Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning … we had a little rain!
Tuesday evening was a teaser of drops here and there … blech!!
And Wednesday morning started the same, but then some drizzle and finally some light, gentle, but steady rain!
For almost 2 hours.
I moved everything off the front porch to catch the rain…
It is incredible what rain will do that watering does not. And especially because I water with untreated well water, i.e. rain water filtered by 200 feet of ground. I don’t understand, but a little time in real rain makes a HUGE difference!
Hee… my first home grown tomato! One of the Husky Cherry tomatoes.
I picked it!!
And also some basil…
And made the world’s smallest Caprese Salad: bite sized, but delicious!
From “A Presumption of Death: a new Lord Peter Wimsey/Harriet Vane mystery” by Jill Paton Walsh and Dorothy Sayers
The above quote is a discussion between Lord and Lady Peter (Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane Wimsey), in the early days of WWII when Peter has just returned from a very dangerous mission for the Foreign Office. Harriet was living with their 2 young sons, Peter’s sister’s three children, a cook, Bunter (Peter’s valet extraordinaire who had returned earlier) and a housemaid … in their country home having closed up their London house. During Peter’s absence, Harriet did not know where he was or what he was doing (Official Secrets Act) and had very limited ability to communicate … some military address and heavily censored. At this time of the war, Germany was running roughshod over everything and things looked VERY grim for England and the United Kingdom. When Peter returned safely from his mission, it was obviously a huge relief … that is the setting for the 2 lines of their conversation.
I have never had that kind of drama or fear in my life, for which I am very grateful!
But for whatever reason, as I was gathering some photos and thinking about a post, I thought: “sharp joy!”, that is what I am feeling today. Maybe it is awareness … awareness of being in circumstances that I love, despite the weather and fire danger. Being aware that I am so very fortunate to live in a beautiful and comfortable spot with dear Emmett for companionship … while still missing Auggie terribly … but grateful for his place in our lives and all he brought Bear, Emmett and me.
It looks like the financial reorganization will resolve as I hoped … in two weeks. The bank seems certain and banks are given to being conservative, so while “not counting my chickens”, I am feeling that I will not need to sell and move into the motorhome. And while a motorhome adventure was/is not undesirable, there is a part of me that does not want to do that right now: heat, fires, general upheaval in routine and some motorhome maintenance needed. So, I am cautiously optimistic that things will resolve to give me some breathing room to stay in this house.
And the Jeep has new tires!!! Minor, but it has been one of those “back of the mind” things that I am so happy is done!
So … awareness that things are on the way to resolution after nearly 2 months of great uncertainty! Probably :)
Meanwhile …
It doesn’t look great and “slight chance of rain” on Wednesday … there was a slight chance 3 days last week and we got nary a drop! It is scary dry and we move to Stage II fire restrictions tomorrow (I think this should have happened weeks ago!!)
You can barely see a mountain shape through the smoke. BUT, it is not as smoky as some mornings … the sun looks like the sun vs an orange-red blob. And don’t be fooled … the woods looks pretty in the photo, but the reality is there is a lot of dead and dying vegetation. The paths are dried hard and dusty.
The fuchsia are not really “cut flower” things, but the baskets have such an abundance of blooms, that I have been doing some thinning. I hate throwing the gorgeous blossoms away, so … a bit of pretty for my kitchen island.
It is exhausting: walks, games of fetch, playing in the hose :)
Despite the fact that they are not aesthetically pleasing and a bit noisy, I am so grateful that the 3 roll around behemoth A/C units keep this little house comfortably cool.
But, I have 2 little fans for helper air. Both are USB powered, one is rechargeable…
Above is the rechargeable fan. It has a reservoir for water and ice cubes, then the fan blows a cool mist. I use it in the bedroom and on my desk. It is quiet compared to my floor fans and big A/C units so is perfect for when I am in a work meeting and also at night, if it feels stuffy-warm but I don’t want the noise of the big unit. There are lots of small fan options which I found via some of the RV YouTubers I follow. And I am a huge fan of rechargeable USB things.
