Ow, in every sense of the word.

Getting ready for camp week next week, I've been running around like a headless chicken trying to get everything done at home. On top of the pile of other stuff I have to get done, I have to get my yard in shape for the community association. Apparently, Jungle Chic isn't a real thing.

This is my front yard, after filling two yard clippings bags full of vines, overgrown things, and prickly branches. I feel like a pincushion, and I'm still finding thorns embedded in my fingers and arms. It looks better now than it did when I started, but I was too exhausted to take an after picture.

The worst thing I did, though, was accidentally chop through a huge vine of raspberries. I felt like crying. I memorialize the berries here so I'll remember to be more careful tomorrow night when I go out again to try an finish up.

And yes, I have to work at night, because it's too hot to work under the full sun. I'd burn and melt all at the same time. I came in and took the first enjoyable cold shower of the summer.

So I'm completely worn out now. I'm itchy, sore, and scratched up. I'm just going to sit here the rest of the night and watch cooking shows on tv. It's all I have the energy for.

In better news, camp preparations are coming along nicely. I think I can get everything else I need in one quick trip, but I'll have to plan in advance. I keep forgetting things, and I really don't want to multiple trips for things I should have remembered to buy in the first place.

I ordered myself a new life jacket, because I detest the ones the camp provides. I'm also kind of ashamed that as the certified canoe and kayak instructor who has to teach water safety that I never owned a life jacket before. Do as I say, not as I do. Yeah, right. I swim like a fish and can tread water for hours, so I can't imagine a situation where I'd need a life jacket, but it is the smart thing to do...

I'm plowing my way through Running Down the Dragon while I recover in the comfy chair. I've said it before, but I swear, this time it's true. I actually like the story now. I mean, I really like it. I always liked it, of course, since I wrote it. It would be silly to think I wrote a story I didn't like. But writing a novel is an evolving love-hate relationship with your own words. One day you love it, the next you want to burn it. The very next day, you might love it again. Well, today is a Love Day for me and the Dragon. It's always easier to edit when you feel the manuscript love. So on that note, I'll get back to work.