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Crap (So to Speak). Giardia

I think that I want a used Toyota RAV4 plug-in hybrid. They're a little more expensive than the cars at which I was looking, but people really like them. I found one that I like, but I'll start more seriously looking after I get back from Sardinia.

I didn’t get up early but slept until a little after 7 AM. I didn’t do laundry, so I’ll have to shower at lunchtime and go to the bank in the afternoon. I’m sitting for a moment and waking up. I’m groggy. Got the laundry going.

I’m concerned that the Italian school hasn’t sent me the link to pay for the course by credit card. I sent them an email, but have heard nothing from them.

I really want to take a nap at lunch, but I should shower so that I can go get the Euros from the bank. My shower was nice. Gracie was fascinated by my naked bod o_o.

I copied a list of things to do in Cagliari. And they have Uber there, although it partners with taxis.

I think that I'm going to stay home tonight. I need to water the plants, and I'm feeling a little dizzy.

Called the garage guy and left a message. I hope that I won't have to follow up with him the whole time.

I changed my password at work because It was going to expire while I'm gone, and I've been mopping up errors because of it. I think that I've got everything?

Hmm. I was going to take Gracie out at 3 PM, and it's 2:45, and she's fast asleep upstairs with me. She got up, and I took them out.

Picked up my Euros. They gave me a nice mix of bills, and I have a lot of Euro and smaller coins from last time.

I had pondered becoming a locksmith as a retirement job, but all the schools and apprenticeships are in Chicago. There sure is a shortage of locksmiths here though.

Crap. Gracie has Giardia. I'm trying to find out how that will impact her boarding, but the vet's office is closed now. I had heard that it was contagious. The vet is now closed on the weekends. This will be a cliffhanger. I'm going to proceed as if the trip will happen as planned. The vet said to talk to the boarding place about it, so I'm going to get up early tomorrow morning to call.

It is so freaking humid out. I had sweat pouring into my eyes (which stung) when I took the dogs out.

Got some stuff done. I want to go to sleep early so that I will get up early and call the boarding place.

We're having a bit of a run on our money

Dana has been on Wagovy for a few months. And, of course, it has worked well. And, of course, Tricare is talking about no longer covering it, has promised not to (we know where that came from). She was on the cusp of diabetes and has some other problems that weighing less will help so she may still be OK. But on the chance she is not we're talking $16K a year at the open market price. This has not yet hit the news and I don't know how many people on Tricare will be affected but it must be enough that the DVA thinks it is a money saver.

I managed to drop about 25 or so pounds with Noom but hit a plateau and never went below 210 which it, by most accounts, obese. I worry about it occasionally but really notice when I play pickleball. I'm an inverted weeble. So I saw a way to kill to birds with one stone and went out to Hims to see what it would take to get me some of the magic elixir. Turns out to be not too expensive and worth it if I can beat the odds and wean myself back off after reaching my goal. But it was not free. To get a decent deal you have to pay for six months up front. I did and got the stuff and used it. The first week is basically just to tell your body you are going to have some new drugs being pumped through and to get used to it. No side effects so I guess I'm good.

But not free. So there's that and the vet and the crematorium and the ticket to Massachusetts in October and the wedding sports coat and the wedding dress (that one's not for me) and just last night a dead car battery that I replaced today.

I'm hoping the car battery doesn't presage a run of other things breaking as happened a year or so ago.

I'd just gotten through replacing the computer and router and printer.

Enough. We just need to cruise for a bit without any surprises and build up the investment account again. I had to pull money from it yesterday and I need to reverse the flow of that. Build it back up again.

But, first, a nap. Pickleball and all this finance stuff making me sleepy.

Rainy Day off

I was exhausted last night. Between losing two baseball games, building a table and cleaning up after, etc. I slept good. (Now, why is 'slept good' acceptable when it's a clear violation of the verb modified by adverb rule???? and why am I just noticing this now?????)

