ysabetwordsmith (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ysabetwordsmith) wrote2025-04-23 03:19 am
ysabetwordsmith) wrote2025-04-23 03:19 am
Entry tags:
ysabetwordsmith (ysabetwordsmith) wrote2025-04-23 12:10 am
ysabetwordsmith) wrote2025-04-23 12:10 am
Entry tags:
World Book Day
The official theme for World Book Day 2025 is:
"Read Your Way: Diverse Books for Every Mind"
This theme emphasizes the importance of inclusion and diversity in reading. It encourages readers to explore different voices, perspectives, and cultures through literature, promoting empathy and global understanding.
( Read more... )
"Read Your Way: Diverse Books for Every Mind"
This theme emphasizes the importance of inclusion and diversity in reading. It encourages readers to explore different voices, perspectives, and cultures through literature, promoting empathy and global understanding.
( Read more... )
ysabetwordsmith (ysabetwordsmith) wrote2025-04-23 12:09 am
ysabetwordsmith) wrote2025-04-23 12:09 amEntry tags:
Good News
Good news includes all the things which make us happy or otherwise feel good. It can be personal or public. We never know when something wonderful will happen, and when it does, most people want to share it with someone. It's disappointing when nobody is there to appreciate it. Happily, blogging allows us to share our joys and pat each other on the back.
What good news have you had recently? Are you anticipating any more? Have you found a cute picture or a video that makes you smile? Is there anything your online friends could do to make your life a little happier?
What good news have you had recently? Are you anticipating any more? Have you found a cute picture or a video that makes you smile? Is there anything your online friends could do to make your life a little happier?
ysabetwordsmith (ysabetwordsmith) wrote2025-04-22 10:29 pm
ysabetwordsmith) wrote2025-04-22 10:29 pmInsect Apocalypse
Insects are disappearing due to agriculture -- and many other drivers, new research reveals
New paper highlights 500+ interconnected drivers behind global insect decline.
Insects are disappearing at an alarming rate worldwide, but why? Agricultural intensification tops the list of proposed reasons, but there are many other, interconnected drivers that have an impact, according to new research.
( Read more... )
New paper highlights 500+ interconnected drivers behind global insect decline.
Insects are disappearing at an alarming rate worldwide, but why? Agricultural intensification tops the list of proposed reasons, but there are many other, interconnected drivers that have an impact, according to new research.
( Read more... )
dustbunny105 (dustbunny105) wrote2025-04-22 08:58 pm
dustbunny105) wrote2025-04-22 08:58 pmEntry tags:
(no subject)
Still waffling about going in on the Marvel Transformers compendium Kickstarter. I really want the whole series collected but I really don't love this format. It'll probably be a long time before there's a chance to get it collected again in another way, though. Then another thing to consider is that a lot of people who backed the G.I. Joe collections last year are still waiting to have problems resolved. On the other hand, the people who did get their Joe collections on time and in proper form really like them...
Quite the opposite of these mixed feelings, I found out that the Transformers: The Movie soundtrack is being repressed in a limited "Unicron" edition and I preordered it immediately despite not yet having replaced my record player.
Quite the opposite of these mixed feelings, I found out that the Transformers: The Movie soundtrack is being repressed in a limited "Unicron" edition and I preordered it immediately despite not yet having replaced my record player.
mistressofmuses (mistressofmuses) wrote2025-04-22 09:16 pm
mistressofmuses) wrote2025-04-22 09:16 pm
Entry tags:
Car stuff sorted...
I mentioned that last night the truck very suddenly started sputtering and running extremely rough, and the check engine light came on.
We took the truck over to a local auto parts store to get a read on the code for the check engine light. They said the most likely culprit was an ignition coil, causing misfires in one of the cylinders. That was one of the potential things I'd seen on the list of possible causes for the rough idle. Pretty firmly on the lower end of the middle of "how fucked are we," so that was a relief. (So glad it wasn't "fuel pump" money.)
