Successful transplant

Happy to say that the Indian Blanket we transplanted last week is doing fine, producing two new blossoms.

Family room, late afternoon

Too hot for a subject line

The pandemic has us restricted in some ways, and now the excessive heat has added to the limitations.  Where would we go?  No place with other humans.  Take a walk around the development?  Not in 90+ degree heat. 

So then, what to do?  I used some free money from the Amazon Visa to pick up a 128-GB thumb drive for installing Linux Mint 20.  Right now it's still creating a persistent file.  How long does that take?

Forty-three games into a Strat replay of the 1968 Cardinals.  Strong pitching and defense, but below-average hitting.  Cards are 2 games ahead of the Giants and (surprise) the Astros, who were 72-90 in real life. 

Some streaming volleyball, some WWII-era radio broadcasts, and the occasional nap.  Life goes on.

Summertime heat

One seed sprouted

Birds and probably squirrels and chipmunks ate sunflower seeds Pat put out last winter... but not all of them.

A day off

I didn't get to take the day off for my birthday, but today's OK too. And I got what I desired most -- a haircut.  (Honest, I felt better about it than I look here.)  The woman taking the picture for documentation also did the trimming.  She had seven cats at her house at one point, so we had a pleasant conversation throughout.

WFH

Here are my answers to the question in this article.

Office size: more than 100, but far fewer than when I started working there.

What is your company saying about coming back to the office?

The good news is that they had a desk-sharing program in place, so I was all set up to work from home when the order came down.  But due to my wife's broken leg, I'd been working from home full-time since June 2019 anyway.  I'm not really cut out to work in an office, especially one with an open setup like ours.  My job involves frequent conference calls and presentations, and I didn't like putting on a show with everyone in the office eavesdropping.    

Under the circumstances, I haven't paid attention to the company messages about returning to the office.  I believe they have a setup where people can come in to do what they need to do there, but only on certain days, determined by the first letter of their last name.  

One additional consideration is that the office is part of a division that the company is selling, with closing set for August 31.  So there's a pandemic going on, my company is selling my division, and also putting a new accounts receivable system in place.  The system is designed to replace the previous system, which just happens to be my job.  I'm still responsible for the legacy system, but after that who knows what happens to my job, or my paycheck?

Completely understandable

If I had researched and written an article like this full of sad news about rabbits, I'd probably want to get drunk, too. 

Just a little something from our weedy garden

Bring the family

The first raccoon I saw on our deck appeared during game 7 of the 2016 World Series.  The open land that existed when we moved here is becoming homes, warehouses, and the world headquarters of a Fortune 500 company.  The raccoons have to go somewhere.  This family of five appears to be adapting just fine. 

Dude...

It's been several years since we had the landscaping done, and it needs it.  The landscaper Pat hired had this dumpster brought in, which tells you how much they expect to dispose of. 

They arrived in mid-morning and are still working now, in 90-degree heat, and weeds have been pulled, chopped, and/or whipped into submission. 

Identity Theft?

Is that a fact?  I'd say they're half right.  Never wore a waistcoat in my life.  

Charlie McCarthy and Mae West, December 12, 1937

Happy birthday

Number 64, in fact.  A hot, humid Sunday, but I still took a walk around the development this morning.  Determined to do no work, that soon changed as Pat asked me to help get her set up to water and weed.  We're going to try to transplant the Indian blanket flower from the front to the back yard, hoping it is a perennial, but it probably isn't, and in a day or so whatever seeds it produced will be covered by landscaping.

So how'd I spend my birthday?  Reading a New Yorker article by Jane Mayer and Susan B Glasser's letter from Washington, plus one from 1945 on Gabriel Heatter that I'd saved a few weeks ago.

Easy Like Sunday with Kit Charlemagne

Busy

Beside the sidewalk during a walk

What's new and different?

Wegmans was out of small jars of mayonnaise and packets of yeast, but had plenty of flour and sugar. 

7-15-20

On the sunny side of the house, morning glory vines overgrow the bushes.  Always glad to see them come back each year.

Feeding time again

About 9:15, the motion detector light was lit on the deck, and when I checked, it wasn't a stray cat, but a sizable raccoon.  I went outside and got the dry cat food, but left the plate of wet food that the little black pooshka and the big ol' creampuff had left behind.  The raccoon scooted under the deck railing onto the yard waste bin, and kept an eye on me.  When I went back in with the dry food, it came right back up and started in on the wet food. 

All the while, I learned soon after, the pooshka and the creampuff had watched it from chairs on the deck. 

There is this:

Pat needed a blood test before her appointment Thursday with Dr. Velarde, so I drove her to Trexlertown.  While she waited, I walked down to the Dollar Tree.  As usual, I checked the soaps for Dial Basic, which I've used for years.  After picking up a bundle, I realized that instead of three bars, there were just two.  But, digging through the container, I found several three-packs at the bottom and bought 3.  That should keep me for awhile.

