The 4th....

No plans this year for any picnic or anything. We used to celebrate pretty much every year when my father-in-law was still alive since it was his birthday. Somehow along the way we just stopped having picnics. The grill is shot and the deck hasn't been used in years. Haven't had the cushions out for the patio furniture or put up the umbrella either. Once in a blue moon I fire up the grill and work with what's left of it to grill some chicken. It's a backup if we lose power in the winter and we need to cook in a blizzard. Going out on the deck just reminds me that we need to do some painting and now it's too hot. A couple of months and it will be too cold. I've played this game for a year now. It's hard to match the paint when you can't carry the door into the hardware store to get the original color off of it. If it doesn't match then we have to paint three doors in the back and two more in front plus shutters and garage doors. In addition, the trim around the door is the color of the siding which is tough to match also. To look good they should be spray painted so that would involve hiring someone to do it. Sounding good to me!

Another dilemna is trying to hook up the digital converter boxes to our two televisions. We don't have cable so before the dreaded deadline next February we have to convert to digital through these boxes. We bought them but I'm having a dreadful time figuring out why I can't get them to work. I'm usually pretty savvy with the electronics in the house. Stumped the dummy!

When I read a really good book it's tough to pick another. I look at them and read the cover to see if it looks like it will come close to what I just finished. If it doesn't grab me immediately then I want to put it aside and try another. I'm looking at a stack of books but none are jumping out at me. None of my favorite authors are publishing until July and August. Should be a good opportunity for me to get through some of these others.