busy people

I just got a text from one of my tutees. 

I wonder when this woman sleeps. She's got a husband who works full-time and two kids in elementary school, plus she's a full-time college student studying engineering. 

Sheesh, when I was an undergrad, the only person I had to look after was myself. Good thing.

I remember one of my classmates, way back then in the ancient times, had a baby (surprise!) during our college years. She made it to graduation, just barely. These two examples reinforce my leaning that such things work better when done in series, not parallel. 

I admire my tutee, however. She works hard and advocates for herself. I have no idea what my college professors would've said if I told them I needed a work around  because my kids had the day off from school. But then, work is a state college and not a university, so probably more lenient.

Then I answered an email regarding more tests for the blind guy. He needs a better blog name since he may show up here again. Let's call him Thor. 

Whew, all this working on the weekend *sarcasm*

I was at a PEO meeting yesterday when a snowstorm rolled in. Going home was sloppy, but doable. We have yet to need to test our fun-mobile we purchased last fall to get around in heavy snow or our version of off-roading, and I'm not complaining. It sat pristine in the garage while I scooted around in our capable Honda. 

Still, I'm ready for spring.

mystery booms, cooking, keeping up

Like many others, we're in the deep freeze. I'm looking forward to Tuesday, where we're forecast to be in the balmy 30's again.

This past week was rather busy as the college is getting ready for students to return for spring semester. I was supposed to work on Saturday, but the snow shut that down. I wasn't disappointed. Campus is also closed tomorrow for the same reason. Classes were off for the holiday anyway, so, again, not disappointed.

• One night last week, there were these mystery booms that woke us up around 2:30am. They weren't particularly loud. To me, they sounded eerily like someone was gently tapping on our sliding glass door *tap-tap-tap (pause) tap-tap-tap...* 

Magnum jumped up after hearing them. He thought it was our water pipes about to burst, so went to put all the faucets on drip. Funny how two people can interpret the same weird noise.

Anyway, it was neither of those things. Later, our Ring® notifications were full of people talking about the strange noise - gunshots? fireworks? - heard for miles around. They remain a mystery.

• Recently, I bought a cute 6-inch cast iron skillet for whipping up quick, healthy snacks and meals after coming home from work (2nd lunch?)

I like cooking with cast iron anyway, and it works nicely with our induction stove we purchased last year. Plus, maybe I'm rather partial to cartoon weaponry? 

Anyway, Magnum noticed the merits of the mini skillet. But alas, one of its virtues is that it serves as both cooking vessel AND serving dish. As such, I was monopolizing the cookware whenever I used it, which is often.

So we went wild and bought a second one.

I mention this only because of our neighbors across the street. They're a friendly couple - late 30's, I'd guess. Both professionals. No kids. 

A couple of years ago, Wife bought a Tesla Model Y. This week, she bought another one, and Husband got the hand-me-down. Now they've got his 'n' hers Teslas.

The skillets are our way of keeping up with the Jones's.

Totally the same thing.

Alegra la noche

Yesterday afternoon, on the way home from work, the city had a station set up, giving away free stuff. Yes, I consider myself a minimalist, but that won't stop me from checking out some free stuff.

They were giving away bike lights, reflector bands - like for your sleeve or pant leg - and reflective shoe laces. I partook of the bike lights (the freebie tail light turned out to be total crap, but the headlight's a winner) and the shoe laces. The occasion was "Brighten the Night", sponsored by the city. I guess it for  now that we're back to standard time, heading toward winter solstice.

The utilities people were there too, and I got a 4-pack of LED light bulbs. Generous of them. I was on my bicycle and really needed to play some excellent tetris to get everything in my bag.

This week has felt weird. Early darkness coupled with the election - tutor students looking for ease of anxiety, and not just the math kind. So we worry about the things we can control. Math is friendly that way. No ambiguity.

Speaking of controlling and brightness, I upped my visibility as I mentioned recently, regarding the early morning runs in the dark.

Snapped a couple of pics out in the pre-sunrise wilds this morning before the snow moves in.

My new vest not only is reflective, but has built in lights - front and back. Three light modes: fast blink. slow blink, and steady. I swear the fast blink has seizure inducing quality. I stay away from that. 

Stay seen and sane, everyone 👍

50 shades of grey

We got a decent snowstorm on Friday into Saturday, still digging out a bit.  I guess I'll accept that winter is here. As such, I sorted through my clothing, and put away the warm weather stuff. As I looked at my satisfyingly tidy closet, I couldn't help but notice the near monochrome wardrobe left for the next few months.

