I will not lie, it has been another busy week but  honestly I can't complain.   I realize it is Montana and am trying to squeeze 12 months of stuff into 3-4 months...while the weather is nice.  

July 4th wasn't anything too exciting but I was able to get the BBQ grill put together.   Oh so many pieces but I got it done in a couple of hours.  I have decided after the fact to remove one of the side tables though as it is just a bit too big in the space I have on the deck.   Haven't gotten a propane bottle for it yet but that is on the agenda for the coming weeks.

The weather has been cool  (but that isn't supposed to last) and stormy.  The afternoon thunderstorms have been pretty epic with high winds in some,hail in some and heavy rains in most.  Not that the rain is bad mind you, this is the greenest I've seen our valley in July for probably 10 years.   However I did drag the air conditioner out of the garage in prep for the mid to upper 90s they are predicting this coming week (hoping they are wrong but hey).

We just won't talk about the mowing I am behind on at the moment!

I also ticked a few chores off the to-do list (yup gotta have a list but interesting it never seems to get SHORTER).   A run to the recycle with the months and months of carboard I had piled up.  Check.   New parrot playgym project completed one evening.  Check.   Also got a new T stand built as well with the "extras".  Youi know you have too many PVC projects when you go through all the parts you have and don't have to buy anything but some sticks of PVC to build all this.

Iago isn't as impressed as I am with it but we'll monkey with some of the toys and see how she does.  I have managed to coax her onto all of the different parts and have already found  I needed to adjust the plan and move that center post to the other corner for stability.    It'll give her something to move around on when in my office - if she so chooses (mostly she doesn't).

Dogs and parrot have had outside time pretty much every day. I bring them all in once it looks stormy or if it is just too hot out back with no breeze.   I makes for tired monsters.

Oh yeah AND I got two poodles bathed and groomed (over two evenings).  Since is it supposed to get hot they both got shaved down close to help keep them cooler.   They hate the process but I think feel so much better when all that hair is gone.   

The other item on the list was to get my brother's trailer uncovered and de-winterized and opened up for his arrival in another week or so.  Did that early one morning when it was cooler and not windy as that gigantic tarp is nothing to mess with in the wind!   Pat me on the back for remembering to mark the front and back sides of the tarp and put directions on the photo on my phone so we know how to unroll it in the Fall.    It's pretty musty inside but I do think we were successful avoiding mouses over the Winter.  YAY (wish I'd been that lucky in my truck where I had to run my trap line again this week).    Next week need to remember to start his fridge and then it should be good to go till we head out  for our camping trip.

Meanwhile I'm still tweeking Iago's cage in my trailer and decided to ditch the microwave I don't ever use (it is so tiny it doesn't work well anyway).   A good vacuum and shake oiut the rugs with all the pasture dirt and weeds and am starting another round of treating my water tank for the algae that is in it.   Think a hardware store run is in the future to get some plumbing supplies so maybe I can pump out the tank without having to run it through all the plumbing which will allow me to bypass running the bleached water through my water pump and faucets and the like.   We will see...bleach water is sitting in there now and then will have another round of bleach, see where we are then 2 rounds of vinegar and multiple rinse rounds before we camp again.   We shall see what happens.   I need to do some other tank cleaning anyway so that will be on the list for this next week....along with 4 days of other appointments to mark off.

That's pretty much the long and short of it this week.   Just keep chugging along and here we are 1/2 way through July and on the downhill side of the year already.  Wowsa.