Of Moose And Men
The Best Laid Plans Of Both Often Go Astray

Literally, rather than metaphorically this time. I’ve taken up juggling, using the Klutz book (“Juggling for the Complete Klutz”), and it’s been a lot of fun. I’m laughing at myself a lot as I drop the little beanbags constantly. Benjamin (our male cat) had fun looking at me like I was insane the second time I practiced. Barely getting two back and forth, I did try three briefly this afternoon and had fun watching them fly all over the place.

I always build in a buffer after some time off, especially if it involves travel. There’s always something that needs to get done afterward, like laundry, grocery shopping, etc. This trip was no different. The day after the anniversary trip we had the ground floor of the townhouse power washed, and had our handyman over to finish fixing the owner’s suite bathroom ceiling and wall.* And, naturally, laundry and grocery shopping.

The trip itself was wonderful. While the forecast called for constant rain, that didn’t materialize. There was a lot of rain, but it generally held off to mid-morning, allowing me to get in some morning walks. Only one day did it impinge on the front porch with some wind creating a small lake there. Otherwise was perfect, and I got four and a half books read.

Went into the office Friday for a day of email catch up while it was still the holiday week. Mostly caught up and I know the projects I’ll have to get to this upcoming week. Not that it’s going to be a full week – I’m taking tomorrow off for a doctor’s appointment, and Thursday to see the new Masters of the Universe film with the husband. He’s a HUGE fan, as is his sister – they have matching tattoos of He-Man’s and She-Ra’s swords. So the movie is a big deal, hence the day off.

* Some time last year a bird got into a vent on the front of our townhouse. Called a trapping company, they confirmed there was evidence a bird had gotten in, was no longer there, and they put a new vent cover on. Around the same time we had some water damage on the wall toward where the vent was. I had surmised that the bird had broken the duct when it got in and we were pumping moist air into the wall when we ran the exhaust fan. Finally got someone in to fix the duct, they put a hole in the ceiling to get at it and discovered … there was no duct. As in, the vent cover didn’t connect to anything. Apparently on the other models that’s where the clothes dryer vents out, but on ours the dryer vents to the back. The builder put the hole and cover in the wall for the vent, but didn’t connect it to anything. The exhaust fan piping goes up to the roof. Oy. The water damage was from something else, but wasn’t anything active, just a coincidence with the bird intrusion. Hence the need to get the ceiling patched and painted and the water damage cleaned up and painted.

Left work as the winds picked up for what were supposed to be thunderstorms (they never materialized over my route). Turned off the work phone on the Metro, as I am officially off the clock until next Friday. The husband and I are headed to the Eastern Shore of Virginia for our annual anniversary trip (actual anniversary is the 26th). Looks like the weather is going to be cool (65-75F/18-23C) and rainy, which is not so good for tourism for the town, but is fantastic for us, since we spend a good chunk of the time sitting on the porch and reading.

A couple of errands tomorrow (pharmacy, library, ATM; cleaning and re-coating the car windows with Rain-X; packing), then finalizing which books and knitting projects I’m taking, and packing. We’ll see the Mandalorian and Grogu movie on the way there, per tradition – we stop halfway to the Bed and Breakfast and see a movie to break up the drive. The car is good to go from an oil change and annual maintenance last week, and as luck would have it they didn’t find anything extra (e.g., tires, alignment, etc.) that needed doing.

So ready to get out of town.

Puttering around the house this morning, doing all sorts of little maintenance things. Watering the new grass-and-clover mix in the back yard, brushing a cat, refilling the dish soap dispenser. The foaming hand soap dispenser in the kitchen is starting to run low so I looked online to remind myself what the ratio of soap-to-water is (1 part soap to 5 parts water). In doing so I discovered that the designers made it easy for you – fill the clear part at the bottom with soap, then fill the rest to the ‘max fill’ line under the metal portion with water and voila – just the right ratio without needing an external measure. I love little details like that, where designers work with the product to make it easier to use and aesthetically pleasing.

So far the new office is … fine. They managed to wire the window offices for internet (but not the internal ones), so my connection has been steady. It’s roughly the same time in the commute that it was to the old office, but with a longer walk at the end (a couple blocks versus just across the street). Have to cross a major street, but there’s a pedestrian tunnel that allows one to pass under the street.

