ears to eyes

I worked in the testing center with Sarge on Saturday. Once we got people settled in with their tests, a conversation ensued.

Sarge: can I ask you a personal question?

Me: okay?

Sarge: Do I talk too loud?

Me: (oh, personal about him, whew) Uhm... no.

Sarge: or too softly?

Me: No. Why, did someone complain about you being loud?

Sarge: No. It's just... I got hearing aids yesterday, and everything seems so loud, including me!

Me: Really? Welp, you sound like yourself.

Then he commenced to letting me have a look-see at the tiny devices in each of his ears. Very discreet, I would've never known. 

Alas, Sarge. He's a "youngster" in his mid-40's. Gets injections in his knees, has a bad back, and now hearing aids. He's a military vet, hence his blog name. And hence his maladies. The VA pays his medical bills, rightfully so.

He mentioned all the shooting and exploding he encountered with lack of proper hearing protection. 

"It seemed fun at the time..."

It got me wondering, how does one know when one isn't hearing well? Seems it's like when eyesight starts to go bad. We start noticing that we can't see things others can. In Sarge's case, he told me he mentioned tinnitus to his doctor, seeking a remedy. A hearing test was ordered, and there he is, hearing impaired in his 40's and everything now being so loud.

But I think my hearing's okay. I've not been involved in much shoot-em-up and was generally too poor to attend many live concerts in my youth. I don't think I've had a hearing test since high school - back when all synapses were firing perfectly. 

In other news, fall has arrived, although temps were mild last week, and we were needing moisture again. I decided to clean the floors over the weekend to use Murphy's Law to our advantage. It worked, and we got a decent drenching. Better than washing the car. If only I could teach the dogs to wipe their feet.

Remember George? the Maple we brought home as a baby those years ago?

He's getting big and doing his Autumnal thing.

And if you're thinking that it looks like Neighbor Guy's Cybertruck has googly eyes, you would be correct.

wishing for a ghost, goblins

My ballot is sitting here on my desk. I've got it about halfway filled out. I should get to work on the remaining bubbles, but I'm hanging out here instead.

This last week was another fine one in my little world - trying not to think of school shootings and embarrassingly short-term press secretaries, among other things...

• A couple of my tutor students are trying my patience. One, I'm sure, does next to nothing (probably actually nothing) outside of our single 1-hour weekly tutor sessions. She's been warned that she's on track to fail. It's like she doesn't know or doesn't care that she canNOT pass a class if she turns nothing in.

Her advisor has reached out several times, but has gotten no response. And I'm a little jealous. Why does she not ghost me too?? Seriously, ghost me! It's fine that she will inevitably fail, but why did she sign up for tutoring? She's wasting our time. 

• Okay, vent over. I am grateful for my easy going tutin' job. Work is typically fun, more like a hobby, and I did have this little dialogue with another student:

Me:  How do we get the sine of x all by itself?

Tutee: Offer it some candy?

HA! I needed that after Miss Do-Nothing.

• Coworker Kitty mentioned that she's looking for a new OB/Gyn to monitor her "AMA (Advanced Maternal Age)" pregnancy. That is the term for pregnant women over 35. She was also over 35 with her first pregnancy, which was characterized as "geriatric pregnancy" at the time. Somebody wised up and changed the term. 

• And speaking of which, I hear Hillary Swank is pregnant at 52 years old?! So, was it IVF? Otherwise, that's a very old egg, and maybe should be referred to as geriatric.

• On that note, I've noticed some older ladies at the gym have been striking up conversations with me. The (adults only) gym has a pretty diverse age range, but many are 20- and 30-somethings. I imagine these elderly ladies want me to be part of their gang.
  
  
• We've continued cleaning up Helms Deep these past two weekends. Today, we prettied up a particularly gnarly part of the road.

I didn't take a "before" photo, but trust me when I say this is mucho better. Our truck nearly high centered upon our arrival, but our departure was smooooooth sailing. I think we're getting the hang of this Land Manager business.

The cows have returned to their rightful home. Most of our trail cam captures are of the dear deer family - Mom and The Twins. Haven't seen any more owls. 

• Our flatland neighborhood, however, has several new occupants as we get closer to Halloween. I find this one wonderfully creepy.

howdy, neighbor

chirping, freecycling, personhood

It's nearly mid-October. The fall semester is halfway gone. Time really does go by faster as we get older. A little wrap up of last week feels in order: 

• That tutee who crashed his bicycle on the way to tutoring a couple of weeks ago? He's fine. He did go to the ER and was diagnosed with a mild concussion. It's not his first, and he knows he needs to be careful.

Bet five bucks he still rides to school without a helmet.

• On the learn-something-new-every-day front, I learned that [mountain lions chirp] - sounding much like random bird calls. Who knew? 

Now, when we're up at Helms Deep, I might feel less Snow Whitey about the friendly "birds" chirping

• I offloaded all of those spare bicycle tubes we no longer have bicycle tires for. I advertised them on a local No-Buy group on face's book, and a woman pounced on them. I left them out for a porch pickup, and the woman pulled up in a vehicle with a 4-bike bike rack. 

Looks like they went to a good home. Saved me a trip to the bike co-op.

• Our 30-days of AI Ring descriptions expired. I'm no longer described as a child. Back to being a person.

• On Saturday, we got together with Meego and Wolfgang for our monthly-or-so breakfast catch up. Always a good time. Went for a bike ride, and I got a flu shot. The day was complete.

 

Saturday school

Goodbye, September. Seems like it just got here!

I noticed another "survey" on the adjunct break room whiteboard.

I also am enjoying the cooler temperatures. Today, I washed my capri pants to be stashed for the season. That will probably bring on a heat wave.

I had Saturday duty in the testing center today. It was a slower day than typical. I worked with Party Girl and got an update on Project Wig. 

She has ordered her wig. There is about a month-and-a-half lead time, so she should get it mid-November. Meanwhile, she has scheduled her haircut to coincide with wig arrival. I've only ever known Party Girl to have long straggly hair, so this will be different. Funny how much "power" our hair holds.

Other than that, we managed to keep ourselves busy. Party Girl also tutors on the side, so we each indulged in tasks for that in between our handful of testers.

Today is ["Tour de Corgi"], which I had to miss this year since I was at the slow testing center. Maybe that's the reason for the lull. Who wants to test on Corgi parade day?? I believe this weekend is also CSU homecoming/parent's weekend. Too many diversions.