Summerized

Mid July is definitely well into the hot days of summer.  We all have different ways to cope with the heat.






Business has been booming at the pool.  Joe and I have tried to do ranch and yard work early morning, take lots of breaks, and drink plenty of water.  And there are times when we just give in to the lazy days of summer and I sit under the ceiling fan on the porch, or in the air conditioning of the house.  Joe enjoys his cool Mancave, naps, and then goes to play poker. 

Saturday 7/10 - Mama deer and her two little ones enjoying a morning snack on the corn. 

Dar Harrison posted this fawn photo (an image I see often but can not capture) on the Watchable Wildlife in Fairfield Glade Facebook page.  I especially love it when the babies run up and down our creek bed.

I was a little slow to get to the gym and knew I'd have to really push hard to get through my whole workout.  And then while rowing 15 minutes to warm up, I decided I just didn't have the energy (or time) to lift weights.  So I did the elliptical for an hour. 

I had to keep moving when I got home to eat and get ready to go to the pool.  Rain had been predicted in the afternoon, but we ended up getting a few showers in the morning and nothing later, so I had a quite full pool and busy shift.

Luckily the pool mostly cleared out by 5:30 and I was able to get cleaning chores done and lock up by 6:10, shortly after we close at 6pm.




I headed straight to the Grove where Dennis Long was playing.  He is always a fun entertainer. 
Patty, Joe, Yvonne, and her husband (Jim) were there.  Joe had left me two slices of pizza I dug right into, and before I could finish my first slice, it started raining and soon we were in a downpour. 

Patty and Joe gave up on the weather and headed for home.  Yvonne, Jim, and I stuck it out and soon Ann came to join us.
It ended up being a beautiful night, we did some line dancing, and enjoyed singing along to so many songs. 

I was home before 9:00 and was soon in bed.

Sunday 7/11 - I woke to some fantastic news posted on Facebook.  Dan proposed to Valencia.  They are now engaged, after meeting ten years ago.  I have considered Val a daughter (in law) for several years, but now it will become official.  I was so happy for them, and their daughter Ava.  They are such a beautiful, loving family.  Whoot whoot! 

I had planned one job for the day, requiring Joe's help, which was to cut down the tree on the north side of the house.  It is seen in this two year old photo with the curvy trunk.  It has gotten large enough that you have to kind of duck to get around its trunk walking down this side of the house.  And, not only do we have to keep trimming it back from the roof each year, it has gotten rather scraggly.  We were out working by 8:30, to beat the rain.

We started with me holding the ladder Joe was standing on, using the chain saw to cut down large limbs.  We hauled the brush to the front yard, and took a short break to get the SUV to pull out the stump.  I let Maggie out thinking she would play with sticks and branches, but she went right for her Jolly ball. 

With the SUV carefully backed into position, and the chain around the stump, it didn't take long to pull this out of the ground.

There were still some large roots that needed removing so I could put the block wall closer to the house. 

It took two trips for Joe to haul all the brush to the burn pile at our ranch.










Below left, you can see where the concrete block wall (which I soon re-worked) had gone around the tree.

The extra dirt I had removed from around the tree and its roots, I spread out to fill in holes and low spots, and then I sowed grass seed.  As I was spreading straw over the area, it had sprinkled lightly while I was working.  Not trusting the weather for rain however, I watered the area because I wanted to get the seed good and wet so it would germinate right away.

The rain did finally come after I had showered and was on the porch swing reading, and by dinner time, thunder storms (dropping quite a bit of water) came through the area and lasted well into the night.  We got a little over two inches total.

Monday 7/12 - I went to the gym early to get going on my workout before I might talk myself out of it.  It was much more crowded at 9am than my usual 10:00 time.  But waiting for machines gave me more rest and I was actually able to do my usual number of reps and amount of weight at the 20 stations I do. 

I was home for an early lunch and spent a little time on the porch swing, finishing my library book and resting.  The cats made it tough to get going once I was done reading.


I was off to the barn at 12:30.  It had poured before I got there, so when I went out on the trails, they were quite muddy and wet.


Look what Amiga almost stepped on walking through this puddle.  It's head was out until we came splashing through.




There was a big trail ride group on its way and I had debated getting off Amiga to move the turtle, but I didn't want to get my boots wet and muddy.

After riding the top of the Holly Trail, I went into the two bean fields and then once back at the barn I rode across the street in the arena and around the gardens.

Another storm was blowing in, and we got back to the barn just before it unleashed its rain. 

I was late leaving the barn because there had been an incident with the trail ride group and I felt the need to hang around (all three workers were out on the trail handling the situation) until things were under control. 

