a Friday five

 Another week gone, summer is winding down. I worked in the testing center this morning. The campus is still pretty quiet, but people are trickling in - getting advising, registering for fall, taking placement tests...

• Like many colleges, our enrollment is down because of 1) the "enrollment cliff" - predicted to kick in this year since not many babies were born in the U.S. in 2008. Those few who were born and made it through high school are the age to go to college. But 2) who can afford it/ go into all that student debt? Plus, 3)what to major in since AI is taking away many job opportunities?

And college isn't for everyone. But, our lights are still on.

• In other news, I'm happy to report that the missing kitty from next door seems to have returned. I spotted her yesterday running toward her house when a rainstorm moved in. I notice the neighbors took down the "MISSING" flyers, but don't know where she was during her 2-week adventure or how she reappeared. I honestly didn't expect her to return.

• One of the people I checked in at work today was testing to get her teaching license in "Family and Consumer Sciences".

"Is that what used to be 'home ec'? I asked

"Yes!", she enthusiastically replied. 

She went on to say that there's been recent increased interest among students - kids wanting to learn about nutrition, budgeting, etc. and turning away from getting everything off the internet and social media.

She felt optimistic about her job prospects. I remember taking home ec in jr. high. It was all girls. I wonder if that's changed. She told me she already has a teaching credential for art, but wants to expand her skill set in lieu of budget cuts. 

• Speaking of which, these doodles have nothing to do with anything. I dusted off the sketchbook and pens for doodling during evening TV time like when I was a kid. Just cartoony hooligan stuff.

• Lastly, this morning, I noticed some tidying up had been done at work this week. While preparing for the morning's appointments, I noticed an updated labeling scheme in one of the file drawers.

We do a lot of testing of water professionals. We provide them with reference materials based on whether they are testing for "water treatment" or "water distribution". The materials look very similar, but contain slight differences. 

We used to leaf through a pile and select the appropriate materials. So this morning, I noticed they've been separated into individual folders - "Poo", "Not Poo"

We're nothing if not up on the latest technical jargon.

gifted

I'd not thought of myself as one of those people who carries an umbrella to block the sun. But yesterday, there I was, undercover. The temperature was hovering around 100^o .

I was thankful to have that umbrella as the full onslaught of sun was bearing down as I waited for the bus to go to work. My pick up stop has a bench, and nothing more. 

The all-black backpack is no help to beat the heat. 

But, we're surviving, and I don't mean to complain. In fact, this is meant to be an appreciation post, starting with my appreciation for that umbrella and the ease of taking the bus on my short work commute on inclement weather days.

We got some welcome rain overnight, which didn't cool things down much, but we always need the moisture. I had a lovely jog around the neighborhood this morning, appreciative of the overcast skies.

I came across these two friends, living the good life.

The summer semester is wrapping up. POOF, ten weeks of frenzied activity. Tensions are a bit high among the tutees, working hard to keep their heads above water for about one more week. 

One such tutee end-of-semester-gift-ed me a [lovely Japanese mechanical pencil]. What a nice and unexpected surprise.

Now, I realize some may think a mechanical pencil is a strange gift, but I can attest to the fact that it is a wonderfully fitting item for a math tutor.

Well done, Tutee!

I've learned that this particular pencil is a fave among mechanical pencil aficionados. 

I've happily added it to my pencil case as part of my everyday carry in the aforementioned backpack.

The fuzzy thing in the background of the pencil pic is our cat - Napolion The Skinny. Can you see his butt bones?

I have begun giving him a daily can of kitten food, which he loves. It also makes him the envy of all other pets in the house. 

the missing, the heat, the free

Welp, we've got a missing cat. Not us personally, but neighbor cat as gone AWOL. Bummer since she's just the sweetest little thing. She's lived next door to us for a couple of years, hangs out in the neighborhood, but she's been missing since last weekend.

The neighbors posted flyers, have her on Nxtdoor and Fycbuck, etc. Judging by all the bunnies we have romping willy nilly around the neighborhood, I doubt that a predator got her. 

She is quite friendly, which makes me wonder if someone just up and took her? She's an outdoor cat, but typically hangs around our street, so the disappearance is strange. 

Seen her?