So we took it to the usual shop we use. They said they wouldn't be able to get to it tomorrow, and they would have to do their own diagnostic rather than relying on the code, which was fine. They'd give me a call tomorrow morning to let me know the results of their diagnostic and talk costs and recommendations and such.
Mom loaned us her second car, since Taylor doesn't typically go in to the office anymore, so we could get around until then.
-
Turned out Jaspurr was at the vet (same vet that we were at yesterday) for surgery. :( Poor boy had a lump on his abdomen, so they were removing and biopsying it.
Got the excellent news that it was just a fatty lump, and did not need to be biopsied!
-
I was just about to take a nap, when the auto place called. They were able to get it in today (initially I was told it was the main tech's day off, so couldn't get it looked at until tomorrow; apparently someone else was available today!)
They did not think it was the ignition coil, they thought it was the spark plugs. They wanted to replace the spark plugs plus do an injector system service. I misheard the initial quote and thought it was super high, like four figures; it was not, haha. It was within the general range I'd been expecting. (Which I wasn't *delighted* to pay, but when I balked at my misheard price, he offered a discount to bring it down slightly, ha.)
They got the work done by the end of the afternoon, but when he called back he said the spark plugs hadn't fixed the issue... because it turned out it was the ignition coil. *Facepalm* (They say that the coil was fine when they tested it earlier, because they swapped a good coil for the potentially bad one, and the problem persisted, which was why they'd ruled it out; maybe the coil and a spark plug both failed?)
They replaced the spark plugs and the ignition coil. He gave us the coil at-cost (which was cheaper than we could have gotten it if we'd bought it ourselves; we priced them at the auto parts place when we got the code read) and didn't charge any extra labor for it. He also completely comped the system service that they did, so the total wound up only being $14 over the original estimate. In exchange for the discount, he just asked that we leave a nice review, which I did.
The truck is now running fine! It might be even smoother than it was prior to the problem starting last night; it hadn't been having issues that made me want to take it in, but occasionally a little roughness that I wasn't noticing this evening. So perhaps that coil had been on the way out for a while.
Not the best timing in the world, and I spent a good part of last night and this morning fighting through the chest pain and horrible nausea and prickling scalp of massive fucking anxiety, but I'm glad it's sorted out, that it didn't happen at a *worse* time.
We took the truck over to a local auto parts store to get a read on the code for the check engine light. They said the most likely culprit was an ignition coil, causing misfires in one of the cylinders. That was one of the potential things I'd seen on the list of possible causes for the rough idle. Pretty firmly on the lower end of the middle of "how fucked are we," so that was a relief. (So glad it wasn't "fuel pump" money.)
So we took it to the usual shop we use. They said they wouldn't be able to get to it tomorrow, and they would have to do their own diagnostic rather than relying on the code, which was fine. They'd give me a call tomorrow morning to let me know the results of their diagnostic and talk costs and recommendations and such.
Mom loaned us her second car, since Taylor doesn't typically go in to the office anymore, so we could get around until then.
-
Turned out Jaspurr was at the vet (same vet that we were at yesterday) for surgery. :( Poor boy had a lump on his abdomen, so they were removing and biopsying it.
Got the excellent news that it was just a fatty lump, and did not need to be biopsied!
-
I was just about to take a nap, when the auto place called. They were able to get it in today (initially I was told it was the main tech's day off, so couldn't get it looked at until tomorrow; apparently someone else was available today!)
They did not think it was the ignition coil, they thought it was the spark plugs. They wanted to replace the spark plugs plus do an injector system service. I misheard the initial quote and thought it was super high, like four figures; it was not, haha. It was within the general range I'd been expecting. (Which I wasn't *delighted* to pay, but when I balked at my misheard price, he offered a discount to bring it down slightly, ha.)
They got the work done by the end of the afternoon, but when he called back he said the spark plugs hadn't fixed the issue... because it turned out it was the ignition coil. *Facepalm* (They say that the coil was fine when they tested it earlier, because they swapped a good coil for the potentially bad one, and the problem persisted, which was why they'd ruled it out; maybe the coil and a spark plug both failed?)
