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The Slumber Party

I got out of bed this morning to check on the bunny. It was really struggling, and I just knew it wasn’t going to make it. I tried forcing some more milk, but it never perked up and continued to struggle to breath. Eventually it did stop breathing, so Noah buried it along with another baby bird the cats dragged in, out in the yard.

Summer got up and made swirly Grinch waffles for breakfast as the kids all got up, and then we all just sat around enjoying an extra day off. Noah and Eaddie went out to set up the badminton net between sprinkle spells.

Eventually the girls’ father showed up with pizza, cake, and cookies for Autumn’s birthday. She got a cake that looked like The Order of the Phoenix book, and Harry Potter themed cookies. Everyone ate and played some more games, and eventually he took Autumn out for some one-on-one time.

When the girls’ friends finally went home, Summer and I took Noah home. Then we went by my house to feed the cat and chat for a bit. It was nice to have a few minutes to ourselves just to catch up without having to worry about anything else.

It started storming a bit, but it settled down for the drive back up to her house. Summer went to bed after catching up with Autumn, and then Eaddie and I watched an episode of Daredevil before going to bed ourselves.

Level Set

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Predatory Loan Officer, Tom Nook

I got up kind of early this morning and went to check on the bunny. It seemed slightly better, but still wasn’t at 100%. I just let it burrow into my arm while I played Animal Crossing. I bought a ton of turnips and found someone on Reddit that had time traveled so I could turn right around and sell them. Traveling to their island didn’t go as smoothly as my previous visits to other islands, but I managed to sell enough to pay off my final loan in the game.

Summer got up and made some pasta with rib meat that everyone really loved. Then everyone had to jump to cleaning house before the girls had friends over for the night. Eaddie and Noah mowed, and Eaddie plowed right over the flower I planted next to the stairs in the front yard.

I went home for a while to clean up and decompress. Overwatch was holding their anniversary event, so I spent most of my time trying to earn as many loot boxes as I could before heading back up to Summer’s for the evening.

Summer picked Noah up from work and got back shortly after I got there. The girls and their friends were all inside playing. Noah and I warmed up some chicken Alfredo that Summer made for dinner. Then I spent some time with the bunny because it looked like it was on the edge of death. It seemed super dehydrated and skinny, so I kept trying to force it some water and milk. Eventually it did pep back up a bit, but I don’t know why it seemed so much worse seemingly within just a few hours.

Eventually everyone found their way to bed for a pretty late evening.

Multibellionaire.

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Snacks and Things…(ellipses)

I got up this morning and made ham, egg, and cheese sandwiches for everyone. The eggs froze in the refrigerator again, but a few minutes in a still-warm oven thawed them out just fine. The sandwiches were good, but afterward I thought a slice of tomato and maybe some green onions in the eggs would have lifted it up just a little bit.

Summer took Eaddie to the store while I did my Animal Crossing chores. Then I went home to clean up. I ended up spending most of my time working on the aquariums because some of my plants died out of nowhere. Other plants seem to be thriving, so I don’t know what caused the others to die off, but they just seemed to melt from the stem moving upward. I cleaned out the dead stuff and replanted what I could, but I’ll have to figure out the root cause eventually.

I made it back up to Summer’s just in time for a big salad dinner. Summer tossed together the spinach and spring mix together with some feta, strawberries, and walnuts. Then she grilled some chicken she had marinated, and it turned out delicious.

After everyone ate, Summer and I went to Travis’s to meet him, John, and Melissa for some snacks and a game night. We tried playing some lie detector game that seemed to basically be an electronic Magic 8-Ball. Then we spent some time playing a game called Things… using our own rules of judging submissions. It was pretty fun, but going back and reading the written rules, I can see how it would be a very different game.

When we got back to the house, the kids brought the bunny out and said it wasn’t walking straight and just kept laying there. I poked at it a little bit, but couldn’t really tell what was going on, and they all just kept chattering on without giving much useful information. I just told them to leave it alone for the evening and let it rest, and after an hour or so, Autumn said it seemed to be better in its box. Hopefully it was just worn out from being handled all day.

My Uncle Harold’s petting zoo for special needs animals.

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Sun Dried and Rain Soaked

Today was our “last” day to collect laptops from high school students. We had over 200 returned, but we have even more than that still out in circulation. They’ll just have to collect them in the office though, because I’m not hunting them all down.

