Take Me Home

San Francisco was an experience.

It was nice to get away from the house for awhile.  It had been years since I'd been on a vacation.  The sights were fun.  The restaurants were nice.  The ocean was gorgeous.  The weather, not so much.  I guess they have a normal marine layer that sets in daily near the water.  Anytime we were at the beach, except for one day, it was grey and foggy.  Visiting the golden gate bridge, grey and foggy.  Not so much fun for photos, but still good photos.  We had the occasional sunny day for certain events.
The crowds was something I wasn't used to.  Not anymore.  I grew up in Dallas, I knew crowds and traffic and lines, etc.  We were all used to it at one time, but that has changed.  The traffic was awful, people were rude.  Not knowing where you are doesn't help when trying to get places and change lanes, and God Forbid someone let you in front of them.  Walking across the bridge with bikers was just nuts, I don't know how many times I was almost hit by people on bikes.  It was ridiculous and quickly reminded me why I love where I live.

We went to Alcatraz on our last day.  It was a neat experience and something I'd wanted to do for a long time, but not nearly as 'cool' as I thought it would be.  I realize it's a tourist attraction and I realize that many people want to see it, but the crowds and the kids and the strollers just kind of took away from the experience.  But hey, I got to go and it's pretty cool and that's pretty much it.

We were all ready to go home.  The drive home was easy.  No more traffic.  No more crowds.  Back to peaceful living......
and two large insane dogs, and smoke from fires, and a million tomatoes and raspberries to be picked, and constant watering to be done.

But I'll choose that any day over the traffic and crowds.

It's been almost a year.  Doesn't seem that long since I visited here last.  I was pretty sure when I signed in that I wouldn't remember the password and move on, but here I am.  The computer remembered for me.  Go figure. 

I can't imagine there's anything new to report that is any different than a year ago, except that in less than a week I'm headed to California for about 10 days.  I can't even remember the last time I took a trip.  My sister and I are driving through with my nephew, hopefully it's a fun drive and uneventful. 

It's been a hotter Summer than normal, which I hate.  The 90's here are awful and you just want to stay indoors.  You have to get all your outside work done before 11 and after 9pm.  Not so fun if you have mowing to do.  But as usual it won't last long and Fall will be here before you know it and I'm ready.  Bring on the cold weather and snow.

Not many bear this year.  Kind of good, but kind of boring.  I miss seeing them.  Not even many fawns yet, but it's still early.  I feel like I rarely pick up my camera these days and I don't really have a good excuse.  It's like I've 'seen it all before' and why take it again?  I dunno--- maybe San Francisco will renew the shutterbug.

Well, there ya go.  It's time to turn on or off some sprinklers and get ready to settle in for the 94 degree day.

I can't wait.

Smoky

The smoke from the wildfires always makes pretty colors for sunsets.  It's really about all it's good for.  It makes me nervous.
It's been so so dry here and there are fires all around.  I don't worry daily, I don't let it consume me, but it's still there and it's still possible.  Most are lightning strikes, which is even scarier when we have a storm warning tomorrow WITH lightning.

I've been watering a lot.  I know it might not make a difference in the end, but hey, it makes me feel better.  The grass isn't crunchy around the house and the trunks of the trees are wet.  Maybe it would make a difference.   It's so darn dry the grass and plants dry so quick.  Did I mention I'm ready for Fall and Winter?

A Little Relief

I can feel Fall trying to sneak in.   It  still gets warm during the day, I think it's expected to be 96 tomorrow (yikes), but I feel it in the evening, in the mornings.  It's getting cooler at night, almost too cold for the window fans.
The mornings have that crisp cool feeling where you want to put on a big comfy sweater and drink coffee on the porch.  I'm definitely ready for Fall.

The bear are back around as of last night.  No issues, just an alert dog.   I still love to see the bear.

I've gone out a couple of nights to capture the sunset.  I've caught a couple of neat skies, but not a lot of color.  The sunset is usually around 8:30ish...so it's a comfy time you have to talk yourself into getting in the car and driving around.  I prefer clouds in my sunsets, and we haven't had much of those lately.  Today is a brilliant blue sky, no clouds.  
I have a couple of bucks and a couple of fawns that show up in the mornings, but wouldn't you know it it's usually just a little too dark to get photos, or by the time I grab the camera they're gone.  It's so weird to not have a ton of fawn photos by now. 
I don't know if it's the fence or the playground that keeps them away, but I don't get near the volume I used too.  I kind of miss seeing fawns running around the yard.  Actually, more than 'kinda'.

