Getting the bugs out

 

What a sight to greet me after the long drive home yesterday. The July garden in peak bloom. Peppers on the vine. 

As I drove the final stretch down Snoqualmie Pass, the traffic got meaner and the sky turned grey, not from smoke, but from the marine layer of clouds that usually burns off by afternoon, keeping Seattle summer temperatures in the cool 70 degree range. The final detour in West Seattle was as brutal as ever. Welcome home.

I pulled out my winter robe this morning and I'm making oatmeal. It was hot in the Methow Valley, perhaps 10 degrees above normal in the low 100's. But what is normal anymore? Unfortunately, the last two days were unpleasantly smoky from nearby wildfires. 

Those of you who have vacation homes already know this (duh) but it's a mental juggle. As John says, what's the point if you're worrying about one place whenever you're at the other? Or wanting to be at the other? I feel very fortunate, but it will take some time adjusting to this new dual lifestyle.

The former owners were meticulous people, and of course the house was in pristine condition for real estate showings. Keeping it like exactly like that as part-time retreat seems impossible, unless we want to work on home projects every hour we are there. Nope. Still, I'll be happy when we have some basic absentee maintenance in place for things like lawn-mowing and sprinkler system. It feels odd to just walk away leaving things running. But people do it all the time.

Our yard here is teeming with insects, so I don't know why hatching beetles on the windowsills and ants bothered me. For a control freak, it felt like an invasion. Lighten up. 

The former owner left a large container of Raid perimeter insect spray in the garage. Hint, hint. I take a benign view of most insects, and not sure if I'll resort to full-scale slaughter. The house is right by a pristine river, for heaven's sake. Summer bugs are a fact of life. But hopefully the teeny kitchen ants are history when we go back. They came out of nowhere to torment me, as ants do.