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.

Full Moon Friday!

BUT, fire is NOT delightful !!!

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.

Cheers!

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”

Perspective.

We had a good weekend: some work, some chores, some walks, some play, some smoke, some gardening and some ice cream!!

A smoky, hazy sunrise. There are no fires close to me, but the valley was smoke filled this morning from Western fires. Every day, I pray for the fire fighters who work in crazy heat and dangerous conditions to control the fires.

It is scary dry and the woods is starting to reflect that…

Although the lupins turn to seed pods normally and dry a bit, you can see that the foliage is also drying out.

The woods grasses and bushes are starting to dry and die also. Typically, we do not get much, if any rain from now until mid-late August or early September.

On a somewhat brighter note …

I made another trip to the nursery. My local nursery issues “Swan Bucks” (Swan River Gardens is the nursery) that are redeemable as the season goes on. July 1-15 the “bucks” can be used for vegetables and annuals. I am feeling all (mostly) green-thumbed with the tomatoes doing well in their cloth containers … in the wheel barrow … so I bought 2 pepper plants: sweet bell and a jalapeno. Both have several peppers already! Hopefully they and the tomatoes get along in the wheel barrow. I had enough Swan Bucks to kind of make the veg plants free!

The spinach has been struggling and kind of looking like it was not going to make it so I bought some herbs: thai basil and tarragon, an impatiens that likes a bit of sun and some autumnal fuchsia (no blooms, but gorgeous leaves) … to fill in the rolling planter.

I had enough potting mix to move the spinach to what is actually a disposable cat litter box, but I thought would be ok as a planter vs completely giving up on the spinach.

So … some replanting, some shuffling of position in the tiered planter and we will see how it goes. Note to self: the tiered planter seems best for herbs and flowers vs vegetables. The spinach container is maybe not that aesthetically pleasing, but if it grows food, I am good with that!

It is a bit hard to see, but there are 3 tomato and 2 pepper plants in the wheel barrow. When Emmett and I go out, I move the wheel barrow into the sun, if needed so it gets full sun all day long. So far, so good!!

Bonus: I am having so much fun planting and watering and keeping an eye on things … plus enjoying the front porch. Some years, it has felt like a chore. I am not sure what is different … maybe it is the new (and RED!!) front door :)

I made strawberry ice cream on Saturday. And ice cream cones were on sale this week so HOO RAH and YUM!

Emmett gets a “puppy cone”!

You can see that he is still a bit damp from the latest play in the sprinkler outing … and ice cream!!

We had a good weekend.

Last night, I wrote about my summer-time sleep habit of afternoon (late afternoon) nap and then enjoying the evening into the late (for me) hours.

But, Emmett and I are still up and outside early, enjoying the cool morning. Margaret noted in a comment last post that I am adopting “Mediterranean rhythms” – she lives in Greece. Interesting!

This morning, after our first walk, I told Emmett that he could stay outside while I made coffee … if he wanted to.

He did, but he kept a somewhat worried looking eye on me through the kitchen window. Usually, he follows me inside and I left the door open so he could, but it was so nice out …

Still waiting…

Finally! Coffee in hand, Emmett with a treat and I had a look at the tomato plants…

THAT!!! That is the first Manitoba tomato!

Some baby Husky Cherry tomatoes!

The top largest tomato is the Husky Cherry that was on the plant when I bought it. The rest are new and look good.

I don’t know if any will have time to grow and turn red, especially the Manitoba, but the good news is that the plants are thriving, i.e. I haven’t killed them yet!!

Happy Friday to all from Emmett and me!