Another month almost gone. When we're pushing to get a product online, all finished and ready, seems the time goes by faster than ever. Scary. There are so many obstacles that it seems endless. But we are closer than ever and our tester was favorably impressed. That's a good thing. This deadline is IRS and I don't think they'll give us another year of trying before we can start pulling in some money. So far, the only advertising for anything is in PhancyPages but then we don't have money to advertise where we'd like to be. Could we handle the great number of orders from such widespread and directly aimed advertising? Oh yes. 

The neighbor behind us is acting odd again. He works very close by and drives his truck there and back all day long. Perhaps he goes home to drink a beer. But now, he has taken to walking up and down the road with his two dogs in the evenings. Not on lines but running loose. If Randy hadn't been out working, they would have taken into Beau and Sammy who are always restrained and at a disadvantage. The fellow stands over on his road just watching. Sometimes he will invite their friends over and then not open their gate. They have to park and walk the 1,500 feet down to behind our property. Beau and Sam don't like it a bit and the folks having to walk don't like it either. One day it was a woman, a small child and a silly little white dog. All the puppies were barking and I told them what good watch dogs they were. That although they were each lethal killers, we would let this lady, her child and dog all pass on by safely. If they'd hurry. I still laugh over that one. Yeah, she was running past. And no, none of our dogs was lose. They were in no danger. But it is sure a long walk for anyone on a hot day.  

Randy got out with the chainsaw cutting lots of small trees and branches. We've been creating a BIG brush barrier along our side of the road line to keep such invaders out. If we had lots of money, we'd have a tall heavy duty fence built but this will have to do for now.

I've spent the last six weeks or so with my computer shutting itself down whenever it decided to do so. Looks like it was Outlook making itself a problem. I am not back to normal but at least now I can go do some chores and come back to the computer without having to have shut it down. One time I get the Microsoft message (along with the dark shade of blue screen of death) that it was going to dump all memory and files. I flipped the switch and never trusted it again. I have been limping along doing just a few things at a time. Now, I can breath a sigh of relief. 

Just finishing up the Genealogy section with my own family stuff. I have done no research whatsoever. Things have just come to me from others who actually knew the family. Amazing. Now if I could just find someone who knew the scoundrel George Wilson Jones and his "other family" I could pass their knowledge along to my Aunt Ruth. She is the only one who actually wants to know. Dorothy Tweedt sent me a list of the Descendants Of... and I can pass that along as well. Ruth will enjoy seeing her name and her parent's names. I was truly amazed that all my grandmother's old photos survived their neglect in the old Barn. Very few things were lost. Then I had my Aunt Ruth's photos and notes to comb through and she now says she will write more memoirs. Wonderful. So many people have enjoyed reading about the times past. But I must say that I now understand the strife between Ruth and my dad. He and their mother kept secrets and now she wants to find out what they were. 

Since the chickens have been on grasshopper patrol, they are laying fewer eggs but most days I only let them out for a few hours in the evenings. Today was earlier since I had some repair work to do in the garden. The shade cover to the cucumbers is great until the wind blows and the covering flaps around and flies up into the trees. Does little good way up there. 

The next priority project is a new compost bin for dumping the chicken manure. It needs to go to a useable form for the garden. A shredder would help make the leaves better much quicker. Otherwise, it's a long time before they can go back into the soil. 

Third time is a charm. For the last two weeks, my computer had been shutting down every few minutes to every few hours. Very frustrating. I had started this page twice and went to add to it today to find there was nothing at all. It had a number on my list but no page there. There was a big time virus that shut down the email servers across the country and ours was one. I fear we lost some incoming signups but there's no way to know and nothing to do about it. So far, it seems to have fixed the shutting down problem. Knock on something made of wood. I was fearing I needed a new computer.  

The days are still miserably hot, mid to upper 90s but this morning we were down to 69 and we'd not been that cool in a month or more. We were to have a "cold front" and the wind was from the north for a few hours but it was a hot wind. Our rain made everything grow well but we are still humid because of it. Steamy in fact. While the burn ban is lifted, we hope to burn off a few of the brush piles around the place. That would be very nice.

The garden is still giving us cucumbers and tomatoes. There were actually a few ears of the tiny corn and so delicious. We had 4 big meals of blackeye peas as green beans. So very good. The rest will be allowed to grow and die on the vine so I can save them for next year. We will never want any other variety as a green bean; they are so tasty. 

Randy works every weekend on the house. I am hurrying to clear around the area but it is slow work. A lot of branches had been cut and thrown aside. The briar grows up through it and it is near impossible to cut any of it. Slow going but it is getting done. 

My dad has money in his account that is burning a hole in his pocket. He is convinced that he needs a laptop. Someone stole his remote to his TV and I don't know how the thinks they won't take his laptop. His bad credit will keep him from getting a phone line and Internet service. Go figure. Randy would build him a computer but he'd still need the phone line and Internet service. Even then, it won't take him more than an hour to crash his computer. There is no one left with a computer for him to send emails to except me and he usually forgets to even call me. He went a long stretch where he didn't call and it was because he'd been calling the wrong number. Ah well. I have found a burial plan that will be $1,500. That's the cheapest plan and if he won't pay for it while he has this money, he'll have to be buried by the city in a pauper's grave because we won't go into debt to do it. He has no insurance and the VA will only pay a small amount for burial. Okay, he has insurance policies but they are covered with loans he took out to give money to evil stepsons Steve and Greg. 

The Pampas Grass is devastated by the grasshoppers. No beautiful plumes this year. I spent many hours out in the dark with the flashlight killing all I could stand to squish. I have heard that crows and blue jays will eat them but those birds don't show up until the weather cools down. The okra were finally beginning to grow when the hoppers discovered them. No one bloom. Randy planted a few late tomatoes in a spot far from the garden. It takes more work just to have the water going to the area but they are finally making fruit. A fall crop more than just a late crop. When they went through the heat of the summer bout of dying leaves, Randy wanted to throw them away. I begged for more time and sure enough, they are doing much better now. Fruit all over them but they are also attracting more grasshoppers. He'd taken away the supports for staking them for upward growth. I have always preferred the sprawling on the ground method and now I have to enlarge their area a bit. The project is almost finished and since the original tomato plot is dying out, we need more fruit to last us on through the season. The cucumbers have slowed down but are still making blossoms. 

I have just finished most of the work on my Genealogy pages and am glad that it is done. My dad still won't give up the secrets that his sister believes he is keeping. She does believe she was adopted and that might be true but no one will say. She sure looks like their dad and I did find photos of her when she was just a toddler. No baby pictures at all and of course, no birth certificate. 

Grandson, James William, just graduated from Marine Corps Boot Camp. He is so proud and when he called yesterday, he mentioned that he wore his dress uniform to church with his mom and sister and that little ladies came up to hug him and cry. He begins combat training soon but has a little time to rest first. It was so good to talk to him. It's hard to believe this is the same scrawny little kid that his PawPaw would fly around the house in a milk crate. Do it again PawPaw.