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.

Dirt

 Next week when my paycheck is here, I will regret that I said yes when they offered to let people go home.  For now, I had a productive day and that is good.  Here are some things that I accomplished and I am happy for today:

• The triangle area of the driveway is now mostly weeded.  I spent most of the day out there with a pitch fork loosening the soil and then sitting or kneeling and pulling everything I could out.  

• There was a small section of daylilies that I pulled out, broke down into smaller parts, and then replanted in different places on the triangle.
• There is a hole, most likely from an animal, in the triangle that I am hesitating on demolishing.  It was kind of cool to find it, but I don't want an animal living there.  I feel like if something is living there, it won't want to now because there is no longer any protection from the elements or predators.

It seems a bit larger than the chipmunk
holes I have seen, but that might be something that I did.

Here it is more open and cleared out.
I tried to leave the outside smooth that I might see
footprints in the morning if it is in use.

• Zed and I measured the triangle.  It is about 27 feet wide at the base by the sidewalk and about 25 feet long on each side to the apex.  That makes the area just over 284 square feet.  I will need these measurements when I buy mulch.
• It is cold tonight.  The temperatures should go down around 32 degrees.  I brought the potted plants onto the porch and noticed that the zinnia still has blossoms.

• The sun and the roses.

☮

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

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

Quick Happy List

Just a few short things that I am happy about today:

• Ice cream.  
• Keziah did some research and we now believe that much of our dog, Aesop's, bad behavior is due to anxiety.  After a little bit of conversation and more research she went out and got him a thundershirt.  It worked like a charm.  Now to do more research to get the best usage out of it.
• What I thought were the last roses were not.  There is another bloom and a new bud!

☮

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

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

A Short List

 It is way after the time that I should have gone to bed.  Let's just say that the afternoon didn't go as planned... and leave it at that.  My happy list is short, but here it is:

• The almost full moon shone down brilliantly as I was leaving for work.

There always seems to be a glare...
Maybe someday I will find the time to research that.

• Keziah noticed the rose today.  Two of the three I posted about previously are basically gone.  Just one fully open now.

• I went around behind the shed to see the burning bush.  They are considered invasive.  It is on the border of the property so I am not sure who it belongs to.  

It isn't completely flaming yet.  😉

☮

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

• Speaking of burning... There are many buildings that have burned down on Mount Washington.  I feel like I should have started a tally.
                  

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

A Photo Memory

 The rest of the family has a cold.  It has yet to get me.  Hopefully they will all feel better soon and it will miss me.  Things that I am happy for today are:

• With a new phone comes new apps or ones that didn't send notifications before that start sending them.  I have photo memories now.  Last year, there was a rose on the bush.

This year, there are roses on the bush.

🌹

• The last few times I have looked at the pictures on the wildlife camera I have been disappointed.  There hasn't been much and I think it is because of the amount of growth over the summer.  I am happy about the growth and I put the camera about a foot higher on the tree.

The camera is also pointed at a
slightly different direction.

• Some trees are at or past peak fall foliage, others aren't quite there yet.  

• Zed and I got the tar paper onto the wall and the replacement clapboards were purchased.  If the wall is dry enough we will start putting the boards up tomorrow.

☮

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

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

More Roses

 If I have the year right, today is the 65th anniversary of when my parents were married.  I just needed to put that out there into the universe.  Thanks, reader, for being part of that universe.

It has been a long day and I should be sleeping by now.  I will try for a short list of my happy things:

• Yesterday I blogged about having two roses on the bush in the front of the house. Today I found another! I'm not sure how I missed it yesterday.

A rose by the snow shovel.

• Over the weekend I planted some flowers in what I call the triangle. I only cleared and planted in a small area. Today I took a small amount of time to tear up some more of the weeds there. It wasn't much, but if I do it a little at a time, hopefully I won't feel so overwhelmed.

I uncovered parts of the driveway...

• We live on about fourteen acres and, not surprisingly, most of it doesn't get attention. One of the places that I don't tend to get to very often may be surprising, the front yard. It is neglected. Even when I get there to mow, there is a hill that I have a hard time taking care of and I let it go this summer. I decided to walk around front and check out the plants there. I was thrilled to find the butterfly plant with seed pods open and looking beautiful. I collected some seeds to plant… somewhere, later.

The butterfly plant and milkweed are part of the same family.

☮

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

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

October Sun

Sitting in the shade on this warm October day it is almost hard to remember that it is autumn. According to the app on my phone it is 75 degrees out. I have puttered in the yard some and have decided that since Aesop has a bone to chew on, I can sit. 

Aesop and his bone.

It was an eleven and a half hour work day for me and my feet hurt. The holidays are coming and my hours will be extended so I am trying to ease myself into working a little late. I might even volunteer for an additional shift someday. Today, I happily rested my feet, sitting in the shade. Other happy things for today:

• I have enjoyed watching how the pinecones on the tree by the garden have been developing. They were small and green and now are brown and larger.

