Work has been literally non stop these past few weeks. Leading up to a public hearing on Monday. Sprinkle in another public agency who holds all of the sewer cards not playing nicely. And at the same time the potential for federal grant money for some needed expensive water treatment. And the little bits that normally get taken care of through the week are piling up.
So I am sitting on the couch watching My Fair Lady. Singing along here and there. Carl was quite surprised, but I liked listening to the movie musical soundtracks on the hi-fi growing up.
It looks like a lovely evening, and I should dance all night, but I think it will be an early evening for me.
Our number finally came up. Almost anyway. Carl has been in Tier 1B3. They were supposed to be eligible for the vaccine on April 12th. But today, that got moved up to March 31st, AND they added 60-64 into that group to, so my date as well.
Of course, we will still have to find appointments, but it feels much closer, especially for me. I wasn’t even on a schedule before today. It really made me ridiculously happy when I heard the words come out of our Governor’s mouth. I was actually listening to the press conference, something I had been skipping for the last several weeks.
And Carl’s work is in a published book. At least one specific sample.
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This is one of his projects. Identifying what he thinks is a player’s best game, and sending them a letter remembering their career, and providing a postcard with the stadium on the front, and a box score of the game on the back. He adds some other game trivia. He usually sends two copies and requests the player to sign one and return it.
He has received many back, sometimes with letters in response. Occasionally they even call. Stories of sharing these memories with grandchildren have happened more than once. Most of these players had relatively short baseball careers, and may have had other careers. Their families may not realize they had even been a ballplayer.
Just this weekend he received a call from the wife of a postcard recipient. She said her husband had recently had heart surgery, been in rehab, had some other medical issue, almost ready to come home, and then broke his hip and is still in rehab. She was not able to visit her husband in person due to Covid protocols, but was going to send the card in with a nurse so he could sign. Carl said it wasn’t necessary, but the wife said it absolutely was.
A hobby within a hobby. But it seems to be generally well received by the recipients, so I won’t bemoan our singlehandedly keeping the post office afloat.
Pagliacci had their annual 2nd 11-inch pie for $3.14. And we took them up on the deal.
Rainy, damp and dark compared with the earlier part of the week. Carl went out, but I have been sequestered. Going to try to get to bed early so tomorrow morning doesn’t feel a full hour too early.
We set out today for our Saturday walk. I wanted to wait until later, when it would be warmer. Frosty morning, sunny day. But Carl had a baseball date to play catch with a friend, and I had a Town Hall meeting to attend, both early afternoon. So off we went.
One of Carl’s walk activities is looking for lost money. A penny here, a quarter there. It usually is between $30 to $40 for the year. There was the somewhere around $50 find in bills in the middle of the road in Fort Collins a few years ago, but that was an aberration. Today, along with around 37 cents or so, there was a wallet. Complete with license, credit cards and cash. Because it had a license with an address we drove it home after our walk. Of course, it turned out the owner didn’t live at the address, but much closer to our house. We left it with his parents anyway. He called to thank Carl, and offered a gift, but Carl declined saying it was just what should be done.
The rest of the walk was less eventful.
Carl went on his date, and I completely spaced the Town Hall! I did listen to it after the fact. The topic of our concern was asked by a neighbor (I had emailed my question beforehand). What can homeowners do who have tent communities next to their houses, when the dwellers are not interested in using City services, and the City and State Highway folks can’t seem to figure out which agency is responsible for dealing with the results of the tent communities. (We live next to I-5) The answer given missed the mark on the main points of the question, but addressed the question very generally, veering into what had been done in the legislature. I realized after the meeting was over that this was an opportunity for them to tell what they had been doing. Not to really answer questions or address other topics.
But after 4 grueling meetings, with a fifth in the offing, I went outside and sat in the sun. In my sweater. No jacket. No gloves. No hat.
The sun is warm. I almost hope for the cooling breeze to make it easier to go back inside and face the computer again. There is so much to do, but I really needed this warm break.
The weather this weekend has been very much that of a transitional season. In other words, rain then sun then hail, repeat.
Raining while sunny = rainbow
Stop. Take out the garbage, recycling and yard waste while it’s not actively precipitating.
Yesterday we managed a 4 plus mile walk. Today we squeezed in 3 plus miles between rain showers, including a chat with a friend along the way. Literally got home minutes before the lightning and hail. Sometimes it works out.
