health stuff – Sharon Lee, Writer

Now it’s Monday morning

What went before: I may have straightened out the timeline. Maybe.

In other news, I wrote about 1,000 words, recasting a scene impacted by the timeline kinks.

The cats are *not* demanding Happy Hour, and I’m wondering if I just out to let it run out to new-8:00. Hmm.

Also — I re-re-re-&c-read The Thirteen Clocks, which is every bit as silly and beautiful as I remembered.

Monday. Snowing. Of course, it’s snowing.

Breakfast is oatmeal with cranberries and walnuts, with tea. Lunch will have to take care of itself.

COVID shot at 10:30, followed by foraging, since I’ll be in the grocery store, followed by We’ll See How It Goes.

Nothing really more to report.

What’re you doing today?

Cat pictures in lieu of content:

The sun’s coming up like a big bald head

What went before:

Yesterday, I went first to the Verizon store on behalf of my phone. Having called Murphy’s attention down upon me by packing for a Day at the Verizon Store, I was — the first one there, and had three reps at my beck.

The first was newish, but told me that my screen protector was cracked. I said I thought it was the screen and would be grateful if she could prove to me that it was only the protector.

This was a little too assertive (sigh), and the second rep came over to explain that I could request a protector from Corporate, or buy one at the store I was standing in and they would install it for me.

I thanked her for the information and once! again! asked if it could be demonstrated that it was the protector and not the screen that was damaged.

She looked at the phone, with the cracks radiating out from the chip, and said, “Oh, yeah; that’s the screen protector.”

I invited her to remove it and assure us all that it was not the screen that was damaged.

…what I tell you three times…

She shrugged and peeled the protector (which itself is some kind of glass, who knew?) off. Indeed, the phone itself was intact.

The second rep installed the new protector, I paid the first, and exchanged farewells and keep-warms with the third rep, who had wisely kept herself aloof in case somebody else came in the door, and went home, richer by an uncracked screen protector and poorer by 50 small.

My trip to the dentist was more expensive and more nerve-wracking, but all’s well there, and I don’t have to do it again until November.

Moving on. . .

Tuesday. Cold enough for me. Sun’s an orange ball behind the trees. I’ll get the trash out when it’s warmer than -1F/-18C.

Waked before my time for a Cat Clean Up Emergency. First cup of tea is here at the desk with me. Breakfast will shortly be sausage and cheese on an English muffin and the rest of the pineapple, assuming it’s still edible. Lunch will chicken breast and — A Vegetable to be Named Later.

Worked past coon cat happy hour, getting my credit reports frozen, and Steve’s (because I never got ’round to doing that other thing. Honest, the few things that are turning up to be dealt with now drag at me like the stuff I had to do Just After Steve left didn’t. ‘course then, I was laboring under the delusion that I was finishing up a few chores before I got on the road to join him at the new place. Brains, man; what will they think of next.)

Anyhow, the credit freeze is nailed down. I should probably lock down the cards I don’t use often (or at all. BOA, I’m looking at you.), but that has to wait until I get the cats’ chips refiled.

I ought to go to sewing today; it’s been basically forever. Also I need to pick up the papers from my lawyer, and make? A phone call!

Last night, after my labors with the credit agencies, I made a cup of tea, and betook myself to my bed to read. Tali understands reading in bed, the rest of the guys, not so much, though Rook gave it a try. It worked out pretty well for me, until I had to actually, yanno, go to sleep and had to be shifting pillows out of the way so I could lay down, and by that time, I was awake again.

I think that’s all I’ve got, and I really ought to get with breakfast.

What’ve you got going today?

Today’s blog title brought to you by Laurie Anderson, “Sharkey’s Day.”

Snow Date

What went before: Yesterday was not a good day. Nuff said.

Monday, grey and cold. Snow showers in the forecast.

Went to bed early; got up to the 6:45 alarm. Breakfast was a blueberry muffin and some English Cheddar. First cup of tea is to hand.

