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

Up way too early this morning. Been a rough week for my gut, which has not helped my sleep. FODMAPs hate me, and I haven’t been able to eat at home where I can better control the food as much as I should.

I make it a habit to flip off the statute of the 40th President of the US every time I pass National Airport on the Metro (twice daily on work days). While I’ve found most presidents are a mixed bag, I have a particular dislike of that one because of his inaction on HIV and what it did to wipe out the generations of gay men right before mine.

The husband thanked me this week for insisting that we not look at any properties which were anywhere near a flood zone of any kind on the FEMA flood insurance maps, after one of his coworkers complained he was going to have to completely redo his finished basement in the house he’d just moved into 11 days prior.

Work has asked me to write up my second memo in six months on constitutional issues facing our agency for the folks at Justice to weigh in on. On the one hand, hey, they like me and like my writing. On the other hand, no pressure, it’s just the future of the agency and how it operates. Eeck.

Because of the lack of sleep my personal reading has been light – rereading the Cradle series by Will Wight, which is fun, but by no means a heavy intellectual lift. Thank you, Kindle unlimited.

The husband and his sister are bungee jumping off a bridge this afternoon. Her daughter and I will watch and make fun of the screaming. All good.

The husband brought in a head cold, which has us both snotty and not sleeping well. Skipped the potluck, obviously, as I greatly prefer not to share such bounties with others. Took today as a sick day, might do the same tomorrow. In the meantime I’m reading fiction that doesn’t demand a lot of me (Dungeon Crawler Carl) and napping. Several good sneezing fits today, which typically means I’m on the mend in my experience. Blech. At least the cats are happy with quietly reading/napping Moose.

Odd because of the holiday, and the heat. It’s forecast to be in the low 100s F (38-40C) here around DC, and combing that and (for Federal workers) the observed holiday today, my boss told us all to telework yesterday. Meant I had to do some cleaning of my desk at home to relocate stuff that had accumulated on it. I am my parents’ child – if there’s a surface, stuff gets put on it, at least in my office; I’m better about the rest of the house because the husband won’t put up with out there. Yesterday was also odd because the local power company reached into our thermostat and set the temperature up 4 degrees, as they do from time to time to avoid brownouts, and in exchange for slightly better electricity rates. Normally those will go for 2-3 hours, typically 4pm to 6pm, but yesterday it ran from sometime in the afternoon all the way to 10pm. And they never sent a notice that they were doing it, even after the fact. Annoying,.

We laid low yesterday, but braved the heat today. Out to an Uno’s Pizzeria for a treat, hit Target for some toiletries (and a clay garden gnome on clearance for the back yard), Barnes & Noble to pick up the third book in a trilogy I’ve really enjoyed (Rebel Blade by Davinia Evans). Hit a theater on the way home to see the new Minions movie, which was cute. It was more an opportunity to do something outside that house that wasn’t impossibly hot than anything else. Remembered to put some internal window covers on the sunroof of our Mini so it wouldn’t get quite so hot inside the car. Also remembered to put bags over the (black) front seats where they’d get sunlight while parked so we didn’t fry our legs when we got back. Makes me ever so glad we bought a townhouse with a garage – that always makes the initial temperature setting easier when taking off from home.

Have a potluck on Sunday with the neighbors but haven’t decided what we want to make yet. Looking forward to meeting more folks in person.

The tiny town we go to for our anniversary each year (Cape Charles, Virginia) has been putting out Xmas ornaments as a fundraiser for the last 9 or so years. We managed to pick up most of them from our innkeepers, but she didn’t have this years. She texted me last night that the new one was out, so it’s been ordered. This year is the local theatre, which ironically is the one place in town we’ve never been. Most years it’s closed, or we just miss whatever is showing, or it’s showing something we have no interest in (this year was a Dave Matthews cover band – no thanks). Once we got past the first 4-5 of them I put a note in my phone with an inventory to make sure we don’t buy extras.

The husband is flying back from Chicago this morning. Has been nice having the place to myself and setting an earlier schedule, but I look forward to hearing about the trip, and the big Spider-man exhibit that was there.

Picked up the latest Ravenloft book from DnD. I remember the original Curse of Strahd coming out in the early 1980s and loved that one, so even though I have little to no time to play DnD these days I still enjoy reading the source books.