So, I'm reading this book that I'm not that into but can't quite find the spot to abandon. It's about two grown sons and their mother. The mother character has - in the first half of the book - been drawn as very old and so fairly demented and failing in health of body, mind and spirit. Then last night, the author finally mentions her age - SIXTY FUCKING TWO!!! Holy crap. Seriously. Insulting. I'm pissed. But, still reading, of course.

But, people, 62 is not old. Late middle age, maybe, but not old at all.

I love my new coffee table and the uncluttered look it provides. And the pop up bit is wonderful. I moved the massive knitting bag off the couch in yet more uncluttering. This morning, I learned that the cats both appear to approve. And there is still room for me!

I got an email last night from my guy at Crate and Barrel saying my new couch cushion was underway and including the invoice again but this time it said delivery ETA mid-September.

It's a rainy day and later on, we're supposed to have REAL rain. Now, it's just wet and misty.

I might do laundry. I might not.

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Really Wiped Out

I did get up early, but I’m thinking of going back to sleep. I’m so tired. Woke up again at 7 AM.

Took Gracie to the vet. They said that she seemed healthy. They looked at her stool sample, and the worms that were there before are gone, except for one ambiguous thing that they wanted the parasitologist to check. They will call with the results. They gave me more worm medicine just in case. Gracie was barking at the door to the lobby while they were looking at the stool sample. The vet came back and said, "I heard you barking, girlfriend," and I said, "The whole world heard her barking!" (Gracie's barks are shrill and piercing.) Gracie is still growing, so we don't know how big she'll get.

Took a nap over lunch and overslept for an hour. Oops. I'm still freaking tired.

I think that I'm going to stay home tonight and get some stuff done around here. And get to bed early!

UPS keeps leaving my neighbor's packages at my house. I learned why they put up an American flag; he just became a citizen! I congratulated him.

Oh! My Euros are in at the bank. I'll go tomorrow.

My front door is acting weird. The bolt on the doorknob locks and won't unlock until I open it from outside. I guess that I need a locksmith. Oh. My key is a copy of the original key, and maybe that's why it won't open the lock.

I had a tough time getting Oliver and Lily to come up from the basement to eat. Lily worked out a clever route to get around the dogs though. Both dogs are being rambunctious.

I need to water the outdoor plants. No, I'm going to do that tomorrow morning. I am so freaking tired, so I'm going to start laundry and go to bed really early.

Still alive and table is fab

This morning after volleyball my heart started racing. It happens from time to time but today I could not make it stop. I went on with my regular stuff, including hauling the heavy table bits up and then going back to return the cart I borrowed. Still it raced. So I didn't rush anything and rested a bit before I opened the table box.

I do have a handy but reliable??? ECG app on my watch and it wouldn't work because my heart rate was 141 and it can only measure under 121. Whatever. It slowed down a little and I got to work.

The table was a little more complicated than I expected but I took it slowly and got it all built. And the box tossed and the old C table put into the storage area and my stuff moved to the new table which, actually, I like quite a bit. It pops up to the perfect height for typing and eating but then down low enough to make a nice footrest and it has lovely storage.

My heart rate is down now but still wonky. If I die, feel free to pass on these dets to anyone who wants to know.

Next up. Vacuum. Table building is messy.

Today's job

I finally tracked down the coffee table that Fed Ex delivered yesterday. Most of Amazon's deliveries go into a set of lockers. I get a bar code when they are put into the locker. Easy peasy. Great system.

The rest of the packages do not have such an easy birth. They get delivered to the front hallway and then, mostly but not always, get moved to a locked room in another part of the building. From there, they get delivered in the afternoons, sometimes. Often as not 'ooops, the delivery guy was off today' or 'ooops the delivery guy forgot to pick up the second run of packages' or 'ooops we didn't have the staff'.

