Tempus Fugit

Monday, November 2, 2015

Attila is on day shift this week, my current favourite shift. He starts work at 6:00 a.m., which is grand as I am an early riser. A great advantage of this shift is that we are up at 4:00 a.m. to begin our day, and that gives me three hours of cheaper hydro to work with. This morning I baked my version of Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies, morphed into squares. It was out of the oven before 7:00 a.m. when the price of hydro more than doubles.

My list of projects for the day involves a trip to the post office to mail my book to Library and Archives Canada. I am also on a quest to find a photocopy machine to copy our marriage certificate, and then to take the copy and get it certified for the government. I would copy this document at home, but my printer ran out of ink, but a replacement cartridge will require a drive into the city, and I am waiting until the printer calls me to pick up my books in the city, before I make the trip. With all the information the government keeps about us, it seems ludicrous that we have to present all of these documents to accomplish anything; they already have everything on file, probably right down to the my shoe size. I also have to make yet another call to a government office to find out what Section X means on a form I have to fill out. My eyes cross there are so many forms, with such obtuse wording.

Speaking of printers, I notice one of my neighbours has their printer setup for wifi, and it is not password protected, so technically I could print to their printer, whoever they are, and then they would know who I am, lol. I considered sending a page to their printer which explained why it is important to password protect your printer when it is online, but then thought, nah, that would be intrusive. Hopefully they won’t find out the hard way! Technology has definitely opened up holes in our lives.

We found the baskets for hanging plants, a gift from Luna and Lares when we moved into our country house. The house plant has been with us for more than twenty years, and there is probably only about one cup of soil left in the planter. I keep meaning to give the poor thing more soil, but I have to find the soil first!

November 10, 2015

Well, this is interesting. I was convinced that I had written an entry in the last day or so, and was just waiting until I had a photo to include. When I opened up this file I discovered that it was last Monday that I had written the entry!

The week has gone well, I have sold one more book, making the total of three books sold, and have four requests to hold a book until a pickup can be arranged. The pickups are great, because they represent visits! The books have generated some digital conversations with relatives that I seldom communicate with, which is always a pleasure.

Attila is on night shift this week, a shift we find fairly easy to flow with. The biggest challenge so far is the way I think about “greetings”, meals, and that sort of thing. When Attila leaves he is saying goodnight to me, and I am wishing him a good “day” at work, it just feels awkward. The meals are still feeling quite weird. When Attila arrives home he has a big meal, while I am having my morning coffee and a light breakfast. In the afternoon we have another big meal, which is my supper, and Attila’s first meal of the day, his breakfast. I need to think about these meals, assign them new meaning and weight, and try to coordinate appropriate food for our shared meals. This is going to take some effort, evolving from a pattern developed over a long lifetime of working during the day, and sleeping at night.

Terra works shift work, and she has adjusted very well to it, as has Lares. Janus works shift work, and he has adjusted to it very well, as have Luna and the Grandbabies. It is our turn to join the rest of the family in the shift work world.

Yesterday I got into the leftover Hallowe’en candy, not a good idea! Far too much candy was purchased for the 15 goblins who came to the door, so there was a lot of candy on the shelf. As much fun as it is to eat candy, the truly horrid physical sensations that follow are not worth the few moments of pleasure, but it is hard to resist those few moments. Attila, at my request, has removed all of it from the house, and will take it to work, where he will use it for an energy boost during his breaks.

I checked to see if my neighbours printer is still sitting there on the internet unprotected… it is.

The neighbour across the street has a cat. He is a friendly fellow, very affectionate, and he loves attention. He likes us, and visits often. Almost every day, as I gaze out the kitchen window above the sink, I see him on his daily “hunt”. There are mice, I am pretty sure it is mice, could be chipmunks, in the compost pile. Our enterprising feline friend sits each day, intensely focused on the compost pile, waiting, waiting, waiting. We aren’t sure if he has ever caught anything, as there has been no evidence that this has occurred. But I am glad he is on duty, keeping the critters in their place, and not in ours.

Worldly Distractions

Weather

7°C
Date: 6:00 AM EST Monday 2 November 2015
Condition: Mainly Clear
Pressure: 101.7 kPa
Tendency: rising
Visibility: 24 km
Temperature: 7.1°C
Dewpoint: 4.3°C
Humidity: 82%
Wind: W 14 km/h

3°C
Condition: Mostly Cloudy
Pressure: 102.3 kPa
Tendency: falling
Visibility: 24 km
Temperature: 3.0°C
Dewpoint: 0.7°C
Humidity: 85%
Wind: NE 14 km/h

Quote

“There are two types of people–those who come into a room and say, ‘Well, here I am!’ and those who come in and say, ‘Ah, there you are.'”
Frederick L Collins
1869 – 1952

It just wouldn’t be a party without both types of people!