Today’s Plan insomuch as it can be said to be a plan is to finish my cup of tea, do my duty to the cats, fill a Yeti with yet more hot tea and go camp out at the Verizon store until it’s time to go to the dentist. I do have to let an InfoDump out into the cyberlanes today, but that will be AD — After Dentist.

So, do I understand this correctly — there’s another John Carter movie (cleverly titled JOHN CARTER 2)? Thirteen years after the original “mega-flop”? The ways of The Mouse are mysterious, indeed.

What’s your Plan for Monday?

All’s well that ends well, feline edition

Well. Where to start?

Ah. Thank you to everyone who read and kindly donated to “Core Values.”

If you haven’t read the story yet, here’s your link to the introduction, which itself includes a link to the story. You may read the story for free. Those who wish may also donate, to the story, to the site, to the Coon Cat Food Bank, or to the author. A donation is not required to read the story.

Now we can get to the Important Topic of Tali.

Tali found the Guest Parlor too small. Because I have a Very Weird House, I was able, after yesterday’s breakfast, to close off the hallway in which the Guest Parlor is located, closing the door to Steve’s office at one end, and the rest of the house, at the other end. This gave Tali the Guest Parlor, a short hallway, a cul de sac which is glorified as the Laundry Room, and a big window overlooking the Long Back Yard. I also put Trooper in with her, thinking he could share some more pearls of feline wisdom.

This is what that looked like, when I peered in a couple hours later.

After lunch, Trooper and I traded places. I took my laptop back to the laundry room, and sat in the chair I’d moved in from Steve’s office, and finished inputting corrections to “Core Values.” Tali several times leapt into my lap — she gives epic head bumps — and tried her paw at editing the story.

Firefly was still being hissy, and Rook was taking his cue from her, so I visited Tali once or twice on the evening, but my intention was to leave her in Steve’s hallway until at least Thursday afternoon (I had a doctor’s appointment this morning, and Ashley is coming tomorrow morning to do the cleaning).

At 5am this morning, Trooper opened the door to Steve’s hallway, and let Tali out.

I got up, turned on all the lights, and prepared myself to run interference (Tali does not like to be picked up. She will jump in my lap, but she Does. Not. Want. me to pick her up, and I had … reservations about allowing a cat who will not allow me to pick her up roaming the house.). Trooper, however, had appointed himself Tour Guide. He took Tali downstairs, where the Accommodations are (she has a litter pan in the Guest Parlor, but apparently it’s not the best arrangement), he showed her the food station and the cat fountain. He walked her right past Firefly, who was hissing, and Rook, who was likewise.

Since he had it in paw, I got dressed and put the kettle on for tea.

Tali eventually went back to her hallway. I followed her in, closed the door, and sat down. She jumped into my lap, and we had a cuddle while chatting out her first impressions.

I let her out again when I got back from my Annual Wellness appointment (spoiler: I’m healthy).

I must say Tali’s being very smart about integrating herself. She spent some time in the bedroom, and has explored the rest of the rooms once or twice, entirely unfazed by hissing sillies. She offers no aggression, nor does she hiss back; it’s merely nothing to do with her, what those cats are carrying on about.

Occasionally, she goes back to her hallway for a breather.

And that’s where we are right now. Trooper, Firefly, and Rook are in my office with me, and Tali is exploring the living room.

I lay it out like they do in magazines

What went before: Ended yesterday on a low note. I blame the grocery store.

What went before, The Long edition: 2024 was a Personal Worst. In February, I lost my best friend, my coauthor, and my spouse. In July, I lost my heart-cat, and maybe, or maybe not, had a stroke. In October, I turned in a book, and then did line edits, copy edits and galleys in a month. I’m still trying to figure out how I wrote a book last year.

Onward!

Thursday. Bright and bitter cold. The weatherbeans theorize that the high temp on the day will be 15F/-9C. I’ll be staying in.

