Slipping into summer

It's already the beginning of summer. This time last year we were getting ready to spend the summer apart. This summer we have too many projects...already! I I did break out my sewing machine and make 3 sets of curtains from some rad sailcloth I bought from Mexico via etsy. Pics will be posted once the curtain rods are up. And even though we didn't plant a garden, I have a small herd of potted plants on the porch.

It's been at least 2 months since I've downloaded any photos from my DSLR (smartphones are wonderfully and horrifically convenient) but I'm including a few below --- in color. I shot some film when we went to visit my sister and her boyfriend (and celebrate our 12th anniversary) earlier this month, but not a whole roll. They took us to a great park and showed us one place where they rock climb. We went to Elkfest (drinking + music) where I had a delicious plate of jerk tofu from a food truck. We had awesome wood fired pizza and I've been trying to to recreate The Gordy ever since: dates,  gorgonzola, balsamic. It was amazing. Plus we had a lot of fun visiting and spending time with them. Definitely scheduling another trip up north soon.

We're spending plenty of time in the hammock in the evening and on weekends. In between rain storms. I'm hoping to pull back at work and return to part-time and start logging even more hammock time. Life is too short - I don't need to work full-time and the money is definitely not a motivator (a pittance, really, even at full-time). I miss having extra time to myself.

Longform + Kindle Fire HD = no book reading for quite a while now. This isn't necessarily bad, just different. I enjoy the wide variety of topics from quite a spectrum of magazines...from Playboy to Vice to The Atlantic to Wired.  Readability favorites of late:

The Pedal-to-the-Metal, Totally Illegal, Cross-Country Sprint for Glory About drivers trying to beat the cross-country driving record

Some of My Best Friends Are Germs Micahel Pollen writes about humans being vehicles for bacteria. Super. Fascinating.

Could Conjoined Twins Share a Mind? Brings up questions about consciousness and everything we don't know about ourselves, anatomy-wise and more.

Dragon noodles (equal parts Sriracha, brown sugar, & soy sauce on noodles with egg)

Monday vacay

Got out of town for a Monday concert. Beautiful drive over to Missoula -tons of whitewater and logs, the river was rushing. We remembered what hot springs we want to visit.

I've been having the urge to be a seasonal itinerant worker. Not possible while we have dogs, though. So we'll focus on improvement projects like solar hot water and indoor "plumbing", shelves, a clothesline ... This is our 5th summer in Idaho.

Springin'

Friday afternoon

Starting swimming season early

Still stuck on square b/w photos...this Ilford app just does it for me. But colors are popping everywhere.
Crocuses under the apple tree are a color that might phone camera can't compute and survived a night ir two of frost. Birds are singing. Squirrels are running from branch to branch. Lazlo follows them quite closely under the hazelnut tree but his technique never improves. The pear tree and lilacs are budding.
It's almost camping weather. We're counting the days/weeks until Keith's temp job comes to an end.  What better time of year to be "unemployed" than spring? 3-day weekends will seem like a vacation after working full-time. We talk about what we're working toward and how to get there...jobs are part of that plan but we have flexibility for seasonal work for Keith. Which is great because there are a lot if tiny house projects to tackle.
The river is dropping a little and only one in the family is brave enough to swim so far this year. Head under and everything. Swimming season started early. Also rolling in dead steelhead season...dogs are disgusting creatures! Febreeze is fighting the smell in my car. On warmer days it loses. Gag!!

Almost spring

The sun has reached the point in the sky where the crystals hanging outside the bathroom window catch it. It's been dark for a few months; now my disco is back.

Hi-brow lo-brow

Rinsing your french press mug at the rain barrel

March forth

Slow Sunday

Working more = appreciating weekends.
Smartphone for work = easier posting.

Moved the explosives box to the bathroom.
Hung up an agate mobile to compliment the tp dish.
Moved the chalk board out of storage for project planning/diagramming.

Adjusting as we go...

When we moved here it was with the intention scaling back, living simply and getting by on part-time work. On paper, that sounds fine. But after four years of living at/below the poverty line we're putting a plan into play that will allow us to save some money for future (long-term) travelling  etc. This means increasing the number of hours we each work and there are some growing pains associated with that - but we're trying. Sometimes it feels like struggling, but it's good to get out of your comfort zone periodically, right? Right???

The snow is all gone (again) and it's making us wish spring would get here even faster. Though, on the weekend, when all I want to do is rest, I am glad for the cloud cover that justifies me staying indoors.

I planned on writing a post about things we do differently due to space restrictions and one of them is yoga. I only have a small amount of floor space that will accommodate my mat and sending the pups outdoors is the only way I can do downward dog without getting licked. I just never took the time to flesh out the list of what else we've modified for our space, but I will work on that - because it's a fairly lengthy list!