The summer began with a bang. If you’ve been following this blog for a bit, you may already know this, but my daughter got married at the end of May. The whole event went off devoid of any major hitches. It was a beautiful day, and I couldn’t have been happier for my daughter and her new husband. They are very well-suited for each other and very much in love. It is palpable whenever we’re in their company.

My daughter was pregnant as she said her vows. She and her husband were expecting baby #2 in December. However, shortly after baby #1’s first birthday at the end of June, she miscarried. These kids, along with the rest of us, were devastated. It was so unexpected, as my daughter had been told that her pregnancy was coming along very well and that the baby had a strong heartbeat not three weeks prior. Seeing my daughter so bereft broke my heart.

Baby #1’s birthday, which we celebrated at our house (he also had two other birthday parties on his daddy’s side of the family, lucky little nugget) with my in-laws was absolutely delightful. Baby loved grabbing fistfuls of cake with his chubby hands and scarfing it down. He delighted at us singing the Happy Birthday song and clapped at the end. Mr. NOA took a video of it which we will treasure forever and ever.

This is the part of the story of the Summer of 2026 where I talk about The Fence.

Long story short: our neighbors adopted a little doggie and our two bigger doggies enthusiastically greeted them two twice in under 2 weeks, causing a bit of a ruckus. Mind you, no one was hurt. Out of an abundance of caution, we put up a fence. Mr. NOA and I were unhappy that this was what needed to happen, as our boys just love to run free and romp around our property here in the Minnesconsin countryside.

Yet, after a little bit of time, I realized that I don’t hate that we have the fence. More importantly, the dogs don’t hate it either. The fence is right outside the sliding glass door that goes from the entryway onto the deck. We also put cameras out there so we can see what they are up to. We have this sweet spot between our walk-out basement and our shed that is largely flat, shaded, and shields the dogs view of the road, so they can’t easily see if our neighbors are walking their little doggie. So when we want them to run free, we just yell out “who wants to go outside downstairs?!” and the dogs rush to the stairs, Radar picking up a toy to bring with (and leave outside every time). They get out there and they run and run and run, and play-fight and they absolutely love it. I’m glad we figured this out. This was a space on our property which was not getting much use anyway, and now I have all kinds of plans in my head about what we can add to it to create an even more fun family/dog space to enjoy (a bench swing here, a fairy garden there, maybe a picnic table?). That’ll be a top priority for me come late Spring/early Summer of 2027.

Also this summer, we stopped just talking about the many home improvement projects we want to do and we started doing them. The entryway is no longer adorned with emerald green carpeting and has been replaced (thanks to Mr. NOA) by a beautiful marbled dark gray and tan tile. It looks fantastic.

And now, there is tile instead of carpet in our living room, which eradicated the odor of dog pee (a consequence of having a puppy who has been hard to potty train). I no longer will be embarrassed to have company over! Mr. NOA also painted the walls a warm white (something we’ve been talking about for at least two years now). We picked up new blinds for the picture window in our living room as well. We got ourselves a new microwave and Mr. NOA fashioned a piece of Acacia wood as a shelf to hold it above our stove. We also replaced the flourescent lights in our kitchen and dining room with energy-efficient, soft LED bulbs. Big improvement there. We’re hoping next to tackle fixing some of the boards on our deck and staining it, along with our little fence on the other side of our propane tank before it gets too cold out. Though it of course depends on having at least a few days in a row without any rain.

Photographic evidence of before, after, and in-between! Note on pic #3 which reveals that someone with paws walked into the living room before the Killz had fully dried. Oh, these dogs!

So it was kind of an up-and-down summer and I’m so ready for fall! I adore the month of September and have lots of fun things to look forward to this fall. The area festivals, a trip to a corn maze with the kids, perhaps an out of town overnight with friends and family, and of course, Halloween! That begs the question, how shall we celebrate? What costumes shall we wear? Now is the time to start planning, methinks.

How was your summer, friends? Are you geared up for Fall, like me?

I like this quote I recently found from F. Scott Fitzgerald: “Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall”. I’m ready to embrace this mindset.

And now for the most apropos song imaginable to cap off today’s post!