Summer 2021, days 59-76

The joy of the yearly work retreat is tempered by the knowledge that work will be busy after it's over. This year, it crushed me.

To be fair, it crushed many of my coworkers, too. Before I knew it, two weeks had passed, I had spent several nights (and a couple weekend days) trying to get things done I couldn't during the course of a normal workday, and I was exhausted. This was not how I wanted the second half of summer to begin.

However, the last three days have been nice. I took these days as PTO with the hopes that we could get in a couple more adventures before the boys start school Monday. Unfortunately, Lori has been swamped with her job and Michael is trying to get as many lifeguarding hours in before school resumes. So, mostly just Ben and I could be adventurous.

On Monday, Ben got his permit, and I took him to practice for an hour at the nearby high school's range course and a church parking lot. In the afternoon, Michael, Ben, and I drove to IKEA -- Michael wanted to get some shelves for his room.

Yesterday, we were slow to get out of the house, but Ben and I hiked the Yellow Fork Trail in Rose Creek Canyon in Herriman. The hike was about four miles, and we saw a flock of turkeys pass in front of us, which was cool. We also saw cows.

Today, Ben, Popcorn, and I hiked to Dog Lake. I was a little nervous about the dog -- this was the longest hike for her in a long time. The uphill wasn't steep, but about 3.5 miles one way (mostly shady). She was tired along the way, but she loved the lake, wading/swimming to bring back sticks, playing with other dogs, and feeling like a puppy again. She had more energy on the way down, even though I was nearing exhaustion (seven miles is long for me). We stopped at McDonald's on the way home, then relaxed the rest of the day.

That gets me caught up. If my calculations are correct, only four weeks of my designated summer remain. In an effort to not forget the last 17 days, here are some highlights:

• On Aug. 1, a crazy thunderstorm deluged Salt Lake City. I was outside trying to brush water away from the corner of the house that once leaked water into our basement a decade ago. Instead of lightning/thunder, this was 45 minutes of continuous thundering -- it was so weird. 
• Last Friday, a thick layer of smoke wafted into the Salt Lake Valley, decimating the air quality. For a couple days, the sky was a smoky, ominous bright gray. Thankfully, it mostly dissipated today.
• We enjoyed watching Olympic swimming and other events.
• I haven't been writing, but that should seem obvious seeing how I'm cramming 18 days into one post.
• The pandemic is becoming a shitstorm again.
• Ben and I played in a Marvel Splendor tournament at the local board game store and I won! (The tournament had only six players, which helped.)
• Lori and I celebrated our 24th anniversary.
• Lori and I went to the Little City beer garden and enjoyed good food and good music. We would have went again this last Saturday but the air quality was still bad.

Work starts again in the morning, and I'm feeling a bit re-energized. These three days off are what I needed to reset -- which I wasn't able to do after two vacations in July. I'm hopeful the next 28 days of work and family and summer will be nice.