storms rolling in...

I was just out in my happy place, the treetop garden.  I love it in the early morning hours, with the lights glowing, in the silence of the wee hours.  It's calming, it's peaceful.  It gives me a feeling of closeness to God.  I didn't want to leave it.  I covered the grill, Hubs had forgotten.  I sat there for a moment and enjoyed my coffee.  

I was laughing because my sweet pups are afraid of the dark, so even though they wanted to go downstairs, they won't.  We have a few solar lights up in the back, but most of it is shaded too heavily for that to be the solution.  Hubs bought a light that is motion activated that we will put down there, we just haven't gotten to it yet. 

I sat there for a few moments, gathering my thoughts and planning my day.  Listening to the sounds of the world waking up, watching my scared puppies sitting inside looking at me like I was absolutely crazy. I came in when I started to hear the raindrops on the umbrella.  

In the distance there is a strong rumbling of thunder, sitting inside with a puppy (sometimes two) in my lap I keep seeing random flashes of lightning.  My weather alert let me know that there is severe thunderstorm moving into the area, I can't wait. I should disrupt the puppy in my lap to go out and put down the umbrella, I can't bring myself to do it. 

barely room for mom...

daddy needs in on the cuddles too

Thankfully neither of these sweet babies are afraid of storms.  They've never had any reason to be. My Gator was terrified of them.  I spent many storms comforting him and trying to erase the fear he developed when he was left on the streets to survive on his own. My babies haven't known that kind of fear, they have no reason to notice.  It's crackling around on all sides and they are sleeping quietly.  All of his life with me I had wished I could take away Gators fear, to make it as if it never happened.  I couldn't.  But he only knew love and protection after he came to me.  I sort of feel like these babies are my chance to heal his wounds, even though he is gone. So for a moment or two, I am going to sit here and let my little boy sleep and enjoy his puppy dreams, doing the things can wait. 

sound asleep holding her toy...

We are only supposed to have storms for a couple of hours today. I was wondering if we were going to only have the bowling tournament in heaven kind.  Lots of banging and cracking, but dry with little to no rain.  Just as I started to type that out, I heard the rain start.  I won't need to water my garden today, it's coming down hard.  Washing the world to a fresh start. 

I hope everyone is doing well.  This world is going quite wonky and sadly, I don't believe it will get any less wonky, in fact each day seems to find new and unique ways to point that out.  Being at home, I have a greater opportunity to observe these things. I am not distracted by a full time job and other people. I don't have a million different things vying for my attention. 

Hubs has a few different places to be today, so he will probably take my car as I do not, it gets better mileage than his truck and as he isn't hauling anything there is no reason to take the truck.  I will probably have him pick up a few things while he is out and about to avoid any extra driving.  He was on one of the apps this morning looking at gas prices.  Yesterday I found a website that tracks the changes. In my state, the average a week ago was $4.17, a month ago it was $3.88, yesterday it was $4.45 today... the average for the state is $4.49.  Here in the Lou, the average is $4.53.  I find this to be very telling of things to come. 

I am absolutely not going to start an electric car conversation.  Because the technology and infrastructure are simply not there on a grand scale.  And trust me there are many times in the last few decades that I considered one.  The cons still outweigh the pros when you stop and truly think it through.  Don't use talking/selling points.  Use rational thought. 

Besides it isn't just gasoline that is going up.  Have you noticed the change in your utility bills yet?  Why are they all of the sudden replacing all of our meters?  My house had one of the stupid "smart" meters when we moved in, it wasn't an option.  Yet they just came out and "upgraded" it to one they could have more control over. Look away, nothing to see here. 

Yesterday I was struggling with anxiety.  Fear is a dangerous thing that can really mess with your mind.  I was super tired and allowed myself to watch a bit of the news.  Those two things should never happen.  Once Hubs went to work and the televisions were off, I could feel my calmness return.  

I got busy.  I did productive things to take care of my family.  I returned to that place of being aware, but not being a part of it. I was still edgy most of the day, in fact sweet Hubs did point out that I seemed a bit grouchy.  I wasn't. I was simply tired and should have taken a nap. I went to bed early last night, super early. 

And after a full night of sleep, I am ready to face this day.  I am hopeful, I know that no matter how difficult it could become, we have a solid plan and the skills to be okay.  I hear a lot of folks remembering how bad it was in '08, worrying that it is going to be worse.  I don't disagree on the "worse" factor.  The thing is, I don't remember it being so horrible.  Sure money got super tight, we took pay cuts that hurt, we still had kiddo's at home so dollars didn't stretch super far.  

But.... 

I don't remember it being a time of great need.  We shifted our patterns.  We didn't go out to eat, except for those $4.99 specials so we could feed the whole family for around $30.  We changed the stores we shopped at and cut back further on name brand items.  We still did things, just not pricey things.  Instead of a pool membership, we bought a small pool for the backyard.  I worked my gardens around my work schedule and we did just fine. We cut where we needed and we were smart with the bits that we had. 

Have you thought about what some of this could, most likely will, mean for your daily life?  I have and do.  I'm not worried, but I am aware and I am taking steps to insure that this inflation will cause us the least amount of pain possible.  It will cause pain, every time we fill a vehicle it hurts, but we are doing all we can to minimize that level of discomfort.  Are you?

Well, I need to get busy... I have some canning I want to wrap up today and some sewing too.  In a few moments sweet Hubs will come up from the man cave in search of breakfast... have a beautiful, productive day!

love and peace...