More Summer Stuff and Some Sad News

 We found out last week my DH uncle had passed away in his home alone and the town police force called to let DH mom know.  She and my sister in law went over and took care of his affairs and made his arrangements.  They are this Friday.  He was a veteran, so he will have military burial.  He was a very nice man, funny, enjoyed talking to him.  I am sorry he died alone.  I am even more sorry he was an active alcoholic and did not have a relationship with God.

I also heard about a woman in my hiking group, losing her son suddenly to a heart attack.  He was only 50.  Then, my DH brother's wife lost her mom.  She had fought a long battle with Alzheimers.  Something else troubling me is how quickly my dear Granny is declining.  She continues to have falls and mentally is just not doing well after nearly 6 months of isolation.  

DH and i boarded 2 dogs and took 2 dogs with us to see our friends at the lake.  My friend, J i have known since grade school.  He inhereted his mom's lake home couple years ago, even thought they still live full time in Florida.  The lake has become even more busy than ever due to the Covid 19.  We stayed just one night, had a nice visit. Swam Saturday and took a boat ride Sunday, then drove home.  

We took this girl with us and she was a big hit.  She stayed right close to the house and everyone loved her.  She does not want to get in the water though.  I tried for 30 min and she was not having it!

During our boat ride, we saw this huge flag and i thought it was really neat looking, so i took a photo.

At our friend's lake house, we had the downstairs bedroom which looks directly out at the lake and when we woke up Sunday morning, it was really foggy on the water because it is cooling off in the evenings, but still pretty hot during the day.  This week was supposed to cool off, but is still pretty warm today.  I like the cooler evenings, but i am not ready for summer to end yet.

DH and i have become curious about having a place at the lake, so we are exploring that.  We have pretty much accepted that I will have to be back to work indefinitely to wisely afford a 2nd place, so i have began exploring that too.  My current team leader has indicated we might have a few years on this project and she has told me about a full time position - that is more of a long shot, because i am sure there will be a LOT of competition for each position.  I have also reached out to my old boss in the city to see if i can now work for them again remote, since everyone currently is remote - he sounded positive about the possibility...so we shall see.

Have not sold much, but i did finally sell a jean jacket of DH that he bought and decided was too short.  So that's good.  And we agreed we are going to possibly go camping next month, so we are going to go through our equipment and keep what we will use and well what we don't want.  So, that will be really the last area of our stuff that we haven't cleared out.  September as it cools down will be a good time to clear out and organize the shop (3rd garage).  

What i have been doing...i made 3 desserts to take to the lake for our potluck - they were all a big hit.  Choc cake, lemon bars and home made apple pie.  Or course, i had to at least sample all 3, lol.  But i have been doing really well not eating sweets otherwise and have decided that intermittant fasting is something i want to try.  I am doing 6 - 7 hours of eating and fasting the rest of the 17 - 18 hours.  I will let you know how that goes for me.  I don't need breakfast, so i wait for late lunch 1.30 or 2 and that way i can still eat after yoga at 7.30 or 8.

I have planted some grass in 3 areas of my yard - so that next spring the grass will be mature enough that i can weed and feed.  This area is going to be my fountain area, eventually.  

Between all the pavers i am getting grass going, so i still just mow right over it, but it looks interesting and minimizes the difficulty i have getting a lush grass area because of the traffic and because of the lack of sun all day there.  Plus, i can put a fountain in the center and minimize the trimming around the bottom.  More on that soon!

I have also transplanted a few cactus and succulents to simplify my pots outside and have planted some things in my raised beds sort of late in the season, but so that i can simplify how much i will have to bring in for the winter in pots.  My west wide of my house is the front, but i am going to get it as low maintenance as possible, focusing on cactus and drought tolerant plants, since they get so much sun.  Here is my Florida cactus i potted in a bigger pot.

When we got home from the lake yesterday, i took a nice leisurely walk while it was barely still light outside and when i got home DH was in the process of watering a bunch of my plants and it made me so happy because he is starting to enjoy the plants also and i did not even ask him for help.  So, maybe he will get hooked like me!

Hope you are enjoying these last weeks of summer and taking time to make your daily lives better.  Bye for now.