Really? I had not noticed this happening. When did nearly every warm top I own become some shade of grey?

These are work tops, and my putz-around-the-house tops have slightly more color variety, but Magnum and the pets likely don't care.

While not one to wear ugly Christmas sweaters, I'm still thinking I should make more of an effort with color.

It was a satisfying few days off from work before the remainder of the semester. This coming week is chock full of stuff - panic stricken students hitting me both from the testing side and tutoring side. In addition, I've got two afternoons of interviews scheduled for the assistant boss position. 

I'll be glad to be done with that and have someone to onboard. We've been short staffed all semester, and I'm glad to see several good candidates to sift through. It could be a difficult choice. Fingers crossed we make the right one.

Now, what to wear for interviews? I'm thinking grey? Maybe black?

all stuck inside

We've made it to the final days of February, and I can't say I'm sad to see it go. Several years ago, when we lived in upstate New York where winters were long and grey, a friend told me, "We just have to make it to the end of February..." - a time of light at the end of the tunnel.

We're not in upstate NY anymore, but I still look forward to February's end. By now, I'm over having snow and ice that gets old and crusty as it refuses to leave, just to get buried by another layer. 

It's currently very pleasant outside after a cold, snowy, blustery week. The college shut down and moved to "remote operations" on Wednesday, which is a general pain. Instructors scramble to provide something meaningful online so as to not fall behind. We have online course options, so students who enroll in in-person classes do so because they don't like online.

There's a certain math instructor, we'll call her "Sarah",  who is always smiley-happy-cheerful. Really, she reminds me more of fun elementary school teacher than a college math instructor. For instance, she told me of some cheesy math messages she shared with her classes on Valentine's day:

If you don't get them, no worries, they are truly cheesy. If you do get them, don't say I didn't warn you!

Anyway, Sarah had a test scheduled for Thursday. Only ONE student attended her Zoom review on Wednesday, and only a fourth of the class showed up for the test on Thursday, siting  "it's too cold".

With that, apparently those present witnessed "another side of Sarah".

It's too cold??

Speaking of chilling and remote, Magnum and I watched an interesting movie this weekend. Possessor is about an assassin who carries out her jobs - as part of some mysterious organization - by remotely taking over another person and having them do the deed. The movie didn't really get into the technology of how she implants herself - it's sort of glossed over like a chip is inserted, blah blah - because that's not really the focus of the film. It's more of a psychological, cerebral, artsy sci-fi.

I liked it - a good storyline and acting that really held my attention. That said, however, it is quite gory and graphic, and I wouldn't recommend it to those who aren't comfortable with blood and lots of it. We saw the uncut version on Hulu, and there is apparently a milder cut version. But the movie deals with the assassin losing control of one of her hosts/victims when the host becomes somewhat aware of what's happening and tries to fight it.

While I felt that the gore was often gratuitously overdone, I still liked the movie overall for its thought provoking darkness. And the ending... well! No spoilers.

my tears can't drip

I was covered, head to toe, convinced it was the only way to survive the arctic blast. Even so, after 10 minutes or so of shoveling, my frozen fingers were complaining. Then, neighbor dude went by.

He had on an unzipped jacket and jeans, no hat, no scarf. Boots? Maybe. Gloves? Maybe?

He pushed his shovel down several yards of sidewalk in both directions from his house, clearing a path for his house, our house, and several others. I stopped my shoveling and watched him, nearly naked, go past. 

How were his ears not falling off, frozen bits of meat? How did his face still work? I thanked him for his fine but perplexing work and went about continuing to freeze my fingers.

Yes, like many parts of the country, we are in a deep freeze. Magnum and I went out and cleared our driveway and walkway early this morning when it was about -7 degrees F. He had to take Chaco to an appointment, and I stayed home with three dogs and the cat.  The college announced on Tuesday afternoon that we would be closed today through Saturday, so my winter break started a day early.

The sun did eventually peek out, so it turned into a pretty day, but never got higher than 2 degrees above zero as far as I could tell. I ventured out for a little look-see as the cabin fever was setting in. I figured I'd walk to the nearby convenience store for cigarettes. Just kidding.

The bright sun made it seem warmer than it was, and thankfully, the wind was nearly nonexistent. I swung by the neighborhood park to shoot a
hoop under that clear blue sky.

Afterwards I thawed out satisfyingly at home with hot tea and a ridiculous book - ridiculous not in a good way.

I guess Magnum thought my reading approach amusing from across the table.

