gracegiver | Reading

It's house cleaner day!! And we need to put away the finished puzzle and start a new one. And I could use a small trip to Safeway or Trader Joe's or, actually, even Costco but the latter is probably a next week thing. I do have one Amazon return so I might do it + one of the other two this morning.

Nothing else much going on. Bonny is going to Palm whatever, CA for two weeks on Friday and she's all a dither with getting ready. Jim Across The Hall is getting more anxious more often but his care givers are, at the same time, getting better at taking care of him. Jim Down the Hall has gone on a road trip with his girl friend. And everyone else is pretty much the same as usual.

I am grateful for our weather which is now just normal - we'll be in 50's and 60's and the occasional 70 until the end of June. No tornadoes. Maybe a random wind storm but probably not. The evening news is all about the newsworthy weather across the country. I'm grateful to not be any part of that. I've actually been watching SKY news and some BBC (BBC news is more cumbersome to stream on my TV, hence, the Sky).

Plus I'm really grateful for no utility bills. Also no real estate tax. I just got my annual reminder that my real estate tax bill was ready and this year... NOT MY PROBLEM!!! Woot Woot! Not owning real estate is really wonderful.

summersgate

I finished this little set of toys in the front that I want to give to Kathy's great-grandson Zaden when I get to Florida next month. Zaden will be around 15 months old then and I'm imagining that he'll like throwing a ball. They are lightweight so they can't hurt anything. Yesterday I got a book of patterns for making finger puppets. That's the next thing I want to tackle. I'm thinking that doing crochet patterns is good for my brain. Not exactly easy for me. So many abbreviations in this new book. And they aren't in american crochet terms so there is transposing needing to be done in my brain. Maybe it'll help hold off the senility.

It's in the low 20s this morning and we have about 2 inches of snow on the ground. My plan for the day: write in my paper journal, art-a-day and then crochet. I've been watching Monk. I watched the whole series a couple years ago but I'm watching it again. Laughter is good.

bill_schubert

Temps from. 34 to 92 on the same page.

rejectomorph

Down to the imaginary wire again tonight. The growing heat got the area up to 86 degrees today, though the evening is cooling things nicely. Oddly, the apartment is currently at 74 degrees, but it feels cooler to me. It seems likely that my internal regulating system has gone out of whack. This seems to be a typical springtime event for me. I wonder what it will do when the 90-degree-plus days arrive later this week? I guess I'll find out. Tonight I'm just going to find out if I can sleep when I feel warmer than the room actually is.

low_delta

We got an inch and a half of rain yesterday, and the snow started in late evening. It continued through lunchtime today. I have no idea how much we got because the wind was so strong it was just drifting everywhere. We got out to shovel after supper, and did most of it. I finished around 10pm. Fortunately it was fairly light. Due to the rain, there was ice underneath, but also fortunately, because it was slushy before it froze, it was textured and not very slippery.

It's supposed to get below 10°F overnight. Then Wednesday it will be above freezing, and getting warmer every day after, so I don't expect it to last long.

Cindy and I were both supposed to go into our offices today, but there was no way I was going to spend 45 minutes shoveling, and then an extra long commute, and get there late and find nobody else in the office. My coworker felt the same way. He said it took his wife an hour to get to work, twice as long as usual.

summersgate

This afternoon it turned cold and started to snow. I wimped out on taking a walk down back with Dave and Andy. I knew Rainy didn't want to go either. I convinced Dave to take his phone and get pictures of the snow for me. He said, what would I take pictures of? Just wait till you see something you like and take a picture of it - that's what I do. I'll post them and make you famous on LJ.

Pictures of things that Dave liked the look of:

Looking up towards the house. His garden on the left. Those are some fruit trees he planted during our recent warm spell in the foreground.

Grandmother Sycamore in the very center. A view of the old cottage lawn. That dead tree on the ground fell down yesterday in the high wind.

Andy at the lake. I like how he's collecting snow on his back.

I'm watching the movie Roofman. I'm about 3/4 of the way through it. I just don't see how it can turn out well for him but I'm still hoping.

bill_schubert

I did not watch the Oscars. Maybe I'll watch some of the Youtube version. As in the past I did not like the winner. I finally watched Parasite a year ago and thought it was an OK film. A little disjointed and kind of pointless. This year's winner was about the same. More than a little disjointed and pointless. I've yet to get through it. I've watched over half and had to put it down.

Sinners, on the other hand, was a really good move. Actually it was half a dozen movies squashed together looking for a coherent plot. Was it a vampire movie? Was it a commentary on the KKK and being black in America? Was it a love story? Was it a movie about blues in the south?

The answer is yes.

It actually did all of those pretty well all in the same movie. It would have been a lot nicer to have made three or so movies and split the plots off. But it was more coherent and watchable than One drug addled battle after another drug addled pointless battle.

