Wading

It was 33 degrees on Sunday so we headed to the beach.  Buddy is a wader, still not a swimmer but he still loves the beach.  We didn't last long as it was too bloody hot with very little breeze so we decided home with the AC was the better choice. I realize many people survive really well without AC but as we have it we use it, especially when hubby is working as his office heats up with the lights we use for video conferencing.  We save money other ways.  I will be really happy though in a few weeks to shut the AC off and just enjoy the naturally cool temperatures.

 I tried out my new Fit Bit Alta HR - love it.  My old flex died last week and I had enough amazon gcs from my Birthday and Mothers day to go ahead and order the new one.  I had been wanting to upgrade for a while but wanted to wear out the old one first.  This one measures my heart beat and is a lot more accurate in terms of calorie burn and steps, plus has a watch and a proper watch-type strap so less likely to lose it.  This walk on the sandbars at the beach worked out to about 5,000 steps.

It took 7 days between the time the old fit bit died and the new one arrived.  Although I tried to keep my acitivity level up in those seven days I actually felt myself getting lazier.  Apparently I am one of those people who need a fit bit to stay active.  Oh well, I have been on the 10,000 steps a day kick since June 27th, I do believe I made it every single day as went on the treadmill when I didn't have the fit bit.

There was supposed to be more record breaking weather this week but the smoke from the fires in the interior/Washington State has moved in so we had overcast orange skies and the weather cooled a bit.  It even sprinkled for about 10 seconds yesterday, but what we really need is a couple of days of all day rain.

Work is picking up again, the months of September, October and November are always our busiest.  We are prepared, put up the 2018 wall calendar yesterday in anticipation of a busy spring as well.

Yesterday I broke one of our last remaining bowls into a thousand pieces by dropping it a few inches onto our stone countertop.  It took me a while to sweep up and vacuum up all the bits.  I dropped by the thrift store later in the day and they had a sale 10 pieces for a dollar so was able to pick a bunch of bowls up dirt cheap.  Most of our dishes come from 3 corelle sets purchased between 12-20 years ago.  Maybe they get brittle over time.  We received one set as a gift and the other two hubby bought when he got divorced.  It has lasted well, all except the cereal bowls.  I am ok with non-matching bowls, no need to be matchy poopoo at my house although I did try to buy them in multiples of 2.

The blackberry picking has ended...mostly.  I am only picking what we will eat daily now as the freezer is full and I will make some jam in October when the weather cools off.  The rest will be used for baking and smoothies.  Last night I took Buddy for a short walk with a small container to pick some for our breakfast today.  If everyone had to forage/pick all their own produce the world would be a much different place with zero food waste.  Especially after getting scratched in the brambles picking berries.  A friend was overzealous picking a neighbor's crabapple tree so she made a ton of crabapple jelly.  Once I get the blackberry jam made we will do a trade of jars so each get a variety.

I am feeling blue this week, so much destruction and ill will in the world right now between natural disasters and manmade crap.  I am sure others are feeling the same way.  I find myself watching less and less news, just can't take it anymore. Oh well, I have a lot of other projects to keep me busy as I've brought up all our old photos from the crawl space and am getting rid of old frames and am going to scan them all so we have them digital.  I am also going through five years worth of files from the company.  Hubby never used to want to get rid of any of the paper, now he is ok with going through it to take out the important stuff and shredding the rest.  I recycle every page that is not double sided to be re-used for current printing. That takes time but saves the company money on paper and helps the environment.  The digital age is a wonderful thing.  Those two projects should take a couple of months at least!