early early long week

 Every day starts early early, even before the alarm, as the dogs begin to bark.  Keep on learning all the new things, so much at once it's like cramming a month into three days so far, and doing a lot of backlog they had stacked up of filing and so forth, trying to keep all the processes separate in my brain - and check check doublecheck every printed thing for typos (two today, *sigh*)  tomorrow is another day.  

 

//It's also been quite loud there, lots of talking, echoey etc... with a big temperature and humidity difference between the plant and the office, so I have a bit of a headache that I am putting down to that at the moment, besides being tired and needing to drink a lot more liquid that isn't coffee when I'm there.  Putting on my music and setting my alarm (although I expect Sweetie dog to wake me up earlier, and getting back to sleep after that is touch and go)

penguin at work

 

 wireless keyboard and mouse - we ended up putting in a wired keyboard

First day at the office job (still at post office on Saturdays) was good, just got to find out what their processes are and keep my eyes and ears open and not go too fast I miss stuff or mistype stuff because someone is looking over my shoulder.  More to learn tomorrow.  We had a lot of running around after work - going to have to get used to that - because so many things close now right after I get off here (and aren't open when I start!), it's going to be a bit harder to get some things done but not impossible  ie: bank, feed store, etc. both close at 4 and 5.  I did some Japanese at home (woke up way too early again, 3:30 am - stayed up and got ready) and some on my 30 minute lunch break, and finished the rest at home.  Laundry done, lunch made for tomorrow, heading to bed soon - try to sleep more.

After those dog baths yesterday and sitting in an office chair today I think I might have to do some yoga to stretch out my lower back!

sunday dog wash

 

Did packages today.  Washing dogs tonight - and then start the job early tomorrow.  Did Japanese, and am planning on making the kielbasa and rice dish for Esme in a little bit - they are working on making another pan of peanut butter fudge right now.

friday

Did all the Japanese today, and half of a postal route.  It was raining a lot.  I've got rice on the stove to put up, and Mark is planning on making a few pork chops.  Starting the new job on Monday.

Went and looked up the gauge fuse for the truck - it had popped again, and I need to try to fix it when it isn't raining.  It operates the gas gauge and the speedometer.

I took that budgeting video's ideas on calendars and made one that showed everything I have been tracking - Esme stared hard at it.  It's even got when we put the chicken feed or dog food into the bin vs. when I have bought the latest bag.  Gotta know where everything is and when it happens and then I can start getting it by the tail, maybe. 

bits

 

 

Some good news, will keep working on it, I work the weekend as well, then busier next week.

Did more Japanese today, got the dog food before the hurricane rains come in, and cancelled a meeting for tomorrow.  I also watched a budgeting video today - we do budget, but there are always things that come up that are 'left field' it feels like.  If I hadn't been tightening us up on our budgeting the past few months, and reducing possible trips at the same time, we would have had it worse.  After the video, I've got some more ideas for going forward - maybe save some on animal feed and my phone bill, but I just have to see what I can make work for us.  

ie: I've been tracking the 'frequency' of when I am buying the animal feed for the past few months to nail down exactly how much I need to get each month - and maybe start buying it more ahead of time and save trips.  I know there are 'bulk' as in, longer time plans than the monthly on my phone, and they are supposed to save, but I haven't been able to nail that down and commit to any more than once a month refill, either.  Those are those things you know you should do, and that they would save money, but they're hard to do when you are just trying to juggle everything.

Winter is on it's way, as well, and we'll need to figure out how to bring propane to the house for Mark's office heater (which saves us on electricity by keeping his room warmer, but the rest of the house stays colder, and Esme's room is right next to the heater and the house was planned to keep that room warmer, and it does) - since the other truck is not working and my mail truck has a topper on it, transporting it will be more difficult.  We might have to exchange more smaller tanks or find a strap the tank in standing up in the back seat.

I fired up the sewing machine and repaired a pair of jeans.  I've dug down in all of my old things and pulled out what is suitable and washed it.  I'm a smaller size now than I was five years ago,  closer to what I was ten years ago.  I definitely felt it this week that I wish I had a sister or a friend my size that I could trade clothes off with - but I may have to find a way to the thrift store since I will need some nicer looking clothes and I have some but not enough for full weeks.

bits

Making some progress, both in Japanese and in other things - didn't do as much to that story as I had hoped I would, because I was doing other things - did finish a small painting and started some work on another bigger one that needs finishing

inspiration board

I made a few more synesthete polyglot images the other day.

The extent of my political comments is thus, because yea, it's September, and November is arriving much too soon.  I know - it is going to be winter before we know it and that is always the hardest time to get through with weather, extra heating, holidays etc etc... not to mention the prices of everything has went up AGAIN after doubling several times already in the past few years.  They say it's all going down, we just haven't had it reach us yet .. and yet, it hasn't reached us yet.  Milk, bread, meats, gas, animal feeds, insurance, electricity - we've tightened what we can and I'm doing what I can to make it better. 

We watched the 'debate', so loosely fitting that definition, which was actually two people yelling at each other and avoiding the actual topics, which is par for the course.  I found it very interesting that the investment, financial and technical news stories I read on it all were saying 'this election is going to be very very close' and noticing the avoidance tendencies (pouncing on easy hot points and repeating themselves, instead of talking about what the everyday person wants to know their stance on) and those same financial news authors were stating they wish the actual questions had been answered, instead of returning to 'advertising and style points' while the other 'normal' news outlets all seemed to say whoever they normally lean towards won it and gloss over the fact that neither of the candidates said very much at all substantive. 

//my take - I got a lot more of the actual info I wanted to know from those financial blogs and news sites, side-by-side policy comparisons, charts and numbers, which I guess the general public gets bored with that and just wants to hear about celebrities and shock-and-awe.

 

Today I went to that morning meeting and then came back home, ate leftovers, did chores and slept - there was a power outage tonight while we were eating dinner, but at least we had dinner made

 

nothing else much to report, waiting for phone calls and practicing spreadsheet stuff, have some more things I need to do Friday, including getting dog food

zivis is Fish in Latvian

poisson is Fish in French

peixe is Fish in Portuguese

魚 (sakana) is Fish in Japanese

kr-ack, ka-pow

 

Eh, I kind of want to do some Latvian review as well, after all this time... but I'm making such good progress in the Japanese that I'm actually recognizing words phonetically quickly, instead of sounding them out bit by bit, and the low level Japanese profile is doing a review of katakana, which I actually DO need... *sigh*

Patreon post with recipe below:

 

pea soup with yellow and green peas and onions, and cheesy toast forthcoming

It's turned a bit cold outside, the goat was sunning herself, as were the cats.  The cats have been seeking out warm blankets and sunbeams to curl up on here inside the house, as well.

