Independence Day - 2008

I dusted off my camera this morning in anticipation of taking a few pics. The early morning sky displayed some wonderful colors. Diane was sitting on the front porch giving her cat some quality time. At 8:00 AM we went to Benson Mill for the Stake Fourth of July breakfast and flag raising program. When we got there we found out it started at 7:00, but we got served anyway. I snapped some pictures of the flag raising crowd and some of some folks you will recognize. The Old Benson Grist Mill Complex is getting restored nicely and some period buildings are being added. A couple of the pictures are with our backs to the old mill. The other pictures just show the crowd and some of the mill area atmosphere.

We returned home after the flag raising and a patriotic speech by a recently released veteran. Then Diane mowed our lawn, and I started the process of edging my lawn with my heavy duty Weed Eater (electric). It failed mechanically when I was about half done. It has done this yard for over five summers, and that is a lot of edging. I bought the biggest and heaviest they had in anticipation of it taking on an industrial size job. The modest little Weed Eater I had before burned out electrically after I used it on this big job several times, so I bought the large industrial baby. Maybe I fully depreciated it in five years, but it didn't fail electrically this time. The mechanical part that turns the trimmer just broke some where in the shaft. The motor runs as if nothing could stop it. It just isn't hooked to anything. Now I have a management decision to make. I am thinking of not replacing it and controlling unwanted grass and weeds with chemicals. I can always get another Weed Eater if I am not satisfied with the weed and grass killer.

I also ordered a Garmin street locator to use in my car. It arrived two days ago. I am a little slow in turning it on, but Dan had one in Arizona and the woman's voice over gave directions in sweet dulcet tones. We called her "Lady Garmin." I will have more incentive to get it operational when I go someplace needing directions. I also have ordered a new SD card for my camera. So now I can take more than nine pictures without having to down load or erase. The card has "2 gig" capacity, so now hundreds of pictures can be kept in memory without exceeding capacity. The card just hasn't arrived yet. Diane found the instructions for formatting the SD card, so all I have to do now is just follow directions. I have discovered that I am capable of botching that process by trying to apply too much of my own logic.

Hot "dog days" of summer are here. Daylight gets shorter each day. Our guests are away this holiday except for Diane and Evelyn. In another month it will be just Clarine and me once more. gwh.