image now graces my monitor’s screen.

I reduced the resolution for inclusion in this post.  (It makes the upload faster for me and the download faster for you.)  The darkness makes me feel like I’m looking up from below the surface of a large lake.  I do enjoy manipulating images.  Now if I only had some artistic talent . . .

A serviceman is scheduled to come and fix our AC and modify the duct work to make it work more efficiently today,  I’m looking forward to the end result if not the bill. 😉

Tomorrow

If God wills, and the transition works to new servers, I’ll show you what that storm did to one of my favorite maple trees. 😥   Turns out it had been damaged earlier (probably a couple of years or so ago), but I didn’t realize it.

It has been nearly four weeks since I mowed the lawn.  Hot weather and dry conditions have turned the grass brown as I reported last week.  On Saturday, relief in the form of rain came to our neighborhood.  We had about three quarters of an inch of blessed rain, but in the small village four miles from here they received only a few drops.  It was a dramatic event as you can see looking out my basement door.

The wind was strong and drove the rain hard.  There were also pea-sized hail stones to keep things interesting.  You might see some if you examine the photo carefully.

Soon the wind let up and the rain slowed.  There was a lot of water left sitting atop the parched earth, which soon swallowed the water.  We’re hoping for more to come.  And, if we’re placing orders, we could use a bit less heat. 8)

At least all this has given us something to blog about.  Right ❓

A Coming Change

I lost the third round in a dispute with my Internet hosting provider.  I will be leaving them and transferring to another supplier.  Someone who will be more responsive to my needs and someone who provides US-based tech support.  I’ll let you know when that will happen as soon as I know and how it went once it is done.  Have a great week.

If you are Sylvia and live under the same roof as I, the answer is:  “Very well thank you.”  Let me show you what I mean.

The yellow zucchini are producing like . . . well, like zucchini.  Plenty for us and a lot of our friends too.  We couldn’t find the green variety, so we are enjoying these this year.  They are good.  Good and prolific.

The newly planted asparagus is doing well.  Marigolds also inhabit our garden.  We like their beauty and bug-repelling properties.

Lots of cherry tomatoes coming on.  Sylvia has already picked one, which she ate and enjoyed.  It won’t be much longer . . .

Winter squash is taking over its corner of the garden.  Vines are growing everywhere.  Some of them are trying to sneak through the fence.

Peppers are growing.  We’ll be picking the first ones very soon.  More to come.  I believe these will turn red before they are ready to harvest.

Can you see the cucumber?  It’s large and fills most of the picture.  Later, I went out with Sylvia and a plastic bag.  We picked 10 cucumbers that needed to be taken.  They weighed 10 pounds!  Oh, and they taste great!

Sylvia will taking her father on a 10-day vacation soon.  That’s when the green beans will be ready to harvest.  It happens that way every year.  No problem.  I put on my Michigan redneck jeans and kneel beside the plants to pick the beans.  The arthritis is so bad these days that I can’t do it by bending over.  I wouldn’t last five minutes.  I don’t mind the kneeling, and the reward is worth the pain that it causes.

My Jeans

The picture yesterday was not of my own jeans.  They don’t get the chance to get that dirty.  Okay, they do get dirty, but end up in the wash soon thereafter.  Yesterday’s post was an attempt at some tongue-in-cheek humor.

Hope you have a great weekend.  Enjoy yourself.  It’s summer after all. 😀

Q: How does a Michigan redneck know it’s time to put his jeans in the wash?

A: They are no longer blue.

This pair is good for several weeks of daily use before the next trip to the laundry.

Do you follow a different protocol?

Photographs of this secretive purveyor of lethal armaments are hard to come by.  Experts agree that she will, without a doubt, usher in a new arms race as others attempt to push into this lucrative niche.

While photos of the dealer herself are impossible to obtain, this reporter was, with dint of extreme effort, able to locate this replica of the dealer’s logo.  Beware parents beware!

