Ok, it’s 4;15am and nice enough outside to have the windows open for a bit. The forecast says it’ll be 96 degrees or above for at least the rest of the week. I guess we shouldn’t really be complaining as the temperatures are higher as you go east. You see the entire mid section of the country has been under a sweltering heat wave with no end in sight. Anyone notice how the summers have been hotter and the winters colder in the past few years????? Once again this is something that happens slowly or gradually so no one really takes notice or thinks about it but our weather patterns have been changing, and not for the better! I was watching the news and of all places, Wisconsin had extreme heat warnings and you were told to stay inside, imagine if you live a bit further south like in Missouri, Oklahoma or Arkansas. Thankfully I listened to the misses 3 or 4 years ago and finally put in air conditioning. Our power bill did shoot up about $100 last month but it’s well worth it. I need to ask my Mom if they were ever told to stay inside in Wisconsin when she was a kid.
The oldest and I went to our Hunter Safety course yesterday afternoon. It’s really for him but with me taking this over 40 years ago, I actually got a lot out of it. It’s a lot of work and unlike when I was a kid, you really have to put in the hours and study hard and we’re going to give it our best shot. We do need to study at least a good hour each day between now and the 27th when he takes the written and live fire tests. Our instructor is a 65 year old plus cowboy who’s an ex law enforcement guy (retired last Monday) that tells it like it is. At one moment when talking about the consequences of breaking game laws, he went into his views as a law enforcement officer, on our legal system. He began by telling all of us that you’re supposed to be innocent until proven guilty, right, but then said, and I quote, “I’m sorry folks but I’m going to tell you the way it really is, you see you’re really guilty in the eyes of the court, once you’ve been charged, until you can prove your innocence”. If you think about it, this is pretty accurate. Let’s say you get a traffic ticket, you’re presumed guilty until you go to court and can prove you didn’t do whatever the ticket says you did, right? Think about it. My motto is, stay away from trouble in the first place and don’t put yourself in a situation where you can ever get charged with whatever in the first place. So beware the system or as I say, stay off the grid. It amazes me that everyone is joining all these web sites like Facebook and things where everyone shares all their personal information and is connected. Personally I’m trying to “get off the grid”. I now turn my cell phone off at night and on the weekends and I’m opting out of web sites that have my info and others that connect everyone. It still bothers me that even though we have an unlisted phone number, anyone can just Google my name and find out where I live, as well as my wife and children’s names and even their ages! To me this is really scary and nobody’s business. I’d better stop now or I’ll get into how web sites and the government tracks what you spend on credit cards, listens in on your phone calls for key words, and basically profiles you, etc. I guess it’s the price we pay for all our advancements in technology. You know me, sometimes I think we were better off 50 or 100 years ago without so many advancements. We’ve come so far so fast technologically, that we haven’t figured out how to handle all the responsibilities that come with it as people. Oh well, to each his own.
The misses works this morning at 7:15am and I have about 20 more boxes of wine to pack and ship. I think we’re going to California around the end of the month to see Grandpa Bob. The misses feels much better about everything after talking to him again yesterday as I guess there was some misunderstanding on his condition on earlier calls, plus she said he sounded 100 times better. This is good news for him and her as I know how much this is bothering her.
Hard to believe it’s July 18th. In 90 days we’ll be rushing around as well be late getting our Halloween costumes ready, maybe we should start now.
We did manage to get the house scrubbed clean yesterday. The misses and I powered out and cleaned from top to bottom including washing the floors. You wouldn’t believe the dog hair we accumulate around here, you could knit a sweater daily with all the hair on the floor. No rain yesterday for the first time I can remember in weeks. I’m actually running the sprinklers right now as one day of 95 degree plus heat and you need to water everything, feast or famine around here, take your pick. I also need to call Uncle T as I have a side of beef lined up for $2.75 a pound from a ranch in the mountains where the cows are “happy”(as they say at Mom’s work) meaning they roam free, are not stressed, and most importantly grass fed and raised without antibiotics. It tastes (grass fed beef) much better if you’ve never had real beef like this. If he doesn’t want in we’ll just get it all. My main concern is I don’t know if I have the freezer space as we’re pretty flush with venison, elk and pheasants right now. If I have to I’ll go to Home Depot and pick up a $150 chest freezer. I’ll still be better off than buying beef at the store, even with the misses discount card. You can never have too much beef!
Time to start packing wine, the boys are still asleep and the misses is in the shower. I have the attic fan on to cool down the house but it’s starting to warm up so I think I’ll turn it off now. We hope everyone is well, stay cool in this heat (Mom, you can come over anytime) and enjoy your week.
God Bless,