Look who’s back!
The birdfeeders were mostly empty because on the weekdays I get home after dark and don’t refill them. The deer hung out for about a half hour, wandered all around the yard leaving deep hoof-prints in the mud. Also left me some poop.
Same night another visitor. Almost missed it. The deer are in the way back in the upper left and an opossum hiked through, seen at the very bottom.
Actual image from accident. (Generated with AI ∙ January 26, 2024 at 11:57 AM)
This week my bus was in a 5 vehicle accident on the bridge.
This is my fourth time being in an accident on public transport.
Once, a truck tried to beat the lightrail. The truck lost. Bigly.
Two times there were merge incidents. State law: yield to the bus. Plus, it’s bigger than you are. (2010 merge incident.)
This time I didn’t see what happened. It seems like there was another collision on the bridge and we got caught up in the slow down.
We were all fine but if there’s an accident on public transportation the first thing that happens is the driver calls a supervisor to come check things out. In this case, we also had to wait for State Patrol to do their thing. We got off the bridge and pulled over to the side. I got home over an hour late.
Also actual image. (Generated with AI ∙ January 26, 2024 at 11:57 AM)
When we started braking hard I braced myself against the seat in front of me and after impact my wrist started hurting and I would die of embarrassment reporting my wrist booboo. Hilariously, (not really) during one of the merge incidents the driver had to brake hard and I was in a side facing seat and fell down and caught myself with one hand and my wrist hurt.
It stopped hurting and there was no damage and I didn’t have to tell anyone.
As I’m writing this I just remembered another single vehicle incident where the bus hit something on a different bridge and tore back some of the quarter panel. We had to wait and get on another bus and it was super crowded and I got home late.
But no one was hurt which is always the best outcome.
It’s been so long since I posted a video, I forgot how to do it. I had to click around a bit until I remembered.
The strap on the camera broke so I’ve been propping it up and whatever I am doing is not conducive to good clips. Or even clips at all. Some foggy ones and sometimes a raccoon tail. I haven’t seen bunny, skunky, opossum, or, thankfully, any deer. I had some apple peels the other day and almost tossed them on the garden rather than tromp all the way to the compost bin but I remember what happened last time (deer came over) and put them in the bin.
It has been a long week. We finally were both recovered from Covid at the same time and then it snowed and then it iced. I worked from home all week which is not my favorite. We’re grateful we didn’t have any weather related problems, but we are happy that things are melting and we can get out. Lots of rain in the forecast so who knows what’s next. Sinkholes?
YIKES! This is not too far from us. As far as I’ve heard, no one was hurt. Photo used without permission, sorry! Screenshot from social media. Bob drove by after church to check it out and he said you couldn’t tell anything happened. Not even an orange cone.
I thought I could take a picture of the snow except it’s cold and I don’t feel like going out there so I just took a picture through the window. Enjoy!
The bird feeder has been crazy-busy and a joy to watch.
In previous years I have never had luck with the suet feeder (that square one in the middle.) More than once I’ve ended up chipping moldy suet out of the thing. I put it away for a long time and used that hanger for the hummingbird feeder (that I haven’t had luck with.)
But last time I picked up bird food I decided to try again and picked a suet block with peanuts.
Maybe that was the magic?
On weekdays I leave when it’s dark and when I get home when it’s dark-ish, so I rarely fill the feeders during the week. When I finally got around to filling them the suet feeder was stripped clean.
I have had Northern Flicker in the yard, mostly on the suet feeder. Not a regular so I was happy to see that. And then yesterday I spotted a Varied Thrush which I have never seen before. It’s been hanging out eating the nuts and seeds with the rest of the gang.
I’m not good at identifying birds but I have a little backyard bird guide that helps me.
I can recognize the starlings which are not my favorite. Earlier today there were so many crammed in the fly-through feeder you couldn’t imagine how they fit. Later when I went to add more food there was poop on the feeder — they pooped in their free food. Not my favorite bird.
Tuesday forecast says freezing rain likely with rain/freezing rain likely later so I bet we don’t leave the house.
I started out looking for a photo or two to post and then started organizing my photo folder (“organizing” — I use that term loosely) and then all this time passed and I was getting ready to turn off the computer and I realized I never posted.
Did I already post this photo?
This was when people were starting to go back to work after Covid. Honestly, the bus has never picked up. They’ve consolidated a bunch of buses (in my part of town) into 1 park-n-ride stop and a few stops downtown.
I took this because I have the habit of using the same spot which I became extremely possessive of during Covid when I was one of about 7 cars that even used the park-n-ride.
Whole lot is empty and this car parked in my spot.
Things have bounced back a lot since this photo. I don’t know what happened to this person but I always get to my spot first.
This morning the weather was decent enough for us to go on a long walk. We went to a coffee shop to meet some friends.
We saw this giant part of a windfarm machine (are they called windmills?) on its way from the port to wherever it’s going. It had 3 pilot cars! It had to take a wide swinging turn to get onto the freeway. I was like a child, standing on the sidewalk, enraptured by the whole thing. The truck driver waved to me!