I will not ever join an online dating site, but if I did, this would be my profile pic.

Truth in advertising.

Linking up this week with Mama Kat for the prompt:
2. Write a blog post inspired by the word: cold.

drifting

Winter solstice 2022 is Wednesday, 12.21.22 at 2:47pm MST, but who's counting? I'm looking forward to more daylight/ less nightdark. We're almost there. Will my headlight batteries last long enough?

I'm appreciating the warm house after a cold, blustery week. Today is just cold without the blustery. We've been step-by-step replacing pieces of our house, a former rental. Last year it was water pipes, water heater, windows, furnace. Now we've moved onto washer, kitchen range, and are currently in the middle of a bit of dishwasher drama, and it's all good. Appliance makeover is nearly complete. *looking at you, old fridge*.

The new range has an induction cooktop, which is very cool (and hot), and I'm still learning its idiosyncrasies. I have a voucher for a 6-piece cookset from Samsung in exchange for my review on their website. Haven't given the review as the range is still pretty new, plus... I don't need the cookset. We'll see if I get motivated enough to submit a review.

In entertainment news, this week we watched a couple of good movies. Firstly, Emily the Criminal with Aubrey Plaza as the title character. I thought it was really well-done, although I didn't like any of the characters. In this case, I didn't need to like the characters to like the movie... and now I'm paranoid about credit card fraud.

We also watched Troll, a Norwegian movie about, well, a troll. It's basically a monster movie, but it was better than I expected, having some colorful, well-written characters. 

And I'm reminded of the 2010 film "Troll Hunter", which was also quite good.  Troll Hunter is not necessarily a monster movie. It's presented like a documentary production made by a group of film students. Bunches of fun!

I'm looking forward to wrapping up this week at work, then we have a week off before the January fun begins. Boss had his interview for that promotion, so we've all got fingers crossed but not counting any chickens. 

I'm about as ready as I'm going to be for Christmas. Just need to get the food. Minor detail.

from my cold dead hands

Like many others, we're in a deep freeze.  We've had a few inches of snow to go along with it, but for the most part, it's almost "too cold to snow".

Back when we lived and worked in upstate NY, some new-college hires joined my work group and a couple of them were from California.  They'd never seen snow before and were intrigued at their first "real" winter.  

It did take a while for them to acclimate as I remember them wearing long johns under their work clothes and whatnot.  During one particularly cold stretch, Lucy commented that she thought there would be more snow with such low temperatures, to which a seasoned upstater commented, 

"Nah, it's too cold to snow".

Lucy became incredulous that "too cold to snow" was a thing.  To this day, I think of her huge-eyed reaction every time it's too cold to snow.  

Despite our current low temperatures and the work of dealing with it, I felt restless (it's a day off work for me) and went out to be among the people.  I went to the university library to maybe get a book, but really, it was just an excuse to get out.  I know agoraphobia is a real condition, and sometimes I wonder if I have its opposite?  Would that be "goraphobia"?  ( I googled, that's not a word).  Recall that agoraphobia is...

ag·o·ra·pho·bi·a

/ˌaɡərəˈfōbēə/

Learn to pronounce

noun

extreme or irrational fear of entering open or crowded places, of leaving one's own home, or of being in places from which escape is difficult.

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What if I crave open or crowded places?  Leaving my home?  That "from which escape is difficult" does not apply to me, however.

Well, I wouldn't categorize my restlessness as "extreme or irrational", so I'm not concerned.  And I don't hate my home, either.  I'm just not much of a homebody, I suppose. 

One upside of campus mask mandates is a lessened chance of being recognized by any of Meego's friends who know me when I escape to the university campus.  God forbid we  have, "Hey, Meego.  Yur MOM's at school...", poor guy.

And really, it's actually quite pretty out, if one is dressed for it.  

winter of our content

Friday was Winter Bike to Work Day in our fair city.  Recall that we did Bike to Work day last June, and I was happily flummoxed at the turnout.  I mean, I knew of bike to work day in other places - a few stops along the bike paths for snacks until they run out - but Fort Collins does it up big!

As expected, Winter Bike to Work Day was not as well attended as the one in summer, but that would be tough to match.We still enjoyed plenty of good eats, swag, and a good amount of camaraderie.  Thankfully, there wasn't much snow and ice around to contend with, temperatures were in the comfortable 30s.

As with the summer, we managed to run into Wolfgang in the crowd.  In June, he pulled up along side us at a Chicken 'n' Waffles station.  This year, we spotted him at the University Oval where several stations were set up.

