Category Archives: doing it wrong

It’s been so long since I posted a video, I forgot how to do it. I had to click around a bit until I remembered.

The strap on the camera broke so I’ve been propping it up and whatever I am doing is not conducive to good clips. Or even clips at all. Some foggy ones and sometimes a raccoon tail. I haven’t seen bunny, skunky, opossum, or, thankfully, any deer. I had some apple peels the other day and almost tossed them on the garden rather than tromp all the way to the compost bin but I remember what happened last time (deer came over) and put them in the bin.

It has been a long week. We finally were both recovered from Covid at the same time and then it snowed and then it iced. I worked from home all week which is not my favorite. We’re grateful we didn’t have any weather related problems, but we are happy that things are melting and we can get out. Lots of rain in the forecast so who knows what’s next. Sinkholes?

YIKES! This is not too far from us. As far as I’ve heard, no one was hurt. Photo used without permission, sorry! Screenshot from social media. Bob drove by after church to check it out and he said you couldn’t tell anything happened. Not even an orange cone.

I started out looking for a photo or two to post and then started organizing my photo folder (“organizing” — I use that term loosely) and then all this time passed and I was getting ready to turn off the computer and I realized I never posted.

Did I already post this photo?

This was when people were starting to go back to work after Covid. Honestly, the bus has never picked up. They’ve consolidated a bunch of buses (in my part of town) into 1 park-n-ride stop and a few stops downtown.

I took this because I have the habit of using the same spot which I became extremely possessive of during Covid when I was one of about 7 cars that even used the park-n-ride.

Whole lot is empty and this car parked in my spot.

Things have bounced back a lot since this photo. I don’t know what happened to this person but I always get to my spot first.

This morning the weather was decent enough for us to go on a long walk. We went to a coffee shop to meet some friends.

We saw this giant part of a windfarm machine (are they called windmills?) on its way from the port to wherever it’s going. It had 3 pilot cars! It had to take a wide swinging turn to get onto the freeway. I was like a child, standing on the sidewalk, enraptured by the whole thing. The truck driver waved to me!

I would love to talk to one of those truck drivers to learn what it’s like to drive one of those trucks. People seemed respectful and stayed out of the way, but I bet that’s not always true.

Have I posted a picture of my square bread yet?

I feel like I’ve told this story but don’t see it in any past posts.

Colleague was asking me about a Pullman bread pan and describing what it was. I rolled my eyes. Who needs a bread pan like that? Then I researched it for myself and somehow decided that I had to have one.

This was my first loaf made using a Cook’s Illustrated easy sandwich bread recipe.

I also made a loaf using a whole wheat bread and the pan was overfull and not a true disaster but not pretty. More loaves to come.

This is from Christmas Day — we opened our Christmas fruit spread. It was both super delicious and also not quite like any flavor found in nature. The label on the jar says 50% fruit which is a pretty ominous percentage. It tasted like apples, strawberries, cinnamon, and a little bit of Christmas.

Best wishes for the new year.

Before, with my chubby pumpkin face:

After:

Bob wanted me to do a duplicate pose. I said, “I can’t fit in it now.”

Bob tested positive for Covid on 12/24 so the plan for today is sit around the house, do puzzles, read books, and watch movies. Steak dinner to be rescheduled.

Previous posts on this topic: 2003 and 2013.

I lost my watch. I don’t know if it would properly be called a smart watch. Maybe a fitness watch? It’s not the fanciest kind and I’ve had it at least a couple of years. I bought it to try to be more mindful of how much I walk after getting an earful at the doctor’s office.

Last week I was getting ready to jump in the shower and I realized I had it on. I yanked it off, tossed it on the bed, and never found it again.

Obviously it had to be tangled up in the bedding.

The next day Bob washed the sheets and no watch. I went through everything in the laundry room and no watch.