Breakfast was cottage cheese, toast, and strawberries. As pictured elsewhere, Rook got in my lap and pinned me down, so I finished my first mug of tea and played Spelling Bee to Solid.

Second mug of tea is with me here at the desk. Lunch will be leftover bean loaf, and, err, veggies.

The plowguy came by yesterday evening. I was surprised, but pleased. Much later, UPS arrived bearing a Large Carton. A kind friend had sent two heated throws for the use of the cats and myself. They were frozen stiff from their all-day tour of Central Maine, so I put them in the laundry room to thaw. They are now, as per instructions, being washed before use.

I have some 1099s of various flavors to log; I’m still missing 5, which seems unlikely, until I remember that I need a total of 20.

<serious discussion>I would like to take this opportunity while we’ll all together at the table sipping our beverages and preparing for what’s left of our day, to assert that I am not a slacker.

I know that there are things people want me to do that would “Only take X” and questions that people may believe I am ill-naturedly refusing to answer. I fear that those things lie with you, and not with me.

As I discussed in this space (note: this would be my Facebook Wall) only a week or so ago — I need to be very careful to protect my health — physical and mental. Steve used to do this for me — part of the way he did it was by answering, or explaining why he wasn’t going to/couldn’t answer, questions and expressed desires. I will allow that I am in no way as elegant, or as facile, as Steve was in these matters.

So, I’m asking you to please think before you tell me that This Thing would “Only Take X” or demand that I answer a question that you actually know the answer to, or can easily find the answer to. I am particularly vulnerable to people demanding that I Solve This Problem, and I have had to become very mindful of the fact that I’m not responsible for solving the problems of nations.

Now, you might be saying to yourself at this point that I’ve got a helluva lot of nerve asking you not to ask me things, when I ask for help pretty regularly.

In my mind, asking for help is not a demand; it’s a request, as in “Hey, if you have the time/inclination/skills could you–?” (Or, “Check this font; is it san serif?”) That’s what people do. I help when I can; so do you — I know you do because you help me. We’re all better when we help each other. And we’re all better when we accept help, when we need it.

All I’m doing is asking us all to be a little mindful. I’ll do my best; and I know you’ll do yours.</serious discussion>

I’m going to split the day between the domain situations, and staring into space. I will note here that “staring into space” = working, for those coming in late.

What’re you doing today?

Today’s blog title brought to you by Jason Kinney, “Neutra Face: An Ode On a Typeface”

She thought of heat; she thought of time

What went before: I worked on taxes yesterday, which was more challenging than I had expected. It’s not like Steve did the taxes, after all. But, in a normal year, this is the place where I would have started nagging him to get me those items and expenses that I did not have through doing the general house and business accounting. This would have gone on for . . . a while — there was some math involved in how long he would put me off before he believed that I was serious — and then the info would appear.

It just feels really wrong that I — have all that information in hand. Right now, and can proceed with adding/subtracting and filling in the blanks.

Onward!

Wednesday. Sunlight an orange glow behind the trees -9F/-23C. Weatherbeans calling for a high of 18F/-8C.

I’m evaluating my need to go out today. I don’t need anything from the grocery store that can’t wait until tomorrow, and while I really *do* need a haircut, I’ll not be receiving today. I haven’t been to the post office in almost two weeks, but I’m not expecting anything urgent, and the post office lobby, where the mailboxes are, is toasty warm, comparatively. On the other hand, tomorrow’s high of 25F/-4 isn’t going to be *that* much warmer. And on the gripping hand! I do *have* a Big Coat. Heck, I have TWO Big Coats — Steve’s parka, and my knee-length puffer coat.

It may come down to a coin flip at 10 am.

But, first! Breakfast. Which was! Cottage cheese with a side of muffin. And tea. Lunch will be leftover split pea, lentil, and ham soup. Kettle on for second cup of tea.

Cat search update: Three inquiries written; 1 answer in the negative received.

