These Pretzels Are Making Me Thirsty

As it turns out, time flies both when you're having fun AND when you are hoping your reality doesn't turn fully dystopian.

Took yesterday and today off. Wish I had known the fam was going to do a party for my dad, who turns 85 on Sunday. I had asked about it late January and got a shrug in response. Late last Sunday sis texted group and said, "Hey, if you can come out this weekend, Dad would love to visit." Which is par for the course with my family. Because I'm just not able to drop everything and book airfare, pet sitting, etc with a six day lead unless it's a dire emergency. Plus, also, I'm annoyed that I specifically asked with plenty of time to get there without selling a kidney to do so and yet ... six days notice. My brother, who makes 3x what I do and does not have to worry about any live creatures residing in his home, is of course able to get there. Wanh-wanh.

Family. Can't live with 'em, can't push 'em off a cliff.

Unrelated, yesterday I discovered my right eye is bruised. Pretty decent sized, too. It doesn't hurt and I've zero idea how it happened. Maybe it's not unrelated. Maybe it's a manifestation of my feelings about the paragraph above.









We actually had two full days off due to snow in Feb, and multiple late starts. Exciting! It has now reverted back to maelstroms, then sunshine, then maelstroms. Tra la, life on the Pacific coast.





Walter wanted to get this little fellow, but I think it's a Columbian Pocket Gopher, which are apparently pretty scrappy and I don't think it would have ended so well for the W.

May the odds be ever in your favor.

As I was getting the animals' food ready tonight, part of the routine was interrupted. I usually set aside a cat food can lid and Roy likes to go clean it off so I can distribute the food unbothered by him circling like a shark. Well, he didn't immediately go for the lid and instead made a disgruntled sound, so I looked down...

and found WALTER FULL ON MOUNTING AND HUMPING him.


I'm left wondering how often poor Roy is being sexually assaulted when I'm not home. I'm kind of horrified and have NO idea how to stop this behavior.

For the record, Walter was in the shelter around the time of Harvey Weinstein's downfall, and the ACO had named him Harvey because he liked to hump. Until last year, I had never seen the dog hump anything, but then a male friend was over and his leg became a hump post for W. It's been a slippery slope since, I guess. Sigh.

It's been a while. Hi! ;)

I took today off!
I had coffee!
It's raining!
I got to turn on my fireplace!
The cats are piled on and the dog is tucked next to!
Wifi works at work again, so I can stream and block out annoyances!

KEXP is doing a fund drive, but that's when they play the best music so I can bear the begging for money!

It's a good day!


^Is the leaf enormous or the dog tiny? Both may be true. The size of leaves is something that struck me with awe when I first visited Vancouver BC many, many years ago. I'm still awestruck, to be honest. ♥


^Took P to the vet this AM. Took a MONTH to get in. She's been sans prozac for nearly two months and destroying floors and rugs 'communicating' her stress. Some guy came in at the same time and as we waited he said, "It's always best to come early..." HE WAlKED IN. I was a bit resentful at that.

I got the job. I have to be honest - despite the shenanigans and ridiculous length of time it took - I knew I would. I am the person who is unfailingly competent. That's my middle name. I think I've mentioned that - I am capable and competent to do many things, I just lack passion for any one thing. I wish I had that passion, because being good at things and enjoying doing those things is different!

I digress. I am now a bit nervous about learning a new facet to what our agency does. Basically, I have been doing the financial side of eligibility for various programs. The job changed from a lot of personal interaction with folks to basically an assembly line model of working on "tasks" instead of focusing on people. It's been a very tough year, and my motivation for the work has waned to the point I wake up daily with a gut ache at the thought of going in and mindlessly pulling tasks.

Now, I'll be assigned a specific caseload of people and will evaluate them for physical needs. I'll be going into homes and meeting face to face and getting back a little of what I feel is actual service. It won't be without frustration - the State has become more and more "give everything to everyone" it seems, and that bit confounds me considering we're not exactly the richest State to be doling out stuff left and right.

