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“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to he man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows the triumph of high achievement; and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew niether victory nor defeat.” - TR

The 4th was wet… everywhere. It has not appreciably stopped raining and I ended up taking a longer route home from my mother’s because the path normally taken was submerged. I’m home and meloncholy, but I don’t think it’s the weather. The rain is quite nice up until it begins to damage my lawn. I cut down a Tallow tree at the back corner of my yard and dug the root ball up as best I could with the tools on hand. It is being replaced by a Gardenia this weekend (or perhaps tomorrow). It’s still raining and I’m exhausted. Even though I’m technically “off work” today, I’ve been working on and off all morning. I think I’m going to try to nap.