Life goes on

Brief comment about the news of late:  I'm sorry, but I'm tired of this S***!  I shall ignore the state of the wider world for the remainder of this entry.  This, I am told, is a symptom of privilege.

Thinking of the Artemis II and ISS crews when I snapped this photo.  I had listened to the respectful communications between the two crews out there beyond Earth's atmosphere and that is an uplifting thought.  The expression that we would "always come home to earth" is a hope that we treat each other and the planet well, so that it can remain a home for humanity.

The week wandered to its routine end, with dog-walks and nice days, and human errands and rides in the car.  I think it was Monday the 13th when I had one of those moments when I considered just never blogging again!

I held off on writing a "goodbye" kind of post, though, because I know myself well enough to know I would write again.  It's how I process all the loose ends of life.  

Sure enough, here I am, ten days after the last time I clicked on "Publish", consolidating three half begun posts into one.  

Because it's Emberville, we have to put this part in

Ember shook me up with a couple of behaviors that I was not prepared for.  The first involved jumping up on a fellow dog-mom as said human came out the door from dropping her own pooch at day-care.  Ember is always full of herself on Tuesday mornings.  I should have seen it coming but I wasn't in position and didn't have my pup under control.  My fault.  Fellow dog-mom was very gracious about it, BUT!  Don't want that to happen again.   

The next morning at the end of our neighborhood leash-walk, Ember and I were coming across our own front lawn.  This is a relatively recent modification to how we end the walk.  It all depends on the route we have taken.

Bella (an older yellow lab) was walking across the front of the property (with her dad on leash).  Again, I wasn't prepared for what Ember was going to do.  We've been so good lately!  Ember was so excited to see Bella. She did a big play-bow, so I should have known she would pull toward her friend.  I was at the top of the lawn that sweeps down toward the street.  When she started to move toward Bella, I felt myself starting to tip, and instinctively dropped my end of the leash.

Both dogs were excitedly greeting, now one on leash (Bella) and the other dragging hers (Ember). Thankfully, Bella's dad is an experienced dog owner.  He told Ember to "go home" in a firm voice, while telling Bella to settle down.  Unfortunately, I don't think Ember knows "go home" as a cue.

Bella's dad also took the opportunity to pick up the human end of Ember's leash.  Like I said, experienced dog dude.  Meanwhile, I walked about 10 more steps to enter the code to open the garage door.  I dropped a treat on the driveway to distract Bella.  Bella's dad transferred Ember's leash to me.  I proceeded to open the car door and she jumped in, anticipating our normal after walk car ride.  Bella and her dad continued their walk.  Took a while to get my own heart calmed down.

Bottom line, Ember and I have a way to go on the "calm greetings" manners!  Her cousin Carl (now six years old) has never learned "calm" when it comes to greeting Grandma, if that's any predictor of success in this endeavor.

Keeping the economy moving, one project at a time

Every year as Spring rolls around all the "need to take care of this" projects around the house and yard crop up.  Spending money becomes the big thing.  But with inflation going on, it gets more painful than usual.

I made a list (who among my readers does not make lists and tick them off?)  On Tuesday the 14th, I started working my way down that list making phone calls.  I think I have blogged in the past (maybe all the way back when the platform was SparkPeople) that I really don't like making phone calls.  When I pull all my energy together and make myself do it, I feel both accomplished and exhausted.  I second guess everything I said.  That goes without saying, right?

I scheduled a Handyman to come out and look at three or four items I'd been dragging my feet on.  He came on Wednesday, painted a couple of spots on the house, helped me take apart the camera doorbell and plug it in to charge, and made a recommendation about the on-again off-again light in the bathroom off the master bedroom.

You can't really see the crack in the pane in this photo.  This was before the handy dude went off to find a piece of acrylic to replace it.

Turns out the pane that cracked was real glass, so that's now in the trash.  Ember was pretty good through all of this, as the handyman was here for a couple of hours, and she had to be contained, so as to avoid putting her nose in places it's not safe for a puppy to be.  Part of the time she was in crate, part of the time on leash with me, and part of the time she lounged in Dexter (the car)'s backseat.

All fixed, reflecting the neighboring house.

Before Scott the Handyman came, I contacted the gent who did my son's deck.  He came to look at mine and give me an idea of how much it would cost to replace it.  We discussed a couple of design options, and he sent me the estimate.  I am still working on navigating how one signs contracts and makes it happen in this new "gig economy" world, because after the initial estimate came, I had second thoughts about the design.  I know that will make the cost go up.  I don't want to sign "accept" on the initial estimate without knowing how much more the final is going to be.  

I made an appointment for the car's Spring servicing, and for the annual house A/C check.  I called the lawn guys to leave a message about them coming to turn on my sprinkler system.  The only folks I didn't call were the bug guys, because they normally come in May, and depending on when the deck work takes place, I want them after that is done.

Now maybe I can have calm and smooth and boring and repetitive for a while, and Ember won't rile me up... 

Life is good.  Keep on Sparking!