I feel — well, and am theoretically TNC (Theoretically Not Contagious). Hoping to stay that way. Though I will be masking when I go out.

If I don’t go out and do errands, then I’ll finish what I can of the taxes with the information in-house, after which it will be the long game of waiting for other people to get their acts together and send me paperwork.

If I do venture out into The Elements to accomplish my errands, then I’ll possibly take the rest of the day off, or maybe see if I can discover that last scene for the story that’s been in progress far too long so I can put it up on Splinter Universe.

. . . one of the things that’s been coming around on the guitar, as the vernacular has it, is the realization that I have wanted to be a writer since I was aware of “wanting to be” something. This predates Steve and cats, and I got to wondering how common that is, that people have known for their whole lives what they “wanted to be.”

So, I’m throwing it out to y’all — when did you (if you did) realize what you “wanted to be”?

Today’s blog post brought to you by Bill Morrissey, “Birches”

Rook joined me for breakfast. Not that he had any of my breakfast; he likes to sit on my lap while I finish my tea, and take a bath, because, yanno, bellies don’t clean themselves.

Pay no attention to the cat behind the curtain

What went before: Yesterday was reading, and noting, and diarying, and playing with cats. I transcribed some handwritten documents from the Revolutionary War for the National Archives — which was interesting, as well as relaxing in its way, and also feels like I’m doing something useful.

Moving on. . .

Monday. Cold and said to be getting colder. Snowed on the overnight, but not the 4-8 inches the ‘beans had called for; there’s maybe 2 inches on the front step.

Breakfast was eggs scrambled with potato, tomato, and onion, toast-and-jelly, and tea. Lunch will be ham and pea soup, starting with a can of split pea soup, and some of one of the little canned hams that Steve laid in — yes, I do have Plans to build on that, and will likely wind up with soup for the freezer. The kettle’s on for second cup of tea.

I’m feeling OK — like I’m just getting over a cold. Looking for the plowguy to come by eventually, because I don’t want to have to shovel snow. I do have to do some laundry today, and I want to look at my notes, and also the short story I was trying to write, to see how far I actually got. I have some phone calls to make, but, as it’s a holiday, maybe tomorrow for the phone calls.

I should also review the accountant’s letter, to remind myself of his deadlines, since I have obviously not been working on the taxes this while.

And that’s it for me.

Over to you.

Gamesmanship

Sunday. Bright, damp, and warm. As mentioned elsewhere, the Long Back Yard is mostly showing grass, with a little snow, no thicker than a heavy frost, where the house casts its shadow.

We here in Central Maine currently rejoice in a Winter Storm Watch, in which we will start watching the snow fall at around 4pm. Expected accumulations of “heavy, wet snow” are between 4 and 8 inches.

Breakfast was oatmeal, because I Couldn’t Decide and I had gotten up latish and needed to eat SOMEthing. Lunch will be leftover potatoes.

So some of you know that I “play” a game called Finch. I’m not particularly good at it, as the game rewards you for changing stuff up, and I like to get everything the way I like it and then leave it there. It also rewards you for nurturing pets, which I find alternately stressful and irritating. Some of the pets are blobs of jelly, or clouds, or drops of — something? — and I have a hard time relating to them. I’m supposed to be hatching more pets, but I’ve stopped because I don’t feel that I can properly take care of the ones I already have.

Now, I did score a cat a little while ago, and my character, young Perry Wink, has been keeping company with her, and saw her safely from kitten to full grown. Honestly, I’d’ve been perfectly happy to just stick with the cat. But — I also had a baby fox in my menagerie, and a couple days ago I linked him up with Perry to have some adventures.

The pets make sounds — the cat purrs, the blob says, “BLOORP,” the llama says, “llamaLLAMA,” and the fox — howls.

I didn’t know that the fox howled, until this morning, when I rubbed his ears and he did just that.

Rook immediately leapt out of the dining room to the Big Intersection, and froze, ears up, tail straight and stiff behind him, head turning slowly from side to side. Firefly came rushing down to join him and the two of them did a sweep of the dining room, the living room, and the hall.

