no point crying over skimmed milk

Thursday was insane. I had to get up early because it was our first in-office day in the new Mothership. All the big bosses were there so I had to show.

It's all very... shiny. Everything is made of glass. There's a dedicated coffee room with espresso machines that have more buttons than your average airplane cockpit. But it also has stuff like a low-sensory room and a non-binary bathroom (and free menstrual products in all the bathrooms) and all the desks are sit-stand, so they definitely didn't cheap out on any of it. The desks are benches but there are also lots of couches and "collaboration" rooms so it doesn't feel entirely like we're all crammed in together. The biggest irritant is that they have lockers but you can't book them overnight, so I'll have to haul all my crap with me every Thursday.

Lots of speechifying and picture-taking. But they also fed us, so you know.

So anyway, I made my appearance, then I got changed into my hauling-heavy-things clothes and headed over to my dad's. My sister's truck was full of their stuff from picking them up at the AirB&B so I helped unpack that then sister and I did a storage unit run. We got their computer desk and TV stand and all the electronics back, set everything back up, gave the MIL advice and moral support around the offers, helped with getting my dad sorted and kept him company while the MIL did a grocery run - somebody had opened their freezer and then left the door ajar - and after all that it was close to midnight before I got home. I ate a sandwich, drank a beer, and passed the hell out.

Friday I had to log into work to make up the time I missed on Thursday. I've been waiting for dry weather so I could seal my deck and the forecast when I got up was for hot and sunny for the rest of the week, so daughter came over after work and the two of us painted the deck with sealant. It took three hours between the two of us and both of us were utterly sucked dry by the time we were done. After I fed her dinner she went home and I pretty much fell over again. Doing anything in direct sunlight will exhaust me faster than just about anything.

Saturday was the neighbourhood yard sale. I prune all my plants back in the spring and end up with a ridiculous number of cuttings, and the yard sale is I how I get rid of them all. This year there were three boxes of plants. Plus one of the bags my MIL had given me was a couple of dozen hats, so they went out on a sheet marked "free". They were gone by the time I had finished my coffee.

Wandered around a bit, talked to some neighbours, picked up some bowls and a few other small odds and ends I need. Most of the stuff for sale was clothes. There were also a lot of kid's toys. And I kept running into tables where kids were selling lemonade, I had to go back to the house twice for bathroom breaks. (You can't just say no when a child offers you lemonade and cookies. It's not done.)

There was a also a band called The Trash Pandas and line-dancing lessons in the park. I did not partake because by that point I just wanted to get out of the sun.

Today will be cleaning and catching up on things like laundry and groceries. Listening to the latest Raid Train while I do housework. This weekend it's a fundraiser for Martin Oldgoth.

And getting all that stuff out of the house cleared some space on the dining room table, so this week's project will be sorting through the big bags of clothes I have for donation.

Progress!

An exciting weekend was had by all.

Friday was actually nice weather, so I walked downtown to run some errands. Picked up my new glasses, dropped some stuff off to a charity, bought some new headphones to replace my broken ones. Got over 10k steps in, which is a new rehab best. The dodgy foot was so sore after and has been doing some cramping since, but I keep stretching it and so far so good.

Woke up Saturday and it was raining.

And raining.

And raining.

About 8 PM my neighbour knocked on the door because the drain pit was overflowing and he could see from his top window that it was pouring down my back steps. I checked and the basement was still dry but it meant the water being pushed out by the sump pump was just flowing back in from above. (And carrying mud from the yard with it.) The pump was going non-stop. The connection between the pipe that comes out of the wall and the one that is buried under the yard is open to prevent back-flow and water was starting flow over the top and into the neighbour's yard, where it was going into their basement.

So I spent the next hour in the rain moving mud from one spot to another. I piled some rocks along the wall of the pit and closed the gaps with mud to make the world's shittiest temporary dam and I dug trenches on the opposite of the pit to try and get the water to flow towards the back of the yard instead. I was only kinda successful because I hit cinderblock at one point, but the rain finally slowed down a bit.

By morning the sump pump was still sending water into the pit, but the level had gone down maybe a foot so it wasn't overflowing any more. It rained again last night, but this morning it's at about the same level. I checked the weather and we're supposed to get a couple of days off from rain, so fingers crossed it empties a bit before the next round of water.

So getting that to work better is definitely this summer's big work project.

****

This morning I got up, emptied the dishwasher, and spotted what looked like a tangled clump of food and hair resting against the drain so I reached in with my hand and pulled it out.

Dead mouse.

So that's how this week has started.