Rainy Day

 It was a rainy Friday.  For Keziah and I the first task of the day was to empty the septic in the RV.  Not the funnest of jobs, but I am happy that it is done and the biggest problem we had was getting the key to work unlock the drain.  Other happy things for today:

• When the rain wasn't heavy, I worked in the garden some.  I had a gentle (no injury/didn't fall) reminder that working in mud is slippery.  
• As the clouds started to break up tonight the sky turned orange.  I didn't end up with a picture that showed the color.

• For NaNoWriMo I have started another story.  Maybe if I could keep to one theme I would do better.  I got 411 words done and have a total of 4264 so far.  With a goal of 11,000 I think I am doing okay.
• It is Minecraft Friday!

☮

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

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

Roses in the Rain

 As I paced the floor tonight to reach my 10,000 steps a day goal I thought to myself, "Not today.  Today will not be the day that this streak ends."  It has been about fourteen and a half months and I don't want to lose the streak because of laziness or forgetfulness.  So the goal has been reached.  Other things I am happy for today:

• Last November I set a goal to write for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writer's Month) and I wrote over 10,000 words.  To "win" a person should aim at 50,000.  That is a lot of words.  This year my goal is to beat last year, so I am aiming at 11,000.  
• Keziah is making a gardecorp (medieval clothing) for a friend who will be getting an award at an event next week.  I got to be the mannequin for a few minutes today.  It cast a cool shadow that had us trying to quote from the movie Princess Bride about being the Dread Pirate Roberts.

It didn't photograph well.

• There are still too many boxes that I need to go through.  I tried today and instead wanted to save it all.  The box is of old newspapers and clippings, mostly from the 1970's.  There was a series of articles in the Manchester Union Leader, "Hometown History," that my mom clipped and saved.  They seem to have been written by George Woodbury.  Some of them are filed in envelopes alphabetically by town.  Others didn't get that far.  This box brought back happy memories of my mom.  I also kind of want to read all the articles.  
• It has been raining all day.  The roses are beautiful.

☮

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

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

Walking in the Rain

 Again, I have stayed awake longer than I should have.  My bedtime on a Monday should have been a little over an hour before sitting down to write this.  It was a rainy day, but there are things-other than rain- to be happy about.  My day started with a walk with Aesop, the dog.  It was raining steadily then, and we didn't walk for long.  It was a good walk though.  Other happy things:

• Planning out my day this morning I was ready to go dig dirt and plant bulbs in the rain.  It was then that I saw the reminder on my phone about my appointment with the optometrist.  Instead of playing in mud, I woke up Keziah, took a shower, and we headed to the appointment.  They had to dilate my eyes and I wanted Keziah to drive me home.  This was a follow-up exam from six weeks ago and all the tests came back good.  
• Later in the afternoon Keziah and I took Aesop for a walk on a nearby paved rail trail.  Aesop hasn't been the best behaved lately.  He was doing better though towards the end of the walk.  Progress is good.
• I was wearing dark sunglasses for the walk because of the earlier dilation of my eyes.  I took a few pictures and just now, looking at them, they came out pretty well.  There was detail missing with my eyes being the way they were, the camera did a good job.

☮

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


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

Rain

Stepping outside for the walk to the compost pile I was struck by the smell of rain.

Walking through the yard, the air cooler than the house, tiny droplets kissed my skin.

Those two sentences remind me that I haven't written any rhymes this year.  Maybe one in January or February, but not the one a week or month that I had hoped for.  All we got for rain were a few tiny droplets.  I'm happy I was able to experience them.  

Other happy things for today:

• Before the rains were supposed to arrive I got some more of the lawn mowed.  That will be a chore for the rest of the week, to get the yards looking good for next weekend.  It was just Gideon and myself at home again with the animals.  Last time Aesop, our new puppy, bit Gideon just enough to leave marks.  This time I put Aesop on the run and gave him a rawhide chew to keep him happy.  It worked long enough that the battery on the mower was mostly dead by the time he was no longer entertained with the treat.  Yay!  

• As for Aesop and the cats... they might be getting closer to tolerating each other.  There is still hissing from them, but they are willing to be in the same room.  Progress!

Excuse the dirty laundry... it's,
you know, the laundry room.

• Often the happy things are small like hard boiled eggs coming out perfect, making breakfast potatoes from leftover French fries, or talking on the phone with a friend.
• Keziah and I walked Aesop before bedtime.  I'm loving the light up collar she got for him.

☮

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

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.

Friday!

 Friday is the first day of my weekend, unless I choose to work more hours.  I am finding that I need to recover from all the picking things up and putting things down I do on the three days that I work.  I ran errands.  It was raining heavily this morning and into the middle of the afternoon.  Our area is considered 'abnormally dry' now, so this rain hopefully helped.  Other things I am happy for today:

• Cat snuggles.
• Gideon hugs.
• I remembered to pay my mortgage.  I know it is late, but not late enough to pay fees.  
• Minecraft Friday.  TF and I had problems with getting onto the game because of updates. We didn't think we were going to be able to play.  Nine year old Gideon made some changes and we were in.  He didn't choose to play with us tonight though.   

☮

Currently reading: The Backyard Homestead, by Carleen Madigan.

Thanks for reading, stay safe.

Happy Independence Day

 The zinnia that I planted in the garden have been consumed, most likely by the woodchuck/groundhog.  I missed the window of no rain today by being distracted by things to do inside so no changes were made in the garden.  I need to rethink my strategies.  Instead I will do my best to focus on the things growing well in the garden.  Happy things for this Fourth of July:

• The peaches in the garden seem to be doing well.

Marjorie.

