Life at a "Swell's" pace

Hello.

We've had some crazy wind this last week. A bit of rain, but mostly windy days. I woke up a few mornings in a row to the neighbor's trashcans rolling down the street. The rain yesterday was hitting the windows sideways. We always get some strange weather here lately. Mostly around June we get thunderstorms, so having this now is just bizarre. There's a wildfire that sparked from a fallen powerlines in eastern Oregon (Neals Hill Fire). As much wind as we've been getting here, it is worrisome. We've also have nine more deaths with the Coronavirus pandemic putting our state number now at 348 deaths. We aren't one of the higher number states, but it's still sad. Worldwide numbers are almost five million. That's unbelievable. Here are five things this week.

1. This Sky.

Wasn't kidding about the skies here lately. Storming, yet at time there's no rain, just thunder and lightning. I think the sky is beautiful, but with the lightning happening, it's causing me to have a bit more anxiety. Jeff is keeping us informed about anything that's immediate danger to us, at least.

2. This Kitty.

One thing we learned about Eleven over the past several years is that she is afraid, or startles easily by thunder. I don't think she knows what it is, so it puts her on edge. Every time there's a thunder sound, so stops, gets all tense, and looks around. We try to comfort her as much as we can, but we can only do so much. And, the thunder lately and the wind, as been loud. So loud it's even startled us a few times.

3. These Miles.

Logged more miles in this week. I can feel that I'm getting stronger every time I take a step out of the door. I am looking forward to when I can walk more, or run more, without feeling so tired afterwards. My surgeon said this is normal and should fade away with more time.

4. This Balloon.

Oh, how I love creepy things. When we were traveling along some back roads here outside the city, this balloon was traveling down the road. I loved how creepy it was and just had to stop and take some pictures and video of it.

5. This Sign.

Ridiculous. Even in jest, this is just wrong. Ace Hardware needs to do better.

We did get a chance to watch the SpaceX Dragon Endeavor return to earth and splash down in the ocean on Sunday (August 2), so that was really cool to be able to watch it live.

Positive affirmations this week: "What are some quotes that hit you hard and make you think?"

Oh, there's several:

1. "If you absence doesn't affect them, your presence never mattered."

2. "Once you start using your phone on silent mode, there is no going back."

3. "Stop waiting for everything to be perfect to be happy."

4. "If they do it often it's not a mistake; it's just their behavior."

5. "You can be optimistic and realistic."

Have a nice weekend.

There's a small foot trail at the back side of a park here named Waterloo and we always called it out secret trail. But, recently we've noticed a lot more people have discovered the trail, as well, and are leaving trash and other debris around the area. We decided to cool off in the river and pick up a lot of that trash and make the area a bit more environmentally friendly. It's upsetting that people come into a natural area, destroy it, and leave as if the world owes them something. It makes me angry to think how many times that's happened and we, or anyone else, wasn't able to pick it up in time and it ended up in the water ways. Leave no trace is a phrase we fully embrace when we are in the outdoors. I wish other would abide by that, too. On a positive note, we were finally able to get out, clean up nature, and enjoy a dip in the Santiam River. It was a nice day. There was still a bit chilly, but overall, it was nice to be able to kick back and relax for all the stress from the last few months.

Skylar even helped out some river floaters that got stuck on the rocks. When they floated past us they yelled, "thanks a million! Cheers!" And, raised their beer cans. ha!