Saturday morning :)

Montana’s Governor: Steve Bullock, issued a Mask Mandate last week. I am extremely grateful for this.

With privilege comes responsibility and unfortunately, Montana did NOT step up. If “we” had behaved with responsibility in masking when appropriate and distancing, this directive would not have been unnecessary. And now … whatever, I am happy that there IS an official stance and in my limited experience out and about, it has been kindly adhered to. Yea!

So.

I went to Farmer’s Market this morning to collect my “no contact” online order of vegetables. All were masked and also, all were distancing. Yea!

The first garden tomatoes!!! Heirloom and a few slicers. Zucchini, cucumber, mini lettuce, cabbage … hidden carrots and uncured garlic.

Pickle pack!!! Pickling cucumbers, dill and fresh garlic. Tomorrow is Pickle Sunday :)

Next week, there are some 90F days in the forecast, so A/C 1 of 3. In place, filters cleaned, tested and good to go.

The pickling pack is on deck. I plan to prep tonight and so be prepared to pickle early on Sunday … when it is cool.

Meanwhile …

Also on Saturday’s list was adding 2 more motion sensors to our Guardline system.

I am not concerned about human intrusions, but more about wildlife intrusions. I like to open the house to cool overnight, but have concerns about wildlife being attracted to house cooking aromas. So… a number of sensors around the windows furthest away from the bedroom. We will see!

Super Saturday here. Hope your Saturday was super also.

Some photos from the past week to celebrate this Friday … with JOY!

I wrote in a previous post that the “common harebell” were not showy. BUT, this year, they ARE showy! There are a lot of them in my woods and many multiple blooms. Beautiful!

Well, thistle. I confess that I LOVE the blooms. But the stalks are kind of yuck and they can take over. So. I enjoy the blooms and then whack the plants before they go to seed.

We had a good week and I am looking forward to a quick visit to Farmer’s Market in the morning. I have pre-ordered so have a no contact pickup, plus we (Montana) are under a Mask Required Mandate (YEA!) which applies to the Market. Market is outdoors and I anticipate that with the directive and climbing numbers, people will also be distance respectful.

So, Happy Friday and hope all had a good week!

Even though I have NO excuse, considering my lifestyle before COVID-19 is not much different than during, I STILL had a long period of … the doldrums.

I have had short spurts of non-doldrums, but until a week or 10 days ago … GAH. And I have felt so guilty for the drag because: see above … NO excuse.

Last year, at this time, I was in a work hiatus as a bid process resolved at my primary client. A projected 30 day hiatus ended up as a 4.5 month hiatus, which strained my budget and retirement planning. And yet, all of that time, and a list of things to do and learn and …

I did do a lot of thinking, learning new skills … BUT, it also felt like I did not accomplish much.

Fast forward to the last 3-4 weeks.

I got my groove back.

I reset my schedule.

And now, I am getting work done, enjoying time with Auggie and Emmett (including continuing teaching/training) AND I have completed some items that have been on my “to do” list for over a year:

• Blog updates
• House and yard tasks
• Misc maintenance items

YIKES!

I’m feeling pretty good at the moment. I hate to even write that as I feel like in the next moment, all will regress. Oh well. At THIS moment, while there are “to do” things, I am feeling good about my current schedule of:

• Auggie and Emmett time
• Me exercise and reflect time
• WORK!
• To do list time

Things are getting done and the accomplishment of that is contributing to a wonderful sense of well being in a world gone mad.

Onward.

Photos from June 8, 2020.

The lilac blooms are long done.

I am catching up on some older photos and I loved this little series.

Happy Tuesday, 07/14/2020.