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It’s dark Sunday and I had a short night. Jason, Kaitlynn, and I returned from San Antonio yesterday afternoon. We had time to drop into the fish fry at the fire house. In spite of the extreme heat, there was already a good crowd. This is an extremely important event, and Richland and the surrounding communities turned out to support our firefighters. We didn’t stay too long as we knew there was packing and picking to do.

My garden is definitely disliking the heat. The grasshoppers are out in full force. I didn’t know they liked onions, but they must because the tops were all eaten down to about 2 inches from the ground.

It looks as if we are going to have one of those record heat years. The last one I remember was in 1980. The tee-shirt people made a fortune with “I survived” shirts. I hope this will not be that bad.

Sarah, Danielle, Kaitlynn and I will fare a little better in Canada. It will not be that warm and the nights will be much cooler around the lake. By this time this evening we should be near Fort Smith, Arkansas. We’re all pretty excited about our trip.

We have Mammoth Caves and Niagara Falls scheduled for our trip North and Washington for the return trip. While we are in Canada, we’ll visit Ottawa, the capitol, the parliament buildings, the canal system that made travel to the Great Lakes possible and several interesting cities including Montreal and Toronto. We’ll still have plenty of time to play in the lake!

My sister Bev has a big dog show next weekend so we’ll have to attend that for Kaitlynn’s sake. Miss Kate wants to be a vet when she grows up. Bev is a master trainer with her own training school so we can learn many good things from her.

No one called to say they would write the column so unless I get to a computer the column will be empty for at least two weeks. I may get back in time to write the column on the week of the 20th. If I get to a computer I’ll write a little travel report. If not, I hope everyone has a great couple of weeks. I regret to say I will miss the 4th of July festivities. Last year we all decorated a float and threw candy, this year we will arrive in Canada on Canada Day, July 1st, the Canadian equivalent of the 4th.

My clicking away is disturbing my Kate, but we’ll all be up soon. The morning star is shining brightly in the Eastern sky and we have some packing up to do. Jason went to bed at 10:00 p.m. like the rest of us, but I’m betting that DS didn’t turn off for some time. I wonder why kids think we don’t know what’s going on around us. Oh well, he can make up his lost sleep tomorrow. Mind you, I shall enjoy rousting him out in a few minutes. I think I’ll be extra hearty and boisterous in my early morning wake up call!

The world has been all stirred up about the death of Michael Jackson, Farah Fawcett and Ed McMahon. Michael has garnered most of the media attention. I don’t know if it’s because of his poor sad twisted life or his tormented last years. Either way, he was not as important as our Sputnik Bush. I know we all feel great sadness for his family and the Wilton family as well. Please pray for these loved ones as they struggle with their grief.

Well, sun or no sun, it’s time to get this show on the road. I hope everyone has a wonderful 4th, a little less heat, a lot more rain and a blessed time while I am gone. Please pray for our precious troops, our President, our elected representatives and our super country.

Bev is doing better, Billie Behrens had hip surgery while I was gone and we have a long prayer list. Remember, no matter what, God is in control!