Stormy Weather

It has been an unusually hot and humid summer. Our lows are in the mid- to upper-70s overnight and the highs have been high 90s to low 100s. Just walking outside in the middle of the day is enough to make you feel like you're breathing warm jello.

We've been praying for rain to cool our piece of the world off a bit, but obviously, you have to be careful what you ask for. When there's that much heat in the atmosphere, there's also a lot of energy. That energy tends to express itself as lightning. Florida is the lightning capital of the country - more people get hit by lightning here and injured or killed than anywhere else in North America. My own brother's been hit by lightning twice. He survived.

As you can imagine, we have a very healthy respect for lightning. The kids have the 30-30 rule drummed into them from kindergarden on. Sporting events have lightning delays that can turn a two-hour game into a day-long event.

We've had two days in a row of incredible lightning storms. Having spent nearly 8 years in Oklahoma, I don't normally cringe when thunderstorms are howling overhead, but the lightning in these last two days of storms have had me burying my head in my shoulders like a little child. When my boy sees me turn off the computer and the tv and unplug them so we don't catch the house on fire, he knows it's a bad storm.

As much as I love thunderstorms, I wouldn't mind if this kind would back off a little. Give me a little tropical storm anyday!

Going Green

I'd love to be able to claim being green, but for me it is going to be a process, as I believe in getting every ounce of use out of something before replacing it - these days with a cleaner, greener model.

My husband has been in charge of the yard maintenance, doing the heavy lifting of mowing and trimming. However, the equipment he uses, the lawnmower in particular, is nearly impossible for me to use. It doesn't start for anyone but him. I attempted to use it last week and couldn't start it. While I was trying to figure it out, I took a good look at the thing, purchased when we still lived in Wakulla and realized that it was definitely on its last legs. The wheels were falling off, the muffler was rusted and full of holes, the pull rope frayed.

Soon my husband will have knee replacement surgery. And he won't be doing any yard work for quite a while. Which means that I will be doing it. I decided that since I would be doing it, I would purchase a lawnmower that would work for me.

My new toy - after I put it together. It was pretty inexpensive, though I had to buy a power cord to go with it. It's absolutely thrilling to just push a button and have the thing start. No more yanking!

It's been a while since we mowed, between the storms and the heat and Darling Man's gimpy leg. I started off, but when Darling Man got home, he had to give it a try too. It took a little practice to get the hang of mowing without running over the cord and the grass was so tall that it seemed like we had to stop after every couple of rows to empty the grass bag - but I absolutely love it.

Due to the heat, DM and I wound up taking turns pushing it. Then the lightning started. When it got to be about half a mile away, we finally gave up and quit for the day. The mower just got into the garage when the rain began, leaving our lawn with a mohawk.

DM cleaned up that last little strip of grass today - and we're quite pleased with how it all turned out!

Going green, little by little.

Fun Monday - Shoes!

Sorry I'm late! Mariposa has graciously agreed to host Fun Monday for the month of August and her topic today is our favorite shoes!

The one pictured above is mine. I actually have an aversion to Nike, but I love my Nike Pegasus running shoes! The aversion comes from that brand name weaseling it's way in to everything and slapping its logo on anything that doesn't move. When they took over the university that I work for, that was the last straw. It also killed whatever little fandom I felt for the university. I hate the commercialism that has invaded every last bit of normal life. So I vowed to never buy anything with a Nike logo on it.

Then one day, I decided I might like to try running. Shoes are important in that sport, so I took myself off to Sports Authority in search of appropriate foot attire. I had no idea shoes cost that much. $85 for this pair, $110 for that pair - for someone as under-endowed with financial assets as I am, it fairly took my breath away. I've never paid that much for an overcoat, much less a pair of shoes! After trying on and rejecting many pairs of shoes, the saleswoman I was working with said, "Hey, let's check the clearance rack!" And there she found my shoes. $40 (which was still a stretch for me) sounded much more reasonable than $110! And they were the ONLY pair that felt right on my feet.

So even though I hate where they came from, my favorite shoes are my Pegasus!