The oval included cinnamon rolls from THE place in town to get them, I learned.  

Our trash company was there as well, giving out swag like lip balms and hand sanitizer.  Gotta get some trash lip balm!

Our other stops included the Hilton (breakfast burritos), the credit union (neck gaiter and cup cozy), a realtor (Gogurt and granola bars), a Pizza place (breakfast pizza), and REI (bike map). I think there were something like 66 contributing businesses all up and in, so we barely scratched the surface.

In other winter news, we got our new furnace installed this week.  The old geezer furnace is no more after having a good run of about forty years.  

I also swung by the running store on Friday and picked out my much appreciated freebie shoes.  I entered and announced my intentions, and the part-time store employee turned fascinatingly to her boss, 

"We had a Strava contest for shoes??"

Was it all a dream?  

The boss confirmed that, yes, there was a contest, and yes, I was the chosen one.  So I picked out a pair that I was planning to buy soon anyway.  I'm glad they are at the lower end of the price scale for the shop's inventory - didn't want to seem greedy!  So many freebies!

going for cozy

This past Wednesday night was the coldest of the season so far.  It was -4F when I checked early Thursday morning.  What makes this noteworthy (maybe) is that our furnace decided to crap out Wednesday evening.  

It was about 8:30pm when Magnum noticed the furnace wasn't kicking on when he adjusted the thermostat.  

After fiddling around like the non-HVAC technicians we are while the inside temperature continued to drop, we decided to call someone who might actually know what they're doing.

Long story short, our furnace was back, hobbled but on the job, by around 10:30 for a "small fee".  While it sucks to lose your heat source on the coldest night of the year, I'm quite happy with how things went down because

• we  noticed it before going to bed.  Had we not, we and the pets would surely have died in the night... Okay, maybe nothing that dramatic.  BUT the house would've probably dropped into the 30s or 40s, pipes would probably have frozen, etc.
• the technician was able to find and band-aid the problem - dirty/corroded contacts on the gas valve.  Initially, he thought we might need a part that is no longer stocked because we have a geriatric furnace.
• it wasn't a total shock as we've been chipping away at projects/upgrades to our previously neglected house since we bought it a couple years ago.  Might as well do the heating system next.
  
  

So we bought a new furnace this morning - well, half of one anyways.  We'll buy the other half when it's installed next week.  In the meantime, old Bessie (current furnace) is earning her keep without complaint, and I'm hoping she can hold on for another cold week.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Linking up this week with Mama Kat for the prompt:

2. Write about your most recent purchase.

since we've no place to go

Firstly, an update.  My friend's son, Jack - the runaway from my previous post - is back home.  I don't know how/where he was located or what caused  him to high-tail it in the first place, but bottom line, Jack's back.

His mom updated her facebook yesterday, grateful for all the support and help during their "nightmare week" and acknowledged needing time to process.  She's obviously relieved, and I'm relieved for her.  

Today is Groundhog day and also a snow day for much of the state.  School districts announced closures by early afternoon yesterday.  The university and college where I work followed a few hours later. We shoveled about a foot this morning, and it's still lightly snowing.  But it's fluffy stuff, not a back-breaking, heart-attack-inducing heavy spring stuff.  Gentle and rather pretty, really.

While our driveway is clear, I wouldn't be able to get much further in the car, however.  I could make it to the street where I would surely bottom out.  I might go out for an adventure trek to see how the main roads are looking.  

---------------------------------

Okay, I ventured out.  Magnum tagged along to get outta the house too.  Not much more snow has fallen since this morning.

I meant for him to get the evergreen trees with their lovely flocking at this spot.  Instead, he mainly got the convenience store, but okay.  Trust me on the trees.

At this point I noticed there is hula hooping for the next 1000 feet?

I'd mainly wanted to venture out to see how clear the sidewalks are.  Back to work tomorrow and I typically walk since it's under two miles.  City crews are really good at cleaning the bike paths, but as luck would have it, my bicycling route to work is all residential streets and bike lanes on the main roads - the most neglected when it snows.  But I enjoy the walk, so it's nice that work is so close by.

And thankfully, looks like the snow blowers did their thing on the main sidewalk I take to and from work.

Speaking of clearing paths, our snow shoveling includes taking to the yard so the dogs can romp and do their biz.  Penny in particular would get swallowed up in this foot of fluff.

Stay warm!

ya dig?

I woke up this morning thinking of things I would do today.  Then I remembered I could barely make it out of the neighborhood.  Feels like COVID lockdown all over again.

