Feel Like Complaining

When we were cleaning out our basement this summer, I found a box filled with stuffed animals that were given to our daughter when she was real young. We only gave her a few and put the rest in a box. But in that same box were some old things of mine that I had forgotten about. This old thing was probably the first and only musical toy I had. It might be a bear, but really how could you tell? I loved opening up the back to pull the music box out and watch it work. It still plays music but very S L O W L Y. This ugly thing is at least 62 years old. My cousin had one and my older brother fell in love with it when he was about 2. My Grandma searched around and bought one almost identical for him. Eventually our cousin had tired of her monkey so we ended up with both. One sat too close to a heater and burned the back of it's head. My Mom repaired it by sewing a baseball cap on but it eventually went bye-bye. The Kid even played with it when she was young but she called it Bucky ...

We didn't have any dogs last week, which was just as well as we were smoked in. Almost two years to the day we were again covered in choking smoke; but not quite as bad as then. We flirted with a 302 (hazardous level) briefly before settling into the 250-270 range. I wish we could trade other states for some water. Such destruction all around. No eclipse glasses needed, near sunset Sun peeking through the tree (sorta) gasp The garden still needed picking though, so The Kid and I went out and moved fast to gather what we could. I think we made quite a haul! By yesterday we were able to open the doors for fresh air and put clothes on the line to dry. The Kid and I also took a walk above the river and enjoyed the day. All too often we take the little things for granted and I realized how lucky we are to live in the Pacific Northwest.