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life from the ground up

Real living in a processed world.

Fun summer evenings

By: Gabecomment

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For maybe the first time all summer, the weather has been gorgeous for multiple days in a row. Mid- and upper-70s, clear sky, slight breeze. It’s too bad only about 12 of the 365 days per year are like this…

As a result of the nice weather, we did something very unusual. We took advantage of it. I know, crazy talk. I abandoned my projects for a while, and we just enjoyed the weather. Monday evening, we went into Chagrin Falls to hit up the library and walk along the river with C, and while we were there, just happened to stop for some ice cream at Jeni’s. Had to really twist my arm for that. That was fun, so we decided to come back the next night, and had dinner on the sidewalk, also with C. At that point, I said what the heck, let’s come back Wednesday too. So we did, and picked up a pizza from Joey’s, and sat on a picnic table by the falls and just enjoyed life a little. And it was good. Nice to be able to just stop and appreciate things for a bit. I’d highly recommend it.

It was good and we were hungry, so I forgot to take a picture until it was almost finished. And finish it we did.

C has an obsession with water, and the fountain was no exception.

Postscript: Of course, after all that nice weather, we had several waves of thunderstorms roll through again last night, and C decided to wake up at 2 (he sleeps through the storms, but randomly wakes up some other time? I don’t get it). Since there were multiple waves of it, that means I woke up multiple times, which means I’m a tired boy today. Between the kid and the storms, my sleep deprivation has increased ten-fold this summer. Almost makes me wish for winter; at least there’s no thunderstorms. Snow is usually very quiet while it falls…
And to add to the fun, we had a bunch of hail too. Since I was awake, I went outside with a flashlight, just to check things out. Looked to be about dime-sized.
A brief inspection of the garden before I left for work didn’t reveal too much damage – some chewed-up leaves, and several cherry tomatoes got knocked off, but nothing totally mangled.

It’s beginning to feel a lot like… autumn?

By: Gabe1 Comment

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And just like that, it’s starting to feel like fall. Nothing as blatant as the leaves turning yet, but if you’ve been through a few cycles of the changing seasons, you can tell. It’s a little cooler at night, a little crisper during the day. The days have been getting shorter for two months, and it’s noticeable now. A lot of the summer veggies are starting to ripen as part of their last-ditch effort to produce enough to ensure that their species will continue on into the next generation… assuming I don’t eat all their progeny. Of course, it’s only the middle of August, and we surely have at least one, probably more, heat waves yet to come.

Fall is one of my favorite seasons. Although, when it comes right down to it, there are only four, and I like certain aspects of each of them, so that statement really doesn’t mean a whole lot. In any case, I love the weather, the colors, the football on Saturday afternoons, the food, and the harvest and preparing for the long, dark days ahead (of which there will be way too many). Fall (and winter) have more of that homey, family, snuggle-up-with-a-book-and-a-bowl-of-soup kind of feel. Since I’m a homebody family man kind of guy, that’s right up my alley.

And I realize I’m getting too nostalgic – it’s still summer, and there’s still lots to do while the doing is good. It’ll be fall soon enough, but might as well hold onto summer while we can, because once it’s gone, it’s gone for a loooong time.

S’mores

By: Gabecomment

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Summer is not complete without sitting around the fire for s’mores. We finally had our first of the summer the other night, now that summer is starting to wind down (school starts in just a couple weeks!). Of course, since it’s so muggy and has rained so much recently, it was hard to get a good fire started. Even the nice dead stuff that wasn’t sitting on the ground was damp, so it took a while before things got hot enough to burn well. And the mosquitoes were out in force. They didn’t bother me too much since I was close to the smoke, but S got about a dozen bites (and I heard about every one).

All’s well that ends well though. We got some good coals, which produced some good s’mores, which made me happy. And it’s just nice to be able to sit outside for a bit, after the boy goes to bed, and enjoy some peace and quiet.

Steamy nights

By: Gabecomment

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Of which we’ve had a lot around here lately…

It’s been so darn humid, when the cooler air comes in in the evening, a mist settles over everything until the next morning. Makes for sticky sleeping.

More storms

By: Gabecomment

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For the third time in the last four nights, we were awakened by thunder. The only reason we weren’t on that fourth night is because it stormed before bed. On the one hand, it’s great that we’re getting rain and I don’t have to water (though some places are getting too much and flooding). On the other hand, I sleep lousily to begin with and have a kid that already wakes me up in the middle of the night, so adding a thunderstorm to that mix makes for a very tired me.

Looks like we’ll get a respite for a couple days mid-week (60s at night! mid-80s during the day!) before we’re back up to the 90s by the end of the week again.

Darn. I had several other thoughts this morning when the thunder woke me up, but as is usually the case with mid-night wakings, I can’t remember anything. Maybe it’ll come back to me later.

Anyone else thunderstorm-weary? Usually I enjoy a good storm, but I feel like they’ve burned me out this year, we’ve had so many.

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