Still on Work-Remote / First Harvest / Chip is 7 / A Trip Every Month
July was supposed to be the month that my team and I plus a hundred other coworkers were being recalled back to the office after nearly a year and a half of working from home during the COVID pandemic. We all had the date on the calendars and they even had seminars and meetings to get us all ready to return to campus. We weren't looking forward to it as it's been great working from home but all good things must come to an end. But then the infection rates started going back up and things are getting interesting again so at the last minute they told us all to hold back a month. So now they're predicting that the end of August will be our time to get back. And even that is up in the air because as time has gone by, everyone's cubes in the office have been ransacked and most people don't even have chairs. They're not ready for us to come back even if things had gone well. So we'll see how August goes but as it is right now, I'm still enjoying working from home.
There are three fruit trees in our backyard: An apple tree, a pear tree, and a plum tree. Because of the heat we've had this summer, the pears were ready to harvest sooner than the rest, so a weekend ago Nicole and I were out there with bowls and ladders plucking pears from the pear tree marking our first ever harvest in this house. We had perhaps a hundred pears when it was all done. Now, they need to further ripen off the tree at this point so we haven't been able to eat them. There are so many that we're not sure what we'll even do with them all. Looking at the other two trees--the apple and plum trees--they look close to being ready for a harvest themselves and there are far more of those fruits so it'll be quite the chore. It'll be interesting to have these fruit trees as the years go by!
Chip had his seventh birthday this week. It's been four years since we rescued him from a shelter in eastern Washington and it's been a good ride. Chip is not the easiest dog--his anxiety is problematic--but he has enriched our lives. As time has gone by and we're now sure we've had him the majority of his little doggie life, it's nice to be able to provide a real home and a backyard for him. He's living the high life in some ways. For his birthday this year, he got a grilled beef burger paddy all to himself. Spoiled.
The rest of the year is going to be kind of insane. We've somehow managed to have a major trip or vacation every month through December. Let's do a rundown of how things look at the moment:
There are three fruit trees in our backyard: An apple tree, a pear tree, and a plum tree. Because of the heat we've had this summer, the pears were ready to harvest sooner than the rest, so a weekend ago Nicole and I were out there with bowls and ladders plucking pears from the pear tree marking our first ever harvest in this house. We had perhaps a hundred pears when it was all done. Now, they need to further ripen off the tree at this point so we haven't been able to eat them. There are so many that we're not sure what we'll even do with them all. Looking at the other two trees--the apple and plum trees--they look close to being ready for a harvest themselves and there are far more of those fruits so it'll be quite the chore. It'll be interesting to have these fruit trees as the years go by!
Chip had his seventh birthday this week. It's been four years since we rescued him from a shelter in eastern Washington and it's been a good ride. Chip is not the easiest dog--his anxiety is problematic--but he has enriched our lives. As time has gone by and we're now sure we've had him the majority of his little doggie life, it's nice to be able to provide a real home and a backyard for him. He's living the high life in some ways. For his birthday this year, he got a grilled beef burger paddy all to himself. Spoiled.
The rest of the year is going to be kind of insane. We've somehow managed to have a major trip or vacation every month through December. Let's do a rundown of how things look at the moment:
- August: Vacation with Nicole's entire family to Washington's San Juan islands.
- September: As I turn 40, we're attempting to setup a trip to visit my brother in Ohio.
- October: For the first time since 2018, Nicole and I are having a lover's retreat vacation for our 4th wedding anniversary.
- November: Thanksgiving with Nicole's family in central California.
- December: Not exactly a trip anywhere but we're expecting Nicole's best friend from Montana to visit Portland and we'll likely be hanging out.