I think it’s finally time to try running again, a year out from the knee surgery (June 12, 2025). The exercise/mobility program I’ve been doing has been fantastic for my body overall, not just the knee, but definitely has helped there. Who knew that lots of squats and lifting weights was good for you? Everyone, of course. So I’ve hauled out some of my favorite books on the subject to develop a return-to-running plan. I also discovered that there’s a local running group that meets on Sundays a short walk from the house, so I can get some social interaction with it as well, once I’m sure I’ll be back to it. I’m medically cleared, and have been for months, this is more the mental hurdle of “am I going to injure myself again”.

Making more use of the local library this summer, but as a result I have a backlog of books now. While I get a lot of reading time on the Metro sometimes you don’t want to haul the giant hardback with you along with everything else (lunch, etc.). I no longer mind the weight (thank you exercise program), it’s more the bulk of it. Add to that my usual cyclical backlog of comics. I’d gotten them all read the last time the husband went out of town, but when you add to the collection weekly they can overwhelm.

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.

A weekend of not doing a whole heck of a lot of anything was, apparently, precisely what I needed. The time change still screwed with my sleep last night, but overall a weekend of taking down machines in Horizon Forbidden West on the PS5 has been relaxing.

9-to-5 the musical was absolutely delightful. There was a recording of Dolly herself doing some narrator duties at the beginning and end of the show, which nicely anchored the musical with the movie. Some really fun numbers. Would highly recommend it.

After mostly being a couch lump Friday and Saturday I’ve been plowing through some needed, little to-do list items, like going through the backpack from the cancelled training and putting things away, and doing some of the weekly laundry that the husband normally does before he gets back from his family trip. At the moment I’m on-and-off reading through the backlog of comics that’s developed in my box. Down to twenty left. I can usually plow through four or five at a sitting, then I have to get up and do something else. Not sure if that’s reading in general or specific to the comic medium, but four to five is my usual limit.

The vacation was what we needed. Downtime, lots of reading (finished two books, though not the Grant biography I’ve been “reading” for three years now; I’m up to his run for President). The weather looked like it was going to be rainy the whole time, so a lot of people bailed on the town, but then we had a glorious, sunny Memorial day, so the husband and I got a beautiful day with not as many other tourists in the way.

One of the books was Born to Run 2, the sequel to 2009’s Born to Run, about barefoot running and other crazy people. The sequel bills itself as a training guide. There were a lot of stories mixed in with the training bits, which makes it a little difficult to use, but what is in there is helpful (100 ups!). So when we got back I pulled out my running shoes and got started again, albeit very slowly and very short distances (I did a mile this morning of 2 on/2 off).

Work wasn’t too bad. I’m still catching up on emails, which will probably take me another week or so as I respond to more urgent things that keep popping up. Still learning the new GC’s style, but am actively working with the Deputy GC to manage upwards there (and, frankly, to help the Deputy look good for the new GC).

One of my nieces asked about the new Diablo IV that’s out officially in 3 more days, but which is offering early play for preorders. She and I used to play Diablo III online, so I’m sure she’s looking forward to the new one as well. I know I’m going to dive in eventually, but I’m also in the midst of loving Tears of the Kingdom on the Switch. I’ll probably switch the Xbox One in my office for the PS5 in the living room, since the niece is on a PS5, and that way I can let the husband use the new, enormous TV he bought just before we left town (so far it’s mostly been used for my gaming, and while Link looks great on 85″, it’s kind of a waste of the TV).

The big surprise for the husband for the anniversary was that I got us a fancy washlet for the owners’ suite bathroom. I think I may have created a monster, but frankly, it’s been worth it. So much better than just wiping. I fear we’re going to get spoiled, which is okay, but will make leaving the house that much less attractive.

The out-of-office message is set, and the work laptop is powered down. Out for a little over a week as of this evening, for our annual anniversary trip to the Virginia part of the Eastern Shore.

Other than some family medical messes, and a tinge of slightly-higher-than-we’d-like-to-see blood pressure for me, things have been going fairly well. Playing the heck out of Tears of the Kingdom now, to the point where I took a break from it early this evening to rest my poor hands. I’m going into the office once a week now that Metro’s yellow line bridge is back open. Or at least I am until late July when they’re closing the stations near me for 45 days. I’ve vacillated back and forth on how much to go in, and for now I’m doing the minimum required (2 days in each two week pay period).

Still working on the biscuit recipe from January, though I’ve not posted any new notes yet. It’s getting closer, but still needs tweaks.

I’m determined to finally finish the Grant biography this trip. I started it two years ago on the anniversary trip, plowed through the first half in short order, then just couldn’t get back into a rhythm (it didn’t help that I hit Reconstruction, which I find difficult to read about, given how awful this country treated her newly freed citizens). But I’m going to get it done this year.