SURPRISE VISITORS and PHOTO A DAY CHALLENGE

 A surprise activity this morning has changed my post a bit.

I looked out our back sliding patio door about an hour ago and was startled to see some movement in our weedy yard.

3 young gray foxes were having the time of their lives up on our retaining wall and then down in the yard.  At first I thought it was a mother and 2 young but it seems more like 3 youngsters ... I haven't a clue.  I'm not up on foxes !

And after having a snack in our yard ... up and over the 6 foot fence they climbed just like a cat would do.

Now I know why we are finding lots of "scat" in various places.

I just hope they don't feel too comfortable in our yard.  It is kind of unnerving to know they were so close.  If we can get the weeds out soon they may not think its their new undercover hideaway.  I don't want to be surprised by them when I am out there.

Never a dull moment around here !

Now on to the July 28 challenge ... 

PHOTO A DAY CHALLENGE 

BLUE

Its a BOY !

58 years ago Today ... our first born son, Steve, made his appearance in our world.

Love this guy and everything he stands for and the things he does to make our world a better place.

He's creative and has such an inventive mind, full of integrity and loves the Lord with all of his heart.

Steve is a wonderful son, husband, father and soon to be Grandpa !

The world is a better place because of him.

💓

Always be Grateful

Aways be Kind

SUNDAY BLESSINGS and PHOTO A DAY CHALLENGE

 I just have to tell you we feel So Blessed today.

A surprise gift was put into our checking account last night.  It left us speechless and thanking the Lord for an end of the month provision.

JULY 26    PHOTO A DAY CHALLENGE

                  9 o'clock ....

My take on this challenge is it's 9 in the morning.

I really am not a morning person ...

This is me this morning even though I am up and having my 2nd cup of coffee.

We have to complete some business matters today so they can get in the mail.

But

I think I will PROCAFFINATE a bit longer ... 😄

Always be Grateful

Always be Kind

A LITTLE WHINING and A PHOTO A DAY CHALLENGE

 Good morning. 

I'm not exactly whining but we were again on the phone for a very long time this morning, working on some business.

At least we could understand her accent and could get some of our issues done.

I'm not trying to offend any one but when one is talking serious numbers and information, its hard when it sounds like they are talking under water and the accent is so thick that one can't move forward.

Ok I'm finished now and its on to the Photo Challenges for today and tomorrow.

July 24 :  CLOSE UP

These are both from my archives.  I just haven't had the inclination to go out in the heat and photograph.

July 25 :  FAR AWAY

Well, 

That's going to do it for the next few days.

Stay cool everybody 

and

Always be Grateful

Always be Kind

PHOTO A DAY CHALLENGE and THE REST OF THE STORY

 Today is day 23 of The Photo A Day Challenge.

Todays challenge is An Ordinary Moment.

There were so many things that I wanted to choose, it was hard to decide.

I love this cup and it certainly fits the challenge.

This is my ordinary moment every single day.  I can't begin my day without The Word and my delicious cup of coffee.

This is my other favorite cup that says Morning Break.

Just an Ordinary Moment for me.

Okay, now to explain my Wordless Wednesday post from yesterday.

This was our one and only Asian Pear/Apple or as we call them ... Papples.

Its been Too Hot and the tree I guess is getting too old.  Maybe a bit like me and my Lack of Production around the house these days.  HaHa ... 

So very sad but it did give me a new photo to post on the blog.  😊... and for me to add to Thankful Thursday !!

Always be Grateful

Always be Kind

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

 Wordless Wednesday:

Always be Grateful

Always be Kind

PHOTO A DAY CHALLENGE

 Photo A Day Challenge 

July 21 ...  RED ...

The absolute best thing to do on a HOT day.

Today it will reach 100F.

Cheating and doing some Time Traveling ... 

July 22 ... TREE ...

2023   TIMBER 

Our next door neighbor had some trees felled.

Those guys that took the tree down were amazing.  Pure Athleticism !!!