As far as our cat, Napolion, he's a 15-year-old curmudgeon. He's gotten very skinny, but seems fine otherwise. He's never been a fatty anyway, but I can feel his pelvis, his shoulder blades, etc. through the fur. He seems to eat okay, can jump up on things, still gets the midnight zoomies. I started giving him a daily dollop of liverwurst several weeks ago, which he greatly looks forward to. I'm thinking I'll start feeding him wet kitten food, as I've heard the calorie dense stuff is good for underweight senior cats.

Okay, enough crazy cat lady stuff. This week has been HOT hot. I refuse to bicycle commute to work even though it's a short ride. A flat, 15 minute ride in the afternoon leaves me sweaty and disheveled. Not ideal for one-on-one tutoring. Instead, I hop on the blissfully air conditioned bus, which picks up right near our street and dumps me right at the college. 

Our buses are "free", or rather, prepaid by taxpayers, of which I am one. Might as well use the amenities.

Speaking of freebies. I was at the college library yesterday. It doubles as a public branch library. While I was in there soaking up the AC, I noticed there's a "plant library". Bring one home, take care of it, propagate it if desired, donate.

There are outdoor plants

And indoor plants

Nice idea. I'm sure other libraries do this, but this is the first I've seen here. I don't dare bring anything home lest I kill it.

ghost bike, pensive pets, alcohol fail

I was thinking I might go for a quick bicycle jaunt to the library, but it's sunny and 97 degrees, so i said "nah". I realize 97 doesn't sound so bad to many, but here, it's a whine worthy temperature. I opted to stay here in my dark house, measuring 77 degrees. No need to turn on the AC just yet.

We did get out for a coffee walk earlier, so I haven't been totally holed up like a cavewoman. 

SOURCE

• Speaking of bicycle jaunts, [a woman bicyclist was killed] last week in a local traffic mishap. I've been following the story as it happened at an intersection undergoing a construction project. I had biked through the area about an hour before the tragic accident.

So far, from everything I've heard about it, the woman did everything right. She dismounted her bicycle, she was led through the intersection by one of the construction workers. Still, she was hit by one of the trucks involved in the project. So strange.

There's an ongoing investigation. Bottom line, she's gone.

• I happened to be in that area because I was feeding Wolfgang's cat again last week. Wolfgang and Meego traveled to California to visit my in-laws. Chaco was there too as he had come out for a little over two weeks and had a preplanned trip to visit his CA friends.

Ella on a walk,
prior to the dreaded BOOMs

Meanwhile, we were the pet sitters. Chaco's dog, Ella, stayed with us. She does NOT like fireworks.

Fireworks are illegal here, especially in lieu of half the state currently being on fire. But that never stops the criminals.

So it was nice to spend some time with Chaco. A lot of his time was spent working at his local office and visiting friends, but we got quality time in as well.

• The five of us did make it up to Helms Deep - our property in the hills. Helms Deep is what we call it, so that's it's real name as well as it's blog name, so be it.

It was nice having the extra muscle to do some trail bustin'. We haven't been up since because... well... whining about the heat again.

• Lastly, Magnum and I have proven, once again, that we are failures at alcoholism. We had somehow amassed a collection of undrunk beers - bottles and cans. We just don't drink the stuff at home. Some of it was leftover from potlucks that ended up at our house. Others, we'd bought thinking we'd drink it. Pffft.

I pondered if there was a way to donate it, but food pantries don't accept alcoholic beverages. I mentioned it at work yesterday, wondering if maybe the college food pantry would take it. But we're pretty sure they wouldn't. Then Party Girl mentioned her drinking running group had an upcoming camping trip and would gladly take the cans. Problem solved!

We also had a few bottles of Modelo in stash. I checked the expiry date - November of freaking 2024?!

Down the hatch drain.

That's the end of the two years beers.

 

the bithentennial

My fellow Americans, hope you all had an enjoyable 4th of July however you celebrate. 250 years young.

I, for one, am old enough to have been around and remember the bicentennial in 1976. My main memory of that celebration was that, at school, we took a special class picture in the spring. We were told to dress in red, white, and blue.

JUST prior to that photo shoot, I had broken my two front teeth in a glorious skateboarding incident. I put on a fave red, white, and blue button-down shirt and took up my place in the far right of the front row. Several of my classmates - part jokingly, but not really - gave me pointers on how to "smile" for the photo. Basically, they said not to.