I touched on three different stories the past few days, but there are so many in my files I can bounce around and come back to each one with new eyes and do something a bit more on it.  The story I've put on my bench to work on today is about 3,000 words and the two that I published at the beginning of the month were both around 5,000 give or take, so it's in the range if I just get some knuckles down on it and make sure it still says what I want it to say, at the same time.

The story is called 'INGie', I've been working on this story off and on since 2019. Since it has been years now and it has sort of sat there waiting for me to do more with it - I'm trying to see if it's ready for the 'publish a thin book' treatment, like Mikki Mack and Salt Magic, which I published earlier this month.

The story is by nature sad, but also full of wonder and possibilities and think-outside-the-box.  It is about an alien that has crash-landed and there is a mutual protective relationship between him and the first human that found him.  The alien has strange powers, but also a distinctly non-human way of looking at things, so the things he creates with his powers and the materials in the warehouse are by definition ethereal and nearly impossible.  I posted a little excerpt on my art page : so I'll repeat here

"He is getting better at language, but still it is slow and he takes his time to find the right word.  Often he will stand there peering at me trying to project an image long enough that I might pick up on it.  The problem is these thoughts are not easy to form in my mind - he is the one working a masterpiece down to the barest shapes and forms to wedge it into the squishy clay of the human mind.  Is it you? Is it me? I focus on the image he has sent to me, trying to make it come together with the object I see in front of me.  It is him, he says, or at least his clothes. He is making his goodbye clothes. I don’t like the sound of that. "

 

bits

Not much to report, did Sunday packages, wrote some extended work into my story 'As Told by a Dog', and try to get ready for a meeting tomorrow.  Trying not to stress on that, but I'm still me.  There is a lot up in the air and contradictions on that and Mark doesn't think it is a problem, but I am pessimistic.  

 

I've been doing the budgeting for the months ahead - and keep looking at anywhere else I could pick up hours.  The work world just seems stacked wrong now - something went majorly wrong maybe what, fifteen years ago?  How are regular people supposed to make it with all these HR scheduling rules that counter-compete?  Things were more flexible when I was a young adult.  Some of these applications don't even have any way to tell them what hours you can work - they just off the bat require full availability.  And if everyone requires full availability all of the time but only gives you part time work - then that sets people up for failure right out of the gate.

 

Mark made dinner.  Did Japanese today, and I will do a little more before I head off for bed.

this is the illustration I had made for the story, when it was still going to be in the anthology.  It is only 2500 words right now, but it started this afternoon at 1,000 so that is actually a really good expansion.  I worked on the 'Kardega' story the other day and it is at about 1400 words.  I worked on the very first page format of a pig story I had written 'off the cuff' one afternoon last week.  I got some really good material for Cosmic Cat, but it came with chatting with an AI so it is all repetitive and needs to be majorly pared out and see if there is enough there to then take me off writing on the idea.

more cooking

I had a full route today, but it wasn't super long.  I came home and we planned on making meatballs that would last us a few weeks, with the grocery items I got the other day, and our chicken eggs.

 

 

I wrote up Mark's recipe at Neurodivergent Cooking : Meatballs to Freeze

It's a fairly normal recipe, but the other version I made isn't.

Fish loaf or Canned mackerel filets with zucchini  Mark called it 'fishloaf' - I thought of it as way of making it something like the meatloaf recipe but using up my canned mackerel out of the cupboard.  Then I served it with my mock sushi-style brown rice, nori seaweed that I like and red chili paste, wasabi and mayonnaise - all on a bed of soy sauce.

 

Package runs tomorrow, and since I didn't sleep well last night, I'm going to crash.

friday here we go

 Had a lot of things to do early this morning, and went and got them done - groceries, and so forth, and back home before 9 am.  Chopped up all the vegetables to go in the freezer.  Then I had an online meeting at 11.  I helped Mark take photographs and video of his project that he has been making on the 3D printer.  After a bit, Esme will be home and we'll decide what to do for dinner.

since I had that online thing I took a couple of pictures for my artist page to test the camera angles and so forth - but ended up going with the second one for the page

That is a little cat painting I was working on the other night - I still need to add some more black lines and go over a few places before I make the second one.

Last night I made dinner for Esme and I and used half of the weekly container of sushi rice I had made, some kielbasa and orange sweet peppers and a good selection of spices : oregano, paprika, onion powder, black pepper and salt - to make a very flavorful dish.  I definitely want to make that again.

Mark's pizza order:  I always switch up what he wanted to do with the order of the toppings in the pizza - but what makes sense (and he agreed today) is to put the pepperoni on first, then the cheese, then the spices (garlic, black pepper, and oregano).  He always used to put the pepperoni on last, and it would get so crispy that I didn't like it.  But because my instinct is to put it on first, and he didn't do that, it made me stall in the past that he would come out and it would be 'all backwards'.  I thought I'd write it down this time.

Did Japanese and Swedish again today.  The Swedish has went forward into a section that I know a little better.  I'll hear more about the little car hopefully soon, and about the meeting I had this morning.  I work the weekend.

Wayward Sparrows

When the world is loud
and spinning in your head
your heart is thumping
running one hundred miles a minute
now, but not before
when you kept up your smile
and tried your very best
as we do - when it is needed
now, when the curtains are closed
and the stage is empty
all should be calm
but continues fluttering
shaken with intensity
perhaps it is time
to take a walk
let the wind and sunshine
sweep over you
perhaps bringing a word
or a whisper
dropped from the feathers
of a wayward sparrow

whaley thursday bits

 

That's kind of a to-done list, instead of a to-do list, up till right now, of course.  I don't know what is with one of the dogs deciding it is time to bark at 3 am every morning lately... but it invaded my dream this morning and whatever the lady I was talking to was about to say, it turned into a broken record repeat of bark bark bark mid-sentence.  *sigh*  So I got up and got myself ready.

I did a couple of illustrations for an animal book, and wrote a bit on a futuristic story that was started a few years ago and I've thought back to it a few times since then wondering why I didn't take it any further than a few paragraphs - added some more to it and it might go somewhere - bit like Fifth Element meets the post office... so far.  Posted my book links around a little and then started getting all the dodgy message requests, of course, as happens. Was up to five just now, and all of them dodgy.  I could have begun editing some more poetry or one of the other stories in my book - maybe the one about the alien, but I sort of just sat back and had a good brain wander, instead.

I had another bowl of that really good chicken, broccoli and orzo soup from the other day, for lunch - it was much thicker today but still very good. There was a small cucumber in the garden so I made cucumber sauce and put it on sushi rice with soy sauce and it was a lot like that cucumber sushi roll from the restaurant, except, not all in one roll.  I still have to think on what to make for dinner - we have kielbasa in the freezer.