Colorful Critters
In between walks, there was work. Yesterday I did what others needed. Today was my “free time” work, that needs to get done, but isn’t top priority. It is a balancing act.
Yesterday we also watched a few year old movie, Woman Walks Ahead. I thought it was a good movie, albeit dealing with another reminder of our Country’s often difficult history. Moving nonetheless.
One year ago we were in Tennessee, helping to take care of Corwin, in the last few weeks before he was scheduled to start at daycare.
Today was his actual first day at daycare. We got a picture and for some reason it makes me happy to look at him with another small person.
The anniversaries of everything changing are packed together this week, and it really is a new normal.
On the work front the last week has been over the top. Our board limited sewer connections, and not having something is always more work than having something. But, I did take Friday off. It was basically enforced, but good to step away.
The day off meant the taxes got done, I took care of some insurance bits, signed up for jury duty, and we took a longish walk in the afternoon. The walk ended up at a middle eastern restaurant where we got takeout to be carried home. It started raining just before we got to our door. Dinner was yummy, and nobody had to cook.
Saturday we took another long walk, this one over and back across the 520 bridge. We chose this because the westbound lanes next to the trail were closed for the weekend, so the car noise was minimized. A bit over 6 miles, but most on hard concrete.
Cormorants were the most common water fowl we saw, although we did have one eagle sighting too.View of how the other half lives on the Eastside.
We were finishing the walk crossing the Montlake bridge when I paused to take a picture of all the boats in the cut. We were noting that the lead sailboat, closest to us, had just done a U-turn. I suddenly realized that was because the drawbridge wasn’t up yet, but would be soon. So we hightailed it off as the horn sounded the warning.
After the u-turn.
Our house is almost always the last house with snow. Shadows and shovelled snow piles. Saturday was the last day of the pile that started February 13th. 2 full weeks.
Two Tiny Snowmen
Sunday was spent catching up on soccer games and working my way through a work request. Monday was an all-day work meeting. Tomorrow will be several meetings for most of the day.
But it is warming just a bit, and our daffodils are getting their buds up.
Spring Training is in the offing. It has been just under a year since Carl and his baseball buddies were soaking up the sun and ambiance in the Phoenix area. A few days after they left, everything shut down.
The wall is still relentless. May get to throw with real masked people on Wednesday
Apparently they are going to allow a modest number of fans (16% capacity) into the stands at the Spring Training venues. More than one person has asked Carl if he is going. The answer is a resounding, “NO.” How many risk points would be included in that venture. He is still 2 tiers away from being able to try to schedule an appointment for the vaccine.
We’re more interested in what’s going to happen with the Mariners, although it’s doubtful we will have the vaccine before the season starts, if they are allowing fans to attend.
Closer to reality, the iris survived the snow in really good shape.
We did manage 2 long walks this weekend, making the 10,000 step per day. There was birdsong everywhere. We had a socially distanced visit with a friend on the deck yesterday afternoon, and it was just abuzz with birds large and small flitting about. The smallest was some sort of wren, and the largest was either a Stellars Jay or a flicker. I am not counting crows, they are more like people.
Tomorrow will be a different day. It has potential to be one of those days that you work a lot to get to, and then the real work begins. I have been here before, and I predict the next 90 days are going to be nonstop.
The snow is bigger flakes today. They stick together better, including on our TV satellite dish. Which means someone limited viewing, on a day when we will be spending most inside. But I have work to do, and we will get out at least once into the white.
First morning view- my weather check The iris pot is still barely visible Tiny icicle Snowman, day 2
Lots of rabbit tracks in the front yard this morning. And we finally made tracks in the afternoon for a few miles. We focused on neighborhood roads, looking for other snowmen. The sidewalks mostly had a narrow compacted path. Shoveling was intermittent at best. It was not actively snowing by mid afternoon, but I pulled up my hood to keep the snow falling off branches from going down my back.
Our sidewalk is shoveled edge to edge. It’s not dry, but easy walking. Our shovel is left on the front porch for neighborhood sharing. At least two borrowed it, and one left a tulip, from their valentine bouquet.
The temperature is in the mid thirties, so even with an overnight dip, the snow will soon start to disappear.
