August 24, 2016 Company & Saying Goodbye

(My connection is too slow for a picture this morning.)

Monday 8/22. Definitely a bit chilly this morning with a temp of 48.  I guess we better get used to it. . .

JB left at 9:00 am, and since it was to nice and cool, I worked on clearing up the area where we have been cutting out the brush.  These bushes have to be at least fifty years old.  The stems are so thick that they will make good kindling.  I got quite a pile of them, took it all to the wood shed and stacked it.

I have started a new book, Jeeves in the Morning by P.G. Wodehouse.  I heard about this series several decades ago, but never read any of it.  This is English humor at its best, which is something you either understand or you don't.  You either like it or you don't.  Having grown up in the midst of it, I both understand and enjoy it.

After stopping for a visit with Larry, JB was home around 1:30 pm.  He ate lunch and took a long nap.

Our high for the day was a lovely 73, with a cool breeze blowing most of the day.

Tuesday 8/23. It was 54 and clear this morning.  Still very hazy to the northwest and we could smell smoke from the fire.

We got out early to clear up all the bushes we had cut.  Took them to the swale with the  tractor.  Lots of huge root balls to dig out.  That may not get done this year, but it still looks so much better.

Then we got cleaned up and I baked a banana-chocolate chip coffee cake.  RJ and Mike arrived at 2:00 pm and the guys played two long hands of Magic, while I read my book; took Mike's dog for a walk; and prepared dinner, a pork roast.

The guests won both card games and we enjoyed good conversation during dinner.  But then they had to leave.  It is always so very hard to say goodbye to Mike.  We only see him once or twice during the year and he has grown into such a great young man.  Having watched him from a newborn, it pulls at the heartstrings to know he will soon be out on his own, perhaps far away, making a life for himself.

After they left we watched Silver Linings Playbook. . .

Wednesday 8/24.  It is 58 with clear skies this morning and a smokey smell.  We are going to start cutting back the small trees that line part of the road down the canyon.  This is a requirement by the new propane company as the trees (small aspens) are too low for the stacks on the propane truck.  It will take a few days to do, but we have til mid-September.

Thought for the day: The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, and to let it come in.  Mitch Albom