New Trail

We have survived our first full day with a dog. Yay! The cats are still quite skeptical, to say the least, about there being a dog in the house. Since Major didn't respond to that name, we have settled on Aesop, or Ace, for short. I know... Aesop can/should be pronounced with an ee sound, but I grew up pronouncing it with the long a. Besides, Ace sounds better to us than Ece.  Thank you, -K for the comment yesterday with the suggestion!  Other happy things for today:

• There has been so much rain lately that mushrooms are popping up everywhere.  

Zoomed in to get this mushroom picture.

• Keziah bought some dog toys today, one is an axolotl.  

New toys!

• Mistakes were made.  I took Aesop for a walk and decided to check out a new-to-me trail.  The new-to-me part was the mistake.  It might have worked out fine had we not had so very much rain recently.  Certain sections were flooded enough that I made turns at intersections that I may not have otherwise.  We totaled a little over three miles, and I discovered new trails.
• There was a section of trail that had some downed trees.  I almost turned around there too, but we ducked under them instead.

• There is a swamp I sometimes walk by and this trail took us behind that swamp.  When I got back to the road I noticed that the swamp is COVERED with lily pads.

• Winston, the orange tabby, was curious and brave enough to come up and smell Aesop's new and older toys.

☮

Currently reading: Backpacking A Hedonist’s Guide, by Rick Greenspan and Hal Kahn.

Thank you for being part of my happy things. Stay safe.

Puppy

 It has been raining most of the afternoon and evening.  Chances are good that I smell like wet dog.  Nanni still seems to love me though.  The puppy was delivered around eight this evening.  He was shivering with anxiety after being in the car for about three hours to get him here.  Pets are a lot of work and we have a big job ahead of us.  He is seven months old and came with the name Major.  We weren't planning to change his name, but he doesn't seem to answer to it.  The names we are currently considering are Shroom (the spots on his back sort of resemble a mushroom), Bugle, Aesop, or keeping Major.  We have tossed around a few different names, we'll see what fits.

The dog and cats have not yet met each other.  We put the cats upstairs and let the dog explore for a bit.  For tonight, he and Keziah are in the apartment.  Tomorrow, the rain will hopefully be over and we will get to have some outdoor time with our newest companion.  The arrival of the Dog Currently Being Called Major is a happy thing for today, others are:

• After work I put the exercise mat on the floor to stretch out my back and do some crunches.  This is something I am going to try to work into a routine.  Anyhow, while my feet were up stretching my back, the cats decided to play!

I got to hold that stretch for a while!

• Since I don't work on Fridays, I just had a nap today.  I let Nanni in my room and I think I slept better for a while because of it.  At least until I wanted to roll over!  
• I tried to take a picture of Nanni sleeping, but my room was too dark.  That also may have helped me sleep.
• Dog snuggles.
• Dog kisses.

☮

Currently reading: Backpacking A Hedonist’s Guide, by Rick Greenspan and Hal Kahn.

Thank you for being part of my happy things. Stay safe.

And I fell asleep before posting... oops.

Blinds

 Since starting my new job with a different sleep schedule I have been writing this blog in the afternoon, before I go to sleep.  I found that I can schedule when I want the blog to post and have been using this feature so it posts later in the evening.  If something wonderful happens I can edit this until the scheduled time.  I have yet to remember to edit anything when I get up, I just get ready for work.  After writing and before going to sleep last night I made a wonderful discovery.  Perhaps discovery is a bit strong, I knew but had forgotten.  Anyhow, I've been having trouble falling asleep because my room is too light.  I have dark grey/black blinds that are closed, but light still peeks through.  When getting ready to hang a piece of fabric over them I started to take down a 'thing' because I might be able to hang the fabric on what was holding that 'thing'.  That thing is a window shade!  Duh!  I wondered when I moved into this room why anyone would need both blinds and shades, now I know.  They are only on two of the windows, so far that is enough.  I slept way better yesterday with just one of the shades down.  Other happy things for today: 

• One of the guilty pleasures that I sometimes do in the afternoon is to watch "Grace and Frankie" on Netflix.  Keziah watches with me sometimes but I have moved ahead of her in episodes.  Today I got to bite my tongue as something happened with the characters that she was upset about.  It was a little thing that happened, then for comedy a different character came in and fixed for comedic value.  It was grand to watch Keziah, knowing what was going to happen.  
• The milkweed seed pods are looking big and getting ready to burst.  I'm hoping to cut them down before that happens and put them way in the back of the property.  I still need to check to see if there is a butterfly chrysalis on there too.  