I didn't see any of the others. They were probably better.

summersgate

Face (again). The way my book is laid out today I have a piece of blue glassine paper that needed art put on it. It just happened to be over that face I drew on the black page the day before yesterday.

We dropped off our taxes this morning in Titusville with our tax lady. We've known Kathy for 30+ years. It's kind of interesting to see someone in one year increments, over and over as the years go by. See the small changes as we age. I can imagine that she sees the same in us. People always talk of seeing big changes in the little ones as they grow up but as we get older, past middle age at some point the changes start to come fast again. Not that Kathy doesn't look good - she looks great for her age. It's just me noticing.

A windy day today. You can hear the sky moaning. Not a good day to be in the woods with the danger of limbs falling.

somedayseattle

I can hardly wait to get up and out of bed so I can eat some bacon and eggs and go back to bed.

susandennis

I've had my coffee maker for a while now. I've retired it, to try different/new ones/processes, but I always come back. It's a Keurig that they still have not improved upon. But its height requirement keeps it from being an option on my kitchen counter. So it was actually the impetus for my turning the half bath here into a utility room. Washer, litter box, printer, storage and coffee.

For the past a lotta years, I've pretty much stuck to rewarming coffee mugs. The way too expensive Ember and then, when it died, a pretty much just as expensive alternative. That one died last week. And I decided to change my ways. And then, yesterday, I redid the whole coffee area.

I switched to regular coffee mugs - those that can be washed in the dishwasher! - and heated coasters - one at my table and one at the sofa. Yesterday, I culled out some not needed stuff and made more counter space and then set up a lovely little proper coffee bar. It amuses the heck out of me how much delight I get out of a simple rearrangement of normal stuff.

This morning's coffee does taste better, my brain says.

I noticed on Flickr this morning that they have a legend which has probably been there forever and I never noticed it before. I've had my account since 2008. And as of this morning, I have 37,768 photos in it. Yikes! Probably half of those are trash takes which could be/should be/won't ever be deleted. Oh well.

No swimming this morning. There's a special pop up aerobics class at 11. There's a woman who used to teach here and retired but comes back once in a while and does these pop up classes and they are fab and fun. So I'm looking forward to today's. I may go down early and do some swimming before the class. I mean as long as I'm going to get my suit wet anyway.

I have a trip to Seattle Goodwill coming up. I now have 3 things on my 'hunt for at Goodwill' list and 3 is the minimum to make a trip by my Seattle Goodwill rules. I don't know if it will be this week or not but it's definitely on the horizon.

rejectomorph

About half past eight o'clock this morning, the furnace came on. It only ran once, for about four minutes. There's a chance that it was the last time it will run until fall. I won't miss it. well, maybe I'll miss it a little when the louder air conditioner has been running all day. Ideally I wouldn't need any machinery altering the air at all, but that's not the world I live in. I live in the world where I can get too cold and to hot and sleepy and too tired to sleep. That's what I'm about to get. I'll just do this:

( Sunday Verse )

summersgate

Chloe painting on her picture at the Pickers and Painters.

My picture: Spring Energy. I loved listening to the live music while I lost myself in doodle painting.

somedayseattle

I have a lot of groceries to unpack. So here we go....

My feet are slowly getting better from the flesh eating bacteria infection. My feet look absolutely disgusting. Kind of like burnt ground beef with some Alfredo sauce sprinkle on top. It smells like the inside of Slash's hat. Talk of decapitating the little piggy has subsided, but there is still a slight possibility I could lose part of it. Once we get through the dead skin on the tip we will know. If any bone is exposed part of it will have to go as new skin will not cover old bone. I will lose a little. Just the tip, baby. ("Just the tip, baby."- me, high school 1982)

When I went for my initial consultation about the foot issue the doctor reviewed my medical records and said she had a couple concerns. She gave me referrals to other doctors. I am absolutely sick and tired of referrals to other doctors. One of them was to a cardiovascular expert, who I visited on Tuesday. All of the little issues the first doctor said were probably nothing but let’s have checked out I had checked out and they were nothing. But the heart guy had a question or two about something and guess what? Sent me a referral to another goddamn doctor.

On Thursday, I met with an endocrinologist who I was, you guessed it, referred to from an earlier doctor. I enjoyed working with her as she was very personable, but of course all the tests were bad news. No matter what I do I can’t get this damn blood sugar to where it needs to be so again we’re going to start experimenting with more new drugs. Hooray. When I left the Endo, I called Chris Oombookoo to come and pick me up. The answering machine said there had been an emergency at Da Cripple Van offices and all rides been suspended. Great. Long story short....my pick up time was one and he got me at 4:30. In that time I had a wonderful experience of a nosebleed. I was just sitting there looking at the window and felt it beginning to drip down my nose. I put my hand to my beak and almost shit myself. What am I, a 13 year old? I wanted to the bathroom and I took a good 20 minutes to stop this gusher. I eventually got home, had dinner with Erica and went to bed. About 10:45 my phone went off and scared the life out of me. I answered it to hear Drama Queen on the other end.

