Happy 4th of July

Happy 4th of July!

Our cairn terrier/shiba uni mix puppy, Tyger, will be six months old on Monday.  She still loves to play and go on walks.  She is getting good at keeping the yard free of squirrels!  The vet says she weighs 19 ¼ pounds.  We both hope she won’t get any bigger.  One of her favorite treats is ice – and that certainly won’t put the pounds on!

We’ve reduced the number of squirrels in the yard by taking the bird feeder out of the weeping willow.  The pole on the free-standing bird feeder is greased and the squirrels can’t get a grip on it.  The squirrels around here don’t like corn – they like the songbird bird seed that we get at Walmart.

Hopefully it will stay dry – the nearly seven inches of rain that has fallen this month has pretty much turned the yard into a jungle.  Yikes!!  Stuff grows fast this time of year!  

No special plans for the long weekend.  I did stock up on ground sirloin last week when it was on sale so it looks like we’ll be grilling burgers.  That ground sirloin makes very good burgers!  

I do plan to start working on Christmas this weekend.  I like to wrap the gifts that I already have early – then I can see what I need to get and have enough time to pick them up.  Of course, I do stitch quite a few gifts so I need to work on them too!

So the good ole USA will be 230 years old this 4th.  So in December we’ll celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary.  Yep, we got married back in the bi-centennial year.  What a celebration that was!

Hoping you and yours all have a very Happy 4th!

Take care & enjoy,
Florence

It Sure Feels Like Summer

It Sure Feels Like Summer!

It sure feels like summer around here.  The temperatures aren’t too bad and the humidity isn’t too bad yet but it sure feels sultry because it’s been dead calm.  That should change this weekend since it looks like a front will try to move through the area bringing us some badly needed rain.

One neat feature at www.weatherunderground.com is looking at local stations around your area.  I found one a couple of streets over and one interesting thing I found looking at the logs was that the prevalent wind speed is calm.  About 92 per cent of the time the wind speed is 0.    Yesterday evening looking at the regional radar I saw the showers move around the state.  You could see that anti-cyclonic (clockwise) flow that indicates high pressure over the state.  I’ve always said that there is a dome over this area. <grin>

I’ve been listening to Bible via an audible Bible on the web (www.biblegateway.com or “Google” MP3 Bible).  I started with the King James Version and finished the New International Version yesterday.  This morning I started listening to the New American Standard Version (the Catholic Bible I have is this version).  This is the only version I’ve read or listened other than the Kings James Bible that does not truncate the Lord’s Prayer.  I really like the amplified Bible but even that version leaves off some stuff.

It is a different experience to listen to the Bible.  I enjoy hearing someone actually pronouncing all those Old Testament names!  I read faster than I listen so I think I get a bit more out of listening than I do reading.  You do have to enjoy the voice reading though, since you’ll be listening for a while. <grin>

I’ve managed to find most of the Bible versions I’ve read (KJV, NIV, ESV, NLT. NASB, and Amplified) in an audio format – both online and offline.  The Amplified version is one exception.  There seems to be only one source for the audio Amplified New Testament and Psalms and the price of $80.00 is more than I want to pay.

Take care & enjoy,
Florence

The Last Few Days of Spring

The Last Few Days of Spring

Officially summer starts in a couple of days, but the real start of summer in these parts is Memorial Day!  That’s when the first real heat of the summer starts.  Last week the remnants of Alberto came through giving us 4 inches of really needed rain.  The winter was wet but spring has been pretty dry and summers are normally pretty dry.  So the tropical moisture really helps!

A couple of weeks ago I went out to buy a lamp.  This is big deal only because I haven’t bought that many.  Most of our lamps are hand-me-downs.  So when one of those lamps went on the fritz, it was time to get a new one.  After a quick search on the Internet I found one I liked so we headed over to the warehouse building supply store to find it.  I went with a floor lamp with a swing arm and of course one that accepts 3-way bulbs.  There was a small problem during assembly since the harp on the new light wasn’t tall enough to accept the florescent three-way bulb.  But the harp from the old light did and it fit the new lamp.  I like the floor lamp because it shines right on my lap – perfect for reading and stitching!  

Tyger is nearly six months old.  Her puppy coat was silky smooth (like the Shiba Uni) but her adult coat is coming in rougher and longer (like the Cairn terrier).  I first noticed it around her muzzle.  I thought she had something in her mouth but was just long hairs around her lower lip.  It looks funny!  She now has longer hair coming in over her back.  It will be interesting to see how it turns out. <grin>

Tyger enjoys going on walks.  So we head out around sunset and wander around for a bit.  I haven’t found her limit – she is small but she can go as long as I want to.

I haven’t been able to de-fragment my data drive – not enough free space.  So I have been busy moving stuff off first on CDs and after getting Roxio’s Easy DVD Creator on DVDs.  I was finally able to de-fragment my hard drive last night.  It’s amazing how fast a 120 gig hard drive can get filled up!  

I finally found a media center computer that had a hard drive big enough for me to consider give up my 320 gig hard drive on my ReplayTV.  It’s a shuttle computer and isn’t that good looking but a 500 gig hard drive is what I consider a decent size for a system that will be holding hours of video and music!

Enjoy the last few days of spring – summer will soon be upon us!

Take care & enjoy,
Florence