I would love to talk to one of those truck drivers to learn what it’s like to drive one of those trucks. People seemed respectful and stayed out of the way, but I bet that’s not always true.
Have I posted a picture of my square bread yet?
I feel like I’ve told this story but don’t see it in any past posts.
Colleague was asking me about a Pullman bread pan and describing what it was. I rolled my eyes. Who needs a bread pan like that? Then I researched it for myself and somehow decided that I had to have one.
This was my first loaf made using a Cook’s Illustrated easy sandwich bread recipe.
I also made a loaf using a whole wheat bread and the pan was overfull and not a true disaster but not pretty. More loaves to come.
This is from Christmas Day — we opened our Christmas fruit spread. It was both super delicious and also not quite like any flavor found in nature. The label on the jar says 50% fruit which is a pretty ominous percentage. It tasted like apples, strawberries, cinnamon, and a little bit of Christmas.
Best wishes for the new year.
Before, with my chubby pumpkin face:
After:
Bob wanted me to do a duplicate pose. I said, “I can’t fit in it now.”
Bob tested positive for Covid on 12/24 so the plan for today is sit around the house, do puzzles, read books, and watch movies. Steak dinner to be rescheduled.
Six years ago I bought myself a very nice new backpack. I expected it would last forever. What could possible go wrong?
Only this one thing: the crown of the zipper pull. This is pretty much the only thing that could break and be impossible to fix.
Or is it?
If you ever have time to kill and are seeking new knowledge, I very highly recommend YouTube and zipper fixing videos. What a rabbit hole.
Step one was to order some zipper pulls and supporting supplies like sturdy thread and a nuclear strength needle for the canvas.
Step two was another zipper pulls order since I bought the wrong size. I now have about 30 zipper pulls. Is there a place to donate them? Is this like all the weird hardware that a household collects over the years where you just keep it in a box and don’t know what to do with it? If you need black backpack zipper pulls in #6, #8 or #10, please contact me.
I watched a number of videos and had two possible strategies that I thought would be pretty hairy but that I could accomplish.
Spoiler alert: I did not fix it.
I bravely cut a few threads trying to get to the zipper but the backpack is so well made it was really tough. Also, I determined that I really couldn’t do either strategy without either (1) turning the backpack inside out – and it’s too sturdy for that, or (2) just completely deconstructing the bag and hoping for the best which seemed like a recipe for a long afternoon(s) of swearing and regret.
I opted for (3) just living with it as it is. It’s not that tough to deal with.
I have had this cushion forever. I want to say since at least 2002 because I have a vague memory of watching a World Cup match taking place in S. Korea while sitting on it and wearing a tiara.
Meanwhile, it flattened out to the point where it was almost worthless.
This project has been on my list for years — one of those, “I should figure out how to puff up my zafu, how hard can it be?” but it never rose to the top of the pile.
Last year I finally did some research and ordered new buckwheat hulls from giant online retailer. This was going to be one of my holiday break projects except then dear ol’ Dad had a huge health crisis and he was my holiday break project.
This year was the year and I began by searching “fix and clean your zafu tips” and the first site I found told me to use the zipper to remove the inner pouch.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. If I had a zipper and an inner pouch, I wouldn’t be here searching for help, would I?
I cut the seam, emptied the zafu and HOLY BUTTERBEANS. Look at how much came out. The zafu is like the Tardis, bigger on the inside than the outside.
Look at the replacement hulls I bought. Is that going to fill my zafu?
I briefly hesitated but went ahead and threw the empty zafu in the laundry. It occurred to me that it could disintegrate and then I’d have to buy a new zafu.
But it came out fine.
I filled it with all the new buckwheat hulls and of course it wasn’t full. I did not want to order more new buckwheat hulls — I’d set aside the time for the project. The project was getting done.
I then finished filling it with the old buckwheat hulls. I stitched it up — not pretty but holds the buckwheat hulls in.
And, success!
I lost my watch. I don’t know if it would properly be called a smart watch. Maybe a fitness watch? It’s not the fanciest kind and I’ve had it at least a couple of years. I bought it to try to be more mindful of how much I walk after getting an earful at the doctor’s office.
Last week I was getting ready to jump in the shower and I realized I had it on. I yanked it off, tossed it on the bed, and never found it again.
Obviously it had to be tangled up in the bedding.
The next day Bob washed the sheets and no watch. I went through everything in the laundry room and no watch.
Over the weekend I deconstructed the entire bed area and moved everything. While I was back there I vacuumed and mopped up 20 years of flannel bedding lint. I crawled around with a flashlight. I moved everything from under the bed.
No watch.
Where on earth could it be? I figured the only explanation was it became tangled up in some clothes and dropped somewhere that we didn’t think to look.
Then came the night where I was awake at 3am and engaging in some light fretting. I had the idea that maybe it was caught up in my workout clothes.
The next day I opened the drawer and dug around and: yay! I found my watch.
It wasn’t the end of the world and I had resigned myself to just buying a new one but it was still exhilarating to find it.