I was surprised Mirror Lake Blast hadn't been canceled with the late afternoon storm we had had, so had to hustle once home to change, pack a cooler, and take care of dog and cats.  There was not much of a crowd when I arrived, but it grew by the time the band started its second set.

After a day of weights, riding, and dancing; I went right to sleep when I got home at 8:45.

Tuesday 7/13 - Some mornings I wake up feeling I have aged over night.  This was one of those days.  I was sore, tired, and achy.  Sitting here at my computer too long does not help my sciatica pain, so when I finally got moving, it was slow... like an old lady.  Ugh.

I took Maggie on a long (90 minute) walk which was good for both of us.  I let her wade into Lake Catherine to cool off at one point.  And we walked around what is going to become a veterans memorial park. 


I met Patty and Shirley at the Library Building (returning my book while there) and we took an East Coast Swing dance class.  We were told we didn't need partners.  Well let me summarize - after a warm up and some basic dance steps instruction on our own in a line, we soon discovered we were to partner up.  So we danced some of the time with each other, and other times with one of three instructors.  I am NOT good at following the lead of another dancer.

Reading and a nap on the porch swing occurred (the lazy days of summer) and then after a junk food snack for an early dinner, I went to the barn.  They were just bringing the horses in at 4pm, so after Amiga ate I got her from her stall.  We did a little trailer practice, which went well, and then I saddled up to ride.  At one point I was in the field across the street trying to get a (video) of us cantering.  I got these photos of Amiga's flowing mane off the video.
 

Babs (on Jack) came over to join us and we rode around in the arena and the gardens for awhile.  It is so pretty and peaceful out at Wildwood when everyone has gone home for the evening. 

It was after 7:00 when I got home.  Once my chores were done, there was time to goof off at my computer for awhile.

Wednesday 7/14 - I got my Hope Equine Rescue shirt in the mail and took this photo to show sister Jean, who had also gotten one (hers was purple).  Since I only took two photos today, I am using this one in this blog post. 

I wore my new shirt to the gym and had a good workout.  Home for lunch, I also packed a dinner, and was then off to the pool.  It was drizzling when I got there, in addition to rolling thunder, so it wasn't very crowded, and no one was allowed in the water.

Finally, an hour into my shift the thunder had stopped and it cleared off.  Those who had been waiting out the weather were back in the pool or out on lounge chairs.  And soon more customers arrived.  Seen in this photo, the way one group of happy people were continuing to party even while in the water.  I love my fun and crazy patrons.

 

Thursday 7/15 -  I was back out at the pool at 8:20 am for my morning shift.  The water aerobics class had seven ladies and up-beat Latino music.  Being in the water scrubbing tile was again a joy with the warm sunshine and fun music.

Do you see what I saw in our pool flowers?

I believe it is a Snowberry Clearwing moth. 

We had a very full pool, and I a busy shift because this was the first day (in quite awhile) that did not have rain in the forecast.




I came home from the pool to re-group, change, and re-hydrate.  Then Joe followed me to the barn and we proceeded out to the ranch.  I hadn't been there in a while and wanted to check on things.  My grass seed was growing well and I also noticed that the blackberries (vs black raspberries) were ripening.  This patch is on the outside of our fence line (metal t-post in bottom right of photo) so I had to be careful of the thistles and the barbwire while reaching in to pick some for immediate consumption.  Very tasty. 

I stirred the compost pile, and then started on moving more dirt off the concrete pad beside the machine shed, while Joe was weed-whacking along the fence line in the field.

We both got quite hot and sweaty, and quit working after an hour as planned.  Joe dropped me back off at the barn and I horsed around a little, just working with Amiga on the trailer some.  She did great again.  Now it is time to advance to the butt bar. 

I had an hour (plenty of time) to get cleaned up before our 6:30 dinner reservation at the Cottage Restaurant.  I was starving, so the extra long wait was challenging for me.  I have troubles sitting anyway, but I was getting a bit pangry.  Luckily the beer took the edge off.  And...  the food was absolutely delicious and worth the 50 minute wait.

Friday 7/16 - I got dressed in work clothes to go outside to yard work, and before I put my boots on, it started pouring.  So I sat back down here at my computer, and played some games. 

I made a trip to Food City and Joe left for his week of travel/adventures.  The rain stopped just as I arrived at the pool for my shift.  I started with tipping each lounge chair to drain water off of them, put all the umbrellas back up, and wiped off all the tables.  The sun came out, it got hot, and we got busy.
Bunny in the road out front as I arrived home at 6:30.