Another strong storm hit Louisville a couple of nights ago. This one had straight line winds that were between 65 and 70 miles an hour. Fortunately it only lasted for a few minutes. Well, maybe five or ten minutes. I live in fear of my oak tree crashing in on my home but I escaped again. However the roof and yard were a total mess. There were some small branches and twigs and leaves and just plain clutter all over my yard and windows. I did drive to church the next morning and saw a few large branches down but overall the area did not look too bad. My power flicked off a few times but came right back on. I had to reset the clocks twice. Abrahams lost their power but their yard was about in the same condition as mine. Last time my umbrella on the deck was blown over onto their roof. Not so this time!
Brian called and said he would come and help me clean up the mess. When he got here he was amazed at how good things looked here. He had seen trees that had been uprooted and were on top of cars or houses, wires down, telephone poles pulled from the ground, large signs blown against building and such havoc that he felt I should count my blessings. He did get the blower and cleaned it all up but made me feel thankful for being spared and guilty for whining about my minor mess. That's the story of life.

Things are never so bad that you can't look around and see someone worse off than you. My Grandmother taught me that lesson when I was a young child. I have found so often in life that she was right. So often when I begin to have a pity party for myself I have to look around and see that I am the lucky one.

Does this mean that I don't whine and complain about my plight once in awhile? No,on many occasions I have to adjust my attitude but I try to eventually come around to seeing the good things in my life and let the less than good things go. However, I am still mad at the squirrel or raccoon or whatever it was that ate my tomato plants! I see a few of my neighbors and some members of my family and some of the people at achool that have bumper crops of tomatoes and I ask where did I go wrong? Is there a 'tomato ref' around that I can complain to? Surely, the little beast that ate the plants deserved to have a foul called on him. It just doesn't seem fair. I love tomatoes! Why me,Lord?

Oh well, my oak tree is still standing!!!Ciao.