It finally stopped snowing Sunday evening, but, ugh, what a mess.  I remember thinking, last Friday when we were anticipating the storm, that in a week's time, it would all be gone.

Gonna need to rethink that one.

I went out yesterday afternoon to clear more snow.  A guy was at the adjacent house doing the same, digging out his Volvo.

"It never ends, does it?", I said by way of small talk

"Yeah", he acknowledged.  And then, "This is my first snowstorm."

Omigosh, his first snowstorm was a 2-footer?! 

He's from California, visiting our neighbors.  Southern California, I take it.  But he said he was having fun playing in the snow.  He was planning on starting the drive back today, but doesn't know if he can get out.

And I was thinking sunny California sounds wonderful right now.

Magnum and I ventured out for a little reconnaissance trek yesterday.  We eventually made it to a nearby walking/bike path.  Some cross country skiers had blazed a nice little trail for relatively easy footing.  I could really use some snowshoes about now.

I do love Colorado, though.  And I love having four seasons.  Some people around here are ranting about the lack of snow removal from the city.  They compare it to the amazing snow removal in the mountain towns.  

Thing is, we don't typically get storms this big.  Plus the mountain towns don't have nearly as many miles of roadways, sidewalks, paths, etc.  We're not equipped.  Our main roads are "clean enough" for the most part, but residential streets are far down the list of priority.  It's up to the big trucks to blaze a trail for smaller trucks until eventually the little people can get out with some help from the sun.  Volvo guy will probably have to wait.

We lived in the Ogden Valley of Utah during the early 2000's.  There were 3 nearby ski resorts, and snow removal was incredible.  Ski resorts don't make money if people can't get to them.  Despite major dumpings of snow each winter, our kids never knew what a school snow day was until we moved to Colorado Springs.

The first time it happened, they awoke for school and I told them school was cancelled.

"What?  Yeah right.", and they proceeded to get ready for school, thinking I was joking.

"No really.  There's too much snow.  School's closed"

They ignored me, had never heard anything so ludicrous.  Why would I be so mean as to tease them like that?  I eventually convinced them and, thus, the snow day was born to them.  Good times.

All this snow makes me think I'd rather be in a resort town now.  I'd rather be skiing.  I'm pretty awful at skiing, but still...

what's your favorite?

I have a problem with those sites that require security questions then give a list to choose from.  For instance, they suggest "What's your favorite food?" as a security question??

Honestly,  my favorite food today might not be my favorite food tomorrow or next week or the next time I try to login to the site, y'know what I'm saying?  Similarly:  favorite song, favorite  movie, favorite celebrity... Enough with the "favorites", already!  Mine change.

So I usually end up with my childhood nickname or my high school mascot - things that plenty of people already know about me - as my security question.  Ah well, Security Schmecurity.

But here's a post of some of my RECENT favorite things

The earth's tilt.  Anyone else noticed the days getting longer?  Despite the fact that most of us were f-f-f-f-freezing last week, spring is on the way.  I've noticed I have more light during my early morning rides into work.  I no longer arrive with the stars still out, but rather with the sun just starting to peek above the horizon.  Still freezing, but lighter toward the East.

We're not quite to the point of this commute photo I took last spring, but we're getting there!

Arizona.  No, not the state.  I still have yet to visit that sunny mecca, but I've recently discovered the music group, Arizona - who by the way is based out of New Jersey?  Sample tune [here].

Local pathways.  Along the lines of brighter days, I have renewed appreciation for the local multi-use paths and their upkeep.  With the recent snows, it's nice to know that the pathways are there and will actually be plowed/ brushed right away.  I just have to figure out how to get out of my neighborhood.

Not my photo.  I  Googled

Speaking of Google... it's certainly nothing new, but let's pause for a bit of gratitude.  It came in handy at work again a couple of days ago.  Most of us are pretty well-versed in dietary restrictions and special textures commonly required by residents in our facility.  A new admit came in with something not so common, and I wanted to make sure we didn't naively give him something he shouldn't have.  

I looked to the hefty 3-inch reference binder, chock full of dietary information.  Knowing it would take me a while just to find the particular page of this guy's condition, I said, "screw it, let's google".  Long story short, I learned stuff, and we didn't send Jim to the hospital.  Took less than a minute.

This hood thing.  Lastly, I recently purchased this hood thing for myself.  It seems silly, actually.  It's like a hoodie without the sweatshirt part.  But it's SO comfy and warm!  

Just putting it on, in the house, for the excuse of taking a  photo makes me happy...

