Live, finally

I got into work early. Waiting for me was an email from the IT help desk questioning the name of Henry's website. In response, I asked my computer a profanely worded rhetorical question, then forwarded the email to Henry because he had the documentation they wanted. He has a warm, personal way of writing. I've never known him to be terse in an email, and he never pulls rank. Today he did both. And...

Read More

Mysteries

The super secret meeting lasted three hours and yet amounted to nothing. The purpose, as explained Friday, was to rewrite a position description and decide how to move work to support it, but that didn’t occur. Instead, there was a lot of disjointed conversation about a number of topics. Afterward, I asked Eve if I had missed something because I was lost as to what was accomplished. She didn’t know...

Read More

Long, long weekend

Blaine left his tie here Friday night. I happened to see it on the floor next to the couch the next morning and dropped it off on the way to my brother’s. He said he had set it on the side table when he took it off. It must have slid off. The explanation of how the tie had come off and fallen to the floor disappointed Mica but not as much as when I explained its return was why I was leaving Blaine’s...

Read More

Reception

I was having a good day until I got to work. Someone who is afraid of losing their job is pulling together a group of people to brainstorm ways to reinvent their position into one that can be better protected. The reinvention could affect mine by taking over some things I do, so imagine how pleased I am. I was asked by a superior to be part of this group, and I suppose it’s best to be on the inside...

Read More

A watched pot won't go live

The little white dog is single handedly improving the profitability of being a veterinarian in this city. Mica took him in this morning because of swelling above the eye. The vet’s best guess is a sting of some sort. She sent home eye drops and a steroid (I think) and recommended he begin taking allergy medicine. I think the allergy meds are unrelated to the eye. I was busier telling him he’s a...

Read More

Wardrobe

I spent the day editing photos in PhotoShop. In other words, a tedious, long day. I didn’t finish.  Something to look forward to tomorrow. This evening after reheating a supper I didn’t feel like eating, I drove over to the park with the lake and walked the loop once. I ran into Henry and Julia who were there with their puppy. She’s the same age as Izzy but, oh, is she ever a handful. When...

Read More

Good morning

I was early to the tire place. A guy took down my information and saw a note that said they would deliver the car when it was finished. He glanced up at me. “You must be a friend of Tom’s.” A friend of a friend, I told him. That friend arrived shortly after. I saw him park, watched him get out and button his jacket as he walked toward the building. He was unable to see me taking it all in thanks...

Read More

Nailed it

At 5:00 I was in the middle of resizing a photo for Henry's website, so I finished that and uploaded it. At 5:15 (all times approximate), I saw a note about adding anchor links to a page, so I did that quickly. At 5:25, I looked through the new information I'd added today and decided I could improve the design of a new page if I moved some information to a sidebar. At 6:05 I drafted an email to Henry...

Read More

Observation tower

Blaine and I were going to spend the afternoon at a state park exploring a few walking trails. Thunderstorms overnight and on-and-off rain all day today spoiled that. I was extremely disappointed. Maybe it's because the park we were going to is in the area where my parents grew up, and although I've been there a lot, Blaine has never seen it. I was looking forward to showing it to him. Probably, the...

Read More

Shouldn't say anything

I have not been good about using my words here this week. Henry’s website should go live early next week. So much has changed since I started it, I need to go back through every page and make sure the information that was added early is still accurate, and I need to catch inconsistencies. There are other i’s to dot but much of that is behind the scenes (I have some CSS to clean up). And I still...

Read More

Election

Since Saturday I’ve been waking from stress dreams in the middle of the night and then am awake for long stretches. They aren’t the normal recurring ones either. In one I kept hearing reports that a big storm was coming and knew I needed to get to the grocery store fast or be prepared to live on one can of tuna and a couple of cans of black olives for several days (this is a fair representation of...

