The Odd Couple

Here is a clip of Opossum, slipping under the shed.

I have the whole shed blocked off except that one spot because I don’t want to seem welcoming but I also don’t want anything to die under there. The motion light was supposed to discourage wildlife but apparently they think it’s a handy porch light.

For the record I have seen other animals sniffing around that spot: cats, raccoons.

There’s a lot going on here and I’ll get back to it in a second. Don’t let it distract you from watching the porch light come on and a grand entrance from Skunky.

So, do they live together under there? Are they like The Odd Couple? Do they divide the under shed area into “skunk side” and “opossum side.” Are they friends?

I have so many questions.

Back to the clip, we have Raccy getting a little sip and then when Skunky comes out, it looks like something leaps across the lawn and I kind of think it’s Bunny. But it might be another Raccy.

There were several days where I didn’t get very many clips and I thought things had calmed down. No way. Bunny spent several hours one evening tripping off the camera and Opossum did the same thing the night before last.

Edited to add: according to my dashboard — this is post #3000.

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Oops. Time Stamp

I forgot that when you change the batteries in the trail cam, you have to reset the clock.

The camera went off during the day and took close to 500 clips of squirrels with some birds at the feeders mixed in. That’s not an exaggeration. There were almost 500 clips on the camera card. I went out and made the bed and folded a basket of clothes while they were downloading.

We don’t get a lot of crows in the backyard. I want to be a friend of crows but I don’t want to scare off my blue jay friends so I don’t encourage it.

This is a screenshot sampling of the thumbnails from my 500 clips. I deleted about 492 of them.

I haven’t seen a peep from the blue jays in days. Bob said one dive-bombed his head when he was taking out the compost.

I know they nest in the hedge next to the compost so I bet I know what they’re up to.

What an eco-system we have in that hedge.

via GIPHY

I always say whenever I get a cold, I always get a cough that lasts a month. It feels like I’m exaggerating but it was 4 weeks from the day I went down sick, that I got through my first day without a cough drop. My body just loves to hang on to a cough.

All good for now. But I’m paranoid that my Fisherman’s Friend supply is so low. Only 2 1/2 bags. I need to stock up. Just in case.

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Bring Your Milk Jug To Work Day

Beautiful winter day in Van Wa

This morning, at one of the bus stops downtown, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a guy holding a gallon milk jug as he waited for the bus. The jug was about half full.

I had a whole flash of thought process wondering if he had a place to keep his milk cold during the day? Was this a health thing and he needed to drink almost a whole gallon of milk? He was dressed for a construction type job. Perhaps he needed milk to keep his energy up. Mostly I was hung up on the refrigeration issue.

What a clever thing to do with found glasses. I hope the owner spotted them.

When I got off at my stop as I walked up the hill to my office building, a guy was crossing the street in front of me carrying two jugs of milk in each hand.

Again, a whole flash thought process: is there some sort of bring your jug of milk to work day? Is there a prank or flash mob thing? Will I be spotting people running around with jugs of milk today?

I bet construction guy was transporting his powershake for breakfast and I’m pretty sure the other guy was carrying them to the local coffee kiosk for the day’s lattes.

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Back to the Grind

What is this picture? I’m guessing I did this somehow while I was carrying the phone. It looks like the area where the big food cart used to be and is now going to be a luxury hotel/condo tower and an awning? I have no idea.

Our office technology is mostly fixed and we are back at it, in the office, full time. January was super busy with all kinds of things that need to happen at the beginning of the year.

Since the pandemic the bus ridership dwindled so much that they combined 4 routes into one and reduced service. More stops, fewer options.

So I’m back to super long days. I don’t hate it but it means I don’t get anything done around the house on work days. It’s a different rhythm to get back to.

This is my Indigenous bookshelf. It’s not complete because I have books stashed all over the place plus digital books. I only pulled out the ones with an Indigenous author and that I could find right away. If you count books with an Indigenous topic, I have at least 3x this many.

I participated in an Indigenous romance author QnA with Erin and Dani of Indigenous reading circle. Here is the URL (When I look on my browser, the URL is crossed out but if you click it, it works fine.) I’m not sure if you can watch it without an Instagram account. Give it a try. It was super fun and I am so impressed with the work these two are doing to promote Indigenous authors.

Here I am represented at the Thai food cart.

Out of time. Pressing publish without proofreading. I love the danger!

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Like the Drivin’ Rain

After some technology issues and then the crud and more of the crud, I am back in the office full time again. For extra credit: there is a new bus schedule which has more stops and fewer options so I am back to my long days again.

At least I get a nice stretch for reading.

I saw both Stinky and the raccoon trio in real time during the week but different nights. The motion lights were going off and I could see them running around, Stinky at 8:30p and the raccoons at 7:45p.