They replaced the spark plugs and the ignition coil. He gave us the coil at-cost (which was cheaper than we could have gotten it if we'd bought it ourselves; we priced them at the auto parts place when we got the code read) and didn't charge any extra labor for it. He also completely comped the system service that they did, so the total wound up only being $14 over the original estimate. In exchange for the discount, he just asked that we leave a nice review, which I did.
The truck is now running fine! It might be even smoother than it was prior to the problem starting last night; it hadn't been having issues that made me want to take it in, but occasionally a little roughness that I wasn't noticing this evening. So perhaps that coil had been on the way out for a while.
Not the best timing in the world, and I spent a good part of last night and this morning fighting through the chest pain and horrible nausea and prickling scalp of massive fucking anxiety, but I'm glad it's sorted out, that it didn't happen at a *worse* time.
ranunculus (ranunculus) wrote2025-04-22 01:26 pm
ranunculus) wrote2025-04-22 01:26 pmRoof, Trail, ETS
Yesterday was paperwork day. I drew diagrams of how things should be set up in the arena for our two arena based events and then printed out diagrams of how the obstacles work. That info is for the setup crew. Next will be judges paperwork.
The roof is almost complete. Now we are waiting for the ridge vent materials. Apparently it will be a couple more weeks before they arrive, which is fine, there is no real rain in the forecast, and the roofers say that the roof is watertight in any case. Michael says my sprinkler pipes are done, but I haven't picked them up yet.
This morning Donald and I "brushed out" a trail. I had failed completely to drain the muddy swamp at the bottom of Buckeye pasture, it is still a churned up, gloppy mess so we needed an alternate route. Yesterday Carrie and I walked a path from the east Clover Flats gate down the canyon to a point just past the swamp. For years people have wound their way up and down the south side of the stream, dodging trees and low limbs. It is a really pretty area when you aren't ducking something. Unfortunately dozens of trees have been out competed by their neighbors, died and fallen or partially fallen, all along the route. Other trees have branched out to take their place. The resulting tangle of dead wood and new branches has effectively blocked all reasonable routes. Even the cows; who are masters of forcing their way through; had problems. I chainsawed while Donald cleared up for about 4 1/2 hours before I felt the trail was clear and would be nice to ride. This trail will make a great trail link across the bottom of Jungle Pasture.
The roof is almost complete. Now we are waiting for the ridge vent materials. Apparently it will be a couple more weeks before they arrive, which is fine, there is no real rain in the forecast, and the roofers say that the roof is watertight in any case. Michael says my sprinkler pipes are done, but I haven't picked them up yet.
This morning Donald and I "brushed out" a trail. I had failed completely to drain the muddy swamp at the bottom of Buckeye pasture, it is still a churned up, gloppy mess so we needed an alternate route. Yesterday Carrie and I walked a path from the east Clover Flats gate down the canyon to a point just past the swamp. For years people have wound their way up and down the south side of the stream, dodging trees and low limbs. It is a really pretty area when you aren't ducking something. Unfortunately dozens of trees have been out competed by their neighbors, died and fallen or partially fallen, all along the route. Other trees have branched out to take their place. The resulting tangle of dead wood and new branches has effectively blocked all reasonable routes. Even the cows; who are masters of forcing their way through; had problems. I chainsawed while Donald cleared up for about 4 1/2 hours before I felt the trail was clear and would be nice to ride. This trail will make a great trail link across the bottom of Jungle Pasture.
mildred_of_midgard (mildred_of_midgard) wrote2025-04-22 03:36 pm
mildred_of_midgard) wrote2025-04-22 03:36 pmEntry tags:
Updates
1.5 miles again. Definitely finding it harder to get up that incline than I should, but now that my legs aren't sore (yesterday was a rest day, Sunday was mostly a rest day), the best way to address that is to start hitting the cemetery hill, for some more intense cardio in smaller doses.
Due to the fact that I'm sleeping till midday, work makes this hard, but certainly by the weekend, if I don't report running in the cemetery, call me on it!
