A Tale Of Two Washing Machines...

 Years ago, my wife said to me after I returned from thrift-store shopping with the very item I told her we needed, that when things like that happened, it was fate. It could be a crock pot, or an arc welder, a line trimmer, or a tuxedo...it almost doesn't matter what it was, when I came home with the very thing I told her I wanted to find, she knew. She knew there was some unknown power making possible me to find what I wanted. As if, we put it out into the universe and the universe responded.

We sort of made it a family joke...if I needed something, we'd announce it to the cosmos and just wait.

Funny thing...when you use a home appliance for almost two decades, it's bound to fail, and sometimes those failures are spectacular. Case in point, our washing machine. It's been a workhorse since we bought it eighteen years ago. Almost every week we did laundry, at least three loads. And it worked great. 

But when you hear those gears grinding and it no longer works, it's time. 

A week ago today, my wife and son and I loaded up the van (complete with our dog...) and searched the valley for yard sales. It had rained the night before and storm clouds were still in the sky overhead. We drove to the usual Yard Sale Sign locations and could only find one. We decided to give it a shot since we'd struck out everywhere else.

The yard sale wasn't much. In fact, the woman said she was only putting out a few things to sell because her daughter was having a bigger sale the next day and she didn't want to haul all the stuff over to her daughter's house. She actually apologized for the lack of things to look at.

"Oh," she said. "My neighbor is selling a few things next door. There's a wardrobe, a wood chest, and a washing machine."

My wife, son (not the dog who was in the van...), and I all looked at each other, shocked at what the lady just said. We walked over, checked out the machine, and asked what she wanted for it.

"My ex-husband stored it here and it's been sitting in the garage for a year. He said it worked when he brought it over." The neighbor thought for a moment. "I really don't feel like I can charge you for it since I don't know if it actually works, so if you want it, you can have it."

We were blown away.

We loaded it up, brought it home, cleaned it up, hooked it up, and tried it out. It was a little squeaky, a little buggy (with actual bugs...), but it worked like a charm.

I know putting things out into the universe doesn't happen every time, but last week, it certainly worked.

Man...I've Missed These Sunrises

 We're still getting monsoon moisture in our area which means, in addition to the much-needed rain, we have clouds in the sky...clouds at night, in the morning, and during much of the day. I worked with a guy years ago who was a photographer. He said something to me once while showing me some of his work, something I've never forgotten.

"I take pictures of clouds. Clouds make a sky interesting."

It's true. I love a clear blue sky, don't get me wrong. Yet, clouds really give personality and life to a sky. Because of the recent weather patterns, we've had morning clouds. Morning clouds usually result in exceptional sunrises. This morning another of those incredible sunrises, views from my office window that my phone camera cannot adequately capture. 

Since this is the second summer where I've worked from home at this new location, I'm getting used to the seasons and when the sun rises now as opposed to the fall, winter, and spring. Right now, the sun hits my eyes around 6:45am. On the longest days of the year, the sun can rise before I get to my computer.

Last summer, I experienced the sunrises for the first time. Each morning was something new. Several times, I actually left my chair and opened the front door to try and get a picture worthy of what my eyes saw. The sunrises were so amazing. I'm looking forward to more of this as the days get shorter and the sunrises come later in the morning. It makes getting up for work a little better.

I've missed these sunrises...I'm glad they're coming back.

The Eternal Question...Who's Weeds Are They?

 Oh, I suppose it's not the eternal question, but an eternal question. I took a philosophy class at the University of Utah (and passed with my faith intact, if not strengthened...). There are several eternal questions discussed in that class, but tonight as I straddled the property line separating our lot and my neighbors and pulled weeds, I wondered...

Who's weeds are they?

The assumed answer is ours, of course. Instead of grass or some other ground cover, we decided to place rocks in the few feet separating our driveway and our neighbor's lawn. It's too steep on our side to grow grass and I didn't want to run sprinklers on that side of the house so rocks it was. I thought--problem solved! Of course an occasional weed will pop up from time to time. I can handle a few weeds.

Turns out, it's more than a few. I remember talking to my neighbor and letting him know of our intensions to spread rocks between our properties. He said it was okay--if he had an issue with it, he didn't tell us. Tonight as I plucked pesky weed after pesky weed, I wondered...are these our weeds or his? I mean, they're right on the line.

The back half of our lots are fenced. He installed his last year. We followed suit this spring. There's a distinct line separating things. If a weed grows on our side, it's ours. But, where there is no fence, it's up for discussion.

I guess, at the end of the day (and the property line...), they're our weeds. The reason is he planted grass. His grass stops weeks from exploding--sort of like a natural fence.

I could be a jerk about things. I choose not to. I'll pull them. I guess the question isn't as eternal as I thought.

The Homemade Pickle Makes The Meal...

 Summer...we eat differently in the summer. We make fewer hot meals in the evening because of the heat, which leads to fewer leftover meals for lunch. I find myself making more sandwiches at lunch time than at other times in the year.

But, this year, there's something new...

Homemade pickles.

