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Monthly Archives: July 2021
Garden Bounty

Our office building is getting more people back to work but earlier in the year when there were very few of us, I made friends with one of the security guys.
I was in the mailroom and this door that says “No Admittance” or “Technical Only” or something like that opened and startled me. The security guy came out and let me see inside. He’d carved out a tiny break area around the building innards. One chair, small table, and tiny microwave.
The kind of conversations you would never have in the before times. I think I already wrote how I’ve befriended my bus drivers.

These are my lemon cucumbers I started on the windowsill. How do you think they’re doing? I keep watering them.

Look at my giant tomato!
HAHA. I got that tiny tube of toothpaste last time I was at a hotel and I’ve been saving it to use for scale when I photograph my garden bounty. You’ll be seeing it again.
The other morning these two raccoons came through late. Looks like a mom and young one? Look how the smaller one hangs back, like he’s ready to go to bed, why are we running around in the daylight?
They hung out long enough to get a drink and bath and look cute for the camera.
After this clip there was one more of them wandering into the hedge.
Complaining About the AC

One afternoon I got on the bus with a driver I’ve never seen before.
The bus AC was weak. Only enough to keep us from roasting but it wasn’t cool on the bus. This is unusual because if it’s more than 60 degrees and the sun is shining the bus is usually freezing with cold air blasting from every corner.
There were three women on the bus and one man. As soon as the man sat down he started grumbling about the AC. He changed seats three times and then complained out loud and then marched to the front of the bus where he berated the bus driver.
The women all sat in our seats and read our books.
Then the man returned to his seat which was the seat behind me and he called customer service and complained some more. He said the bus driver didn’t know what he was doing, that he wasn’t communicating, that he wouldn’t answer his questions about the AC. He also demanded that the bus turn around and take him back to the transit mall.
He may have been onto something in terms of the bus driver not knowing what he was doing because he drove the wrong route and stopped in downtown where Mr. Complainer signaled that he wanted to exit. Then he went to the front of the bus and complained again and said he was getting off the bus to wait for another bus.
So he exited into 98 degree heat to wait for another bus rather than sit on the bus another 10 minutes and get to his stop.

In the last couple of days a squirrel has discovered a rich food source under the bird feeders. Every time I look out there he’s parked under there. There are also some larger birds that can’t fit on the feeder that pick up some snacks there.
I had this brilliant idea that I would set up the trail cam to get some shots of the squirrel and the birds.
I ended up with 8 hours of clips of nothing but waving flowers and a dead battery. (It wasn’t 100 degrees. The camera was in direct sun.)
We Were the Hottest (Except for The Dalles)

So this was one more ridiculous thing that happened that proves that Mother Earth is mad and wants her planet back.
It was really terrible but also not as terrible as I thought it would be?

We have AC and were able to stay locked in the house. I can’t wait to see the electric bill.
I went outside and stood in the sun so I could tell myself this is what 115 feels like. It feels like a radiating hot oven of terrible. There was a hot breeze. It felt like one stray spark from total disaster.

I went to the office on Monday because we had a conference call that I could not take from home. I left early and I had to wait for the bus for about 15 minutes. There was plenty of shade but it was intense. There was a 30 second period where I thought: I can’t do this.
But I didn’t know what else to do. If I went back to the office, I would have to come back eventually and wait for the bus.

The last day of the extreme heat was the strangest. It was 115 at 6pm and by 9pm it was down in the 80s. By morning it was okay.
The yard did better than expected but my one super productive blueberry bush has lots of shrivels. The rhodies have burned leaves poor babies. The hydrangea is looking fried.
The tomatoes loved it. They grew taller. I should have ripe cherry tomatoes any day now.

Let’s all agree not to do this again.
Posted in doing it wrong
Tagged things I hate
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