Due to the fact that I'm sleeping till midday, work makes this hard, but certainly by the weekend, if I don't report running in the cemetery, call me on it!
galadhir (galadhir) wrote2025-04-22 07:58 pm
galadhir) wrote2025-04-22 07:58 pmEntry tags:
Belly dance hero
I've found a lady who has the same sort of shape as me, who dances the same kind of dance that I would love to dance. She has such precision and confidence-verging-on-arrogance and strength and lyricism and sweetness. I don't know that I can get my creaky old, arthritic person to do some of the things she does (that back bend!) but I love her sense of theatre. I love how she has combined bellydance with inspiration from sci-fi and theatre to make something that is very unique.
Much though I like dancing, I haven't been able to find any genuine love in my heart for the whole 'scantily clad get in touch with your inner goddess who is also a sexy flirt' malarky, chiefly because I don't think I have an inner goddess of any kind, let alone a sexy one. But as a writer I 100% have an inner Evil Galactic Emperor, or an inner hero or villain character of a sort that I can lean into.
So I the new dance I am now wrestling with is inspired by the plot in Stargate Universe in which Chloe - experimented on by aquatic aliens - fears she is losing her humanity, even while she grows stronger and more intelligent.
My question was, why the heck wouldn't you embrace that? Super strength? The ability to do maths? Sign me up.
I've just got to find a way of expressing this in dance.
ysabetwordsmith (ysabetwordsmith) wrote2025-04-22 02:17 pm
ysabetwordsmith) wrote2025-04-22 02:17 pmBirdfeeding
Today is mostly sunny and warm with a light breeze, a beautiful spring day. :D
I fed the birds. I've seen several sparrows and house finches, two brown-headed cowbirds, a mourning dove, and two fox squirrels.
I put out water for the birds.
EDIT 4/22/25 -- We went out shopping. I picked out roughly 5 flats of plants at DeBuhr's. We found a garden hose, nozzle, and reel plus a gas can at Home Depot. Also at Home Depot I spotted a modular garage storage system that looks very promising. It has mounting rails for shelves and a wide variety of hooks. That ought to combine well with a pegboard.
EDIT 4/22/25 -- I planted a 'Sugar Snack' cherry tomato and a 'Yellow Pear' tomato in the large pots by the septic garden, each with 4 marigolds around it.
As it is getting dark, I am done for the night.
I fed the birds. I've seen several sparrows and house finches, two brown-headed cowbirds, a mourning dove, and two fox squirrels.
I put out water for the birds.
EDIT 4/22/25 -- We went out shopping. I picked out roughly 5 flats of plants at DeBuhr's. We found a garden hose, nozzle, and reel plus a gas can at Home Depot. Also at Home Depot I spotted a modular garage storage system that looks very promising. It has mounting rails for shelves and a wide variety of hooks. That ought to combine well with a pegboard.
EDIT 4/22/25 -- I planted a 'Sugar Snack' cherry tomato and a 'Yellow Pear' tomato in the large pots by the septic garden, each with 4 marigolds around it.
As it is getting dark, I am done for the night.
greghousesgf (greghousesgf) wrote2025-04-22 11:14 am
greghousesgf) wrote2025-04-22 11:14 am(no subject)
I have to go to PT today. I should be resting because of this damn cold.
mildred_of_midgard (mildred_of_midgard) wrote2025-04-22 12:57 pm
mildred_of_midgard) wrote2025-04-22 12:57 pmEntry tags:
Breaking news
Every day, it's something.
So just as my wife and stepdaughter's prospects of staying with someone (for a couple of months) to save on expenses has fallen through, my prospects of living with my best friend to save on expenses are dimming:
My friend says googling indicates the law considers the roommate a subtenant even if he's not on the lease, doesn't pay rent (he does pay internet and I think contributed to the installation of the mini-split AC/heater), and only lives there part-time. This means he can't be evicted without cause, nor have the rent raised, except under specific conditions that aren't met here.
So now, instead of informing him of his last day in October or November, we're down to strategizing how to ask nicely and offer money for best chances of success, and I'm back to looking at properties on Trulia.
