Raincharm’s Weblog

What better way to end the weekday work week than a party. Our party of choice was a decidedly laid back birthday for the neighbor boy turning 5.

The guest of honor was late to his party. The reason was that he wasn’t done handing out frozen blueberries to his fellow preschool mates. It’s apparently important to turn your tongue and fingers blue.

Not that it stopped the kids from playing or adults from chatting. The kids were fine. Some of us adults were shivering a bit. The party was outside and by and large people were masked. Even the 2 year old. It seemed like no big deal for the kids. Of course masks were lowered for the eating of the cake, but we were pretty well distanced.

Presents were not expected, but we decided to get a little something. Carl took care of Conor one afternoon. He took his hot wheels track, and it amused Conor for several hours. So we decided he could use some hot wheels track of his own.

It turned out to be the hit of the party. Sometimes you get it right.

And yes, hot wheels track is not just orange any more.

And we are partied out.

Otis Shepard was a graphic artist. He did a lot of work for P.K. Wrigley, of chewing gum and the Cub’s ballpark fame. He was responsible for the art on the Cub scorecards for over a 30-year period. Carl really likes his art in general and his scorecards in particular.

My sister Anne is an artist in her own right. Quilting for example. She gifted Carl with these quilts of several of the scorecards. These are awesome.

For a much better view go to Mark’s blog He provides good pictures of the individual blocks, and of the original Shepard artwork.

Carl’s current art form, as most of you know, is fun with food. It’s a fleeting, temporary format. He has been doing this for decades as well. Our kids were on the receiving end many times, and apparently remember. Rey recently tried his hand with the tried and true initials. For his son.

Rey had carried his creation of arranged orange slices to show Becca, passing by Corwin. If you look to the side of Rey, you can see his reaction. Those oranges must be really good.

… a day makes. Change can be good.

Yesterday I was in a state when I woke. A situation with snafus piled on top of each other. Miscommunications as we were passed from one “advisor” to another. We thought we were clear, but apparently we were speaking with an accent.

I wrote a rather tersely worded email on what we thought should happen. Even suggested a potential solution.

In the midst of my key banging, Carl delivered breakfast. I set it down with the same energy I was typing. Needless to say, his artistic efforts suffered.

The email apparently hit the right note. By the evening they were working towards a solution. Not mine, but I only wanted a solution, not necessarily mine.

This morning’s artistic endeavor recieved treatment commensurate with solutions being found, and much calmer keystrokes.

And today we transitioned from a 32 degree fog, to sunny and cool at lunchtime. Good enough for a walk.

What did the title bring to mind?

Marijuana? Not so much. More, ankle, elbow, shoulder or knee. As in what is hurting today.

And, while I have my share of issues, Carl’s history of abusing his body over several decades means this really applies to him. Nonetheless, he continues to work out almost every day.

I continue to work almost every day. It has been relentless. Including at least one day every weekend. Working from home makes this almost normal. I don’t have to think about what to take home on Friday, it’s already here. Honestly, work is not so much about hours spent, as projects and requests moved forward. I won’t say completed, as some projects go on for years. Even decades.

This weekend has been relatively dry. Cold, and foggy, but not raining. And we were able to get long walks in each day. It helped that we made them both start our days, which avoided avoidance.

A few sights from today.

We walked around Green Lake for the first time in forever. They cleared the encampments from the west side of the lake that had been keeping us at bay.

Cold as it is, spring is peeking.

Even though we got two long walks in over the relatively dry weekend, I think Carl is starting to exhibit signs of being cooped up too long. And it is raining again.

At lunch today I was presented with these two dishes, and asked what the two different expressions could possibly mean.

Opinions welcome.

Other recent efforts

From my vantage point we have been having lots of visits from one of the local Stellar Jays.

And it’s back to work.

Almost anyway.

Here is the demise of the snowman.

Remember when the snow was fresh and new

Today was actually not wet. Neither snow nor rain. And again it’s been 3 days without mail… But we did get out for a walk. The first long walk in a while. I don’t think I left the house for a week, except to pick up the newspaper, and it was usually right on the top step. Today, over 10,000 steps.

We’ve also been getting to know Hulu a bit. We watched Only Murders in the Building over the last week or so. And today we finished Nine Perfect Strangers. I’m not sure what else is out there to explore, but we’ll find something.

Tomorrow is also supposed to be dry, so maybe a few more steps before the rains return.

Just because I started this a few days ago, I am providing the State of the Snowman upate.

That’s all for today. I still have a few hours of work to go.

Let’s call yesterday a transition day. It segued from snow and cold to some rain and cold. But there was a moment when the snow was not so dry, and the rain hadn’t started in earnest. Just enough time to build a snowman.

Last night it rained, hard. Over an inch. Against all odds, Mr. Bill survived the night. Although I think he may have imbibed to stay warm because he was listing when Carl took the garbage out. No garbage pickup last week, so double load today.

Today had everything, except warmth. Rain, hail, snow and sunshine. At one point we had all except rain going on at one time.  And although the snow was 8 days old, it appears to be stern stuff. As of the late afternoon, Mr. Bill was still leaning to the left. It is Seattle after all.

And we have now had mail delivered 2 days of the new year, including New Year’s Day. Our neighbor dropped of a letter to us, delivered to their house. I assumed mis-delivery until I looked at the address. One of our old friends used a 29-year old address, from when we lived next door. Turn about is fair though. In tonight’s mail we had a letter for them.

It’s 2022.

Carl asked how many years had we been alive when the year had 3 of the same digits. Answers will vary by person, but my answers are at the end of this post. Not a particularly hard number problem, but provides a glimpse into the inner workings of Carl’s brain.

We had a quiet but congenial New Year’s Eve evening. We convened with the folks from the next two houses on the middle house porch. It’s a long covered porch so we were outside, well spaced, and bundled up. Likely in the twenties. We shared some sparkling Asti, crackers, brie and smoked salmon. We spent the time solving the world’s problems, bemoaning the loss of Betty White, and discussing when we might once again have mail delivery. Seriously, we haven’t had any mail since Christmas. While we were discussing this situation a mail truck pulled up delivering packages across the street. The cold was an excellent defense against overindulgence as that required taking off gloves. This gathering happened about 5 PM, and none of us expected to make it until midnight.

Surprisingly, Carl and I were still up, watching a show as the clock ticked down. The show, a short movie about NYE ended precisely at midnight with fireworks in the background, and the sound of local fireworks started in as well. I glanced at my wrist tracker, noted it was showing steps, not time, but the steps were at zero for the day. We did retire at that point, but the local fireworks continued for quite a while.

It is predicted to be cold but dry today. Still in the teens when I woke this morning, and predicted to reach the mid 30s. Tomorrow the rain is predicted to return with temperatures reaching the 40s. So today should be the day to take down the tree and fit it into the yard waste bin. As if to further indicate it is time to undecorate, the lights on the tree are all out this morning. I used 4 strings of battery powered lights, and they are all dead this morning.

Jay and Carl’s answers are the same. 1999, 2000, and now 2022. Before us it would have been 1911, and the next is 2111.

New snow in the morning. 3 inches or so by the shoveler’s reckoning. He had cleared the sidewalk before, so starting at zero for measurements. The sidewalks were cleared again.

And it started snowing, again, in the late afternoon. This may end up just being a dusting.

I don’t miss not driving anywhere. The car has been cleaned off a couple of times, but we have not tried backing up our driveway. I am sure day driving would be fine, but not after the freeze sets in after dark.