The system used to be that you could pick up your package at the front desk if you didn't want to wait for delivery. That was great. But, alas, that process got killed off. About a week ago, I wrote to the head guy and asked him to think about giving us a pick up window. An hour/half hour every day when, if we want, we could go get our packages ourselves.

Then yesterday my coffee table got delivered to Timber Ridge at 10 am and to me at ... never. After volleyball, I went by the office of the guy whose job it is to handle packages to see if I could get some info. He wasn't there but my package was! So I wrangled it up here.

BREAKING news! Just as I was typing this whole boring story out, I got a note from TylerThePackageGuy, saying they were going to institute a package pick up time from 1-2 every day! Woot!! And nice. Very nice.

So that's my day today - putting together this table. First I want to get dressed and return the cart to the front desk and get the Timber Ridge Times for our floor and distribute. Gotta get my chores done before work. Today's Mariner game is at 10. The Phillies aren't til 4. Both of them lost yesterday and not because they were playing better teams. Neither game was good. Hopefully today is better.

Oh, the annual car visit was the easiest, best yet. $150. No big issues. They were done before lunch. I swung into the car wash on the way home to celebrate. Now you need sun glasses in the garage. Most all the cars around mine are owned by people who no longer drive so they are covered in dust. Mine shines!

One last Zoe picture

Zoe took over the Friendly Computers business in about 2005, not too long after we opened. Once she was big enough she was there every day greeting customers and making sure we were all on task. We had one customer who was scared by Zoe's presence and said 'your dog got out'. We didn't bother to tell her that she was the intruder into Zoe's shop. But obviously Zoe's job was to calm the people who were bringing in their computers and were anxious about it. She did her job well.

When we first got her (or vice versa) she fit in the palm of my hand. As a half pound puppy she was a terror. So aggressive (she had a lot of rottweiler and pit bull and was growing quickly) that I decided on the first day that she was going to some serious training. She did. She went away to a two week camp during which she learned constraint and became glued to her alpha human which was me. It was a great way for us to go since she spent so much time in our shop.

My step son worked with us at the time and took the only surviving picture of her. This was back in the fairly early days of photo manipulation and he was playing around with it. This was Zoe as we first saw her:

Things are returning to our new normal now. I think Toby is confused but he will forget and move on. He was happier with another dog in the house and, sometime in the not so distant future, I may foster some dogs if I can figure that out. But for the moment he is an only child.

Today is a nothing to do day and I am participating fully.

I need to make some Prolific money. Dying is expensive. I've got all the costs covered but had to dip into investments to do it so we need to pull back on the finance throttle for a while and get some money back in the account.

Fortunately prices have come WAY DOWN and there is NO inflation so it will be easy.

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Fence with Windows

I forgot to mention that I'm thinking about the new fence, which I'll get after the garage is built. I had wanted a tall picket fence, but Gracie can squeeze through very small spaces. If I got a wooden fence with the boards next to each other (a "privacy fence") then the dogs couldn't see what was going on down the street. That would cut down on the barking, but they enjoy seeing what's going on in the world. I guess that I'll sort out my concerns with the fence seller. I saw some privacy fences with windows cut into it with iron bars.

Gracie barks at the cats. I think that she wants to play with them, but they are not interested. I'm getting tired of the barking and they probably are too.

I ordered a plant-based dog chew toy. They don't like the nylon ones.

Aargh. Apparently I didn’t latch the door all the way when I took the dogs out, and Oliver was coming outside. Gracie pinned him, and I grabbed him and put him inside. Lily was in the doorway too. Get with it, Adrienne.

I took Gracie to get her stitches out. I expected to be chewed out because she wouldn't wear the cone collar, but they said that her stitches looked good and they took them out. She has been throwing up a lot, so I made an appointment for her for tomorrow.

I was playing around on Carvana, and found a 2020 Mitsubishi Outlander for a great price. Hmm. I can't deal with this until I get back from Italy though.

