Monday, July 23, 2012

Cycling, Bad Weather, Heartache.....July!!!

Three weeks of July have already passed right on by.  It's not just hard to believe because time flies by so fast any more all of the time, but rather, we still keep waiting for consistently nice summer weather to arrive, and it just doesn't!!!  We get some really nice days, and then get hit with more rain and wind and cool (almost cold temps).  I can't remember a year since we have lived here where our lawns have still be lush green at the end of July, and we don't water our lawns at all!!!!!  :-(

Looking outside at this moment, it may as well be the middle of October...... it is raining like crazy, dark and gloomy, and the wind is blowing!!!  Yes, as I said, we have had some summer weather...... it's just that it doesn't stick around for more than a few days at a time.  I am really hoping that this year will bring us most beautiful weather throughout August, September and October.

A quick run down of what we have been doing this month..... We first hit Wenatchee and Leavenworth at the start of the month, For Evan's baseball team to compete in the State 10U baseball tournament.  It was very hot over there, and our boys all melted in the heat!!!  They just weren't used to it at all, and they fell apart early in the tournament.  We still had fun over there, soaking up the heat, and the summer weather!!!  We camped near Leavenworth, and relaxed and had fun for a week, before returning home.  When we did head back, Sierra headed to Oregon with Grammy and Papa, to stay with them for a week, until we came down for STP weekend!!!

Seattle to Portland weekend was an absolute blast this year!!!  Great times, great fun, awesome cycling, with fantastic people.  I could say so much about this weekend..... simply wonderful.  This year we had seven of us riding together.  Of the seven, four were all first timers to STP!!!  One guy flew all the way out from CT just for this weekend with us!!!  My brother, Brad, took on and completed his very first STP!!!  And my best friend, Scott Taube..... his dad, Gene, rode for his very first STP at the age of 77!!!!!!!!!!  :-)

To sum it all up for our STP weekend adventure..... EPIC WEEKEND!!!  :-)

We had another amazing and awesome and fun and fantastic stay-over in Winlock, WA... at Stu and Natalie Hodnot's place..... they are the greatest STP hosts anyone could ever ask or hope for!!!  What a way to do STP!!!  :-)

Then a heartache hit us as we were ready to head home again just a week ago today.  We got news that our favorite little girl dachshund, Abby, went missing and didn't come back home last Monday morning.  It has been a very difficult week here for us, not knowing what happened to her, or how, or why.  We have pretty much come to the realization that she isn't coming home again, and that hurts so very much.  We know that it is very likely that she was taken by a coyote, and that also sucks really bad!  :-(  What hurts the most.... her birthday came only two days after she went missing.  Also, we had planned to take her with us on that weekend trip, and only at the last minute decided not to, because she wouldn't be allowed in the house we stay in while we are in Portland. 

We love our Abby so very, very, very much.  All we can do now is pray for her.  The other dogs are starting to act as though they realize she isn't coming back as well.  And I admit, I have no desire to get any more dogs for quite some time now.

So, this past week has been all about sorrow and heartache, as well as about trying to get back into the groove and swing of life at home again.  The place is overgrown with grass and weeds, worse than normal because we have been gone, and God has allowed for plenty of watering!!!  We have been trying to find Abby, to deal with the loss, to try and unpack and clean up form being gone so much, and trying to just get back into "normal" life for a bit again.

Evan and I did manage to tear down the old, unsafe, falling apart play structure in the back yard....and got it all moved out to a big burn pile for the Fall.  Now we need to clean up the area, and get it ready for moving the Rainbow play structure over.

As of today, only 10 days until we are into August!!!  WOW, how crazy is that?!?!?!?  This next weekend should be a lot of fun.  Brad and myself are riding in the Tour de Whatcom ride on Saturday morning..... 105 miles all around our county.  Later in the afternoon that same day, we head over the the Timmer's place for a big BBQ party for all who helped with the painting of the Salon.  The weather forecast looks really great as of right now, so we are excited, both for a great day on the bikes, as well as a great time with our awesome friends!!!  :-)

Next up, August...... Evan's birthday, which will include a weekend trip down to Portland.  I celebrate the completion of my 21 years with the BFD on August 11th.  We have several family members with birthdays in August.  Hopefully we can get our place cleaned up more, and get Evan out riding his motorcycle a whole lot.  We tore down our swimming pool, as it cost us too much to keep up and running, and we only got two weeks of use out of it last year, and because of the horrendous and disgusting acts of Greg Bass that occurred in it last year...... simply made me sick to even look at it any more!!!

Our place is quite literally falling apart all around us, and sadly, we are not financially in a position to do much about it.  So, I will do my best to try and keep up with what I can, take care of what I can, and try to keep it as presentable and livable as I can.  At least we have a place!!!  And yes, we could do more if we were to stop spending money on other things...... but, I refuse to may make our kids suffer on our account.  I choose to do what we can to have fun with our kids, do things with and for our kids, and to be able to enjoy our lives as much as possible each and every day.   Come September, I will be pounding the pavement to find myself a second job.  I am choosing to wait until then so that I can have this one last summer off with my kids as much as possible.  I know that I am going to be gone a lot with a second job, and am going to miss out on a bunch....so, I plan to make August as much  fun as possible with the kids first!



So, that about wraps up July...........

1 comment:

  1. I love you my brother. Praying for you, the family, and for Abby. :(

    Things will get better. Believe in him. :)

    ReplyDelete