So just as my wife and stepdaughter's prospects of staying with someone (for a couple of months) to save on expenses has fallen through, my prospects of living with my best friend to save on expenses are dimming:
My friend says googling indicates the law considers the roommate a subtenant even if he's not on the lease, doesn't pay rent (he does pay internet and I think contributed to the installation of the mini-split AC/heater), and only lives there part-time. This means he can't be evicted without cause, nor have the rent raised, except under specific conditions that aren't met here.
So now, instead of informing him of his last day in October or November, we're down to strategizing how to ask nicely and offer money for best chances of success, and I'm back to looking at properties on Trulia.
ysabetwordsmith (ysabetwordsmith) wrote2025-04-22 12:49 am
ysabetwordsmith) wrote2025-04-22 12:49 amEntry tags:
Palestinian Speculative Fiction Reading List
The following is a growing reading list for the ReadPalestinianSpecFic challenge. This is a work in progress to create a list of all available Palestinian speculative fiction.
mistressofmuses (mistressofmuses) wrote2025-04-21 09:35 pm
mistressofmuses) wrote2025-04-21 09:35 pmAnnual vet visit!
(Cy and Bella, sleeping.)
Today was annual vet visit day for both dogs. (It's a little hard to believe it's been more than a year since Cy's emergency vet health scare.)
They each got their physical exams and their leptospirosis shots.
Cy is only down about a half pound from last year, and while I'd *like* him to gain a pound or two, that's pretty good. Bella has dropped a couple pounds, which is odd, because she doesn't look like she's lost weight. But we'll try to get a couple more pounds on her. (She's close to the weight she was when we first brought her home, and she looked *terrible* then; she looks pretty good now.)
Both of them were very good for their exams. Cy of course always is, but even Bella handled it well. She is NOT a fan of getting her temperature taken, and jumped pretty hard when she got her lepto shot, but she did great. Cy was just happy to be getting so much attention and didn't react at all to his shot.
Cy appears to have a lingering mild ear infection. He had one a while back (started right before the handful of days I'd stayed at my mom's) but we thought it had cleared up. There wasn't any visible gunk and he'd stopped the head-shaking. It's not serious, but still there. The vet gave him a topical antibiotic (a nice tube of goop squirted into the ear). She also showed me how to clean out his ears and gave me an easy recipe to mix up to help with it. (I hadn't been going quite deep enough when I was cleaning them, turns out.) Can't clean it out for two weeks, as the antibiotic is supposed to stay in there, so he's gross and slimy with antibiotic ointment until then, haha.
He also had a little gum inflammation around his bad teeth, though not nearly as bad as it has been in the past. He's too old to want to do a full tooth-cleaning under anesthesia, but she did as much tartar removal as she could. He also got a short course of antibiotics for the gums + the ear.
We'll get the results of his bloodwork in a few days. He has a refill of his Rimadyl, but the results of the bloodwork will determine whether we can keep him on it. (I hope so - it seems to help him quite a bit.)
The tech said he was just so good for his blood draw and his teeth cleaning, ha. (I believe it for the blood draw; I am more skeptical that he was good about his teeth.)
-
Bella also then got to go on a long walk around a local lake (after Cy got dropped off at home), so she had a Very Big Day.
-
Of course, the very day that I had to drop several hundred dollars at the vet, the truck very suddenly started sputtering and running EXTREMELY rough and the check engine light came on. Fuuuuuuuck.
So we will have to take it in tomorrow and find out what the problem is. It could be anything from "replace the fuel filter" or "replace a spark plug" to "your fuel injector is fucked" or "your catalytic converter is fucked". So I'm really hoping it's on the simple end instead of the "we're fucked" end, but I am very afraid to find out which it is.
dustbunny105 (dustbunny105) wrote2025-04-21 08:49 pm
dustbunny105) wrote2025-04-21 08:49 pm(no subject)
Took the leftover marshmallows to work and was prompted to put them with the snack table that's been prepared for us for lab week. Didn't look like a lot had been taken when I check but that's fine. Anything left at the end of the week, I'll take home again for the kiddos.
