August 26, 2025- The morning after a slam-bang lightning show with matching cloudbursts, that made up for July Dry/Fry, was quiet. The air was still, and the action on a car part that I need for Sportage was even stiller. This will impact my honouring of a departed former co-worker, in another part of the state and likely delay my visit to Hopi, which I would like to make before departing for Europe. Whoever is slow-walking the delivery of the part (now in the last day of a 3-5 day delivery window), probably has their reasons. So, things are on hold.

I was able to cull cassette tapes and CDs that I will no longer use, and the last non-digital camera I had kept from the 90s. Other items are being separated, and still others will be recycled, tomorrow or Thursday. A lot of memories are being rekindled, with this process. All my loose old photos of married life and clippings of the major events of the 2000s and 2010s are consolidated in one box.

Then, there were the messages. One resulted in my reiterating my view of good and evil. This took about four repetitions, all calm but direct, and perhaps my points finally got across. This is one area where some have very deep-seated opinions and will insist on their views. I go more with common sense. The second was inquiring about the wisdom of moving to this country for the purpose of basic employment. In another time, that is something I would have encouraged and tried to abet. Nowadays, I steer the inquirer towards other countries. People with advanced, marketable skills still have a chance; labourers, not so much.

Experience shows that a day spent calmly on hold is followed by a day in which everything, everywhere, happens all at once. I will take progress on the car front and an uptick in control of four or five remaining fires in the back country. Every day brings treasure of a sort.