• The lily of the valley plants are also going to seed.  There are so many that I hope to thin them out in the fall.  For now I am happy that they are there and that there are less weeds where they grow.

☮

Currently reading: The Backyard Homestead Seasonal Planner, by Ann Larkin Hansen.


Thank you for being part of my happy things. Stay safe.

Dog Tired

 Soon, our lives will take a turn as we welcome a new pet into the house.  In my head, I am choosing to think of it as fostering a puppy, until we give some time to be sure the cats will be alright.  We are all very hopeful that things will go well.  Happy things for today:

• The moon over the yard before I went to work.

• Watching Nanni sleep on the Comfy Sack.  This will soon also be a dog bed.  I'm hopeful that they will get along.

• Winston was asleep on a window hammock thing.  Me trying to take his picture woke him up, kind of.

• Keziah went to the store and purchased things for the new puppy.  

Dragon chew toy.  Rawr!

☮

Currently reading: The Backyard Homestead Seasonal Planner, by Ann Larkin Hansen.


Thank you for being part of my happy things. Stay safe.

Dog Days of Summer

 It was hazy and hot today.  Unfortunately, the haze is mostly smoke from distant fires.  This, and other things, led me to look up the meaning behind 'dog days of summer.'  If you aren't sure, feel free to check out that link, seriously.  

This morning Keziah came into my room and asked, "You love me unconditionally, right, Mom?  No matter what."  She is thirty years old.  

"Of course, what's up?" I ask.

She proceeds to tell me a short tale in which mistakes were made but everything will be fine.  It has nothing to do with me.

About an hour later, she came into my room again.  "You love me unconditionally, right, Mom?  No matter what."

Now I feel like this is a game and I say something like, "As long as you aren't planning to kill me," with a short laugh.  She assures me that this is not going to happen.

"We might be getting a puppy," says Keziah.

My happy things for this day:

• It looks like we are getting a seven month old part spaniel on Thursday.
• I got out for a nice walk with a friend.
• Two boxes full of fabric are gone, out of the house, and given away. 
• And the pictures.

Common evening primrose complete with a bee.

Ducks.

I was hoping this photo would capture the haze more.

I've been looking at the branches touching the ground.
I looked up at Marjorie and noticed how
 many peaches she is carrying.

☮

Currently reading:  The Backyard Homestead Seasonal Planner, by Ann Larkin Hansen.


Thank you for being part of my happy things. Stay safe.

Gideon Words

 For some reason this summer feels to me like the time of the daylilies.  It isn't that I haven't seen them in years past, it is that I didn't really notice them.  They seem to be everywhere in a wide collection of colors.  A quick Google search tells me that one of the things that daylilies symbolize is "forgetting worries."  Daylilies are a happy thing for today.

I love how the coloring alternates on this one.

It is hard to see, but along the wall it is all daylilies.

Other happy things for today:

• TF and I had a long conversation about many things today.  Her uplifting attitude was what I needed to get me out for a walk.
• There were two walks today, one with Gideon and one by myself.  It is always good when I get Gideon to go with me.  We talk about Minecraft.
• For dinner tonight I made broccoli and Annie's Shells and Cheese for Gideon and myself.  Gideon exclaimed, "I just hit the cheese jackpot!"  My first reaction was to apologize for not stirring the mixture well.  Then I realized that hitting the jackpot is a good thing.  😀

☮

Currently reading: The Backyard Homestead Seasonal Planner, by Ann Larkin Hansen.

Thank you for being part of my happy things. Stay safe.

Chosen Family

It was another day where I was tired.  Here are some happy things from today:

• The peaches are getting a little bigger.

• Last week I figured out how to get the audio files from my phone to play through the car stereo.  This means I get to listen to Podcasts again (Unlocking Us with Brene Brown) as well as my music mix.  Driving home tonight I was able to sing loudly to classic rock, not so classic rock, and folk music.
• Dinner tonight was at a restaurant with close friends who are chosen family, remembering a part of that chosen family. 
• That the adult children from that chosen family still consider me like another mom is a super special feeling.

❤☮❤

Currently reading: Backpacking A Hedonist’s Guide, by Rick Greenspan and Hal Kahn.

Thank you for being part of my happy things. Stay safe.

Friday!!

On Fridays the craft night that used to happen before Covid is happening again. I don’t tend to go often but I did tonight. Keziah and I left early to get some food from across the street and bring it to friends. After Keziah ordered, I realized I didn’t have my phone so I walked across the street to get it. As I waited for my turn through the cars to go back to the restaurant there was a large bird flying over the street. It was not high, maybe just above the treeline. It was a bald eagle. I was stunned momentarily and then realized my phone was in my hand. By the time the camera was up the eagle was down the street but I took the picture anyway. It is not identifiable from the picture, but I am so thrilled to have seen this giant bird fly over my head.