• The basil and Egyptian walking onion are also doing well.

• Some of the inside plants that are waiting for a safe place to go outside are doing okay.  

A zinnia, blooming, even though it is getting root bound.

Petunia.

• After dinner I went for a walk in the sprinkles and rain.  I had a lot of steps to take in order to reach my step goal.  On the way back to the house, I could watch the fireworks being set off down the street from us.    

☮

Currently reading: The Backyard Homestead, by Carleen Madigan.

Thanks for reading, stay safe.

Strawberry

 Day two of getting up super early was not a complete success.  I was out of bed before five in the morning, but my first alarm went off at four.  Today's nap time went better, a little over two hours compared to yesterday's 40 minutes.  All this is to start training my body for when I start work overnights.  I have received confirmation and I start work in the wee hours of the morning on June 22nd.  Other happy things for today:

• Some basil made it into the garden today.  Hopefully the heat wasn't too much for it.

Tomatoes will go in that area too.

• Last night, after watering the plants, I noticed a chipmunk that seemed to be trying to get into the netted strawberries.  This morning I put some more landscaping staples through the net into the ground to make it more secure.  Then I harvested the very first strawberry!  It is the only one close to ripe.  I brought it inside and shared it with the family. It was our celebratory snack.

I can't cut even.

• A garter snake crossed my path.  I think that means good luck.  
• The weather was still in the 90's today.  I met a friend and we took a short walk.  It was shaded and lovely.  Still too hot though to exert too much energy.  

Roots and Lake Massabesic.

Lake Massabesic.

• My friend got me a hat.  A few weeks ago we had a talk about hats and long hair.  I'm loving the hat and am very grateful for generous friends.

The sides go up cowboy hat style.

My braids can fit out the back.
So loving that hat!

• Someday, that hat will get introduced to rain, not on the first day out though.  The sky had grown thick with clouds throughout the day.  Storms went by.  Things cooled a bit.

The heavy cloud broke open and spilled onto the earth.

• Zed's father came by to help Zed with a few things.  Afterwards, he came inside and visited for a short while.  We watched a bunch of the videos from the wildlife camera.  I haven't made the time recently to post any on YouTube.  So many things are changing...I'll try to do so again soon though.  It was nice to share and get reactions and discussions.

☮

Currently reading: The Burgess Book of Nature Lore, by Thornton W. Burgess.

Thanks for being here, stay safe.

Cobbler

 When it rains out, I don't tend to get into the garden.  I did remember to check on all the plants that are still inside and I watched a few videos on YouTube that were plant related.  There was a good part of the day that I just tried to keep warm.  I didn't notice when, in the afternoon, the rain stopped.  Before dinner I went and cut some walking onions to be added to the meal.  What I learned is that I have no idea where I should be cutting them.  Oh, well.  Learning and the following are my happy things for the day:

• Winston, asleep over my shoulder.

• Spending most of the day inside, I should have been a bit more productive.  I straightened up my desk a little.  It is serviceable again!
  
• At the beginning of the week the freezer was left open just enough that things needed to be cooked.  There was a big bag of Wyman's Triple Berry fruit that when refrozen, became one large mass.  Today I made a fruit cobbler.  

• The cobbler was very delicious.  It was also soup.  A sweet warm soup that we put vanilla ice cream on.

Yes, I did use a thickener.
Delicious.

• Speaking of soup, it is what I had for lunch.  The cold, wet day made hot soup the perfect choice.
• Keziah made a delicious meal that she said was inspired by a poke bowl.  It had rice, vegetables, salmon (cooked), and a few other things.  It was very good.  The walking onions from the garden were good in it, too.  
• There was a storm that knocked out power in parts of Texas yesterday so Minecraft Friday with TF is Saturday this week.  I'm posting before I play, so I don't forget.  I'm confident that it will be a happy-play way to end my day.

☮

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

    As I finished the chapter today I realized that I am falling behind my reading of this book.  It is set up for each season and we are about to move on.

Stay safe, thank you for reading!

New Growth

Instead of one box, I emptied two today.  If all goes well, I will attempt two going forward, depending on what else is going on during the day.  There are still quite a few boxes of my former life that I need to go through and decide what stays and what goes.  This is good and all part of the process.  Other happy things for today:

• Keziah and Zed found a used couch that they will be picking up tomorrow.  Part of today was spent removing the couch we had.  That couch has some broken legs and has been sitting crooked for a while.  Half the living room has been spring cleaned in preparations for the new-to-us couch.  
• This afternoon I took a walk out back and then up to the nearby conservation area.  It was very refreshing and birds serenaded me most of the walk.
• When going by a swamp that had a blue heron last year there were a pair of ducks this year.

Believe it or not, there is a duck on the ice.
Hard to see with this picture.

• There was also a beaver.  At least I am fairly certain it was a beaver, swimming in the water.  I didn't see the tail, it could have been an otter.  There was enough distance and vegetation as it swam away, I just couldn't get a good enough look.
• As I entered the conservation area, instead of the smell of snow, there was a faint smell of the pine trees that grow in that area.  It was a lovely scent intermixed with the general moisture in the air.

• On the walk back home there were some rain showers.  Just clouds passing over and clearing the air as they quickly blew by.  It wasn't quite late enough in the day for a rainbow.

I love how the camera was able to capture the raindrops as well as
the sun shining on things.

• Some of the buds on the lilac are getting bigger.

• The forsythia too.

• There are also daffodils, daylilies and I think tulips (I planted a few bulbs last fall) that are breaking ground.

☮

Currently reading: The Backyard Homestead, by Carleen Madigan.

Wash your hands.