We went to Arvada on Sunday for Grandma’s 90th birthday party. It was an outside event, and simple… just family, time to visit, and a little cake and ice cream. Simple is good.
R got to hold the newest member of the family 3 (4?) week old Theo. That was the highlight of her day for sure…
Grandma seemed to love the babies too, and looked so happy just watching them.
I didn’t take many pictures, but like this one of the grandkids and great grandkids who were there (plus a couple of aunts).
Today was a big day….
Walter, the little caterpillar we’ve been raising inside (to keep the birds from eating him), emerged from his chrysalis today.
He stayed on the back porch for a just a little while before flying away.
It was such a treat to raise another caterpillar again…it’s been a few years but it never loses its magic.
We’ve seen a lot of wildlife in the 16+ years we’ve lived here… deer, coyotes, rabbits by the hundreds, skunks, raccoons, foxes, antelope, and we even had a mountain lion in the front yard, and a black bear just down the road… but today we saw the most amazing thing.
A bald eagle perched on our next door neighbor’s electrical pole.
He was huge, and amazingly regal. I was in awe.
Sadly, the only picture we got is terrible. We spent most of the few minutes he was there staring…unable to believe what we were seeing…or looking through the binoculars at him. We only got this one quick photo before he flew away.
I hope he comes back…
We had an unexpected hailstorm yesterday and a nice rain. We ended up with almost 1” of rain, and as far as I can tell the hail was too little to have damaged the cars, etc. It did make an impressive noise though, especially the pounding on the metal roofs and skylights.
Once again the barn seemed to be on a little island in the middle of the rushing water. I’m so glad Annie and Carl placed the barn carefully. Despite the water all around it, the barn (and the hay inside!) always stays dry.
I’ve never been a big consumer. I don’t like shopping, especially in brick and mortar stores (online is more fun!), but found I was getting a bit spend thrifty during the pandemic. Almost having a mindset of “since we’re dealing with the hardships and uncertainty of the pandemic I should just buy what we want and not worry about the cost”. Which I did… not to excess but more than usual.
I’m not comfortable being spend thrifty. I am a minimalist and having too many “things” stresses me out and leads to major cleaning episodes which leads to multiple trips to Goodwill to drop off donations.
So… my goal for the year starting August 1st is to avoid buying anything new…that includes books, household items, clothes, etc.
There are exceptions to my “nothing new” rules of course… I’m not going to get crazy with this.
Exceptions are…
Replacing an item that has broken and is not repairable or is completely worn out.
Gifts
Groceries and other consumables
DIY materials but only if absolutely necessary…I’ll use what I have here, modifying plans if need be before buying more supplies.
The bookcases for the loft redo that I’ve been trying to buy since mid-June but IKEA has been out of.
Did I say I’m planning on working on this for a year?
This isn’t just an exercise in frugality or will power. Each item I buy used, or don’t buy at all, is one less item that needs to be manufactured, saving the materials and energy that go into the manufacturing process. It’s a small gesture, yes, but it feels like the right thing to do.
We found our first monarch caterpillar on the milkweed plants we grew from seed last spring. It was so exciting!
We have since moved him inside into a protected habitat. I was worried the birds would eat him if I left him out in the garden area. 😱
We can’t wait for him to form his chrysalis and emerge a beautiful monarch!
