Is It The End Already?

Summer’s end, that is. And, yes, I guess it is as this is the beginning of September and Labor Day (here in the US, anyway). Even without the calendar dates, it is starting to feel like Fall. Mornings are chilly now, and the daytime temps aren’t nearly as high as they were just a week or so ago. While it does seem that this year is going by fast, I can’t say I am sorry to see summer go in some ways.

One of those ways is definitely my allergies, which have been worse than ever this year. I have been getting almost asthma-like symptoms at times and it’s making me very unhappy. I had a list of plans for the gardens and other outside areas that just haven’t gotten done because I can’t breathe. I am hoping the cooler fall weather will allow me to at least get some of those things done or at least started before winter settles in.

We are slowly adjusting to having only two dogs here. I still miss Lambeau a lot, and find that there are times when the house feels like it has an empty space still. He slept in a soft-sided crate in the living room that had one broken zipper on the long side. It was never a problem with him because he wouldn’t try to break out of it, but I know I couldn’t say that about the other two hooligans, so we decided we should probably just toss that crate. I had put it in the back room temporarily and the other day, thought perhaps I should put it on the porch so it could go out to the curb this week. I couldn’t. It was like that was the last physical connection I have to him and it just made me so sad thinking about losing it. It has to be done, but I think it will be a last minute thing. I guess that might sound silly to some, but that dog was a big part of my life for eleven years. It’s not easy to just write that off.

The interior rebuild project on the barn/shed is finished now. And the fellow who did the work did an awesome job on it. It will be so much more useful now with a real floor and walls, and better stairs and a handrail, and a more secure and safer floor on the second floor storage area. I have my garden area room again, and the BaldMan will be able to set up his workshop in there, as well. We also were able to get the stuff we cleared out of the shed so the work could be done back in, so the yard no longer looks like we were running a permanent yard sale or setting up a junkyard! Plus, some of the wood that was pulled out to do the rebuild will be able to be repurposed for other projects. All in all, it was a good thing.

Overall, it wasn’t a bad summer. Not everything got done that I wanted, but some things did, and others will just be rescheduled. We got to take a few weekend trips, saw an old friend, and had some down time, as well. Can’t really argue with that! On to fall!

Drink your water. Eat a vegetable. Get outside and get some air. Be nice to one another.

---

My latest book is a collection of very short stories, half science fiction and half fantasy, called “Crossed Wires and Other Very Short Stories”. I have also written a few other short pieces, another collection, two novels, and an urban fantasy series. You can find most of them at Smashwords, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, and wherever e-books are sold. A few are also available from Amazon in paperback. My novel, “Circle Unbroken” is also on Kindle Unlimited, if that’s your reading preference. You can find out about all of them here.

There are also some stories you can read here on my site, mostly the yearly Halloween short I write, but there are a few others. You can read them from here