Tiny Goldfinch*

With the help of David, our contractor, we are undertaking a hit list (mostly mine) of indoor renovations. This morning David arrived at 8am with Greg to get started on taking off all the old door casings and replacing them with some updated Shaker style ones. Once again we revisited the idea of reconfiguring the guest bathroom to accommodate  a tub with a separate shower. David is mulling  over the possibilities, including a deep Japanese style soaking tub with a seat in it. First world problems for sure, but we seem to be making such a mess of things elsewhere that we may as well try to make home as comfortable and pleasant as possible.

 Our visit to Kathy followed a two week hiatus during which we had house guests, and Kathy and her husband were quarantining pending the results of PCR tests for Covid. They were negative, but Kathy was wearing a mask again because so many fully vaccinated people, including one of the Pilates teachers and her entire family all got it. We've gotten so used to wearing masks that we sometimes forget to take them off when we're driving around in the car. I think we will be wearing them for some time to come, so I have gotten out my sewing machine and my boxes of fabrics (out of a closet also slated to be renovated with better shelves and new doors) to start making a new batch. School has started and all students and personnel are required to wear masks so Dana has requested more.

By the time we got home, it was over 90F and even our umbrellas weren't  providing enough shade to motivate us to go outside. Greg used the space in our garage once occupied by a second car to set up his saw and store some lumber. I had to go to the dentist, but driving around in a  car with air conditioning might be the most fuel efficient way to stay  
cool.

It is supposed to be windy tonight and the power may be turned off although we haven't gotten any notices so It may not happen here. I can hear a helicopter flying overhead which could mean the power company is checking their lines. I closed all the umbrellas to keep them from blasting off in a wind gust. If the power does go off, we should have enough stored battery power to run the essentials....

*We turned the fountain on again after cleaning it because the birds really seem to enjoy it. They must be suffering in the heat too so it seems the least we can do. The water is recycled so evaporation is the only water lost.