This summer the solstice begins on June 21st at 12:38 P.M. EDT, Father’s Day! The summer solstice heralds the beginning of summer in the Northern Hemisphere. I hope you can spend time outdoors this weekend, enjoying the longest day of the year!
This morning we took a drive up to the new home we’re having built in the foothills west of here. Our kitchen cabinets just went in this week! This color is called Hargrove Cinnamon, and the wood is birch. Lovely huh? I can’t wait to cook my first meal here!
The house is really taking shape now! The view from the kitchen sink island is seen above, an amazing perspective on the Spanish Peaks!
I had an insight this morning. I have most certainly experienced more difficult times in my life than this past year and a half; struggling through the process of leaving our old home, past lives and dear friends behind to build in this new, rural setting.
A number of tough times in my twenties, thirties and forties come to mind, but I have never struggled like this while sharing my life with a partner. Now I know it is both easier and harder to struggle with major life challenges while intimately involved with someone else.
It is easier for the most obvious reason. With the right partner you can experience understanding, encouragement and support in your darkest hours. This is an amazing benefit to someone like me who has spent most of my adult life living alone.
The hard part is when both of you get down at the same time, what I call “Who stole the bright side.” It is so essential that we work together and not push each other away with guilt or blame when things get tough.
So glad we have each other to turn to. I cannot imagine this experience without Mike’s loving support and caring. This is “sustainable living” at its most basic, and Rasta our little dog helps immensely too… comedy relief is ESSENTIAL!
So we’re back with our original builder, who is supposedly finishing our home. Two weeks later he hasn’t even begun to finish tiling our small home.
Excruciatingly slow progress! And please don’t say hire someone else. There is no one else available around here! We were supposed to be in there by now, one year after we moved here to build. We did our research and chose the best builder we could find here, so WTF?
Please note the steam coming out of my ears at this point…. In the meantime, I am trying very hard to stay zen about my circumstances, as my husband awaits possible neurosurgery, and our home does not move forward.
Because of all the extra rainfall we have received here (over 10 inches since the middle of April!), the wildflowers are going WILD up near our new home!
Especially these yellow flowers called Plains Greenthread (or Navajo Tea), but we also have Indian Paintbrush, Lupines and a couple Penstemons around.
Just had to share these amazing fields! Who knows when they’ll be like this again…
We have needed the services of the only ER in this rural Colorado county twice since we moved here almost one year ago.
The first was within a week of arriving here. Mike developed a nasty reaction, with extreme gut pain, nausea, etc. The doctor who assisted us that time was kind and seemed to want to be helpful, but could not figure out what to do.
Then this past Thursday morning, Mike was writhing in extreme pain from a recently diagnosed neck vertabra injury. Apparently he had turned his head the wrong way in his sleep even with a neck brace on. Even though he was on a very strong opioid for pain, it was still completely out of control.
The young doctor who came in to “help” us had the worst bedside manner I have ever witnessed. He seemed to immediately jump to the conclusion that we were drug shopping, and said he could not prescribe anything.
Come to find out, all Mike needed was a strong dose of anti-inflammatory (Aleve) and a muscle relaxant to go with his other pills. So that stupid young doctor pissed us off for no reason at all!
I for one did not know that you can take Aleve along with opioids. If I had we could have saved hundreds of dollars and all the shaming that doctor had to offer us!
I started out blogging in 2007 over at MidlifeCrisisQueen.com. At that time I loved the freedom blogging provided me as a writer. Rather than write a piece and then try to get it published somewhere, I could publish it immediately.
Back then blogging was new and free. I had over 90,000 views in my first year.
I wrote about the emotional trials and tribulations of deciding to change everything in midlife. It was a blast. I found my people, new friends from all over the world!
Then things became much more technical with too much social media involved. I learned that I needed to find somewhere else to “self-host” my blog. In other words, lots of time and money to upgrade and maintain my sites.
Then there was Facebook and Twitter and Google+ to join and post on. Then there was Pinterest and one very nasty letter from the legal department at Getty Images, charging me $800 for using one of their images by mistake.
The last straw happened last fall when an update from WordPress screwed up my main site beyond repair. After that it became impossible to post on Midlife Crisis Queen.
This week I was hacked and then charged $100 by Blue Host to clean it up…. and we’re done! I got into this gig for fun and to reach others with my writing, but the Internet is becoming more and more expensive and hacked, with less and less fun in it for me.
I now plan to maintain this site for as long as it is still fun and trash the rest of my sites. Too bad it has become such a hassle just to express yourself, because:
Freedom of the press is only available to those who own one!
I had an insight this morning. I have most certainly experienced more difficult times in my life than this past year and a half; struggling through the process of leaving our old home, past lives and dear friends behind to build in this new, rural setting.
So glad we have each other to turn to. I cannot imagine this experience without Mike’s loving support and caring. This is “sustainable living” at its most basic, and Rasta our little dog helps immensely too… comedy relief is ESSENTIAL!
So we’re back with our original builder, who is supposedly finishing our home. Two weeks later he hasn’t even begun to finish tiling our small home.
Because of all the extra rainfall we have received here (over 10 inches since the middle of April!), the wildflowers are going WILD up near our new home!
Especially these yellow flowers called Plains Greenthread (or Navajo Tea), but we also have Indian Paintbrush, Lupines and a couple Penstemons around.
Just had to share these amazing fields! Who knows when they’ll be like this again…
Back then blogging was new and free. I had over 90,000 views in my first year.
Adventures of the NEW??? Old Farts 