You're Doing It Wrong

Stinky has been living his best life out there.

I think this is the entrance to his lair. The grass is all flattened right there and everywhere else it’s overgrown and needs weed eating.

I’m a little worried about him in the heatwave. It must be terrible under the shed. But maybe he’s dug a hole that’s somehow cool enough for him.

He’s doing great out there, ruling the garden. Waddling around with his giant puffy tail.

I wonder how he ended up here. Like where was he coming from that he wandered into our yard and thought: hey, this looks like a great place to set up.

I suspect he was living somewhere around the place behind us. Before the flippers moved in there were all kinds of plants and shrubs and woodpiles. The lady who lived in the house was elderly and didn’t get out much so no one would have known he was there.

Then the flippers cut down everything and tore down the garage and he found his way to us.

Last weekend we were able to do something we haven’t done in a long time and we had family together. We went to restaurants a couple of times.

It’s funny how appreciative we are of these everyday experiences after the year+ we stayed home.

This is a raccoon clip from last month. I remember we had the windows opened that night and I woke up and heard little chittering and chirping outside.

The camera card has been pretty empty the last ten days or so. One raccoon visit. No sign of bunny.

We have had Stinky and I will put that in a different post.

This is raccoon zipping through without a pause.

Maybe this guy is the reason for less activity? This is his second visit that I captured on camera.

I saw a lady online with a fountain and she had all the same animals I have except also birds and snakes. She lives in the desert and has her camera up during the day, too, but still, I was inspired to put the bucket back.

We have hypothesized that another reason we are seeing so much activity is that the house next door has been empty instead of having people partying half the night. And also has a big, mostly abandoned yard. I wish I could set up a cam back there, too.

Won’t be empty for long. It’s in the process of being flipped. Let’s all hope some nice people end up buying it and actually living in it.

A couple of weeks ago Bob came to work with me and he left his iPad on the bus. We knew immediately where it was and the exact bus so we were able to call it in. I have been consistently underwhelmed by CTran customer service and this incident was no different.

Bob called and didn’t get far.

Meanwhile, we could track it on our phones so every morning we’d see iPad zipping up and down the freeway during the commute. Then going to the bus barn for the night. Good illustration for how empty the buses are if no one turned it in or tried to take it after so many trips.

After several days of phone calls, iPad moved to a building and then it needed 24 hours of processing. I don’t know if they train their employees to be worthless or manage to recruit them this way. I had a problem with my bus pass one year and numerous individuals ignored all my requests for help and later blamed me for the problem. (I love most of my drivers and the guy who competently dealt with bus passes but then retired was good.)

iPad is safe at home again. And Apple Find My Stuff is entertaining and probably unsettling if you think about it too much.

Day 2 wasn’t as terrible in the sense that I knew what to expect. I changed my route so that most of it was downhill and then crossed the park and walked home for the uphill. Day 3 went slightly better.

I’m never going to get much out of this only running once a week but my current schedule isn’t ideal for a more regular routine.

Last year colleague and I shifted our schedule to start at at 7 and leave by 3:30. There is supposed to be a bus at 3:30 and 3:50 so I would leave a few minutes early to catch the 3:30. This worked well for awhile and then the bus showed up intermittently and then it stopped showing up at all. So I would arrive at the stop at 3:25 and not get on a bus until after 4.

I can see it from the bus point of view since I was often the only person on the bus. If they had to cancel a run, the 3:30 would be a good choice. But as a passenger, standing around and two buses not showing up and never knowing when was not ideal. So I start at 7:30 and catch the 4:05. Getting home later makes it harder to exercise after work without feeling rushed.

The skunk is surprisingly cute.

I was doing my Alice Kravitz routine — I heard loud voices outside and wondered if there were people at the rental house next door. It’s still empty and we’ve been told that it will go up for sale and we’ve seen worker type people poking around there but we have no details.

I was kneeling on the bed, holding the shades aside to see out and also holding a cup of hot tea for extra difficulty. I didn’t see anyone but also I lost my balance. My hand went back to catch me but instead of landing on the bed it went out into space and I did a graceful tumble off the bed, tea sprayed everywhere and I whacked my knee against the dresser.

Once I was certain that I was okay, I was grateful because that could have been bad. I iced my knee and it was a little red and slightly sore and swollen and a great excuse to rest from running for a few days.

I like the way he takes a long drink, starts to stick one foot in, pauses, changes his mind and puts the other food in.