Well, hell. I waited for a half-hour for the pharmacist, and they wouldn’t give me the COVID shot because the CDC is saying to wait for the new formulation. That was a waste of time. I returned library books, except for one that I think got scooped up when I was cleaning out the Kia. I’ll look for it.

I’m feeding the critters and wiping out. I’m going to put the full recycling bin and some boxes out to make sure that they get picked up, but I’ll get up early to work on the other bin. I fed the critters and am making myself some food. Then I'll get the bin and boxes out.

Bite me, Brian

I love my car repair place. They always welcome me and my Smart Car with open arms and take very good care of me. But, BrianTheServiceAdvisor (I have his card so I know his title) isn't their star. They open at 8. They want you there at 8. But if you get there before 8, you have to wait outside. I got there this morning at 8:02. Door locked. So I went back to my car to get the mileage which I'd forgotten to jot down. 39925.

When I got back, the doors were open and Brian was waiting. I handed him the letter that shows I get %30 off and pointed to the mileage. The correct answer was "Oh, thank you!" What I got was "oh, I don't need that". I do need the key. "The key is in the car." The correct response is "oh, great. we really rather you bring it in so no one can nip the car while you are in here! But, that's for next time. I'll go get it right now." Brian says "don't ever do that!!!".

It's a tone, Brian. A tone makes the diff. Didn't your mother teach you that?

(The Mercedes place in Seattle had a fit if you didn't leave your key in the car BUT, in fairness, that was after you drove into their massive windowed garage.)

Brian told me to have a seat. They have this fabulous snack basket/coffee area and I had already eyed a little package of iced cookies BUT before I could get my ass into a chair, a really nice voice behind me said "I'm actually ready to go if you are." And I was home by 8:15. Realizing that Brian had not asked me if there was anything special I wanted them to look at or described the services they will perform. I trust them. I just don't like Brian.

But, it will be fine.

It's not nearly as cool out as I was expecting. And my a/c is acting wonky. Right now, it's too hot in here. In about 10 minutes it will be too cold. I suspect we're now dealing with residual building heat after the last few days of too hot. This, too, shall pass.

My measure of a good hair cut is when I roll out of bed in the morning and there are no stickie-outies. I can just smooth it out with my hand and I'm good to go. Bonny did an excellent job yesterday. It was perfect when I rolled out of bed this morning. She now has a permanent job.

I'm still stressing about my banking situation. BUT I've decided to hold off doing anything about it for now. I've still got my main accounts and a small backup checking account at another institution and probably, really, that's all I need.

No plans for today - well, TV, puzzle, baseball, knitting... the usual. And go pick up the car when it's ready.

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Another Busy and Productive Day

I can never forget to feed the cats because they will remind me. The dogs are more low-key (well, Gracie wants everyone's food), but once I start feeding the critters, I feed them all.

I wanted to register for Digital Photography at Parkland this fall, but it conflicts with choir. Bother. Oh, I couldn’t do it anyway because it starts when I’ll be gone. Hmm, there is a mastering your DSLR online class. Maybe I could do that in the spring.

Got up with my alarm at 7 AM.

Got Gracie's appointment set up for tomorrow.

Very busy at work. Our boss is out sick, so I picked up one of her tasks on the sandbox testing. We found a ton of errors today. That made me feel better because I take my errors personally, and these weren't mine. We found them!

The FedEx guy came by with a Chewy box of Gracie's food, and he said "Hi" to both the dogs, who were thrilled. Then the mail carrier came by and said "Hi" to them as well. This is a great neighborhood for them to live in.

I went to the bank to order Euros. I got a bank guy who really knew his stuff, and put notes in my account about when I'll be gone, and I mentioned that I will be flying through Germany (outbound) and Switzerland (inbound), so he added them to the note on my account. The Euros should arrive by Friday. I also got the cash for the pet sitter. That reminds me to call my credit card company to let them know that I'll be gone.

