Vythe

The Long Back Yard

The toilet is fixed. Steve Symonds deserves a twenty-five flower parade.

I would like the record to show that I? could never have fixed this myself. A hacksaw was involved.

'nough said.
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Sunday. Cloudy and cooler than it's been tending.

Got up early because that's when I woke up. Oatmeal for breakfast. Chicken breast for lunch if it happens to have thawed. If not, something else.

Wrote, oh? 700 words this morning. Given the timing of breakfast, it's probably not too early to start investigating the idea of lunch. I will do my duty the cats first, in the interests of going back to writing after lunch.

Yes, I am pushing, but I'm at the stage where "almost done!" is driving the writing engine, and, as I may have mentioned once or twice: I'm really tired of this book.

I put up the "Roman" curtain over the window in the front door, and while it's better than what was there, I'm not convinced it's actually what I want for the sliders in Steve's office. If the tie-ups were longer so I could actually adjust the shade to the height of my choosing, which you would think would be the point of this design, I might be convinced. As it is -- meh.

I watched two? three, maybe? episodes of Spy Family last night and it is not for me. May try another title this evening, if I don't faceplant first.

I am aware that I am taking way long with the Agent of Change readalong -- I plead illness. Also, yes, I, too, am reading Conflict of Honors. Things will happen as they happen at this point. Total chaos for the win.

How's everybody doing today?
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Steve Miller, The Empire State Carousel, Fennimore Farm Museum, Cooperstown NY, June 21, 2023.  Photo by Sharon Lee.

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Change of plan, because weather and also brain wants a rest.

So! Wrote just a smidge over 1,000 words today. WIP now at 125,440ish.

You know how you're sick, after you're well again, you have to do all the things you let slide? Yeah, that would be my realization today. If there's eight feet of snow on the ground on Tuesday, I've got to get the trash to the curb, so I went out while it was still warm(ish) to load the toboggan with trash bags and fill up the recycling bin. So, that's ready for Tuesday morning, no matter what.

Also, I missed changing out the cat boxes, ref "sick" above, so that will be my next trick, after which I get a shower, sweats, and ice cream in my blanket fort.

This means I can write tomorrow, and get the trash out before I have to be at PT on Tuesday morning (boy, am I gonna be in trouble with the therapist), with the least possible amount of exertion, and, hopefully, no crazypants.

I'll just say my good-evenings now. Kind of a weird day, but, some days are weird.

Everybody stay safe.

What went before:

Saturday. Sunny and warm. Snow is melting apace.

Breakfast was, as planned, the leftovers from yesterday's chef salad scrambled with two eggs, which made for a pretty big meal. Not sure what lunch is. Cheese and crackers? Could be cheese and crackers.

Got to work early despite having to stop and fix the toilet in Steve's bathroom. I should say, mostly fix. It's stopped the constant running, but the float seems to have sprung a leak, so there's still a little water running out of it. I've been resisting calling a plumber, becau$e, but that may be a false economy.

Wrote about 700 words, and taking a break because that last scene reduced me to, um, tears.

It occurred to me that there ought to be heated mats to go under desks, and there are, byerlady! So -- retail therapy FTW -- a mat for Steve's office, a mat for the studio -- a mat for my office? Oh, why not?

After shopping, I'll go back to write some more until lunch time, after which it's track changes, which, with the application of a bit of elbow grease, I may finish today, and wouldn't that be nice?

Also? Despite having been doing nothing for days, the desk in my office is once again overflowing with stuff. I hope the goblins haven't found another way in.

I bought a very nice "beginner" demonstrator pen from JetPens -- it arrived yesterday. My only beef is that it's a cartridge pen, but there's getting to be some days when I oughtn't be left alone with a bottle of ink, so there is that.

I can't really tell you much about this pen, since the packaging is completely in Japanese. I can say it's a Pilot pen, and it's name appears to be kaküno. Writes nice and smooth; very light in the hand. I haven't dropped it yet, so can't report on its durability. Cheap, too. Under $15US. I got the medium nib, because that's the way I roll. If you've been thinking about trying a fountain pen, this might be worth your time to explore.

Thanks to everyone who suggested anime worthy of watching. I remember I was looking for Spy Family the day Steve died... This is not to lay blame or to invoke the Sad, but to say that I had apparently thought we'd enjoy it, and while I have Crunchyroll, I might as well have a look-in.

And, yes, I am talking about trivialities while the world is on fire. The only thing I can do at this point, is what I always do, and be a witness for civilized behavior.

deep breath

How's everybody doing today?
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So, yeah -- cheese and crackers and an orange. That's lunch, innit? Am drinking "figgy pudding" tea from my Christmas teas. I had not been sanguine, going in, but it's quite tasty and delivers the warmth that the rest of the meal lacked.

On the writing front, that's +/- 1,340 new words. WIP stands at +/-124,785.

As soon as I've finished my tea, I will do my duty the cats, then clear a space on my desk so I can track me some changes.

The cats think I ought to take a nap, and they're probably not wrong...
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Toe bean break:

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Yeah, I should've taken a nap. OTOH, the track changes are done and returned, and! I managed to turn off the water running into the toilet, go me.

I had made a comment the other day in my rant about the cost of Sssses and the prevailing wisdom of adding a "third" S to perfectly good words. Sometimes, in fact, the prevailing wisdom only adds one extra S.

Example: Chaos's

That? Is an ugly something or other.

In my day, believe it or don't, when you had a situation where you needed to show that Chaos was being possessive, you indicated that by this: Chaos'

Which looks much better to me than all these random Sssses wriggling all over the page.

All that said? I'm tired, and Rookie is insisting that it's Happy Hour, so it must be time for me to wash the pots 'n pans.

Everybody have a good evening. Stay safe.

I'll check in tomorrow.