Yard Work

I have had "cleaning up the planter around the tree in the back yard" on my list all summer and I finally got it done after spending most of Saturday and part of Sunday working on it.  It was really hot here - in the high 80's or low 90's so I had to take lots of breaks!  But it feels so good to look out the window and see it AND to mark it off my huge to-do list.  Here are some before pictures.

Now for the after pictures!!!

4th of July and Baseball

I spent the 4th of July at the Central and Eastern Oregon All-Stars Little League tournament.  TJ's team played on the 4th and lost, then played on the 6th and won, then played on the 7th and lost again.  TJ played catcher most of the time.  In one game, he caught a pop-up foul ball, got a bunted ball thrown to first base in time to put the runner out, and tagged two other players out at home.  He also got one hit and stole 2nd, 3rd and home to make a run.  Needless to say Grandma is VERY PROUD!

The weather was very sunny and HOT.  I am so thankful that James & Amy brought their canopy.  It was a fun weekend but wore Grandma out!  I ended up taking naps when I got home.  Here is a video of TJ stealing 2nd base.

Things a trucker has to think about

Terry is taking a load of trucks from Portland, OR to Bangor ME (about 3200 miles).  Most of the time, there is now problem with the trucks, but this one had a tire problem so Terry was 'broke down' in LaGrande, OR.  The next thing that went haywire was the air conditioning not working.  When you think about the heat wave currently in the mid-west and east, driving without air conditioning would be very, very uncomfortable and also a safety hazard.  If you are too hot, you might be distracted while driving.  So, he stopped in Salt Lake City, UT to get it fixed.  Now he is heading toward Ohio which has power outages.  Hopefully, the power will be fixed and OK where he has to stay the night.  He also ran out of gas once!  Since he is hauling new trucks every load, the gas tanks are different sizes, the gas gauges are different and they are hard to estimate from one  load to the next.  Some trucks have small tanks and others large.  You also have to plan for toll roads, whether the motel has enough room to park a large truck hauling two other trucks, are their restaurants within walking distance?.  Then throw in all the driver regulations.  It really is not as 'easy' a job as many people think!!