Another hot one here in the midwest....

This is from out at the strip pits...I think it is a type of thistle but not positive. I am not wading out in the weeds to find out for sure. I liked the way the evening sun lit it from behind.

I am not positive, but I don't think we hit the three digit area of the thermometer today....the highest I saw was 99.4º. That was hot enough...it felt as if we were walking out into an oven when we went to the library. And let me tell you, it was a busy place. It is always busy, but I did wonder if people had come in there to keep cool.

When I ran out to the strip pits, it felt at least ten degrees cooler, and the thermometer on the car said 88º. It was nice to be out and hear the birds singing...and I saw several deer. I did not see the owl again....next time I will either go a bit later or else stay just a bit later. I had to turn the lights on as I left the place, but I still think it would have been better to be out there a little later.

Rain.....

Over on Time Stand Still, I posted a picture taken the morning we headed to Shipshewana....here is one taken on the way home. One of these days we want to go back up there...but that is not the point of the post.

The rain just looks so appealing...today the temperature finally went up to over a 104º...I don't remember if it was 104.2 or 104.6º, but people that is hot. I sat out in the swing for about 20 minutes this evening and the swing frame was hot to touch and it is in the shade all day. Needless to say...rain sounds good right now.
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A while back it crossed my mind that in Tennessee we could hear the rain coming....do any of you know what I am talking about. It has something to do with being in the mountains....you could look back towards the mountain and tell it was raining and you could also hear it...even though it was mile or more away. I guess the sound sort of echoed....or else it is sort of how you can cup your hand behind your ear and hear better...the mountains was wrapped around the rain and the sound was amplified.

I do get tired of rain when it rains and rains and rains, but as a general rule, I love rain. I loved it as a kid...if someone was available to play with, we would head to the barn to do something. We could always find something to do there. Whether it was swings, play with a calf, play in the hay if there was any--which we were definitely NOT supposed to do...but we did anyway. And it wasn't that we did these only when it rained...

I can remember my niece and I swinging on swings and trying to kick our flip flops high enough to hit the roof....and I can remember us taking grass string and looping it together to make a long line of it, and running it through a crack in the floor of the loft. We would tie the end up there to something to keep it from falling on through....and then on the end hanging down below, we would tie an empty bleach jug or whatever kind of plastic jug we could find but I do believe it was usually a bleach jug....then we would take a baccerstick tobacco stick and bat it back and forth to each other.

But we would hit it as hard as we could...and sometime strike it more in a downward motion which made it jump all crazy. Laughter rang out with each hit....and now I am not even sure why it was so funny. I just remember laughing till we cried sometimes...

If no one was available, and sometimes even if there was, there was always a book calling my name. Sometimes I sat on the porch and read, and sometimes headed to the barn and read. At one time we had an old mattress up there...where it came from is more than I know. And I don't know what ever happened to it.

But my niece and I had it out across a couple of the tier poles we used to hang tobacco on...we would get out on it and read.

I guess this and some of the other childhood posts explains why I love barns so much.

Another finished and mailed....

This is the last knife Roger made....it has been finished quite a while...I just had not felt like taking pictures of it. It is a nice size...fits my hand well.
It is going to our daughter on the west coast.....
I sent it out today....
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I set and watched the temperatures steadily climb this evening...the last I noticed it was 99º...I went down in the basement after that and played with fabric. I made a few more crumb blocks....that is where you use up little bits of fabric left over from other projects. Some people seem to go a mile a minute while making them but mine are in such shape that it is slow going for me.

I have also been cutting 2 1/2 inch blocks from pieces that are big enough for that....I am getting quite a few of those but it will take a LOT to make anything at all. But it is still doing something creative. I have so many things in mind to do...but some of it requires actual thinking. I have yet to make the backing for Oldest Daughter's quilt top...I almost started it tonight but wanted to wait till I can stick with it long enough to make it. It sounds simple, but I do have to make sure I make it big enough.

It is so hot that Bubbie has been spending his nights inside, as well as most of the day. (His normal thing to do is stay out all night and come in and sleep all day.) He had went out this morn for a bit, and when I opened the door, he ran in and just flopped down on the tile floor in the kitchen and has not been back out till just now. And I bet he does not stay out long.