I’m reminiscing about my T@B travels in 2010.  Click here to read about our July experiences in the New England states.  (Debbie just e-mailed me about pleasurable hours and unique sights.  Thanks for the memories!!)

During the travels listed above, my KIA turned 3,333 TRIP miles.  Visit this blog where I documented 5,555 and 6.666 TRIP miles.  Recently my KIA odometer turned 66,666 miles.  Honestly, I do very little traveling any more–with my TaB travel trailer.  However, over 6,000 miles the last several months driving to and from the chiropractor’s office on the outskirts of Charlotte, North Carolina.  Approximately fifty miles round trip.  Gratefully, my health has improved!! (Gratefully, my health has improved and I can exert a lot of energy on my “downsizing” project!!)

Do you know the Christian chorus: “Hallelu, hallelu, hallelu, hallelujah; praise ye the Lord! Praise ye the Lord, hallelujah, praise ye the Lord, hallelujah; praise ye the Lord, hallelujah, praise ye the Lord!!”?? Repetitious, yes, but I’m feeling the need to repeat my gratitude for more Bluebird eggs in my Bluebird house. It’s déjà vu!!  On May 27th I took a similar picture.  I hope I get to see the baby birds after they hatch.  (Stay tuned; more news to follow!!  If you have followed my blog, you know I continue a topic ad nauseam.  [My deceased husband hated my stories!!])

Yippes!!  High temperature was one-hundred-one degrees today. It tied the record for Charlotte. One-hundred-five high in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Records broken all over the nation.

Check out this website.  I learned about the Fugees Family on the CBS Sunday Morning TV program.  Very inspirational!!

Think “Operation Christmas Child”!!

Back-to-school items are on sale at retail stores.  The crayons were only fifty cents per box (at Walmart).  The packaged child-size toothbrushes and toothpaste were only fifty-eight cents each (at Walmart).  I shop year-around for items that will be used for “fillers” for Shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child.  I find Beanie Baby teddy bears for fifty cents (at Goodwill).  I’m always looking for small toys!!    The packages with balls will be opened and one ball per shoe box.  ~~  It’s hard to think “Christmas” when the nation is baking under extreme heat.  So much tragedy; so much suffering; so many ruined crops; so much property damage, ad infinitum.  But often our worse circumstance is minor compared to the situation experienced by many around the world.

See the recent July 5th blog (From clutter to clean!!) and note that **only** two days later I have ignored my statement to “…no longer use the living room for sorting….”    Truthfully, I haven’t any other space large enough to work in!!  I emptied two boxes (no picture) and, by this time tomorrow, I may empty, or consolidate, several more.  Perhaps Monday, four (or more) boxes will be en route to my son in New York. ~~ Ninety-seven degrees as I publish this at 5:30 PM. An inferno outside!! I’m not a fan of air-conditioning but recently I **love** my air-conditioner!!

Comment: It’s a BIG job; it has to be done!! I don’t want to leave “unfinished business” for someone else to clean up. I learned today of the sudden passing of a friend. He had been “in good health,” and active, but had a massive stroke and died yesterday.

 
Postscript, Sunday, July 8, 2012, 2:00 PM: Four more out the door!! (Almost.)  It is a humid, wicked, beastly-hot ninety-six degrees as I update this blog. I won’t put the boxes in the car because I suspect the packaging tape will peal off!! Seriously!! And not a creature in sight: No birds, no squirrels, no rabbits!!

Actually, Monday, July 9th, 2012, 2:45 PM (and ninety-six degrees) as I publish this message. Obviously, I wanted this to follow Inch by Inch, It’s a Cinch.  This delivery followed my routine visit to the chiropractor.  It was an unexpected opportunity to make a new friend.  ~~  The boxes are actually extremely  heavy so I’m impressed that I got out of the UPS Store for less than $100.  ~~  Kudos to Lorraine!!

Incredibly delicious!!

(Left click on your mouse, on each picture, to enlarge for better viewing.)

I spent time in my garden before the heat descends. It is eighty-five degrees as I publish this at 10:00.

I’m sad!!  Extreme heat killed some of my plants today!!  I was away from home from 8;30 AM until 3:00 PM.  First, my appointment with the chiropractor; second, some shopping which included the purchase of more squirrel feed, and Bluebird mealworms.  I looked at bird bathes at Wild Bird Center but would not / could not allow myself to spend $30. to $130.  I love my fine feathered and fine furry friends but there is a limit to how much I will spend!!  Unexpectedly (as I was driving past Michaels) I thought “Maybe they have something I can use.”  And I found a shallow enamel container “on sale” for one-fourth the original price.  (So inexpensive I’m embarrassed to document the price.)  At home, I got out an old-fashioned small lawn sprinkler to use as the “bubbler.”  ~~  With our extreme heat, I’m very sympathetic to the birds!!  A big black crow was the first to splash in the new bird bath.  ~~  As soon as I got home, I quickly started running water to my tomato plants and other plants.  But I’m afraid the zinnias and nasturtiums are beyond saving.  ~~  Ninety-seven degrees as I write this and (according to evening TV news) “one-hundred degrees  or higher heat index.”   One-hundred degrees predicted for tomorrow!!  But, praise the Lord, I have electricity for air-conditioning.  I sympathize with folks in areas without power–without power for one week!!  (There was recent storm damage in the Charlotte area but [to my knowledge] absolutely no problems here at JAARS.)

Postscript, 7/07/2012, 8:45 AM: This morning several pretty little Goldfinches were feeding on the seeds at the center of the severely dehydrated (dead?) Zinnias. Maybe zinnia seeds are similar to the Nyjer seeds usually offered to finches?!