Hot as a firecracker Friday

Hot today, as was predicted. What wasn't predicted was the Severe Weather Alert for all of Southeast Michigan: Thunderstorms, 70 mph winds, large hail and possible tornadoes until 10:00 PM. God help me, all I was thinking was, "Good! Maybe the winds will blow those damn cottonwood seeds back to Hell and gone!"

I had planned on stopping at the nearest Aco hardware and picking up some stuff on sale, but with the weather coming in, I decided it wasn't worth it and I'd just go home. When I got home, I had to dodge between piles of sand, dump trucks, back hoes and workers, just to get in the driveway. Apparently, the construction has gotten to me!

I changed clothes and went to get a drink of water. It came out of the tap a muddy brown! Fortunately, I had filled my second biggest stock pot with water last week. So, I scooped a cup of water out of that.

I had left the watering can out on the counter last night to remind myself to water the container gardens. So, figuring the muddy water wouldn't hurt them, I fill up the first of seven jugs and went out and watered the hanging plants, the chair containers, the big pot by the garage and the mailbox tub.

In the middle of that, my neighbor called me over. I figured he might want to chastise me for watching his wife swimming in their pool earlier (Hey! Give me a break, okay? I'm old, but I ain't dead, yet!!) but, no, he wanted to know if I objected to his trimming my evergreens on the North side of my house up over the roof line. I told him Jake had been trimming the branches to keep them off the house and roof for years now, but that's all, so, go for it! So, he got a chainsaw and his ladder and went to work. Later on I checked. It looks a little weird with tall bare trunks and then the evergreens above the roof, but the amount of light that now comes in my North windows (bedroom and office) is amazing!

Meanwhile, I went over to a construction worker and asked him what the plan was to connect the West side of the road (me) to the new water main. He said there is a 12-inch main that runs down the center of the street that all the West-side people (me) are hooked to. There was an additional 10-inch main the Eastsiders were connected to. They are eliminating the 10-inch main, so for me, there will be NO torn up lawn, etc. I told him about the brown water and he said to just flush the toilets a few times, turn all the faucets and it should go away!

So, I'm feeling pretty lucky, tonight! I watered all the container gardens and deadheaded all the flowers. It's almost 6:30 and I am sweating like a pig! But, its time to trim the front yard, so I hook everything up. At this point, I make a decision I really need to smoke a cigarette (I understand it's a weakness. But it only occurs two or three times a year). So, I fixed a drink and sat on the front porch, smoking a very old, stale Pall Mall, watching the chaos of construction.

Enough lollygagging! I start trimming and get it all done by 8:00 PM. BTW, the winds are still quite strong, but I haven't seen any rain or hail or tornadoes. I got inside and decide I really should take a shower, so I do.

Now I'm clean, tired and hungry (and sick of leftovers). I don't feel like making dinner, though, so I heat up a can of Hormel chili. I ate it watching TV and barely finished it before falling asleep. I woke up later, turned everything off and went to sleep.