Beleve It or Not

Believe it or not, folks, I am writing from the comfort of . . . my BED, laptop with WIRELESS MODEM (I know - gasp!) actually w-o-r-k-i-n-g!  Granted this is the dinosaur HP laptop that is so slow that it, quite literally, has taken me about 10 minutes to get to this point and have this much text register on the screen . . . but, at least, it's WORKING!  (I uploaded the photos earlier today from my office, in case you were wondering.)  And, in sharp contrast to last night when I was lying here, not so comfortably, sweat building up in various unpleasant places, tonight I feel a LOVELY cool breeze blowing in the window directly behind me.

I expect that the dogs will be a little whacky tonight - they already are, Maisy barking at blowing leaves, and Tucker looking up at me, just before I came upstairs, with a "What?!" expression . . . pretending I DIDN'T see the mouse tail hanging out the side of his snout. (Apparently Annie Blue had just brought her best buddy a "toy" from outside.)  Well, the full Sturgeon Moon will do that to critters, I guess.  Even Bonzee (how should I spell that?!) was farther down the driveway than I expected to see her tonight when I drove in.

Even though my office is still a mess and the gallery room not yet ready for its unveiling, it's been feeling so good to go in, sit down at my desk, and actually attack the jobs that have been waiting in the wings for so long.  I'm waiting to hear back from the longest-waiting customer to make sure she still wants me to relocate and redesign her website (she and her husband raise Fjord horses).  She's been EXTREMELY understanding through these past months, and so I did begin the work today, expecting that she'll want me to continue . . . but it will be good to have the confirmation from her, obviously.  And, I will feel so much better, finally getting the first of these "constantly in the back of my mind" projects started, finished, and then filed away!

It sure is a good feeling, too, to be almost excited to leave the house in the morning because I know that I'm going to work at a place that is nothing but positive (or, if it's not, it's only MY fault)!  Yeah, there's that HUGE part of me that is fairly terrified that I will fail, but there's not much point worrying about that until I've given it enough of a go, time-wise.  So, the sooner I put those negative thoughts behind me and move ahead with what's at hand, the more success I'll have, all the way around.

No segue, but . . . I thought I'd give you a glimpse of my drive each morning.  As you'll see, it's hell.  Ugly as all get out, too.  And, the traffic is insane.  (Before I forget, I saw 3 foxes and 1 nice looking yearling bear on the way home tonight!)

So, my drive in to town takes me down a quiet gravel road to a larger gravel road to the highway.  Here goes.

The quiet gravel road:

The larger, busier gravel road:

The bottom 3 miles of the larger, busier road are blacktop:

And, finally, the highway & the big lake.  Tough, isn't it?

Oh!  And, last but not least, my constant driving companions

(one slightly less interested than the other):

And, with that, I'm going to treat myself to a few pages of the most recent Keepsake NeedleArts catalog.  G'night!

Mish-Mosh

I am SO tired tonight.  This will be incredibly brief.  

The chickens are finally beginning to lay with some regularity again!

All of the animals (well, most:  the dogs, cat, & geese) are completely batty tonight due to the full moon.  I'm dreading a night of many interruptions (to my sleep).  I let them in w/in the past 15 minutes, and now they're already growling & yipping again, wanting to go out.  Were it summertime, I'd just leave the front door open (there's a dog door in the screen door), and they could come & go as they pleased, all night long.  These nights sure are absolutely gorgeous, but when the dogs don't sleep it invariably seems that I don't either.  Hmph.  Darn, wacky moon.

After taking care of The Peanut yesterday, I stayed on at her parents' house to partake in a family evening.  Since her aunt and uncle and two girl cousins from St. Paul were visiting their cabin (on adjoining property) AND Nana and Papa were up, too, it was a night to be celebrated.  Nana and Papa are my folks' age and were homesteaders up here back in the 70s, too.  The Peanut's daddy, uncle, and auntie and I all grew up here together.  And, since I've become Boppee to The Peanut, I've been fortunate enough to become an even closer member of their extended family.  


On the down side, it was the first gathering since Tom and I have split - the first one for me to be attending solo.  I did fine until about 7:30, 8:00.  Because I had a relatively early morning today and an hour's drive home (followed by chores once I got here), I knew I needed to leave earlier than the rest, anyway, but very suddenly my social stamina was nearly gone.  Not even the strong Myers' & Cherry Cokes I was downing could keep me goin'.  Fortunately, everyone was pretty involved in going upstairs to watch a Minnesotan compete in the Olympics on TV, and so it was only The Peanut's mama who was savvy to my mood.  I made it allllllmost to the door before the sobs got me.  She (the mama) just held and held me (a feat in itself considering she's about 5'2" and 103 lbs. on a good day).  Finally, I said, "I HAVE to leave!"  The can't-possibly-hide-'em wails were right around the corner.  

It wasn't until I was in the privacy of the truck that I realized the kitchen window might still have been open . . . and open to the sounds of my sobs.  I'm still crossing my fingers, though, that it was closed by then and/or the sound from the TV would have kept my sadness from reaching the ears of everyone inside.  I cried until I reached town (they live on the other side of town from the side I drive in to / out from).  Only 10 minutes or so.  But, obviously (!), I needed to get that out.

Going thru this . . . situation . . . between me and Tom, this break-up, has brought up some interesting social reactions (I guess you'd call 'em) for me.  For example, the timing of when I cry and when I don't seems to be off.  At least, 'off' from what I expected.  I find myself in many situations, talking to friends & telling them what's going on, when I feel like I SHOULD be crying . . . but it's just not there.  Instead, the emotion hits totally unexpectedly like it did last night or as soon as the "amen"s were said following the dinner blessing at dear friends' last Monday night. 


Okay, that's kind of a downer to end on, but I think I'll be lucky to keep my eyes open long enough to stumble across the hallway to the bedroom.  More tomorrow.

'By the Light . . . of the Silvery Moon . . . .'

I took these pictures during the full moon (aptly named the Snow Moon) last week. With a slow exposure & a tripod, I was amazed at how decently these turned out. They definitely allowed me to show you how light and bright things were when I went out to do chores. NO artificial light was used on any of these.

In the top picture, Tucker started to move before the shutter closed, but you still get the idea.

The bottom shot is looking from the side of the house (hand-pump in foreground) towards the garage.