 

I've been eyeing some Japanese fish cake recipes to make with potatoes and my canned mackerel - it looks easy and I have everything for it right there - but I know no one else wants that, so I might have to make it for myself tomorrow after my interview.  We need to use those potatoes up one way or the other.  The ones in the garden are doing good but it will be October / November before it is time to check them for pulling.  Whenever the vines turn yellow.

I sat down to paint this little cat I was working on, and couldn't find the paintbrush I was using last night.  I know I washed it.  I know I brought it upstairs - I was very careful not to leave it downstairs!  But I lost track of where exactly I put it upstairs except 'in a good place, a jar, like where it belongs'  But which jar!?!  Brain : I don't know, a good one?  Not the right one.  I had put it in the pencil cup between the stairs and my computer desk, instead of walking it all the way over to the art table.  As soon as I had washed the other brush and come upstairs it was like 'access granted' to the memory from yesterday and I picked it up on my way to the art table to put away with the other brush.

bits again

Here are the links to the books I finished editing  this week. I'm glad I've gotten these two short books out in a little under a week, as they were waiting with just bits and pieces that needed to be finished.  I know I won't have that sort of rapid-fire on anything I might try to write from scratch - so I'm using up my stack while I can.   

Mikki Mack book : 

Kindle link 3.29 (with color illustrations)  -- Paperback link 4.99

"Mikki Mack is a little cat with a lot of attitude, and a lot of heart. She tells the story, from a particularly cat point of view, of how she came to be living at the little house at 67 Maple Street and how things look from the viewpoint of a quite pretty small grey cat (with a gloriously long fluffy tail). Mikki recalls how she was found on the Lost Day, adventures with the mechanical mouse, smiling ceramic duck, a perfect sock and the very special thing she did to help when Mr. Mack got a cold."

 

Salt Magic book : 

Kindle link 2.99 (with b/w illustrations) -- Paperback link 4.99

"Day after day was exhausting. The future was so bright, graduating from Divination school. We were supposed to have all the answers, right? Hindsight is all 20-20, and even those that study the Future don't always get it right. But it takes years and the realization that this magic is not what it seems - it is tearing every cell in your body apart, because you are not built the same way everyone else is. In fact, very few of your kind ever survive. This, is salt magic. And knowing that, makes all the difference. A thinly veiled fantasy story of my experience having Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome, otherwise known as POTS"

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I went to sleep last night knowing I had to be up early today to go cover a postal route.  But then, I woke up way too early, and decided not to go back to bed, got ready instead.  I made my thermos of coffee.  I planned what I was supposed to do, in what order, to get the day done.  And then, at 5:30 am, the carrier texted me saying she is 'going to go in anyways'... so now I don't actually NEED to go anywhere.  I did water the garden, and take one bag of trash up to the road in the sled.  *blows air up forehead*

 

So I was left a bit hanging.  I went and edited a twelve page story into a thirty-four page book, and got it ready for publication.  It probably won't be available for purchase until tomorrow.  

 

Then, I sort of fell out on going to town.  And here I am writing this, a drop in a puddle far from any river that will take it to the ocean.  Caught between wanting to curl into a ball because of the economy and knowing that I need to keep doing things and getting things out and taking chances and it isn't going to get better by itself.

Did some Japanese, and some Swedish.  Put out a promotion post for my little cat book.  The books I brought to the gallery are slowly selling now, and the rest of the toys that I made a few years ago.  I do mean slowly.  I got a check in the mail yesterday that will help a little bit with gas, but I haven't knit more toys, and I'm not sure if/when I will order new copies of these two small books to put in the basket there.  The cat book is cute, has illustrations, and might do well.

I'm just trying to stay optimistic but all of that uses social energy, too.

 

Later : we made dinner,  finished the rest of my Japanese lessons, and drew some more digital illustrations that might be used in my novela. 

 

bits

 Was all set this morning to go run things to the dump and get chicken feed, if the truck would go to both places - and then literally as I was about to step in the shower the phone rang and they wanted me to go do a different route, but come in two hours later so I could use the vehicle.  I scrabbled myself up into a higher gear and got the chicken feed on the way in, and then went and split the route with someone else.  I had never been on that route before, so it was a learning curve, but I only had to 'follow my nose' in a few places, mostly where they have changed the names of the roads since the notes were written.

Came home and put some of our tomatoes from the garden that were in the freezer with lemon basil, orange bell pepper, a bit of tomato paste and spices on the stove for a sauce, to go over some pasta I had cooked too much of the other night.  I served that with some Italian bread and an omelet for each of us.  It was really good except since it had been cherry tomatoes, there were a lot of tomato skin pieces in it that we had to pick out - cooking it longer and putting it through a blender would have helped with that, but it still tasted amazing for all garden stuff that had been frozen a few months ago.

Did some Japanese this morning before I knew I needed to go in - will check what I haven't done and get to it before falling over asleep.

Cooking cooking ....

I've been working at putting up the recipes at Neurodivergent Cooking that I use often - and finally got around to putting this banana cake recipe up.

 

I did some assorted cooking today after I got back from the postal packages route.  I only had like a dozen people ask me why we're delivering on Labor Day, well, if we don't, those packages and tomorrow's too will be all piled up, and it's really tough on someone to have to do it all in one day (and get paid for just one day).  We kind of appreciate getting an extra day to do it in.

I made my banana 'flan' cake - but with all purpose flour, for demonstration purposes.  I often use my brown rice flour in it, and it does change the texture.  I documented the process at Neurodivergent Cooking : Banana Cake, not Flan

2 mashed bananas, 3 eggs, less than 1/2 cup granulated sugar, splash whole milk, baking powder, salt, less than 1 cup flour, mix it all up - bake at 375 degrees for about a half hour (but the link above has step by step with pictures)

Then I made the brown rice for the week - to use in fried rice and for snacks.  When I've got it in there it makes cooking pretty easy if we're not doing something specific I have the rice ingredient to fall back on.  With pre-cooked rice and other things I keep in the freezer, a decent and pretty healthy meal for two is only about fifteen minutes away if I want it to be.  I open a can of fruit or put some bread or an omelet or another vegetable beside it and there you go.

Then I decided to go all in and make soup for dinner, and ended up having enough for another day this week, too.  I was intrigued by a recipe that I had all the materials for in the cupboard, basically, and I tried it out.  I think it was a success - although we don't often have soup for dinner, it was just for Esme and I - as Mark was having his leftovers he saved from last night's family dinner of porkchop and potatoes.

The soup was based on an 'Italian Broccoli soup with Orzo pasta' recipe - and it had a lot of garlic in it, which I did not have and Esme probably wouldn't have liked that much in it, anyway.

