"You gonna get another job?"...

[Volpone]

Oh, I also forgot that, first thing in the morning, I found my sink was full of ants. So I spent 5-10 minutes squashing ants. And I foolishly thought my day ended at 5pm or so. Did my bookkeeping. How much income do I have next month? Who knows?! On the one hand, the online "dashboard" says 100% of my rent was collected. [So maybe that means the rent from last month that was a bounced check is on there.] On the other hand, finally delving into the [May] monthly statement 2/3 of my rentals have NSF reversals on their rents. So maybe I'm caught up from last month, maybe I've got even less than last month. If that happens I may have to rob some liquor stores instead of dreaming of finally catching up. Fuck, I'm half inclined to just sell everything off, sock it into an S&P 500 fund and ride out the next 7 years until I can take social security. Won't retire with a net worth of $1M like I wanted to, but that's just an arbitrary number anyway. Fuck, the way it's going, I'll make more on stoks--with a ton less headaches.

[EDIT:] Oh, and The Dog is Out right now. Because she needs to guard her fresh trophy. Because if the fox gets it in the night, then I won't have to figure out what to do with it like the mangled fly-ridden corpse the vulture was picking over in the backyard this afternoon.

[EDIT:] I really should get over my hate of Neighbor.com and re-list my storage space. $260 a month is $3,000 a year (or so).

 

[Volpone]

And we move into Day 3 of banal annoyances. Out of coffee. Peeling back the seal on the next can and apparently it was overfilled or pressurized in some way because it sprayed coffee grounds all over me, the counter, and the floor that I had to stop and clean up. We're in a miserable heatwave with no end in sight--literally--sunny and 95 every day as far as the weather reports go out--there's a dead groundhog on my deck and another under a tree in the backyard that I'll need to deal with soon. So yeah. I'm tired. Oh, and I woke up before 6 and couldn't get back to sleep. I mean, I dozed enough that I would "check the clock to see what time it was" when I was really just dreaming it, but even then I was awake enough to realize that my brain was making it up. I had a couple times where I could just about feel myself drifting off but I kept getting pulled back.

Just to provide something substantive beyond petty bitching, I'll add that I'm feeling a bit down right now. Awhile back a younger friend posted to a FB group, asking what you'd do if your Plan failed and you had to start over and it just devastated me, because I've had *lots* of plans and every one has failed. I usually wind up a little further along each time instead of losing everything, but still, it gets a little tiring going "I'm going to do [this]!" putting all your skill and energy in it and then watching it just kind of putter out. Finally I got to this Plan and it seemed to be succeeding until I got to the point where I thought it was just complete and time to just stay on top of it and maintain it, but today I'm wondering if this plan really succeeded or not. And if it didn't, then what do I do? I'm kind of old and rusty to be trying for a career-type job like I'm qualified for but clearly working entry-level jobs doesn't do it for me. Are there still temp agencies? Do companies still need people to file things? There would be worse things than being a file clerk. I remember kind of enjoying it back in the day. Kinda. Sorta. A bit. Of course now that I'm on my own schedule and answer to no one buy myself and the decisions I make, punching a clock for 8 hours a day could be a bit galling.

I really ought to re-list my garage space. Maybe figure out some better marketing so I actually get people who are storing cars instead of just stashing a junker until they run out of money.

 

[Volpone]

I should've went to the ballgame. There wasn't anything on TV to watch with my dinner and I was so late in getting my weekend chores done last week that I'm actually in pretty good shape for this week. Plus it cooled off nicely once the sun went down. So now I'm sitting around bored and it's too early to go to bed but too late to start in on housecleaning.

 

[Volpone]

Today's Life is Mundanely Horrible Facebook update: I really want to go to church on Sundays. Church is closer to my new place so if The Dog gets her full walk I have almost a full extra hour. But I decided I absolutely like having breakfast and reading the news first so I was about 20 minutes late. Then The Dog wanted extended petting before the walk so by the time we were going I was about a half hour late. My one hope is that The Dog's been cutting her morning walk short for a week or more now, so I just might make it. Sure enough, she cut her walk time by half and it looked like I could *just* make church. BUT! When she got in the yard she wanted to patrol the yard. I'm watching the minutes slip away and by the time she was ready to go In it was 3 minutes past when I absolutely had to be pulling out of the driveway. But on the plus side, she found what remained of the partially scavenged and horribly decomposed groundhog corpse so fuck it, I guess I'll dig a shallow grave in my Sunday clothes. Of course it was under a small tree so there were a bunch of roots to cut through but I got it done, I could say more about this part of the adventure but I won't. I'm just hoping New Dog isn't as adroit at smelling and digging up groundhog graves as Old Dog was. Suffice it to say it annoyed and revulsed me enough that I decided her currently intact 2 day old kill was going to get disposed of too, because Trash Day is Tuesday morning and I didn't want 48 more hours of blazing sun and 90+ heat to work on it before I dealt with it.

In happier news, I started doing basic exercises a couple days back and I think it is helping my mood, strength, and energy levels already. My body looks OK quite a bit. I've got the basic muscle and shape I've built over the years and I store fat right in the abdominal cavity so it's easy to fool myself I look fine for quite awhile. I really need a bathroom mirror that is low enough to show between my belly button and my crotch, because that's where it really shows--I get a nice pregnant underbelly that looks just terrible and can't be ignored. Except if you mostly see yourself from the belly button up and straight-on, then you can. 2 days is far too short to see any results. I didn't get as weak as I feared, but I definitely got weak. Coming back to the way my body stores fat, I can burn a lot of belly fat before I start to see it go down. And, because I'm rebuilding muscle, it's common for my weight to actually go UP for a bit before the weight loss starts kicking in. Muscle is denser than fat. But it burns calories even resting, so rebuilding my muscle should help get back on the chain reaction of losing weight.

