Ocean Air

 Hello, dear bloggy friends! I have arrived in Maine and want to continue my Thirty Days of Thankfulness posts. I am in quarantine but I don't know for how long because there wasn't or isn't a lot of food in the house. And a week from today is Turkey Day. 

But, first things first-what I'm thankful for. I only have to step outside our door to feel, see, hear and breathe in the bracing ocean air. So refreshing! There's a cold breeze that clears the cobwebs from your mind, make no mistake about that! It comes in handy because I spent yesterday deep cleaning the kitchen. Every time I felt like collapsing I stepped out on the little deck off from the kitchen.  I so do not like a dirty kitchen!  Mom woke up at 5 o'clock vomiting and was in bed all day. I wailed to Roger on the phone that it must have been my pumpkin roll that we enjoyed having a piece of in the evening.  I had stopped for KFC on my way to the Island in Ellsworth. So I don't know what brought it all on. She seemed fine when I arrived. 

I spent my first day here getting the kitchen back into shape. Her caregiver took good care of Mom but cleaning wasn't a top priority. In all fairness she had other jobs beside Mom. Today I will continue with Mom's room and so on. It seems that cleaning is the first thing I do when I change locations, despite the fact that I hate to clean as I get older. Or I should say my body rebels these days.  

The mice have made themselves known in this drafty old house so I have waged war on them. Mouse traps everywhere. Have I mentioned that mom and I are scared witless of mice?! The red squirrels must have gone berserk because the screen of the outside storm door is so patched with duct tape that you can not see out it. I kid you not. I called my handyman, Dana, and he measured the door and a new one is ordered. It was time anyway due to the salt from the sea corrosion through it's many years. He is also going to fix the dryer vent that was pulled off the house and couldn't  be put back on by the caregiver. I duck taped that together yesterday so I could do laundry. Whew, it was quite a busy first day!

At one point during the day when I went to go out on the deck, Foxy was out there sitting looking at the door. I would have grabbed my camera but it is still packed and my phone was not handy. I went to the fridge to throw out a hot dog, Mom keeps them for him I found out, he grabbed it and ran up the road! Not down in the woods but up the road by all the houses. The wild life is not so wild as it used to be. Mom can't get out on her deck with her walker so she opens the storm door and throws the treats out. The very thing I told her not to do when I went away! Evidently word got around to the squirrels.  No wonder we are having problems with squirrels and mice. Dana is quite pally with my neighbor and he said that Charlie was complaining to him that he has problems with red squirrels now and blames it on Mom feeding them. He is not happy. I guess they must have got into his house. I am not surprised because the mighty wind we had last winter blew the ridge cap of shingles right off his roof. I notice it hasn't been replaced.  So, all is not well in paradise right now.

Moving on to being thankful...I am so thankful that I had internet cable installed here even though it goes unused for months at a time. When craziness is raging all around me, I can get lost in cyberworld, read a book or play games. 

I am thankful also for my love of photography. I love to record my everyday surroundings. I look forward to taking walks on sunshiny days here, seeing mother nature through my lens. 

Well, I hear Mom up so that is awesome!💖

My heart was and is heavy when I heard a local hunter killed "Bubba" during hunting season last week. It seems that word got around from our caregiver about the beautiful buck that came to our backyard. One of the drawbacks of living on an island where everyone has loose lips. Boohoo. 😥 I miss him already. I watched him grow from a fawn to an adult. He was 3 years old.