Kota and I set out fairly early in the morning (before the heat hits) and go for a walk. It helps me to clear out the cobwebs that accumulate in my brain. I talk to God and try to find His answer in the beauty of the Pacific Northwest. So much is going wrong so quickly right now with our rescue. The challenge is to find the balance within to solve the problems that have developed in the last 72 hours. I found out that I stand a strong chance of losing my place if I can’t make the much-needed corrections (according to my insurance company). I have managed to make it on a list for home repairs- but I only have one year to get my carport rebuilt. My contractor did not finish the original build. He claims he ran out of money. I wanted to have the carport demolished, but three contractors (one retired and just offering his advice) have all told me that if I do that, one section of my wall of my home will just collapse.

Added to that pressure, the DIY flooring that I so proudly accomplished myself, well it was not “approved” and therefore, I need to replace it with approved flooring within a year. This all slammed into me a few days ago. I am still trying to sort the issues out in my head. Walking and talking to God helps. One of the other benefits of wearing a mask is you can talk to yourself and no one will notice.

We are also spending $152.00 every two months for prescription food to keep some of the seniors from dying  of kidney issues. The dry food is working, but it cuts severely into the budget for the regular dry and canned food and paying the vet debt. But, the fight continues, and the walking helps.

Yesterday, this was our walk-about. The one thing that I regret is my cell phone ran out of charge. I missed taking a picture of the deer coming down to the river to drink, the immature bald eagle tearing open a trout and the gathering of over a dozen swallowtail butterflies that came down to the river to get water. That was amazing. But here are the photos that I did take for those of you still in lockdown. We are almost a week (supposedly) of opening up all the way here in Oregon. I’m not holding my breath though, because it seems like every time the Governor decides to open up, people get sick and we shut down again.I wish we had taken a page from Australia’s attack on the Coronavirus. But everyone is doing their own thing (or so it seems).

At any rate, I hope you enjoy the photos as much as Kota and I enjoy our walk-abouts. in the very last photo, Kota is alerting to big Crawdad that was busy burying himself into the mud.

As always, stay safe and keep loving and living-