Just Catching Up!

Long time...no see! I have a rare night at home alone and thought I would just check in with y'all. I've missed being here!

We arrived home from our winter trip to Arizona in mid-April and hit the ground running. Summer has come and, for all practical purposes, it is over. There are actually two kinds of seasons, calendar seasons and emotional seasons. Technically fall begins somewhere around the 23rd of September, but in my mind, even though we haven't had kids in school for nearly 20 years, fall begins the first day of school, this year on August 10th! So we are about 3 weeks into fall in my mind.

What did we do with the summer? I have asked myself this same question several times lately, and always have to think about it. It has gone by in a blur!

The thing I have probably done the most of is taking care of my garden. I ventured out and

asked my brother to till up some ground to add to my garden, so in addition to the raised garden beds, I had a pretty good size chunk of ground to plant, take care of and harvest. All went well until Memorial Day weekend when we went for a week's camping trip. While I was gone the weeds took over...and I never caught up to them after that. I tried, but there just wasn't enough hours in my days or energy in my body to get on top of them. It was disgraceful, but the good news is that, in spite of the weeds, my garden has done awesome. We had to mow off the weeds to find the onions and beets, but they were down among the weeds just growing. We are still picking tomatoes. In fact I am just now getting enough to can so there's another chore to take up time. But I'm not complaining. I love seeing my basement shelves full of green beans, pickle relish, salsa, tomato juice, canned tomatoes, tomato sauce and pickled beets. 

Another thing I have done this summer is enjoy my sister living nearby again. She has lived in Michigan for the last 30+ years, and in May she moved back to Springview. I had anticipated doing more things together, but it seems we've both been busy. I am reminded frequently of the need to spend time with those you love, so I hope to change this.

Mike has been busy with Fast Draw. Mostly it's just been weekly practices, but a few weeks ago we spent 5 days in Mitchell, SD at the South Dakota State Championship and the High Plains Territorial. We didn't post any pictures, because he didn't really place well, but we enjoyed our time there catching up with Fast Draw friends and watching the competitions. 

Then our club took Fast Draw to the Keya Paha County Fair a couple weeks ago, so we spent two days up there meeting people and introducing them to Fast Draw. Unfortunately, the weather picked that time to turn off blazing hot and windy, whipping the pollen into a frenzy and roasting everyone. It's apparently been about 20 years since we've had this kind of pollen as my allergy eyedrops said they expired in 2004! I have since then purchased some fresh eyedrops that seem to work better than the old ones. 

At the end of July we met with Mike's family for the annual McCoy Family Reunion. This has become a tradition as we see how easy it is for families to drift apart when the kids are grown and the parents begin to pass on. Plus I think everyone is getting to the age where they appreciate their siblings more. It was a fun weekend of catching up.

This doesn't seem like it should add up to such a busy summer, but when you factor in the fact that I work a couple days a week and am trying to work with my Prairie Star Creations business, plus the regular duties of life such as laundry, dishes, housework, lawnmowing (which was a full time job this summer) and the fact that we are slowing down and getting less done each year, it's been a full schedule.

So what's coming this fall? Well there's a fall camping trip with friends next week, after the busy Labor Day weekend at Lewis and Clark near Yankton. We have the upcoming Nebraska State Championship and Great Plains Territorial in the middle of September, which is hosted by our club in Valentine. At the end of September we are meeting family in Buffalo Gap, SD to celebrate the marriage of our granddaughter, Lexi and her husband-to-be Devin. And that covers the next 30 days, in addition to managing those bushels of tomatoes that will ripen in that time!

Even though it seems we just got home from our travels to Arizona, it will be time to head back at the end of November or first of December. We will spend October and November tying up the loose ends of our Nebraska life and prepare to depart for the Desert Southwest. Each year we briefly contemplate not going and just sitting out winter in Nebraska, but after last year we can see what a foolish idea that would be! Our Arizona life is much more laid back and relaxing, not to mention warmer, and it seems we need that.

I hope your summer was all you needed it to be. And I hope we have a long and beautiful fall. Hope to see and talk to most of you in the next 3 months!