The final contributor to the “awareness that sharpens joy” … the first tomato starting to ripen! There are a LOT of baby tomatoes on all of the plants. And lots of peppers: jalapeno AND bell. The rest of the herbs and flowers are all doing well. I am just thrilled and am having so much fun taking care of things and enjoying all. So far, no critter or deer damage.
Despite the heat and smoke and fire-scary factor, it has been a lovely weekend.
According to my moon app, the moon is full at 8:38 p.m. this evening. I took the photo, Thursday (last) evening. The conditions were perfect with enough light from the just set sun, very light smoke and the moon risen in a low spot that allowed me to also capture the gold field. AND, Emmett and I headed down the road, in the Jeep, at the perfect time.
The sunset colors were beautiful as well.
I might try to get moon set tomorrow morning as it should be 5:45 a.m. which should be perfect morning light. We’ll see!
Meanwhile, we are enjoying what is forecast to be a short respite from heat and heavy smoke. It was a beautiful 48F at my house this morning. Emmett and I enjoyed it as long as possible.
I have dough rising for a bread bake while it is not so hot AND a beef roast to prepare as well.
At the moment, I am writing from a tire shop where the Jeeper is getting new tires and a minor service. I got lucky again! I was on my way to the grocery … again while it is not so hot … the tire shop looked empty. They had the tires I wanted in stock and could do all right that very second. It is supposed to take an hour. So, some downtime to write this post. There is a very nice setup to wait: comfy chairs and small tables set on the periphery of the showroom. The shop is separate so minimal noise from the work area. I am pretty happy!
All was done in slightly less than an hour and that includes the “shopping”, the work, the payment … holy cow!
A quick grocery trip and then home, lunch and back to work.
Well, that is what I wrote, but now at 4:14 p.m. … not a lick of work done. But all groceries put away, lunch was had, bread(s) baked …
A semolina-durum sandwich loaf.
Seedy spelt boule.
It has been a productive week: work, some chores, the financial stuff and ending with relatively pleasant weather.
There are no fires close, but there IS a lot of smoke from various Western U.S. fires. And I gather, from news sources, it is not just here in the Flathead Valley. There are a lot of big fires and the jet stream transports the smoke … everywhere.
The slightly silver lining to the smoke is that it keeps the daytime temperatures down. Sunday and Monday were forecast to be in the upper 90’s, but at my house, the high both days has been 84F. Unfortunately, the smoke also has messed with overnight cooling and instead of upper 50’s, it only cooled to 70F.
Thankfully, Emmett LOVES playing in the hose and sprinkler so we get some of his exercise (and cooling) that way!
I stand in the shade and work the hose.
We have a number of inside games to play and I do extra yoga and mini-trampoline stuff to make up for less outside activity.
Early morning on the front porch and early walks are our big outside times.
And overall, I am dealing with this hot, dry, smoky summer MUCH better this year than past years. I have no explanation! And I WILL be happy to see Autumn, but meanwhile, we are doing well and enjoying … getting work and chores done.
Could it be that I have acquired some maturity at the ripe old age of nearly 66??? I don’t know. I will expound further in another post, but I think that 2019’s work hiatus and 2020’s COVID-19 (extending into 2021 and ???) has helped prepare me for being more of a hermit-ish person with social media social-ness … than I was before. I am now an avid YouTube fan exploring channels across my own hobbies and interests: cooking, baking, dog training-teaching, sailing, rving, gardening, rebounding, weight training, yoga … so much fun stuff and such talent sharing all of it. And all of it inspiring me to learn more!
Also, I do think that as the years go by, I am better at adapting, dealing with whatever and enjoying (counting my blessings!) for today.
So, yes … the weather outside is frightful and the fires and heat are scary, but Emmett and I, we strive to live each day with joy and gratitude, whilst also allowing for the scary and the uncertainty and the less positive, i.e. balance!
*** Edit/Update 7/21. The smoke cleared slightly last night and it cooled normally … even some blue sky this morning. It is a brief respite, but I’ll take it!!