I don't really have much else to share.  I have the child for the day tomorrow.  He's such a handful these days, maybe it's normal for Four...I wouldn't know.  I've definitely learned patience with him, and major frustration too.  I try the soft approach, then I have 'three-strikes-you're-out'.  Most of the time he strikes out.  Maybe he'll learn.  I had mostly quit drinking beer, but I usually have 1-2 after he leaves.

Oh, and I definitely appreciate my quiet days now :)

Friday we took a drive to check out some fishing spots and just absorb the scenery.  We have some smokey skies so the scenery photos weren't doing much for me.  We did see deer and a couple of bear that decided to run across the street in front of us.  Of course in those moments you don't have a camera in your hand.  I should just wear it around my neck.

The hummingbirds are slowing down a bit and I'm sure the bear will be back down from up high to start causing havoc soon.  It doesn't get old to watch bear walk around your yard.  I don't think it ever will.  I can watch them for hours.  I haven't seen many fawn in my yard this season.  I used to see them all the time.  I'm not sure if it's because of the playground in the yard now, or the fence.  Crash could affect it some I guess, although I don't leave him out once it starts getting warm, he gets too hot.  It's a bummer not to see the fawn, they are one of my Spring/Summer favorites.

I've lost a few pets during my blog hiatus.  My older horse Sam went down one morning, not able to get up.  It was a rough morning, here alone of course, trying to get him up.  I got some help, but the the end result was his old bones had just given up.  (He was 35yrs old).  So I lost him that day.  I've lost a few cats, some very sad endings for me.  I still miss Pudge to this day and keep thinking she's going to poke her head up over the bed waiting for me to motion her to come sit in my lap.  That bond is just so hard to lose and accept it.  There's that part of you that doesn't want to do it again, but I can't imagine ever living without animals.  How does anyone?

My topsy turvy tomatoes have done awesome this year.  I actually have red tomatoes and will have a great turnout if we don't have a weird freeze show up.  We usually finish out the year with green tomatoes and lots of chow-chow.  Strawberries were weak this year, raspberries are out of control as usual.  I have more flowers than usual and big sunflowers.  Boring garden talk?? yeah yeah I guess, but it's all I got :)

Oh... drove into Spokane yesterday and made two stops to places everyone else seems to have been but me.  We went to Five Guys Burgers for lunch.. very yummy.  Also went to Trader Joe's.  Love Love that store!  I could have shopped plenty, but the drive home was 2.5 hours and a few more stops, so I'll save it for next time.  I sometimes miss the city life. 

Sometimes.

Cool, Dude.

Fifty degrees this morning.  It almost felt like we were heading for Fall again.  I almost considered a sweatshirt to feed the complaining animals outside.  The nights/mornings are getting cooler, but the days are still hitting mid-80's, low 90's.  I'm ready for that to be over now.  I'm ready for Fall colors and sweaters and the smell of fireplaces again.  The warm fuzzy boots are getting a little dusty.

Along with dusty boots are dusty cameras.  I just don't get out like I used to and pick up the cameras.  I take the occasional photos of Riley and the kittens/cats/horses, but for the most part I just haven't been motivated.  Maybe it's seeing the CONSTANT photos from other locals all over my facebook feed that deters me.  What's one more sunset?  One more deer photo?  Another hummingbird shot?  The inspiration fades when you see it constantly from someone else.  Everyone's a photographer these days.  Or, what they think a photographer is I guess.  I don't even call myself a 'photographer' anymore.  I like to take photos.  Period.

Funny though, after all of that, I will be taking some photos today.  Most likely.  Have to take an hour drive to run some errands that pass some pretty scenery.  I'll dust off the camera and see what I can come up with.  It will be a pretty drive and a change of scenery for the day.

We'll see where it leads.

Time Gone

Wow.  Long time.  Everything in blogger has changed now.   Kind of boring, actually.

I noticed a friend blogging again on a regular basis and it made me miss it some.  I came over to blow the dust off this poor lonely blog, although I'm not sure I have anything to really say.

It's Summer.  It's hot.  The bear are up high, no fawns in my yard to speak of.   Hummingbirds are in abundance and flowers blooming nicely.  I have tomatoes growing but that's really about it.  My veggie garden is so overgrown it looks like someone hasn't touched it in years.  Sad, really.

I've gone a healthier route in the last few months.  I've cut out soda and mostly coffee.  Rarely a beer except on a hot day when it tastes really good.  I've tried to stick to an exercise program, but I'm not very good at it.  It's a six-day program, I average 3-4.  Depends on how hot it is, or if I have Riley that day.  Heat headaches can stall it too.
Are these excuses?  Sure.  But, it is what is is.  I think 3-4 days is better than nothing.  It's the Insanity program by the way, and although it's only 40-ish minutes, it kicks your butt. 