Once I learn the rules and ropes, I'm sure I'll be ... competent. LOL.

Time to go get W a nail trim. It's very blustery out there today. The wind is howling. I hope he'll be okay not taking a long walk after as we usually do. This AM's walk it felt as though a very large hand was pushing me along one direction, and holding me back the other. Windy!

They didn't have his size, so I tried this. Sad it's too big!

Walter is not sad.

Actually, it wasn't terrible. It started out, though, with an email from a former client - a bipolar gentleman who is extremely smart but his brain, it's broken - who used to travel between here and Colorado, always applying in each State until I finally said, "Look man, pick one place and stick the landing." He landed in CO. Anyway, the email:

"Hi SBG. I still love you..."

LOL, literally, folks, I am single because every guy I have dated has turned out to have some mental illness. I attract them like I am honey and they are flies. It makes me too gunshy to even try*, and now I'm old, so. Destined to be alone, for my OWN sanity. Haha.

Anyway, his email made me laugh.

Our office got reconfigured and it's as I suspected - it is now an echo chamber in there. Everyone's voices are going to just bounce around like crazy because there is so much empty space. Ah well, no one listens to the little guy. And management have offices with doors they can shut when it's loud...let them sit out in a cubicle to experience it, I say.

And on Wednesday I came home an heard a ruckus from outside the door as I was putting the key in the lock. Opened the door and was greeted by an extremely wiggly dog, my house was all catawampus and yep - Mr. Walter chewed through the plastic bits of the gate which keep it in place and busted out of his room.

Why do I keep him in a room, you ask? He's a major stressor for the cats and the cats are my true loves. I don't think he often intentionally bothers them, mind you. It's his energy. It's also the terrier in him - they are not cat-loving dogs. If they run, he will at least initially give chase. So, for everyone's peace, he stays in his room during the day.

Alas, with the broken gate, that wasn't possible. I did put the gate at the bottom of the stairs so that he couldn't get up there to 1) make a nest in my bed, 2) eat cat poop and 3) so the cats could have some safe space. I'd hoped that would be enough, because I fear now that he's had this freedom, it will be a bitch keeping him in his room ever again.

In theory, it should work. In practice, I have seen immediate and extreme retribution peeing by at least one cat. Name starts with P. Irony. Anyway, five known instances of peeing outside the box already. She is virtually shouting at me about this, and I agree with her. I find it rather bothersome to come home to a war zone daily. Stuff tossed everywhere, couch and chair covers tossed, guest room bed tossed, pee everywhere. It's just not terribly pleasant, you know? But at the same time, I now feel horrible thinking of confining him because he's just enjoying himself so dang much. :(


^Look at that stupid happy face and his wiggly butt. What a turkey.

Ended the week with a pretty ferocious hormone headache which kept me from planting garden before the rain. Good times! I did sleep for like 14 hours, though, and it helped a bit. Now it only hurts when I move. Haha.

I've also decided to be more mindful of my food consumption, after wearing a pair of jeans yesterday that still fit but in which my stomach does a little bit of bloop over the edge. I have developed some bad habits, like "second breakfast" on my non-fast days, and also having no off valve on my fast days. Meaning, I just keep munching though I am not actually hungry. Probably a mild binge disorder would best describe it. I can and should control it better, only eat when I am actually hungry. Little things like that can make a big difference in how I feel, it's not just about my waistline.

*This is not to say those with major mental health issues are not worthy of my, or anyone's time. I am not equipped to handle it, or am too selfish to.

And what a week it was. Even now, the smoke hangs in the air, but we are so fortunate that is the worst of it. Tuesday and Wednesday were quite awful, but then the temperature dropped and it's been more liveable. Still have a headache and am parched all the time.