Outside of work... I have a lot of feelings about the passing of the pope. I don't have a lot of love to lose for Francis. He covered up heinous acts just like everyone else at the Vatican and he certainly wasn't free of ignorance or prejudice. But he also made the Church a more welcoming, even safer place for many queer/LGBT+ people and led their families along a path of understanding and acceptance. He offered apologies to indigenous people for the crimes committed against them by the Church. He spoke up for immigrants. He called out the Palestinian genocide for what it is and was on the phone almost nightly with a Christian parish there, to offer solidarity and comfort. And his stance on the matter did not go unnoticed by Catholics or other Christian communities in the West.
More than anything, I'm concerned for what his replacement might bring. No matter what any of us have to say about Francis as a person, his role as a figure of authority carried a great weight and, for all his most significant flaws, he was moving the Church down a more progressive road. There's a reason the most noxious-- and obnoxious-- right-wingers railed so hard against him. The significance of having even a relatively leftist pope in power in the current political and social climate should not be understated. And the potential fallout of the Church taking a hard right turn should not be dismissed. I've seen the list of papal candidates and, uh. I'm largely not favorably impressed, lemme tell ya. Over one hundred of the one hundred and thirty-five cardinals who will vote to confirm the new pope were appointed by Francis, so there is some hope, but I'll be doing my own praying on the matter until we see that white smoke.
Outside of work... I have a lot of feelings about the passing of the pope. I don't have a lot of love to lose for Francis. He covered up heinous acts just like everyone else at the Vatican and he certainly wasn't free of ignorance or prejudice. But he also made the Church a more welcoming, even safer place for many queer/LGBT+ people and led their families along a path of understanding and acceptance. He offered apologies to indigenous people for the crimes committed against them by the Church. He spoke up for immigrants. He called out the Palestinian genocide for what it is and was on the phone almost nightly with a Christian parish there, to offer solidarity and comfort. And his stance on the matter did not go unnoticed by Catholics or other Christian communities in the West.
More than anything, I'm concerned for what his replacement might bring. No matter what any of us have to say about Francis as a person, his role as a figure of authority carried a great weight and, for all his most significant flaws, he was moving the Church down a more progressive road. There's a reason the most noxious-- and obnoxious-- right-wingers railed so hard against him. The significance of having even a relatively leftist pope in power in the current political and social climate should not be understated. And the potential fallout of the Church taking a hard right turn should not be dismissed. I've seen the list of papal candidates and, uh. I'm largely not favorably impressed, lemme tell ya. Over one hundred of the one hundred and thirty-five cardinals who will vote to confirm the new pope were appointed by Francis, so there is some hope, but I'll be doing my own praying on the matter until we see that white smoke.
ysabetwordsmith (ysabetwordsmith) wrote2025-04-21 10:35 pm
ysabetwordsmith) wrote2025-04-21 10:35 pmPhotos: Cookie Jar Terrarium Part 1: Setup
Recently I bought a little fern, so I'm making a new terrarium. You can also see the previous Antique Jar Terrarium.
( Read more... )
( Read more... )
mildred_of_midgard (mildred_of_midgard) wrote2025-04-21 08:54 pm
mildred_of_midgard) wrote2025-04-21 08:54 pmEntry tags:
Humor
On a more cheerful note, two pieces of humor:
Back when I started studying geology last year, I focused on igneous rocks, which are so far my favorite. Thus, the word "igneous" came up a few times at the table, and my wife joked that it always sounds to her like a bad thing, like "igneous behavior." She pronounced this in a very haughty, disapproving voice.
By analogy with "ignoble" or "ignominious", apparently.
So "igneous" has come to be an inside joke for something we disapprove of.
Well, last week I was looking at touristy places in Europe that we could meet up at in future years, and I read aloud from Wikipedia that such-and-such a hill was made of igneous rock.
My low-energy, out-of-shape wife: "All hills are igneous. A hill is a very igneous thing to do to a person."
I'm still laughing.