...for now.

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Linking up this week with Mama Kat for the prompt:
5. List your five most recent favorite things.

bring the heat

Happy Sunday, y'all.  The start of my "weekend".

I'm happy to report that I've felt very little adverse effects from my second hit of the COVID vaccine.  Had some mild muscle soreness develop a little into the day after, but it was all gone by evening.  I'm actually glad I felt something, because otherwise I would have wondered if the thing was doing anything!

We were concerned at work because a number of us were scheduled to work the day after our shots, and we didn't know how each would respond.  For the most part, people felt mild "crappiness", but were able to work just fine.  Our boss was relieved as she'd struggled quite a bit the day after her second shot.

"I felt like butt", in her words

I did start receiving texts from one coworker early Friday morning, however:

So yeah, that particular coworker soldierly dragged herself in for about an hour and then went home to "vomit in peace" once we were able to establish coverage for her.  Any voodoo attempts apparently didn't work. 

I'm still fantasizing a getaway.  It doesn't even need to be a warm getaway, although that would be nice.  But I'd be happy with a trip to the mountains, maybe a sunny ski resort.  "Sunny" being the operative word.

Although I've spent most of my life in Colorado, I've not skied (I had to google to see if that's the correct spelling for past-tense of ski) a whole lot.  I didn't learn to ski until I was 19 and in college and actually got a P.E. credit for my efforts.  Then there were the university years when, who had money for lift tickets??

There was one season there when I wasn't a broke student and also had a boyfriend who liked to ski and take me along.  We would load up early on weekends and hit the slopes.  "Hit" being the operative word in my case.  But I was young and could easily bounce back, literally, from the many wipeouts.  

That was many years ago, and snowboarding wasn't a thing yet.  Now, I watch snowboarding and it looks like fun.  Back in the 70's, when skateboarding was in a heyday, we kids spent our days zipping around and I became relatively skilled myself.  I now have the front teeth crowns to show for it.  So I think I would have picked up snowboarding pretty easily.  Sometimes I'm tempted to give it a shot.  I wonder how it would feel all these years later?

Okay, then again, maybe I'll just count "survived my COVID vaccine" as this winter's physical accomplishment...

chocolate and mystery

"Take a picture, it lasts longer". Remember that snarky comment? Well, it's not wrong.

We made some chocolate covered strawberries at work yesterday as a little Valentine's Day treat for the residents.  Needless to say, we salvaged a few for us lowly workers.  I barely managed to snap a pic before they were gone.

As the little party in my mouth was happening, I realized I'd never had a chocolate covered strawberry before.  How is that?  

I think I ate a chocolate covered cherry once and was not impressed, so subliminally swore of chocolate covered fruits?  
 

Well, count me back in the game.

So Happy Valentine's Day.  I don't know about y'all, but it is F-F-F-F-F-FREEZING here today.  Quite invigorating, really.

Yesterday was a rather interesting day at work.  I went in expecting a ho-hummer as everyone who was scheduled is highly competent with little need for direction.  For the most part, that ended  up being the case after a rocky start.  For matters of privacy, I will refer to these coworkers by their food preferences to summarize.

BaconEggSammich had left early the day before as she was experiencing much cramping and heavy menstrual flow (sorry guys).  I was actually concerned about her amount of blood loss as she looked rather pale when she headed to Urgent Care.

BowlOfCereal has been having troubles with her left hand and shoulder and had undergone a few tests this week to seek solutions. She's not happy about any of the possible fixes. 

Normally even-keeled SurpriseMe drug in seeming emotionally upset.  When I asked her about it, she replied, "If I talk about it, I'll start crying".

It was a day of the walking wounded.  BaconEggSammich was actually in good spirits as she'd been given Valium and a blood transfusion and happily announced, "I'm wearing a diaper!", but probably shouldn't be putting in a full day of work.  

BowlofCereal was fine as always, but still stressing about impending possible surgery.  SurpriseMe livened up to her seemingly old self as the day went on, but remained our chief concern. She told me she'd tried to get someone else to come in for her, but gave up after two turn downs as it was so last minute.

She never did open up about the cause of her distress.  To further add to the mystery, she had a conspicuous fresh bandage around her left biceps.  If  not for the bandage, I might've settled on assuming a loved on had died or fallen ill.  

But... the bandage.

So, a day in the life of this Den Mother.  A bum arm, a diaper, tears and a mysterious bandage.  