Then, in the midst of all that - fleas! For the first time in his ten years, poor Roy had a flea or two on him. Apparently the meds I use for Walter are not working so well. So, I did four loads of laundry yesterday, have treated all animals and find myself staring at them all suspiciously. So far, I only saw them on Pickle and Roy. Walter is scratching like crazy but I haven't seen any ON him. Poopin' dog.

You know, I'm usually defending creatures like spiders and snakes, creatures that get a bad rap and for some reason people are scared of. They have places in the ecosystem. But fleas? Fleas are useless. I picked one off of Pickle and put it in a bowl of water and the sucker just SWAM TO THE SURFACE AND DID A BACK STROKE.

Anywhooo. I hate fleas.


^Tuesday morning, when I started to get an inkling that I should have shut my windows tight instead of leaving them cracked open - it was just so warm.


^Cutie!


^Yesterday. I truly hope the rain in the forecast is WORSE than they forecast, because this whole State needs a good dousing. :(

RIP, Mr. Microwave. I spent $39.99 on you when I first moved west nearly two decades ago. Gosh, I am old now. And so were you, until you gave up the ghost. The dream is over. No more one minute cakes for me. NO MORE ONE MINUTE EGGS, EITHER. Okay, now I'm legit horrified. I've developed quite the breakfast burrito habit on Saturdays, and the fastest way is to just microwave scramble the egg. *wibbles*

*pauses for moment of silence*

In other random news, I apparently can French braid my own hair. It doesn't look great at all, but the end result is beachy waves in the AM. Oddly, I find it no problem French braiding, but a simple regular braid eludes me. In fact, the French falls apart when I get to the tail end. Of course, regular braid is fairly well out of the question anyway since I lopped off my hair. Maybe someday I'll figure out a Dutch braid.

Anyway, the point is - finally, overnight method for body in my hair that works AND is comfortable to sleep on. Hooray!

Earlier this week, SOMEone went into the second small bedroom (Walter's room while I am away for long periods), pulled down a jacket I had hanging in there and peed on it. I thought I'd fixed the issue, but apparently not. I can't get SOMEone in to the vet till the 24th! Apparently people are flooding the vet offices as quarantine has lifted. :( I think SOMEone might need to be back on prozac...

Oooh, but - took Walter for his nail trimming today and it was the best car ride I've ever had with him. I have been giving him 4-6 drops of CBD daily for a while. It's doing NOTHING for his fear aggression and nervousness, but small victory there.

Took Walter for his annual vaccinations yesterday. He had a rough go of it, was very sensitive for the remainder of the day to the point I got a little toothy reaction when I touched him at the injection spot accidentally. Poor thing. They trimmed his nails for me - and now I'm wondering about the place I usually go. His nails always seem exactly the same after he comes out of the regular groomers; the vet has cut them appropriately. No clitter-clatter of dog claws on the floor.

Anyway. I bought a calming sweater for him I had wanted to try for the car ride, as he gets very anxious in a vehicle. The first one was supposed to be red, and it was pink. The second one I ordered the wrong size. (This just in, he IS a teeny-tiny dog as the small was enormous on him.) And the final version didn't arrive until after the appointment. We'll have to try it out again soon. The pink one I'd put on him after I just got home from work, when he is usually completely hyped up. As soon as it was fastened, he lay down and just looked at me. So, it could help.

Anywhoooo. I am cheating this week. These photos are from some time ago, using my Holga. So, now you can see what kind of photos I really take, as these were done on film. Actual film. I straightened a few but otherwise did no touching up. I'm a hack! ;)

And they're square, but Flickr doesn't give the option so we'll see:






^A local businessman had purchased this home which had fallen into disrepair due to what had been some kind of weird blood feud the family had with the town. Something about feeling alienated in high school or some such. They basically owned half the buildings downtown and let them all crumble. The businessman was renovating, when he passed very suddenly in 2018. Sad.



Full album is here. And even that's not full - some were totally unfocused, as it is very hard to tell with the Holga if you are too close to something. One I couldn't even tell what it was I was trying to capture. I'd forgotten how much I enjoy the mystery of film.