I recall my two front teeth being a jagged mess. I didn't know what to do with my face for photos. In fact, other than the x-rays at the dentist, I doubt any other photos of me were taken during my "toothless era" .

It wasn't until I was seated among my classmates, facing the photographer, that I realized I should've come up with a face strategy rather than put all my efforts into what to wear. 

Then *FLASH*, the deed was done. 

The result was not awful, I suppose. My fellow middle-schoolers and I, in our red, white, and blue, flanked by American flags, holding a "1776 ~ 1976"  banner. There I was on the end of the first row, my face slightly turned, giving a side-eye, mouth slightly opened in a confused not-really-a-smile. 

I no longer have that photo, but I can picture it in my brain. In hindsight, my look was much like this now-famous meme kid, except brunette with worse teeth.

Now, here we are, 50 years later. If any kid found themselves in a similar circumstance this year, how lucky are they?? The look is all the rage.

My timing was off by just 50 years.

Moo. Who knew?

This week, was [the story] of two young daredevil "influencers" who climbed to the tippy top of the Empire State building, unfurled a banner, got engaged, etc. They were arrested afterwards.

I found their instagram profiles. Apparently, this is just what they do. In this case, it brought felony charges. An engagement to remember. 

Now, had they been cows...

These 50 acres we recently purchased? It's in some foothills above town, surrounded by other similar parcels. Some neighbors live up there year 'round. Our spot has a decent shed, but really, no other structures. Purely recreational. 

On our initial visits, we had a curious discovery: cow pies. Not lots of them, but a few such adornments that left us scratching our heads. 

This week, the online chat helped clear up that little mystery.

So, we learned that livestock owners can just let their cattle roam and graze wherever they please except for state land. Private land is open for all-you-can-eat buffet. It's up to the property owners to keep them out. This herd comes up from the valley below. The discussion thread included different fencing strategies, where to get materials, etc.

We have no fences, and I like it that way. It's not like we have a garden or anything I'm worried about being eaten - now that I know we don't have a marijuana stash as far as I've discovered. Go for it, cows. Still, that's quite a lot of cows.

In similar boonie news, there are many reports of this ursine family, romping and playing. We have yet to see them. So far, we've just seen deer.

We did mount a trail cam, so we'll see if anything fun/cute/ scary/ paranormal... shows up on video.

Mom and two cubs. I wonder what they think of the cows.




Today begins a long weekend for the 4th of July, which always feels to me like the "start of the end" of summer. 

The summer session at the college is past its halfway point already. So much material crammed into 10 weeks. 

Three of my current tutees are enrolled in the course which has the esteemed rank of "Most Failed And Retaken" among all courses in the catalog. At this point, I'm thinking two of the tutees are going to help the course retain its title, but the third one might actually pull through. 

But speaking of sightings, one of the potential fail-and-retakers does have an observant eye and appreciation for aesthetics. As we were packing up yesterday, he told me he liked my chrome calculator keys. This was after I had already stashed my calculator away. 

I never really noticed, so afterward, I took out said calculator - just a handy go-to that fits easily in my backpack. They cost ~$25

No doubt, some industrial designer said those right side keys should be shiny. Difficult to see in this photo, but they are in fact, chrome plated plastic - a finishing touch that adds nothing to functionality. 

It was my first ever calculator key compliment. I'll take what I can get.

treehugger, not pot, EMS, one thing

"Dirty almond milk treehugger", the woman said to the other woman. 

No, they weren't arguing, and no, this wasn't said to possibly insult an environmentalist. Magnum and I went on a coffee bike ride this morning, and this was another customer's order to the barista. Neither of us had any idea what she'd ordered as we sat sipping our medium roast drips. Such boomers.

But speaking of tree hugging, we were up on our land yesterday. Huggable trees are pretty sparse, as I've mentioned the place is still recovering from a 2012 wildfire. Our kids were all with us to help dig out some trails. 

While I hiked around, continuing to get my bearings of the place, I came upon this bit of greenery

my foot for scale

I thought it looked almost like cannabis, but not quite. I'm no expert, though, so I googled. Nope, it's not weed, but a weed: common cinquefoil. I read that its leaves can be used in salads or as a common pot herb, so that's the only relation to "pot".