At least it was overcast and breezy in the morning, so it didn’t feel bad. We were busier than we had been all week, but still pretty slow. Lunchtime arrived quicker than any of us expected, and it wasn’t long before some rain arrived as well. I didn’t even really get a chance to eat until we had to pack everything up and move into the entryway at the Center for the Arts. I just stayed inside from that point on, and continued to inspect and scan laptops as they were brought in.

Ben came by near the end of the day to relieve Gary and Zach, and then helped me pack up at the end of the day. I made sure to remove the laptop pickup slide from the sign, and snuck in a quick The Office reference for Memorial Day. I went home for a little while before Autumn called for a ride from physical therapy.

Once I got Autumn, we went up to their house and munched on some leftovers until Summer got home with Noah. Then the kids wanted me to take them to the store for snacks, so we loaded up and went to Walmart. It was pretty busy there, and we ended up shutting the place down.

When we got back to the house, I laid around with the bunny for a bit while Summer watched TV, and one by one, everyone else crashed as well. Poor Eaddie was left as the last one up as always.

All the troops. Both sides.

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Done in the Sun

Today was day two, or three if you count the seniors a couple weeks ago, of sitting out in the sun collecting student laptops. Yesterday was slow, but today was slower most of the day. We did get a couple rushes that made up for it, but there are still a ton of devices left to be returned.

I started the morning with Gary, then got Zach, and Ben for a little bit in the afternoon. We had Stoby’s again for lunch since evidently it was convenient and easy. I had the same Cajun pasta with broccoli, but this time I remembered to ask for cheese dip.

We stayed pretty busy at the end, so it took me another half hour to get packed up and get out of there. I went home for just a little bit to take a cool shower, and then Autumn called asking if I could take her shopping for stuff to make dinner. It wasn’t until I actually got up to their house that she said their father was coming to dinner.

Walmart was pretty busy, but we got what we needed and got out. She made burgers while I made fresh-cut fries. She wanted to make fried pickles and onion rings, but I was afraid to fry the pickles before anything else because I wasn’t sure if the flavor would linger.

Summer got home and came in with another tiny baby bunny, but this time it was younger with closed eyes and some flesh wounds. She didn’t want to take care of it or end it, so she took it to a coworker that might have better lunch.

Dinner turned out really great in spite of how exhausted I was. Then Autumn fed the bunny we kept, and it actually took to the bottle really well. I laid with it for a little while as I finished up my chores in Animal Crossing, and then we all went to bed.

At least they breed like rabbits.

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Food Delivery

I got up extra early today for laptop pickup at the high school. Gary and Zach met me there, but didn’t seem to want to be much help. Zach was the most fussy. My laptop was dead, so I had to run to the shop to get my charger. I also brought a big Bluetooth speaker from Summer’s so we could have some music. To my surprise, they were doing teacher interviews right inside the PAC, but I didn’t let that stop me from jamming out. I think it was a hit overall.

Ben eventually showed up with some Stoby’s, and then ultimately let Zach and Gary leave for the afternoon while he stayed to help. We never got busy, and took fewer laptops than our senior day. Tomorrow and Friday will be hell. I got a pretty good sunburn, but I think next time we’ll start in the shade.

After work, I went home to lotion up and just rested in the cool air. My Stalk Market crashed, so I went onto an Animal Crossing subreddit and found someone with a store that was buying them for a bit over five times what I paid. I was surprised I got in so quickly with all the activity in the comments. After all that worry, I ended up a bellionaire.

Eventually Summer got home and I headed up to her place for the evening. Just as we sat down to eat, one of the cats showed up with a tiny baby bunny just squeaking away. I ran outside to fetch it, and it seemed unharmed. Autumn quickly took over and held onto it for the evening. She just reminds me of myself the way she always wants to keep all of the animals. In the end, that’s no good for anybody. It was cute though, and too young to release back into the wild for at least a little while.

I thanked the cat for dinner, and we crashed relatively early.

You’re going to get hare all over the place.

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Back in the Office

I went straight to the high school this morning to try and clean up in preparation for picking up 1,000 more laptops through the rest of the week. It really was like I had to re-learn my own processes just because it’s been so long. I felt pretty lost most of the morning, but at least I had my speakers.

I ended up taking a late lunch with Summer, where we went through the Arby’s drive-through, then ate in her office. Every time I go to lunch late, I forget how awful and busy it is. I feel like I’ve kind of lost some of my taste for fast food too, but we haven’t been very adventurous at home in a while either. It’s just that nothing sounds good any more.

After lunch, I went to the shop to see if anyone could help me haul a bunch of fiber equipment out of my office. Ben had the new HP demo units in, so I disassembled one of them as well as one of the Lenovos just to compare. It’s all integrated and solid state now, so not at all like traditional computers. I told him they were mostly not repairable, and he basically just accepted that I won’t be doing many repairs any more. That’s a good thing.

We ended the day hauling the equipment out of my office and taking it back to the graveyard. Tomorrow is the big day, but I’ll have an extra set of hands and a better idea of what I need to do to keep organized. I went home and nearly fell asleep from exhaustion.

When Summer got home, I headed up and started warming up some dinner. Amanda called and asked if I could come help her into her house because she forgot her keys, so I ran across town to help, then went back to dinner. Summer crashed super early, and I tried not to lag too far behind. Tomorrow’s a big day.

“To beat the bureaucracy, make your problem their problem.”
-Marshall L. Smith

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Feudal Review

I felt a little sour this morning, so I went in to work a bit late. I wasn’t really supposed to be staffing the office anyway, so nobody really cared. I was surprised to learn that it was review time, but we really didn’t have much to talk about since we have a pretty communicative relationship. I would have liked higher marks for being one of the top performers, but we don’t reward good behavior here.

I had a really pointless conference call to try and set up a live demo of Linewize Classwize, and they seemed a little confused that all I really needed to see was the big-brother capabilities of their classroom management software. Since that call lasted through lunch, Ben and I ran to get BOGO Subway afterward, and chatted in the conference room.

Summer came by to eat my leftovers, but mostly to visit with me. Then I tinkered until quitting time. Autumn needed a ride home from physical therapy, so I got her and we stopped by my house to pick up my freshly delivered black flags. Then we went to Julie’s so I could try my hand at arts and crafts. She cut some vinyl and showed me how to screen print, and I made a handful of little desk pirate flags for my future conquests.

The screen printing process was tedious, but fun once I understood some of the different variables to control. It didn’t take long to become proficient with the tools I had, but to make all 36 flags I purchased, I started to really think of some ways to increase efficiency.

By the time I got a few done, Summer was home and ready to eat, so Autumn and I headed on up and had some leftover pulled pork sandwiches. We ended the evening with another thrilling episode of Game of Thrones, and stopped on a bit of a cliffhanger – probably the biggest we’ve had so far.

When you play the Game of Thrones, you win or you die. There is no middle ground.

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Student Driver

We got up this morning and picked at some leftovers for breakfast. Autumn continued watching The Sound of Music, and we watched through the intermission. Then she wanted to go out for a drive, so I let her take me to Walmart where we walked around the whole store to pick up whatever we could remember needing.

It rained pretty hard while we were in the store, but it quit by the time we left. I let her drive to the gas station to fill up the car, then we went by my house to feed the cat before going to her friend’s house to pick up some clothes she wanted to buy.

Shortly after we got back to the house, my parents invited us to Linh, so Summer, Eaddie, and I met up with them for an early dinner. Then it was back to the house to finish the movie. Summer eventually went for a run, and then we all sat down for an episode of Game of Thrones before bed.

Eaddie came out of her room to talk to me for a while as I worked on the blog. Then she sat next to me learning Spanish on Duolingo until I went to bed.

What’s “hospital” in Spanish?

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Ridgewood Gang

I woke up a bit before Summer this morning and played some Animal Crossing. When she got up, she had to run to the shop to help with their bay door that wouldn’t open again. Then when she returned, we went to the Ridgewood Brothers’ BBQ and waited in line for roughly an hour.

Social distancing had the line wrapped way around the back of the parking lot, but either way there were quite a few people there. Brandie was there just in front of the last person in line, so we chatted for a little bit. It was overcast but still warm to be out in line like that, so I’m thinking it’s preorders from here on out. We picked up a Hog Trough with some friends-benefits, as well as three giant beef ribs, which were my favorite of the day. Still didn’t get any burnt ends though.

When we finally got through the line, we stopped by to pick up the girls from their friends’ house. Then we went up the hill to eat. Summer developed a headache and napped for a while, and I just laid in bed with her watching YouTube for a frustratingly long time. I didn’t have any other plans, but it would have been nice not to burn an entire day just sitting around doing nothing.

Eventually she felt good enough to leave again, so we went back to my house so she could get her car. I immediately discovered the cat had chewed up the top of my avocado sprout, which sent me into even more of a rage. Summer went back home while I cooled off at home for a while. It wasn’t productive, but I did eventually get a shower that helped.

When I got back to their house, the girls were all finishing up Frozen II. Then we watched an episode of Game of Thrones before bed.

Three words: Bone Wind Chime