Read More

Museum

There’s a small town of just a few thousand people about 45 miles from here that has an art museum devoted to agrarian art. The bulk of its permanent collection is by an artist who grew up there and whose paintings of rural settings is reminiscent of Grant Wood. I like the style and the vibrant colors he used, and I love seeing the depictions of traditional farmsteads. It’s what farms looked like...

Read More

Cabin

A coworker is turning 60 this weekend. To celebrate she rented a large cabin on a river and is having a three-day open house. Eve and I decided to go together. Because it's Mother's Day weekend and Eve's sister is coming into town, the only time Eve could go was tonight. I used a little vacation time so we could leave at Eve's usual time. We were rapid-fire talking, as usual, and cruised right past...

Read More

Never too tired for a burger

I didn’t have allergies until I was an adult. At first it was a runny nose for one month in the spring when everyone mowed for the first couple of times. Slowly, the symptoms have worsened. Now it’s a runny nose and watery eyes throughout the spring and every so often during the summer. This week has been particularly bothersome. Last night I went to Mica’s to visit the little white dog. She went...

Read More

Ordinary things

When I first started searching for romances I might like, I was surprised by how many sexual preferences were catered to, and I wondered if there were really that many people who were into all these different things. Watching the news lately answers that question. The Cubs tickets haven’t arrived yet. I’m concerned they’ve landed in someone else’s mailbox because I’ve been getting a lot of my neighbors...

Read More

Number of times

More about last night The number of innings of the Cubs game that Blaine and I watched last night: 6 The number of rain delays we sat through during those six innings: 2 The number of times I scared the dog during those six innings: 2 The number of times Izzy bronco bucked across the room following unexpected clapping and arm waving: 1 The number of times Izzy dropped her toy and skedaddled down...

Read More

Up early

You know who is not a morning girl? That’s right -- Izzy! I had to cajole her awake at 5 a.m. When I let her outside, she flopped down onto the deck as soon as her last paw cleared the doorway. She was still there when I checked on her after my shower. I continued to check on her as I got ready. Between makeup and getting dressed she had moved off the deck. After dressing, she was sitting in front...

Read More

Dinner in

My cousin’s eldest granddaughter’s ninth birthday party was held late this afternoon. She requested a baseball themed party, which meant grilled hot dogs for supper. I moved around between the back deck, front patio and house so everyone would think I had eaten elsewhere. I didn’t want to tell them I had dinner plans in case follow-up questions were asked. As a rule, I prefer that no one knows I’m...

Read More

Winter grime on warm evening

It’s me and Izzy again. We spent a good chunk of tonight on the deck. She explored her favorite spots in the yard while I washed the winter grime off the patio furniture. It took longer than it should have because I’m not quite at 100 percent, but I feel a lot better than yesterday. Low stamina or not, it was nice to be in the fresh air on a warm evening. The cleaning is in preparation for tomorrow...

Read More

Short day, shorter entry

During a meeting this morning I suddenly became so cold I was shivering. I stepped out long enough to grab a jacket from my office. When it didn’t help and I began to feel ill, I had to leave. I thought it might pass without having to leave work so I closed the office door and turned off the overhead light which was too bright just then. I finally decided to drive home before I felt worse. I went...

Read More

Birthday and cake

6:04 a.m. After I showered this morning I grabbed my phone and sent a happy birthday text to Blaine. It woke him up. He called right away and as soon as I heard his voice I knew what I’d done. “Oh no,” I said softly. “Surprise?” It sounded like he moved, stretched. “Yes, and thank you.” “I’m very sorry. I didn’t think about the volume being up on your phone. I thought you would see it when you...

Read More

Come fall

The wind has been terrible here the last couple of days. Since it’s dry too, there has been a lot of dust in the air especially around farmland. Both Sunday and yesterday dust clouds limited visibility and caused chain reaction accidents on the interstate. Here in the city the biggest problem is dodging the garbage cans and planters that have tumbled onto the streets. Tonight it’s stormy but the...

Read More