"My father-in-law gets up at 5 o'clock in the morning and watches the Discovery Channel. I don't know why there's this big rush to do this." Jeff Foxworthy

Hello friends and neighbors, I bid you welcome on this Tuesday, July 2, 2013. It's about as close as we can get to one half of the year gone by, 26 weeks down, and 26 weeks left for us to do something with. I do pay attention to time. In fact, I most likely could be called a clock watcher. Not the kind that sits and watches for it to be time to leave work, but one who, to a certain extent, lives by the clock and its imposed disciplines and routines. I typically check the digital clock on my nightstand a number of times during the night. If the electricity goes off, I use my cell phone instead. Maybe I'm afraid I will miss something. When someone uses that old joke when asked if you want to know the time because you are taking medication, well, I can give the affirmative vote on that one. Thrice times each day. Seven pills by 8:30 p.m. And, five pills by 8:30 a.m. I also throw in one at noon each day just for good measure. This pill popping all came about five years ago when I was diagnosed with diabetes. Up until that time I was very much into shunning pills but I'm very thankful we discovered it when we did and I'm thankful for the medications available to me. That gives me another reason to keep up with the time. (Only five are prescription, the others are over-the counter.) My grandmother used to watch some of the soaps on TV. I can remember that one with the hourglass where the announcer does this lead in: "Like sands through the hourglass.....so are the days of our lives." Pretty heady stuff if you ask me. The Apostle Paul had his own inspired take when he put it this way: "Redeeming the time, because the days are evil." (Ephesians 5:16)

We've had an ever so slight break from the oppressive heat, and it is especially so in the wee hours of the morning. I'm typically on the road each day between 3:30 a.m. and 4:00 a.m. We had some kind of atmospheric thingamajig that caused the humidity to fall some. Traveling along the roadway I take at about 45 miles per hour with the windows down is quite invigorating. I did see one huge coyote cross in front of me yesterday morning. I remember those I saw as a kid over in Louisiana. They were usually very scrawny and thin. This fellow was not in the least bit thin. Looked like he was on his way home from a banquet. He may have been feeling a little more like getting out to forage with the cooler temperature. I would say now is a good time for folks to make sure their pets are safe but I wouldn't want to get anybody all stirred up, so I will just keep quiet about that. I'm not saying it was cool enough for a sleeve but recently it has been uncomfortably warm, even at that time of the morning, so we will take any and all relief we can get, any and where we can. And, we will be thankful for it. Amen.

You may have read about the Vegas performance magician who has received an eight page letter from the US Agriculture Department instructing him to provide a comprehensive response as to how he will protect his licensed rabbit in case of a disaster. Eight pages. Comprehensive. Due in writing by the end of July. That's our government at work folks. If it were me I might send them a recipe for rabbit stew. The pending immigration bill is 1200 pages. The size of the Obamacare legislation is hard to determine with all the additional rules and explanations it has spawned, but it is likely at a minimum, 10,000 pages long, and that's a very conservative estimate. Therefore, our fellow tax paying magician might ought to be glad he only got 8 pages detailing his required development of a disaster recovery protection plan for his rabbit. There's an adage that says the more pages and the more zeroes involved in the cost of a government proposal it is the less that it will be scrutinized. With that I will leave you with this prophetic word from the famous folklorist Will Rogers, "Be thankful we are not getting all the government we are paying for." We most likely couldn't stand it. Have yourself a wonderful Tuesday anyway and may God add His blessings to it. Amen.   ....More later.