Tag: dog

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Iced to See You

I got up shortly after Summer this morning. I thought she was going to make waffles, but we used all of the milk for hot chocolate yesterday. Eaddie got up and went to her father’s for a little while, so Summer and I just got to decompress a bit. I assembled her birdbath, and it felt quite a bit cheaper than I expected. The main basin was crooked, so I’ll have to try and get a replacement part.

We kind of grazed most of the day, so we never really got a good meal. It was dreary and wet all day, but I really wanted to get the dogs out for a run, so I did. The ground was wet, but I managed to stay mostly dry this time. We went by the basin and Stilgar wanted to get all of the geese floating in the flooded pond. We went around the block to get past the water, stopped to see Dad, and eventually made it home again.

Eaddie headed home a little early so we could decorate cookies, and Dad ended up being able to come over, along with Eli, who stayed after while we watched a movie. I wanted to watch the new animated The Grinch, but Eaddie protested so I started Bad Santa. I don’t think anyone really cared for how it started, and Eaddie wanted to watch Dear Santa after we saw a trailer flash by. It was pretty low-budget, but not completely awful.

Summer sat and cross-stitched the whole time, and then everyone went to bed once the movie was over. I had been pretty tired, but somehow dragged the night out an extra couple of hours. I don’t know where the time goes.

Who’s ever heard of a Who, anyway?

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Sleeping Hours

I slept super late today. Eaddie was awake and texted our group chat from across the house, which woke me up. I got out of bed and baked a frozen breakfast pizza for us. She wanted to go out to find some more yarn for her crochet, so I took a shower and then took the dogs out for a run to Walgreens.

It had started to sprinkle a little bit as I stepped outside, but I figured it was light enough that we should go ahead and run. I just left the dogs outside the store with my Onewheel while I went inside. That ended up being a little bit of an event, because they couldn’t give me my prescription up front. I had to go back to the back, but they weren’t sure what would happen since they cancelled and re-shelved my medicine. After a quick call to someone else, they decided I would probably just get a refund for that portion of the order, so I went back to the front to get my other stuff and then left.

We continued running through the neighborhoods for nearly four and a half miles before we got home. Luckily it didn’t really rain too much. The ground got a little bit wet, but it wasn’t so bad that my pants got soaked. The girls were home when we got back, so I tried to clean up a bit so Summer could bake cookies.

Eaddie and I ran to the Neighborhood Market for some stuff we needed for Christmas dinner, and also for dinner tonight. I got some noodles and stuff to finish making the turkey soup. Eaddie wanted to try a Ramune soda with the glass marble seal, but then proceeded to throw away the plastic ring that lets you open the drink. We got to my parents’ house to pick up some potatoes, and luckily I was able to pop it open with a chopstick.

Once we got home for the night, I made the turkey soup while Summer finished up cookies. Eaddie and I were the only ones that ate, but we thought the soup was good. Summer wrapped up some more stuff, and then everyone wound down pretty quickly to go to bed.

Not quite yet.

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Down ‘Till Out

I didn’t sleep very long, and it hurt all day. I got up and warmed up the last of the pizza for brunch. Summer did some work from home, and I did a load of dishes. I eventually had a shower and took the dogs out for a nice, long run. Mom and Dad saw me by the roundabout and circled around to holler at me, but there was traffic. We kept running through the neighborhoods until we got home.

I cleaned up some more stuff in the fridge, and roasted the turkey carcasses in the oven so I could make soup. Eaddie was playing in a community concert at Tech in the evening, so we eventually got around for that. Summer and I ran by Walgreens first, but the pharmacy was closed. She needed a lemon, so we ran to the Neighborhood Market for that, then picked up Dad for the concert.

I was surprised at how many empty seats there were, on account of how many people were playing in the band. It was a decent concert for a single day of rehearsal. Then it was back home where Summer crashed and I cooked down the turkey bones into soup. I was up pretty late taking care of that, so hopefully the end product is worth it.

Bone Sifter

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Fancypants Fundraiser

I caught up on sleep last night, but we had plans all weekend. Eaddie had her fundraiser event at Co-Create in the evening, so the girls were up and around to take care of some last-minute errands for that. I got up and out with the dogs for a good run since I knew we wouldn’t have time later in the evening. As soon as I got home, we had to start getting ready to go set up.

When we got to the venue, the whole crew was standing outside the front doors because they evidently didn’t unlock as intended. Dan had contacted the owner, but I glanced at the maglock sensor, borrowed Eaddie’s music folder, and bing, bang, boom.

I hadn’t seen the inside, and was disappointed that it wasn’t a maker space, but it did seem like a hip new co-working space. We got things started, rearranged some tables, and then Summer wanted to go print some stuff off at the wash. I thought we had decided against it, and were just going to set out some instrument cases for donations, as though the kids were busking.

After that unnecessary trip, we decided to stop at Panda Express for dinner. I ordered on the app, but the long line churned quickly and it would have been quicker to just order in person. I recognized a couple people as they came through, and talked to Alicia briefly before we got our food. I thought the rice was dry, and Summer almost died from something spicy. I thought it was a good spice level, but she must have gotten some seeds or something.

We got back to Co-Create just after things had started, and we walked around a little bit before finding a place to sit permanently. It was a neat, uncrowded event. Dad showed up and joined us, and we rode it out to the end. There was a little bit of cleanup, but I think it went faster than the setup. Then we snuck out the back door and headed home.

Eaddie went out with her friends, Summer went to bed, and I took a long bath. My Vine evaluation period passed, though it says it will take up to four days for my account to be updated. I guess now I need to slow down on ordering, because my item value will probably go up from here.

Just some light B and E on a Saturday evening.

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That’s an A

I wasn’t sure who would be at work today. Maggie stopped in briefly, but left. I eventually saw Charles and Gary separately at different times of the day. I sat in the dark for the entirety of it. Just before lunch, a girl knocked on the door and wanted to know if I could help after she locked herself out of her Prius. I told her I didn’t have any tools to try such a thing, and she said nobody else was capable of Googling a locksmith for her, so I called one for her and then waited with her until he showed up.

After that, I went to Arby’s for some cheap lunch. Then the afternoon dragged until I finally left a bit early. The car was reporting that I would have to charge to make it home, but I pressed on. I stopped to see Summer in Conway, then took the highway to Plumerville before getting back on the interstate. That got me home without any stress.

I felt like my blood pressure was super high, but it wasn’t when I checked it at home. I took the dogs out for a really long run over to Ridgewood Brothers. Robert took another spin on the Onewheel, and then I continued around Kroger and up the bike path to the middle school before heading to my parents’ house. Dad was flying the drone and following us around until we got there. By then I couldn’t feel my fingers or toes, so we headed home for treats.

I warmed up some leftover pizza and cleaned up as much as I could. Eli and the girls were watching some documentary series on Michael Jordan, so I went to my room and wrapped up my own stuff before bed. I should be safe with over 90% of my Vine orders reviewed, so I’m excited to see what the next tier unlocks.

Break couldn’t have come soon enough.

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Pay the Bills

I put the car in the shop to charge at work this morning, and then thought I’d be alone for the day, but Maggie was actually working. I told her about The Kings of Tupelo that Summer watched on Netflix, so she put it on in the morning while we hung out in the dark, quiet office. I was on my own for lunch because she had an appointment, so she left and then I went to retrieve the car.

Earlier in the morning, I got an alert that the car had stopped charging. I saw an Entergy truck outside and figured they were working on installing the new HVAC. I figured I would deal with the garage door with maintenance whenever I got there, but unfortunately nobody was around and they took the ladder they had left in the shop overnight. With no power and no way to reach the release on the garage door, I figured I was stuck. I texted Maggie, who called her friends in maintenance for help. They were already at lunch, so if I wanted out, I would have to get creative. I later learned that the school never started paying for power in that building, so we had basically been stealing power since we took over.

I couldn’t swing a loop of network cable high enough, at least not in the dark. Then I looked around and found a long power distribution bar with a power cable on one end, and was able to stand on top of a pallet jack to just barely hook the power cable over the release lever. With a tug, I had unlocked the door, but that was just the beginning. The spring wasn’t tight enough, so the door was super heavy. I could barely lift it, much less throw it high enough to stay up so I could back the car out. Fortunately, I was able to use the dumb summon feature to back the car out from the app while holding the door up with my other hand. It worked great, and I was off to pick up my Rally’s.

While I was in line for food, I watched the new Superman trailer for the first time. I was absolutely pumped, and I watched it half a dozen more times in the afternoon. I love Superman movies. I never knew much about him in the comics, and I’ve only seen some of the TV shows. I probably need to watch Superman and Lois, because I bet I’d like it, but I absolutely cannot wait for James Gunn’s new movie in the summer.

The afternoon crawled by, and Maggie left for the day when it was time to get her kids from school. I left a few minutes early myself, since I ate lunch at my desk. I got home and had an awesome run with the dogs. We looped through the basin trail twice just to dump some poop, and then went to see Dad before going home. They did four miles at an average of 10.4 miles per hour, and a peak of 20.8. They got hot dogs and food, and then the girls left for their sibling dinner with Mom.

I took care of a bunch more Vine stuff and then tried to settle down for bed pretty quickly, but I had to pay a couple bills myself. I’m ready for Christmas break.

Wrapped

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Margarita Special

Today started out relatively mild but got cold quickly. Kyle and I were the first two in the building after some light rain on the way in. Randy ended up not taking the day off, so he was around for most of the day. I kept going back and forth with Tesla all day to try and work out a better financing deal.

Lunch was the only thing really worth mentioning. We went to Skinny J’s again for their lunch special. They had a chicken bacon ranch quesadilla for seven bucks, and it was super filling. Maggie got some pickle chips and fried pepper jack for the table too.

The afternoon felt a bit slow, and Summer asked me to swap cars with her on the way home, so I had to stop and supercharge a bit just to make sure she’d have enough to get home after a late night with her company Christmas party.

I got to town and ate some $1 McNuggets before taking the dogs for a run. I saw Dustin and his daughter riding bikes through the new neighborhood and stopped to talk to them for a bit before continuing to see Dad. Kyle from Tesla called while I was boarding, and opened up my order so we could add Summer to the application to try and get the best possible rate. The dogs got hot dogs and food when we got home. Then I cleaned up a small bit of leftovers out of the fridge before tinkering with the garage door opener that I wanted to add to the other inside garage door.

The girls both got home super late. Summer went straight to bed, and Eaddie chatted with us for a little bit. I wrapped things up late, but got to bed at a normal time.

Keep that ratio up!

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Don’t Be Salty

I was super tired this morning, and got a slow start because of it. I switched things up a little so I could get out of the house earlier, and got to work a couple minutes early, right behind Randy. He hung around the office for a while today. Maggie was out, so otherwise it was super quiet. Charles was the only one that stopped in at all, and he talked to me for a little while.

I met Randy and Jim at Skinny J’s for lunch, and they had a $6 turkey sandwich that was pretty good. I hate paying for a lunch meat sandwich in a restaurant, but I felt like the price was okay, and all of the food I’ve ever had there has been pretty good. I did my best to avoid any extra salt because my blood pressure had been high all morning. I ended up taking a clonidine to try and get it down a bit.

Randy got fighting mad with some of the other admin, so we worked on the Technology Handbook some more, then had a pretty easy afternoon until we left. Even though we were out a little earlier than usual, I still ran into stupidly slow traffic on the way home. Cars were driving under the speed limit for absolutely no reason, and not allowing people to pass.

I got home in a rush just before Summer got there, and took the dogs out for a run. It was pretty cold, and still wet in places, but they did a good job. We skipped the basin trail in favor of some more neighborhood blocks, stopped to see Dad, then made it home for some hot dogs.

It was only Tuesday and I was already running a pretty bad deficit on sleep, so I did my best to crash early. Eaddie came home and wanted more help ordering for Christmas, and then it was off to bed.

Review all the things!

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Cleaning Dash

I woke up pretty early this morning and fed the dogs before I got to work cleaning up the house. With my parents’ house in disarray from the water damage, we’ll have the most room to have Christmas here, but there hasn’t been a flat surface anywhere in the entire house for weeks. I had a ton of projects to finish, and precisely one day to complete most of it.

I did a fair job, but I just kept unearthing more and more stuff. Between periods of cleaning, I kept an eye on my blood pressure. Then I’d take breaks to pump out some Vine reviews as I got those particular things cleaned up and out of the way.

Dad texted that Mom was making bún thang, but I didn’t realize that she was only just starting. I took a shower and kept on cleaning. Summer came home from the gym and took a shower, but then complained about feeling lightheaded, so I took her blood pressure again before I left.

The dogs chewed up more of the water hose at some point last night, and I assumed it was because they hadn’t been out on a run, so I knew I needed to get them out. I took the Onewheel to my parents’ house, hoping the wet ground wouldn’t affect me too bad, but it did. My entire leg and shoe were soaked by the time I got there.

I left them in the pen and went in to eat, then took them back home so I could continue cleaning up. It was also our only weekend to really be home as a family, so we had to decorate the Christmas trees. The girls did most of that because I started to feel a little off for some reason. I never did get to the old house like I planned, but Eaddie and I will be the only ones on an extended Christmas break, so I guess that’s my time.

As I got ready for bed, I got a tiny bill from my first ER visit at Baptist Health for $11. It looked like there was also a “pending” insurance payment of nearly $4k, but I also know I’m on a high deductible plan. Hopefully that’s not “pending” a denial before it’s passed along to me, but I have a feeling that it is. I guess we’ll wait and see, but I’ll be really surprised if I’m only responsible for $11 for that visit, when St. Mary’s took $300 for doing basically nothing.

I guess that was my calculated risk to take, so hopefully I still came out ahead over time.

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Rollin ‘Round Town

Today was a good day to sleep in and have some time to myself. My appointment was in the early afternoon, so I had time to eat some food, take a shower, and open up some more Vine stuff before leaving the house. Summer wasn’t sure if she’d make it back in time to join me, but when she wasn’t home by the time to leave, I decided to take the Onewheel on my own. The sun was shining and it wasn’t too cold, so it was a great day for a ride. Monalisa and the other ladies in the office were fascinated by the Onewheel, but I didn’t wait in the lobby for very long before I got called back.

My blood pressure wasn’t bad, but we discussed my near-blackout events and a timeline of my pressure. Then Crystal came in and we talked about modifying my meds. She was good with me using up my old amlodipine since it wasn’t too far out of date. I’ll just continue to log my stats and share them with her through their clinic portal.

Summer got home shortly after I did, and started to wrap some more presents. I took the dogs out for an extended run since they were really good and we had quite a bit of daylight left, and we waved at a whole bunch of people along the way. As we got back to the house, they just kept on running, so we did another figure-eight around the block before getting back home.

Summer was still wrapping up her wrapping and watching some documentary series about a conspiracy theorist and some hot-to-trot kid from Mensa. I ate some leftover dumplings and then warmed up some for her when she got hungry. Then I laid down on the couch with her for a little while before wrapping up for the night.

Even with medicine, it’s a “best by” date!