It is hard to see in this picture so...

I blew it up.
Still hard to identify, but it is a bald eagle!

Other things that I am happy for today:

• I allowed myself to become totally distracted and drawn in by the Google Doodle game. 
• Seeing friends at craft night.
• When taking a walk I noticed there were some flowers being polinated.

Purple Coneflower.

• Tf and I brought a little bit of whimsy into our Minecraft game.                                                           

  

  A face.

  
  

☮

Currently reading: Backpacking A Hedonist’s Guide, by Rick Greenspan and Hal Kahn.

    This is the book I started yesterday. 

Thank you for being part of my happy things. Stay safe.

What is Sleep?

Disclaimer:  I am writing this without sleep for over 24 hours.  I tried to nap and failed.  Please forgive ramblings and mistakes.

At work the goal to reach is moving 300 packages an hour. I have been hovering just below there and today during the first hour I reached that goal. I wasn't able to maintain that through the work day, but I reached it. Other happy things from today:

• It was so good to watch the fighting tonight. So many people showed up. Being unable to be together for about a year and a half is a long time. Last weekend was the Crown Tournament finals where the next SCA royalty were decided with a heavy combat tourney. The winner becomes the next Prince and Princess and eventually King and Queen (they may choose alternate honorific or titles depending on their time period or with same sex couples). The time as Monarchs usually lasts about six months with time as prince/princess about five months. The pandemic has messed with our calendar but normally there is a crown tourney about every six months. Anyhow, we had two fighters from Stonemarche and one that used to live here competing. They didn't win, but one of them earned the right to hold the Shield of Chivalry by being, you know, chivalrous and chosen by a large group of people. This same person also received a token from one of the former Queens (a Rose) that was there. All this is to say that Keziah and I went to fighter practice to present the shield to them officially because they had to leave the event early due to a scheduling conflict. A member of the Rose came up to pass the token on to him. We surprised him.

• After I ducked out for a few minutes with a friend to find a geocache. It was a micro cache so it took a little time to find the small capsule.

Photo by Dan, the guy I geocache with.

• It was really great to see so many people out having fun.

• There is a lot of beauty in the world.

☮

I started a book today that I am not sure if it will be my next read or not.  It is about backpacking.  I left it downstairs so I don't have the title and all handy.

Thank you for being part of my happy things. Stay safe.

Moon

One of the things I am having a hard time coming to terms with concerning working in a warehouse is how completely exhausted I am when I get home.  Some days it is easier to find more energy than others.  Today was a low energy day.  Thankfully Keziah had SCA news to share with me so I didn't fall asleep right when I got home.  When I fall asleep too early, I have a hard time sleeping when I should.  Happy things for today:

• Leaving for work this morning the moon was in the western sky.  It is strikingly orange because of wildfires out west. 

Waxing Gibbous phase.
The camera didn't pick up the orange color well.

• Towards the end of the workday today I was given a quick lesson on stowing that I think they called crashes.  Learning new things is good.
• Speaking of learning new things, I was told today that I can start learning other parts of the job at work.  I'm going to try to reach the goal of 300 an hour stowing before I learn too much more.

☮

Currently reading: The Backyard Homestead Seasonal Planner, by Ann Larkin Hansen.

Thank you for being part of my happy things. Stay safe.

Blueberries

 Yesterday afternoon I didn't sleep well.  I went to bed a little later than I wanted but could have had almost seven hours of sleep.  I had about two, maybe a little more.  I went to work and gave myself a pep talk on the way into the building.  Telling myself that I have often been able to at least function with little sleep and that I have had to act, on a stage, during times much more stressful and made it through.  Thirty minutes or so into the night when they were offering voluntary time off, I went home.  I was doing okay, but I felt like the lack of sleep would become a problem early into the work day.  Apparently they were overstaffed by a few people.  On the way home, I played some Pokemon Go and Harry Potter Wizards Unite.  I wanted to ensure that I would be able to sleep today.  Other happy things:

• I took a nap after getting home, just under two hours.  As I was hitting the snooze on the alarm Keziah knocked and asked if I wanted to go blueberry picking.  I had forgotten about this outing, I wasn't going to be able to go.  I went.  We picked up my aunt and went picking at Turkey Hill Farm.  Keziah and I together picked over eleven pounds from two bushes.  YUM!  I totally forgot to take pictures.
• After lunch at home I mowed a little bit of the yard.  Just enough to finish getting my steps in and a little more.  The lawn mower was broken for a bit and then we had rain.  The grass and weeds are taking over.
• A bright pop of red caught my eye in one of the flower gardens.  According to Lens it is scarlet beebalm.