At least there was chocolate.

the unfeverish

As with most workplaces that are open and operating, ours has a check-in station just inside the front entrance.  Sign in, take your temperature, declare yourself hale and hearty, don the daily facemask, etc...

One day last week, I went through the usual morning screening.  The thermometer indicated my temperature at 94.6F, which has been pretty typical lately.  A nurse happened to be following me in, and he noticed my sign in.  

"You should get that up to at least 96.0. 94.6 seems inaccurate."

Oh, okay, I'll just turn my heat dial a little more to the right.  What did he mean, "get that up"??  Like I can just regulate my body temperature on demand?  And what about "seems inaccurate"?  The company-provided thermometers are inaccurate, and somehow that's my fault? Was he asking me to lie on the sign-in sheet?  

I explained that I'd just ridden my bicycle in, and outside temps were in the low 20s, end of story.  I continued on in to work.  What was he gonna do, tackle me because my temperature was too low?  I kinda wish I'd asked him if he'd like me to lie about my temperature.  Yeah, that's what I shoulda said.

I'm recalling that now as I'm currently waiting for the outside temperature to "get up".  

I have an errand that I intend to run on my bicycle, but it's still quite chilly out. 


Come on, Earth.  Can't you get your Northern Hemisphere temperature up higher and faster?

Wolfgang borrowed one of our cars yesterday to go skiing.  His Jeep was having some work done at the shop, hence the borrowing.  He'd ridden his bicycle here on Saturday and left it when he got the car.  When he returned, it was dark, blustery, and cold out, so we loaded his bicycle into the car, and I gave him a ride back to his place.

After I returned home, we had the following long-winded text exchange:

Yep, we'd loaded up the bicycle but forgot the helmet - the helmet he'd intended to wear on his ride into work this morning.  Luckily, he has a spare helmet, so I plan to just deliver the left-behind sometime today once it gets warmer.  

But that pic... does the helmet look rather tiny to you?  I've noticed that effect a few times before when I've taken photos at arm's length of something I'm holding.  The thing I'm holding looks tinier than in real life.  

To me, this maybe looks like a helmet for a baby.  Maybe I really am abnormally inaccurate, and that nurse has me pegged.

And yes, I realize the photo was not necessary to get my point across.  But I'm of the generation that doesn't text at lightning speed.  A pic and an "Oops" says it.  Use the technology, that's what it's for.

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Linking up (a little late) with Mama Kat for the prompt:
6. Pick up your phone, tell us about the last text exchange you had.

got the club goin' up...

... on a Tuesday.

Okay, that's a reference to a hip hop gangster thug song that somehow made it into my brain on this snowy Tuesday.  The lyrics say something about having to work weekends (selling drugs?  I don't know gangster-speak), so he parties on Tuesday.  Well, I guess Tuesday is a party day for me as it's the end of my "weekend".

I went out for a snowy fun run, and while I was dashing through, that song started playing in my head. But I don't know the words, so it was just kinda,  "hummuh humm huum  on a Tuesday, mmm hummm humma..." 

I honestly don't even remember why I know that song exists.

Snow had been falling all morning and was supposed to taper off around noon, then the forecast was updated to keep on a-snowing, so I just got dressed and went for it.  It was actually a lovely day in its own way.

The snow was very light and fluffy... on a Tuesday.  Everybody sing!

I broke out my shoe traction things.  What are they called?  I want to say "microspikes", but I think that term applies to those more robust traction things that are for winter hiking. 

Anyway, I broke out the stretchy things with studlies and was glad I did.  There was more snow out there than I'd expected.  

The tutor  matching service I contract through asked us to complete a survey about online learning due to the pandemic and resulting "learning loss" if any.  

I do feel there's been learning loss.  My students say they feel less engaged in the lessons and don't feel as comfortable asking questions during an online class as they do in an in-person class.  These are high schoolers, I'm guessing the impact on elementary and middle school kids is possibly greater.  But then, they had iPads and such when they were babies...?

I realize that not everyone learns or has the same preferences when it comes to socializing.  I enjoy going to my job at the old folks' home mainly because I get to leave the house and do something useful among other people.  Then I can tutor a bit online from home and do something else that's useful.  It's a nice balance for me, thankfully.

on a Tuesday.  Or otherwise.

slippery sloping

The first week and a little bit of 2021 is in the books.  The world didn't exactly chill out after 2020 ended did it? All part of the adventure.

I was at work yesterday, and a new rehab admit tested positive for COVID.  This was just the third time we've had a positive resident during the COVID times.  In each case, it was determined that the virus was not contracted in our facility, so I'm happy with how successful containment has been.  It's a bit eerie and stressful when it happens, though.  Like that scene from Monster's Inc.?  When the monster comes back with a toddler sock stuck to it?  