As we headed out, we had to pull over to let a fire truck and ambulance go by. Some medical emergency for one of our neighbors. As it's out in the boonies, it's good to know the EMS people can make it up there, but I hope the person is all right. No word of it from the online group. The only new discussions have to do with cute bears roaming around and tactics for getting rid of mice.

It was a good productive time, but we didn't stay too long as it was quite hot out, plus people had places to go. I'm coming off some lower back crap, so I purposely didn't do much of the heavy work. I played supervisor and did some lightweight stuff when I wasn't traipsing around looking at possible marijuana.

One day last week at the college, I was in the student center and stopped to read a few of the "insPAWrations" students tacked up at the end of spring semester.

Many seemed a bit trite, and I suspect they were possibly put up there by administrators to get the ball rolling. But in my brief perusal, I picked a favorite:

Hmm, what is my one thing? What's yours?

I'll leave it here and wish everyone a Whole Assing week ahead. 

dinner and a show

The fire engine pulled in slowly, parking next to my vehicle. I sat a few feet away with my new friend, Jerry. We watched as three young, burly men, oozing testosterone, stepped from the cab. 

"Is that your husband?", Jerry asked, indicating the driver and largest of the trio.

"PFFFT, I wish!", I replied, giving Jerry an elbow as he gave me a big toothless smile. But really, I probably couldn't handle that much husband.

"Husband" and another approached us while the third guy took up his position directing traffic. They began talking with Jerry while I hung back like Casper the friendly (and invisible) ghost. Feeling like the 5th wheel, I decided it was time to go.

This went down yesterday around 6:30pm. Chaco's in town, and the gang was all at our house for Thai takeout. I was returning home with the goods. As I approached a main intersection near our house, I saw a heap of something in the road. It soon became clear that it was a bicycle and a person. Someone was helping the person up, and another ran over to move the bicycle from the road.

Aha, another bicycle accident I'd just missed witnessing. I pulled over to put in my two cents if needed.

"Has anyone called paramedics?" I asked the other two assisters. The one helping Jerry to the curb wagged their head, no.

So there I was, making a 9-1-1 call as my Pad Thai, Curry, Se Ew, etc. sat simmering in the front seat of the car. 

The dispatcher asked me a series of questions other than "what's happening", "where are you"... Was he breathing, what's his age, was he conscious... He was conscious, breathing, talking. I guessed his age to be about 70, then I realized I could just ask him.

"I'm 80", he said with a mouth of few teeth.

The dispatcher asked me to stay with him until paramedics arrived, help flag them down if necessary. She had me describe my car, which I suppose is why they parked the fire engine next to it. 

As we waited, I gave Jerry a certified untrained bystander assessment. He didn't seem too beat up. He had some bruises and scratches, but they were not fresh. Plus, there was the teeth situation. No new injuries I could see. 

I asked him if anything hurt, and he said, "Naw, I'm fine. Really."

He struck me as a tough old guy. I noticed he wore a "Vietnam War Veteran" hat. He had been wearing a bike helmet, which lay on the road beside us. His bike was an e-bike with a few items bungeed to it. While I'd been talking with the 911 dispatcher, I overheard him make a call to "Mama", saying he was going to be "a little late for them steaks".

I'm still not sure what happened. I think someone may have cut him off, causing him to crash in reaction, but didn't crash into him. If so, whoever they were didn't stay on scene. One of the earlier helpers told me he'd hit his head pretty hard. Good thing for that helmet.

Later, I checked the dispatch log and saw that the incident was closed after 22 minutes. I'm pretty certain Jerry declined an ambulance. As we'd sat there waiting, I told him he looked really good for 80, which seemed to please him. To myself, I noted, not good in an aged-like-fine-wine kinda way, but more of a he-can-handle-a-smackdown kinda way.

Nice meeting you, Jerry. I hope you got to enjoy them steaks.

book burn

"Although having a girlfriend or wife didn't exempt some of the men from being assholes, they were usually more comfortable with me"

That's a quote from a book I'm currently reading. [Hotshot: A life on Fire]. It's a memoir written by a woman who'd worked several seasons as a wildland firefighter. (Note: they currently identify as nonbinary, but during the firefighting days, "they" was "she").

