Hmmmm 9-16

The end of the pen is the area that Larry
will be calling home.  (well he might be
calling it other things...haha)

It is a warm breeze blowing today and it feels hot already in spite of the weather watchers saying it is going to be cooler today...we'll see.

Larry is still making his way to where he will be posted in the middle of Idaho for the next several weeks.  The people in the know say this fire will go until the snow flies unless there is a big turn in weather conditions before the end of October.  There are quite a few fires burning up there and its of course pretty smoky.  We experienced that the last time we were through there, hard to get pretty pictures of the lovely country up there when obliterated by smoke.

Loves soaking up the sun in the morning.
If it gets under 60 outside she shivers.  I am planning
on making her a sweater of course.

So it's just me and Gracie.  Makes me really happy for having found her.  The 29 days that Larry was gone is the longest stretch I have ever lived alone, not a bad experience and I am fine with my own company, but I have learned why people that lose a partner, to death or divorce, move.  Even though we've only lived here two years, everything here we've built together and it just isn't as enjoyable without the other person.  It was a surprising lesson.  I'm not even old yet and I know this place would be too big....I hate cleaning and this place requires a lot of time to keep it clean inside and the outside...  Plus I would probably become a hermit if I stayed here...though at times I wonder why that would be a bad thing...hahaha.  I just think its fun to learn and it helps to think you might have a direction for if "what if" ever happens.  Larry and I have always planned on getting very, very old together, so we still have a long, long way to go!

I wish you could smell these!  One stem of
multiple roses in a vase scents a room.

And of course I couldn't resist taking more pictures of the flowers while have breakfast out in the garden.  Whoever says there is a shortage of honeybee's hasn't been in my garden.  This place literally hums, loudly with their buzzing.  The pictures I've posted that have bees in them have been purely accidental, most times I hadn't even seen the bee, they are just everywhere.  They crowd each other out and don't even wait for the flowers to open in the morning on the species that close at night, they just dig their way through the closed petals into the center.  They never bother us, but Gracie may get a surprise if she ever gets one in her mouth when she snaps at them as they whiz by her head!

Yesterday Larry called and told me about a sight he had seen going through some town in Idaho, I don't remember which town...two older boys walking through town with a deer trailing behind them that was sporting a bright orange collar.  No I don't think I'll attempt that here with any of "ours"...they could just move on and never come back as far as I'm concerned.  We're thinking they must have raised it and I'm thinking the orange collar is so it is easily seen when being spotted from the end of a rifle.

Petunias catching the first morning sun rays.