Journal Entry June 28 to July 4th

Picked one of the last buckets of strawberries, froze most of them and made Independence Day dessert with the rest.

Began writing a short story about the afterlife. Have been in real writing funk but was inspired by reading Tobias Wolff’s short story collection Our Story Begins.

Was stymied in my attempts to really get at my garden with continous rain. Realized that it is the slugs and snails who are taking over the world.

Cilantro and Calendula have flowered.

Helped find another employee to hire. Business meeting Monday night at Border’s — always tracking those leads and figuring out good ways to spend advertising dollars. Payroll. Pay bills. Track money in and out.

Complained to the college financial aid department and began finding additional ways to gather monies for eldest son’s 2009/2010 school year.

Softball game in the rain Wednesday night, me in the dugout scorekeeping, husband coaching and daughter doing her best to pitch with a wet softball. Had only 8 girls show up. Lost the game.

Finally opened our above-ground pool. Had to drain it completely and clean it of algae, scrubbing the sides with bleach. Had a terrible problem last year keeping algae at bay (cost hundreds of dollars in chemicals). Draining it showed us we needed to adjust the liner, it was sagging and folding over on the edges (good spots for algae to grow).

Watched the Ortonville Fireworks at our usual place — Brandon High School. Good show!

Had a nice Fourth of July with Mom and Ben and Sarah and Bob. Love you guys.