Plus, I found a penny in the aisle.  Between lucky pennies and rabbit sightings, I'm hanging on to any good omen these days.  Pat's test results from the hospital do not look encouraging. 

Sorry I haven't written lately...

... there's stuff I could say, but unless it's entered as simple cryptic notes, I don't have much time to rewrite. 

The Line at Wal-Mart

And only one of the two entrances is open.  Everyone enters and exits via the south entrance.  I was there to pick up a prescription, and of course the pharmacy is just inside the north entrance.  

Two days, three nights later

NBP, LVH

July 8

Stress or not?

COVID-19:  work from home is very good.  Ideal for an introvert.  I like spreadsheet work.  No driving Route 22 2x day.  Less need for gas.  Car insurance bill reduced by 1/3.  But can not visit Tabby's Place.  No volleyball, either Diana or NU.  I would miss them, unlike MLB.

Cigna/New York Life:  sale scheduled to go through at the end of August.  Lock stock and barrel, I tell the clients.  Nothing to worry about.  But it is still a big change.

GBA:  I don't know anything yet.  

Easy Bill:  the one-man team.

Pat to emergency room.

Me to Dr Velarde tomorrow.

Responsible for 6 cats.  Complicates any move.

Good health, though.  Not in chronic pain.

-- notes taken yesterday evening in ER waiting room, waiting for Pat to be admitted.

Is anyone surprised?

It's fun to go back in time with knowledge of the eventual results.   Here's a page from Volleyball Magazine, describing the top recruiting class of 2016...

... and here's a video of four of the recruits in action in a post-season all-star game...

...and finally, here's how those recruits worked out.  (Doing the math, that's a cumulative record of 121-16.  After the first season, when those frosh got their feet on the ground, 94-9.)

Thousands of these in our yard

... thousands more in nearby yards.

Inflation?

From the Toledo News-Bee, July 6, 1920

What this country needs is a good five-cent nickel hub cap!

The camera-shy pooshka

Tried to get her in late afternoon sun, but the little black pooshka was in no mood to pose.  This is the best I could do, standing in the rain from about 30 feet away, bracing the camera on the handrail and ignoring the message "raise flash" on the screen.

Music news

Sparks had a #2 hit single in the UK when I was still in high school.  Nearly 50 years later, they're about to have an album hit the Top Ten.  (And their second in a row, after Hippopotamus.)

Easy Like Sunday

Wet Blanket

Indian Blanket

A volunteer blossom under one of the trees in our front yard, taken after a rain shower yesterday. Wasn't familiar with this kind of flower, so I had to look it up.  

A Last Time, Too

The Dell XPS 9100 we bought in 2011, then updated with spiffier video and sound cards in 2014 or 2015, appears to have breathed its last.  The last 3 times I've tried to boot, it locked up and got mighty warm.  Probably not worth it to try to fix it.  In its place, I've hauled out the 2012 laptop that has Linux Mint installed since about 2017.  Everything from the Dell XPS seems to work fine with the Dell laptop except the patch cord connecting it to external speakers.  Can't even get earbuds to work.  Plugged them in, but no sound.  The built-in laptop speakers are adequate, though, and will do until I get something newer.

First time for everything

A day off from work, and listening to Pet Sounds in its entirety for the first time.  Probably future dead links of America, considering it doesn't go into public domain for another 40 or so years.

Meet The Beetles

I like wildflowers on the side of the road, which others refer to as weeds and take pains to mow down regularly.  I'm not as sympathetic toward the Japanese beetle. Time to get out the beetle traps.

My Thursday

A month or so ago, the team I work on consisted of 3 people, and one day J and I got an email that said the 3rd person was doing another job, effective immediately.  We were expected to keep doing our jobs and pick up her work.  Happens to us all.

On Monday, I posted about my new job responsibilities.  My understanding then was that the other guy on the team and I would split time between the old job and the new one.  Then yesterday I was told that now the other guy is off my team and on the other one full-time.  The intent is for me to join him as soon as possible.  However, if they think that will be soon, they are under a misapprehension, because there's still enough work to keep me busy for eight hours a day.  Proof: my day today.  No, I'll spare you the details.  The problem is that although my role is legacy work for a technology that's due to become obsolete by the end of the year, there's still a lot of work ahead to transfer it, and until that's done, somebody has to support it.  That someone is me, the one-man team.

"Hi John, Sorry it’s taken me so long to get back to you, ..."

No, that's not the beginning of an email from a Nigerian prince or a lovelorn maiden.  It's something I received from the team photographer of the San Diego Padres, and it was intended for the team photographer of the Amarillo Sod Poodles, whose address is identical to mine, except his has a 3 at the end of it.  I forwarded it to Mr. Moore with a note, "(Although I am a baseball fan and have taken a few pictures, I'm not the guy Matt was looking for.)" 

Rabbit Rabbit (Rabbit)

It only looks like a little statue.