Weekly Review July 15 '22

 I'm happy to report that both Frank and I have stayed well and we are past 10 days since Seth tested positive for Covid-19, so it looks like he and I will steer clear of it this time. Seth is feeling better now too. He's mostly back to normal although I'd say his energy level is a little lower than usual. He has taken a few naps this week, which he normally doesn't do. 

He decided he didn't want to go to YM's camp, which I was disappointed about, but overall it's probably for the best. This week was a lot calmer than it would have been but it's been good to have some time to think about our upcoming Utah trip and do some planning for that. 

Last Friday I had a YW presidency meeting (via Zoom) so that took a lot of the afternoon. Along with my usual Friday chores, that took up most of the day.

On Saturday Frank and I helped clean the church. We wore masks and we left Seth at home, sleeping. Afterwards, Frank had work to do for clients and I kept busy with YW stuff and other chores. Late that night, I found out that the YW who was supposed to teach our class the next day was not going to be able to do it, so I stayed up late preparing the lesson. 

On Sunday we all went to church, but we wore masks and Seth did not help with the sacrament. The lesson with my class went better than I expected...the new advisor for my class chipped in a lot which helped a lot. I had a class presidency meeting that afternoon via Zoom...we planned a combined YW activity that we are in charge of at the beginning of August. Frank had Ward Council, also via Zoom, at the same time that I had my class presidency meeting. He also had bishopric meeting before church via Zoom because our bishop was having kidney stone trouble and wasn't feeling well. (He didn't go to church either.) He was supposed to be going to YM camp all week, so he was anxious about that. However, even though the kidney stone hasn't passed yet, he started feeling a lot better Sunday evening so he went to camp (very brave, I think!) and apparently he has been okay all week. I had choir practice before church on Sunday as well so it was a pretty busy day.

I realized on Saturday that since I wasn't going to Girls Camp, I would be able to go to Book Chat, which was scheduled for Tuesday. I was happy that I didn't miss it after all. Because it's summer, we met at lunch time instead of in the evening, and we had a yummy potluck lunch. Three of us brought salads and two people brought scones! I wore a mask, except for when I was eating. It was really fun as usual and we had a good discussion (not all of it about the book!). We discussed A Gentleman In Moscow and now we are going to read a book called Patriots by A.J. Langguth. (Nonfiction) I was able to pick it up from the library yesterday and I've read a few paragraphs but I have a long way to go because it's a long book. 

Frank got an unexpected day off on Wednesday. A big thunder / wind storm came through Tuesday evening which almost completely missed Frederick but College Park got hit head on and there was a lot of damage on the University of Maryland campus and the power was knocked out. He knew Tuesday night that there was damage and the power was out, but since he is an essential employee who is supposed to report to work even when there are weather issues, he got up early and went to work as usual. Right when he arrived at his office, he got an email from his boss letting him know that he didn't have to work. Too bad he didn't know that sooner! The power was actually on in the building he works in, so he took care of a couple of small things and then came home. We took advantage of Frank being home unexpectedly by going to see a movie Wednesday afternoon...the new Thor movie (Thor Love and War). As I've said before, I'm not a big fan of going to see movies at the theater but Frank really wanted to go so I went along and it was actually pretty good. 

Yesterday evening I went up to Girls Camp. All the YW presidencies and bishops were invited to come up for dinner and for some games and then to join our wards for their testimony meetings. Since Wednesday was our 10th day since Seth tested positive for Covid-19, it was safe for me to go up on Thursday. I went with the YW president and the 1st Conselor in the Bishopric from our ward (remember our bishop was at YM camp), plus the YW president's daughter (she just graduated from high school so didn't go to camp but wanted to see the girls in her class). I enjoyed visiting with all of them on the trip up to camp and back (about an hour drive, one way). We had six girls from our ward attend camp and it was nice to see all of them. We had dinner and then there was a fun "battle of the bishops" competition after that. Then we divided up into our wards for testimony meetings. We each had our own campfire although we really didn't need a fire at all. It was in the 80s so we all got pretty hot sitting around the fire!! The bishopric counselor brought Crumbl cookies for the girls and the camp also provided s'mores ingredients for each ward. We had a nice time together. That was my first time trying Crumbl cookies...I had a quarter of two different kinds and they were both really good. It was good to hear about the experiences the girls had that week. They were all very positive about camp and even though some of them had some tough times, they all talked about how glad they were that they had come to camp and that it felt good to know that they had been able to push through some tough challenges. All of them talked about the love and unity they felt for each other and they all mentioned the beauty of nature too, and how it helped them feel closer to Heavenly Father. 

I'm glad I got to go up, even though it was only for an evening. It's really pretty up there! We didn't leave camp to head home until after 10:00 so we didn't get back to the YW president's house until 11:15 and by the time I drove home from there and got ready for bed, it was midnight. 

Because I was up so late last night, I didn't wake up until nearly 8:00 this morning. I woke up very briefly when Frank was leavning for work. I continued to sleep well this week and slept solid almost every night. When I wake up every morning, I remember dreaming all kinds of different dreams! It is nice to be sleeping well though. 

One other interesting thing that happened last night at Girls Camp: I had a short conversation with a girl from another ward who is a twin. Actually, she is probably distantly related to me because her mom is from northeastern Arizona and her mom's maiden name is Webb. Anyway, I told her I have a twin sister and she asked if we are identical or fraternal. I told her identical and then said "you and your sister are fraternal, aren't you?" Her family was in our ward when they were babies and I remember her mom telling me they were fraternal. She said "Actually, we thought we were fraternal twins but we had genetic testing done recently and we found out that we are identical." She went on to explain how strange that was for her and her sister, that she was still trying to wrap her mind around it and that she felt like she was having a little bit of an identity crisis. She was amazed when I told her that my sister and I had the same experience! (I remember having those same kinds of feelings that she was trying to describe when Amy and I found out that we are identical, not fraternal, twins.)  I reassured her that after she had time to process the change, she would adjust to the idea and embrace her identity as an indentical (instead of fraternal) twin. She seemed to appreciate that. 

In my free time this week I read this year's Newbery winner book, The Last Cuentista. It was pretty engaging and I mostly liked it. I started reading the first book in The Dark Is Rising series (Over Sea, Under Stone) but I will have to put that book aside for now while I read the book for book chat. I also finished another color by number:

I have a good friend coming to visit tomorrow so this weekend will be busy. We are looking forward to seeing many of you soon! I'll finish up with a few more photos of one of our deer "friends":

Weekly Review July 8 '22

This week did not go the way we'd planned. I'll get to that in a little bit!

First I'll go back to last Friday. Frank has been wanting to go see Top Gun but I don't have a strong desire to see it (I'm not big on going to see movies, in general) so Frank went to see Top Gun on Friday night and I stayed home and talked to Amy on the phone. We hadn't had a chance to talk in months, so I enjoyed that a lot.

On Saturday morning Frank and I cleaned out the closet underneath the stairs in our basement. I've been wanting to do that for a long time but it finally got done because we have all the camping equipment under the stairs and Seth had YM camp coming up and I had Girls Camp coming up. When we were finished, we had a big pile of things to throw away and another big pile of things to give away. Now it will be much easier to find what I'm looking for in the closet, too. We are actually planning to get some shelves to go in there because right now all the camping equipment is in a big box. That means if we need a particular piece of camping equipment, we have to pull a bunch of stuff out of the box to find it. We think having shelves will make that easier. We didn't have time to buy shelves on Saturday, though, and we haven't had a chance to do it since then. Anyway, the closet looks much better. I was hoping that Frank would also have time on Saturday to go through a bunch of computer equipment that is cluttering up the downstairs hallway, but after all the work in the closet his back was hurting a lot so I decided that was going to have to wait for another day. 

Before we finished the closet project, Seth arrived home from FSY. He said he had a great time and that he made a lot of friends, but we still haven't heard many details. We sent Seth upstairs to shower and unpack. By the time he got out of the shower, Jared had also arrived to visit with us for a few hours (Jessie was doing stuff with her family). Jared helped us with the closet stuff too...it was nice to have his help. When we were done, we had lunch and then Frank and I took the large pile of donations to Goodwill. Jared stayed behind to continue playing games with Seth for a while but he had to leave before we got home. Shortly after we got back from Goodwill, I got a text message from the mom of one of the two girls who had gone to FSY with Seth. Her daughter had just tested positive for Covid-19! She started to feel unwell shortly after she got home. Since Seth had just spent 3 hours in a car with her, that meant he had been exposed. We decided to test Seth, but he was negative. We had planned to have dinner that evening with Jessie's family...they had invited us for dinner and swimming and fireworks. When I contacted them to let them know that Seth had been exposed, they were still willing to have us over if we stayed outdoors...they were mostly worried about exposing Jessie's grandma, which is totally understandable. The problem was, there were thunderstorms predicted for the evening. After looking at the weather forecast and the radar, we decided not to go because it looked like it was going to rain for most of the evening. (And it did.) This meant we didn't have anything for dinner except for cake, because we were supposed to take dessert to share with the Hatches. Frank and Seth went out and picked up some hamburgers and fries for us...and got really wet because it was pouring rain before they got home. So that's what we had for dinner, along with cake. We had made a flag cake, in honor of the 4th of July:

Frank decided that since we had the option of watching sacrament meeting from home that we should stay home from church the next day. Over cautious, maybe, but that turned out to be a good thing. Unfortunately the sound for the meeting was not great so it was really hard to hear what a lot of people said (it was testimony meeting so a lot of different people spoke). Originally, Jared and Jessie were going to come over for dinner on Sunday and we had invited the Elders serving in our ward to come for dinner too. Ultimately, Jared & Jessie decided they'd better not come. Not only were they worried about possibly exposing her grandma to Covid-19, but Jessie also works with a lot of elderly people so they were concerned about that too. I contacted the Elders to let them know Seth had been exposed to Covid and gave them the option of dropping food off to them, but they said they would prefer to come to our house to eat with us in spite of the risk. We did enjoy having them over and they helped us eat some of the flag cake too.

Meanwhile, we were starting to suspect that Seth wasn't well because he took a three hour nap on Sunday afternoon. He said he felt okay, but we wondered. At dinner he ate fairly quickly and then announced that he had a headache and went into the living room and laid down on the couch. He also said he felt nauseated. Since he sometimes gets bad headaches and vomits, we still weren't sure if he was just having one of those episodes or if he was sick with something else. I decided if he didn't feel better on Monday morning that we would test him for Covid again. 

When Seth got up on Monday, he said his throat and head hurt and that he hurt all over. I took his temperature and no wonder...it was 103.1 degrees. We tested him for Covid and this time he was positive. 

We weren't all that surprised, but we'd been hoping he'd avoid it. 

Jared and Jessie were heading back home Monday and if Seth had tested negative again they may have stopped by for a few hours to visit but since he tested positive they decided that they'd better not come spend a lot of time at our house. They did come by on their way out of town and stood in our yard and we sat on our front steps and we talked for about 15 minutes. And I took this picture of them to prove they were here even though we barely saw them:

It was just a real bummer that the timing of their visit and Seth getting Covid messed up all our plans to spend time with them. We were sad about that.

The other girl who went to FSY with them also tested positive for Covid on Monday. I actually don't think she and Seth caught it from the other girl in our ward...I think all three of them caught it from someone else at FSY, but I guess we'll never know.

Seth was pretty sick on Monday but thankfully his case of Covid hasn't been too bad. By Tuesday his fever had dropped a lot and by the next day the fever was gone. He has improved each day and today his symptoms are mostly gone except that he's really congested and he has a slight cough. He seems to be getting his energy back too. Today is his last day of "isolation" but he still needs to wear a mask around other people and not travel until day 10 which is Wednesday of next week. Frank and I have stayed well and I tested myself this morning since we're supposed to do that 5 days after exposure and I tested negative. Frank and I thought we were up to date on our vaccines and didn't need to quarantine, but when I checked the CDC guidelines I found out that technically we both should have had a 2nd booster by now since we're both over 50. But we are still considered "fully vaccinated" just not up to date. Frank was able to go to work, though...they just wanted him to wear a mask, which he did. I basically quarantined anyway...the only place I went was to the store for groceries on Monday morning (that was before I realized I wasn't considered up to date on my vaccines) and I wore a mask. I usually go to the store on Thursdays too so I used the online order and pickup service for that so that I didn't have contact with anyone. 

All the other things I needed to do this week either got cancelled or I was able to do them remotely. We were supposed to have a combined YM/YW activity on Wednesday evening but with 3 youth sick and 3 leaders exposed (besides Frank and I, the YW president was exposed because she is the one who picked the kids up from FSY on Saturday morning), we decided to cancel the activity. (There's really not that many youth in our ward, especially now with summer vacations happening.) I was supposed to meet with the sister in our ward about her finances last night but I had to postpone that. I did end up meeting via a phone call with another sister who also needs budgeting help. Today I had a YW presidency meeting, but we always do those via Zoom so that wasn't a problem. 

The other complication to Seth having Covid is our plans for next week. Both he and I were supposed to be going to camps--he to stake YM camp and me to Girls' Camp. After reading the CDC guidelines several times trying to make sure I was interpreting them correctly, I finally determined that Seth shouldn't go to YM camp until Thursday (if at all) and that I could go to Girls' Camp, but I would have to wear a mask until Thursday (including nights, because I would be in a cabin with several girls) and if I started having any symptoms while I was there I would have to come home and get tested. I was also worried about Frank or I getting sick between now and then...if Frank got sick, I would need to stay home and take care of him...and since Seth couldn't go to YM camp until later in the week, I didn't like the idea of him being home alone all day long (since Frank has to work). I finally decided on Wednesday to email the stake camp director and stake YW president to get their feedback. I told them I really wanted to go to Girls' Camp and I really wanted to make it work, but I described all the possible complications and asked how they felt about me being at camp. The stake camp director answered me fairly quickly and said that they thought it would be better if I didn't come. She was super nice about it...her actual words were "we want to acknowledge your love and willingness to serve the daughters of God in our Stake, but we feel that it's best to be safe and will find another sister to be a Cabin Mom." Part of me is really relieved not to be going but I'm also really sad to miss it. Other than the fact that I don't sleep when I'm camping, I was really looking forward to it!! Overall, I think it's good that I'm not going. I didn't really think about it until Seth got Covid from FSY, but there's a chance I could pick up Covid while at Girls Camp, which would mess up our plans for our trip to Utah. So I think it really is for the best, even though I'm kind of sad about it. 

As far as Seth is concerned, we decided that even if he wasn't supposed to wear a mask and avoid travel for 10 days, it would probably be best for him to stay home since YM camp sounds fairly strenuous (9+ mile hike, fixing roofs in the hot sun...) and many people who have Covid feel exhausted for weeks afterwards. After I found out that I wouldn't be going to Girls' Camp, I realized that meant I would be free to drive him out to YM camp later in the week if he wanted to go and was feeling up to it. If we do that, I would take him up on Thursday evening and he would stay until everyone comes home on Saturday morning. On Friday they are going to do some river snorkeling and caving, which doesn't sound as strenuous as the other things they'll be doing earlier in the week. I talked to our bishop about it and he said that they would be happy to have Seth join them for the end of camp but when I talked to Seth today he said if he was only going to be there for a few days he didn't think it was worth it. Maybe he will change his mind, but for now it looks like he won't be going at all. I feel sad about that too...I think it would be a lot of fun and spiritually uplifting too and I hate for him to miss out on that. But it is a really long drive to get there (3 hours one way) so I'm not going to push it if he really doesn't want to go.

Well! That's why our week didn't go as we planned. I have also been wrestling with our flex card / insurance to try to get that situation resolved and I was finally able to talk to someone who is helping me so hopefully that will be resolved soon. 

It wasn't all taking care of a sick child and wrestling with problems and decisions and uncertainty this week. We couldn't do much for Independence Day with Seth sick, but I did watch the Washington DC fireworks show on televison that night. It was actually pretty impressive, even though I wasn't watching it in real life, so I'm glad I did that. 

And I did have a birthday this week too! I received a lot of cards and a couple of friends brought me little gifts, which I thought was really sweet. In the evening I opened presents...Frank wasn't able to wrap them in pretty paper this year because he couldn't find them! He ordered things from Amazon for me and when they arrived I put them in a stack for him but they ended up on the kitchen table and were getting in my way so I moved all of them to the guest bedroom. I took a short nap on Monday afternoon and Frank thought that would be a great time to wrap my presents, but he didn't know where I had put them. So no wrapping paper this year, but that's okay. 

I guess I mostly got books, but that's mostly what I want! Plus those fun Maryland flag socks. (They are super comfortable and warm too. I wear socks in the summer as well as the winter because my feet and air conditioning don't get along!) Mom sent me a gift card which I used to get...more books! Plus a shirt. I now own all of the Newbery Medal winner books (until they pick a new one next year, of course) and I have read all but two of them. 

On Wednesday Frank made me a cake. I actually decided to be different this year and I didn't ask for a cheesecake. I love cheesecake, but I also really like other kinds of cake and I have been thinking lately how much I like lemon cake and how long it's been since I've had one so I asked for a lemon cake instead. 

It's really good! All in all, it was a nice birthday in spite of Covid-19 complications. 

I continued to sleep well this week, which is a blessing I never take for granted! I was going through a really bad spell for a while so I'm grateful that the last couple of weeks have been so much better. 

Frank is starting to have more to do at work and he likes that. They just hired an intern who will be working under him. The intern starts on Monday so I'm sure that will help keep him busy. It is really great that when he gets home, he is home...no phone calls or emails with more problems for him to solve! We are really grateful he has this new job.

