Weekend Plans Post: Starting to Prepare for Winter
A few weeks ago, we discussed how our 5K jogtime kept getting bumped back. Back to 7, back to 6:45, back to 6:30. We ran at 6 on Wednesday and, wouldn’t you know it, got to our cars in darkness.
Tomorrow, we’re going to jog at 5:30. The end of daylight saving can’t get here fast enough, I tell ya. (Then we can play the “15 minutes earlier!” game again for a while.)
In the meantime, the AC unit has gone from “constantly on” to “intermittently on” to “mostly off” to “let’s put it back in storage and open the window.” The hoodies have moved from the back of the closet to the front of the closet and the fuzzy pants have made it into rotation with the linen pajama pants. Soon we will have to discuss whether we want to switch to the flannel sheets.
Under normal circumstances, I’m excited about the end of Summer and the proper start of Autumn. The temperatures are the best temperatures. The clothes are the best clothes! The food is the best food! The flannel sheets are the best sheets! PUMPKIN PIE!!! There’s a nagging feeling in the back of my head that these things are better when you wear the clothes at work and eat the food with friends.
The flannel sheets are still pretty good, though.
Now that Maribou is back from her trip, we’ve got a bit of catching up to do. Gotta catch up on the laundry. The kitties could use their nails trimmed. Maribou needs a haircut and we’re going to go out on the back porch and take care of that. She’s put in a request to make some Kraft Dinner & Weenies and so I’m going to make that this weekend as well. It’s time for another batch of Lime Cilantro Rice and, this time, I have a reamer so I rather expect the lime portion to go much more smoothly than in the past.
And, otherwise, settle in for the start of the cooler seasons and make sure that we will be ready to get ready for the holidays.
So… what’s on your docket?
(Featured Image is “Mommy’s Home!” taken by Maribou)
We’re nearly done with this year’s blueberry-field work; just a few more bushes to rip the bad weeds out of, and then we’ll spread the rest of the car-size pile of mulch we got.
Hemlock mulch actually does have a medicinal smell; you can see how people would imagine that this had therapeutic use. I like it. (The dustiness of the mulch makes my wife sneeze, though.)
We’ve had a lot of help from parents, but it’s still impressive to see how we’ve turned the place around just in the year-plus that we’ve been there. It really brings home how much work it is to run a farm, though — we’ve just got like an acre of the things, and we can really tell how much more we’d get done if we were up at six and working until sundown, versus taking it easy and starting around ten-eleven-twelve-ish and then taking a lunch break an hour into it. (But then, this is a hobby and not a job…)Report
The internet gets in the way. Back when the only thing to do was practice Latin and goofing off meant “Jules Verne”, it was easy to get up at six and work until the sun went down and it was time to start telling stories about the Mothmen who live in the spirit of the mulch.Report
I could talk about what I’d LIKE to do (either if there were no pandemic on, or, given our current circumstances) or what I must actually do.
What I must do: a bunch of assessment crap; being the data cruncher for the gen ed classes fell in my lap when a colleague took on an admin position. I was not asked if I wanted it, I very much do not, but it’s my life now. I also have to do some grading and write an exam for next week.
What I would like to do, even given the pandemic: drive the hour’s round trip to the nearest Books A Million for a quick-ish masked and distanced trip to a place that is not-home and not-work, and maybe run by a bigger nicer grocery than what I have access to as well.
If there were no pandemic, and this were like the before-times? it would be mid-fall break and I’d either have plans to drive midway to meet up with a friend for a day of shopping or museum-going, or else I’d be setting off somewhere for a long weekend trip. But mid-fall break was eliminated a couple years ago and meetups right now seem unwise.
I’m just so tired, though, I would also like to sleep for about a 24 hour period.Report
I have deep, deep sympathies for this. When the pharmacy calls and says “hey, we’ve got your thing”, I do a little dance inside because I GET TO GO TO THE PHARMACY!!! (And the pharmacy is at the grocery store.)
That said, it’s important to feed yourself and the risk from a masked/gloved visit to the good grocery store will do your heart/soul good. I still get a thrill when I go to my grocery store and see the traffic light display of bell peppers.