It looks like it's going to storm. I decided to swap my stoneware return to Costco to Thursday because I want to get as much garbage (today) and recycling (tomorrow) out as possible. I will have my COVID shot tomorrow, but that won't take long. Just as well because I don't want to wrangle the stoneware boxes in the rain.

It's going to be really hot in Sardinia. A couple of my beach days might be beach in the morning and lounge by the pool in the afternoon so that I can go in. I need to doublecheck that my hotel has a pool and a/c. The Costa Smeralda hotel has a pool (three pools!), and maybe a/c? The Cagliari hotel does not have air conditioning, so that's going to suck. Must remember to bring a fillable water bottle. I ordered a handheld portable travel fan and a collapsible water bottle.

I saw a waterproof bed blanket protector for households with pets on Facebook. I googled it, and it turns out that Chewy has something that’s fairly cheap, in gray, for full-sized beds so I ordered it.

I had a donut in my hand and went to see whom Gracie was barking at. (I think Oliver.) Bella took a bite out of my donut! Cheeky girl :)

Did laundry. Got a lot of garbage out. Now I just need to feed the critters and go to sleep.

Too hot? Wait 3 days

Wild.

I started bank dancing yesterday. I'm currently happy with BECU but I do hate having all of my eggs in one basket. My backup basket has been Key Bank but I'm pissed at them again. I'll leave a little in a free account there, but then I went trolling for high yield savings. I started the process of opening a new account at a new place but, today I've decided that if I do move some funds, it won't be there. They have no chat. It's called or nothing. Nope. I will make one call, if necessary, to back out of the process but, I think if I don't report my .23 and .13 and .09 the application will die on the vine. As long as it dies.

I'll stick with BECU for now.

My hair is getting too long. This is measured by sticky-outy-ness. When I wake up in the morning, if I have to touch it - comb down one bit or another - it's too long. Myrna used to cut it for me. Actually she usually told me it was time for a cut and then cut it. I thought I'd get Bonny or Martha to do it. I started with Bonny and texted her this morning. The good news is she's happy to do it and will come on down before lunch. The bad news is she reminded me that today is the 3rd floor meeting. I intend to pass on it but she thinks I should go. This will take some maneuvering. But, it's fine.

The meetings are always dreadful but this week is Yet Another Emergency Preparedness meeting. This is a topic that has no right answers and plenty of ???? and everyone thinks they are correct in their plan. It always leads nowhere and I've been there and don't want to go back.

Both my baseball teams are on the east coast for the next 10 days or so and so it will be two games at once for most days. They, in fact, play each other starting Monday. Since they are in different leagues, they play each other very rarely. Should be interesting.

My baby brother turns 72 today.

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Busy Day

Watered the outside plants, although they’re predicting a storm this afternoon. Oliver is telling me that they missed a meal last night. (True.) Closed the bedroom door because Gracie will chew the sheets. I might be postponing the inevitable, but I’m trying.

I flopped back and forth about sleeping instead of showering, but it was late to go back to sleep, so I’ll shower.

Work is very busy because we have a refresh of the "sandboxes" for our libraries. A lot of tasks need to be done in order. We're using Microsoft Planner to keep track of the tasks. It occurred to me that I could use Google Tasks for the stuff that I need to get done before I leave for Italy. (I don't want to use Planner because it might collide with what we're doing for work. I might look for another planner though.) I found a Web site called ClickUp that's a good task planning site. And it's free!

Couldn’t nap at lunch. Not surprised because I got 10 hours of sleep last night. The sheets and duvet are heavenly though.

I already have $120 in my Acorns travel fund. Good deal. My hope for the future is to go on one overseas trip and one US trip/cruise a year. We'll see if I can pull it off.

Hmm. I want to do some packing tonight to make sure that I have what I need. I'm going to get my meds tonight (done) and return library books. (I’ll gather them up tonight and take them tomorrow.) I'll return the stoneware tomorrow because I need to feed the beasts.