That's all the news from around here so I will sign off until next week.

Weekly Review July 1 '22

 I'm sitting in my house listening to thunder rumble. We've got a bit of a thunderstorm going through right now. I am also cold...not because it's cold outside (it's actually pretty hot) but because our air conditioner works so efficiently. I am grateful to have air conditioning, but it's just too much for me sometimes. Frank gets hot a lot easier than I do though so instead of turning the A/C off, I put on some socks and a sweatshirt.

This has been another busy week and I'm sure I've forgotten half of it. Last Friday evening we took Seth to eat at CiCi's Pizza to celebrate that he had learned to ride a bike. I mean, he still needs practice but he can balance and pedal several feet at least. After we got home, I took him out to ride the bike again for a bit but this time he got going faster than he intended. He panicked and tried to slow down using his feet while I called to him "Brake! Brake!" He sort of crashed into the grass with the bike on top of him and hurt his knee slightly. He wanted to go in after that but fortunately he wasn't saying he'd never get on a bike again. He just wanted to rest his knee. Since his knee still hurt on Saturday he didn't ride the bike and he's been gone all this week so he hasn't tried again but we'll work on it some more next week.

On Saturday I took Seth to the store to get some shorts and other things he needed before heading to FSY this week. (FSY stands for "For the Strength of Youth". It's similar to youth conference except it's run by the Church instead of by our stake and it's attended by youth from several stakes in the area.) We got him some shorts and some snacks. We also got some hiking boots which aren't for FSY...they are for stake YM camp which starts in 10 days. We finally got registration information for that this past week and one of the instructions said they'd be hiking so they should have good hiking shoes and they should be broken in before getting to camp. Well, it would have been nice to know that a little sooner!! Two weeks isn't a long time to break in a new pair of hiking boots and since Seth has been gone this entire week, we have even less time. Our plan is to go on a walk every day next week.

Anyway, Frank was busy doing work for clients that day and I was busy with a lot of YW stuff, plus the shopping I already mentioned. In the evening we went to Rita's to get a treat. This was kind of an early FHE treat because it was Seth's turn to choose the treat this Monday but we knew he would be gone to FSY. 

On Sunday Frank and I team taught a lesson to all the YW. The YW president and her husband taught all the YM. The topic was "Why Is Chastity Important in God's Plan?" It's kind of a long story how Frank and I ended up teaching this lesson to all the YW so I won't go into that but I think the lesson went really well. One of the advisors told us afterwards "That was the least awkward lesson on the topic of chastity that I've ever been to." We focused on how this commandment is part of the plan of salvation and on the blessings we get from obeying this law, so really...it wasn't too awkward. On Sunday evening, I helped Seth pack for FSY because he was leaving fairly early Monday morning. 

Seth went to FSY at Frostburg State University which is about 1 1/2 hours west of Frederick. Two girls in our ward were attending this session as well as Seth (there were 3 sessions available for youth in our area...you sign up for the one that's most convenient for you). The mom of one of the girls offered to drive them all there and the mom of the other one offered to pick them all up so I didn't have to drive, but the mom dropping off invited me to come along and I decided to do that. It's a good thing I did because when we got to Seth's room we discovered that his sheets didn't fit the bed and that his room was stifling hot and I couldn't figure out how to open the windows. So we ended up going to a Walmart nearby to get him a fan and some sheets that fit the bed, as well as a pillow for one of the girls because she forgot to bring one. Getting them checked in took longer than we thought as well so even though we got there around 11:00, we didn't leave for home until around 2:00 and I didn't get home until nearly 4:00. So it turned out to be a long day, but as I said...I'm glad I went. I enjoyed visiting with the other mom on the way there and back...we haven't had the chance to get to know each other very well. It was also good to see where Seth was going to be staying all week. He did not choose a roommate because none of the boys in our ward are there this week, but I assumed he would be assigned a roommate. So I was surprised when we got to his room and discovered that there was only one bed and he would have the room to himself. I really wondered if he would be okay but apparently he is having a good time because we have barely heard from him. He did text me shortly after I got home on Monday asking if he could come home because it was "so cringy", whatever that means! But after that I didn't hear anything else negative and on Wednesday evening when I texted him to say good night, I also said "I hope you had a good day" and he replied "I did", so that was good to hear. I guess we will hear more about his week when he gets home tomorrow. Well, maybe...it's always hard to get boys to talk about anything!!