Oops. Won’t be petting the fox any more, I guess.

In health news, I have now reached the Challenge Stage. Which is to say, I feel — OK. My head isn’t stuffed with cotton, the niggling nasty little headache is gone, my teeth don’t hurt, and I feel like I actually have some energy, and could maybe Think some Thoughts.

However! Having had one relapse, I really don’t want another, and I still have meds to finish out. I will therefore attempt to be Smart this time, and continue with the whole rest thing. I will add the Next Novel Planning Notebook to my cache of couch amusements. Just in case, yanno, I do manage to Think something Useful.

So, that’s my news.

What’s yours?

Nought’s had, all’s spent, when our desire is got without content

What went before: I felt somewhat better yesterday afternoon, and managed to attack the Mess on my Desk. I also finished the second Gretna Green book, and got sidetracked into Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent, by Judi Dench and Brendan O’Hea, which is being delightful, restful, and shaking some of the dust out of my brain. I haven’t thought about Shakespeare, to actually, yanno, think about Shakespeare, for decades, and I was never an actor, so not only shaking off the dust, but a new perspective, too.

Onward.

Saturday. Grey and warm(ish). If the weatherbeans are to be believed, we’re in for a spate of crazy weather. Temps in excess of 40F/4C are being called for today, with rain starting this afternoon — which is really unseasonable.

But, wait! We are also under a Winter Storm Watch for Sunday, with a possible fall of 6 inches of heavy, wet, snow. After that, we’ll be in the Deep Freeze for a bit, with highs on Monday around 14F and lows around -4F, warming back up into the 30sF by next weekend.

All winter in a week, and a fine thing it is that I was planning on staying in at least until the antibiotics are gone.

Getting back to the order of the day — breakfast! was a use-em-up meal — the last of the tuna fish, the last of the Dreamberries, and whole wheat toast to keep them company. Lunch will beee……oh. I have veggie burgers. Veggie burger onna whole wheat bun with tomato (but not a slice of cheese, curse you, antibiotics!)

I slept in this morning, in part to make up for the hour of hacking my head off at around 3:30am. I’m feeling significantly better than I did last night, so I can almost forgive the antibiotics for taking my cheese away from me for seven! days!

I have some business to take care of here at the desk this morning, but I’m still on light duty — that seems prudent, given It All. It also means, of course, that I don’t have very much to talk about, so!

What’re you doing today?

Blanket buddies:

It used to seem to me that my life ran on too fast

What went before: I’m looking to reacquaint myself with Gordy Arbuthnot and posted a Scavenger Hunt on FB, to make sure I had all the places where he has appeared and/or been mentioned in the Universe So Far. This brought up a splinter — what had a very long time ago been thought by its fond authors to be the start of the second novel staring Shan and Priscilla (this being before we learned that “nobody” wanted to read about traders), and where it might be found. The splinter is entitled “Shan and Priscilla Ride Again,” and it is collected in Pinbeam Books chapbook Splinter Universe Presents: Might-have-beens and first thoughts from the Liaden Universe®. Amazon link provided as a courtesy.

Moving on . . .

Friday. Sunny and cold enough.

Breakfast was a blueberry muffin with a side of cheddar cheese. Lunch will be … potatoes. Potatoes have potassium, which is good for what ails me, so I’m told.

I was going to Just Get To Work Today. I mean, that was the plan, but having eaten breakfast — I don’t feel so hot, so I’ll just be taking my second cup of tea to the Command Chair and continue with yesterday’s modest researches. Normally, I would do this from the comfy chair in my office, but the antibiotic I’m taking forbids me “direct or indirect” sunshine. Sigh.

Perhaps later I’ll be able to address the Mess on my Desk.

What’s everybody doing today?

Today’s blog title brought to to you by Steve Winwood, “Back in the High Life”

Tete a tete: