Nice day . . .

I really wish I could have made it out to see Arthur today, but I knew if I sat for 2 hours to drive up, there would be no way I would have been able to straighten up enough to ride when I got there.  That just couldn't have happened. 

But on the plus side, Buddy finally helped Mark get that terrible king-size mattress off the bed in our master bedroom, and our new latex mattress put in place in there.  Talk about comfy!  I LOVE that thing!  So I managed today to get the room straightened up, and the entire downstairs vacuumed -- finally.  So I probably won't be sleeping out on the sleeping porch again until fall.  Just too d___d hot out there! 

Jan and Mike came by this evening and Mark made us some really terrific ribs.  They really were absolutely wonderful.  I'll tell you what - first Buddy and then Mark made stuff that was incredibly good this weekend  . . .  so maybe we females should just cash it in and let the guys do the cooking ALL the time!   (Hey Mike -- does that work for you???)

Okay -- now my big concern is getting all those super-tall trees on our property "topped."  At least tropical storm "Debbie" apparently isn't  going to come up into Louisiana this week - or so they're guessing at the moment.  But given the fact that there have already been 4 tropical storms in the Gulf this month -- a new record for June -- it looks like sooner or later we WILL have to deal with a major storm this year.  So I really hope Don gets back to us about topping those trees soon -- hopefully while Mark is still home this time.  It sure would make me feel a lot better not to have to worry about them coming down if one of those storms actually does come this way.

And this super-tall tree very near the barn needs to be the first one we get topped -- or maybe even cut down completely.   When it storms, we lock the horses inside their paddocks to keep them away from all those trees out in the pasture.  But that tree there by the barn is so tall that if it were to come down, it COULD reach the barn.  The barn is sturdy enough that I'm sure it wouldn't crash down into it, but it could mess up that metal roof. 

And worse yet, if the horses were outside instead of inside the barn, they could be hurt since they wouldn't be able to get out of the way with those gates closed.

And the top two-thirds of every one of those trees back around the storage cottage needs cut off!

And then there are ALL those other trees.   I guess there's no way we can get them ALL topped or cut down.  But it's a thought!

We never did get those grommets put into the shadecloth for the back porch this weekend.  And the cats are definitely NOT happy about the horrendous heat out there.  L'il Guy has taken to hanging out UNDER that bed on their porch. 

And Abigail has begun sleeping on the arm of the wicker chair!  Maybe it's cooler there since the air can move through the wicker - unlike sleeping on the bed or on the chair cushion where it probably gets way too warm underneath her.

But it still doesn't look very comfy to me.

Well, the hooks I ordered to attach the shadecloth to the curtain rod (a pipe) will be here on Wednesday, so I'll TRY and get the grommets put in by then.  In the meantime, those cats may not be comfy, but I sure am on that new mattress!  Time to go lay down on it again!