I have noted in previous posts that I am not much of a planner. I have short term plans … and thoughts about what I think I might do, but I have never been a real long term planner.
There is a saying: “If you fail to plan, plan to fail” … POPPYCOCK !! The saying assumes that there is some predictable nature to the universe. I do not think that there is.
See 2020-2021 COVID-19 Pandemic as the latest example.
Additionally, see the varied ramifications of the Pandemic: economically, financially, socially, emotionally, spiritually.
About plans.
The pandemic and for me, 2019’s work hiatus … what plans would help/survive either scenario.
But, here I am, coming out the other side of all, in what today, feels like a success. And it has not a thing to do with anything I thought or even sort of planned. I have just been fortunate.
There is a new “term” in the Mountain West: “Zoom Boom”. It refers to the boom in property values and visitors and buyers from cities, having discovered that they can work remotely (Zoom) and so are free to pursue lifestyles outside of the big city.
The Zoom Boom has fed into a frenzy of big city folks, with big city $$$, buying property in semi-rural/rural locations. The impact on me, personally, has been to give me some options in my pre-retirement/retirement that I did not expect and could NOT have planned for. Even at the beginning of the pandemic, I had no visionary idea that things would evolve as they have.
I have and am benefiting from a totally unforeseen circumstance.
So much for plans :) I am just in a lucky position.
The downside in my area is that there is a lack of affordable housing for “front line staff” at restaurants, hotels and other tourist venues as well as many, many “unskilled laborer” kind of jobs. There are help wanted signs everywhere. There are signing bonuses for these jobs.
It is a crazy juxtaposition of positive and negative ramifications of the Pandemic.
Who could plan for any of this?
Bottom line, I am grateful for my decision to work remotely, in this area … 27 years ago! I made the decision based on how I wanted to live my life and was just lucky to have the work that allowed me to continue. Any “planning” was solely on the basis of how I wanted to live, vs a financial plan.
And I bought a motorhome which I thought at the time was a tossup as to how it would work out financially, i.e. a rapidly depreciating “vehicle” … but surprise, it is now a desirable item also.
Holy Darn Cow.
I don’t know what tomorrow might bring.
Ultimately, none of us has the guarantee of seeing another sunrise … and it takes just one incident/accident/bad news from the Dr. to throw a spanner into the works.
So.
Enjoy today is my motto. Yesterday is done, tomorrow has not happened, we only have now.
Somewhere in the vicinity of 21-23 years ago, living in Whitefish, MT … newly single and involved in a local church and reaching out to someone in a kind of mentoring capacity …
One evening, I was on my way to a local eatery to pick up a pizza and a bottle of red. So, a “supper” that was maybe $22-25.
On the way, I stopped to see the person I was helping … mostly with her computer. We dealt with the computer and then she showed me a local sales flyer for art supplies. She was very excited because something she wanted to do her art was on sale … for $6.00. She thought she would be able to come up with the $6.00 while the sale was still in progress.
Holy Cow.
I can only say that I have never forgotten how that affected me. I was on my way to glibly pay 4x as much for a single meal … spur of the moment, i.e. I had a craving for a specific pizza and a specific bottle of wine to go with.
Perspective.
I know! We all have our personal budgets and regimes, etc. etc. I sometimes see home renovations that are huge compared to what I would like to / hope to do on my little spot.
Fast forward to today.
My little “SPOT” is suddenly worth more than I hoped for when I thought I would sell at this point to help fund my retirement.
AND, I have a “spare house” … Wild Thing … the motorhome.
There are many who would LOVE to be in my position of being able to sell my house, clear all debt, bank a goodly sum and take off in a very livable RV.
Right.
This afternoon, my internet slowed to a crawl and while waiting for it to recover, I watched a saved youTube
Perspective.
YIKES.
It is 22 years ago all over again.
Not sure where I am going with this except to say … it gives me pause. It makes me think HARD about the decisions in front of me: house, rv, what and where.
And it makes me incredibly grateful that I have the choices that I have as well as some background “guilt” about feeling a little sorry for myself that I cannot “DO.IT.ALL”