Scarlet Beebalm.

• I picked the blueberries on our bush in the afternoon.  That this bush is producing anything this summer is huge.  Last year it dried out.
  
  

• Gideon chose a dark green for his hair color.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

☮

Currently reading: The Backyard Homestead Seasonal Planner, by Ann Larkin Hansen.

Thank you for being part of my happy things. Stay safe.

Happy Monday!

 It has been a few weeks since I have walked out back on the property.  I came in from the road out back and through to get home from my walk today and retrieve the SD card from the wildlife cam.  The growth is such that finding ones footing is difficult.  Sloshing home I put the SD card in the computer and there were only fifteen files.  I'm wondering if the camera isn't picking up as much because of the growth in that area.  I'm going to consider repositioning the camera.  It was really good to get out there, even with the sodden ground.  Other happy things:

• Along the sidewalk there is a sunflower.  Like it escaped and is making the best life where it can.

The sunflower seems to be facing East.

• The wintergreen is flowering.  I feel like I usually miss this phase of the plant.

American wintergreen.

• The witch tree seems to be doing alright.

• Peaches on Marjorie seem a little more colorful today.

• Gideon is a little less colorful?

Gideon will be more colorful tomorrow.
😉

☮

Completed reading: The Backyard Homestead, by Carleen Madigan.
    The final chapter was about making maple syrup.  My favorite sugar!

Thank you for being part of my happy things. Stay safe.

Where is the rain?

There was supposed to be rain.  I mean, there were torrential downpours last night, but it was supposed to rain today.  There were some sprinkles, but not the rain I expected.  Not the rain that brought me home from the mountains last night instead of today.  I'm glad I wasn't out in the rain last night or in the tent, but I may have been more motivated to walk if I had been in the mountains today.

It has been a long day with lack of motivation and fighting with depression. I'm very thankful for the long conversation with TF today after we did our weekly goal setting. Part of our conversation was about electrolyte drinks and how they may help give me a boost at work.  Here is a website with a medieval recipe for mint sekanjabin.  Adding a little of this to water will add some flavor and electrolytes for when a person is really active to help maintain hydration.  I've had other flavors as well.  My favorite is a cinnamon/nutmeg/clove flavor.  Other happy things for today:

• It took a while to pull myself up enough to take a walk today, but I did.  It has been a little over eleven months now that I have managed to reach my 10,000 steps a day goal.  Just a few more weeks and it will be a year.
• For some reason this year I am noticing that daylilies come in many different colors.  I'm liking this and may find some other colors to add to what we have.  The following pictures are daylilies from a house down the street that I saw on my walk.  

• Gideon got a haircut.  He has had shoulder length hair with an undercut for quite a long time.  He decided that it is time for a change.

☮

Currently reading: The Backyard Homestead, by Carleen Madigan.

Thank you for being part of my happy things. Stay safe.

Walking

 This afternoon I made the decision to head home tonight rather than try to find a place to camp.  I ended up sleeping in a rest area last night and it is supposed to rain tomorrow.  It was supposed to rain today too, but all we had was an occasional sprinkle.  That is, until I was about ten minutes from home.  The rain came down hard making it hard to see the roads with all the water on it.  I only felt one small moment of hydroplaning and I was very glad that I wasn't trying to sleep in a tent tonight.  Other happy things for today:

• There was a pay phone at the rest area.  I don't see those very often anymore.

There used to be two payphones here.

• The reason I chose this weekend to go north was to be with some other SCA folk to tour some fair grounds for an event next year.  I didn't have to be there until 11:30 though and I was awake and ready to do other things by eight or so.  Instead I used the Alltrails app and found a short trail nearby.  

The view overlooking Littleton, NH.

• It was great to see people I haven't seen in over a year.  The site the event will be at was pretty cool too.

These little footprints were not very big,
I think they might be squirrel prints.

• After all the business was done I headed for the Mount Prospect Fire Tower.  This is a beautiful stone structure like one might see as part of a castle.

Spectacular views of the mountains.

The house is now a museum commemorating the life
and achievements of John Wingate Weeks.
I learned a lot today.

• There are a few different trails at the State Park and I chose to do the Around the Mountain Trail.

The map.

Lens says that these are flowering raspberries.

Also according to Lens, this is brown knapweed.

The smudge in the top left of this picture is 
a raindrop on the windshield.

☮

I tried starting a different book today, but fell asleep.  

Thank you for being part of my happy things. Stay safe.