Yesterday we went to see the Pedro Almodovar film: Parallel Mothers. We loved it. Then we went out to dinner and talked about it and tried to remember the last time the two of us have been out together. We’ve gotten a lot of take out the past 2 years but we’ve only been out once or twice.

The restaurant has an item on the menu that’s a 22 oz. Bloody Mary and the garnish is brisket, a rib, and a sausage. All your hangover needs taken care of.

Bunny visited last night. He was out there for almost two hours, set off both the motion lights and had a good time.

That funny round thing in the lower left is what’s left of the ice I pulled out of the bucket a couple of days ago.

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Recovery

Here’s an older clip of no tail taking a little drink in the snow.

And here’s another in the serious of that mean ol’ raccoon beating up on anyone who tries to drink when he’s there.

No big news. We are both mostly recovered but still scattered coughing and we’re usually pretty pooped by the end of the day.

Yesterday was the first day I was pretty close to “normal” whatever that is, and even did a little bit of exercise.

I’m catching up on projects and chores. I’m hoping to get to the office on Monday. Who knows what is waiting for me after I’ve been home so long?

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How Many Negatives Make A Positive?

Last pumpkin processing for the freezer. Bob said, “Do you even have any containers left?”

I forgot the entire purpose of yesterday’s post was to say that Bob’s PCR test came back negative. So maybe we don’t have covid?

It’s hard to be confident in anything right now.

Since we’re both still coughing and congested we will continue our quarantine and if anyone asks if we’ve had covid we’ll say, “Maybe, maybe not.”

I feel like this photo could be made hilariously inappropriate with just a teeny bit of drawing. I had to cut off another wedge to fit it into the pan properly. I took a photo of it in the oven but my oven is so gross I can’t bring myself to post a picture.

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RIP Science Oven

The other night I was sitting in front of the TV and heard frantic beeping from our microwave. Since no one was using it, I was concerned.

I got up and the display was flashing letters and symbols, the light inside was blinking on and off, and there was a crackly sound.

I’ve consumed A LOT of horror/scifi/fantasy in my time so I knew what this meant:

Creatures from another dimension or maybe aliens were trying to use it cause havoc in our world.

I unplugged it and Bob took it outside and we saved the day.

Bob got that microwave when he moved into his own apartment, about 40 years ago. It should probably go into a museum.

Good Bye microwave!

I looked around in the shop to see if I saw the peanut shells or I could find more signs of mouse. I found this paper towel behind a box. Mouse took some of the pumpkin seeds I was saving! Don’t worry, I have saved seeds all over the place. But this is a sign that mousey is more comfortable out there than he should be.

Measures forthcoming.

28862 / 30000 words. 96% done!

This is it for Project of Forever, part 1 of 3. I’m not exactly sure how things are going to end so in the end it’s very skimpy.

Project of Forever, part 2 of 3 will be underway shortly.

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The Crud is Here!

So spouse got what I through was a miserable cold but he wanted to get tested and paid for the Cadillac offering which was a buffet of antigen, PCR, and influenza tests.

A couple hours later he got a negative test. A couple hours after that he got an identical test sheet back only the result was positive.

So, one of those.

I think this little mouse is so cute! Look at those little ears. Spouse is not amused. He suggest we put out a trap in front of the camera. We’re not doing that. He’s out in the shop where the garden stuff is.

It took three days to get someone from the testing entity to call him back and that person suggested that he go with the positive test. He also didn’t know when we’d get the results of the PCR test. Maybe Monday (a full week since the test).

I went down with the crud on Friday and initially I was going to try to get tested, too, except everything was full except this place Bob went and there was no way I was doing that.

I am assuming I am positive, too. Unless the PCR test is negative and then I don’t know what we are. We have our own private virus.

Meanwhile, we’re holed up here with our tissues, Fisherman’s Friend, and hot tea. Not how I wanted to spend my long weekend but I am catching up on all my Marvel movies. Shang-Chi today!

27763 / 30000 words. 93% done!

This is part 1 of 3 for the project of forever. I have one more segment to write for this and it gets set aside and I will start work on part 2 of 3 for the project of forever. I have a few unrelated projects I’m working on, too.

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This Deck Tastes Like Feet

This guy sat out there for a long time before tasting the deck and then wandering into the hedge.

I get a lot of video clips that aren’t clear enough to share. One time I caught a tiny frog on the deck. And then the owl that one night. A lot happens on the other side of the yard. This week I have one of Stinky coming out of his lair and the raccoons hightailing it out of there. Stinky hasn’t come near the house lately. One of these days I need to set up the day cam and get Fat Squirrel and the birds under the bird feeder.

Latest update on Part 1 of the Project of Forever:

22431 / 30000 words. 75% done!

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