Monday Misc for July 20, 2015

Another day, another thunderstorm!  The storm woke me up at 4:30 a.m. this morning with lightening, thunder, high wind and a downpour of rain. It looked like a hurricane outside! The storm went on for about 30 minutes and then started letting up. The ground is beyond soggy.... We got a rain yesterday morning but that was just a light, steady rain for awhile. And....the weather man says we are in for another storm later today but a very small chance of severe weather.

Birds and squirrels: I quit feeding them on the patio since the birds found the feeder and there were too many of them.  So, I just put the feed on the ground under a tree outside the office window where I can watch them. They are soooooo entertaining! However, that entertainment can get expensive.... I looked out yesterday and counted 23 birds plus many, many more I couldn't count due to them moving around.  There was big black birds (cackles), little brown birds that I don't know what they were, 2 cardinals and 1 blue jay plus a couple of squirrels. Quite an assortment! They will hear a noise and all scatter.  The guy at the bird store tells me that the black birds go south in the winter so that will help.  In the winter, I will probably go back to feeding the squirrels on the patio because of the snow, etc.

FitBit: Still walking..... 8-) I got an alert on my phone yesterday afternoon that I needed 6 more steps to reach my goal so that one was easy - back and forth to the kitchen did it... When I reach my daily goal of 5,000 steps, the FitBit on my wrist vibrates and I get an alert on my phone.  The vibration always scares me.... I have seen NOOOOO difference in weight loss but my knees definitely are better plus I have more energy overall. I feel pretty silly when I get up at 6:30 a.m. to walk before it gets too hot but that is the way it is during the hot days when it is still too hot to walk in the evening.  This morning I was on the trail, came around a corner and the trail was covered with about 6" of water so had to backtrack and take another route.

Trips: I'm finally getting around to editing the pictures from the June St Louis trip and then doing the book for that trip.  I still have to mark the maps and print out addresses for the Sept trip to plug into the GPS gadget.  Plus...I have started working on the "Snowbird" trip to the southwest in December.  Fun times.....