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This morning the Alexa lost its mind and played weird static and rock at 5AM. I stopped it and then slept into 9ish.

I went slow as I had nothing on today. I got back to painting and almost finishing the last of Richard’s Anachrony (just the final protective coat is remaining for Sunday). Thirty-six figures all three-four inches mechs. I am thrilled to finish and also to have this off-my-plate.

Before all of this, I had my hair cut. As I was headed out, I saw the old turtle was back and digging a nest in my lawn by the cement. We see locals out in the lawns digging and hiding nests. I left her to her work. She is, unfortunately, an invasive non-native species of turtle and likely came from a pet store years ago. But she is still welcome to my lawn.

The red stripe you can almost make out in the photo is the giveaway that she is not a native turtle.

I had some caregiving and surprise laundry this morning. It is all taken care of.

After my haircut, I returned, and the turtle was just finishing up. The hole all filled in. The girls across the street had never seen a turtle nesting. They escorted the turtle back to the waters nearby. I asked them to be careful and see that it did not get hit by a car.

I took Susie to BJs, where she had a 1/2 rack of ribs and me a noodle item.

I then took a food and beer-enabled nap.

As I said, I finished up Richard’s figures.

I missed the online concert for the Portland Youth concert. I spaced it. I bought tickets to support them. I just so busy painting I forgot the 7AM online stream. Next time!

I picked up Mariah at PDX. She is back from Hawaii. We stopped by The Rock Woodfire Pizza–she needed food.

That is about it. This is my first weekend blog post. I think I will stop here.

Tonight I made breakfast for dinner. I had some maple walnut pancake mix from The Vermont County Store catalog that I was thinking about using for a while. We had some frozen uncooked bacon. I ran that under running water until it was usable.

I cooked the bacon and made the pancakes. The first two were not good. I got my juju for making pancakes back on the rest. I also found the good whisk, and that helped as I got the lumps out of the mix. Fresh coffee finished the meal. Susie and Corwin thought it good.

I also painted some more of Richard’s figures for Anachrony. I am about 1/3 through the basic painting now. I will likely get further tonight and start the finishing work on Saturday.

Before this, I took Susie to the movies. The movie theaters are running again. The rules are complex, and a mask is required. Also, only one seat in the handicap row will work. They gave me a different seat, and I just sat next to Susie. It was their suggestion.

The folks at the Regal’s Theater were friendly and even opened a door for me when I pushed Susie into the theater sitting on her walker. Everyone was safe and happy to have us back. It felt very safe to me. But, I am not sure if I was not fully vaccinated how safe I would feel.

We enjoyed popcorn and a diet soda, shared, and a private screening. Nobody else came for the 1:05 show of Cruella. This is a Disney movie and a telling of the origins of Cruella DeVille. Emma Stone makes it fun, and her Cruella is “born crazy and slightly mad” but a sympathetic character. The start and middle of the movie are the best. The ending is too predictable and a bit happy for me, but Disney only makes a kid-friendly movie. Susie loved all the old rock music in the background and the 60s imagery. For example, Ziggie Stardust is recreated as a dressmaker and 2nd hand clothing store owner. I was laughing through the jokes and the over-the-top antics. I would recommend Cruella and will likely see it again.

We stopped by taco bell and had some plain tacos as we rushed to the movies. I had some last-minute items at Nike at noon, making us late. We ate the tacos in the car with some small diet drinks. The drinks were nearly more expensive than the tacos!

Nike has summer hours and closes at noon on Fridays now. Today I started at 7ish as I slept in a bit. The day had just a few meetings. I spent much of the morning trying to fix the outstanding issues for a practice upgrade.

In a Zoom meeting, we did go over the schedule coming up, and besides the upgrade practice, we have three weeks of 7-24 coverage (with weekends) starting on two Mondays from now as part of our project at the shoe company. There is a break for the Juneteenth holiday, but July 4 weekend, as usual for me at Nike, will likely be a working weekend. Oddly, I often work this holiday as it is mid-summer and only an American holiday. I am trying to put a brave face on the endless hours coming up.

520 people are reported dead from the virus today in the USA.

I found one I do not think I have done before, Breathe on Me, Breath of God.

I grew up in the midwest, and I love a cold morning. I got up at 6ish, an all-employee meeting this morning for two hours @ 7AM, and put on my robe. It was winter-like cold. Corwin had made a mistake on the AC when he could not sleep and changed it. It was set to 60F, and it is likely that the bathroom, the tiles freezing, may have reached that setting. I turned the AC off at 64F! It felt like I was back in the midwest with the dry cold air!

