Somewhat back to normal………………………………………………………

As always, first the chronology:

7/3/22 – Sunday – Up at the usual time.  Out to church with Kathy.  Home and lunch.  Worked on the blogs.  Over to Gary’s for the afternoon get together.  Home and took Kathy to Cattleman’s for dinner.  Finished up the blogs and otherwise the usual evening routine.

7/4/22 – Monday – Up at the usual time.  Helped Kathy prepare for the tribe.  Julie, Mike and the grand kids came over for lunch.  Burgers, dogs, brats and shrimp on the grill.  Had corn on the cob, pickled beets and eggs and numerous desserts.  The tribe departed around 3PM.  Helped Kathy clean up and played radio awhile.  Otherwise usual evening routine.

7/5/22 – Tuesday – Up at the usual time.  Out to spray bugs in the lawn behind the Morton building.  Used 15 gallon of spray.  Rinsed out the sprayer and mixed some anti-foliant and sprayed the weeds along the drainage ditch.  Then around the house.  Again, another 15 gallons of material.  Helped Kathy with the garden.  Moved some of the straw bails from the archery backstop to the garden.  I suppose the rest will be used in the compost pile.  In and a light lunch.  Cooled down and got cleaned up.  Played radio.  Then a nap.  Up and chores then dinner.  Usual evening routine with the exception of a trip to the gas station to fuel up the truck and to Country Mart for a fresh half gallon of milk.

7/6/22 – Wednesday – Up a little early today.  Packed the truck and up to pick up the grand children then down to Bernheim park.  Got there around 10:30 and had a quick bite to eat.  Then walked.  Walked a lot.  Finished up around 1:30PM.  Came home through Taylorsville and stopped at Dairy Queen for a late lunch.  Then home to our house.  Mike came and picked them up.  Light snack for dinner and usual evening routine.

7/7/22 – Thursday – Up at the usual time.  Kathy was out to watch the grand kids.  Got cleaned up and over to the Fix-it-shop to pick up my chain saw.  The guy does amazing work.  Then over to Gary’s.  I think he needed some company.  Stayed till lunch time.  Then home, put the chain saw away.  In and had lunch.  Down to the shack and played radio awhile.  Got tired so upstairs for a short nap.  Back downstairs and started the paperwork for the 13 colonies event I participated in.  Kathy came home and we had dinner.  Continued with paperwork as well as usual evening routine.

7/8/22 – Friday – Up at the usual time.  Out to fix the area around the septic tank riser.  Then finished putting the lights around the pool deck.  Inside for lunch.  Cleaned up and short nap.  Downstairs to upload all my logs for the 13 colonies exercise.  Dinner and usual evening routine.

7/9/22- Saturday – Up at the usual time.  Cleaned up and out to help Julie with some things.  Finished up around 11AM and headed for Taylorsville.  Stopped at the Mexican restaurant for lunch then to Country Mart for some shopping.  Home and didn’t do much for the afternoon.  Spent some time napping.  Had dinner and usual evening routine.

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Now the specifics:

Sunday was a busy day getting all three blogs written. Actually I had forgotten about the week before. I remembered it half way through the week and decided to break things down. Hope that was easier on people.

Monday was the 4th celebration. We had invited Mike, Julie and the grand kids. Our mutual friend Dee and her brother Charles who made my vest for the renaissance fair. Also invited Christine, a friend of Julies. Well, Charles declined the invitation. Not sure what the story was with Christine. Dee called at the last minute and said she wasn’t feeling well. So, it ended up with just us and the Rice family. Was a good meal. Had burgers, dogs, brats, shrimp and vegetables on the grill. Did some corn on the cob. Had all the fixing including pickled beets and eggs. And a lot of desserts. Chocolate brownies, lemon cake, ice cream and probably several other things I can’t think of. It was a great meal and I stuffed myself. They all departed around 3PM and then the clean up started.

Tuesday was a day for outside work. I sprayed the area behind the Morton building for bugs. Then loaded the bulk sprayer with weed killer and sprayed along the drainage ditch. It was starting to get over grown and was looking bad. Kathy did some work in her garden. I hauled three bails of straw over from my archery back stop for her.

Kathy kept the grand kids Wednesday and Thursday this week. Since the kids didn’t have anything going on Wednesday we took them to Bernheim Forest. It’s a nature preserve that themed toward the kids. There are several very large statues that are made out of wood and are very impressive. Anyway, as soon as we got there Shelby was hungry. Because of the medication she takes she isn’t hungry often. So, we stopped and had some early lunch at a little place called Isaac’s Cafe. Then we started walking. Of course I made the mistake of leaving people that couldn’t read the map lead us. We ended back where we started and still had only seen one of the three statues. So, talked to one of the folks associated with the place and he suggested we drive around. So we did that. Chloe and I stayed in the truck while Kathy, Carter and Shelby went to see the last two statues. We departed the park around 1:30. Headed for Taylorsville and made a stop at Dairy Queen for more food. Then home. Mike came over and picked up the kids. Not a bad day.

Got my chain saw back from the fix it shop on Thursday. Went over to see Gary. He must be very frustrated. His eyes are getting worse and now his hands are very unsteady so he can hardly handle the mouse on the computer. He is getting new hearing aids this week so that should be a little bit of an improvement. His orthopedic appointment isn’t till later this month so he is still stuck in the wheel chair.

Friday was more outside work. When they came to fix the septic system several months ago they put a riser in so you could access the input to the septic tank easier without doing a lot of digging. I never got around to smoothing it off around the riser so I did that this week and seeded the area. It should look better as soon as the grass starts growing there. I also finished putting the lights around the pool deck.

Saturday I went over and helped Julie with some things. Fixed a bicycle for her. Opened a drain for her to unclog. Put fixtures in the wall to hang a cork board in Shelby’s room. Changed some lights for her.

Otherwise, we had the 13 Colonies special event this week. It ran from the 1st to the 7th of July. Each of the original 13 colonies had a call sign unique to it (K2A, K2B, K2C, Etc.). The objective was to contact each of the 13 stations in the 13 original states. There was also three bonus stations. TM13COL was in France, GB13COL was in England and WM3PEN was at the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia. I was able to get all of the 13 Colonies plus WM3PEN and TM13COL. GB13COL was very weak and hard to hear so I gave up on that one. So I sent off the paperwork to get a certificate for getting all 13 stations plus two of the bonus stations as well as cards from each of the 13 Colony stations. It will be interesting to see what I get.

Well that’s it for this week. As always, hope this finds everyone safe and healthy. Blog at you again next week.