Random Act’s of Kindness, Scratching our Music Itch, Praying for Haiti

“Carry out a random act of kindness, with no expectation of reward, safe in the knowledge that one day someone might do the same for you.”
— Diana, Princess of Wales

Oh, hello there, it’s Monday morning. Are you ready to tackle another week?  My wife is still in bed, my dog is chewing on a bone, the coffee maker is singing her song, and the air has a slight chill.  This morning an appraiser will arrive to do a walkthrough of our home; we are doing a refinance now that we have updated the house; money is cheap; why not take advantage of the low rates?

We had a great day yesterday; we got up and chatted with our friends Dave and Anna, they headed back to Parker, and my wife and I hung out on the deck.  We ate some tamales, showered, took some personal time before heading down the hill.  We went to the grocery store and bought five dozen roses for our friends Dave and Nicole; their staff was throwing them a gathering for their upcoming wedding.

There were two bands, Allie joined us, and the three of us sat there with our friends and watched some great live music. Then, we came home, and my wife had made cabbage rolls; they were delicious. After that, we settled in and watched some television before hitting our bed.  We slept well; I slept in again; how many times before you sleep in until you claim a new wake-up time.  I was a 5:00 a.m. guy for 25 years; these days, I’m up at 6:00 and sometimes 6:30. Is it age or laziness? A question for another day.

Our cleaning lady starts today; she will come over and see how long it takes her to clean our home.  My guess is 3 hours, but it could be 4; it’s a big house, we keep it clean, but having someone deep clean it once a week will make our lives a little better.  I’ve got a couple of appointments and some emails I need to clean up; it will be a good day of accomplishment.

Tomorrow we have tickets to Nathaniel Ratliff and the Night Sweats.  We’ve got six tickets we are taking some friends and meeting some other friends as well.  We also have Black Crowes tickets; the opening band Dirty Honey is excellent; two shows will scratch our live music itch in the next two weeks.  

Parker Van Halen is chewing on a bone; we found that our grocery store has frozen dog bones.  She loves them; she is treated daily to a new bone; there are a few laying around, time to do some bone clean up. I suspect later today; we will take a walk with the pup; it’s almost a daily requirement, she needs to move.  It’s good for us as well; I think they call that a win/win.

Next Monday, they pull our old hot tub out, then we must replace our deck and then get our new tub in. We’ve had a lot of activity here recently; I think we will be set for the winter after that.  I want to build my wife three flower beds this fall; that’s on my list. Will I get the project complete?  I will use the rocks on our property to outline the beds, then fill them with topsoil; we found some purple some sage that deer don’t like, we will plant in the spring.

It’s beautiful here; you can see 180 miles, the fall air is perfect, the wind chimes provide an excellent soundtrack, and the wildlife provides a minute-by-minute movie if you care to watch.  I mentioned that we had a couple of bears here on Saturday night; I’ll check the RING camera to see if they came back; they will be around another 30 days before hibernating.

Do you ever stop and think about Haiti?   According to Time Magazine, they had an earthquake, then a hurricane, and now they expect an outbreak of a disease.  What the hell did they do to warrant such backlash from something bigger than ourselves.  I guess there is turmoil all over the globe, but our Haitian friends seem not to be able to catch a break.  

I should share that the entire time I pen these thoughts, my pup brings me a rope, bones, and other toys.   My morning soup used to take about 30 minutes, add in PVHT, and it’s now an hour exercise of typing, throwing, and repeating “go lay down?”  I love our little mutt; she’s given us more love in the last year than most humans; I forgot how much unconditional love you could get from another creature.

That’s my check-in; how are you? Did you also have a good weekend? Are you ready to get back to moving things forward?  Maybe you are on vacation, and you get just to chill; I love my work and will be doing some incredible things this week.   I love my life, my wife, and I am the happiest man you will encounter today.  Do something kind for another human; if everyone reading these words just did one random act of kindness, the world would be a better place.

“Carry out a random act of kindness, with no expectation of reward, safe in the knowledge that one day someone might do the same for you.”
— Diana, Princess of Wales