The soup consisted of : orzo pasta, chicken bouillon, broccoli, orange sweet pepper, handful of green onions, some olive oil, a can of chicken noodle soup in a brand no one else wanted to eat *roll eyes* but added to this really well, black pepper, salt, one small diced potato (raw), italian seasoning and garlic powder - simmered for a good while until the diced potato was soft and the orzo pasta had expanded all the way  - the pasta in this case was actually 'melon seed' style, but it worked the same

So wow, that was a lot of cooking

It may not look like it to some, but this is me trying to save on the groceries and make sure we eat stuff that is actually in our cabinets before going and buying more stuff.  It's not a popular idea with the family, but I think we need to do it.  If I don't cook the basic things like this, out of ingredients they normally wouldn't eat alone, (but I always keep around and that last a long time), then that just means more junk food, and that means buying more junk food because when it's gone they don't know what to eat (bit hyperbole, but it's close).  

 

It's nice that Esme and Mark can make their own food, but it tends to be hyperspecific foods, freezer meals, sandwiches and wrapped snacks, and not a lot of things they have to cook from scratch.  (barring Mark's peanut butter fudge recipe which they've gotten really good at, and scrambled eggs, and Mark does very well with meat products, which are pricey though, and I tend to not want to eat it every day).

 I'd rather buy a few things that I know we'll be using soon and use it with what I know is in the cupboard than have things go to waste before we get to them.  I'd also much rather eat a real ingredient thing than a little debbie cake or such, but I'm alone in that boat.  Esme will eat some of this though, if I put it on her plate and eat the same thing myself.  That worked really well with the lasagna noodles that had been in the cupboard, and several ramen dishes and of course we have eggs from our chickens, which I keep trying to find uses for.

 

Also made an article about ramen noodle dishes - because we've done a lot of those.  In the wintertime, Esme really did like them quite a bit, and we both still like the pork tonkatsu noodle dish.

 

Languages : I did the Japanese on both profiles and the Clozemaster - I'm not sure if I'll get to the two vocabulary sites right now or just try to do some more tomorrow.  I've done a little review on the Swedish, as well, because of the Scrapheap Challenge we're watching has Swedish subtitles... but I need a lot more review on the spelling on that.

bits in this long work weekend

this type of ramen noodles was in my cupboard from a few months ago when we visited a different kind of grocery - it is interesting because the seasonings inside came in lots of separate little tubes, chicken seasoning, fried onion, sesame oil with black garlic in it, soy sauce and chili sauce - all separate.  I asked Esme if she wanted to share it with me, and she said yes, so I put the chili sauce tube back in my curry bag in the fridge to try on something else.  Served it up with a boiled egg chopped up in the bottom of each bowl.
 

Hamburg parsley is more of a Spring herb but it is still growing

this is really good baked with potatoes, or in a soup 

I have that dehydrated broccoli that Mark keeps telling me I should make soup from for myself - I might get around to it one of these days coming up

Did all the Japanese yesterday after work, heated up leftovers from the fridge and went to sleep.  Did the package route this morning, and made the ramen noodles, and now am going to go get the Japanese done again for the day.  I do packages again tomorrow, and might be able to pick up some hours on Tuesday but that is tentative still.  The weather wants to rain, but very little of it is getting all the way to the ground.  And I'm tired.

 

Tried to sleep a couple of times after dinner - but I slept before dinner some and now trying to settle down afterwards just kept getting up and doing other things, read a cooking magazine, played a bit of the game, folded laundry, thought about my novela and what details I need to remember to touch on next, made spicy chili sauce on rice, made black tea with milk, did more Japanese on the high level...

today :

Japanese on the phone - level 11 and just crossed into Section 2

Japanese profile on the computer - level 20, at Section 2, unit 18

did Clozemaster, and babadum and baltoslav (several times on the last bit) - I'm getting to where I know a lot of the vocab words right off now, but I will need to start a practice somehow where I then have to spell out or write the word down as well, because I can recognize it, but I'm not confident about recalling it without prompt.

We're still watching that scrapheap challenge show with the Swedish subtitles - I thought they were Finnish, but more and more now they are Swedish.  And I did a bit of a catchup on DL for Swedish but really the level I had gotten to in there (level 11) is such that I need to review for a while before I can make any more headway, as the spelling for one thing is very difficult to remember. 

//I still find it funny, I post a picture of a ramen wrapper and mention learning Swedish and suddenly, my ad stream is full of Swedish suggestions and 'balkans' and oh, so many ramen types and ramen toppings and ramen recipes..... ?? Ga Ça Vi!

Mikki Mack book released for sale

Mikki Mack!

 I released this book on Amazon today, It is available for sale in paperback and in Kindle.  

I had been working on it since last November, but mostly in fits and starts.  Esme made the beautiful cover image, which continues to the back of the paperback with a glorious long fluffy tail, just like the description says.  I didn't feel, at first, that I could do anything to match her talent on the digital images - but I pushed myself to go out there and do something, so that the story could get out.  Mikki is a very sassy little cat - and she tells the stories of several cats of our own, and of friends, all wrapped up in one fluffy gray ball.

I am spurring myself to put out more of my stories just to get them OUT - I have so many just sitting here that I don't feel are good enough, or were waiting for some larger anthology... but in this day and age... getting it out and into the world is more important.  You never know when 'someday' isn't going to happen at all, for one reason or another.  Especially when you have social anxiety in general.

*sigh*  so yes, today is an 'oh my introvert' day.  I'm going to have to drink a lot more coffee and finish my Japanese and see where my brain is at before continuing with either : the little pig story, loosely based on a story Esme told me when she was a toddler, or setting up one of the House of Sunlight stories to edit separately and see where that gets me for page count.

I could comb through the Pinocchio's Grandniece is a Dachshund story sometime soon.. but as I said, I have so many things piled up that I freewheeled and had a great time writing, and then put in the drawer and said no one will like it.  They won't get a chance to like it or not like it if it never goes anywhere other than the drawer.  (That's easy to say, not easy to do).

And I did a video interview for online tutoring.  Another 'oh my introvert'.. but I just went and did it - because I do feel the experience was important and that I did have something to say about what I could do to teach words and reading.  I have a lot of experience with learning not only English, but other languages - and with having the kind of brain that doesn't immediately get it from the regular perspectives, so I can see lots of ways other people might get lost, and try to help them get to the goal.

1.)  Duolingo Japanese profile on level 20 : done

2.)  Duolingo Japanese profile on level 11 : did some but then I fell over for a nap

3.)  babadum to 50 cards at least : done

4.)  Baltoslav to 25 or more : 90 done

5.)  Clozemaster Japanese and Chinese 10 sentences each (that is their free daily limit)    : done

//I went and did some WaniKani - it's been such a time since I did that.. and I've forgotten so much of the onyomi and konyomi spellings but not doing it isn't going to help me get them right.

6.)  work on some more book stuff

:: started a Kindle Vella.... based on a writing prompt I have in a file.  It's called 'Tiger Stories' and it says it will take up to 72 hours for the first chapter to become live online

And I made lasagna - I'm about to go check on it in the oven right now.

Recipe at Patreon Neurodivergent Cooking : warning, it's leftover meatloaf in there... but you use what you got, use what you keep, keep what you use, that's one of the mantras of this style of cooking

Thursday thursday

the list

Japanese routine :

Duolingo profile at level 20 : done already, first thing, before schoolbus even

Clozemaster (Japanese then Chinese, 10 sentences each)  :  done

BaltoSlav Japanese words and pictures : at least 25 cards up to ? : done 75+

Babadum Japanese at least 50 cards : done to 75

Duolingo profile at level 11 : done, second thing, when I turned my second daily alarm off on the phone

*growl* I should do some more WaniKani review, but I don't wanna -------------

I did fifteen cards the other day and that felt like a lot as I had to make notes on ten out of the fifteen.   The format is much tougher - it's wrong it's just marked wrong AND doesn't come back up anytime soon unless it is related to another it is asking about - and it has konyomi readings which have to be spelled out perfectly as well as translation meanings.

 

I took a picture of the rosehips on the wild roses for someone I had given another type of rose plant to earlier this year.  She keeps wondering why her rose cutting I gave her is dying back and then getting just a few new leaves etc... I told her just keep watering it enough and when it gets to be winter it will be dormant, then in the Spring she'll see the magic. (ie: pink 'confederate' style multilayered roses)  The new leaves are a very good sign that it has grown much more root (it had 2 inches when I repotted it for her). 

Should I go and get chicken feed today?  It is in a different town than the place I went for groceries yesterday.  It is perhaps going to rain tomorrow, and then I work for three days (also raining).  There is still plenty of chicken feed - but I'm twitching whether I should go and do it while I have brain and time, and if the vehicle wasn't being tetchy it wouldn't really be a question of anything more than pushing myself out the door.  I should find some sort of plastic bin to put the backup battery in in the back of the truck, and then I'd feel better about that.  It would fit temporarily in my big toolbox if I took everything else out of it.

One of our older dogs, the one that hardly ever goes outside for more than two minutes, decided to go out the front door when I was getting the elderly cat in this morning.  She ran off up the road nose to the ground.  And she finally came back in with Charlotte now after about an hour.  I would have chased her this morning but she was doing the 'ha ha you can try but you can't catch me' and hasn't actually wanted out there in months... so I shrugged and said 'ok'.

Drink more coffee... think.  I sort of feel like today is in a holding pattern as I'm waiting on our paycheck to pay the bills, but don't have work or anything else that is actually required.  I don't feel fired up to cook anything in particular.  And that chicken feed bin is nearly full.  They will eat the stuff from the other store (that is open more hours than the one I would go to today, and also open on Sunday where this one is not), but I can definitely smell the difference between the two (commercial bigbox store stuff is darker, and smells like soy sauce) and have noticed that they eat this Amish-feed-and-tack-store stuff so much more willingly than the other, chasing handfuls of it across the yard etc.

timmas spred sig bra:

illustrations for the little cat book

my daughter had made me a really excellent cover image, but she was too shy to make any more for the interior of the book

I keep telling myself I should do a bit more on that.  I should really do a lot more on several of the stories that are 'ready but not ready.... '  They say if you keep holding it back because you don't think it's good enough it is really just that you're scared to give it away into the world where others will now see these thoughts.  That is very true with House of Sunlight, because those stories are of a 'wait, what, you broke my brain' twisted nature, as most of them began as dreams.  But the cat book is 'safe', mindless little cat story that is about being cute and even so, the grammar doesn't really matter as much because it is told by a cat.  Like that fox nine book I read.  But still, I never wrote the last story I had intended to (and my undercurrent says so?  make that the sequel, if it ever happens) but the book has well enough to stand on it's own at the same time with the five stories that are written in it. 

**lots of work today**... with still trying to keep it simple

I got somewhere: 

illustration from 'Mikki Mack' book

I submitted my little cat book for final review, without ordering a proof of it - I think it has one spelling error in it, maybe I can fix after they review it, the ebook thing pointed that out to me (it was in a name).

Throughout this heat, I've been making sure to water some every night.  And it is finally supposed to rain some tomorrow.  Harvested more basil and arugula tonight, washed and chopped them, and put them in the freezer.  I think I'll have to put that in a tomato sauce if I want Esme to eat any of it at all.  Or I can make another egg frittata with it.  There is another flush of little green tomatoes coming on two of the plants, and the cucumbers want to do something, again.  The peppers aren't sure, they took a beating in this hot weather, shedding some of their leaves, but they're thinking of blooming again.  There are little tendrils of potato leaf coming up above the soil where I had planted the potatoes last week. 

already wednesday bits

 

Three Worlds to Conquer, by Poul Anderson, 1964.  There is a pdf file of it floating around the internet for free - I found it by searching the words Aurora Space Traffic Control (which is a real thing) Moonship 17 and Jupiter Ganymede all inclusive words.  I have a real 60 year old copy of it that my cat was sitting on in a pile the other day and I told him No, by which he knocked that one to the floor and I said 'Oh, Poul Anderson?  Thanks for the recommendation!  I haven't read this one...'

I read a few chapters this morning, after I got back from town.

I didn't entirely fall off the wagon with Japanese - I just did a little bit of Spanish first.  I told Esme that I was in section 3 of Spanish, because she said she was in section 2.  Actually, I saw I'm in section 4... and I don't remember getting there.  So I did a few lessons in that this morning before the Japanese.

I went out and got the minimum groceries on the list, before the day heated up.  We were due for another scorcher today.  We should be okay for a bit, and I am waiting to see 1.) paycheck (the website that is supposed to show us barely ever works, so I just have to wait) 2.) still haven't heard about the little car from the mechanic, and I should send him a note to make sure he knows we're still interested.

The truck battery read 12.85 when I parked it today after getting the groceries from the nearest town.  I know that is within the range of averages I was posting yesterday - so I'm not worried about getting to work on Saturday, and Sunday, and Monday (packages for those two holidays).. but I will continue testing because it didn't come up 12.9 like I thought it should and it is still losing a lot of power on the hills.  I had taken the backup battery with me just in case, and after I unloaded the groceries, I brought it back into the house to keep it at a more stable temperature until I have to go out again.  Plus, it may rain on Friday, and the back of the truck topper leaks.

As I am putting the groceries away Daphne is sitting with her tail like this between the countertop/sink and she is facing the refrigerator (not shown) - and I had to trip around her several times.  She is pretty heavy, 75 lbs +, and when she 'parks' she is hard to get around especially with the straight out tail vulnerable in the walkway.  I saw a cartoon about cats lying right in the middle of the floor, so I drew a quick ten minute sketch just because.

I've played a little Stardew valley, and gotten through the green rain and built the chicken coop - I need to get back on doing a bit more of the Japanese routine now.  At least I haven't fallen over for a nap, yet.

(I need a list today)

Japanese routine :

Duolingo profile at level 20 : done

Clozemaster (Japanese then Chinese, 10 sentences each)  : done

BaltoSlav Japanese words and pictures : at least 25 cards up to ? : done

Babadum Japanese at least 50 cards :done to 75

Duolingo profile at level 11 : done + equal amount of Chinese

Spanish : Duolingo profile at level 23 : did 50 xp of this as well, just because I was discussing the parts of grammar that are still hard with Esme this morning.  She has her Spanish class beginning next semester.

I haven't done any French this week unless you count the game and seeing a thing here or there on the Internet.  It feels a little weird that the other language I dipped into was Spanish, instead.

 I made a version of 'Hong Kong Porkchop' yesterday, but next time we get some leftover actual meaty porkchop I will try it again 'for reals'. 

 I put the tomato and onion in the pan, then started the omelette on the side, and added brown jasmine rice that was precooked, and pulled pork barbeque that Mark had made last week to that, and then served it with the omelet.  

 the tomatoes had started to wrinkle, it was freeze or use time...

The actual recipe that I found that had all those same ingredients did minced cooked porkchop, cooked with tomato and onions and precooked rice and flavored with soy sauce into a sort of flat 'meatloaf', slathered with ketchup, and served with a sunny-side up fried egg on top.  The tastes were very similar, except I didn't do the soy sauce as I wasn't sure what Esme would think of that with the tomato.  She said she's willing to try it next time.

tuesday catch up study

Tuesday, and I do not have big plans.  But I want to catch up on my language lessons because I pretty much fell asleep early last night and slept most of the night - which doesn't happen too often.  But yesterday was a long day, on the end of three other active days.

I went ahead and did Clozemaster Japanese and Chinese in the morning, because I skipped them last night.  I make notes on several things, but I'm getting 7 or 8 out of 10 right on the Japanese, less on the Chinese, but the Chinese characters really inform my kanji learning.

I also did a full 50 xp on Duolingo at Japanese level 20.  I've finally reached that a few days ago and it is getting into new territory for me.  There are still a lot that I already know, but a few of the 'new words' are actually new words for me.

Did Baltoslav tools, words and pictures in Japanese, and paid attention to the kanji as well as the hiragana / katakana - trying to pronounce even words I don't know, and translate from the kanji as a help tool.  The kanji often gives clues to what the word will mean - if it has to do with plants, people, structures etc etc...  The little that I know of kanji is actually helpful with this.

'is that a brain or ground hamburger?'

'don't know, let's pour some coffee on it and see if it responds'

'simpler, do you want to study kanji today?'

'(*sobbing*)   OK, it's a brain'

 

Ate onigiri (rice balls) that were in the fridge from before the weekend.  Laundry, dishes, poking around a bit here and there returning again and again to meme stuff because that is what showed up in my feed and I needed a brain break to absorb what I had just learned. Drank much much coffee, talked with Mark for a good while.  I feel I have missed out on being nose-to-the-ground in studies before, high school, college.... tangled up feelings with what society wants me to study and know and what I actually want to learn and chase down.

Went ahead and listened to a few anime conversations in Japanese, because they came up in my feed.  Then found NHK Lessons on the Japanese broadcasting site through poking around looking for an empty N5 Kanji chart.  I have one somewhere, but I may have to erase all the answers on it and then come back later when I don't have them memorized.

I can do the level 11 Japanese on my phone after a bit.  I keep walking by it, thinking my phone is in my case on my desk - picking it up, finding it empty, and then saying I'll go to the charger and get my phone later.  Later comes, I've drank  more coffee, and walked right by it another three times.

Then I have babadum I can do for a bit, and decide if I want to slide into another language or pick up a few more Japanese lessons on DL or switch to Chinese there (L9 vs L6 on pc and phone). 

Later, when my brain has had enough, I'll let it slide into French by playing a few game-days on Stardew valley or taking a nap until it is time to make supper and feed animals.

//interesting note - I'm finding myself putting my fingers to my lips while looking at the balto-slav hiragana and trying to sound out the word - I'm not speaking, often, except in my head, but even when I take my finger away when I began thinking again about how the word sounds, it snaps right back there  

these little involuntary things are interesting to me... I have not found myself doing that with latvian or even russian(cyrillic writing)... but Japanese, I'm doing that

bit :

went out into the yard to check the chicken's water since it is supposed to be 101 degrees today... luckily, at this time of the season, the big cedar tree shades their water area in the afternoon - so they are all sitting in the shadow of that big tree, by their water dish, enjoying themselves  

We keep our air conditioning set at 87 - which keeps the basement of this half-underground house a little cooler than that, because of the concrete flooring and concrete in-ground walls.  I came in from outside and thought boy, the house, even the upstairs, is noticeably cooler than outside!  Check, and the weather site says this - 107 right now.  OK, that could explain that.  The dogs all wanted in from outside, but Loki cat says 'tscha' and is stretched out in the shade under the trees in the yard.  I saw Mama cat Minion and Lyffan earlier today but haven't seen them for a while - probably show up in another few hours from wherever they have been hiding in the shade.  Esme came home off the school bus and the driver had been posting how very hot like an oven the bus was.  Esme says 'really, it's THAT hot?  I really don't even notice the temperature.'  This she says while wearing a long-sleeve sweatshirt hoodie and jeans.  Which, she almost always does, even when it is 0 degrees I have a hard time getting her to put a coat on at the bus stop for that time we are up there.

anyway, recorded for posterity  I brought the backup battery in from the back of my truck, but will probably bring it with again when I get groceries.  It is at 12.5 volts, which it was a few days ago.  When the truck was having an issue and the light first came on, it was registering 11.9 and dropping.  Then the mechanic fixed a few things quickly, replaced a fuse and I'm not sure what the other thing was - but the running voltage went from 11.9 to 13.86, and now it is 14.2 while running.  So, it wasn't charging the battery, he replaced some small quick parts and now it is.  When I got home from that it was then at 13.1, and 13.0 the next day, but the warning light was still on.  The other day I stopped once on the way home and the regular truck battery was 12.9 when I got home.  Then the next day I didn't stop, and it was 12.99.  I stopped on the way to work for gas and tested when I parked it at the office and it was 13.1 after a very short drive (which is why I was worried, no time to charge it between the two).  I didn't test it this last time I parked it but so far I'm at a loss as to why that light is still on.

Monday

 Over the work weekend, on to the week.  The truck started each of my work days, although the battery light never went off.  Does this mean I shouldn't have been worried last week?  No... because I can't see the future and I did have a legitimate concern.  It's still concerning.  But I am very glad and grateful that I was able to get to work on the days they had scheduled me.

Made spaghetti for Esme and I and leftover meatloaf bits.  Later, made a tomato quiche egg pie thing to put up a little for breakfast and to give the rest to the dogs as a treat.  It worked well.  Mark asked me if this was alchemy... is it black alchemy, in that I can't reveal the secrets?

 

No, it's whole wheat alchemy.

8 eggs

1/4 to 1/3 cup of whole wheat flour

some salt

some baking powder

3 to 5 tbsp of tomato paste (leftover from two other meals I made, and now I had this big glop left so I thought - we'll see how that mixes in)

baked at 350 degrees for 30 minutes

Doing minimum Japanese and going to bed.

It was a very long route day, with mail counting, and 100 degree weather and all that on top of it being Monday, which means we just have more mail than any other day usually.

work weekend

 

Getting through the work weekend.  Cooked today when I got home, as today was just packages, but yesterday was a full route and I got home later.  I got groceries on the way home, just to test the vehicle.  It started okay, and I took measurements when I got home (still data geek here).  Mark and Esme made a meatloaf, and then soon after dinner I crashed.  

I took measurements yesterday after making that extra stop, and today after getting home with no stops - and they were about the same.  The battery light is still on, which is why I'm still data-mining to figure out what I can myself about the situation.  There are other reasons it could still be on, and none of them are good.  But it does keep starting and there isn't any big exclamation point saying 'it is clearly this', either.    I'm not quite on edge as I had been about it the other day, but the mouse isn't asleep either (I'm still slightly worried about what in the world is going on).

I could make more bread and more quiche today  - we have lots of eggs, and I have the time.  I don't know if I'll get around to it.

 

Have done my Japanese on two platforms and put laundry in the dryer and am thinking of falling over for a nap.  It is very hot, and I'm not sure how well that will work out. My Japanese is coming along well, but my French is leaking through the cracks while I'm doing work.  The word for this or that in French has sort of just popped up during the day, although a lot of Japanese review has been going on in my 'undercurrent' as well.  It is sort of nice because one of the automatic (automagical?) things that happens then is my brain starts trying to translate between those two languages as well - and make cross-connections, which are very useful later.  I have three more Japanese things to do later today and I might let myself do French on one of those instead or do a French/Japanese translation chart.

Still playing the Stardew valley game in French, a few minutes yesterday before I finally went to sleep.  My little orchard keeper is filling her orchard up with fruit trees one by one.. and keeping up with the other things that happen in the first year of the game.  There are a lot of milestones in that first year, which is perhaps why I keep starting over and playing it again from other directions and with other techniques.  She has to get her chicken coop, and silo, barn and house expansion all saved materials and moneys for, while also growing crops, advancing in the mine killing monsters and mining materials and filling up the community center boxes with all the different things it wants and she has to go and find near and far all over the little world.

Friday slide into work weekend

Earlier this week my truck battery had begun to have issues - the only truck we've got at the moment, and it really sent me for a loop, emotion wise.. but I dealt with that as best I could, including going to the mechanic to see if I could get it fixed without major repair etc.. and I wasn't entirely certain even up to this morning if the fix had 'taken'... but all the numbers seem to be going in the proper direction today (I'm a bit obsessive, I want data, and I put the voltage tester on it the other day and again today to make some sort of mathematical sense out of it all) although, the indicator light is still on, and I can't find anything in my manual or on the internet about what charge voltage that needs to be for the light to turn ON/OFF for low voltage.  Apparently, it's higher than the other day, but not there yet.  The mechanic said 'it should turn off, after a bit'... he's usually right on those things.  

So I got to my short work shift this morning, got home, took my data for numbers on the voltage, and then fell over for a nap.   I made fine egg noodles and tomato sauce, served with peaches and leftover pulled pork for Esme and I for dinner, watered my garden, watched some silly old tv stuff with Mark and did my Japanese (plus that little bit of Chinese on Clozemaster).  Mark put his pulled pork on a sandwich.  The old tv stuff had captions it said were in Swedish, but I kept feeling they were actually in Finnish.  I didn't go tracking it down too hard, but I kept recognizing Finnish words and I don't know Swedish that well.

 

Work again tomorrow.  I'm more confident that it should start and get me there and back tomorrow than I was this morning.  Last night I was just trying to tell myself it was a decent number when I had left it, to just get in and try to start it this morning and bring all the tools and backup battery, jumper cables and the voltage tester with me for if I had any problems getting back home.

 Overpreparation, obsessive studying and overworrying of the problem even though I don't have the answers... yep, that's me.  I think I've done better over the past few years finding the things that 'center' me, or at least allowing myself to actually rest more comfortably (or at least, statically) in that center instead of constantly feeling like I'm balancing on top a pole instead and going to fall.  When I can't distract myself with something useful though, language lessons, laundry, cooking, finishing little projects, it does get hard to quiet it all and Mark has seen some of the physical almost yoga poses I do sometimes when I'm trying to find a balance.  I told him that since I feel like that will help, and it can't hurt, I'm just going to sit like that for a minute and see if what my body is telling me will feel better actually might.  I'd say it is a bit between yoga and reflexology and just reminding myself that I am in this body and 'we' (the body and I) move together and exist together //zen?  I don't know.

I told Esme this morning (about the overprep / data thing) that it is like I have a little mouse in me that is running around and screaming, but I don't let the mouse run ME around, I just stand there and give it logic and numbers and tell it that we'll have to see how things work out and still, it just keeps running around, and there really isn't way to make it stop, the point is to make sure that you get other things done even with the mouse distracting you, and don't let the mouse make you start to panic as well.  Sounds silly.. but I'm also big into analogies, philosophy and et al.

Finished Objects trickling down

 crochet cat / kitty toy  

(Available: mariemeyer.etsy.com )

'whale shark' woven sketchbook and pens pouch

I was working on keeping my mind off other things, so I started finding things that needed some work on them.

on the finishing table : crochet orange / yellow / gray striped rug (just have to tie up ends)

in progress : pink cat and grey sheep small knit toys (might be a bit on those)

Thursday bits

Daphne (dog, 12 years old), and Melody (blind dwarf Nigerian goat) out in the yard as I was cooking this morning, talking (I think) about the cat that had been sunning himself in that area just recently and where he was now that he was out of smell range.  They both went back and forth in that same little area for a little while after the cat got up, and the goat seemed to 'ask questions' to the dog, and then finally they both laid back down for a bit before Daphne decided it was time for her to bark at the door and go into the other bigger yard.

