Today was a pretty good day.

The weather has been very agreeable for some time now - at least 10-12 weeks -with the exception of a very few afternoons where temperatures peaked in the low 90's - and this morning was no exception.

My day began as it has for several months with coffee on the porch listening to the various birds, squirrels and the occasional passerby. But, I couldn't sit here all morning since I did have some things I wanted to accomplish while the Mrs. was at work.

I set up a ladder, got on our roof and set to cleaning out the gutters before the shingles became too hot to the touch. I've done this in the past mid-summer in the middle of the day without thinking and paid the price. It didn't take long before I had 3 bags of debris. While cleaning everything up, I also noticed and fixed some aluminum trim that had come loose.

Next up was cutting our yard. The grass is a real warm season blend and it needs to be cut every week in the summer or else it can become difficult.

Finishing with the grass I turned my attention to some very sick looking boxwood bushes along side the carport that I finally decided need to go. They don't appear to have grown more than 1 inch in 15 years and haven't filled out at all. The biggest issue for me is that they seem to harbor mosquitos. They typically are not hard to pull up so I started working on digging them up only to upset some bees I didn't see. There must have been a nest in the ground. Not sure where they came from, but they were very aggressive. I ended up having to dispatch a few of them before finally getting all the bushes removed.

Having finished with yard work for the day, I started some laundry and then left to do a couple of minor errands before eating lunch with the Mrs. during her break. We decided to sort of over-eat lunch as we planned to go to the gym since she got off a little early.

There were very few people at the gym. A much more pleasant experience than usual. After returning home, we decided to just have our protein shake and skip dinner - which was according to plan (big lunch).

We spent most of the early evening sitting on the porch and relaxing after the strenuous workout and discussing our upcoming vacation plans.

By some standards, the above may be a normal, boring day - I didn't find a cure for hunger or poverty. But it was a fulfilling, productive day in my eyes.

Finding a cure for a disease and having a productive day are not on the same scale. The value of one does not diminish the value of the other. For me, it was one of the better days in a long time. The kind where you are fully active and growing mentally, physically and spiritually.