Not feeling all that good today. Not ill, just out of sorts. Alot of it seems to be my sinuses. The one behind my left eye felt soooo much better after a hot compress was put on it. I then took a short nap which helped. I've been up four hours now and it's beginning to ache again.

Kent worked from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and Heather had the day off. Her friend, Mark F., is visiting with her, he's been here most of the day. I managed to get the laundry started.

It's been beastly hot around here, but it did rain for a bit and has cooled it down a little, but it is still humid. Air conditioning is a good thing.

I relized that I haven't been mentioning what I have been doing writing-wise. This week I have been working on my cartoons. The week before, if I forgot to mention it, I worked on the next novel in my series. This would be book three of two in the Flickertail Saga (Snow Flower in print) and (Tehya's Tree out in the market world) and the one I'm writing.

That's pretty much it for today. Kent worked until 6:00 a.m. and is currently sleeping. Heather is at work now until 3:00 p.m.

Michael (the neighbor boy) is mowing my grass. He mows my yard in exchange for using my lawnmower to mow his yard. Works for me. We've done this for 6 years now.

I had a rough sleeping night on Tuesday, so I slept when I could. Yesterday, Wednesday, didn't go as planned. Supposedly I would be home alone, but it didn't happen. Instead we had company in the evening. Two of Heather's friends were in town from Boston.

Grandpa Kurt sent me a WebCam and I installed it late last night. Then I had to get Kent to show me how to make a call. I already had Skype but the install program wanted me to do something to get Skpye...so it confused an easily confused old broad...lol. I didn't want to do anything that would mess up the installation. Thank goodness for grandchildren!

A big thanks to Grandpa Kurt for his generousity.

I did manage to get the trash together yesterday since it was trash day. Kent had to go into work for a couple of hours so Heather took it to the curb for me.

Right at the moment everyone is at work. Kent went in at 5:50 a.m. and works until 2:00 p.m. so I am expecting him home any time now. Heather works from 1:00 p.m. until 6:00 p.m. Her plan then is to pick up Brian and some KFC for dinner and return home with both.

Supposedly I might be home alone tomorrow. Guess we'll wait and see. Kent is planning on going to Springfield to visit friends and Heather has plans for the day. I'm not sure where Brian fits into all this.

I still have a sore right side (rib cage area) from my yard work yesterday. I took an Advil last night before I went to bed to see if that would help. I ended up tossing and turning for a while before I dozed off for a couple of hours.

I talked on Skype with my brother today. He still sounds under the weather. This heat seems to be exceptionally hard on him this year. He was just checking in to see how I was. We talked for a little bit.

Then Kurt Jesse called me on the cellphone to tell me that he had a serious sunburn. I sympathsized with him. I have had serious sunburns myself. We talked for a little bit.

That's how the day has been.

It's been a quiet day so far. Kent got home okay (he worked 10 p.m. yesterday until 6 a.m. this morning) and is now sleeping. It looks like he has the rest of the day off. I worked out in the yard and got the trimming done that I planned to do before it got too hot. Heather is now at work and will be there until 6 p.m. Kent is still sleeping. I've got the dishwasher going, hope it doesn't wake him up.

My back aches, my hernias hurt, and a chest muscle on the left side of my chest aches....all this thanks to the yard work. I even took it easy. Oh well, good exercise I guess. Hope I can get through the day without a nap. LOL.

Kent got called into work. He's working 4:15 p.m. until 9:00 p.m. He will be beat by the time he gets home.

A year ago today I lost my long time companion, lover, and friend. Stephen passed away in a nursing home of COPD. I was no longer able to care for him at home. We tried to keep him here, at home, because he knew if he went to the hospital he would not come back. Unfortunately his home care nurse could do nothing more for him and under his doctor's directions an ambulance was called. He spent two weeks in the hospital and four weeks in the nursing home. He was on 100 percent oxygen. Every time I saw him I could see him going downhill. His breathing got harder to do day by day. I miss his humor and caring for me.

We knew each other for twenty years or so, but were a couple for only 15 of them. He wasn't a mechanical, handy-man, type of guy and he freely admitted it. He was someone I could talk to and he would listen. He offered his support and embraces when I needed them. On long hard days at work I would come home and he would have a simple dinner ready and waiting for me. These were the things that endeared him more to me.

Stephen had overcome many hard times. He was an alcholic for years, but was a recovered one years before I met him. I do know that he still attended AA meetings. He was homeless for a while. He had four marriages and we both agreed we were not marrying each other. We lived together, grew together, and held together through our health problems.

He has two beautiful daughters that I accepted as my own. He accepted my daughters as his as well. Between the two of us we had four daughters, three sons-in-law, six grandsons, and four granddaughters. Shortly after his passing he became a great-grandfather for the first time. As it turned out he never meet his youngest grandson, Wyatt, nor Logan his great-grandson.

We know that he is in a better place where he is no longer struggling to breath. He is with his mother, sister Lois, T.Tom, and Baby Jane. He has family with him. May he rest in peace.

Catch up time.

August 1 (Sunday) - Sat around twiddling my thumbs...arrgg. Did nothing much. Rested up from yard work. This hot muggy weather takes it toll on me. Not to mention the fresh air, sunshine, and labor.

August 2 (Monday) - Walked over and paid the rent and by the time I got home realized I should not have been out in that heat. Had my blood drawn for the couminin level. Worked on the dreaded grocery list. Took Windows updates on my computer. Worked on a novel.

August 3 (Tuesday) - Did my laundry, continued working on the dreaded grocery list (have I mentioned that I hate grocery shopping? It is not one of my favorite things for the past eight years.) Worked some more on my novel.

August 4 (Wednesday) - Dunt, dunt,done - Grocery Day! Everyone was home to day so we went (dunt, dunt, done) grocery shopping! We started at 9:30 a.m. and went to Meijers for the bulk of our shopping. Brought that home. Had lunch. Then went to Krogers for the next wave of deals. Brought that home. Next we went to Gordon Food Store (GFS) and bought meat in bulk. Brought that home. It is now late afternoon and trash needs to be taken care of. I gathered the trash and Kent took it out to the curb for me. I said a sad good-bye to the litter box. Brian was here. That took care of Wednesday.

August 5 (Thursday) - Gathered up remaining cat stuff (wet food, dry food, litter, pan liners, pan deoderizer, flea dip, etc.) so Heather can take it to a friend of her's. Helped out with others laundry, and worked on my novel. Brian, Kent, and Heather went back to the Ohio State Fair.

August 6 (Friday) - Did yard work on till I was dizzy from the heat. Spent most of the day trying to stay awake. Napped a bit. Kent made cookies last night...yummy.

Now we are caught up to today. It's still pretty fresh so not much to report. See you later.