Sweet relief

my happy place

We're finally getting a blessed respite from our 2 week long heat wave.  Last weekend was pure bliss! Saturday was much cooler, in the upper 70's with some humidity, but so much more comfortable. And then on Saturday overnight, I was awakened to the sound of a gentle, but steady rainfall and a cool coastal breeze wafting through my window.  Oh my, it was so refreshing.  And then on Sunday morning, our skies were overcast and our temps were very cool, 60 ish.  I actually dug out my slippers and warm bathrobe to wear while enjoying my morning coffee on the deck.  Oh my, it was so sweet!

This week we're pretty much back to normal (whatever that is) with our highs in the upper 70's to mid 80's with no more rain in the forecast.  My kind of summer weather.  I'm no longer a lover of the heat, but I still enjoy plenty of sunshine and those amazing sky shows of clouds.  The smoke, the humidity and the intense heat are just memories now, and I'm hoping it stays that way.

Last Sunday was my sister's birthday.  She turned 76.  For some reason, I thought she was going to be 78, but I was quickly corrected.  :)  She came of age in the 50's and was a bobby sox, dancin' girl. Pony tails, malt shops and compared to now, a time of innocence.  I'll bet those were good times to grow up in.

I went through all of our horse's winter blankets last night.  The cleaning lady will pick them all up tomorrow for cleaning and any needed repairs.  We have 12 to send out and 2 that will be going to the trash.  With only 5 horses, I'm pretty sure we're covered for winter blankets.  Missy is the lucky girl because in her size we have an abundance.  With Siri and Kadie gone, all those blankets are reserved for her.  The boys are all bigger horses and they each have their own, with a couple extras for switching out.  The exception to that is Ladde.  He's so big, he only has 1 and it's a heavy type, so it has to be really cold and wet before we put it on him.  I'm hoping to buy an extra one in his size that's lightweight, but waterproof.  Most of the time that's all our horses ever really need.  Protection from the rain.

I've got 2 cords of firewood on order and it should be delivered within a couple of weeks.  With that and what we have on hand, we should be alright.  If our funds hold out, I might order another one of oak later.  If not, we'll have to make due with what we've got.  Our chainsaw is toast and without buying another one, we really don't have an option of cutting our own.  Once again, I realize just how thankful I am to have that wood stove.  I love heating the house with wood, and it's always nice to know that all that warmth is already paid for.  No fear of the electric bill.   But speaking of electric, we're thinking of selling our pellet stove and replacing it with an electric fireplace.  We only need it in the living room where we spend most of our evenings, and it looks fairly realistic and gives off enough warmth to make the room cozy and toasty.  The pellet stove is 21 years old now, and we've replaced both of the fans once already, and those fans need to be replaced again.  Between the two of them, that's almost $600, and added to that the price of about $200 per ton of pellets, it hardly seems like a good idea to keep it going.  We can buy a new electric fireplace for about $600 and it would double as an entertainment center for our television.  I could re-home my heavy and very large oak entertainment center and like my grandma used to say, "kill two birds with one stone".  And I really like the idea of having a fireplace to decorate for Christmas.  I've missed that.  As always, no problems with spending our money.

We're working on estate planning.  Yi yi yi - what a chore.  There's so many tough questions to be answered and so many considerations that we've never really given much thought to.  I just want it over and done with, so we can forget about it.  Deciding who for what responsibility, and who gets what is very hard.  Together, we have no children.  My husband has two sons from a previous marriage and one, because of who he is, and what he's done, will be omitted from any inheritance.  I know that sounds harsh, but it's just how we feel.  We've worked hard all our lives and really want to enrich the lives of a few people we love and whom have also worked hard, and it just so happens that most are not family.  We do plan on gifting our grandchildren with some money when they come of a certain age, and hopefully it will help give them a head start in whatever direction they choose to go.   Of one thing I'm certain, I do not want to leave everything to chance.  My parents had no will, no trust, nothing in place and it turned out to be a horrendous disaster.  My one sister manipulated and connived our poor mother into gifting everything to her and forged her way into everything, and because of her selfish actions, Lilly nor I see her anymore.  It was the worst experience of my life, and I just want to prevent anything like that from happening over our estate.   Betrayal always cuts deep, but when it comes out of the blue, from someone you love and trusted, it's almost impossible to get past.  I don't hate my sister.  I still love her and likely always will, but life is hard enough without having someone like her in my life.  I wish her well, and she is often in my prayers, but I have to admit that forgiving her is not easy.  Forgiveness is a process and I'm always working towards that end.

Troy comes tomorrow night to give the horses their pedicures again.  Our riding has been very limited this year, almost non-existent, and I'm hoping to wear those shoes off their little hooves before long.  :)  We want to finish up with a few projects in process and hopefully enjoy a few camping trips before the season is over.  Time goes so fast, and we're always so busy and short of energy and time to accomplish everything we'd like to do.  Wish I could just write the check, hire a professional and get the jobs done.  But alas, that's not our life.  We do the best we can, with what we have and try to remember to always be grateful for everything.  *sigh*

Do I sound tired?  Well, if so, it's because I am.  We've been chopping blackberries by hand and hauling them to the burn pile, we've been trimming trees and fixing fences, making dump runs and generally just trying to clean up all over our property.  After the overly wet fall and winter last year, the weeds and briars just went into hyper-growth.  Right up there at the top of our dream list is a tractor.  Oh my goodness, that would help SO much!  But that's definitely not in the budget.  My dad used to say, "you can wish in one hand and s*#t in the other, and see which one fills up quicker". Maybe a little crass, but there's a lot of truth there.  We've always done everything with "Norwegian steam", and that's likely not going to change anytime soon.  We did finish our brick patio though! The sewer guy comes Thursday to pump our septic tank, and then we can build the new steps.  Oh my gosh, that will feel so good.  One project down.  Which leads to the next one, we really, really need to put a new coat of sealant on the deck.  That one has to be done before fall rains return.  I need to make a list and prioritize everything.  And start saving money for a new roof...

Taking everything into consideration, we feel blessed.  We're both healthy and strong, have incomes to support ourselves, have more than enough food, have a warm and cozy home to shelter us, have horses who enrich our lives immensely, have our dogs who love us unconditionally, have some loving family and friends and are smart enough to know when to throw our hats in the ring, and to take a break from all our worries and strife, and go have a little fun.  Life is pretty good, and things could always be a whole lot worse, right?

Hope you're all enjoying these long, summer days doing what gives you joy and spending time with the people you love.  Blessings,
Lorie @ Cingspots

notes to self