After doing a bang-up job of falling down the stairs in my farm home on June 8th, I’m thrilled to wear slippers or flip flops half time now instead of spending night and day in a fracture boot for six weeks. ANY kind of walking is wonderful
In terms of footwear, my Amish neighbors prefer to go barefoot. They believe there is a healthy benefit in directly connecting with the earth, and they may be right.
I can’t run across gravel and rough vegetation like they do though. I’m a softy.
I didn’t write anything on our nation’s 250th birthday, but it’s a thrill to reach that milestone. Two hundred and fifty years is a short time span compared to naions who count events through thousands of years. But think of it—determined idealists cut ties and left their familiar world to trust God and cross an ocean to establish a new government and way of life. I’m glad to descend from some of those visionaries who crossed oceans.
Our grand American experiment became a model for many peoples and nations who wish to better their circumstances. That’s why many have still come at great risk by legal and illegal means. When asked in 1777 whether the newly formed United States was a republic or a monarchy, Benjamin Franklin replied: “A republic, if you can keep it.” I pray that we will all work together to preserve it.
Here in Minnesota, Colorado, Washington, Oregon, and Britiish Columbia, Alberta, and Ontario, devastating forest firest have spread destruction and choking smoke many directions. Such crises brought out the best in people who voluntarily worked together to save people and property . Those actions can help us safeguard and pass on a nation to be proud of. This forest fire photo is beautiful, but the devastation is unimaginable. Logging or firefighting boots are needed there. 
During college and later, in Washington, Oregon, and BC and Alberta in Canada I worked at forest fires. My role was to complete timecards, payroll, and HR. We saw long hours, horrible conditions, and one death. I rode in a truck that drove through firelines, flew in a small spotter plane that checked huge forest areas for new smokes, and saw gorgeous scenery including a double waterfall on the eastern slope of the Canadian Rockies that was not accessible by road. I will never forget it. If I live long and write fast, many of those scenes and tales may end up in my books.
Meanwhile, talking with a longtime friend about her US Army service in Iraq got me thinking about the challenges women face in our military. That led me to inviting four other authors to write stories of brave women in all five branches of our US military. Our book, Stars and Stripes for Freedom, released as an eBook on July 22nd and will be in print August 1st. It’s getting good reviews. Please read, enjoy, spread the word, and post customer reviews on Amazon.com and other major sites. Nothing does more to help books be discovered than for friends to read, discuss, recommend, and spread the word. Thank you.
I’m also pleased to have a true story published in the next Chicken Soup collection, Best Dogs Ever, that releases August 18th.
Many areas remain in desperate need of rain. I hand water a few plants where the sprinkler can’t reach. I check the weather app frequently hoping for good news, and finally there is the possibiity of rain tomorrow. I will welcome every drop.
Enjoy your summer. Take care of yourselves and your families. Help your neighbors on good days and bad so together we can pass on to those following us a United States of America that is even better than it is now!
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