Just mostly thoughts today. Our weather has suddenly turned from scorching heat to mild temperatures in the high 70's, dipping even into the high 50's at night. The mornings are cool and and not as sticky. It feels wonderful! But, I am not ready for summer to give way to fall just yet. Say it isn't so!

Although this makes for great windows-open-sleeping-weather, the pool is currently suffering. Now it's down to 78 degrees. However, this week we are starting the process of getting a pool heater installed. We've struggled over the years with the decision: to get one or not? We finally came to the conclusion that pool time is something we enjoy immensely and we are not getting the full potential out of  the pool because of the August downslide. There is also the problem with the beginning of the season and waiting for the water temperature to rise enough to be swimmable. The heater will bridge the gap on both sides, allowing us several more weeks to take advantage of the short season.

As I type, Dennis is out prepping the area for the heater which is due in today. Dennis and Jean own the local pool store, Aqua Tech, where we get all our pool supplies and have our water tested each week. He also opens and closes the pool every year for us. Since we've been on board with them our pool has been sparkling clean with no problems. Not only are they great at what they do, but they are just great people. The heater process will probably take several weeks since we have to coordinate with the company providing the propane and also the electrician. Hopefully it will all come together smoothly and we'll be back to comfortable nighttime laps soon. 

Alex is doing pretty good today. I could tell yesterday that the treatment was affecting him. I could see it in his eyes—tired and not up to snuff, but he still ate his evening meal and was pretty happy other than being a bit more lethargic and sleepy than usual. Since they inject the drugs right into his veins I can imagine he would feel it almost immediately. Kind of like a junkie shooting up (although I have no clue what that would actually feel like).  He has eaten and now his eyes look much better. Just maybe we'll get through this one without any bad side effects.

We're supposed to be getting rain tomorrow which is why I mowed the grass today. It has slowed its growth down and only needs to be mown every couple of weeks now—yet another sign of impending fall. The grass smells so sweet this time of year that I wish I could bottle the scent. I'd call it "Sweet August Meadow Grass." 

Alex is doing really well. His chemo treatment of ten days ago did not affect him hardly at all and he had a very good week! Finally! His appetite has picked up and he is now eating real dog kibble with chicken as opposed to only dog biscuits and treats and chicken and rice. His activity level is back to normal and he's like his old self. I hate to even say these things out loud (or should I say write them down for all to read) because I might be jinxing him. There is always that chance that he could backslide again, and it's in the back of my mind. I keep pushing it away, but it's still there. I don't dwell on it; I just take each day as it comes and every day is a gift. Especially when he's feeling so good.

This morning he had another appointment and another treatment. The doc proclaimed his lymph nodes "perfect." This week he was given the same drug that he had so much trouble with the last time he had it, so they gave him a smaller dose and hopefully he will tolerate it well. Fingers crossed. It was so nice to have the week "off" last week and have it be such a good and positive week for him. It makes my heart glad to see him feeling so good.

Last week's weight: 91.2

This week's weight: 95.6 — Yeah for Alex!

He has five more weekly treatments, then we move to every other week.

We're moving forward with our plans to go to the cabin. I've talked to the doctor about it and he sees no reason why Alex can't go. He might need a treatment while we're gone but we can do that at CSU Veterinary Hospital in Ft. Collins. Rick's business trip to Amsterdam in the beginning of September is not happening, allowing us to leave for the cabin sooner than we had originally planned and right now we are looking at September 14th through the 27th, arriving home on the 29th. That leaves one whole month before we go to Mexico--if all goes according to plan until then. I am hoping that either my sister or friend Carolyn can housesit for us during that time because we refuse to put Alex in the kennel. If neither one can come than I don't think our little Mexican getaway is going to happen. 

Thank you all for caring!

Photo: Water lily at Skylands (where else??)

Eight degrees? That's how much our pool dropped in temperature between last week and this week. 80 degrees feels a lot different than 88 does, but we still enjoyed hanging out and floating around the pool on Saturday. It was a pretty nice day weather-wise and both Rick and I got more sun than we intended to. 

We ate lunch pool side: a refreshing and delicious ceviche with calamari, shrimp and scallops with tomatoes, red onion, red pepper, avocado and cilantro. Rick made the recipe up and I must say, I was impressed.

Yesterday we met up with the Miata club once again for a short run. The weather was not the best however, and on our drive down to the meet-up point it poured. And poured. And then it poured some more.

Have you ever been in a rag top convertible in the pouring rain? It's very loud. Rick and I had to raise our voices and practically yell at each other just to talk. Yikes. Thankfully the pouring rain stopped when we got to the meet-up point and it turned into a drizzle. Its was a tops-up kind of day I'm afraid. About ten cars showed up and a few people didn't come, and I can't say that I blame them. 

Blairstown, NJ (the only town we drove through)

The drive was very pretty and mostly through hilly, densely wooded terrain.  The trees formed a tunnel over the road and it got very dark. It was a bit eerie with patches of fog hanging closely to the ground and in between the thick woods. It would have looked much different on a hot sunny day, but it had its own peculiar charm. 

We finally braved the elements and about 3/4 of the way through the run we put our top down. We finished the run at Lake Mohawk and the rest of the club stayed for lunch, but Rick and I opted to just come home.

We plan on joining them next Sunday too, but after that there aren't any planned runs until October. We're enjoying the runs! It's a good way to see countryside we haven't seen before and meet new people at the same time. Next week we plan on staying for lunch (which will be at an old-fashioned drive-in) and getting to know the people better. Here's hoping for good weather!

Last week while traveling the back roads on our way to our Miata Run we happened to drive through the historic little town of Hope, New Jersey. It oozes small town charm with its old buildings and stone houses. One of my biggest wishes is to someday live in a stone house. 

We stopped and parked on the main street and browsed this cute little antique store. The prices were incredibly low but we decided we didn't any more "stuff" as our house is already pretty full of like kinds of things. Those old wooden deck loungers were tempting, I must say.

This is the Long House which is a preserved structure.

I loved the old houses!

Hanging shutters on stone is not an easy job.

The other day I escaped the house for a little "me" time and headed to Skylands. It's been a long time since I was last there. The annual beds were planted with a riot of colorful zinnias and there were butterflies, bees, and hummingbird moths everywhere I looked. They were loving these flowers! Some of them were gracious enough to pose while others just flitted around.

 Sometimes one bloom was just too luscious for only one species at a time. There was some sharing going on.

I love how the little Snowberry Clearwing Hummingbird Moths roll up their proboscis when they fly.

It's easy to see how they got their name. Here its wings look pink!

Not a zinnia!

Photographer's Note: I did not bump up the color on these photos. This is just simply how they downloaded from the camera.