Later, I had to open the front door after sitting through almost five hours of Zoom meetings freezing, to get some warm air in the house. I had shoes on, and still, I had to open the doors to get some heat!

I walked out and drank coffee in the hot sun a few times this morning.

I took a pic of my roses while getting warm.

Corwin apologized for freezing us.

The meetings are best not described here. The status meetings and alignment meetings went on for a long time. I was dual-tasking while the meetings seemed to go on and on via Zoom.

I went out for hot chili for lunch from Wendy’s. I decided again to try to give up some of the fear and actually had a sit-down lunch at Wendy’s. I had a taco salad and a diet coke and read news and interesting articles on the Internet via my Apple. I got Susie a small chili and frosty and brought them to her.

The afternoon was still full of more alignment meetings, and I tried to do some multi-tasking. I could not make much progress today.

Once I was done with work (working from home), I decided to take Susie to dinner at Reedville Cafe. Susie has been there twice this year. She had a chicken caesar salad, and we split German Black Forest Cake (with ice cream) for dessert. I had beef stroganoff that tasted unfinished to me. The tomato paste was missing, and the mushrooms were not cooked down at all—one of the first misses I have had there.

We finished dinner, and we then went for a drive and looked at the new houses going up just a mile away. All the farm fields are now becoming new streets and homes. It is the way of things.

It was strangely freeing, even with the masks and all the care, to have dinner out!

Another 572 people died today in the USA from Covid-19.

Wayfaring Stranger seemed a lovely song to select today.

 

 

I made dinner tonight again on the stovetop. I defrosted some Schwann’s bone-in pork chops and then dusted them with flour, dipped them in egg, and then dipped them in panko breadcrumbs and fried them in 1/4 inch of oil. I made mac and cheese to go with it. Not too hot as I needed to cook the chops all the way thru. I had some nice artisan bread from the Safeway bakery to go with that. Beer as the drink. Susie loved it.

I discovered as I was contemplating making dinner that we were on our last roll of toilet paper. Totally shocking that I am no longer hoarding the paper product. So I popped off-line and went grocery shopping. Picked up a moderate supply of paper products and some other basics, including the really nice bread for dinner.

I resisted again going out much; it is hot out there. It is another crazy sunny day in June. Oregon usually has the wettest and unpleasant Junes I have ever lived through. Not true for the last few years.

The fires are not here yet. We usually get the smoke and fires in July and August. We are not looking forward to that. I have some N95 masks ready for that.

We are living by AC today. We have no fans, and if you don’t stand in the kitchen (where the frig resides pumping out heat as it cools inside), it is delightful. My decision to put in AC in 2018 looks now like a very perceptive move. The AC cleared the house of smoke back in 2020.

Work started at 7ish after I rolled back over. I was tired again. I managed to stay awake today. The status meetings and process meetings continued for hours.

I slipped out at 11:20ish and drove Air Volvo to Subway and there ordered a tuna fish sub. Susie is allergic to fish, and tuna fish is a no-no in the house. The gentleman who made me the sub was curious about my transportation. He has the older, larger XC90 model. We talked about how the new version of the XC90 seating is terrible (I had one as a loaner when Air Volvo had maintenance at the mothership). He is thinking of switching to the smaller XC60, which I drive. I told him about how the car turns off instead of idling and that the steering will correct when you are not in the lane. Yes, it steers you back to the lane. Also, the low-speed collision prevention system means that you really cannot rear-end anyone at low speeds. The car will brake for you. I think my sandwich maker will be looking for a used newish XC60–he loved all the extras.

The sandwich I ate in the car listening to our local PBS radio was wonderful. The sandwich has so many veggies that make it like a salad and a sandwich.

I brought Susie back a McDonald’s happy meal with apples. I also got her an apple pie. I might have had one too. Susie was sleeping again when I left and got back.

Susie, this morning had a problem. She felt terrible and said she was turned inside-out. That she was all covered in water. Susie was visibly upset. There was nothing wrong that I could detect. I told her to get up, and she did. I got her a scone, coffee, had her drink water, and to take her meds.

Susie seemed to snap out of the confusion with the food, two scones, and moving around. I have been watchful and only was out when Corwin was up. I made dinner of comfort foods. It seemed to work.