Erica’s mom Mother Mary had passed away.

We stayed up and cried and talked for another 90 minutes before finally giving in and trying to sleep. A better an hour later I woke up to another nosebleed. Jesus Christ, what next?

I will tell you what’s next. For Friday, my ride to the wound care clinic was canceled by Those Cripple Bus Bastards. No phone call, no explanation. So I missed the session. I had to undress both bloody feet and change the dressing and and bandages. The smell was absolutely repugnant. Like Madonna's spandex after the NYC Marathon.

About a month ago, I ordered a new Mariners T-shirt. The only way I can afford officially licensed swag is buy on clearance. It came in the mail and I tossed it on top of my dresser where it is sat for at least a month. It’s been a little bit too chilly to wear a short sleeve shirt. Even though this season doesn’t start for a couple more weeks I was getting antsy and since it was 71° today, it seemed like the perfect time to break it out. I savagely tore into the plastic sleeve and yanked the shirt out. I flipped it in the air a couple times to unfold it, and then grabbed it by the shoulders to look at it. As if it were the final insult to another shitty week It turned out being a long sleeve.

It’s now Saturday night and the only good thing about this week is Da Crud has finally subsided to the point I can breathe. To celebrate this as well as all the shitty news of the week I will not be getting out of bed for 63 hours.

susandennis

I'm still getting used to having electricity. And it's wonderful. As last time, when the electricity goes out, the elbow gets a lot of action. After dark, it's the best light and people just gather. Even though the power was actually on all day yesterday, the group took a while to disband. Nearly all day yesterday, there was comfortable conversation with various participants. It was kind of fun.

I had a lovely sleep. It's still wonderfully dark when I wake up. So I internetted and coffeed and leisurely wandered down to the pool where dawn finally showed up during my swim which was kind of lovely.

I've already done a load of laundry. A few months ago, I got wind that GE had invented a new and better filter for my washer/dryer and I bought one. I had been so frustrated by the damn machine for so long and turns out, it was just the filter. The new one makes all the difference in the world. I spent some time sucking out the extra lint from all inside the machine and now it no longer even builds up in there - just on the filter which is very easy to clean. I'm now back in love with the machine. And everything is clean and put away.

I have no other plans for today. I may watch the baseball but Spring Training is kind of boring this year. I may watch some scripted TV or I may just listen to my book. I have new crochet project in mind to do in conjunction with the creatures.

We had a fair amount of snow again yesterday morning but since then, nothing but melting. Our excitement appears to be over and we can now just revel in the joy of having electrical outlets that work.

summersgate

Some of the places to sit down back:

Yesterday, first I put the chairs beside the creek and sat there a while.

But I thought it wouldn't be a good idea to leave them beside the creek in case it got windy. They might blow into the water and get washed away so I moved them up here to beside the cottage foundation and sat for a while enjoying that view.

Another place to sit in the woods on the walk back to the house. I can't wait till summer gets here and we can enjoy these spots even more. Summer is my season.

This afternoon we are going to Brookville for Pickers and Painters. Should be interesting. Chloe and her boyfriend Jimmy are a part of the people putting it on. They hand out canvases for you to paint on while you listen to live music. I think I will take my everything book and use it instead of getting a canvas.

mallorys_camera

Yesterday morning, I went off for a plot showing at the New Paltz Community Garden.

I saw several lovely plots, but in the end I chose this one becawwwwwse the gardener before me had left me her hose! Plus, it has several upraised beds:

That's one thing I don't like about the New Paltz Community Garden: They make you water your garden with your own individually purchased hose. In fact, I dislike that so much that I argued the point with Phil, the extremely nice plot coordinator who was showing me around: "Hoses are not cheap! So by making that a requirement, you're essentially eliminating low-income gardeners who might really benefit from growing their own food."

Phil made a thoughtful face. "You're not wrong."

###

Afterwards, I had an hour and a half to kill, so I hung out at the Gardiner Bakehouse:

The Gardiner Bakehouse is the café part of a complex run by a local maker's guild. Wonderful coffee & excellent food. Pastries to die for! It's the last place Brian & I hung out in together; in fact, we actually had a date to do an open mike there Saturday night of the week he died.

I was so happy sitting there! Sipping coffee, people watching, dipping into my novel from time to time to read a few paragraphs.

This is how you need to live your life! I told myself. With ample access to the Gardiner Bakehouse. You need to move to New Paltz.

New Paltz, you see, is the last hippie enclave in the entire United States.