Over the weekend I deconstructed the entire bed area and moved everything. While I was back there I vacuumed and mopped up 20 years of flannel bedding lint. I crawled around with a flashlight. I moved everything from under the bed.

No watch.

Where on earth could it be? I figured the only explanation was it became tangled up in some clothes and dropped somewhere that we didn’t think to look.

Then came the night where I was awake at 3am and engaging in some light fretting. I had the idea that maybe it was caught up in my workout clothes.

The next day I opened the drawer and dug around and: yay! I found my watch.

It wasn’t the end of the world and I had resigned myself to just buying a new one but it was still exhilarating to find it.

I’m not retiring yet and I can’t actually see it on the horizon, but I know it is coming up.

Every month I try to purge or archive things a few things at the office. We have been in this office in 2008 and I have worked with colleague since 1999.

According to my little “this is your life” cheatsheet – I did my paralegal training in 1991 and started my first legal job in 1992. I’m overwhelmed by how much time has gone but but I guess the real attitude should be proud of all the things I’ve worked on in the last 30+ years.

I found that I have saved all my calendars going back to 1995. 1995!

My calendars are older than our law clerk. My relationship with my colleague is as old as our law clerk. She found a photo of herself as a baby on Halloween 1999 being bounced around by our boss. We started working together the next day.

Sometimes we lament getting old but it’s also fun to have all these experiences to look back on.

But back to the calendars that I forgot were even there: there’s no need to keep them but it feels weird to throw them away.

There must be a word for this is some other culture: not wanting to throw away old things even though they don’t do anything. Or maybe there is a word in our language: hoarding?

But it’s not really hoarding because I get rid of tons of stuff. I had the honor of showing our law clerk what a zip drive disk is because I found one in an ancient file. Then I tossed it.

Bob bought this fruit spread. One of the flavors is Christmas!

My Tante Irmgard lived in a very small apartment in a high rise in Germany. Once, when we were visiting, her balcony was closed due to renovations. During our visit the balcony was opened again and Irmgard opened the door to the balcony and was so happy she said, “It’s like Christmas!”

I am having a really hard time getting into the spirit. Just feel like I never have time or energy.

Also, there was an issue with my credit card and I was issued a new one and you know what that means. All my millions of autopay things pop up with a nasti-gram telling me my payment didn’t go through. Always at an awkward time, too. Like you’re just trying to get one thing done and then you have to run the gauntlet of clicking and menus and hoop jumping.

After this week I have some time off. We’ll work on the attitude then.

This is what the garden looks like right now on a frosty morning. There is some work to be done out there but lately when it’s clear it’s too cold otherwise, it’s raining. I’m not a big fan of gardening in the cold and mud. I will get out there at some point.

I discovered this great trick where I can snooze emails. Sometimes there are things I want to remember to deal with but can’t deal with right now. It sounds like a good idea except it’s also great for putting things off for later.

The last 5-6 weeks have been so hectic that I snoozed about 25 emails until Saturday of the Thanksgiving long weekend thinking I would finally have the time and energy to deal with them.

Then I looked at these fresh chores in my email on my holiday weekend and sagged in my seat.

But I got through a lot of it. I did my 25k words on my writing project. I did 30 posts in 30 days.

I will collect my participation trophies and fabulous gifts and prizes. On to December.

National Park Service article about old apple tree.

There was a super old apple tree at Fort Vancouver. We visited it a number of times. Here’s a quote from the website:

Recognized as the oldest apple tree in the Pacific Northwest, its longevity derived from its anatomy as a seedling tree that grew upon its own roots, as well as from the particular robustness of its genes.

It has been in declining health for some time. A storm did a number on it. In 2020 the trunk disintigrated and left behind rootsucker trees that will be the new old apple tree.

Bob was out in the world and he was able to get some cuttings from the tree. I have two on my windowsill. I thought it was a lost cause. The leaves dried up and it looked like a sad stick in dirt.

But look! A miracle sproutlet!