                                                  

• A few days ago I noticed a rose bloom on one of the front bushes. I went to photograph it and found a bud, not quite open, with the fading bloom below.

                                                  

• Before I headed to slumberland, Gideon had to show me the Minecraft YouTube channel and the potential new mobs that people will be able to vote for.  Gideon was very excited to share that with me.  

☮

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

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

Another Tiny Harvest

 It was hard to wake up and every time I sat down today for too long I drifted off.  Now I am preparing to sleep so I can get up in a few hours to go to work.  I had a leisurely day.  I walked the dog-twice, did a load of dishes, and thought about going through a box in my room.  Afternoon, I realized how little I had done and decided that I needed at least one happy thing and I remembered the marigold that is very large and blooming near the strawberry and blueberry plants.  I have been surprised at how big it is and now it is covered in blooms.  

Crawling by to get to the blueberries
 I knocked off a branch.
The branch is now in the house in water.

Other happy things for today:

• When I went for the picture of the marigold the strawberries that I saw coming in a week or so ago were ripe.  

• There were a few blueberries too.

• One of the things that I enjoy about working nights and having a weird eating pattern is the ability to have ice cream after my meal at midday and call it dessert.
• One of the rose bushes has another bloom too.  

☮

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

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.

All About the Gideon

 Keziah and Zed are off celebrating their eleventh year anniversary this weekend.  Gideon is having an adventure weekend with different family members.  Today, with me, was adventure prep.  We went to the store and got the last few things he needs, like bug spray, for the weekend.  It was our own little shopping adventure.  Other happy things for today:

• Gideon was a super helper this morning when we worked on sewing up more of the garden fence to the deer netting.  
• Gideon was a super good sport when we tried to set up a Minecraft game by getting the two computers to talk to each other and we failed.  
• Gideon was also awesome and quiet while I slept this afternoon.  I hope I am ready to work nights starting Tuesday!
• In the late afternoon I went out and deadheaded the rose bushes and pulled some weeds.  I also found fresh blossoms.  

Butterfly Bush.

Butterfly Bush, close up.

Yellow daylily.

Orange daylily.

Roses.

A rose.

More roses.  Yes, everything smells like roses.

• Nanni watched me prune the roses through the porch window.

Nanni.

🌹 ☮ 🌹

Currently reading: The Backyard Homestead, by Carleen Madigan.

Thanks for reading!  Stay safe.

Dear Universe

 As I rest, trying to take a nap as part of my shifting sleep schedule to prepare to work nights, I question my sanity.  Are nights really going to work for me?  Why did I choose nights anyway?  I have worked nights in the past, I know I can.  I chose a three day work week.  I have wanted a three day work week for years.  A few years ago I wrote this and put it onto my LinkedIn account:

"Dear Universe,

I would like a change in jobs. I'd like to make at least $15 an hour plus benefits. 3 day full-time work week preferred with 12 hour days, no weekends required. Peaceful and happy with a moderate activity level, I like to be walking around. Within 45 minutes of my home and still in NH, although I am willing to travel. Independent work or friendly environment that will fit well with my life. Time off for Vacations, Holidays and Pennsic are a must. Willing to learn while still earning. Suggestions welcome.

PS-Something that might help me to learn or train more for hiking the AT might be nice too. :)"

The shifts are 10 hours long instead of twelve, but there are benefits and it is over $15 an hour.  No weekends, but that could change during busy/overtime periods.  I may have to work on holidays.  They could also decide to just change my hours.  I won't know the answers to some of my requests to the Universe until I have started working.  It seems like I am getting most of what I asked for.  Only time will tell if my request was poor.  All this means is that I am not losing my sanity (or it isn't there to be lost🤪).  Yay!  Other happy things for today:

• Wildflowers.

This is called Fox and Cubs.
I had a different name for it, but
research shows that I am wrong.
Either way, I like it.
Yes, like much on this property,
it is considered invasive.

Lens has told me this is meadow hawkweed.

I didn't need Lens to tell me this is a daisy.

• I climbed into the netting and picked SIX strawberries!  One of them was really tiny.  The netting seems to be helping to keep the animals away from them.  I added some more landscape staples to hold the net down better in a few places.

Photo courtesy of Keziah.

Big basket for a few lovely strawberrries.

• Last year the blueberries were eaten by birds before we had any.  This was followed by the drought and I thought we were going to lose the bush.  It seems to be coming back though.  There won't be too many blueberries, but it looks like we might get some.

Not the clearest picture...
They should be ripe some time in July.

• The roses that are by the shed are opening now too.

Roses.

☮

Currently reading: The Backyard Homestead, by Carleen Madigan.

Thank you for reading!  Stay safe.