The small things.....

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7:09 am - Sunday - August 13th - 56º F, humidity 64% (hmmmm.....it's raining....must be more than that, no?), wind 2 mph out of the south southeast......heavy cloud cover with light rain, which has been falling on and off all night.......there is occasional thunder.  Forecast high for Gardiner, MT today is 75º F......74º for Mammoth Hot Springs.  As I go to preheat our coffee cups this morning I realize I have left my insulated coffee cup in the garage....uh, trailer, so I must go out into the rain to retrieve my cup from the trailer before I do anything else......

......I have been using this cup since 2005 to sip that magic elixir each morning.....it was given to me by one of my son-in-laws after they had been to Alaska.......every day I see that cup I think about the day when we will journey to Alaska.  At any rate, I love this cup as it keeps my coffee hot for a long, long time.....way longer than a traditional ceramic cup.  I have had to epoxy that handle back on the cup about 5 times over the years.

The past 5 days I have been turning on the fireplace to take the chill out of the interior first thing each morning.....

......and this morning is no exception.....yup, the seasons are changing.  They tell me the change can be rather abrupt in these here parts some years.......after all just back in late May the Lake Yellowstone was still frozen......that's only three months ago.

On Saturday and Sunday mornings I like to watch British Premier Soccer, and Saturday was opening day for their new season.....

Newcastle United FC vs. Tottenham Hotspur FC

.....additionally, with the changing of the seasons comes preseason NFL football.....oh yeah....

L.A. Rams vs. Dallas Cowboys Saturday evening

.....Saturday evening saw the L.A. Rams playing the Dallas Cowboys in L.A.....the Rams won 13-10.  I saw on my DirecTV bill they have charged me the first installment for my NLF Ticket season, and the new season is just weeks away.  That also means College football will be starting in a week, or so......does it get any better?  I'm not sure, but I'm willing to find out the answer.....😉

As you have no doubt noted, our life is not complex......it is the small things in life that give me pleasure.  We live in a very small space.....about 220 square feet of living space....maybe slightly less, but that's my educated guess based on the dimensions of our 36' x 8' coach (36 x 8 = 288 square feet less space occupied by cabinetry, walls, closets, etc.).  Everything important to me is only a few feet away at any given time......including TLE.....😉.  Almost invariably I am the first one up in the morning followed by TLE about an hour later.  I turn on the heaters (as needed) and/or close windows to make sure the interior environment is suitable for her when she awakes (which she has just done).....😉.  I always get up and walk over to give her a hug and a kiss.....it is our little ritual to begin the day with expressions of our love for each other.

Saturday was an unusual day.....we arrived at the Mammoth General Store around 1:20 pm for our 1:30 pm shift, and within 20 minutes two tour buses had disgorged their human units in front of the store and we were literally buried in customers....SRO!  We went through about two dozen pretzels, maybe 20 hot dogs, a dozen bratwursts, and God knows how much ice cream in that 45 minute span in time.....it was crazy, and seemed much longer than a mere 45 minutes.  After that things settled down to the usual periods of very few people in the store, followed by the occasional bursts of activity, but nothing remotely approaching that initial 45 minute onslaught.  For the rest of the shift we all kind of cringed whenever we say a tour bus passing the front of our store.....😉.

TLE and I spend our days in the General Store working about 50 feet from each other, and I love that I can look across the store and see her talking with customers, and that I can hear her wonderful lilting laugh.....occasionally she will look up and wave at me.......as I said, it is the small things that give me pleasure!

We were home before 10 pm......just in time for me to watch the last few minutes of the aforementioned Rams vs. Cowboys NFL preseason game.....since we have the 'MID2' shift Sunday (9:30 am to 5:30 pm) we were in bed by 11 pm....or at least I was.  I was awakened numerous times during the night by rain and thunder.....I love hearing the rain on our aluminum roof.....yep, those small things make life wonderful!

Thanks for stopping by!

When you need to buy something from Amazon, think of us.......we will appreciate every purchase you make using our Amazon Affiliate link, and  remember, using our link will not add one penny to your purchase, plus we will receive a small commission.