I'd originally picked up the book for tips on building trails and managing the surroundings at our boonie property, but it's interesting learning her experiences in such a physically grueling, male-dominated job. I purposely chose a book written by a female author for those latter reasons. 

It's also interesting to me since we live in a state that gets its share of wildfires. In fact, our new property is in recovery mode from a 2012 fire. The book isn't just memoir, it gets into ecology and pros and cons of wildfires. I'm learning stuff.

It also marks my 26th book of the year. Recall I'd set a goal to read 26 books in 2026, and I'm ahead of the pace. Here are the books I've completed since my last update in April. Recognize any?

 

Goodreads profile pic

I will note that none of these scream "Favorite book of the year!" for me. They were all fiction except for "Eager" and "Cheap Land Colorado.

For the most part, I liked all of them well enough or I wouldn't have finished them. But they're quite a mix. "Bunny" is super weird, for lack of a better term. The two books by Emily Austin deal with pretty flawed main characters and read like a series of random journal entries. Some readers don't like that, but heck, I read blogs, so that works okay for me.

Whacha readin'?

sticks and stones

I was supposed to have a remote tutoring sesh a little while ago, but my student no-showed me. I texted her at 5 minutes after and got the old "Oops, forgot to tell you I have a doctor's appointment..." 

Speaking of lies, that excuse is about as worn out as the homework eating dogs. Welp, two strikes and she's out as per the general rules. I've got another student scheduled for this afternoon, so the day's not a total bust... so far.

Yesterday, Magnum and I found ourselves with some extra free time, so we headed up to our place in the clouds to do a little trail bustin'. 

It was a beautiful day for it, and we broke out our shiny new trail building tools, one of which is called a Mcleod. We'd bought it a few weeks ago, and it was brought out to us all shrouded up. We undressed it, and I was a bit surprised to see that it's yellow. The catalog showed it as "dark metal" colored.

I'm not disappointed, I saw it and immediately thought of Big Bird, mainly Big Bird's feet. 

That's it parked next to my rough draft of trail. "Trail" seems too impressive for what I've created so far. "Path" is maybe more fitting.

I tried spotting places where the deer have already formed trails and following their lead. Hopefully they'll continue to travel that path, thus helping to maintain it.

So it was just nice to be out there in the quiet and fresh air. A turkey vulture circled overhead, likely waiting for one or both of us to keel over.

Meanwhile, we're getting used to the idea of owning this land. There are actually several other landowners surrounding the area. We met our closest neighbors on our last trip, and we've since gotten access to the discord group, which seems friendly and welcoming. I'm sure we can use their advice on all relatable things.

As I was toiling along, I thought, "wouldn't it be fun if I dug up something of value?

Nevermind, that sort of thing doesn't happen to me.

But who knows, as we get to know more of these "mountain people", maybe they've got some cool cult we can join.

Okay, never mind. I may have gotten too much sun.

no filter

"Is that why you like True Crime? Because you're happy you're not the victim?"

"Yeah", I say, "but it's also because I'm happy I'm not the perpetrator".

In the latest novel I'm reading, the main character likes to listen to true crime podcasts in her spare time. I also like me a good dive into certain true crime stories, and I know I'm not alone (otherwise, I'd be a little paranoid about the interest). It's my understanding that many, women in particular, are into the genre. 

The character in my book is mainly into serial killers, which don't hold much fascination for me. What I sometimes get caught up in are the people who appear to be "normal" - or exceedingly above normal - who turn out to have a whole 'nother thing going on beneath the surface.

Ruby Franke, Chris Watts, Kouri Richins, and Elizabeth Holmes are of the criminals whose stories I dove into a bit further than the surface. 

I think what I find so interesting is their ability to lie and keep on lying, creating huge snowballs of lies that eventually crash into them. Do they think the stories will just "go away"? I get stressed out just hearing about their actions. Heck, I get stressed out when I see a friend on social media who has used an obvious filter for their profile pic. I mean, aren't they worried about people running into them in real life and wondering what happened?? 

This morning, we met with Wolfgang and Meego for breakfast. We do this about once a month. As was typical, there was a waiting list for seating. I didn't want to get on the list until we were all there, and Wolfgang was running late. He let us know he was on the way, and the restaurant host told me there was about a 20-min wait. 

