Musings of a marginally sane feline-appreciating female.

I’m still amazed we have enough kids to support a 4H fair, but I’m glad we do, cause it was awesome. It’s at our county farm park – Frying Pan Park, and I am so glad it has made it through Covid – I half expected the county to shut it down and sell the land. It’s a neat place even when there isn’t a fair.

It was a fantastic day, walked a couple miles, saw lots of animals, and got myself a corndog. 100% successful day.

Checked in with the permanent residents first, of course. Baby cows!

The two draft horses, Charlie (golden) and Jeff (brown).

The piggies staying inside and cool on a hot day.

This (alpine?) goat that had kicked over his water trough, because he could. (I alerted staff on this, and it was fixed when I saw him next.)

Sheep!

Dairy farm stuff, and a Cindy sized house. (I know, it’s a shed, but I could make it work.)

Love these pollinator gardens – so beautifully messy.

Chickens, peacocks, and turkeys!

Then it was on to the 4H critters! So many horses! Vesuvius, the one next to the hay bag – everyone was his new best friend. I got to pet him and he snuffled on my shoulder, and when I told his person I thought he might be disappointed that I didn’t have food, she said, “Oh, I have treats, would you like to give him one?” WOULD I??!?? Ruby was also all about nose rubs, too. Lola was more interested in her lunch, LOL.

Lots of sheep and goats! I found Shaun the Sheep!

And then, baby chicks! I got to hold the little black and white one, and it dozed off in my hands. OMG.

Arts and crafts didn’t disappoint.

And of course, I had to hit the gift shop, and got a couple needle felted animals for Lily from a local fiber artist, and I kinda had to get a t-shirt – gotta support the park!

I am such a big kid when it comes to this stuff and I love every minute of it. So glad it’s back.

Well done! And as a reward, Netflix has dropped all 10 episodes of Sandman just for you!

I’ve gotten very used to new shows doing weekly drops (like in the olden days, LOL) so I don’t know if I’m gonna binge watch the whole thing, or make it a “one episode every Friday night” thing. I love a good binge watch, but I have found that I really enjoy “ooh, new episode this week!”

In other fun stuff, I had to replace my little wristlet wallet because a) it was legit starting to fall apart and the cards wouldn’t stay in it, and b) Nats park has a “nothing bigger than a clutch” policy* this year. This one is a little bigger than my old one, but it zips up so nothing can fall out, and has a cell phone pocket – which isn’t quite big enough for my cell phone, but it does perfectly hold a power bank and cord. So between that and my pants with ALL THE POCKETS, I am good. AND LOOK HOW CUTE IT IS WITH ALL THE SUNFLOWERS!!!

And I am VERY excited about the 4H Fair this weekend. Animals! Crafts! Death rides! Corndogs! And apologies in advance to every kid that is gonna hear, “So, tell me all about your rabbit/chicken/cow!”

Well, time to go tackle the thing I was working on yesterday where things wouldn’t add up right.

You have a fantastic Friday.

AJ Preller worked some magic at the trade deadline and we now have Josh Bell, Brandon Drury, Josh Hader, Jay Groome, and Juan Freaking Soto! And in their first game together last night, Drury hit a grand slam and we roughed up the Rockies 9-1.

This team looks so good – we have *depth* – we can let guys have days off and it won’t feel like there is a hole in the lineup. And if last night was any indication, some awesome chemistry.

And I’ve decided to go to the upcoming games, because a) I REALLY want to see this team in person and b) it occurred to me that even if it is outside, I can still wear a mask. (Bit of a duh moment there.) And given that the Nats aren’t doing so hot this season, when I got the tickets, there were a fair amount available, so it looks like I’ll have some empty seats around me, LOL.

I guess this is “living with Covid” – perpetually trying to figure out how I can leave the house safely. And I know if *I* am tired of the constant risk assessment, I know that disabled folks in this country must be utterly exhausted as they’ve had to do this every damn day, forever.

Interesting bit is that our cases around here are starting to drop again. Slowly, but dropping. Though, if I get Covid at the ballpark, feel free to tell me it was a dumbass move.

Well, time to go make the money to pay for those baseball tickets. You have a fantastic and safe day!

Because a certain kitty decided she must alert me to something at 5:30AM. I have tried to explain to her, anytime before 4AM is fine, after that, give me that last two hours of sleep. Obviously, I have not gotten that message through to her.

At least I don’t have any early meetings today, so that’s something.

Today is another good day to start off with getting caught up on training hours to let all my brain cells get themselves organized.

You have a good Tuesday – I’m gonna go refill my coffee.

Happy August! Also known as Triple H time around here – Hazy, Hot, and Humid. Wheeee! Heat indexes well over 90º all week!

This is also the month I’m supposed to go see my beloved Padres, but I have no idea if that is happening. Yes, it’s outside, but it’s also people pretty much right on top of each other in the stadium, and BA.5 so, IDK. Last year they were here the weekend we got back from the beach, and I knew I’d be too exhausted, so I stayed home. This may be year 3 of no in person baseball, and that blows.

Over on Twitter, I’m watching some incredibly shitty discourse that boils down to: If you work for a defense contractor, you are personally responsible for all the ills in the world, especially if you’re trans and have had some cringe takes. And watching one person crow about how they’ve had all kinds of lousy jobs and never worked for a Large Defense Contractor, without mentioning that they had been in the military…whew.

Amazing how some of these folks think most of us actively choose our employers and have the jobs we *want* rather than the job that pays the bills and hopefully provides health insurance. My own track has been: defense contractor, defense contractor, very screwed up non-profit, defense contractor, software company that caters to defense contractors, weird security company, software company that caters to defense contractors.

I’ve had recruiters flat out tell me, “You will never find a position outside defense/government contracting.”

And the “but, remote means you can work for anyone!” – remote work being widely available is a very recent thing, and many folks are still limited by geography in their job opportunities.

Well, I’ve gotta go grind those gears for capitalism – you have a good day, and don’t be shitty about where people have to work.

Err, good afternoon!

Had a good sleep in this morning, got my coffee, and already hit the market for a couple things and of course, forgot stuff. (Today it was trash bags and nail polish remover.) I try to do the coffee/market run all at once cause they’re right next to each other, and I invariably forget something because while I have acquired the coffee at that point, I have not *consumed* it.

My attempts at efficiency are often not well rewarded, LOL.

I yesterday’s well pared down to-do list all knocked out, and today is another good and short one, but with washing ALL THE TOWELS. I’m still salty that I’d been doing SO well around the house and then I just…wasn’t. I realize it all going to hell coincided with work going batshit, but to still be so stuck when everything calmed down again has been very frustrating.

I so envy folks who just get up on the weekends and knock out the housework without having to have multiple internal arguments over getting it done. Must be nice – and I am not being sarcastic about that at all – it really must be nice!

And on that note, I am going to go do some yoga and see what I can get done around here.

You have a lovely Sunday!

Sure, the world is still a dumpster fire, but all the more reason to snag some happiness.

Today that was the farmers market. Paella, salad mix, tomatoes, and the shortbread lady was there again!

When I got my second pint of tomatoes (I get my two pints from different stalls, gotta share the love, ya know) one took a flying leap out of the container – I picked it up thinking a) well, I wash these before eating anyway, and b) no one wants to step on a tomato. But, it had taken a very hard fall, and when I paid, I asked if the gentleman had a trash can about for it. He said no problem, took the smushed tomato and all of a sudden, he’s giving me another handful of tomatoes to make up for it. Totally unnecessary, but I am not turning down some free tomatoes, LOL.

And the shortbread lady… She had the lemon-rosemary again, and sea salt chocolate chip! And I may have gotten a 7Up pound cake. But – they’re little! The bakery is “Stephanie’s Bite Size” for a reason. I told her that I’d seen the cocoa cayenne shortbread on her website and would be keeping an eye out for those – she said she doesn’t make those as often, but does post about it when she does.

And on the way home from the farmers market, I had Beyonce’s Break My Soul blasting – I know it came out like a month ago, but I just heard it the first time this week, and it is a total banger.

I only won $8 in the MegaMillions, so my plans for being an eccentric philanthropist are on hold for a bit. But it was fun to think about what I could do with an insane amount of money.

And in an attempt to keep this non-stressed-out-kinda-bliss going, I decided this week that since I’ve had such a hell of a time getting my shit together around the house again, I am lowering the bar. A lot. And that bar is “keep the living things in the house alive and reasonably comfortable” and as such, my to do list is good and short today. Everything beyond the basics in Tody has been paused until the end of August, and they’ll be slowly added back in.

Sometimes you just have to start from scratch rather than letting yourself get all overwhelmed and stressed out which then leads to just being glued to the sofa wondering why you have such a broken brain.

So, on that note, I’m gonna do a Pokemon raid, get my yoga in, and then knock everything off my little list and enjoy the rest of the day.

You have a great Saturday.

So, with BA.5 coming to a town near you, I thought I’d take a minute and reiterate my recommendation of the 3M Aura N95 mask.

They are easy to fit for just about any face shape, exceptionally comfortable, do NOT fog up your glasses, and are currently pretty widely available.

The link above for Amazon has a 3, 10, and 20 pack boxes, and they’re all individually wrapped.

The only downside I’ve encountered with them is summertime sweaty face – which has been inevitable with every mask I’ve used. So, I’d recommend you keep a pack of your preferred facial towelettes in the car or your bag. (Burt’s Bees Grapefruit wipes FTW.)

So, stay safe out there, it’s still a mess.

Day off today, so I keep having to remind myself it isn’t actually Saturday – pretty proud of myself that I didn’t attempt to go to the farmers market today, LOL.

My company is doing a nice thing to help folks feel connected, and I genuinely applaud the effort. They have installed an app in Teams that will set up meetings between two random employees so you can meet new people. If you’re an extrovert, this actually sounds fun! If you’re an introvert who just wants to get in, get the work done, and go the fuck home – this is hell, LOL.

Thankfully, it does seem to be an opt-in thing, so I’ll be passing. With my luck, I’d be paired with the CEO on a day where I had Very Strong Feelings About Corporate Policies. But, I will give them points for trying.

Of course, on the heels of that, the director of our department said he wants to try to do a holiday luncheon again in December, and with some in person meetings to justify flying people in. Yaaaaay. I opted out of lunch year, and if there is any kind of virtual option this year for the meetings – I think I’ll go that route. I can skip an uncomfortable lunch. If our case counts are under control, that’s one thing, but I have my doubts that we’re going to see any improvement on that front.

I appreciate our director wanting to get everyone together to do something nice – but dammit, there is still a pandemic and trying to make plans for anything 4 months away seems ill fated. But I appreciate his optimism.

I’ve now managed to pleasantly fritter away the whole morning, and now I’m gonna go run some errands and then pleasantly fritter away the afternoon and evening.

You have a good Friday!

And non a moment too soon, cause corporate is annoying me.

We’ve dropped all preventative Covid measures in the offices. They’d already dropped mask requirements, now there isn’t a vaccine requirement either. The justification was “the survey we did says the majority of folks are comfortable with it.” Well, as long as we’re making policy on what folks are comfortable with, lets get raises that keep up with inflation, a 4 day workweek, and day drinking on the job.

And on that note, time to go try and not get killed by capitalism.