1. So far the Conference Championships of the NHL Playoffs are not going well for my preferred teams. This does not surprise me, as I have a rather poor record of supporting teams in terms of them actually winning anything, but still. The games are fun to watch anyway. It is a strange thing to consider that of the last four professional ice hockey teams still playing for the Stanley Cup, the northernmost city represented is Las Vegas, Nevada.
2. It may actually be summer here, as the temperatures are now warm with no real chance of being cold again for a few months, alas. We did have a few hazy days as the Canadian wildfire smoke drifted down into Wisconsin, but that seems to have cleared off for the moment.
3. It’s very strange to be on a work schedule that does not involve an overload – the last time that happened was 2018. I don’t have to go rocketing off every morning at o’dark-thirty nor do I have tasks to be completed long after I get home. But I’ve got enough saved up to get through the summer, so I’m good that way. The slowdown will be nice.
4. Once you’ve been on overload long enough you forget how to have down time, which is a sad, sad thing. I’ve been trying to do not much of anything today and failing. Right now I’ve got a batch of Scottish oat biscuits in the oven because I like them and it seemed like something to do. I strongly suspect this batch will be an experiment to be adjusted going forward, but we’ll see. I’ve got enough cheese and jam in the fridge to keep testing for a while.
5. Yesterday I replaced the rotting plank on the picnic table we have in our back yard – a project that involved multiple trips to the hardware store (“I bought ‘star-head’ screws? Dafuk are those?”) and at least one extended discussion with the cashier about whether the board I bought should be $5.99 (the price on the shelf) or $42.99 (the price in the inventory). I won that one, mostly by eventually figuring out that the inventory item was not the one I was actually buying. But do you realize how weird it is for me to perform any kind of repair work voluntarily?
6. I got a notification today from Ancestry about a “potential cousin” that they found through the DNA test that my mother got me to do with them, and sometimes they score – this one I happen to know is my mother’s first cousin, so there was no new information there. But that cousin has a family tree up in Ancestry so I spent the morning happily dredging it for documents and information. Someday I will organize all of my own documents and information and won’t that be a time.
7. I do need to do that, though, since otherwise a lot of information will likely be lost. My generation is the last one who remembers even hearing about most of these people, after all.
8. Can we just take a moment and get righteously enraged by the descent into full-on Fascism that is currently happening in Florida? By the reduction of women to breeding stock that is taking place all over the United States in areas controlled by the Republican Party? By the eliminationist tactics being used against trans people in those same benighted and immoral areas? I try to write posts but every time I do I have to put them away for later editing so that I don’t get unfriendly visits by Serious Men In Dark Suits who would no doubt want a few words with me about why I feel the way I do and it would be all I could do not to point at the headlines and ask them what the hell else do they damn well expect of a thinking human? This probably wouldn’t help.
9. On the plus side, Our Little Town had its annual RenFaire this past weekend and it was fun. It’s not the big RenFaire that happens over in Bristol, but it keeps growing and this is the first time we’ve actually been able to go since before the pandemic, I think. I lose track. There is very little at these events that is accurate to the Renaissance or the medieval period, but there is room in the world for cosplaying and there are no better places in the world for people-watching than a RenFaire of any description.
10. The robin who nests on top of our porch light is back, which means that so is her mate. There is nothing quite like the sensation of pulling into your own driveway under the baleful stare of 180 grams of songbird trying to intimidate you away from your own porch. Yeah, yeah, bird. You do you.
2. So, tell me, did you enjoy your three days of Spring this year?
ReplyDelete3. One thing I fear about my impending retirement: going from full-on overload to having nothing to do in one day. Full stop. Kinda like engaging the parking brakes at 70 M.P.H. Whiplash will most definitely ensue.
4. I’ve never really experienced much ‘down time’ - my longest breaks have been 4 to 5 days over holiday weekends. (Except when I got injured back in ’98. I was off for somewhere around seven months - but I wouldn’t ever refer to that extremely painful and stressful period as ‘down time’.)
6. It just feels weird when I don’t do repair work around the homestead. Like right now, waiting for someone to stop by and fix the central air conditioning - I don’t have a fricking clue about air conditioning - just know that it’s bound to be expensive.
8. A moment? Seriously? Just a moment? Haven’t actually sat down and counted, but I’m reasonably certain that I’ve spent most of the last seven years being righteously enraged, so I’m going to be generous and presume that the first six words of this paragraph were merely a figure of speech. Kinda like going to the counter at Wendy’s and having them say your order will be up in “just a sec” …
10. We have had a family of Owls living in a group of trees about ¼ mile from our front door for the last 12 years or so. We’ve lost an unknown number of cats and one small dog over those years.
Lucy
2. I did! I believe I spent one of them grilling burgers and the other two staring blankly out the window. This counts as a good time these days. :)
ReplyDelete3. That's a big problem for new retirees, from what I know. I've been told to be sure to have hobbies and projects lined up when I retire. It's too easy to spend so much time working that we don't leave space for not working. I do have a few projects that I would like to spend time on - genealogy, travel, photography if I can make it work, and so on - and I've never been all that bothered by having nothing to do so I'm optimistic. I should start practicing now, I guess.
4. Recovery is not down time. Recovery is work, often - as you note - painful work. Honestly, it takes more than a 5-day holiday weekend just to decompress from it all and that isn't down time either.
6. My general rule is that if I want something done right around the house I should call someone else. Most of my handyman experiences are from working backstage, where things only have to look good from one angle for two weekends. I'm not actually that bad at that sort of thing, but I get no great satisfaction from it either. Also, AC is definitely going to be expensive.
8. Absolutely a figure of speech. Oh, yes, indeed.
10. Ouch! That story reminds me of the meme I saw where a guy kept losing cats to a pack of coyotes in the open land near his property and every time he'd go back to the shelter to get a new cat and then someone told him it sounded like he was just feeding shelter cats to coyotes. Sigh. It is one of those hazards, though.
6. Estimate (not including labor to remove and replace the offending part, or troubleshooting time today), in the 1,300 to $1,500 range. So, basically, about a $2,00.00 bill. 😢
ReplyDelete8. I was hopeful my hunch was correct. I'd hate to have to drive all the way over there just to slap you with a fish. 😳
10. Wasn't worth fixing, but the part I somehow left out of that sentence was: "I'll see your 180-gram robin and raise you a family of owls." Don't miss the cats, but I was kinda getting partial to that ankle-biter.
Lucy
6. Well, in this instance I'm sorry to have been right. Sigh.
ReplyDelete8. Yeah, but then we could have hung out after! Would have been worth it. :)
10. Hah!
I grew up in the suburbs and moved to the city so the main threat to my various cats was always vehicles. Kim grew up in a rural area and lost a few to hawks, though. I do miss them.