LOVE TREES but I have to admit we are happy with the openness since the tree is gone.

That will do it for today.

Always be Grateful

Always be Kind

MONDAY MEANDERINGS and PHOTO A DAY CHALLENGE

 Well, here we go again with me running behind and trying to catch up on some pressing business details.

So I will just get to my falling behind ... Photo A Day Challenges for

July 19 (Sunday)   BLACK and WHITE

I wrote about our going through our post card collection, both Disney and Vintage general postcards.

Here's a fascinating card that has so much history to it.

The War years, sent in 1942.

The sender is unknown to us.  We just found this card among someone's collection.

July 20 (Monday)  COLORFUL

I'm sure there are many Colorful Stories when playing Poker.

This is an item we are trying to sell on FaceBook Marketplace.

The cost of shipping the heavy wooden rack and chips is really prohibitive.

Another Colorful Activity that Dave and I attended was watching the large Hot Air Balloons take flight.

Well folks, that's all I have for today.

Gotta get back to making some phone calls.

Always be Grateful

Always be Kind

CATCHING UP PHOTO A DAY CHALLENGE

 Why is it I'm always trying to catch up with my blog???

I guess I just fall down too many Rabbit Holes looking at things.

Yesterday Dave and I found ourselves deep in the depths of our postcard collections.  We have a huge Disney collection and a vintage misc.collection of cards too.

The time just disappeared.  I really love all the history involved in all of the cards.  Some we will be selling and others I'm just not ready to let go of yet.

So

On to the photo challenge ... 

Friday July 17

ON THE SHELF

Saturday July 18

ANIMAL  and INSECT

Okay ... on that note I will say That's All Folks ...

Always be Grateful

Always be Kind

THANKFUL THURSDAY

 Thankful Thursday,

I am so thankful that the temperature isn't going to be like it was yesterday.

Wednesday brought the heat to 104F.  Too, Too Hot for Me !

Today it's suppose to only get to 97F.  Time to break out the parkas ... 😁

Disney Skunks named Flower are always cuter!

The one in our backyard is NOT !

I'm also thankful that the horrible strong odor from the skunk in our backyard last night went away rather quickly.  I had the sliding door open , of course the screen was in place,  and at 11PM my hubby said Eww , that smells like skunk spray.  Got out of my chair and as I closed the door, oh my goodness ... it must have been on the edge of our patio... ugh... it was so strong my eyes started to water.  Thankfully by the time we got into bed we couldn't smell it any longer.  I have always wondered why God created such a stinky critter ... 

And now to the Rest of the Story ... 

About Wordless Wednesday

I captured a candid shot of that sweet little girl when I was on the Kitchen Team down in Mexicali, Mexico.  Our team was given a bit of time off to see what some of the other teams were doing helping some of the churches.  It seems that one group had some Bible coloring projects but this little one was enjoying her bubble gum too much to be interested in crayons.  The photo turned out to be one of my favorites of that year.  Kids are so cute.

I wish I knew more about the Sign I snapped a picture of.

We didn't see the white horse anywhere so I guess you can make up any story to go with it.  I actually don't know where we were exactly.  So much ranch and farmland all looks the same.  It would be fun to go back and see if the sign was still there.

Thanks for all of your comments.  I love our Blogging community.

Always be Grateful

Always be Kind

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY and PHOTO A DAY CHALLENGE JULY 15

 Wordless Wednesday

PHOTO A DAY CHALLENGE:  JULY 15

SIGN .... 

Saw this sign on someone's property, a few years ago, as we were "flying" down a two lane road.

I made my hubby turn the car around so I could snap the shot.

We didn't see the white horse but I thought the warning was fantastic.

Always be Grateful

Always be Kind

MONDAY MEANDERINGS and PHOTO A DAY CHALLENGE

 Monday Meanderings

Today is sultry and the thermometer will  push to 98F.

Too hot for me so I think this is an inside day !

Saturday evening favored us with a magnificent sunset.  I caught it just before it was no more.