So I went ahead and gave my name, table for 4, and painfully stated, "yes", when asked if all 4 of us were there since I was 90% sure Wolfgang would arrive within 20 minutes.

Damn if that host didn't text me TWO minutes later that our table was ready! So the three of us checked in. I had to confirm 4 people. 

"Yes, he's in the parking lot...", omg, what is happening to me?

Wolfgang did arrive a few minutes later, before I was completely overcome with guilt. But still, the ordeal was enough to swear me off the lying. Enough criminal activity for me.

hands and fingers

Last week, while I was at work in testing, a woman came in for some certification exam, I don't remember which.

I was getting her checked in, and at one point, I had to get a digital signature from her. She signed the pad, and I saw that she'd drawn a little cat face as part of her signature. She had an "i" in her name, the dot of the "i" was the cat's nose. I'll demonstrate via this dramatization:

One reason we collect signatures is to see that they match signatures on the required IDs. When I saw the cat face, I was about to comment to her that she should sign her name the same way she signed her ID. But lo and behold, I looked at her drivers license signature, and there it was. The cat face above the "i". That actually is her official signature. Why not?

It's my understanding that cursive is no longer taught in elementary school. I think my kids were taught cursive, but if so, they were of the last. Meego may not have made the cut. I know they learned keyboarding early on, whereas I took typing as an elective in high school.

When we collect signatures from people in their 20's and younger, the result is often a sloppy printed version of their name, as in this dramatization, using my non-dominant hand for accuracy:

I'm not saying it's wrong to no longer teach people cursive as there's very little use for it these days. Some things still require signatures, but maybe that's going away too. Some of the tests we give don't require signatures but rather fingerprints. I wonder, if I had to take a test that required a fingerprint, would it work? Our fingerprints wear down as we age and become less readable, so I'm told. Well, actually, I had to be fingerprinted multiple times in the recent past before I got a decent image, so I know first hand. Mine are on their way out.

*side note: I'm not a criminal. People who work in public schools get fingerprinted. Recall my illustrious lunch lady career*

Maybe eventually, people will just have chips inserted at birth, doing away with any need for proof of identity. "Handwriting" will be an ancient word in anthropological archives

Do you like your handwriting?

June bugs

• It was my turn again on the Saturday rotation in testing this past weekend. I don't mind working Saturdays, especially now that the tutor load is light. But it does make for a shortened weekend. I worked with Daffodil, who is still fairly new at the job, but she's pretty much up to speed on everything at this point - thus the "privilege" of being added to the Saturday rotation.

I learned that she's originally from the Denver area, had moved out of state for work after college, then moved back when her boyfriend got a job here. I asked if she'd specifically been looking for part-time work, and got "nope, but after searching for such a long time, I'd take anything". 

Job market's tough out there, y'all. But I don't know what parameters she'd limited her search to, if she was only looking for college admin jobs, since that was related to her previous position. Either way, she's doing well and is a nice addition to our little group.

• We didn't get out to Middle Earth over the weekend, but we are getting some ducks in a row to get to work on the place. 

SOURCE

Our realtor is a former wildland firefighter, and he had trail building tips for us. He even presented us with this housewarming gift, known as a Chingadera. 

At closing, he asked if we'd heard of them, then lowered his voice, saying "do you speak Spanish?"

"Uhm, well, I know "chinga"', I replied.

Translated, chinga dera means "that effing thing"

I guess we can assume that some fireline people started calling it that, and the name stuck. 

• We did get out for a nice bike ride yesterday morning. After a very dry winter, it was nice to see a good volume of water in the Cache la Poudre (locally known as just The Poudre, pronounced POOH-der)  river that flows through town. Some late spring snows and rain helped.

I'd recently decided that I had too many bicycles and did a clearout. I had 4 bicycles - silly in my case. Now I'm down to one good general purpose. Sold two, donated a third. 

One buyer was actually a guy, but he was about my height and had a small build. I felt he was a good home for it.

A nice woman bought the other. She said she had a decent bike, but it was her ex-husband's, and she wanted to purge herself of him.  

Mission accomplished.

I, robot

Two weeks of summer break, and I'm having trouble keeping track of what day it is. 