Hmm. I saw an ad for a u-shaped body pillow that looks good, but it's expensive. But I don't want to order it now because it'll get here when I'll be gone, and it'll be a big box. So I'll wait and see if I can order it when I get back (if I decide to spend the money, although spending money on sleep things is a good investment). Hey, I found one cheaper that I should be able to order when I get back! It occurred to me to get some self-watering spikes for my plants.

I came downstairs after work. The dogs are like, “Mom, I’m so glad to see you!” The cats are like, “FEED ME NOW!!”

I’ve been pondering how to grow tomatoes without the dogs getting into them. I’m looking at a small greenhouse. I saw one on Amazon for $169. That would be some expensive tomatoes, but I love home-grown tomatoes. They taste so much better than store-bought. I also want to start seeds next spring in the basement.

I found a sesame tofu recipe that looks good, but you need an air fryer. Hmm. If I’m going to cook, it might be good to have one, but I’ll wait until I cook regularly.

Oh shit. Gracie's vet appointment was today. I'll need to reschedule it.

I got my tasks before the trip on my planner, and looking at the calendar makes it more manageable.

By the way, I'm feeling better today.

I don't think that I'll pack tonight, but I need to check on my sunscreen situation to see if I need to order any. My stuff is partially packed anyway.

I need to feed the critters again before going to bed.

It all went well as it could

The doc was wonderful as expected. She was professional and compassionate and efficient.

The timing was good. Zoe had gotten very quickly to the point that it was very hard for her to lie down. Her back leg joints just didn't bend. I had to help her lie down the last time. No resistance. She was tired of being in pain and didn't want her breakfast.

I put her in a bag bought for the purpose (from Amazon, of course) and loaded her into the car. We went to A&M and they took her away.

Of the five senses I don't really have a taste for Zoe but there are holes in the other four. Sight, sound, smell and touch all have a huge empty place in them and I'll be listening and looking and reaching out for a long time.

Dylan, Zoe's predecessor, was the same. It took me years to get over not hearing his collar or not seeing him come around the corner.

There is a Buddhist arm called Tonglen part of which has you thinking of that person you know that you love purely, without reservation and to feel that love and connect with it during meditation. If you can't think of a person with whom you have no contention, an animal will do.

So I meditated on Zoe. Many times.

It will all pass. Missing Dylan did.

I found myself furious at the dog sanctuary for becoming a center of conflict so that I can't spend time there now. It would help a lot. But that door is shut and I don't want to reopen it.

Something will come down the road. Dylan walked up to the car driven by my now ex wife while she was in Monroe, LA and asked if she needed a dog. He was near death and had all kinds of problems but became a great travellor and sailor and military dog.

One day we were in the shop in Georgetown about 15 years ago and this woman came in with a small furry thing in her hand asking if we needed a dog.

I've never had a problem finding the right dog at the right time.

All for now

Monday

I did not leave my apartment yesterday and I ate way too much and it was a lovely lovely day.

Today I have nothing on the calendar. No clue why aqua yoga was canceled but I'm delighted. I will probably go out and puzzle some. I might order a meal for pick up. I will watch the Phillies game (the Mariners are off today) but, that's the entirety of the plan.

Looks like my new coffee table might get here on Wednesday which means I might actually have it on Thursday. They used to let us come pick up packages after they were delivered but now you have to wait for them to bring them to you and that's generally not until the next day. Annoying but not a huge issue most of the time. It will be a huge issue when I order a new phone or some other new tech gear. I'm not sitting around waiting for it. BUT I want to use my special case begging for exception for special cases. And Thursday will be fine for the table.

I started a one line a day journal in January of 2023. It's a 5 year book. and I noticed last night that I am now more than half way through the book. I do my entry when I get into bed at night. It is interesting to peek at what happened last year and the year before. This week two years ago I was just about to start thinking about CCRC's for real and looking into places like Timber Ridge.

