How Great

From our Milky Way galaxy, all the way down to a tiny viral particle - creation is astounding.  I can't grasp the vastness of the universe, or the smallness of it.  But I can marvel at the wonder of creation in my own woods or while looking up at a stormy sky.  The hymn 'How Great Thou Art' often comes to mind.  (First four photos are from the internet.)












O Lord my God, When I in awesome wonder,
Consider all the worlds Thy Hands have made;
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy power throughout the universe displayed.

Chorus:
  Then sings my soul, My Savior God, to Thee,
  How great Thou art, How great Thou art.
  Then sings my soul, My Savior God, to Thee,
  How great Thou art, How great Thou art! 

 



When through the woods, and forest glades I wander,
And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees.
When I look down, from lofty mountain grandeur
And see the brook, and feel the gentle breeze.

And when I think, that God, His Son not sparing;
Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in;
That on a Cross, my burdens gladly bearing,
He bled and died to take away my sin.

When Christ shall come, with shout of acclamation,
And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart.
Then I shall bow, in humble adoration,
And then proclaim: "My God, how great Thou art!"



Saturday 7/25 - It was nice that the rain had cooled things off.  I was out looking at the front yard, admiring the work that had been done by the tree guys, and this buck came across the street.  How great was that!








He walked between our yard and Brian's, and then suddenly stopped.  That's when I started this (video).  I wondered what had him worried, thinking maybe it was the stump from the missing tree.  Like our horses, deer appear very perceptive to any change in their territory.

Getting my blog finished and posted, then editing it when sister Carol sent corrections, and also starting this week's blog; all took a greater part of the morning.

A big storm blew in just after Joe and Patty left for Nashville.  Maggie was not happy about the rolling thunder.  I was amazed at how dark it can get outside at high noon, when a storm is overhead.  The two Fairfield Gladian's arrived at Courtney's just before the Iowan's did.  Tracy and Teresa were moving their son Nathan to Florida.  Dan and Val also joined everybody for lunch.  I had to work at the pool, so missed out.


My shift started in a gentle rain, but the thunder and lightening had passed.  Only two ladies had come to the middle swim time, with a little over an hour left until they would have to leave so I could disinfect everything.  However, everything was already clean and ready for the last shift, so with 30 minutes left, I told them they could stay and I started the last shift early.  I e-mailed the people (who I had addresses for) that had reservations for the 4-6:30 time and told them they could come early.  About ten did so.


I had rented the pool for a party from 7-9 and was able to get most of the cleaning done early and barn folks started coming at 6:45.  Joe, Patty, and Shirley are in the water in the above photo.  Karen and Polly didn't plan on swimming, but enjoyed hanging out at pool side.











The weather had been iffy, but the rain held off and it turned out to be a lovely evening.  However, the water and air were both a tad cool.

I love the pool at night.  The lights make it look so inviting.














It was a small, enjoyable party of just fifteen of us. 
In this last photo I took just before 8pm, you can see the moon rising and there is just a little bit of ambient sunlight left.

People left at 9:00 and I did some quick picking up, with the plan to finish cleaning the next morning.  Sharon had shared her Sangria, which was very good, but took me out of the mood to clean.  I was tired, relaxed, and happy, so locked up and headed home.

Sunday 7/26 - I decided it was going to be a riding day, and going earlier would be best.  Also I needed to finish cleaning the pool before it opened.












I did not get to the barn until 9am though.  Jason was soaking Big John's foot in a medicated solution when I arrived.



I headed off on Amiga, down the muddy trail.  I was planning to ride the Holly trail.  It had several small obstructions I removed as we went along.  At one point, Amiga swung her rear around, and off the trail, because I was pulling on this little tree you see in the photo, that was in the way.  Anyway, Amiga kind of stumbled in the bad footing. 




While going across the creek she had another bad hoof placement so I decided to walk her up the big hill on the other side.  Once I was back on her, she seemed fine, so we continued into the Glade and rode the dirt and gravel roads around Dorchester golf course.  Here we are, on the road, looking towards the 13th tee box.




After an hour, Amiga started getting more tripsy, acting sore or tired, so we turned around and headed back to the barn.  In this photo I am walking her back down the big hill on the Holly trail because it was a little slippery.  She stopped to listen to the golfers across the way.



The water at the barn was turned off because there was a leak somewhere, so I took Amiga across the street to hose her muddy leg wraps off and cool her down.  We had gone a total of two hours, which kind of wore her out. 

I needed to eat, re-hydrate, and rest, so read on the porch swing after a late lunch.  The forecasted rain never got to us, but the storms passed all around and it thundered for over an hour.









I ended up taking about a 90 minute nap but felt drugged as I was trying to wake up from it. 

I fed all the critters their usual 5pm dinner and then headed off on a long walk with Maggie.  We made our way on the walking paths and trails to Peavine, and walked the long section that was closed.









In both photos, we are looking down Peavine toward the East.  As we approached the intersection with Catoosa and Westchester, the roadbed had been raised up with added rock and dirt.  It is hard to see from these last two photos, but the roadbed is about three feet higher than when I was here several days earlier.

Maggie and I were walking (although I had stopped to talk with a friend for quite awhile) a little over two hours.

Patty sent this photo of Amiga.  She and Shirley were at the barn horsing around with Zorro and Gov, and checked in on my girl.  She was lying, resting in her stall, which she does sometimes. 

All our house windows were open and the fans on, which made it cool enough to sleep well.

Monday 7/27 - Mama Styx taking a morning nap.  It was a tempting thought.