You probably didn't know this, but my wife is an award-winning pickler. It's true. She earned that distinction decades ago when our church congregation had a cooking contest. She walked away with the best pickles. Though the ones she made recently are not the ones for which she won the award, they're darn good.

And, yes...they made the meal.

Last year we had a home garden, but we didn't take full advantage of the space and did not get a jump on things early enough in the year. This year, we've tried to be more proactive. We planted a lot of cucumber plants and they are producing a lot of vegetables--got to use them whenever possible.

I am a pickle fan so I'm happy about the development. We're hoping to harvest other crops from the garden, especially tomatoes, which, by the way, are excellent on sandwiches.

I wonder if they make the meal, too.

Participated In A Book Giveaway...Thanks Dave

 Saturday morning, before the community farmer's market (that was canceled this month, by the way due to the rain...), my wife and I visited our little post office. We had to go in the morning on Saturday because it closes at noon. It's a small but effective concern located in the heart of the town.

Usually, when we go inside the post office, there's a line of people waiting to be helped. I suppose the heavy rain kept everyone inside their homes. Worked for us, because I had to mail out three copies of my novel, Chaser to three lucky giveaway winners. Unfortunately, the two winners from Canada had to settle for e-books. It's almost a crime how much they charge to ship a book north of the border. 

The reason I participated in this book giveaway is due to a friend, Dave. Almost all local speculative authors where we live know Dave. He's one of those writers/mentors who gives up his time to help other authors in their quest to create. He's a rare breed, a selfless person who is not only one of the smartest people I know, but an incredible writer.

For the past couple of years, I've hovered within two worlds, creatively speaking. Sometimes I'm a writer, and other times, not so much. Since moving I haven't dedicated as much time to writing as I once did. I realized years ago that the chance of me becoming such a popular author that I could "quit my day job" and write full-time more than likely wasn't going to happen. It's one of the harsh realities every new writer experiences. They enter the world of writing and find it's different than what you see from the outside. For many, it's enough to cause them to stop writing all together.

Still, others solider on. They must write, must create and nothing--not lack of income or success--will stop them from writing. 

This past weekend I did writer things. I caught a glimpse of that life and if felt good. Thanks Dave for pushing me and for including me in the adventure.

Give Thanks...When The Last Turns Eighteen - Children No More

Thanks to modern technology, I was reminded that five years ago on 8/7/17 my family went bowling. Not so unusual for a family to get out of the house and heat and chill trying to knock over ten pins at the end of a long wooden lane. 

We didn't go just because...we were celebrating my youngest's 13th birthday.

Today, we did not go bowling (not a big fan of doing things on Sunday...), so we went yesterday. The family got together and went bowling to celebrate our youngest's 18th birthday.

We are officially no longer parents of "children." Of course, they'll aways be our children, but in the eyes of the law, they're adults. Such a strange feeling. It's been just over twenty-seven years since we were not parents to an under-eighteen-year old child.

Five years ago the bowling alley where we bowled was new, flashy. In the adjoining rooms you could play laser tag, video games. Outside there were go-carts and miniature golf. Fast forward five years, where we celebrated had a bowling alley and a jute box. That was it. We've changed locations, changed environments. So much has changed for us. We've added a daughter-in-law to the family and everyone is older...hopefully wiser. One thing's for certain--our bowling skills have not improved. If anything, they've gotten worse.

I thought five years ago, I couldn't have loved my family more. Five years have shown me I was wrong. I have no idea what the next five years will bring. I'm sure it will be filled with the highest highs and the lowest lows...such is life. I'm grateful for these people, the ones who have filled my existence with joy and pain, strengths and weaknesses. Happy birthday to the youngest, young no longer, a child no more.

Real Life...Bonafide...Newspaper Comics

 Yes...it's true.

The Harold Journal newspaper from Cache Valley includes comics in their editions. And not just one page of comics, no sir-ee. They've got two pages of comics.

The way things used to be.

We stopped subscribing to a newspaper years ago. We got the Salt Lake Tribune and the Deseret News for decades. Then...nothing. I don't know what caused us to cancel. There was probably a rate increase and we felt it wasn't worth it. Plus, we had towers of papers stacked up in various places around the house until finally we dumped them all in the recycle bin.

It's just the way it was.

When we moved north, we thought a good way to get to know the community was to subscribe to the town's newspaper. The be honest, it's not much of a newspaper in the technical sense. It's printed once a week and sometimes it's only eight pages long. A couple of pages for the main stories, two pages dedicated to sports, a commentary page, an obituary page, a page for ads, and a TV schedule page. I'm not knocking the paper--I think it's a minor miracle it's even published at all. I applaud those behind it. There's just not much there.

Last month we were stopped by a man signing up people for either the Ogden Standard Examiner (we used to subscribe to it, too...), and the Logan Harold Journal. We thought we'd give the journal a try. We got the first editions this week. They have comics.

I used to read the comics religiously. Sometimes it was the only part of the paper I would read. It's been so long since we've subscribed to a paper with comics, I wasn't sure it was still a ting. The Harold Journal has them. There are comics I know and remember and some I've never heard of. I think it'll be fun getting to know those characters all over again.