On the plus side, we have solid doors with locks on them (the old building had glass internal walls and doors), so if you need some quiet it’s there.

I will admit to getting home Monday, backing into the garage, and as the garage door was coming down saying to myself, “Well, that was fun; let’s never do it again.” Heh.

I head back to the office on Monday, part of the first wave of folks moving into our new office building. Hopefully the internet will work; supposedly we’re going to be on hotspots, which does not sound like a sustainable model. And based on the calls with the few leadership folks who’ve been in the office, the connection will be … less than optimal. Whatever. Y’all set the conditions and I’ll do my best to work under them.

Tomorrow I’ll have to go through the stuff I hauled home from the old office building and see what needs to go back immediately and what can wait until I decided to drive down.

Hardest part is going to be figuring out the new morning routine so I can get my exercise in, and still make it to the office at a reasonable hour. I know myself well enough to know I have to do it before work or it won’t get done, and I’ve made too much progress this year not to make this happen. Heck, the other day I was able to squat down and play with one of the cats and stay in that position for a while. Not bad for ten months out from knee surgery!

For some reason today I remembered something I noticed when we were in London – none of the sinks had faucet aerators on them. Perhaps because I once worked with the folks who helped develop energy and water efficiency standards for the US I tend to pay attention to details they used to talk about, so took note that none of the faucets over there had them. In the States they’re a water and energy conservation tool. Less water through with more pressure means you get the impression of more force, but use less water overall, and if you’re talking about heated water, less energy usage because you’re using less hot water. Nowhere near as exciting or visible as, say, driving on the opposite side of the road, but just something unusual that struck me from the trip.

The husband is off with his sister for their annual remembrance of their mother, who died of COVID this weekend in the first wave back in 2020. So I’m on my own, and taking a quiet weekend of it. Catching up on comics – I had a month plus backlog that I’m about halfway through as of this morning. Not helping has been a sore throat that popped up yesterday with a mild fever. Still sore this morning, but no fever. Bodies are such fun.

Did manage to solve a longstanding eyesore of cables and needed accessories by the TV yesterday, relocating and hiding them all inside the entertainment center. This has long been an issue, and was one of the first things you saw when you came around the corner and saw the TV setup. Now, no more loose wires and doodads hanging out, and all the peripherals that needed them are working. Yay!

Had a good coaching call this afternoon with the mobility program folks (yes, one free week back in January turned into a twelve week program, has turned into a twelve month program now – I’m really enjoying it). The prompt for us to talk was about how (if at all) we track our workouts/physical well being. A lot of folks shared that they would use something until it got too much, then give it all up entirely, or for a short period, then resume the same ramping up of intensity regarding the pressure they felt from the tracking. I told them it reminded me of a conversation I had back when cell phones were still relatively new. Was out with friends and when one of them kept stopping in the middle of whatever we were doing to take calls, answer texts, another of my friends looked at him and said, “Remember that it’s your tool, not the other way around.”

That stuck with me (obviously), and I think it’s a useful framing to think about whatever device someone might be using to track activities (garmin, apple watch, etc.). It’s definitely an attitude I make sure people know I have with regard to my work cell phone – that thing is for my convenience; it’s not an electronic leash whereby anyone can reach me at any time.

Got chosen as the president of my HOA. Oh joy. It was something of a game of hot potato, with the three (of three total) board members trying to be nice and defer to each other, but effectively passing the baton around and around before I said yes.

The pressing issues of the day are parking, lighting, and rats. The Facey-B group for the HOA has the torches and pitchforks out for a business in the boundaries of the HOA that has some (if the photos are to be believed) pretty serious rat problems at their foundation. No indication that they’re inside, but the business isn’t doing anything to control them outside, either. City Code Enforcement has been out to inspect and warn the owner to get on it. The owner, however, claims to be an attorney and is threatening slander and libel lawsuits. Which is why we’re going to let the city go at it. In the meantime, the HOA itself does not control the Facey-B group, thankfully, so there’s no there there for a suit. D-R-A-M-A.

Thankfully our newish management company is much more on top of these things than the last one, so the manager has things well in hand with addressing what we can address (calling the city, having the HOA pest people out to handle our stuff).