Hi! I’m hoping my computer issues are solved at least until the end of the year. I don’t want to buy another computer until then — and I think I will need to. This thing is eleven years old and the latest OS that I’d installed, wasn’t working very efficiently. It took two days of dinking around with it last weekend to get it to work well, and I’ve apparently fixed it. Isn’t tech fun? Being retired, two days of work is less expensive than the machine I think I need.

The beginning of July was full of camping and friends. In Silverton, Colorado, I camped with good friends, enjoyed the annual Independence Day parade in town, and watched fireworks that night. The cool thing about their fireworks (and the ones in Ouray), is the deep, but narrow, canyon that makes the BOOM of all the fireworks reverberate against the canyon walls. What great sound effects that add to the visual thrill of the fireworks! My group, unfortunately, was seated behind a new street lamp, so the pictures aren’t as nice as they could be.

The rest of the summer I’ve spent walking and playing golf. I’ve really enjoyed both, but recently we’ve had temperatures of up to 103 degrees in the middle of the day. That means outdoor physical activity needs to be done in the early morning. Since retirement, getting up and out of the house early isn’t a thing. It’ll cool off soon, and I can resume those desert walks I love. They give me time to think and clear my head—and get me out where I cease to think of myself as important as I do when I’m cooped up inside. It’s a good thing to get out where you get some perspective about your size and importance in the grand scheme of things.

Have a great day!