NaNoWriMo

 Around six o'clock last night I got a call from work.  I hadn't been asleep for long.  The recorded message was to make sure that the employees knew to come in an hour early for Mandatory Extended Time.  The holidays mean that more people are buying things so we have more work to do.  I'm happy I got the message and didn't end up being late for work.  Other things I am happy for today:

• Keziah was nice enough to drive me into town for a quick errand.  I was so tired after work and having lunch that I didn't want to drive.  The task was completed thanks to Keziah driving.
• Today, November 30th, marks the last day of NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writer's Month.  The recommended word count for adults to write is 50,000.  My personal goal was much smaller at 11,000.  I'm happy to report that when I stopped writing today my word count exceeded that.  I'm not sure if I will try to do this again next year.  But I reached this year's goal, yay!

☮

Currently reading: The Middle Ages: A Graphic History, by Eleanor Janega and Neil Max Emmanuel.

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

Sunday!

 Pacing around the house to reach my daily step goal is how I ended my day.  I admit that I really didn't want to, I am tired, but I did it anyway.  Happy things for today are:

• It was a hard-to-get-motivated kind of day.  Talking with TF and getting my goals for the week prepared helped me get moving.  
• There was an SCA meeting today via Google Meet.  The best part?  Seeing friends, even though it is through a screen.
• Helping Keziah and Zed clean out the shed and work towards rebuilding part of the house wall.  Imagining what it must have been like, in or around 1745.''

There is still bark on this stud!

                             

☮

Currently reading: Mount Washington A Guide and Short History, by Peter E. Randall.

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

Fern

 Around ten o'clock this evening I realized that I hadn't reached my daily step goal.  After much pacing around the house it was achieved so my thirteen plus month streak is not broken today by forgetfulness.  Other things I am happy for today:

• Keziah and a friend went to an SCA event yesterday and our friend crashed on our couch and not the highway last night.  This meant that she was safe and that we had a lovely visit this morning before she headed home.  
• One of the things that came up in our conversation was how the dog, Aesop, needed a bath.  He is finally out of the cone after being neutered and could use a bath.  After she left and Gideon and I took him outside, Aesop decided that rolling in what was probably turkey poop was a good idea.  Aesop got his bath.  The happy part is that the rest of us got a soft, fluffy, nice smelling dog.
• Prior to picking up Chinese food for dinner, Zed and I took Aesop for a walk near the Audubon Society.  Aesop is much better behaved when he isn't on a sidewalk or by cars.  This trail is very loud from the noises of the highway that it runs by, but that didn't seem to bother him like on a sidewalk.  Anyhow, we had a nice walk and saw a deer when we left.

Leaves are falling, but not an abundance of color yet.

Ferns are changing color.
I love the different shades in this one picture.

A side trail to explore another time.

☮

Currently reading:  Mount Washington A Guide and Short History, by Peter E. Randall.

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

Happy Friday the Thirteenth

 It has been about 50 weeks since I looked at my FitBit app and realized that I had reached my daily 10,000 step count goal every day for two weeks.  I decided that since I was on a roll, I should try for a month.  That goal stretched.  Since August 13, 2020 through today, August 13 2021 I have reached that 10,000 step a day goal every single day.  This was not a small achievement for me.  I have walked around in circles in the house on many, many occasions this last year to reach that 10,000 step goal.  

This is most of the last year by month.

This is most of the year before.

Will I continue to put emphasis on reaching that goal?  I don't know, probably.  There have been many days that I have not felt like getting my steps in, but I still did them.  That is when walking around in circles in the house came in handy.  Other happy things for today include:

• While mowing today I hit a praying mantis.  I think it got out of the way fast enough to be okay.

• Keziah called me to come outside to see some birds that were circling out back.  They were much higher by the time I got outside.  I'm fairly certain that they were eagles.

• Zed snuggling up to Winston.

☮

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

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

Monday Mow Day

 Tonight I start my new job.  Hopefully I will remember all the things I need to remember.  Early this morning I took care of choosing benefits and ordering shoes for work.  It is good to have that basically done.  I may have Keziah and Zed look over it all for me in the next few days.  Other things I am happy for today:

• Keziah and Zed have been away since Thursday for their eleventh wedding anniversary.  They are home.  They shared the stories of their adventures and Gideon shared his stories with them.  Beautiful family moments.
• I woke up when I wanted to this morning.  This has been hard.
• For me to continue to reach my 10,000 steps a day goal I need to have that goal reached by the time I sleep before work.  My alarm will go off at 11:30 PM and that is too late to try to finish up the step count.  To achieve that today, I mowed the lawn.  
• The grass was tall and there were some pretty flowers that are now gone.  I used Google Lens to identify them.

Blue Toadflax.

I've seen this in other parts of the yard,
but forgot what it was, meadow hawkweed.

There was a bunch of the toadflax.

☮

Currently reading: The Backyard Homestead, by Carleen Madigan.

Thank you for reading, stay safe.

20,000

 Working in the garden, I get quite a few steps.  By the time Amy and I went for a walk this afternoon I was over 9000 steps.  Our walk was over four miles.  Today marks the eighth month in a row that I have achieved my 10,000 step goal every day.  To celebrate, I doubled my step count for today.  

Other happy things for the day:

• My friend, Amy, visited and we went for a walk.  The weather was spring-like with temperatures in the mid to upper 60 degree range.  We may get snow at the end of the week which is also spring-like around here.

• We had breakfast for dinner.  Keziah spent a few minutes looking for maple syrup before stating that we would need to be frugal with our syrup usage tonight.  To this I was able to respond, "No, we don't".  Then I went up to my bedroom and found my emergency maple syrup stash.  Doesn't everyone have one of those?  
• I dug and added soil and watered and planted two different kinds of peas in the garden.  Fingers are crossed that this year the garden will produce better than last year.
• Peppermint stick ice cream.

Sunset.

☮

Currently reading: The Backyard Homestead, by Carleen Madigan.

Currently listening to: Too Like the Lightning, by Ada Palmer.

Stay safe.