Life in the fast lane

Don't blink or you'll miss something.  We've been too busy this spring and summer.  I really can't even remember what all we've done, but we're always doing, doing, doing.  Frankly, I'm tired of it.  But when I'm not in "work mode", I don't know what to do with myself.  I blame that on my mother.  Idle hands and all that rot...

And yet when I look around, all I see is everything that still needs our attention.  Swimming pool needs to come down this weekend.  We're expecting another blast of summer heat that's supposed to last through the weekend and then the weather turns cooler again.  This past week we've been blessed with some much needed rainfall.  The weather has been blissfully cool and comfortable.  Sweatshirt weather.  I've really enjoyed it.  But we need a hot day or two to take the pool down and let the liner dry completely before folding it up and boxing it until next year.  How sad is that?

We got a puppy.  :)  She's a joyful little mutt and I'm already in love with her.  Her name is Charlotte and this coming Sunday we will have had her 3 weeks already.  We made a quick trip to Costco and on the way back passed a "puppies 4 sale" sign.  I drove around the block and there were 4 puppies left out of a litter of 10.  Momma was a yellow lab, but not a purebred.  Daddy is a pittbull.  And the puppies were all of the same general build, but all completely different colors and markings.  I have lots of pictures of Charlotte, but none loaded on my computer yet to share here.  Soon.  You'll have to take my word for it - she's adorable!  Ruby has warmed up and they've become friends.  At first, if looks could kill - I'd have been a goner.  Ruby was not pleased at all.  But as I suspected, she's accepted her and they sleep together and play and all is well.

We went camping last weekend in the Coast Range Mountains to a beautiful campground that we'd never stayed at before.  Wow!  The Cadillac of horse camps to be sure!  We definitely want to return there and do more exploring.  There are lots of trails, old logging roads to explore, water faucets at every site, beautiful log corrals, tables, showers and lots of privacy.  There's even a covered group area with picnic tables and a huge fire pit with bench seats all around.  It really is a beautiful place.  But, we only got one ride in this time.  As luck would have it, and being in the coast range, it rained pretty much all Sunday.  Saturday was beautiful, but camping in the rain with horses, a dog and a puppy was a bit much.  We really did enjoy getting away from home though, even if it was only a couple of days.  We did have an interesting time getting there Friday night though.  When I'd made the reservations, the gal failed to mention that the road was out, under construction on our end.  *sigh*  So, we had to backtrack and take the long route to the camp, and we arrived at around 1:30 in the morning via steep and winding little roads in the dark.  We always seem to have adventures...

We went to our state fair last week too.  Had a good time, watched some horse events, bought some goodies and believe it or not, I ate no fair food!!  What's with that?  No special reason, I just wasn't hungry and nothing in particular sounded good.  The next day, I had the strongest craving for a caramel apple.  Wouldn't you know it!?

Anyhoo, that's about it for now.  I can't believe it's been over 3 weeks since my last post.  Had to check in, let you know I'm still around and let you know of our goings-on.  Like I said, we've been busy, but I can't even think of what's been keeping us so busy lately.  Oh well!  It's almost time to head home and call it a day here at the clinic.  I'm looking forward to a garden fresh dinner tonight.  Corn on the cob, sliced tomatoes and cantaloupe.  Hmmhmmhmm!!!  German chocolate cake for desert too...hubby's birthday was last week and we never did get around to having cake.  Great excuse, right??  :)

Officially summer is almost over, save this next few days of being in the mid to upper 90's, I'd say it's just about licked!  After that, another cool down and even a little more rain is in the forecast.  I'm so NOT ready for constant rain yet, but a little sure does feel good!  First day of autumn is 2 weeks from today and I'm looking forward to brisk mornings, cool nights, jeans, boots and sweaters.  Oh baby!  I love fall!!!  And maybe this year we'll get that Indian Summer I've been hoping for...for years now.  *fingers crossed*

Good horseback riding weather!!

Hope you're all enjoying the last days of summer and are looking forward to the changing of the seasons...go pick those tomatoes and eat all that garden fresh produce before it's all gone!  :)