Foggy Morning

 Some friends and I are going to Pennsylvania at the end of the month.  We are going to check on the trailer that we store there for when we camp at the Pennsic event.  That event has been canceled the last two years-or I would be there now.  Since there is a pandemic, still, we had concerns about potentially passing the virus between us and, even though we are vaccinated, were going to start wearing masks again.  I wasn't looking forward to explaining to people at work why I was suddenly wearing a mask.  Then more warnings were published by the CDC and in response, the company I work for is reinstating mask use as of Monday.  I am happy that the company is being proactive in preventing the spread of this disease.  Other things I am happy for today:

• Zed and I went out to walk Aesop a little after seven this morning.  It was foggy.  We walked up a small hill and the fog was starting to rise.  It made for an okay picture.

Fog sandwich stuck between the earth and sky.

• The dog,  Aesop, is no longer as afraid of the stairs.  He goes up on his own.  He joined me on my bed this afternoon and snuggled with me.  This will not turn into a regular thing. 

• For Simplify Your Life Month I found one thing to do this week.  The boxes that I packed back in April for the ex boyfriend are no longer in my room.  They made it as far as the kitchen and I will text him over the weekend and make arrangements.  It is a baby step, but still one that is forward.
• Keziah and my protege went to Ikea today.  They came home with the van half full of furniture to make.  As far as I know, none of it is for me.  Yay, not my stuff!!

• We had a meeting tonight and that meant that I got to visit with my protege too!  

☮

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

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

Good Dog

Thursdays are long.  After working all night I come home, nap for a bit, and then try to be human in the evening to have family time.  Instead of Star Trek or Doctor Who, we had friends over for a little SCA gathering to talk about the event we are having in a few weeks.  Ideally this will be another step toward the new pandemic normal.  The site tokens will be masks.  Other happy things for today:

• There was another observation of my performance at work today.  The person who did it was very impressed with how I organized in order to sort the packages.  I now have more swag bucks.  Eventually I will look at the things available to buy with the swag bucks to see what I want.

• We had two sets of friends over.  One had their two year old daughter along.  She and Aesop seemed to get along really well.  She decided that his crate was her little play house.  Very cute.

• Aesop loved playing with the other friends too.  

• It rained a little today.  The daylily was speckled with water.

☮

Currently reading: Backpacking A Hedonist’s Guide, by Rick Greenspan and Hal Kahn.
    -This book was published in 1985.  I'm taking my time reading and haven't gotten too far yet.  Some of the information is definitely outdated as advances have been made with lighter weight materials and such.

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

Fruit of Labor

 The garden, as it were, is being used as a fenced area for the dog to be off leash instead of, you know, a garden.  There are still a few things growing there, but most of what I had wanted to grow didn't, or was eaten by other animals once planted.  Unfortunately, I stopped doing much in the way of gardening.  Frustration over the groundhogs and getting a job are my excuses.  Last week I even forgot to water most of the indoor plants.  I noticed that there were still a few blueberries on the bush to be picked so I decided it was time.  The blueberry bush and some of the strawberry plants are not in the main garden, I planted them where there were once flowers by the driveway.  I also covered them with netting and put in drip water irrigation.  They are relatively safe.  Still, I left them alone too.  Today I got out and picked blueberries from my bush for the second time this year. 

Not many, I know.
The bush suffered from the drought last year.
I'm thrilled that it is producing at all. 

Other things I am happy for today:

• I didn't just pick blueberries.  I was going to get under the netting, pick blueberries, and close it back up.  Instead I started pulling weeds.  

This is a mostly before photo of the area.

After.  Outside of the netting still needs a lot of work.

I sat next to this basket to try to get some scale.
It is full of the weeds I pulled.

• In the process of pulling the weeds I uncovered the strawberry plants.  Some of them are trying to produce more fruit!  There are also many runners so I will need to get those planted soon too. 

• I had planted marigolds around the strawberries.  One survived and should bloom soon.

Marigold.