Looks harmless doesn’t it, and she tries to foster that idea by publishing photos such as this one:

That’s what she wants you to think, but there is a nefarious plan behind this. Insidious forces are plotting to subvert your daughters.  It starts with something seemingly simple.  Say a hand gun.  Like this:

Isn’t that pretty?  After all it’s only a .45 caliber toy.  Or how about an air-soft gun those aren’t lethal, are they?  What harm in this?

Isn’t that sweet?  Or is it?  Look again.  Examine that barrel.  That’s not a hunting shotgun.  It’s not even a sport-shooting gun like they use to shoot skeet.  That short barrel says it all.  This, folks, is a tactical weapon.  It’s what they use to breech doors to enter with great force.  Do you want your daughter to get involved with this?  I ask you . . . do you really?

If your answer is, “Yes.”  What will you do when she comes home with her personalized AK-47 or AR-15?  Let’s not even talk about the boys that she will be with.

Are you frightened yet?  You should be.  But you haven’t heard the worst.  This dangerous arms dealer is not content with subverting our daughters one-by-one.  It has come to this reporters attention that she plans to recruit groups, teams and squads of girls to get involved with heavier hardware.  A good friend managed to capture this image at a private arms show.

Now you know why I am frightened.  This is not the rantings of a paranoid maniac.  There is an insidious plot afoot here.  We must find this dangerous arms dealer and put her out of business before she starts dealing nukes.  I don’t even want to think about the consequences if we should fail.

A lot of my lawn looks like the portion in the photo above.  It’s saving me a lot of $$ on diesel fuel for my tractor. 🙂

The grass is brown, but the weeds–at least some of them–flourish.  If it wasn’t for the weeds the scene would be pretty sad.

Is it more weeds or a bit of ground moisture here?  What do you think?

I’m thinking, “weeds.”  But I could be wrong.  I’ve been wrong before.

The prognosticators are saying a chance of rain this afternoon.  I’m with my farmer neighbors in hoping that they are right this time.

At least Saturday evening the long pattern of unseasonably warm temperatures finally broke and we’re back to seasonal highs in the mid 80s with lows in around 60.  It is a lot more comfortable for most of us.

I wanted to capture images of fireworks this year.  The results are in, and the reactions are mixed.  I did capture some images, but I’m less than thrilled.

Color? Yes. But tree blocks the view.

After the mediocre photo above, I tried a little harder.

A 15-sec exposure captures multiple “bursts.”

The evening air was hot and very humid.  For that reason, I didn’t stay out to try further experiments.  Actually, that’s not entirely true.  I could have stayed out longer, but the mosquitoes were well organized and ganging up on me.  Some of them were signaling with lights for reinforcements.  I could see several with flashlights leading the way through the dark.  That’s when I decided that a full retreat was in order.  And that’s what I did.

Wouldn’t you?

Yesterday, July 4, we drove two hours to visit Sylvia’s sister, Karen and her family.  Her two sons and their families were there from Colorado and Virginia.  The in-laws and the outlaws were all there.  It was good to see everyone again.  Especially the children (Karen’s grandchildren).

Karen with her older son and part of his family.

Cute baby.  Right?  But wait (as they say in the commercials) there’s more.

That’s right! Twins. Oh what fun.

Perpetual motion on the twins’ part made photography difficult.  The boys are 7 months old.  Pity poor mom when they are two and three years old.

The younger brother was also there with family.

The Virginia branch of the family.

Too soon, it seemed, it was time to leave for home.  Sylvia’s dad joined us as we headed south.  A couple of hours later, it was home to a house that was nearly 90 degrees inside.  I turned on the AC (first time this year) and shortly after, Sylvia took her dad home–a 90-minute round trip.

It was nearly 9 PM when Sylvia returned home.  She had stopped and picked up a deli sandwich, which we thoroughly enjoyed.  An hour later the fireworks started.  I’ll tell you about that tomorrow.

Participating in: