#268 - Racoon Proofing and Fillings

I slept great last night.

Have a night to really just hangout and watch some shows with the wife was just what the doctor ordered. I skipped having breakfast since I had a dentist’s appointment later in the morning. I’m not sure why, but I never eat before my appointments.

I got to my home studio computer and got started on some painting approvals. There was plenty to do on an episode that was overdue, so I started on those ones first.

The paintings needed some adjustments and revisions to match the rest of the sequence, so it was slow going. Eventually, I got them all done and ready myself to work on the next episode.

But then my alarm went off and it was time to head to the dentists for a cleaning and some other work I was not sure about.

The drive over was short, but it was a beautiful day outside. Near perfect temperatures yet again. There’s been some great weather days lately. I arrived at the dentists and signed in. I didn’t have to wait long before I was ushered into the torture chamber and tied to a chair by a James Bond villain.

Nah. They are super nice people at this dental office.

The dentist wanted to perform some sort of work on a front tooth that I chipped over thirty years ago. I wasn’t sure what the point was, seems to me that would be creating something that might break off in the future, and the chip has never bothered me. I asked him if it was a health issue. In other words, had something changed that it needed to be worked on.

He said it wasn’t a problem.

I had a back molar that had a metal filling from years ago and that tooth felt weak when I bit down on anything, to the point that I was eating on the other side. We agreed to remove the old filling and replace it with a modern one.

They froze my mouth and then started the cleaning, giving the pain killers time to work. I think they have a note in my file that I will hit them if I feel any pain. It’s an unconscious reaction, not something I do on purpose.

Getting the cleaning done under anesthetic wasn’t terrible either.

The cleaning went well and then they started on the filling. By this point, I couldn’t feel the right side of my face, so I was ready to get my teeth drilled.

The little device they insert to protect your tongue and provide suction felt extra large today. I nearly gagged on it at first but was able to get myself under control. As much as I hate the dentists, I often find it relaxing.

It’s a chance to lay back during the workday that I don’t usually get to do!

They went through at least three drills trying to get the old filling out. The doctor mentioned he could see a crack in the old filling. It always feels odd to see a man with power tools jamming them into your mouth. I try to imagine what he is doing, but the feeling rarely meets up with is really happening.

They switched over to putting in a new filling, which must be UV cured because they touched a blue light to the tooth three of four times throughout the procedure. After that, the dentist spent some time grinding and getting the fit of the filling right, which involved me biting down and grinding on a special paper that transfers to the high spots.

It took four or five time of me biting and he grinding before the tooth felt good to bite down on.

Then it was on to polishing all my teeth to finish of the dental cleaning part of the job.

I made another appointment for a cleaning in six months and waited to pay for my treatment. I’m the only one with benefits right now, so I had to pay a little this time. It wasn’t a terrible amount, but it took them forever to check me out and book the next appointment. It felt like I waited longer to pay than it took to replace the filling.

I wasn’t in a huge rush to leave so you don’t have to worry if I turned into a Karen. I was cool as a cucumber.

The drive home passes two high schools and there were legions of kids milling about. I always drive more carefully around them because they can do the dumbest shit sometimes. But hey, that was me at their age too.

Back home, Robyn and I went for a short walk around the neighbourhood since I had missed about an hour of work going to the dentists. This walk has very little shade cover and I don’t like that at all. But I like it better than missing the walk entirely.

It was a great day weatherwise, so I can’t really complain. I really needed the walk and felt exhausted before we got to the end. I/m not sure if this is because I didn’t walk yesterday or if its because I hadn’t eaten yet. Probably, it was a little of column A and a little of column B.

Back home, I headed straight for the kitchen and heated up last night’s leftovers of breaded haddock and roasted vegetables. Food never tasted so good. I’d been told not eat for at least an hour after leaving the dentist’s and we’d just taken an hour’s walk.

I added a little Frank’s Red-Hot sauce to add a little extra flavour, and it was delicious. I ate at my desk in case someone was trying to reach me and so I could read all the messages that I had missed when I was gone.

Turns out there was a novel’s worth of Teams messages to catch up on. Most of them were unimportant, but you can’t know that unless you read them first.