Family still about the same.  Sister is still in the neighboring town.  Still goofy and changes her hair color every few months.  Nephew is moving on into junior high, and fits into Montana quite nicely.
The step-son ( and I use the term lightly) is still a huge pain in the ass in the family and a constant source of aggravation.  It scares me that poor Riley will learn one day what his father is really like.  I'm guessing he'll be in jail again sometime soon here and the constant letters will arrive on how he knows he screwed up and it's everyone else's fault and blah blah blah blah blah.

He's exhausted everyone and no one believes him anymore.  It's ridiculous and amazing all at the same time.  That someone can exist like this.  Delusional.  Pathological liar.  Thief.  Con-man.  Scam Artist. 
Oh, and he fits the description of sociopath to a T.  Big fat capital T.  Scary.  Look it up.

We're going camping on the weekend.  Not my favorite thing, but it's only a few days.  I'll live. 

I wonder if my ipad will pick up a connection?

Ready for Spring

Yikes. It's been awhile, eh?

I have just found that the Jan-Mar time frame is just rough. Rough for writing, photography, new ideas, etc. I can't get motivated. The grey and the rain and the lack of sunshine just makes you want to hibernate. When you finally get a sunny day you spend that energy on on personal slacking like housecleaning, etc.

We're starting to finally see some grass. Brown grass, but hey.... a sign a Spring.
We still get the occasional snow storm, but usually fades away the next day.

It's been a tough month pet wise. I lost my one-eyed River kitty last month. She had bladder cancer and there just wasn't much we could do. Kitty Pudge went through a rough spot I didn't think she was going to make it through.
She had to have a cancerous kidney removed and there's more spread. I thought she was a goner and it was a really rough time, but she was put on a new medication and she just blossomed. She's almost back to normal except she needs to put some weight on.
I know we're living on borrowed time, but I'll take it.

A couple of weeks ago I had to put down one my horses. Another rough morning. He was in his 30's and we knew it would be coming soon, but not exactly like it did. I woke one morning to him down on the ground and couldn't get up.
I couldn't move him of course. Some friends came to help but it was no use. He wasn't moving and it was just his time. It wasn't fun :(

I can't say a whole lot else has happened. Waiting for the snow to melt and see all my flowers grow. I put MANY MANY bulbs out last Fall, so I'm kinda excited.

I got a new camera about a week ago but haven't even used it yet. Heh...what does that say? I've got Riley for the next couple of days, he may be my test subject.

Slacker

Geesh, I haven't done so well keeping up with the daily photo over here, have I? I have kept up though, either through Flickr or Facebook. I forget about this poor little blog most of the time.

Snow has come and gone and come again. We'll have a ton of snow one day and two days later it will turn into slush/ice and yuck. That's what we have right now. You could ice skate on my driveway if you wanted to.

The photo above is of Lake Pend Oreille (Ponderay) in Idaho. We pass it every time we go to shop in Sandpoint.
I'd love to catch this place at sunset, but I never seem to be going through at that time. Special trip? Sure sure I could do that, but usually at that time of day you're nestled comfy at home and not wanting to take a 20-30 minute drive for a photo.

One day.

Not much else to share. It's Winter in Montana, all I really need to say.

Day 12-- Silly Face

Riley. An easy subject and usually smiling. Although, the camera comes out and he forgets how to sit still.

Lucky me he doesn't mind a camera (or phone, in this case) in his face :)

Day 10 & 11

These two days go together pretty well. We've been very cold the last few days, dipping to 14 at night. Once again freezing cokes on the porch. You think I'd learn.

Still playing with the fisheye for the iphone, it's kind of addicting.

Looks like we'll be getting some snow end of the week. Works for me. I'm done with temps below 10, thank you.

Amusement. Day 9/365

Full day of shopping. Left at 9am, home by 5pm. When you have to drive to another state to go to a couple different stores, it takes awhile. Gloomy and grey as usual. The above photo is the closest amusement park in Idaho. Definitely no Six Flags, but it's popular here.

Day 7 & 8

A little Marble, a little clouds.

Full day of shooting senior photos. Two 17 yr olds. Reminds you how old you are. When they told me they were born in the 90's, it really sunk in. Wow.

Mostly cloudy day, some snow this morning. Snow expected throughout the week although nothing exciting.
Tomorrow's the looong day shopping, Costco etc. Takes about 6-8 hours. Crazy.