Yes, that's totally what it reminds me of.  But in the previous other cases, no other resident contracted the virus after the positive case was contained in Monster's Inc. fashion.  Hopefully, that's once again true in yesterday's mayhem.  But days like that make me feel like, yeah, I should get the vaccine.  A lot of those old folks and invalids have become like friends.

ya think??

In other news, I ran another Tortoise and Hare race this morning.  There's one race per month, October to April, at various distances.  This morning's was a 5K, thankfully not longer.  It was freaking icy! It snowed all day yesterday, leaving about 4 inches on the ground.  

This morning was chilly, and despite the path being plowed, what remained was a sheet of ice.  Really, it would've been better not to have plowed at all, and just let us pack the snow down.  

So, times were slow, but I'm just glad to have remained upright.  I'll count that as a participation prize.  And I learned that my trail shoes are no match for ice.

And speaking of moving on ice.  I think I've decided what I'm gonna do about winter bicycle commuting.  Today, I plan to check out a local bike shop that sells lots of used bicycles and hopefully adopt a suitable one to call my own and dress up in winter tires.  

But nothing crazy.  There's always room for one more?

'twas the night before

 Days are getting longer, do you feel it?  We've passed the winter solstice, so brighter days are a-coming!

I was sitting here potatoing on the futon when the cat perched on our one festive window.  He was all, "Take a pic of me.  Just like this. Come on, I don't have all day"

Fine.

Earlier this week at work, I came in from one of my two weekly COVID tests (we have to test outside, not sure why) when a couple of front office ladies said, "Oh, there she is!  Hey, we just pulled your name for the Christmas raffle!"

I had a bit of deer-in-the-headlights moment.  I didn't even know there was a Christmas raffle, let alone that my name was in the hat.  But Oh Well!  I was led to an office that had a bit of a hoarder vibe going and told that I could pick from among the piles.

There were various items that I would categorize under "generic Christmas gifty things", mostly food related.  I was eyeing the large green tea assortment, but then considered (1) we are an empty-nester household of two, and (2) I'd ridden my bicycle to work and would have to get my raffle gift home.

I ended up selecting this cute little cast iron pan, complete with brownie mix.  Look how precious:

After opening it up at home and inspecting it further, I noticed it has the added bonus of this memorable year in the casting for all eternity.  

I figure I will make the brownie from the accompanying mix, reminiscent of the Easy Bake Oven I never had as a kid.

Later as I was wasting time on my phone perusing social media for worthwhile inspiration, I happened to come across this photo:

And I thought, "Wouldn't it be nice and practical to have two of these?"

Maybe next year's raffle.

because the world is slow and fractions are frowned upon

2020 is a leap year, so this coming Saturday is February 29th.  With March come thoughts of springtime - longer, warmer, more sunshiny days.  I know I can use a break from snow and cold, which we have had our fair share of this winter.  I'm looking forward to spring, although I keep with the local mantra of, "Welp, we need the moisture", because most people in these parts know that somewhere in Colorado will be on fire this summer.

So we have an extra day this year before we can welcome March in order to let the earth's rotation catch up to the Gregorian calendar.  Who else is aware that there are leap seconds?  About every 3 to 4 years?  They are to synch the world's highly consistent atomic clocks to the earth's inconsistency.  How rude of the earth that we must do this.

I mentioned I took a semi-retirement part-time job at a hospital culinary operation.   I enjoy it.  Great company, great bosses, great coworkers, satisfying and productive work.  Plus, there's a 401k plan.  Contract tutors don't get a 401k plan.

The job is a nice balance with the tuting, which can burn me out if I schedule too many students.  I felt the need for a break from that too. It still somewhat surprises me that there seems to never be a lack of students looking to hire tutors despite free and cheap resources online.  But I guess some people just like someone to be there when they say, "but... I still don't get it 😕".  I don't want to chuck tutoring altogether, just cut back a bit, and this fills the empty space nicely.  I suck as a "housewife".

And it turns out, I actually enjoy cooking.  Who knew?  I mean, I'm no Gordon Ramsey, but... well... thank God for that.

Yesterday, I happened to look down and notice one of the expiration date stickers had landed on my shoe.

Is it an omen? Use me before March? After that, I'm trash?

What are you doing with your extra day this year?

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Linking up this week with Mama Kat for the prompt:

5. Write about something you need a break from.