Well, I guess I should do some housecleaning. Since my plans for the day are already in the toilet I might as well accomplish something so I can at least hit the ground running Monday.

Oh, it was actually cool last night and the humidity was going to be low enough I could have the windows open until around 1am. Set an alarm but didn't need it because something out in the yard alerted The Dog at 12:55. Then I was stuck awake until 1:15 because she wasn't ready to come back In. Checked the humidity and I actually should've just left the windows open. As it turns out I could've left them open all night. Anyway, had a hard time getting back to sleep once The Dog was In because I started worrying about money. What if I was wrong and I couldn't afford to retire yet? How could it be that I was making more than 30% more each month and still depleting my cash reserve? Thought about it on the morning walk. Got whacked with an unexpectedly large tax bill in March. Then I spent more on a hobby project that really should've waited until I had everything nailed down and also got an unexpectedly large bill from my tax preparer in April. Then for May my new renter bounced their rent check and didn't make it up until the next statement period and a year's worth of heartworm meds, shots, and checkups for Cat and Dog whacked me pretty heavily. I still think I'm going to be OK but damn, it's one thing after another. Every month I think it's going to be the month I finally get on top of everything and every month there's a new surprise that stalls forward progress or actually sets me back.

 

[Volpone]

Oh. I forgot two fun banalities from yesterday: Grocery shopping. Realized the shopping list was in a pocket where it could accidentally fall out so I proceeded to move it to a more secure pocket. Got to the supermarket and realized the shopping list had fallen out of my pocket. It was laying on the deck when I got home. Amazingly I remembered almost everything on it.

Then I decided to see how I'd done on my weekend chore list. Years ago I used to make a list of chores that needed to be done on the weekend. At some point I realized the chores stayed the same every week so I just made a list and added a new row of check boxes every week. When I fill up a sheet I get a new sheet and copy the list to it. Well the list has disappeared. It is nowhere. Luckily it is relatively easy to remember "sweep, vacuum, laundry, etc..." so I was able to make a new list.

 

[Volpone]

I believe in God. Some form of higher power. Because things have just worked out in my life perfectly so many times. This afternoon is fairly mundane but nicely illustrates it. Bitterly hot. Brutally hot. 95 degrees and sunny. But the black dog wants a walk after lunch every day regardless (well, she's aborted a walk for heavy rain but that's about it). Before committing, I look at the weather to see if delaying until later will get us any reprieve. By 9pm it MIGHT get down into the high 80s. Fuck it. This is dangerous and will be unpleasant but fuck it. I'm dragging my heels and hoping she'll decide she doesn't want to go but she's definitely up for it. Dogs are creatures of routine and habit. It's the way their brains are wired.

So I fill up the canteen and grab the umbrella. I always think a sun parasol is silly, but in a life or death situation, bringing your own shade is the smart move. At first she decides to patrol the (shady) yard and I have hopes that she's decided to settle for a symbolic patrol, but after a couple minutes she heads for the gate. I'm planning to cut the walk in half but I only have veto power, she gets a vote (as long as it isn't completely crazy). Once we're out there's a nice refreshing breeze and a surprising amount of overcast. I mean, it isn't dark out or anything, but there's just enough cloud cover to take the edge off the punishing sun. Luckily she's also taking it slow and conserving her energy. Looks like it will be a relatively long walk after all. Still, my plan is to stay close to the creek, cross over (with a break for her to lay in the water, cool off, and have a drink) and head home on the shady side. Of course that isn't her plan. Her plan is to head for where she's been having luck finding groundhogs and from that point I'm never within 50 yards of her.

Eventually I catch up to her at the halfway time mark. She's down inspecting the waterline. This isn't the usual creek and the water is awfully cloudy and green. With weather like this I worry about blue-green algae (which is poison to dogs and other mammals) but she managed to find a relatively shaded pocket of relatively fresh water so I stood over her with the umbrella while she drank and cooled down. She's a fairly smart and practical dog but it still surprises me when she does something this common sense. Once she's rested I make it clear that I pick the route home and she's content to obey. We stick to shade where we can and backtrack instead of heading out onto the streets for the home trip. There's one spot where there's a kind of bridge. It's a dirt trail up top, but I guess power line maintenance trucks need to navigate it so there's a 50 concrete overpass that's got a beaver dam on the upstream end and opens into a little hollow at the bottom, running over rocks before eventually connecting up with the main creek that leads home. With her legs and underside wet and sticking to the shade, the walk home is relatively uneventful and we make it home in good order.

I dunno, typing it all out, maybe it's explainable without someone looking out for me, but dang, when we got out into the open for that long exposed stretch and clouds rolled over the sun right on cue and dropped the felt temperature by a noticeable amount I was just like "thank you God, I appreciate it." Now for more 90+ days for at least the next week...

 

[Volpone]

Just now I spontaneously decided to stop actively fighting my vendetta war against Facebook. Yes, it's terrible. It's sucked for more years than it hasn't sucked. The feed is worthless and I'd cheerfully kill a hobo if someone would make an add-on reader that would create a feed by pulling updates from all my friends since the last time I was on and display them in chronological order. But continuing to delete my content and refusing to interact with new posts by friends isn't making things any better so I might as well get what I can out of a shitty, terrible platform. At least it is less shitty and terrible than any other options (although that doesn't say much).