Focused on the mechanisms

Zoe was up most of the night. The tramodol is losing its effectiveness, nature's way of enforcing what we know. Had we not made arrangements I'd be a mass of anxiety trying to figure out what to do. But we know and I've made every arrangement I can think of from getting the doc here to making sure the car is full of gas so I can drive straight to the A&M vet hospital when we're ready.

We are contributing to the medicine trial by having Zoe autopsied so they can verify the condition of her heart. It will help in a small way other dogs and families who might want to use the drug she took as part of the trial.

It is a consolation, however small, that she will contribute. And I've made arrangements with a crematorium near the hospital so sometime next week we'll receive her ashes and they will reside on the table behind me with those of Dylan, her predecessor. One day I'll figure out something good to do with them. There are a surprising number of possibilities from jewelry to tree planting. I'll wait until the two of them get together and figure it out.

We went for a very short walk today. She was trembling by the end and it was only part of a block. I've given her the remaining tramadol so she will be OK in a bit.

Some things should last forever. Now if I can only remember to keep breathing.

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Sunday

I stayed up later than I intended, but we’re all fed now. Had problems falling asleep because I forgot to take my meds at first.

Woke up with my alarm at 9 AM. Fed us all.

I need to go out and get soda today, so I might go to Costco and return the stoneware. I need to pick up meds too.

I can pick up my meds tomorrow. Much as I hate to use Walmart delivery, I really want to stay home. I just made some food but don’t feel like eating it. I could put it in the fridge.

Showered and am feeling a bit better. I’m cleaning the kitchen, and Bella is sneaking stuff out of the trash to put in her stash. Sigh.

Took a break to eat dinner. Now it’s critter feeding time. Headache. Fed us all. Got my new sheets, duvet, and duvet cover on the bed. Lectured the dogs on how these are nice sheets, and they shouldn’t chew them. Received my Walmart order.

Now I’m going to lie down for a little while. Bella doesn’t want Gracie to lick me. Gracie is trying to chew the sheets :( I booted her out of here. Took a nap and slept through until 6:30 AM.

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Success with computer input devices

I had mentioned how my work Mac, plugged in at home, was applying the wrong keymap for my external keyboard and imposing some godawful acceleration on my scroll-wheel. Now I have adequate solutions for both:

I installed an open-source utility named DiscreteScroll, which fixes macOS's unnecessary scroll wheel acceleration, making the scroll-wheel behave rather more manageably.

It turns out that Apple's idea of a UK-layout keyboard is not the typical one, it's kind of halfway to a US one. As the Mac doesn't understand the typical UK layout, I realized that I can just buy a US-layout keyboard, which I am used to anyway. Having despaired of making sense of the differences among the dazzling range of Keychron keyboards, I indulged in a nice, loud Unicomp.

In another keyboard victory, a couple of my UK keyboards had dodgy keys. I can be slow to realize things but, eventually, I had the useful idea of transplanting a keycap (using my pry an old Kindle open at the seams levers) to make one fully able keyboard from the two problem ones.

Admittedly, although working with Mac OS X instead of GNU/Linux usually slows me down some, for my day job I am finding the Mac not to be much of a hindrance.

the cycle

This morning I went through another round of stressing about my backup email. All it takes is a glance at a random tail about someone losing access to their google account and boom - into a tailspin I go. The last round - not even that long ago - sent me to set up a backup situation where all my emails were sent to my susandennis.com hosting server. But, turns out, that's just not practical for several reasons. So now it's back to outlook.com. It cost me $20 a year and Microsoft is about as dodgy as Google if my account gets hosed but at least I now have two places - cloudwise - I can find out what size swimsuit I bought from that place where I used to get them way back in the before times - easily.

I somehow forgot to do laundry. I remembered last night but it was too late to start so that's what's happening now.

We're going to have a few days of really hot weather here this week but it's fine. I do have to go outside on Wednesday but it will be in an air conditioned vehicle. We're almost done here. The days are getting shorter and if/when more heat comes, it will only really be for a few hours. I can handle it.