To less serious things…When irony goes too far, China announced a new policy of more friendly communication. China officials are ordering their people to be more humble and less confrontational. The BBC news show on PBS spent ten minutes (yes, that long) on some of the best (worst) moments for China and the new “be nice policy.”

Apparently, the “Wolf Warrior” propaganda film is the name given for the previous policy by the west: Wolf Warrior. An anti-west aggressive announcer was called a Wolf Warrior by the western diplomats and press. Corwin and I now have to find this movie. Popcorn! Beer! China super soldiers saving China by blowing up evil westerners. Excellent!

And Iran lost its largest naval vessel today to a fire, and it sank. A supply ship. We are sorry about the fire and pray for the sailors. But the USA sends multiple aircraft carriers and all their support ships to protect the gulf. Iran has a cargo ship. The irony is out of control today–yes, I know that Iran has some dangerous ships, but it was still their largest ship was a supply ship!

I thought it best to end before any more irony surfaces. Too late. A majority of the Knesset in Isreal came to a historical agreement today; anything is better than Netanyahu. Yes, the impossible has happened. Arab, conservative, and moderates politicians all agreed on one thing, Netanyahu has to go. They have done the impossible and joined forces to form a government of people who before would not likely even talk to each other are now in the same government. Irony should just stop.

But the Mad Magazine moments keep coming. President Biden gave a speech today in which free beer will be given out for taking the vaccine. The Anheuser-Busch company is buying a round of beer for the country for July 4th.

512 people in the USA lost their lives to the pandemic today.

I picked How Great is Our God for Israel and for those we have lost to the pandemic.

This the new blog of my daily thoughts and events. I am trying to keep this interesting. I suspect that the simple details have comforted people through the pandemic, so I will not completely dispense with them.

To that end…

The morning started with pollen. That is, my head is stuffed, and my eyes are red. The coughing is the dry-unproductive-hollow-empty type that seems such a waste. This means asthma is uncontrolled, and the pollen is just a trigger for all the normal asthma stuff. My lungs are locked down by asthma.

I suspect the real problem was lack of sleep. Susie has not slept through a night all weekend and the holiday. I started at 6ish.

Work was the normal compressed day after a holiday. Monday and Tuesday are now running over the top of each other. Monday is usually status, and Tuesday is usual progress. Many of the discussions were that issues had to be fixed as an emergency as there is not enough time this week to run the normal process. Many voices, while not raised, had that direct edge, and a lot of directors were given marching orders.

I spent the morning listening to the status-progress meetings while working out issues in an SAP system upgrade I am doing now. The system I am upgrading is a copy of a development system and has broken development in it. I had to spend the morning and afternoon fixing those items.

I had reheated pizza; it was already 90F outside, and I kept the house cool by not opening any doors.

I took a break, the coughing was just non-stop, and I fell completely asleep.

I was awoken by Susie’s return. She had a delayed Spa day with Zerida today. Her driver picked her up at 11ish. Susie had trouble starting this morning. I was running around doing caregiving while also on Zoom status calls and progress calls. It was a bit chaotic this mid-morning.

I helped Susie get settled and then returned to email and status and progress. Nothing was happening, so I went to read again.

I am now on the third book of a series I partially read years ago. I recommend all the books. I am on Everyone in Their Place: The Summer of Commissario Ricciardi (The Commissario Ricciardi Mysteries Book 3). Set in 1931 Naples, Italy, and about the Commissario solving murders. The detective is cursed to see the last moment of the dead making it a ghost story too. These are large 1-inch thick meaty translations from the original Italian with only a few typos that fit the translation better. 

Susie needed a nap too. So we both nodded off. It was 6ish when I awoke! The coughing is mostly gone. Lack of sleep was the real cause for asthma, as I suspected, and caused the overreaction to pollen (my eyes are still a bit sticky, so I know the pollen is still there). I also turned up the AC when I went to lie down, and the good filter would have grabbed any of the pollen in the air, so that too helped. In American AC, the cold air return recycles the same air.

I thought about ordering out, it is too hot to cook, but I found some frozen (!?) Schwann’s mashed potatoes and brats ready to eat in the frig. Bangers and Mash! We have Mexican beer! Thus a truly international and easy to make dinner! It also is just a stovetop, so no oven.

I slipped out in the early evening, now in the 80s, to get a few pics of the roses.

The tea rose bloomed!

Here are some of the other bushes in the backyard.

287 people in the USA died from Covid-19 today.

I picked Psalm 50 for today’s music to remember who we have lost.