I've been working a few extra shifts in the testing center - which never sleeps - so that's helped somewhat. The college summer session began yesterday, and I've already got one tutor signup whom I'll meet tomorrow. Thursday. Yes. Tomorrow is Thursday.

Meanwhile, I'm enjoying the extra free time. Today, I went to Discount Tire and had a set of new tires installed. Ever been to a Discount Tire? The entire staff is so dang nice and courteous, it's almost weird. Like Stepford Wives, but Stepford Tire Shop Staff. I'm not complaining, since human interactions become less and less these days.

Speaking of human interaction, of the jobs that have been replaced by AI, I fully expected tutors to fall away years ago. But here we still are. In fact, both my jobs at the college are being performed by AI, but there are still those who want real-life tutors and real-life test administrator/ proctors, and I guess I can understand that. 

AI tutors won't genuinely sympathize when hearing, "as if I'm ever gonna have to [insert annoying math concept here] when I get a job!"

AI test proctors won't compliment your cute shoes or empathize at how worthless women's pockets are when checking for cheat notes.

And speaking of unplugging, I'm enjoying these late springtime days. I caught some goose babies and a curious horse on my morning wanderings yesterday.

That was Tuesday. Which makes today Wednesday.

I think?

going primal

Greetings on this Memorial Day.

We went out to our newly acquired property yesterday afternoon. Magnum has been referring to it as "the property", which I find Bo-Ring. 

Here, I will refer to it as Middle Earth, for now.

This was our first visit since closing. We'd only been out the one time to look at it. I'd say I like it even more now than that first visit. No buyer's remorse as of yet. 

Meego and Wolfgang were along to help decide prospective trail routes, etc.

We located a small babbling brook, thanks to some recent rains. 

This dear deer hung out with us pretty much the whole time. It was there when we arrived, and seemed to be watching us as if to say, 

"Hello. Welcome. So... when're you leaving?"

As we were leaving, we also met our "next door" neighbors - a nice young couple. They have a house and some outbuildings and lots of equipment. I believe they live up there year round. 

They told us a little about the area and other residents - including the wildlife. 

They mentioned bobcats and the mountain lions that like to hunt the deer. I believe I'd found evidence of such while traipsing about.

As for us, we plan to keep it relatively wild. There's no electricity nor water source and just a small shed. 

Wilma Flintstone was more civilized.

puberty and connections

I just polished off the last of a big ol' batch of fried rice. I know, big whoop.

Thing is, when I make fried rice, I go big with the egg. I like a lotta egg in my fried rice. I made this latest batch with duck eggs.

Recall that coworker Sarge's family took on three baby ducks a little over a year ago. By late last fall, the ducks reached puberty and began earning their keep.

Sarge typically collects three eggs a day - ample supply for his family of 5. Ample enough that he often brings surplus in to work. 

I brought six surplus eggs home and turned them into fried rice. 

Three duck eggs in hand, one store bought
 large chicken egg for scale

They are noticeably bigger (duh!) than chicken eggs - nearly double the volume. I made double the amount of fried rice I usually make with 6 chicken eggs.

I give 5 stars. The duck eggs are bigger, fluffier, lovely to cook. I don't know how much of that pleasure is from them being duck eggs and how much is from them being homegrown fresh.

Sarge said, at first his kids were all, "Ew, you're eating duck babies?!"

So he explained they're not babies since they're not fertilized. 

Saying they're eating the product of a duck ovulation cycle is much more appetizing.

And speaking of sex ed... I don't remember having that taught to me in school. I only remember "health" class where boys and girls went to separate rooms and we talked a lot about periods and tampons and all the fun that entails. 

The real sex ed came in the form of a book, circulated among myself and several friends.  I was reminded of that book this week. 

Okay, anyone play "Connections", the NY Times game? I play occasionally, and did so this last Tuesday - May 19. One of the categories was books by Judy Blume. Spot them?

I'd heard of Fudge and Superfudge, but never read them. Never heard of Deenie. But I'd most certainly heard of AND read Forever.  

As I recall, there were two very worn out paperback copies that circulated among this little impromptu adolescent girl book club. We read the sh*t out of that book. 

I'm pretty sure it's the only Judy Blume book I've read. I understand it was quite controversial at the time - maybe still is. Also, as far as I know, my mom didn't know I read it, but who knows. She seemed to just know stuff without me knowing she knew it.

