Story 11Oct2022

The air has literally cleared today. We are still under a bad air advisory, but my area has a cold breeze, and the air is clear.

The morning started with me coughing and sneezing uncontrollably, to the point that it hurt a few times. I wrote a note that I would work from home and slowed down in the morning. I did the first hour of Zoom calls, showered, and dressed. I also took some allergy meds that made me tired, but the burning eyes, coughing, and sneezing stopped.

I spent the rest of the morning following along at work on the current issues and some crises of the moment. I was busy. Tuesday has a stand-up and team meeting besides the usual meetings.

I made a chili-taco salad by heating a can of chili in the new glassware from Glenda and Gene in the microwave. Next, heated some bread and a few taco shells in the oven, washed some lettuce, and assembled it into a salad. The cheese and sour cream dressed it up.

I did the dishes and ran the dishwasher, which gets run every other day or so.

Next, I got aboard Air Volvo, journeyed over Coopers Mountain, and noticed that the mist was less (it was not mist yesterday). Today the trip was fraught with flaggers stopping and starting traffic, and other construction caused congestion. I returned by Division crossing over the other side of the mountain and avoiding the mess.

The day was a cool October day (without rain) for us. A sun that strikes hot and a cold wind below the ambient temperature. Freeze in the shade and burn in the sun. Usually, our September weather, but we will take it in place of the sideways rain in October.

I arrived at hummingbird house without issue, but Susie decided to hang out inside, and we moved to the activity room and called Susan’s mother, Leta. We next went outside for a bit just to do it. I stayed in the sun, but even that was not enough when the wind hit. So soon, I was kissing Susie goodbye on a short workday visit.

As I said, I reached home by another route, and I was back to work, following along and helping here and there. Evan stopped by to do some work on the Internet between games. It is his day off, so he plays a lot of pickleball.

I continued to work, taking a short break to rest as the allergy meds made me sleepy. Then, I was back online, and everything was done for the day.

I fried a pork chop from the freezer in butter. I cut the flesh off a nectarine into slices and fried that in the butter with the pork chop. When the chop was done, I added a bit of cornstarch and made a pan gravy that tasted slightly of fruit. It was perfect on the chop. I reheated while frying the pork some couscous I had as leftovers, and that went perfectly with the fruit, wilted, and the pork chop with the pan gravy.

I again watched the newest episode of the Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power and still recommend it. It was better the second time as I caught more.

The oil industry has already raised gas prices even when the production cuts from our ally, Saudi Arabia, will take months to impact the true pricing. I will not quote any left-wing conspiracy theories here–no matter how obvious. I got the car washed too. One day’s rain had caused the dust to collect all over my car–I was hoping for more rain.

I then drove to Wildwood Taphouse to get out of the house, and here I am, drinking a beer and writing. I have a sweater on–it is a cool fall night.

Thank you for reading!

For those who want to remember a year ago, here is Susie’s stroke post in NYC (10Oct2010): https://alohawild.me/2021/10/10/sabbatical-day-8-er-in-nyc/

And here is a happy post in NYC (8Oct2021): https://alohawild.me/2021/10/08/sabbatical-day-6-evening-7-tired-feet/.