All Systems Green

Tuesday. Snowing. Has been for awhile, and apparently will be for awhile longer. About 3 inches on the ground — or, well, the front step — at Opening Time.

Trash and recycling are snug in the garage, where they will be staying until next week.

Cardiologist appointment canceled by patient. Chiropractor appointment at 2 may suffer the same fate, but I have time to Observe and Refine.

Drinking my first cup of tea and eating a sugar cookie while I think about what’s for breakfast.

Trooper is in Steve’s office, in Scrabble’s Basket. Firefly has been checking out the state of the world from various windows. Rookie is hanging around with me. He, too, wonders what’s for breakfast — no, I misspeak. He has left the desk and is now at the food station, chowing down on crunchies.

Last night, I read for a bit (Alliance UnBound, Cherryh and Fancher), snuggled with cats — Firefly really approves of the new blanket, and has become the most steadfast of my Evening Reading Buddies — then listened to a chapter of The Goblin Emperor before retiring, quasi-early, in anticipation of arising same to attend the cardiologist.

The tea tastes good this morning.

The snow’s pretty. Traffic on the normally busy road out front is very light, and conservative. I’m not going anywhere for the next couple hours at least. My back doesn’t hurt, and I’m not having a panic attack.

All systems green, I guess.

What’s everybody got going today?

In Which the To-Do List is Rewritten

What Went Before:  Yesterday saw the delivery of the proof copy of the hardcover Sea Wrack and Changewind, which I Examined With Interest, Found Good, and removed the hold on publication at Amazon.  Remember this plot point.

Also yesterday, I took delivery of my Yule present to the Pixel 9 Pro, which for some inexplicable reason does not have a headphone jack — a pretty blue JBL wireless headset, which is a Thing of Wonder, and I am at its feet.  Figuratively, since headsets, no matter how Awesome, do not of course have feet.

Also, I did not rewatch Red One last night; I read, and played with my new headset.

Which brings us to!

Monday. Cold. Grey-blue skies.

I did wake up early, but I did not leap out of bed to go to the grocery store. I can go out in 2F/-17C, but milk is not an emergency.

Breakfast was the last cinnamon bun, with a chaser of cottage cheese. Second cup of tea brewing.

Have performed one’s Duty to the Cats. Dishwasher in operation. Trash and recycling is in the garage, awaiting tomorrow morning’s trip to the curb.

I have a very early appointment tomorrow with the cardiologist, which — I’d kinda been hoping that they’d call it off, since the doctor has already informed me, through a proxy, that afib reports from toy watches are NOT reliable, I should get myself a kardia, and also he’s ordering in another 30-day monitor, and will call when it’s in. But — no. Appointment still on. This will be with, I may add, Steve’s cardiologist, so — lots of fun tomorrow morning.

Amazon reports Many, MANY Problems with the formatting of the hardcover Sea Wrack…, all of which relate to Amazon’s comfort and have nothing to do with the viability of *the book* which, as reported, is fine. I may or may not be able to fix these issues, and in either case, Not Soon. There are many things in queue before it. I apologize for Raising Hopes, but we’re back to — The Hardcover May Not Happen.

So! The Amended Plan for Today:

DO: Chiropractor at 10:30, stop at PO, stop at grocery, call bank, log typos. Cuddle cats.

DO NOT: Throw things.

TRY:  There is no try.

What’s on your To-Do List?

Obligatory cat picture:  The Rookie at home

Winter is coming

What Went Before:  Wednesday was a Day of Surprises, the upshot being that I won for myself the Coveted Visit with the Cardio Doc, for Christmas Eve.  In an Unrelated Incident, I also threw out my back and have spent the last two days on the sofa, in that unpleasant land between zoned out and hurting.

Which brings us to!

Saturday. Snowing and cold. Winter is back.

Well. That’s one way to lose four pounds. I’m exhausted, but not hurting. Am debating a maintenance dose of muscle relaxants, but I’ve already been mainlining the damn’ things for two days, and as we all learned in biology — the heart is a muscle.