I spent the rest of the day going through paintings and doing approvals until five thirty came around. I headed downstairs and went to the kitchen to cut vegetable and cook some sausages in the oven. Robyn had her support work to go to this evening, so I thought it would be nice if dinner was cooked and waiting for her when she finished the job.

I ate mine early, because I didn’t want to eat too late. I prefer eating dinner earlier at the traditional times of around six PM. I think you sleep better at night that way and give your body plenty of time to digest.

I cooked the food a little longer than usual, almost to the point of burning it and it ended up tasting great. The little singed bits added some great flavour. The carrots were caramelized and the sausages had a slight crisp to the outer skin. The potatoes were crispy on the outside and had a soft inside. Everyone seemed happy with the meal.

There was even some left to take to work tomorrow for my lunch. I am going in tomorrow so I can have some face time with my boss, and we can go over some things to keep our teams productive. As much as I hate going in, sometimes you have to do it.

I do get more writing done when I get to write while taking the train. So, there is a silver lining. I have mostly been working from home the last few weeks, so it doesn’t feel so bad going in tomorrow.

My jaw is starting to ache a little from being at the dentist’s, which is not surprising after having that tongue protector in my mouth for over an hour.

The kids took Robyn out for a walk after dinner, which involves driving for fifteen minutes to get to a lakeside park. They all seem to enjoy it, but it’s not my cup of tea. I had to get some writing done anyways and it’s easier to do when the house is quiet.

Before that, I cut up a few slices of old cheddar, washed some grapes and strawberries and put them all inti Ziploc bags as well as a healthly apple bran muffin for my snacks tomorrow.

I am more likely to eat healthy if I get everything ready and easy to grab the night before.

And speaking of a quiet house, we have visitors living in the attic. The racoons have been getting noisier, probably because they have a litter of baby racoons now. They have nested above kiddo #1’s bedroom, and now that she is back for the summer, they are driving her crazy.

Robyn found a company that gets rid of the critters and then installs thick aluminum soffits to prevent them from re-entering the attic space. It’s going to cost a couple of thousands of dollars after taxes, but I think it’s better than me trying to do it myself.

I am getting too old to do this stuff.

I am more likely to fall of the ladder or have a racoon knock me on my ass. Who needs that kind of blow to the ego.

They come early next week to do the inspection. I for one, will be glad to see the little buggers relocated to an appropriate location. I mean, they are cute, but a damn nuisance and not even a little bit ashamed of themselves.

In the news today there was a story about twenty-five-year-old Alberta man who shot at police in Montreal. They said the shooter and the incident were linked to an incel-laden manifesto. The police are warning citizens to be on the look out for copycat attacks.

Robyn returned from her walk and we switched to watching a show together. I was itching to see the newest episode of Waiting for Wrexham, which for some reason we couldn’t watch since the Disney app was acting up on our Apple TV.

Turns out it needed restarted so that we could opt in to whatever new policy changes they had made. Annoying that it doesn’t tell you that and just has try to reconnect button which is useless.

The Wrexham episode was full of ups and downs and was very entertaining. It was after ten o’clock when the show finished, so we had the option of starting the new season of the Agency or something lighter like the Daily Show. We opted for the lighter version, which was also had a shorter run time and that was probably a good decision for us. I’m supposed to go into the studio tomorrow and that means an early rise.

I took all three of my sleep aids before watching Wrexham, but it didn’t make me feel sleepy like it usually does. I ‘d had some tea just before and a coffee in the evening, so that might have contributed to me feeling awake.

I should hear back from my mentor tomorrow on my sci-fi spy thriller short story. I feel it had good bits, but I didn’t stick the ending as well as I’d hoped to. I suspect she’ll have words for me about that. But there is always the dread and excitement of a post assignment Wednesday.

It’s a bit like Christmas day and waiting to hear if you have a life-threatening disease or not.

Exciting and terrifying all the same time.

Either way, she will have some good words of advice for me. All I have to do is be open to hearing it. And I do look forward to hearing a professional’s opinion on my work.

That’s about all the happened today and even though I am not feeling tired I am ready to shut things down.

Night all.