Look at her cute little toes.






It was well into the morning by the time I got done computerizing and motivated enough to go to the barn.  I wanted to check on Amiga.


I got on her bareback to see if I could detect any soreness.  I sat on a towel to keep my shorts from getting dirty and hairy.







She felt pretty good, only favoring her front right leg when we gaited up the little hill towards the bean field.





A close up of the back of her neck shows her pretty mane.  I was enjoying horse time, so sat on Amiga for quite awhile, letting her graze up by the bean field.

When I got home, I had lost motivation to clean the house.  I was thinking Stevie (Queen of the beanbag) had the right idea for passing the time.

















All my outside potted plants really needed watering, so I fertilized all of them while in the process.  Then I got distracted, and helped Brian with some branch trimming. 

A storm blew in just as we were finishing up.  It was short but fierce.  A real gully washer, and the creek had risen.

I managed to waste the remaining time I had before going to Mirror Lake Blast including playing with my cats (video).














I brought Joan, who is staying with Brian for the summer, and we met up with Patty.

As the concert progressed, more and more people got up to dance, and I did what I could to keep my distance.




Tuesday 7/28 -
Britney introduced me to this, first thing in the morning while Facebook messaging.  It is a Moss Piglet (Tardigrade- a phylum of water-dwelling eight-legged segmented micro-animals.) also called a Water Bear.  According to Wikipedia, the adult size ranges from 0.1mm to 1.5mm.  In all my years of teaching Biology, I have never hear of it.  Now I want to go harvest a bunch of moss and lichen (where they live) and look at it under a microscope.  This is just another example of how great creation is.

The morning was accompanied by hard rain so all windows were shut and the dog walk was short.  The creek had risen even more.  I wondered what happened with Moss Piglets in these conditions.  They probably either hung on tight, or got washed to a new home.








I got started cleaning house about 10am, but was bogged down by some big messes (mostly cat hair and stray litter) I had let accumulate.  I was also giving everything a thorough scrub. 


We had ended up getting three inches of rain so the creek remained high as water kept draining down from the hills above us.

I was at the barn from 12:45-3:30 for a Bible Study and then a little horsing around.

Patty arrived just after I brought Amiga in, and she worked with Zorro at the mounting block.







Patty put Zorro in 'time out' for a few minutes, and then he was more cooperative at the mounting block and she took him for a little ride in the front yard.

I gave Amiga a Previcox (third day in a row) and lunged her in the round pen (at a walk and a slow gait) to assess her legs.  She did well, with very little favoring of the front right leg.

The remainder of the afternoon and into the evening at home was spent preparing the upstairs for house guests.  I also finished a forth load of laundry and did other daily chores.

 Wednesday 7/29 - We got another 1/2 inch of rain at bed time, so windows were mostly shut to keep the water out.  I finished closing all of them and turned the air on when I got up at 5am.  Even though the outside air temperature has been cooler, the humidity has been very high and with all the rain lately, the windows have had to be mostly shut.






I continued cleaning all morning, getting everything scrubbed spic and span, except the kitchen, before having to leave for work.  The kitchen gets a light cleaning once or twice a day so was not in bad shape.  The cats were very interested in the new location of their 'tent' on the porch and Mama Styx and Babe played hide and seek.



Monita and Stevie taking a nap on the chairs and pads in the tent.

Joe, with Jim and Debbie, who had arrived from Florida, came to the pool for the third shift.  I had to clear the pool after about an hour when distant thunder made it dangerous to swim.  And before long, we got hit with a heavy downpour. 


Debbie, Joe, and Jim waiting out the rain.

All my pool guests left except my clan.  We waited it out,  having dinner (burgers and fries) from Dorchester Club House.  By the time we sat to eat, it had finished raining.  And it was too late to go back in the pool after dinner.

I had the cleaning at the pool well under control and was able to close and get home before 7pm.  Some friendly, competitive bridge ensued until bedtime.


Thursday 7/30 - We had breakfast on the porch and then Jim, Debbie, and Joe went for a hike and I headed to the pool to work.  They came later, to cool off after hiking.

They were then off for nine holes of golf while I finished up my five hour work shift.







We all arrived home about the same time and then had leisure time for three hours, including watching golf on TV, napping, playing with cats and dog, and chatting.  This photo of all four cats together was taken in the evening.  They were still curious about the tent. 



We had a wonderful dinner on the back patio at Stonehenge.  The food and service were both great.

After dinner, we were considering walking the back nine of Stonehenge, but knew it would be time consuming and rigorous.  Well, the boys managed to talk the cart attendant into lettings us borrow two.




 And off we went.  We only had 20 minutes, so were really pushing the pace until we got to the holes near Lake Dartmoor, so many beautiful holes and landscape (video).  And what a fun ride we had.














The evening ended with bridge out on the porch.  This time it was boys against girls.  I must say, it was a close two rubbers, but we ladies pulled off the win.

Friday 7/31 - The last day of July, and I can't believe how fast the summer is going.  We were on the golf course by 8:00, I playing for the first (and probably last) time this summer.










We kept the pace going, trying to finish before the rain.




I only hit four shots per hole - a drive, a fairway shot, a chip, and a putt.  I had a few good ones, and not too many really bad ones, so enjoyed myself.

We had time to clean up, hang out, pack up, and eat lunch.

















Mama Styx looks much lighter sitting in the sun. 

It is about time for me to pack up my lap top and cooler and we are hitting the road, with a fun weekend in store for us.  How great to be able to enjoy life with loved ones.