jenk

Our electricity is out, so we're pulling from the house battery. This is our cue to turn down the thermostat and any unneeded appliances. Then we wonder why the house "pull" has increased even though we've turned things off. (Note the kitchen fridge does as it will, as does the extra fridge and freezer in the garage.)

Here near latitude 47/near Seattle, it's increasingly dark outside at 3pm. Why doesn't this happen in June when it's light until 9pm? Oh right, climate.

Anyway. Going to move to the sunroom on the west side of the house. It has skylights and wiindows on 3 sides, so if there is ANY natural light available, it's there.

1) Laundry has been caught up for weeks. I'm a bit surprised with myself.
2) Adjusting to the Annual 47th Parallel Dark.
3) Read The Frozen People, by Elly Griffiths. It's a mystery focused on very old cold cases... and using time travel.

Jesse brought me coffee this morning.
Fish tacos.
Mended some clothes.
Library ebooks.
Re-read six or so Donna Andrews' Meg Langslow books.
Read Snake-Eater by T. Kingfisher.

Current Mood: grateful

New glasses!

Even better, it's new lenses set into a titanium frame! Lightweight and reusing something I already have.

Got trash out early.

Got new Malka Older novella!

High temps are back in the 60s and possible rain. :)

This week:

1) Made appointment to have recalls addressed on the van.
2) Completed an errand that required leaving the house.
3) Keeping up with laundry.
4) Got sewing machine serviced.
5) Finished crocheting a beret
6) Jesse :)

1) The home we've made.
2) BBC's The Repair Shop, full of cozy problem solving.
3) Longer days (yay axial tilt)
4) Library ebooks. Currently reading Ann Cleeves' Hidden Depths with Vera Stanhope
5) New afghan has been finished long enough it's moved to "nice warm blanket" and not just "new crochet project."

1 Weather. I know, I live in the greater Seattle area, but we've had a stretch of sunny days. I'm pleased.
2 The "Make Me Smart" podcast from Marketplace.org is back from the holiday break.
3 Library. Some recent interesting books were Ina Garten's memoir (Be Ready When the Luck Happens), Happy Town, Some Desperate Glory, and Elly Griffiths' story collection.
4 Keeping knee pain at bay with exercise.

Podcasts, like Marketplace and Make Me Smart from Marketplace.org

The Meg Langslow books from Donna Andrews, which make me laugh.

Crochet. Currently working on an afghan.

Using Libby to get ebooks and audiobooks from the library.

This is how I approach the treadmill.

https://the-devils-panties-feed.dreamwidth.org/1472238.html

Power is back in my corner of Kenmore. Yay! Recharging all the things.

Power is out in my part of Kenmore. Currently in the sunroom, which at least has a decent amount of sunlight.

The battery system powered CPAPs and kept the house at 60F. Solar is currently providing power and recharging the house battery.

Comcast internet/cable is down. I have my phone, but. Sad how dependent I can be on 1s and 0s.

Annual trip to the Puyallup/state fair was fun. (If you're curious, TheFair.com has more info.)
Heat pump that keeps the house in 70s while it's 89F outside.
My mobility scooter managed the fair fine...but I do admit I didn't try driving onto any rides. ;)
Plugin hybrid van that doesn't need gas often.
A summer of good air quality (my asthma is happy).

Relatively painless blood draw in advance of annual physical. It was a fasting draw, but I have discovered it's easier to get up without an immediate need for caffeine and food if you're not sleep deprived in general. (WHO KNEW???)

Fun with Woobles. I've got a cactus smiling at me from across the room.

Plants that keep surprising me. Two volunteer rosebushes, mint seeds sprouting ages after I gave up and replanted with other seeds....

Vanessa the plug-in hybrid. The vast majority of my trips are within electric range, we have a charger at home, so unless we do a road trip we don't need to bother with gas. (I realized today I don't remember which side has the opening for the gas tank. I do know where the electric charging port is.)

Finding a "Get Out The Vote" job I can do. In my case it's postcards reminding people to vote. I was sent nice postcards with reminder to vote on Nov 5, some tested-out messages, and addresses. I'm providing stamps and labor (addressing and writing a "Thank you for being a voter!" message). I went through https://turnoutpac.org/postcards/ but there are others.

