On The Lighter Side....

I've been working an excessive amount of OT lately. The end goal is money for our vacation so that if something comes up I can, without hesitation, say yes.  Hot air balloon ride? Yes please. Fancy smancy dinner out? Yup. Room service because sometimes you just have to be lazy? Hell yes. 

We leave for San Francisco in two-ish months.  Two and a half days there, then road tripping to Santa Cruz for another two days. We plan to travel the pacific coast highway for the best scenes, stop in Big Sur, hit some touristy stuff in San Fran, see the redwoods and Salsalito, and take in the virtual immersive Van Goh exhibit for which we have already secured tickets. It's a lot, but I have 4 days off when we get back to rest up.  It will be nice to get away as a family again, and to celebrate our tenth anniversary.

Ten years. Crazy.  Doesn't feel like a day over 30 years.

On my rare day off a month (aside from Sundays) I've been catching up with my Mom, and meeting friends for lunch.  It's nice to have some one to talk with that is going through more or less the same struggles with their kids that I am. Things ebb and flow with Youngest and it's exhausting.  Oldest is gone 11 hours a day and on weekends his butt is planted firmly in a chair on the beach. It's nice being a quarter mile from the ocean. Youngest prefers the pond, as he's more free to be himself without getting arrested. At least for now. 

For me, the backyard is becoming my sanctuary. 

Hubs does a great job at keeping everything alive for me.  So good in fact we spent much of Sunday morning before the heat rolled in  splitting, thinning, and repotting all kinds of plants for my friend from work. 

As for work, we are currently in the middle of a heat wave..... 

Meanwhile... in the mail truck....

Thankfully I am training so while my days are longer in the office, my road time is shorter. The heat is supposed to break tomorrow night which is good, because I feel like my insides have been thoroughly cooked through. My trainee is doing well, but it is still mentally challenging to be training for weeks at a time. And because I am not an official trainer I literally get nothing for my efforts other than knowing she is properly trained. My old substitute, that I adore, is making career and has requested to come back to my route, so this new trainee won't even carry for me aside from a week or two.  If management listens to me, she'll then move to another vacant route to train, and she'll likely stay on as his permanent sub. It's unlikely they will listen to my suggestions though, as there's a huge disconnect between management and staff.  The postmaster has been investigated twice for mistreatment of the employees.  Its' getting scary folks.  Like, really concerning.

My niece and I are touring two more colleges in three weeks.  At this point I think we are just visiting to visit, as I believe she may have found her happy place with our first tour.  It's also the cheapest one, which makes her parents happy.  I still can't believe she's almost 18, and going into her senior year. especially since I'm not aging, Not. One. Bit.

And lastly, the heat has brought out the swimmer in the girl. Once afraid of the water, if not watched carefully she now runs in full boar during our walks, stopping short of getting her head wet. Which is so funny to watch, not so funny to smell or wash out when we get home.  

Pond water + triple coats of husky hair = a special funky smell. 

Wait... is that a squirrel?

There's a good sniff over here...

And here...

Since last weekend the pond has been packed.  It's nice to get a few moments at night when there's almost no one around.  But it does provide for many, many good, highly distracting, sniffing spots.

And with that, I am off to eat dinner, before the chaos begins again.