God sure has the best box of crayons !

Photo A Day Challenge

Here are my 2 submissions for Sunday-12 and Monday -13.

Soft:

NO, NO, NO !!!

Oh brother !!!  this is not the photo I wanted to show and somehow I can't delete it !!

So let's see if I can find the photo I meant to post ... haha

XXXXX

Okay ...

SOFT :

This is best when it is enlarged.

My OLD computer is going to give me heart palpitations !!!

SHADOWS:

I think the shadows look like people marching along my patio pavers.

There will probably be the Photo A Day every few days, but I will try to entertain you and myself as well.

Always be Grateful

Always be Kind

A PHOTO A DAY

 Today I am going to join Pamela from the blog Closed Doors, Open Windows.

She is attempting to do A Photo - A- Day from a list for July.

The Challenge for today July 10 ...  HaHa ... its really the 11th , but we will just ignore the calendar 😜 ... Frankly, I have no idea what day it is !!! 

So as I was saying when I rudely interrupted myself ... 

Today's word is BUSY 

NYC at its finest ...

Taxis, Cars and Trucks and Humanity all in the same square mile of the City.

BUSY for sure

I took this shot from the high balcony of a hotel we were "snooping" around in after work one evening.

Always be Grateful

Always be Kind

THANKFUL THURSDAY

 Thankful Thursday and the Rest of the Story (Wordless Wednesday)

I am so thankful for the bounty of grapes from our vines this year.  They aren't big  but they are definitely sweet.

Our little pear tree does have 6 pears on it.

I can't wait for them to ripen completely so we can sink our teeth into them.

And now a comment about yesterday's Wordless Wednesday.

That photo certainly isn't Wordless !!!

I took that shot in front of a comedy club in the Lake Tahoe area.

I thought it was a fun example of Words.

Always be Grateful

Always be Kind

NOT QUITE WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

 Not Quite Wordless Wednesday

Always be Grateful

Always be Kind

MONDAY MEANDERINGS

 Monday Meanderings:

This is definitely the way my weekend went ... 

Celebrating the 4th of July was a bit different for us this year.

We had received an announcement that there was going to be a neighborhood parade.  It was going to march down our street.

Great we thought, we can just sit out on our driveway and cheer everyone on.

Sorry to say that it was quite underwhelming.

It began earlier than we thought and we missed the first band of marchers.  All in all there were several kids on bikes, Moms pushing strollers and a golf cart really decorated beautifully but it went by before we got settled.

Maybe next year it will be more organized and I have to admit I loved waving at the kiddos and chatting with one lady riding by on her 3 wheeled bike.

I'm so sad that I didn't get photos of her and the cart.

Here are a few of the stragglers ... 

Here's my Hubby in the "Grandstands"

The weather was perfect for an early morning parade.

And So ... 

Life goes on 

Always be Grateful

Always be Kind

HAPPY 4TH of JULY

 Happy Independence Day  USA

Happy Birthday # 250 ... 

Always be Grateful

Always be Kind

THANKFUL THURSDAY

 Thankful Thursday and the Rest of the Story ... 

AND ..... 

Now to the Rest of the Story  ... Wordless Wednesday ... 

Some time ago Dave and I were in New York City for work.  We always tried to do some sightseeing while we were in different cities.

We took the APPLE Bus Tour around NYC.  Sitting on the top of the bus gave us so many unobstructed views of that amazing City.

There is so much traffic going bumper to bumper.  It gave us time to take photos.

We passed this shop called Evolution with the skeleton hanging outside.  I don't believe in evolution but thought the concept for the store was fascinating.

I wondered if the little guy thought the "wet" spot below the skeleton was blood or something else.  Maybe the Mom with the stroller thought her son had spilled his drink ... Lots of unanswered questions ... Curiosity for all of us ... 

I snapped and the bus moved on ... so its an unfinished chapter in a very fascinating City tour.

Always be Grateful

Always be Kind

So now you know as much as I do ... 😉😊