Happy Day
It has cooled. We’ve had some rain. It is suddenly very pleasant outside.
Late afternoon on Thursday…
All of us outside.
Exploring.
Chasing bugs, butterflies and grasshoppers.
Airborne!
Happy Day.
Posts from the ‘Pets’ category
Stuffed shells and other weekend stories
Saturday was wonderfully cool, clear and beautiful…
BUT.
At the construction site to our East there was grading and ??? and hauling of dirt.
It was noisy outside.
Bear, Auggie and I stayed mostly inside.
It was warm enough to close the house and run the A/C and so have none of the heavy equipment noise.
And early Saturday morning, I prepped a mix of swiss chard/onion/garlic and other spices, a ricotta-egg-parmesan mix and cooked some jumbo pasta shells.
Auggie had his usual.
But I had stuffed shells.
With Marcella Hazan’s tomato sauce. (tomatoes, butter, salt and an onion…slow simmered for 45 minutes, then remove the onion – HEAVEN!)
Jumbo pasta shells filled with the ricotta-chard mix, nestled on a bit of the tomato sauce, drizzled with the tomato sauce, baked and then under the broiler with some fresh grated parmesan.
Major deliciousness!
Meanwhile, some progress on the plumbing issue – washing machine drain – a temporary solution is in place with a permanent solution to be determined before Winter.
And I uncovered a bit of firewood that is ready to be split – it has been covered for 2 years and I was a little leery about what else might be living under the tarp… nothing scary and the wood looks good!
After 3 or maybe 4 weeks of procrastinating, I took up all of the little rugs, dust mopped, vacuumed and EVEN damp mopped the floors. And I dusted. It is relatively clean in the house!
…Speaking of Winter. We are now half-way through Summer. In Montana, that is getting close to Fall: another 7-10 days and the visitor traffic will diminish substantially. It might still get warm-hot but daylight is decreasing/dark time is increasing…it gets more and more difficult to be uncomfortably hot for more than a short bit of the afternoon. The light at the end of the summer tunnel is in sight. Hoo..I say HOO-RAH!
A hot, hazy, smoky week
The work week evaporated…
Saying goodbye to new friends,
Getting back to our “normal” routine,
Plumbing issues!!
A slow levelling jack on Wild Thing!
Hot, hazy & smoky weather-wise.
By today, Friday, we were DONE…
Done.
A hot, hazy, smoky week – done.
Rollin’ with it
According to NOAA, our week of cool was to come to an end today.
But, it started cool and took until late afternoon to really feel hot.
We topped out at 85 vs the 91 forecast…at my house, anyway.
And we enjoyed.
So.
Yes, I decided not to sell the house (property).
The timing was wrong on several fronts:
realtors expressed that I overpriced and they passed that on to their clients
showing the house meant a spiffing up and disruption as I got us all in the motorhome for a 2 hour window around the showing time
I didn’t have a good idea of where I wanted to go
Bear and Auggie are doing so well here
I’m not unhappy here
I have 2 neighbors that are GOLD: Mike and Nancy next and Jesse and Melanie across the road. GOLD!!
Yes, I have the dream of the little house, etc., but the current reality is pretty darn good also.
The timing was just wrong for me and for us.
I am so happy and relieved to not be “selling”.
And the fact that the Yellow Jacket thing appears to be a non-thing and the woods, the front porch, Beardog point – all are enjoyable – BONUS!
The construction…about 150-175 yards from the front porch.
UGH.
But we are rollin’ with it :) !!
Sweet tales
This past week had its challenges.
Those challenges led to a very underwhelming work week.
But as difficult as the week was, it was “good” for me and it led to taking Friday – Sunday (today)…completely OFF!
Bear and I went to town on Friday morning – EARLY! We stopped for a walk on the way and then I took my time doing some food shopping at a few locations – locations with good shade parking and it was early.
Then I had a chance to talk with my boss and friend of 13 years duration and also my neighbor and friend of 8 years duration and I prayed and I thought and I finally settled and let go of the light work week and took the weekend to find my peace.
I found it.
I found peace in the kindness and thoughtfulness of my boss, my neighbor, my folks, and the quiet of my home space…
“We cannot change our past… we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you… we are in charge of our Attitudes.” Charles Swindoll
Amen.
My reaction is quiet.
And solitude.
And time with dear Bear and Auggie.
That tail – that tail alone makes me smile and laugh.
And this tail.
This tail in sweet slumber on my bed.
LOVE and PEACE!
And even the weather cooperated with cool temps…
…and sweet rain!
Sweet tails/tales of a week that is ultimately VERY good. I am grateful for the challenging, for the support, for the love and peace and for all lessons learned.
Sweet tales indeed.
*** in light of last week’s uber-light work week, this coming week will be head’s down and full speed ahead work-wise so posts may be light/non-existent as I catch up. Happy Week!
Another bear story and another fuzzy bear photo
Kind of funny timing.
Earlier this week, the house was being shown by a realtor, Kristen, that lives just up the road from me. And the lookers were members of her family. They were asking me about wildlife and Bear (Bear the beardog). And did we often see bears? I said that I usually saw them or sign of them in the Spring and Fall but hadn’t seen any this year. Neither had Kristen.
So, this morning, Bear, Auggie and I had just gone out and we were all ambling about…7:15 ish a.m. The breeze was blowing toward us from the East and Bear started sniffing and doing the nose in the air thing that means “bear”! He started walking East and the nose went up again. I called him to “Stay” and he did and then I saw the bear (an actual bear). I told Bear (the beardog) “Inside” and he went. Auggie was hunting critters by the house and the bear had not even looked our way and was walking along the east property line which is what they always do – funny.
Got the camera and ran back out. You think the bears are just walking slowly but as they are big, they cover a lot of ground quickly.
So…
From about 100 yards away from the bear and 20 yards from the house which is as close as I care to go out of both safety and respect for the bear.
Same photo as above but cropped. Fuzzy. Rats.
Although the bear looks brown, no sign of a hump. The last several bears I’ve seen have been brown. I still think they are “black” or “cinnamon” bears vs grizzly, but I guess it could be a young grizzly. It was a bear, though!
If Auggie caught any bear scent, he did not show any indication or concern. The critters around the rock were pretty active – even I could hear their squeaks.
Bear was watching from the bedroom and not making a sound.
And the sun came up through a very smoky sky.
It is a privilege to see a bear moving through, being a bear and going about his or her bear business, but I sure would like to get a great photo of one of them!