Raindrops keep fallin' on my head And just like the guy whose feet are too big for his bed Nothin' seems to fit !

We almost did it. We came close. But, alas, this is chasing the rainfall record in our area, not horseshoes, therefore, we will have to settle for runner up. I'm talking about the record of 14 inches of rain in the month of July, officially set for this area back in 1900. I think we are just slightly a little more than one inch short of breaking this record but our yards are beautiful and green and they show just how close we came. What a wet July for us! It is Monday, August 2, 2010 and I bid you welcome to another session where we try to figure out how we turned out like we did or we do our own version of playing the game, "I'm okay, you're okay, so what happened?" How in heaven's name are you doing, anyway? I must tell you that I am back from my Saturday trip to Louisiana to visit my parents and honor dad on his 80th birthday. We had a blast. I left early and got there in time to enjoy a wonderful breakfast with Mom and Dad and my sister Frances. Family. It matters folks, and what a blessing. And, you know who, the mistress of the house, has now returned to the scene of the continuing saga, therefore, she and I are able to once again return to our regular routines. Speaking of that, I heard a man telling everyone that he was back to normal now having gotten over some heath issues. Back to normal. Now that's some words I long to hear. I'm not sure what that would look like in my life but I must tell you that I can't recall it ever having been said about me, therefore, I assume I'm still in search for its illusive definition. But, meanwhile, back on the routine ranch, I will settle for what I have, be thankful for it, and keep on keeping on, with God's help, of course.

Regarding the rainfall record I must divulge that we have a new location for a number of years now where the measurement is taken, therefore, we may well have broken the record easily were it compared to the measurement site in 1900. That's an important year, by the way, because that's when my Paw Paw Mac was born and because of him I can fill in a whole lot of blanks that otherwise would be missing, or I wouldn't be here, or someone else would be writing a completely different blog about a completely different subject, and one hopefully that would be much more interesting. But there are days when I do seem to rattle and ramble around. You've noticed? I'm not surprised. It's like a lady that worked for me many years ago. Her job was to key in data into an electronic system. She had input quotas to meet for each shift she worked. We noticed that her keystrokes were missing on some days in which she worked. The supervisor began to pay attention and noticed that she was at times keying away but her machine was not turned on. It seems she had a drug problem and preferred to pass the time pounding on the keys but without inputting any data. Okay, confession time, that's what I do some days, and then I pass it off to you as an offering of my discombobulated thoughts. Discombobulated? You noticed that too? How observant!

I'm tempted to say what you see is what you get but that doesn't seem appropriate so I'll pass. This rain has kept us from needing to water our yard but it hasn't kept the water department from raising our rates. They are pretty clever. They leave the rate the same but dink around with the minimum. Net result? Same rate, increased monthly cost because the minimum threshold has been changed. Bingo! We do have a winner! I believe this is a pattern across the country where all forms of public services are strapped for resources and trying to get funds from anywhere they can. I saw where our electrical provider has petitioned the power commission for a 5% rate increase. This sounds high to me given the state of the economy but they, like everyone else, say they have an excellent case for why they need to do this increase. The thought about getting blood out of turnips comes to mind. The standard way of saying this is, you can't squeeze blood from a turnip. It is thought to have originated out of the biblical account of Cain and Abel, where Cain offered vegetables instead of the blood offering required by God. It simply means you can only get from people what they are willing or able to give. Thomas Jefferson once said this: "History, in general, only informs us of what bad government is." Maybe it's because it is Monday but I don't believe we have to wait on history to tell us what bad government is, all we have to do is wake up and smell the Community! I'll try to get myself pulled together before our next visit. May God give us all a good week where we enter it and end with a thankful heart. Amen. ....More later.