As the dust settles

It's been a long week, but we're at the end of it, thankfully. The skies are blue here, the wind has died down -- and although the temperatures are up, the sun sets early so the heat dissipates quickly. Thank the Good Lord!

We started cleaning up from the winds. DH and the landlord made quick work of dismantling the dog kennels from the trees where they landed. We don't use them much, but they have to be back up for the kennel inspection early next year. Then they leveled the ground a bit -- we had sand dunes that would have made Laurence of Arabia weep!

I ladled out the washing machine tub, and washed it out a few hundred times. Finally did some laundry, hung it on the line, and it dried quickly in this heat. Nice to have clean clothes again.

There is so much more to do -- but I started by cleaning the kitchen. Washed dishes, washed down counters, put the curtains in the washing machine. Made crockpot beef stroganoff in our new slow cooker -- yummy.

My boss surprised me by volunteering to work tomorrow -- and offering me first choice to work or take the day off. I chose the latter, of course. So now I have the next three days to try and accomplish all that I had planned for last week.

We've really felt Serena's absence this week. DH has had trouble adjusting to food preparation - she was such a big eater that he keeps making up too much dog food. Lexie seems much more anxious - in our house Coco and Quincy sit in the office with me, Lucy in her crate, Nellie goes back and forth between rooms - and Serena and Lexie together in the living room with DH. Without Serena, Lexie seems a bit lost. They weren't particularly close, but greyhounds seem to be comforted by other greyhounds. And, at least with my greyhounds, they NEVER seem happy alone. When Lexie is alone in the living room -- she just doesn't seem comfortable. Hopefully she'll adapt -- and we need to concentrate on paying more attention to her.
So all in all, calmness has descended.

It's time for the nightly news -- and then to bed. Have lots of eBaying to do tomorrow -- need a good night's sleep.