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Today concludes our family trek to the west coast to not only see family, but search every beach we can for sea glass, or fossils, or treasures of any sort. It has been mild in temperature, and mostly overcast and you know what? We’re fine with it. Heading home to temperatures in the mid thirties, so nearly a week in the mid teens has been most welcome. Also the complete lack of humidity has been very refreshing. Kids love it out here. Sad to have to say good bye once more for who knows how long, but we will be back to our regularly scheduled life in just a few short hours, and two flights, and three separate airports. Hello Sunday morning!

On a warm sunny day where it is 22°C in the full sun you walk deep into the forest where the temperature drops six full degrees and the air becomes noticeably damp. You follow a downward sloping path that leads deeper and deeper into the sun shaded woods. Before too much longer you begin to hear the thunderous roar of rushing water. There are various warning signs plastered up on the ever widening trees whose canopies disappear into the mist well above you. You approach a set of stairs leading down. Many fellow travelers around you balk at the sight of the steps. People murmur in quiet panic as you push past them and wander down, down, down. The dull roar of the water is now so loud you can barely hear anything other than the water itself. At the base of the steps is a long, and narrow bridge that visibly swings under the pilgrims foot steps. You are standing with one foot hovering over the edge. What do you do? Roll for initiative…

Having an aimless wander along the beach in search of sea glass, fossils, or sea creature teeth is a big thrill for us. Cheap, and easy to do as long as you can find somewhere to park, and have the time to devote to wandering around whilst staring at the ground looking for minute pops of colour that’s faintly different from all the rocks, sand, and water borne debris. Helps if it’s cool and rainy, because then the beaches are deserted, and we don’t have to worry about bothering other people, or having our treasures found before we get to them ourselves!

Hard to believe it is Friday all ready. We are gearing up for the England versus Norway game tomorrow afternoon. Should be a fun watch!

My wife found us a river bed fossil tour to go to yesterday just off of the highway on the outskirts of town and it was a shake busting blast! Started off with a short guided tour through the museum then a short drive to the fire, and a quick walk down to the river. We took my niece along for the ride, she seemed to enjoy it. My knees weren’t so fond of the two straight hours of either kneeling or squatting, but they’ll get over it.

I’m in that kind of mood, and you can’t stop me, so nah-nah-nah! Might just be the fatigue talking, but there’s a kernel of truth to the sentiment as well. I’m exhausted, and too tired to string more than one coherent thought together at the moment. I’m going to eat and then rest a little more before I drive anywhere today. Onwards and upwards.

And it is now 12:37 Wednesday and I have not yet fallen asleep. I feel like ass. Let me turn these lights out and drift off to sleep. Oh boy my back & right shoulders hurt. These kids are an over tired mess! Ha. Speak to me again in the morning.

Just adding some fuel to the fire here to keep things going! Writing at three am this morning might not have connected due to where this site logs the time stamps from. Might be California or overseas I’m not sure where. Also I’m tired, hungry and feeling a little cranky.

Making my way downtown…good lord it’s early in the morning. Wish I’d been able to fall asleep earlier than eleven pm!

A much shorter novel by Martha Wells, the latest entry in her Murderbot Diaries series. I am excited to dig in to this! Have had it since early May, but I was slow rolling book eight because I do not have books nine or ten (not yet written) and I was sad to see the streak end. Matt Dinniman’s books were pretty much all I’ve read since March, and going right deep in one go has left me wanting more. Sadly I will have forgotten much about the characters, the plot, and the action by the time the next book launches. Makes me sad to think about. I thought it was an eight book series and ran through them all excitedly, until I heard him say it’s a ten book series. Oh well. Now I can dig through my TBR for gems like Platform Decay, or an Aliens omnibus, or any other books I have piled up on the dresser ready to go. Wish me luck!

With it being so hot, and my body wanting to sweat so heavily I have had to resort to adding just the littlest pinch of salt to my beverages so that when I drink it is to hydrate, and not to just immediately have to go pee. This comes up a lot when discussing the benefits of straight water versus Gatorade versus whatever else people use to stay hydrated. Water is great, but you need electrolytes to function, not just water. I’m not trying to flush out my kidneys or liver, but add vital fluids back that have come out involuntarily due to the weather, and my activity level in the heat. All I know is, is that as I age up I have started to sweat far more than ever, and I need to be a little more discerning about how I treat my own body if I’m hoping for any sort of longevity upon this earth. So where as I avoid adding extra salt to my food, a tiny pinch in my water seems to be the better option.

I’m fairly certain that today is Sunday July 5th, which means there are those waking up this morning with fewer fingers or toes than on the 3rd of the month. Big holiday weekends usually involve injuries, or sadly enough, some fatalities. Boating, drinking, and fireworks make for strange bedfellows. Hope all of you made it to the end of the weekend whole.

The humidity looks to be hanging around for another week or more so it’s going to be slow moving outdoors, except when swimming at the inlaws. Means waking up early to cut the grass or starting it after 7:00 pm in the evening trying to catch a break in the overbearing heat and full sun. Still better than winter though! I prefer spring, summer and fall over the winter months.

Now I’m just rambling on about nothing. This blog is about 400 or so views away from doubling the best numbers this blog has ever done in a calendar year, so that is kind of exciting. The visitors number has exceeded all previous high scores and is still climbing. My book downloads is not moving along (both books are free) as well as last year, but the number is slowly creeping upwards. Nobody ever write back to tell me if they hated them, or liked any part of the collected short stories, so that’s a conundrum.

I played my guitar for about three hours the other night (before my wife and kids came home from the cottage) it was the first time I’d played in a couple of months, maybe seven or eight weeks? I still have a painting that I started laying on the table gathering dust, and a busy armature waiting for clay, not to mention my Warhammer 40K Ork Boyz that I primed are waiting for their cohesive paint job. I’m in a funk. Well, sort of but not really. I spent March and April reading the first seven Dungeon Crawler Carl books, then whilst waiting on the eighth read another authors latest release and then went back for book eight once it released. And because I don’t yet have book 9 or 10, I’m slow rolling it because I don’t want it to end. Though I did just buy some new books by different authors I have never read, so I might be about to read even more neglecting my hobbies, or crash out because the all consuming franchise will hit a wall as I await the final two books to complete the series. Argh!

I nearly bought myself a 42 inch barrel fan to keep my woodshop cool, but it’s four hundred bucks, and that seems a little large to me now that I think about it. Hard to store a nearly four foot tall and wide bright orange fan on wheels. Move a whole lot of air though, like 16,000 CFM! Crazy.

Got off on a tangent there. Take care out there. Ciao Bella!