In my case, yes, it was educational. 

I don't remember much of it now, but in summary:

Two high schoolers fall in love. They have sex. It doesn't last forever. Everybody's fine. 

192 pages of that for my 13-year-old friends and I to discuss. Dang we were studious.

Buzz bite, bottoms

Coworker Buzz got bit by a dog a little over a week ago. Apparently, he was just walking along in a park when a rando dog - that was on a leash with its owner - suddenly decided to try to take a chunk out of Buzz's arm.

While the incident ruined Buzz's shirt, it didn't really break the skin, but left a decent bruise. And Buzz seemed pretty shaken up about the whole thing. Such a surprising, unprovoked response from a dog who's "never done that before!"

I commiserated with him with my own dog bite story when I learned of his ordeal a few days after the fact. The surprise of it, the confusion as to how to react. I won't rehash it, but I did (of course) blog about it [HERE].

And it really just grew out of swappin' stories, but that's when I realized that Buzz was pretty shaken up by it, emotionally. Later, as our shift together ended, he thanked me for sharing and talking it through with him. Said it was helpful to talk with someone who understands.

In my case, I chalked it up as a "weird" incident. I went home and cleaned up and that was that. In hindsight, I should've at least gotten a tetanus shot. 

In Buzz's case, Buzz called Boss because he didn't feel "stable" enough to drive himself. Boss drove him to urgent care. At urgent care, Buzz wasn't sure how to get his VA coverage, so he called Sarge - our other veteran coworker - who got him set. He was inspected and tetanused and sent home.

All this to say, don't judge a book... 

Buzz is about 40 years old, single, lives with a roommate. He's a military veteran with a large percentage of veteran disability. I don't know the extent of his disability other than he's got a bad back, but I think a good chunk of it is mental. 

On the surface, he seems pretty resilient. Stocky build, likes to joke around, does martial arts. But deep down, he's kinda vulnerable. And based on the way he discusses things, I get the feeling he regularly goes to therapy.

In other news, I'm still enjoying this little break between spring and summer semesters. Summer session starts next week, and I know nothing of the tutoring load yet to come. I've been using the break to take care of some to-do list things that have been back burnered for a while and do a few extra shifts in the testing center. 

Yesterday, Boss received some batteries he'd ordered. He showed us the underside of the box they were packaged in, so I figured I would share:

In case you ever need to say 'this is my bottom' in French.

something old, something new

ME: So... y'know we close at 4:00, right?

HIM:  I thought you close at 5:00

ME: Nah, Fridays it's 4:00

HIM: FUUUUUUUCK

Just one of the conversations I had last Friday in the testing center. Aah, finals week. This particular student walked in at around 3pm for his 2-hour final, due that day. I know him from tutoring. He's a concurrent enrolled high schooler, racking up college credits. He'll be halfway to his engineering degree already by his high school graduation.

He's intelligent for his age, but not the most punctual... or time aware.

Once resigned to his fate, "Welp, I only need a 38% on this final to pass the class".

"I'd hope that's doable", I replied. And apparently it was.

And just like that, the semester's done. After the frenzy of activity in the days leading up to finals, things are now very quiet on campus until summer session begins in a couple of weeks.

I've got a few things on my to-do list between now and then. For one thing, I have a doctor again. Recall that I was doctorless for several months as my old practice underwent upheaval and is no longer in our network. The new place wouldn't take me until it'd been a year since my last checkup. I finally reached that milestone.

Saw the new doctor, who then got the ball rolling on all the things: blood screen, mammogram, colonoscopy...

In the chaos of the old office upheaval, some of my stuff was missing from the records. For one, I knew I'd had a mammogram since the last they'd reported.

This to say how handy this blog is, because I figured I probably mentioned the last mammogram here because how weird is that? Bingo. Found it. Who needs medical records?

And speaking of archives, I did manage to find our Sam signed napkin from the wedding as well as Sam and Katherine's page from the guest book:

         

My brother made the annotation of where they were from, lest anyone wonder.

In other activity, we're this close to completing the purchase of that big pile of dirt we looked at a few weekends ago. About 50 acres of dirt, actually.

There goes the neighborhood.