Category: Uncategorized

My dad will be 79 tomorrow! It’s hard to remember that that’s pretty old, because he just keeps going. Last weekend he was up on a ladder and bending conduit; he walks at least five miles a day; and he isn’t even all the way gray.

I hope I can still be that strong when I’m 79–literally but of course figuratively too. He’s still learning (cooking, gardening, model railroad computer programming, history). He’s sharing a lifetime of knowledge. He’s making the best of things, and that’s really admirable.

So happy birthday, Dad. I hope tomorrow is a great day! We love you.

I got my orange tool chest a few years ago from Harbor Freight but I only recently learned they make accessories for it. Shown here: A magnetic tray, a magnetic paper towel holder, and a magnetic power strip, and on the other side, a fold-out table and a magnetic hook.

I don’t know why these make me so happy–maybe it’s the idea of Harbor Freight saying, “You know, manly toolbox-owning men really DO want to color-coordinate their manly toolboxes.” I guess the urge to optimize/organize is genderless.

This is a text I sent to Doc after a day of presentations about how AI can do our jobs:

So we went and I put myself in the water and was immediately happier.

The trees don’t care about effective prompting. The lizard we saw has never heard of an AI agent. The long grasses have no idea that the creative industry as we know it is threatened. (Oh to be a long grass…)

I stayed offline Saturday, hanging shelves in the garage (photos tomorrow); Sunday we went to the pool. Sometimes you just have to be reminded that “there’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo.” (And it’s worth fighting for.)

I’m watering for my friend again. It’s a magical garden with high walls (which helped his fruit trees escape that late frost we had) but it’s a beast to water when the days are 100 degrees. But it’s certainly photogenic!

I watched this reel because I knew the author but after about 30 seconds I would have watched anyone talk about it.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Elsie (@elsiewants)

This is the dog she mentions, so it works with both species:

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Christina Hunger (@hunger4words)

Yes this is a cool party trick, but Elsie the cat can ask for pain meds when she needs it. That alone is worth trying to train a creature on these buttons.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Elsie (@elsiewants)

Extremely long-term readers of the blog will know I was thinking about a dog before I ended up with Toby. Now that Toby’s gone, I just don’t think another cat can compare with him, so I’m back to dog thoughts.

I’m currently in the phase where I try to list out all the cons of dog ownership to see if this is something I really want to do. I hadn’t really considered eating random stuff? This is a thread from 2019 that I found again, and wow is it vivid:

Of course, cats can be gross too:

I noticed some bookended purple flowers at the care center where Doc’s mom is getting better…

…and on the trail in Millcreek.

The first flush of green is still in the mountains but it’s already starting to dry out–good thing the violets got a chance to bloom.

Not shown in this weekend’s pictures: my meltdown over getting the pies my nephew requested too brown; my meltdown over not being able to actually fit the intended patterns on the fabric I laid out for cutting; my meltdown over making a grocery list so we can go to Trader Joe’s. HMMM…

At least today is a new day?

We did the new Easter tradition of brunch and cookie delivery over the weekend. Six dozen cookies and six pastry tips this time!

I took today off too, because it’s so slow/I decorated cookies most of Saturday. Time to eat cookies and sew!

Our mild winter met some record heat (and the worst water outlook in history) and now everything is blooming. On one hand, it feels deeply unsettling; but on the other, I’m just happy it’s warm. We were outside both days this weekend–in shorts! without jackets!–and it felt amazing.