• Someone at work noticed that I have been there for more than thirty days.  When I was hired, my badge was on a red lanyard which was supposed to go away after thirty days.  The hook on the red lanyard gave up a few weeks ago and I have been keeping my badge in my back pocket.  Now I have one that clips onto the vest with a retractable cord.  Snazzy.

Yes, I wear a bright and reflective safety vest.

☮

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

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

Winds

 On days that I work it is harder to come up with multiple happy things.  There might be occasional things that I am happy about at work, but it is a rather mechanical job.  Since I didn't sleep well last night, I didn't feel well for most of the shift.  Thankfully I got a second wind after lunch and made it through.  Other things I am happy about:

• There must have been a third wind for me too-or maybe I am just pushing through.  After eating and watching some Netflix I did laundry, washed dishes, and watered some plants.  
• It is official, there will be an event over Labor Day Weekend.  Our first in-Barony SCA event since the pandemic.  Happy, yes.  Also some anxiety and general concern about having the event.
• Nanni is curled up on my bed.  We shall sleep well this afternoon!  

Nanni the cat.

☮

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


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

Apples

All of us want a trained dog. We are all throwing out ideas and using them. I realized that we aren't as consistent as we should be. We need more training than the dog. Sigh. Keziah was all happy that she had a system that seemed to work. It failed once I was added to the equation. It is my understanding that we are looking into signing up for dog training. I believe the vet has some recommendations. I hope this old dog (me) can learn to teach the new dog (Aesop). Happy things for today:

• “This is a good experience, right Aesop? Yeah, I think it is.” Gideon whispered as he pet Aesop falling asleep.
• Aesop and I ended up taking about a four mile walk today. We are both tired.
• The apple tree out back that we spent time trimming this spring is loaded with apples. I have no idea what variety. They are larger than what I thought crabapples would be but smaller than most apples in a store.

They are larger than a golf ball.
A little smaller than a tennis ball I think.

☮

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

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

Happy August

 It has been a long couple of days learning about the new dog, Aesop.  This is only the beginning.  Everyone is fine.  While I was outside mowing the lawn and Keziah and Zed were off helping some friends, Aesop bit Gideon.  There doesn't seem to be much skin broken and we don't think it happened through animosity.  Our current consensus is that Gideon is being perceived as a pack sibling rather than a leader.  Needless to say, there was a fair amount of anxiety for a bit.  Super happy that Gideon is fine.  We still want Aesop.  Happy things for today:

• August is Simplify Your Life Month.  Not sure if there is anything specific I will do for this, but I want to make more steps in downsizing.  It is like a second chance to get rid of stuff after not getting through all the stuff over Lent.
• We got Aesop into the car for a ride today.  He doesn't like cars and needs to be lifted in.  We did what we could to make it comfortable and he did much better as we traveled to our destination and even better on the ride home.  

Wind blowing those ears!

He almost fell asleep on the way home.

• I stopped mowing to watch a monarch butterfly flutter around the milkweed that I refuse to remove from the yard.  :) 

• I didn't quite get the artsy look I was hoping for with this picture, but I loved the three pinecones in various forms by each other.

There is a drop of sap clinging to the middle one.

• The mowing didn't get finished.  Maybe it will be dry tomorrow and I will get out there again.  It got so high when the mower was broken and then we had all the rain.  I'm happy to have less tall grass to walk through.

☮

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

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

Day Two WIth a Dog

 Yesterday -K had a branch fall on the car with her, her husband and their dog in it.  So very thankful and happy that they are all alright!  Their car needs work, but the live ones are all okay.

Other things I am happy for today:

• It was a long, difficult day between myself and Aesop, the dog.  The rest of the family had a birthday party to attend and that left all the dog care for me during a good part of the day.  We made it through though and are better for the experience. 
• I did leave for a short time, leaving Aesop in the crate.  We have friends that are downsizing this week, complete with a dumpster.  I picked up some things from their place to store until the yard sale in a few weeks.  It was good to be able to help in this small way.
• The garden, which never really got planted because of the groundhog, has become a bit of a play area for Aesop.  Maybe the groundhog will move out.                                                                                     

Zed is feeding Aesop a treat.

• The sunset.

• The stars were beautiful tonight.

☮

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

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