It is August, and the yard has been really really dry - but they have a big water trough (not seen from this angle) and we dump it and refill it every few days (lots of salamanders, frogs, and even sometimes little ringneck snakes there!).  There is some pigweed growing in one area but the goat finds anything she can reach that she likes (including tree branches and vines on the fence) and eats it with relish, as well as her alfalfa and oats she gets inside the house when we bring her in every few hours for a snack and a scratch and someone to tell her she isn't alone.  

 

Dogs and cats always going in and out at all hours, they each have their own way of asking.. we laugh sometimes that the goat 'meows' at the door when she is really lonely, having learned it from the cats.  That's even funnier, because the cats are Manxes and they hardly can make a squeak - but the goat really does sound like a cat when she cries loudly.

 

Made fried rice from leftovers and green onions in the freezer.  Crushed up a few dry roasted peanuts to put on top with some red chili paste.  I need to make another pot of rice to put up for the weekend later, but I have the container I like to keep it in the dishwasher right now. (reason for using up the last bit of rice)

 

Esme and Mark worked on the electrical boxes and wiring that she is trying to learn.  He had her taking bits apart in the garage to learn how to do it hands-on.  She has said she wanted to study that more, but hadn't been willing to get her hands on things that might break - so he gave her some old things from building the house and asked her to dismantle them to their base parts and then they'll hook them back up and she can see how to do it all properly in the garage circuits.

Other than that, did two hours of Japanese learning this morning, much more than I usually ever do for only one language.  And that is on top of what I will do later on this evening.  Usually I do about 15 minutes to an hour of multiple languages in the morning, and repeat that (not always with the same languages) later in the evening.  

This week, I've been doing almost exclusively Japanese.  I was told that Japanese is my best bet for any future translation work - and I admit it needs some more focus than I was giving it, especially in vocabulary.  

I'm doing the level 19-->20 on one Duolingo account, and reviewing level 10 Japanese on the other one instead of using the second one for multiple languages as I had been doing.  I've done babadum several times a day to 50 or 100 cards, baltoslav tools a few times each (you get three-strikes-out on there, but you can start over as many times as you want)  and tried translating anything I see on FB and Pinterest, and doing Clozemaster (that is Japanese and then Chinese, which does help with understanding the kanji characters), although that is only a few minutes every night.  My brain is doing the 'Hey, do you know this?' for words and symbols even when I'm doing other things, so that is working.  I know it is working best when the language keeps infringing later and things I didn't get quite right or wasn't 100% certain about (what is the symbol for ima (now, in Japanese), you know it when you see it but what IS it.. could you draw it?)

*baltoslav vs. babadum:  baltoslav there is no sound - you have to know what it says (hiragana or katakana shown, my katakana is still a bit shaky in the f and r sections, actually.. but this is helping), BUT, the kanji are there to help / intrigue you... and make connection.  You can keep google translate up in the next window and check the pronunciation to make sure you are reading it right, and that is cheating - but what is better than immediate reinforcement of the right sound / meaning when you don't know it?  babadum is the pronunciation and the hiragana/katakana mix, but no kanji, and you don't get to check what the right answer was because it is swoop onto the next thing, you got it right or wrong - and that is pretty good for learning like a child, as well - you start remembering what the right thing is because you want to get it right, but I am finding using both I'm learning differently on both, and that both help tamp down the pegs into the right places for vocabulary.  I think I kind of need a little of both.

I get along pretty good in it when I'm focusing on it, although I would still say it is well below my reading ability in French.  Japanese uses its own scale (N5 being the lowest level, up to N1 the fluent level) than the European languages (A1 being the lowest, and then A2, B1, B2 and C1 and C2 reaching fluent level).  I would have to say I know a lot of N5, but probably would still have to take a test in it several times because I am sure there are gaps between what they test and teach, just like everything has.  

 

I have a short work shift tomorrow, hoping the vehicle does all it should.  And then I have regular shifts on Saturday and Sunday.  I don't know when there might be traction on the little car we were told about - but he says he will let us know as soon as he knows something.  I stopped by there with the truck yesterday and got some of the issues it is having right now worked out, but not all - that brake spring is still not easy to fix, the fix we made broke again on the way back to the house *sigh*

Still : 

Yesterday the washing machine was acting up and the dryer looked like it had not dried the clothes or I had forgotten to turn it on.  Reset everything, and the washer finished out okay - whatever it was, it worked out.  The washing machine spun down to empty.  The dryer dried the clothes, and then I put the washed clothes in for the next load and they dried, as well.  I made dinner, Mark changed up what he was doing halfway through, and suggested instead we make two separate meals where I was working on one .. but I segued and still made what we were looking for, and what he wanted, and then we sat down and ate it while watching a cute film 'Earwig', a 2020 Studio Ghibli collaboration I had not even heard of.  I had a small nosebleed for about an hour through all of that - whatever luck that was it decided that was the right time for it and I just kept moving and tried to get done what we were doing, and it stopped finally.  I haven't had that for a long time, but then I haven't had a sinus infection for months, either - so I guess it follows trying to clear out all of that.   Today, I'm doing okay, working on the language work.  Next stress will be getting the vehicle to work on Friday and back home - and the battery is charging itself now, it was at 13.03 volts after I returned home which is well enough to crank it for Friday.   I just have to remember to not let the brake lights stay on when I'm not in the vehicle.

Funny bit : 

Night before last we made some egg / rice dog bread stuff with the rest of the pork grease and broth in the pork roast pan.  That is sort of a rich treat, so they didn't get all of it after it cooled, and we put some up in a bag in the fridge to give out here and there.  This morning, when I let the dogs out after the school bus ran, they lounged around the porch for a while.  Then, Minerva started barking she wanted to come in.  I went to let her in and the other two, Daphne and Charlotte, were laying in the leaves.  They both simultaneously put heads up, ears rotated, and everything about their body language said 'Will there be Snacks?'  It was a very clear communication to me.. so I said 'There could be, yes.'  To which, they popped up immediately and came running in to the house and all the way downstairs in front of me.  

Minerva had gotten up on the couch while I was talking to them, and looked at me like 'What did I miss?'  I said 'Snacks, come on' and she popped up and went downstairs, too.  I started giving them out and called for Sweetie, who was sleeping in the office on a dog bed, and she didn't come.  I went into the office with a piece in my hand and she curled up tightly and said 'I don't want another bath! (she got one last night, and it was cold apparently all night for her)'  But then I bounced the egg bread in my hand and she popped her head up and said 'OH' and followed me back into the kitchen.  Everybody got two more bits of egg bread and I put the last back up for later tonight.

I just love dog language - it is funny, and their emotions are very deep, from the I don't want a bath to surprise to pleading with their eyes for something they know is there (in the fridge, downstairs) and I still understand exactly what they are 'talking' about.