(I, of course, am lamenting that I'll be leaving a hilly neighborhood for a "flat-as-a-pancake, biker's paradise!" neighborhood, to quote a real estate agent on Trulia. How am I supposed to get in my daily hill reps??!)
*
I like backrubs. Backrubs are awesome. I will miss them.
My wife likes to give silly backrubs: I have been a piano, a samba drum, a hippodrome, and many other things while her fingers dance around according to her whim.
A couple days ago (we've been trying to fit in as many as we can before the end of the month!) she announced that what she was doing was an arpeggio.
Later on, she was doing something similar, and my unmusical self asked, "Is that an arpeggio?"
Her: No, these are horses! But if I were playing the piano, this would be a trill, not an arpeggio.
Me: I'm sorry, I need to learn to tell trills, arpeggios, and horses apart!
Me: ...Which is now a sentence that has been uttered in this house, lol.
Back when I started studying geology last year, I focused on igneous rocks, which are so far my favorite. Thus, the word "igneous" came up a few times at the table, and my wife joked that it always sounds to her like a bad thing, like "igneous behavior." She pronounced this in a very haughty, disapproving voice.
By analogy with "ignoble" or "ignominious", apparently.
So "igneous" has come to be an inside joke for something we disapprove of.
Well, last week I was looking at touristy places in Europe that we could meet up at in future years, and I read aloud from Wikipedia that such-and-such a hill was made of igneous rock.
My low-energy, out-of-shape wife: "All hills are igneous. A hill is a very igneous thing to do to a person."
I'm still laughing.
(I, of course, am lamenting that I'll be leaving a hilly neighborhood for a "flat-as-a-pancake, biker's paradise!" neighborhood, to quote a real estate agent on Trulia. How am I supposed to get in my daily hill reps??!)
*
I like backrubs. Backrubs are awesome. I will miss them.
My wife likes to give silly backrubs: I have been a piano, a samba drum, a hippodrome, and many other things while her fingers dance around according to her whim.
A couple days ago (we've been trying to fit in as many as we can before the end of the month!) she announced that what she was doing was an arpeggio.
Later on, she was doing something similar, and my unmusical self asked, "Is that an arpeggio?"
Her: No, these are horses! But if I were playing the piano, this would be a trill, not an arpeggio.
Me: I'm sorry, I need to learn to tell trills, arpeggios, and horses apart!
Me: ...Which is now a sentence that has been uttered in this house, lol.
mildred_of_midgard (mildred_of_midgard) wrote2025-04-21 08:39 pm
mildred_of_midgard) wrote2025-04-21 08:39 pmEntry tags:
Everything keeps happening so much
First my stepdaughter breaks a tooth and is in a lot of pain. Then her mother talks her (she's agoraphobic and generally phobic) into going to the dentist, because broken tooth extractions are super easy, barely an inconvenience!
Well, no one had reckoned with her giant roots, nor with the fact that the broken tooth was adjacent to an impacted wisdom tooth that was pressing on it. "This tooth is my brother, and I'm not letting it go!"
It took 30 minutes to get the tooth out, and another 30 minutes to dig out all the residual roots. Stitches were required. By the end, she was shellshocked.
In addition to her obviously much greater suffering and my wife having to try to manage the situation and to accompany her, this meant that my week consisted of a lot of "Can you take her? She's going tonight/tomorrow/Monday?" (with constantly postponed appointments bc agoraphobia), "Can you get her meds from the pharmacy?", "She might need to go to the emergency room", and "She thinks she has an infection."
*
Then the plan was for them to stay with my stepdaughter's grandmother for a month or two after they arrive in Brazil, to save money while they look for an apartment. So Murphy's Law dictates that elderly grandmother suddenly gets hospitalized last week, she's going to be in the hospital for a while while they figure out what's going on with her, she will probably need surgery, and she will probably be post-op, with lots of people coming and going and probably staying over, when my wife and stepdaughter arrive in Brazil in 10 days.
So now there's the inconvenience and expense of scrambling to find an Airbnb, and then the pressure to find an apartment as soon as possible after arriving, to cut down on the Airbnb expense.
