Every time I think I am gaining a bit of ground, reaching a point where I can settle into a somewhat sane schedule, something cartwheels in and disrupts my plans. It's sorta demoralizing really, but also, I am hanging in there!
You know, hanging precariously like a teensy kitten over the laundry basket off of the edge of the couch arm, hanging.
Yesterday, was my first day in a LONG time that I wasn't working a 14-16 hour day of school, interning, and training. So of course I had to play catch up and do things like laundry, bills, scrub the bathroom, etc. But there was also a tiny bit of time to do a good thing and help a family member. My son's other half got a tortoise and asked if I would go with her when she purchased and picked up the little guy. As she literally lives about five minutes from me when I am in house number three, I was excited to actually get to participate in Operation Tortoise Acquisition.
The little guy is so dang cute.
Carrying the forty gallon terrarium thing down two flights of stairs and getting in in the back seat of her car, only to haul it out and down more stairs was a bit of a chore, especially after hiking five miles, but I got er done!
Then, I got to go on a lunch date with my hubs, who lives in house number two at the ranch and is overseeing the building of the massive shop and tending to things in my most of the month absence. He still wanders down the mountain every other week to oversee and facilitate his youth shooting sports program, so I was happy to go eat some chicken pad Thai with him and meet our new pupper, River.
The hubs has been wanting and looking for a working dog for a long time. Things in our lives have been so chaotic that I was hesitant to add a puppy into the mix, and I just believed the right pup would come along when it was supposed to.
Well, one of the equipment operators had a three year old Aussie that they adored, but as he and his wife had to move into town and work new jobs that they couldn't bring him to like they previously did, the River pup wasn't doing very well.
So the hubs and River's fam agreed to try it out with him coming to live with us.
The trial went beyond well!
He is the most lovely dog. The corg adores him, the cats enjoy him. Well, the Mosquito does, I am not sure Jojo adores anyone. I mean, she is always in resting murder face status, but still, he just fit right into our family and hearts.
And that's just the animal sphere of one day of this week. I have been doing so many things, national assessment training, conducting therapy for the first time in a professional context, giving presentations that may have fomented a bit of a revolution, and soon I will be meeting with an activist group to learn a bit more about what's being done in our region policy advancement and advocating for our people-wise.
Haven't even touched on travel, sapphires, garlic planting, food harvest, and The Elder Being, an owl I ran into on the river who was so massive that I am pretty sure it was some sort of ancient forest spirit.
My life, per usual, finds me well and good. And in chaos.
But I am doing it, I am half way through this semester, I have excellent grades, I am going to be applying to graduate school, and most of all, even though I am exhausted, I am full to the brim of gratitude as I am very much alive.
And as most of the time, all of the images in this post were taken on the author's dutifully chilling with her through it all iPhone.