When you work from home, no one really knows when (or if) you’re working. When you work from home and your home is located in the middle of 40 acres of forest, nobody even knows if you’re home.

When it’s springtime and beautiful outside, it’s best to take advantage of the fine weather and do something fun. After all, a long winter will arrive all too soon.

So here are 10 reasons to quit early and enjoy the day.

10. The dog is giving you that look that means “if you don’t take me out, you’ll be sorry.”

9. You’re the boss. “Because I said so” is good enough.

8. You have to walk to the mailbox to pick up the Netflix. If your mailbox is a half-mile away like ours is, you may as well just quit for the day.

7. Garden produce needs to be harvested. (You don’t want it to go to waste, do you?)

6.  Your writing muse has flown the coop because of the sun streaming through your window.

5.  The lake level is up. Kayaks call.

4. Mother Nature is fickle. It could rain for the rest of the summer. Or even snow. Carpe diem.

3.  Getting outside helps you think up new business ideas. (Really!) Think of it as a mini-business retreat.

2.  People come here for vacation. You live here. Go pretend you’re on vacation, just because you can.

1. And finally our favorite: we moved here in order to enjoy the area. The work we do makes it possible to continue living here, but there is more to life than work. So there’s nothing wrong with going out enjoying the world outside beyond our office windows.

I’m going to experiment with posting some pictures that previously were only on Facebook. Since one of the reasons we live here is to spend time outside hiking, it seems appropriate to post them on this blog.

The photos are from a trip we took to Roman Nose Lakes on 9/13/09. The lakes are located in the Selkirk Mountains in Northern Idaho. On this particular day, the huckleberry picking was mighty fine!

The view from the drive way up. All those reddish leaves are huckleberry plants. They were STILL loaded with berries!

Me on the path to the first lake.

Meadow view.

James and a lake.

Me clambering up rocks.

Looking out over the lake.

James on the trail.

The view of the trail lined with huckleberries. We gorged ourselves on MANY berries.

On the trail to the Upper Lake.

The Upper Lake.

The sky reflected in the Upper Lake.

Me pondering the lake. I needed to wash off the newfie/lab dog drool from my hands. (Quite a few people brought very friendly dogs up to the lakes who we encountered on the trail.)

Upper lake.

Upper lake and rocks through the trees

Walking back from the lake.

Me on the trail heading back from the lake.