###

At Montgomery Schlock, I took on the task of doing taxes for an adorable kid who had started his own trucking business, but who had failed to draft a business plan or keep a single record of his business expenses.

After half an hour or so, I got up from my desk & toddled off to consult with the office manager.

"You can't do it?" she asked.

"Oh, I can do it," I said. "The question is whether I should do it, given the fact that I'm a first-year associate and this is going to require some intense forensic accounting. I'm not certified to do it, and that's going to raise some liability issues if the return is audited, which it almost certainly will be."

The office manager didn't seem to understand the difference between "can" and "should," which was mildly annoying but whatevs: I do not give a shit what these people understand or think so long as I get paid.

###

Back at the casa, I hunted down Icky. "The chickens... ?"

Icky looked grim. "Something got them. I found some feathers next to the coop. They got Little Nas—"

"Little Nas" is his name for Black Chicken.

Oh, my heart was broken. Black Chicken! Whom I'd taught to jump high and walk backwards when I first moved into this place. Whom I could have taken out on the road as a circus act, Patrizia and Her Performing Chicken.

I sat in the Patrizia-torium sobbing. Black Chicken! People are dying in Gaza! I reminded myself fiercely. It doesn't take much to see that the problems of one black chicken don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world.

Half an hour later, Icky began calling my name. "Patrizia! Patrizia! Patrizia!"

I ran downstairs—

He was holding Black Chicken!!!

Black Chicken had survived!!!

"Where was she?"

"She was just standing there on the back porch when I opened the door—"

Clearly, something had tried to grab her: She was missing a whole bunch of feathers under her right wing. I visualized a fox's mouth.

But she had gotten away! I pictured her pecking furiously at the fox until he dropped her and then fluttering away to hide. Nobody's getting Black Chicken without a fight! Black Chicken is a survivor!!! Descendent of the mighty dinosaurs!

There are now three chickens left.

"You've got to build them some sort of run," I told Icky. "Free ranging is a nice concept, but it's simply not safe for them."

He is leaving to go back down to the city today, but I think he will build one next time he's up.

In the meantime, the chickens must be confined to their coop.

rejectomorph

A few minor tasks got done Saturday afternoon, despite a general discombobulation that took possession of my mind early on. A bush just outside my front door has burst forth with a plethora of white flowers, which I am almost certain are out to get me with their pollen, as I have been sneezing quite relentlessly all day. I still managed to assemble a meal which passed for dinner, and stayed awake long enough to eat it. Next, another minor task or two and I will head for bed.

Sleeping has been a bit difficult the last few nights, as the room temperature has been spring-like, meaning inconsistent. I can't get comfortable for long, and keep waking up to either toss a blanket aside or grab another one. It will probably take another week or two to get used to the season's quirks. Or maybe I won't adjust. Maybe spring will just collapse into premature summer and I'll have a whole different set of issues to deal with. I should just try to enjoy what spring I get.

Watch on YouTube

low_delta

Friday we had wind. The wind speed was 30 to 40 mph for much of the day. The weather station across the street says the wind speed hit 50 once, and gusted to more than 60 a couple of times - 68 mph it says. I don't remember it ever being like this. There are trees down here and there.

We were working from home, and my connection was slow all day. We went out for dinner, and when we got home the internet was out. There were reports of power outages, and there were more of them today, for some reason. This morning was perfectly calm.

Everyone has been watching the forecast all week because it was calling for over a foot of snow this weekend. We were on the 8 inch line, with up to two feet in northern Wisconsin. But now the forecast for our neighborhood says we'll get a couple inches of snow overnight, then a couple inches of rain tomorrow, and over an inch of snow on Monday. And it will be windy.

It's a little annoying to have to go back to winter after some springlike weather last weekend, but I didn't really get a chance to be out in it, so it still doesn't really feel like Spring was happening.

low_delta

Sometimes I'm hungrier than usual. Some days I can't go all the way to noon without having to find a snack or eat lunch early. I always need something in between supper and bedtime (that's usually six hours), but sometimes I need more than usual. No idea why this happens, but I'm sure most other people have this too. But recently I was less hungry than usual. I didn't need a snack in the evening (after a normal supper), and on top of that, I wasn't hungry for breakfast the next day, and made it all the way to lunch. Very strange.

bill_schubert

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gracegiver

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Page generated Mar. 25th, 2026 07:07 am

Everything is connected. Everything is changing. Pay attention.

Reading

Tuesday and all the snow is gone

tuesday

Swinging

52/378: Heated

blizzard

monday later

My not nearly lucid Oscar commentary

monday

A dream of eternal sunsets

Coffee make over

52/377: Machine

sunday later

of kings and cabbages

Sunday

sunday

Patrizia and Her Performing Chicken

52/376: Hanging

wind

hungry days

3.14

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