#215 - Racoons and Testaments

Well, last night was a marathon of willpower.

I am both proud of and disappointed in myself. Proud to have completed the challenge this month and saddened by the state I left myself in at the finish. Never again! Until the next time.

There were so many times last night when I wanted to give up and just get some rest. The weight of the entire week fell upon me. But I soldiered on and was left with the feeling that I might not make it this month if I let things slide even for a day.

The desire to take tonight off as a reward is strong, but here I am, because my reward this month will be finishing the challenge ahead of schedule.

I was in no hurry to get out of bed this morning. Stumbling into bed last night after four AM and getting up at nine left me feeling drained. Once again, I stayed in bed until about nine thirty before waddling into my home studio. Messages were pinging all over my phone, but none of it was work-related. One of our colleague’s daughters’ school was raising ducks, and she has been posting pictures every morning.

I turned everything on and did the log in dance with the security programs, then headed downstairs to get some caffeine. I opted for coffee this morning because I needed something with a kick to get me going. I made a tea for Robyn and then made a hazelnut Nespresso for myself. This time I did the vacuum chamber trick and carefully released the pressure this time so it would explode all over the kitchen.

The coffee had a nice, soft feel to it, and the bitterness was noticeably less intense. So, putting your brew in a vacuum seems to make the coffee nicer in my opinion, this may be the technique I adopt for making my own coffee from now on.

But then it was back to work, starting with an impromptu meeting with my supervisor and the other lead. It was just a chance for us to get on the same page and exchange information. I did some approvals until lunch.

It was a good day to take a lunchtime walk, so we both headed out for some fresh air and exercise. And after all the sitting I have been doing this week, the movement felt great. Neither of us wanted to return home; we could have just kept walking the rest of the day.

But we have bills to pay, so we unhappily returned.

I continued painting a revision from the day before for an hour until the next meeting started. We have this meeting every Friday, and it’s a chance for multiple departments to voice issues and concern as well as share updates and do mini-reviews. Getting everyone to agree on a direction is key, as it reduces wasted time later on in the process.

I wasn’t there to present, so I mostly sat back and listened, offering comments and asking questions when needed.

At three I needed to take a break, so I went to the garage and fired up the electric lawnmower to cut the backyard. The sky started looking really grey, and it seemed like a good time to get the job done. Our yard isn’t that large, so it didn’t take long to get it done. I picked a few weeds from the garden and collected some sticks off the ground.

Out front the squirrels and raccoons are back in force. They are battling over our attic space again. I ordered some ultrasonic deterrents from Amazon to put in the front and back garden to encourage them to leave. I also went up into the attic to charge the motion camera that I placed up there last year. The battery was drained completely. I attached a portable batters charger to it and sealed the entry from the ceiling back up.

The camera will tell me when they enter the space and record them. It also has a built-in light and alarm that I can use to annoy them. It freaks the squirrels out, but has to be left on to finally annoy the raccoons enough that they will eventually leave.

With the addition of the ultrasonic devices, my hope is that will be enough to keep them away until I can get it all sealed up.

Our friends stopped by with a donation of chicken wraps they couldn’t sell at their work. I think they gave us six to eight of them. And I really didn’t want to cook tonight. I was hoping for a relaxing night. With dinner all but assured I was off to a good start.

We sat and had a beverage with our friends and got caught up on each other’s lives as it had been a few weeks since we had last seen each other. Paul had been off his feet with a medical issue that had turned serious. Luckily, he was up and moving around and his prognosis was much better than it had been weeks ago.

After they left, we all bit ran up to our room to watch a show and eat a wrap. I was ravenous and ate two. I stopped myself from grabbing third, but I could have scarfed it down.

We watched the latest episode of “Testaments” while eating, and since Robyn had to leave within fifteen minutes, we put on “The Daily Show,” since Robyn only likes the monologues and is not really into the interviews.

And then she had to leave and pickup the kiddo from work, who had made plans with her to take another walk. That left me at home to catch up on some television and YouTube.

I was able to see the next episode of Criminal Record, a dark British cop show. There wasn’t much on YouTube for me to watch, but I got into some of the ones I had saved to watch later.

Our plan for tomorrow is to take it easy and not have any plans. We’ll need to spruce up the house a bit for our guests arriving on Sunday for an early Mother’s Day. I have to order the food and buy some gifts tomorrow as well.

If we are feeling ambitious, a trip to Home Depot for soil and grass seeds would be good to do.

That’s enough for today.

Until tomorrow.