Breakfast was oatmeal with raisins and walnuts, which actually — tasted good, which is another reason to stop with the muscle relaxants, ref “lose four pounds” above.

. . . and the jury is back. A maintenance dose of muscle relaxants, it is.

On today’s to-do list is! Tyop logging, swapping out the cat fountains — which, no, can’t wait, because someone lost their balance and spilled crunchies into the pool, thank you, muscle relaxants — packing a go-bag* (Most Important Decision Made: Hassan the Assassin will be representing the Stuffies. Also, I can use my old phone as a tablet, so it will be in the pack, stuffed with all my books, and earphones. Hmm. May want to download a few more audiobooks…), and figuring out what to eat for lunch.

One benefit of the last two days of forced inactivity and zonieness is that Rook has earned his Advanced Lovebug badge, which, as you all know, is usually not awarded to cadets who have under a year in grade, so — quite an accomplishment, there.

And, I think that’s all I have to report. Trooper is on the copilot’s chair, snoring and raring to go after these last few days of sofa duty.

How’s everybody doing?

________
*I have never before bothered with a go-bag, but here we are.  I don’t really expect to need it soon, but, then, we really didn’t expect Steve to be sent to the ER DO NOT pass ‘Go’ when he’d just dropped in for a routine cardio check.  Better safe than without anything to read.

 

Oh Monday mornin’ you gave me no warnin’ of what was to be

Monday. Sunny and cold.

Breakfast was two scrambled eggs with cheese, onion, and rice inclusions, toast with strawberry jam. Finishing up the first mug of tea.

I have a long list of phone calls to make today, and have already made one. I also need to go outside and make sure the dryer vent is clear. Oh. And hardboil some eggs. I have a lot of eggs, for some reason. Good thing I like hardboiled egg sandwiches.

I also have an appointment with the chiropractor, and I need to stop at the pharmacy/grocery, to pick up meds and the classic A Couple of Things.

I quit just in time yesterday, folded up on the couch under a blanket, with tea and graham crackers to hand. Read some more of Magpie Murders, shifted ahead, and saw that Mr. Horowitz was going to make me read Alan’s WHOLE DAMN BOOK (absent the last chapter) before we got back to Susan, and decided, as I once similarly decided for Harlan Ellison, that Mr. Horowitz was not going to make me do that, and put the book away. I then thought I’d read the Rivers of London novella that I’d been holding in reserve.

Except, I fell asleep. This was *not* Peter’s fault; I hadn’t even opened the book.

Woke a little while later and decided to explore Roku, since I had found the lighthouse show I’ve been trying to track down on Maine Public TV in the December guide, which meant that I had to find if Roku would show me, well, television.

In fact, it will. I watched a short documentary on Sequin Light Station in Phippsburg (not the new show I want to see), which was very interesting, indeed. Especially that tram system up the sheer cliff from sea level to Light level, all in the service of delivering the vast quantities of wood required by the fog-horn, which was steam-powered.

Having proved that I could, indeed, watch Maine Public on Roku, I doodled around on my tablet and somehow came up with the Muppet Show featuring Harry Belafonte, which I was pleased to watch.

Then, I opened up Masquerades of Spring, to get in some reading — only to find that I couldn’t focus my eyes sufficiently to do so. Yeah, well, I’d known I was tired, now didn’t I?

I made a couple notes for that short story my brain thinks it would like to write, and about 9:30 threw in the towel and went to bed.

I occurs to me that I may need to lay in some audiobooks, so I’m not staring at screens 24/7. Ack.

interrupted here by an incoming phone call from the local hospital. “Hello! May I speak to Steven?” / “You may not. Steven died in February.” / “I’m so sorry. Good-bye.”

That’s about it on the Cat Farm News Channel.

How’s everybody doing today?

Today’s blog title brought to you by the Mamas and the Papas, “Monday, Monday.”