On Monday evening Frank and I went out to get some ice cream. We had "wooden nickels" from Roy Rogers which are good for free scoops of ice cream and Seth doesn't like the ice cream at Roy Rogers (no idea why...it tastes the same as ice cream everywhere else) so we decided to take advantage of his absence. It's been nice to have quiet evenings together all week, but we do miss Seth. It's strange to think that in a few more years we will be "empty nesters"! We miss our kids, but it will be nice in some ways.

On Tuesday my friend Sherrie and I (she's the other YW counselor who just got released) took our friend Wanda out. Wanda is my friend who lives in a nursing home because she is wheelchair bound. We took her shopping at Walmart and then went to get some lunch. It's been a while since we've been able to see her so we enjoyed seeing her again and she really enjoyed getting out of the nursing home for a while. 

I had lunch with my friend Rebekah on Wednesday. We went to another restaurant in downtown Frederick but I didn't trip over the sidewalk and fall down this time! (Btw, there is still a sore spot on my knee from that fall, although it's mostly better.) That evening I met with the RS and EQ presidents to talk a bit about the financial situation of the sister that I've been meeting with to help with budgeting. Then I went right from that meeting to the YW activity. My class and the younger class combined for our activity because the two girls that went to FSY this week are in my class. (And actually, the other two girls in my class didn't come either so it was just 3 girls in the younger class.) Although Sherrie just got released, she came to help with this activity because she helped plan it and we were doing a sewing project so the more helpers, the better. The new secretary also came to help so we had 3 adults and 3 girls which worked out great because they each got some one on one help. They made pillowcases and they turned out so cute!

They each decided to use a different fabric for each side of their pillowcase, which wasn't part of the original plan, but it worked and as I said...they turned out really cute.

Yesterday Frank and I went out to dinner together...again, taking advantage of Seth being gone! We went to a Mexican place because we love it but Seth doesn't like Mexican food. (I know! What is wrong with him???) We also looked over some information about insurance plans because we need to choose our new health insurance plan soon. We're still trying to figure out which one is going to be best for us.

In the meantime, we're having issues with our HRA account at Frank's former job which is preventing us from submitting a bunch of claims for reimbursement. I've been trying to get in touch with the benefit person at his former employer's office but she hasn't responded to my emails. That's got us both kind of stressed out because we only have 30 days to submit claims and there are a whole bunch of them for Jared's surgery. (I was up really late Sunday night talking with him on the phone to make sure we know about all the bills that still need to be paid so we can get them paid before time runs out.) Hopefully we will get in touch with her soon and get things straightened out. 

I got to talk to all three of the older boys this week and Jared and Jessie are on their way to Maryland for the weekend so we will get to see both of them soon. Tanner and Darlee just left on a cruise yesterday (they are going with Darlee's mom and step dad). Scott is hanging in there...he has a complicated relationship with a girl going on right now. They spend a ton of time together but she keeps saying they are just friends. But then she acts like she really likes him!! It's kind of driving him crazy, but I think he is handling the whole situation really well. We've had some long talks about it and his heart and head are in the right place. I'm proud of him for being so patient with her. We'll see what happens....

Frank has been fairly busy with work for clients again this week, although it hasn't been too bad. He is enjoying his new job but he doesn't have a lot to do yet so he sometimes gets bored. This is kind of a slow time of year for them...in August the couple of weeks before school starts he will probably be really busy! He got his first paycheck last week and then he found out starting today (July 1st) he gets a cost of living increase. I guess they usually get one of those at the beginning of July every year, but the timing for us is kind of funny. 😅

I am happy to report that I slept a lot better this week than I did last week. I have no idea why, but I'm grateful. 

I'll finish up this week's post with a few wildlife and nature photos. We are still seeing deer (and fireflies!) nearly every evening and I keep seeing rabbits also. And squirrels...althugh we see those all the time; there is a very healthy population of squirrels living in our neighborhood. Rabbits are not uncommon here either but I've been seeing them more frequently than normal. I figured out, though, that it's probably because our next door neighbor put up a bird feeder recently. I think the rabbits are coming to their yard to eat the birdseed that ends up on the ground underneath the feeder. At any rate, I see a rabbit or two nearly every morning in their front yard. Anyway, enjoy the photos and have a great 4th of July weekend!

Two of the deer on Sunday evening...a young male and a female

Rabbit on Tuesday morning

Sunset on Tuesday

Cool clouds I saw on my way home from the church on Wednesday evening

Sunrise and a squirrel on my neighbor's deck this morning

And finally, another rabbit shot...this one taken this morning.