Everyone is enjoying spending time on the patio and loving the grassy back yard.

This is our cat, Chloe. She doesn’t get much camera time because she’s kind of a snot. But loving in her own way. Basically, she loves you when she feels like it and you’re allowed to scratch the top of her head for 3.5 seconds before she gets totally annoyed with your presence.

These two of course love to love people and typically you can hug them, kiss them, and love on them as much as you want.

They look like they’re fighting, and sometimes sound like it too. But it’s all just fun and games; they live for fun and games.

Even the back yard Hawk came for a visit. Someday I’m hoping he’ll land on our fence-line so I can get a proper picture.

I love watching the dogs watch the birds. They’re so observant! Especially Abigail. Romeo is usually preoccupied with making sure the bees aren’t after him.

Did I tell you the fence gates are finally up? Yep, but not without that irritating dance we’ve become accustomed to with that company.

Make an appointment but don’t show up…one two three…we have to track them down…and one two three four…then make excuses….and twirl your partner…two three four…and then install it like a 10 year old did it…this is the point when you hear the needle scratch the record and the dance inevitably gets ugly.

Yes the gates are up but…this one shouldn’t have a black frame, it should be powder coated to match the rest of the fence. And what’s with the major gap between the post and gate? This company really makes us appreciate Monadnock Fence in New Hampshire. They were so professional and did such a fantastic job on the fencing with that house. Too bad they don’t travel…

So for now we’re stuck with the current fencing company which shall go unnamed because honestly, I don’t want to promote them in any way, positive or negative. There are scratches all over the fence and the big double gate in front.

Now, some may think we’re being too picky I suppose. Maybe people like scratches and dents on their new, very expensive, fence?

Some of the bolts are in so tight they dented the fencing…along with scratching off all the paint and scratching the surrounding area. Attention to detail is not their strong point.

Prior to this handiwork, Tony had to listen to the installer whine about how understaffed and over worked they are. And how somehow he just never gets the emails or messages his boss leaves him that he’s supposed to be at our house working on the fence. This of course is after he didn’t show up for our appointment to hang the gates, then rescheduled for the next day. The next day rolled around…and guess who wasn’t here? So Tony called him and that’s when the missed message excuses started and finally the guy wanted to reschedule again. Well, Tony had finally had enough.

He hung up on him.

Yep. I was surprised too. Finally, someone willing to put their foot down besides me. Of course the worker called him right back. Maybe getting the hint that we are at our wits end. You would think that’s the case. So he showed up after all and installed the gates. But later when we walked the fence and looked at everything, we noticed all of the scratches, dents, and otherwise really crappy craftsmanship.

Do all of these scratches, and scraped paint look like a new fence to you? Me either.

Tony had to put in another call to the job foreman “discuss” all the areas of concern last week. They played phone tag a couple of times and Tony let him know he’d be here all week and wanted them to make an appointment to come out here to talk about the fence.

We also have not paid the second half of the cost of the fence which you would think would be a motivator to get them out here. But guess what? It’s now Saturday…the call went out on Tuesday…and nothing. I can already see where this customer service road is leading us. They could care less.

This is where you have to constantly remind yourself to count to 10 and take deep breaths and all that happy inner child bull$hit.  And stop trying to mull over in your head why such a popular fence company in this area has such incredibly negligent customer service. Because really, you’ll drive yourself mad with all the thoughts of “if this were my company I would…” and “why would someone scratch that all up like that?” and “why are they not out here taking care of this?” and finally, the inevitable shaking of your head and the “what THE HELL look?”…anyway, I guess this story is to-be-continued, unfortunately.

Luckily we had other more enjoyable things to concentrate on.

My husband is a hang glider. Have I told you that? He’s checking the wind speed.

He talked me into going with him last week and “helping” him launch.  It’s necessary to have someone to keep your wings steady when you’re getting ready to launch, because it’s typically windy.

Set up and safety checks are extensive and took about 35 minutes or so. Not easy on a hill like that…in strong winds.

Now, keep in mind, I’m not the adventurous one in this relationship. I like little adventures like road trips, trying new restaurants, reading, and being a food blogger. Strapping wings to my body and running off the side of a mountain?

That will never happen.

In fact at this point, it was so windy and just the thought of watching him run off that mountain made my stomach feel sick. Call me un-adventurous or paranoid if you like, but I know a storm when I see one coming.

Apparently in flying there’s some kind of mathematical formula for wind and force. When it’s windy, the gusts are 4 times that speed in force….or something like that. So I kept asking…”are you sure it’s safe, it’s awfully windy?” The wind was coming in at 18 miles an hour. The gusts were extremely powerful.

Wanting to be as positive as possible and not an un-adventurous negative nelly…I just tried my hardest to follow his directions and be of help. And I prayed. I did A LOT of praying.

My job was to hold the hang glider down so it didn’t take off without him. That’s how windy it was. And it was not easy.  I am 5′ 4″ and although I’m not as skinny as I used to be, I am not a big person. The glider is at least 20 feet wide from tip to tip and weighs around 58 pounds. It’s awkward. Similar to holding an umbrella in a massive wind storm except bigger and heavier.

So he strapped into his flight suit and clicked into the glider and we had to wait for the perfect wind and not so many gusts. I had to stand on the bar to hold it down, because once he’s clicked in, if he gets a gust and it’s not under control…off he goes, unprepared, and it could end up with an ugly outcome.

Sounds like great fun, doesn’t it?

We watched the weather which was getting increasingly worse and more than once, the glider tried to take off with both of us.

At the point where it lifted me completely off the ground, I finally had to tell the truth. My knees were shaking, my stomach was sick, I’d had a full body workout…and finally I admitted, “I am NOT comfortable with this.”

Luckily, we work pretty well as a team and he agreed. The weather was too crazy. So we had a few hairy moments as he clicked himself off the glider, got it turned around so it wouldn’t take off, and then began to tear it back down in the wind.

I’m not a fan of watching the people I love do dangerous things.

There will be many more opportunities to fly in safer weather…and hopefully with a stronger helper than me. I did get some really beautiful pictures though.

We are still feeling so blessed to be back home.

We loved so much about New Hampshire, but we really missed the wide open spaces of Washing state!

Moose like to hang out in that little area of dense trees at the bottom of the mountain.

Farmland as far as the eye can see.

The glider is so long the front of it rests on the dashboard.

One last check just to see what the wind speed looks like before we head back home.