Quicksand - Dont let it paralyze you.

I don't know about you, but when work starts piling end up I tend to retreat into my happy place . Ok, it's not so happy. I turn grumpy and tired and start pointing out everyone else's flaws rather than dealing with my own.
Nothing significant gets done. Only the bare minimum of maintenance makes life bearable and prevents EPA action. Inboxes become fuller, things stagnate and growth and improvement simply does not happen.
The only way to float out of the mess I create is to pick one spot, whether it is on my desk or in my mind and force myself to focus. To accomplish ONE thing. Whether it is filing that stack of papers or taking 1 online class....deleting mail from my inbox or grabbing a washcloth and cleaning a particular dusty window sill.
Once that one thing is accomplished the light breaks through the clouds and I focus on the next ONE task and soon my office is running efficiently, my desk is clean, my transactions are organized. It is almost miraculous. If I spend the day planning how to dig myself out - more dirt gets piled on and if I'm not careful I go do something deadly like take a nap or read a book. But when I grab my spoon and start shoveling... I'm closer to the place I want to be.

Top 15 reasons I love Summer in Clovis.

The 97 degree day we had today made me think of Summer and I thought I would make a list of the things I enjoy most about Summertime in Eastern New Mexico.

15 Things I love about Clovis in the Summertime:

1. Even if the daytime temp reaches 100 degrees, every evening it will be back in the low 70’s just in time to sit on the porch and sip some iced tea.
2. Kids can play outside for hours and you don’t have to wonder where they are or who they’re with.
3. Eating shaved ice from a vendor that lets you put as much syrup on it as you want.
4. Growing my own garden and watching the sunflowers get tall. Tall enough to enter in the Curry County Fair in August and win a blue ribbon.
5. The sound of softball games in the park.
6. Sonic stays open till midnight or later.
7. Every week a different church holds a vacation Bible school. And they coordinate with each other.
8. Parents take time to sit with kids who are getting free lunches at the park.
9. Dry heat and no humidity.
10. People get out in the evenings and take walks with their families.
11. Watching fireworks over Green Acres lake from the back of a pickup.
12. The smell of fresh cut lawns. (I know that’s everywhere but I had to include it)
13. Taking day trips to Carlsbad Caverns, or Lubbock, or Amarillo, or Palo Duro Canyon, or Albuquerque or Santa Fe or Ruidoso.
14. Going Camping next to a Creek in Tres Ritos and going trail riding in Duran Canyon. Since we don’t have any creeks in Clovis – it’s a big thing.
15. Driving away from the city lights, sticking your head out the sunroof and looking at a million stars.