Birds and buds!

As with previous years since moving to where I am, I have spotted rounds of robins throughout the winter.  But to keep with tradition I will note that over the weekend I spotted several individual robins out and about foraging.  Last year it was March 3, so I feel like we're ahead of schedule even for this area.  The trees in the parking lot by the chinese restaurant I prefer also appear to be budded, this too has been one of the earlier signs I spot around here.

The joys of a newer home.  As Avery walked upstairs last night she told me the stairs were broken.  When I returned with her to investigate I had to thank her for pointing out to me that two more pieces of wood holding the spindles on the stairs had popped loose.  I say more because a couple of other ones were loose over a year ago.  Gorilla glue has been applied and nothing is falling apart at the moment.

Another thing that drives me crazy here is the flooring, which I have probably only mentioned as being worn or builder grade.  The carpet is crap -- but the best part is the spot outside of my closet where I think there is a screw laying sideways under the carpet.  The vinyl flooring in the bathrooms has spots where it's been damaged and is trying to lift up.  The fake wood on the main floor scoots back and forth under your steps giving quite the nice haunted house effect.  All of it cracks and pops, especially upstairs, likely thanks to subflooring that is not properly secured.

If I ever have don't give a poo money I'd like to build a place that harkens to the older homes - real wood trim and doors, neat architectural elements, and quality products applied in a solid and reliable way.  I suspect that the last little item in my list would be hard to find these days.

Still having waves of struggle.  I piled on by accident when I spotted something that reminds me of many years ago -- for someone else.  Then there was preparing a meal and opting to wait until tomorrow morning to go to church only to find I could have skipped cooking.  *sigh*

I do believe God has this.  All of it.  My personal "this", the country's "this" the world's "this".  I know that when I allow it all to get to me I am letting the enemy win -- but still I struggle with the fears welling up.

I haven't had to fight the blues much in recent years.  Maybe it was the hormones and changes from being pregnant... maybe it's just having Avery around, I dunno.  But I guess we all have our ups and downs.  Personally, I'm going to blame Valentine's day, it is often a good reason to be bummed out.

Life is flying by.  There is lots of work to do and not enough hours in the day.  The routine just consumes everything, ya know?  It is what it is.

I think the masks do very little, I hate them, you know this.  If given the option, I do not wear them.  That said, when I see someone wearing one I assume that they are more concerned.  As a result, I give them extra space etc.

I've never liked people in my space (prb one of the reasons I hated Walmart back when I actually went there).  One of the BENEFITS of the past two years has been that people stay the heck out of my personal space.  I've grown quite accustom to this delight.

Last night at the grocery store I was looking at the various cans of beans trying to find the baked beans I prefer.  The cart w/ Avery is in front of me and I am turned at a 45 degree angle looking at the shelf.  All of a sudden I sensed someone in my space and turned to my right/behind me to see a lady's masked face close enough that I reeled backwards a little.

If you are wearing a mask WTH are you doing getting that close any other human being?  Lesson learned - I need to cough more to claim my space.

Ice-pocolypse 2022 update:

While I am sure the roads were gross enough to warrant closing today daycare today I am still annoyed.  They closed at 3pm yesterday too, even though the temps were still above freezing at that point (and for a while after). I know, I know... they are just trying to keep everyone safe, but I am so over the closures. I probably wouldn't blink about this if we didn't have all of the covey related closures in the past few months on top of these weather related closures.

I do still think they've been taking more liberties than they should for "pending" weather.  This isn't school age kids who can continue with remote learning.  Avery does decently plopped in front of the TV while I continue to work and I should be grateful that she isn't younger, right?

After waking I saw quite a few posts on the local FB groups about power outages, so I kicked on the fireplace (gas with an electric starter). I don't want to turn it off, just in case, but it's starting to get toasty in here.  It might be shorts weather inside soon.

Speaking of power outages!  I got another call about a planned outage.  ahem.  So I guess they didn't do the work the last time?  *sigh*  Add this to the list of distractions and irritations about my efforts to get work in.

I just went and shoveled the driveway.  At the moment snow flurries are picking up.  I wanted to get any ice/crud out of the way as that is definitely heavier.  I'd say we had a nice 1" of crunchy mix under the dusting of snow from overnight.

In my defense I'm pulled too thin.  Our favorite egg was staying away after he was sick, visited once or twice and then had a repeated bow to other lingering ailments which has him staying away again.  My days are loaded with meetings, so trying to find a window between said meetings for an early pick up yesterday was fun.  I'm also supposed to be trying to get OT in at this point.

If I wasn't so embarrassed, posting a picture of my basement would sum things up.  The Christmas stuff isn't 100% away and there is a pile of outdoor Halloween decorations that never made it closer to 'away' than my garage.  I need to get my butt in gear because I now have the plumber coming due to the leak on the back outdoor faucet kicking back up - and he will need my junk out of his way to work inside.

Last summer I may have complained about the bib outside not always shutting off properly.  If you turned it back on and off again you would eventually get it to really turn off and stop dripping.  Naturally I did this before winter and put a cover on the bib.  Well, it started to run on me again *big scary blinking danger sign in Jan-Feb*.

Yes, there are shutoffs running to the bibs, but they're not where you'd think they would be.  They were found, but the one to the drippy bib wouldn't turn the whole way (go figure).