Today is baseball and knitting. AND I have the gift of nothing on the calendar tomorrow. Nice. They had meatloaf and chicken on the buffet last night. I got both. Ate the chicken and plan to see that meatloaf on a fabulous sandwich today. Last night was my last night for this month's $600. I had $3.00 left after the buffet. I breezed into the bistro (our 7/11) and told Nohn who was on duty, my problem. "What you need is a toffee ice cream bar. Yep. He was right. It's in the freezer now for this afternoon and my account is $0.

Time now to watch Tia Watson's Sunday morning video. She bought a house for $1 and is fixing it up. She is as good as house fixing up as she is at video editing and it makes a delightful way to start my Sundays.

Entry tags:

Ugh. I'm Feeling Lousy Again.

Fed us all. It’s starting to get light. I need to clean up some poop in the bedroom. (I can’t blame Gracie because I was asleep for a long time.) Then I’ll go back to sleep for a while. The dogs promptly crashed out.

Woke up at 9 AM with Gracie licking my face. I caught Bella in the act of moving a cat dish around. Me to Oliver: “You got fed earlier.” Oliver to me: “That was then; this is meow.”

My stomach is upset, so I’m going to lie down. Bella snoozes until the last possible minute before I get up. I told her that she doesn’t have to get up when I get up, but she thinks that it’s her duty as The Dog to follow me around. Gracie is more independent.

I was trying to figure out where to put my new drying rack for clothes. I’d rather put it on the shaded side away from the street. The sunny side is right along the sidewalk. I’ll try it on the shadier side and see what happens. Also, the garage-to-be will clear the clothesline posts in the back yard.

Bella and Gracie were playing tug of war with a stick. Bella won twice. A neighbor said “Hi” to the dogs. Gracie was upset and barking because the guy left, and I told her that the world didn’t revolve around her. She is not convinced. Gracie: “My water dish is empty.” Me: “Your water dish would stay full longer if you didn’t play in the water.” Gracie: “This does not compute.”

Ugh. My stomach is still upset. I would stay in, but have a grocery pickup at Meijer at 4. Hmm, I really need to go to Costco today because I’m planning on staying up late working on the kitchen. But I’ve been feeling dizzy.

I was thinking that I had an easy choice to euthanize Mimi. A brain tumor is serious stuff. I have a feeling that I’ll have a tougher choice with Zara. She keeps losing weight, but her kidney numbers are good so far.

I received my InstaPot. I’m looking forward to learning how to use it.

Lily is fussing over me. I think that she’s hungry.

I took a shower and dressed, but I feel shaky. Ate a BistroMD cookie to try to help the shakes.

Went and got the pickup order. I ran in to get some diet root beer, only to find that they were out of bottles, so I got some cans. I found some good food prep containers and a muffin pan. Came home to find that the new pots and pans are here.

Bought a dog fountain for Bella and Gracie, although Gracie doesn’t like running water. (I read a sob story about a dog who got dehydrated, and that worried me.)

Cats: we’re hungry! Feed us! Nothing subtle about Oliver. He gets in my face when he’s hungry. Fed us all.

The new copper pots look great! I want to clean the stove before taking a picture of them though. I think that I want a copper kettle too (ordered). I need to take apart the boxes that they came in.

I’m feeling dizzy. I was going to stay up all night cleaning, but I think that I need to lie down soon. I really wish that I’d stop being sick. I want to do dishes before I go to sleep though (done). I need to feed the beasts again, but then I'll go to sleep. I'm setting an alarm though.

Current Mood: muted
Current Music: Ocean Colour Scene

Entry tags:

health

anhedonia

It recently became clear to me that I have gradually slipped into an unusually deep trough over the past while... but what's weird is how it finally clicked for me:

I've sorta noticed for a while that I don't feel like doing anything, lately. But my Aha Moment came when I realized I was tired and I thought, I don't even feel like resting.

Like, what's up with that....