Tillamook medium cheddar

Glad I got a few extra ebooks from the library during the DNC

Current Mood: good

PEOPLE magazine has an article on Project 2025. If you've been meaning to learn more or looking for something to share, take a look:

https://people.com/what-is-project-2025-inside-far-right-plan-trump-presidency-8622964

Checking Bluesky this morning may have been a mistake :( Oh joy, the US Supreme Court is worse than I thought. Argh.

That said, I did slightly assist Jesse in attacking blackberries behind some roses; I used a rake to hold rose canes out of the way while he went back to the blackberry canes growing next to the house. Also as usual, on Monday I did some treadmill time with Marketplace podcasts from last week.

Treadmill is usually MWF. Baby steps for now, but working on getting heart, lungs, and muscles to all cooperate.

Books finished recently:

Bats in the Belfry by E.C.R. Lorac. 1930s mystery set in London. Twisty and interesting.
No, You Shut Up: Speaking Truth to Power and Reclaiming America by Symone D Sanders. Published in 2020, part memoir and part how-to of a political operative and communications professional.
Death Comes At The End by Agatha Christie. Christie's only book set in the past (ancient Eygpt) and with a non-European cast. Agatha created this book at the urging of an Eygptologist friend of hers, and it's based in part of real letters from the time. It's a bit slow going but I did enjoy it.
They All Fall Down by Rachel Howzell Hall. It's an updated And Then There Were None, all the way to the end.
State Tectonics by Malka Older, the third in her Centenal Cycle. (Read Infomacracy first, then Null States)

I have now weakened enough to turn on MSNBC. Hi Rachel.

I'm taking it easy today after several days of doing more steps (and household stuff) than usual for me.

I emptied the kitchen recycling bin and I've got a pan of lasagna in the oven for later. I'll be doing my meds for the week but otherwise I'm resting and reading today. :)

The weather changed.

I woke up with one of worser sinus headaches. Took daily meds (which includes allergy meds) with water and realized I felt dehydrated; drank more water. Coffee and breakfast helped more as the meds really kicked in. Now I'm willing to listen to quiet talking podcast.

It's also colder than it has been, and rain in forecast this afternoon. Oh right, weather can cause headaches.

---

The podcast, btw, is "Why Is This Happening?" hosted by Chris Hayes. This episode is Chris interviewing Signal CEO Meredith Whittaker. I'm intrigued to learn Signal is a non-profit that specifically does not sell advertising, and so has no reason to track a lot of data that other apps track as a matter of course.

I'm kind of assuming I'm retired at this point, but still have my rut.

Example 1: Exercising at least 3 times a week, using treadmill, hand weights, and body weight. This is made more complicated by poor lung cooperation (like, staying in 'aerobic' mode more than N minutes doesn't work) but I persevere.

Example 2: Making use of my county library card to check out ebooks. The Libby app lets me download books to my phone or tablet. Often I can read in the Kindle app or Libby's; I generally prefer Kindle for copy/paste purposes. Agatha Christie published 66 novels under her own name, plus short stories, some other books as Mary Westmacott, and a few travel books. Kerry Greenwood is still writing Phryne Fisher books, plus a contemporary series.I've also dabbled with Ngaio Marsh, Margery Allingham, and other authors (I already owned all of Dorothy Sayers mysteries.) SFF reading includes Ann Leckie, Octavia Butler, John Scalzi, and Mary Robinette Kowal.

Example 3: Silly tablet apps like June's Journey and Lily's Garden.

Example 4: Checking on how much power our solar panels are producing and when will the electric utility recognize we have sent power to the grid.

Example 5: Household maintenance like laundry, cleaning, and other chores.

What's up with y'all?

Current Mood: cheerful

Caller ID showed cent_mvs7. That's suspicious right there.
A computer voice said I'd had a "suspicious order" on my Amazon account. "Press one to delete order."

They came a woman’s voice. "I'm from Amazon customer service, how can I help you?"

I said that her company called me. (I was plenty suspicious at that point.)

"Oh yes, I see an order from your account for Apple airpods for $1200, is that correct?"

I say "no" while pulling up the Amazon app.

I'm not sure what she said next. I interrupted with
"I have looked through physical and digital orders and it's not there".

*click*

Well, that's clear. Didn't even get to asking my username or password. I'm torn between "how sad they were so easy to see through" and "HOW DARE".

Same park, September 23rd, singing in a park in Redmond WA! Info at https://conflikt.org

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jenk

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