*
Then, on Saturday, when I was coming home from my 8-mile geology walk, still on the phone with my friend working out living arrangements, I came up the driveway to find my wife on her e-trike heading out to cancel her gym membership (which has to be done in person) and pick up her daughter's meds.
She interrupts me.
"There's something wrong with the bike!"
She pedaled around in the parking lot while I inspected it.
"Yeah, looks like you've got a flat."
Of course this is the first time this has happened, so neither of us has any idea how to change a tire.
So that's why immediately after my hike Saturday, I had to head out again to the pharmacy, while my wife watched YouTube videos on how to change a tire and tube, ordered spare parts, and asked around the neighbors to find out who had a pump we could borrow.
And now I'm going to have to watch the videos she found and learn how to change a tire, because she's completely overwhelmed, struggling with a depression flare-up (guess why!), and "Technically I'm an engineer (software engineer)" (said in the same tone of voice as "Technically, I'm a doctor (PhD in dead languages).") I am a bit more savvy than she is, though I still intensely dislike anything that requires me to work with my hands and pay attention to what I'm doing.
And, of course, we still have to figure out how to sell this bike on short notice.
The one spot of bright light is that she was able to cancel her gym membership over the phone. I'm still skeptical that in a month they'll be like, "What? No, you have to come in person!" but maybe it will work.
Things keep happening so much!
Well, no one had reckoned with her giant roots, nor with the fact that the broken tooth was adjacent to an impacted wisdom tooth that was pressing on it. "This tooth is my brother, and I'm not letting it go!"
It took 30 minutes to get the tooth out, and another 30 minutes to dig out all the residual roots. Stitches were required. By the end, she was shellshocked.
In addition to her obviously much greater suffering and my wife having to try to manage the situation and to accompany her, this meant that my week consisted of a lot of "Can you take her? She's going tonight/tomorrow/Monday?" (with constantly postponed appointments bc agoraphobia), "Can you get her meds from the pharmacy?", "She might need to go to the emergency room", and "She thinks she has an infection."
*
Then the plan was for them to stay with my stepdaughter's grandmother for a month or two after they arrive in Brazil, to save money while they look for an apartment. So Murphy's Law dictates that elderly grandmother suddenly gets hospitalized last week, she's going to be in the hospital for a while while they figure out what's going on with her, she will probably need surgery, and she will probably be post-op, with lots of people coming and going and probably staying over, when my wife and stepdaughter arrive in Brazil in 10 days.
So now there's the inconvenience and expense of scrambling to find an Airbnb, and then the pressure to find an apartment as soon as possible after arriving, to cut down on the Airbnb expense.
*
Then, on Saturday, when I was coming home from my 8-mile geology walk, still on the phone with my friend working out living arrangements, I came up the driveway to find my wife on her e-trike heading out to cancel her gym membership (which has to be done in person) and pick up her daughter's meds.
She interrupts me.
"There's something wrong with the bike!"
She pedaled around in the parking lot while I inspected it.
"Yeah, looks like you've got a flat."
Of course this is the first time this has happened, so neither of us has any idea how to change a tire.
So that's why immediately after my hike Saturday, I had to head out again to the pharmacy, while my wife watched YouTube videos on how to change a tire and tube, ordered spare parts, and asked around the neighbors to find out who had a pump we could borrow.
And now I'm going to have to watch the videos she found and learn how to change a tire, because she's completely overwhelmed, struggling with a depression flare-up (guess why!), and "Technically I'm an engineer (software engineer)" (said in the same tone of voice as "Technically, I'm a doctor (PhD in dead languages).") I am a bit more savvy than she is, though I still intensely dislike anything that requires me to work with my hands and pay attention to what I'm doing.
And, of course, we still have to figure out how to sell this bike on short notice.
The one spot of bright light is that she was able to cancel her gym membership over the phone. I'm still skeptical that in a month they'll be like, "What? No, you have to come in person!" but maybe it will work.
Things keep happening so much!