I mean, sure. I am still thirsty. But it’s a sip. It’s a sip.Report
Well, I have lined up about half a dozen estate sales to go to today, which is one of my preferred activities if I am without the wife. Our 15th anniversary was last week, which should have been a big deal (have we really been married that long?) but instead we went out to dinner (I had the steak while she had shrimp and grits). It was nice-ish.
But, as this weekend is supposed to be dry, I will get back to putting up the storm windows, moving firewood to the front of the house, and other winter adjacent chores. We did just redo the curtains in the house, but having period-correct ones is nowhere near as insulating as what we had. And that reminds me, I need to finish taking down the old curtain rods.Report
Youngest boy’s school just went back to full-time online, which was a surprise to exactly no one. We’ve had it pretty good as things go, but a single positive test from a teacher led to a scramble of quarantines for a bunch of students and so here we are.
Absolutely nothing planned for this weekend. The international break is over so Premier League teams will be back on the pitch (and it seems so dumb dumb dumb that international competitions are still a thing right now). I’ve got to get some estimates in on some foundation work the house badly needs to maybe I’ll try to get moving on that today. Otherwise I think it’s reading and video games and chastising older teen-agers to get their lives moving forward (but not as vigorously as I normally would be because shit sucks for everyone right now).Report
If this is not the most ill-managed move in history, it’s at least a local extrema. In addition to all of the weird little things that have to get fixed in preparing to sell the old house, I sit here in Fort Collins surrounded by boxes containing random stuff with an incredible smoke plume overhead as another 15,000 acres of national forest burns to the west.
My sister always says to look on the bright side. Okay, the smoke plume is not mixing down so I’m not having to breath that mess.Report
The following is a fictionalized and idealized account of last weekend.
So her highness went on a girly trip with her mother and sister-in-law to South Carolina leaving me home alone for the first time in ages. So I invited over this woman I met online back in August. We have a Daddy/daughter vibe going on, we get along, and she has adult treats to share. If her highness can justify her having affairs, this is the least of my sins.
The latter are important considering the Monday before her highness left, I realized I was beating my head against a brick wall in the vain hope Edna was going to somehow acknowledge that I might be worth a shot. She gave me a delay tactic and I gave up, ruminated badly for the week, and lost myself in my day job as a title searcher. Must note that I invited over my “daughter” about a week or so before everything with Edna.
After dropping off her highness, I hoofed it up to north Jersey (she doesn’t drive because she was in a bad accident and she is anxious about it), picked her up, came home, and we napped. Afterwards we headed out for a late lunch, talked, and spent time together watching The First Avenger. Her BFF showed up later in the evening, they chatted, and I chimed in quite a bit because I was high.
On Sunday, after breakfast, I dropped acid while she microdosed. She did esthetician stuff on my nose with tweezers when the acid kicked in. We talked, I laughed, I cried, we came in to watch Gravity Falls and Steven Universe, smoked a bit of weed, ate, and enjoyed each other’s company. Funny thing is the acid completely stopped me from ruminating on Edna, she’s old news, and I moved on without any pain or tears. I don’t think I could’ve done this sober.
Monday morning was good, we hung out, tidied things a bit before it was time to bring her home. I let her control the music, we drove back north, picked up some groceries for her parents, dropped her off, and I can’t think of a better way to start my week.
As for this weekend, I’m going to write. First I’ll write for the fortean website, then try and put together a second draft of a story that I started working on back in late August/early September. By Saturday night, my independence will be at an end but I do not dread it.Report
After a two week break, the nerdlords and I return to our campaign in Avernus to obtain a certain sword from a certain fallen angel. Next we thwart the plans of Tiamat to come to our plane.Report
Working in our woods. Took the 6yo to “help” clear a big cherry tree that fell across one of the main trails. He loves putting on his gear (orange vest, work gloves, goggles, ear protection… and socks. he never wears socks except when we do woods work.)
Took a bucket load of nice logs and split them for fires later in the winter. I realize I’m another year older.Report