#274 - Racoon Expert and Words

I didn’t wake up as early as I’d intended to, but I was still up earlier than usual.

And that’s not nothing!

First things first, I needed a coffee, or more precisely, I needed a cortado. I whisked downstairs like a lumbering elephant with a sore back, doing an amazing impression, and fired up the Nespresso machine with my favourite capsule of coffee.

These days my method is to brew the coffee, adding in some sweetner before it brews and then adding as much milk as espresso to the cup, stirring and then placing it in the microwave for thirty seconds. I think the microwave step, aside from heating the coffee up after adding cold milk, helps to release more of the stored carbon dioxide, which has been shown to reduce bitterness.

All I know is that is tastes great, and this is my idea of a perfect coffee. 40 ml of coffee and 40 ml of milk with a little sweetener. I wonder about those people who drink their coffee by the litre. It’s just madness, I tell you!

After a peaceful coffee experience, I headed back up to the office where all the craziness was waiting for me like a bubba full of black coffee. No sooner had I sat down did the Teams app started chiming away. Could I do this, would I do that? Did I know where this was and how much longer would they have to wait for that.

Some of the messages were helpful of course, like the ones from the other lead who is great to work with. She took on some work after we had a quick discussion. Well, I was having multiple discussions, and I’m not sure how many people she was talking to at the same time.

I haven’t missed this part of supervising. Eventually, you just get used to it, but when you’ve been on the bench for so long, it feels overwhelming. I knew it would, but it still hit me like a brick wall.

Once everyone had been taken care of, I got down to the work of doing some approvals. The first few paintings i looked at could be advanced with no revisions. But then I ran into half a dozen that didn’t pass muster and needed a bit more love. Most of the time I fix them myself, but with our supervisor away and me doing double duty, I decided to send them back to the artist with revision notes. It’s good for the artists to see what things are being flagged.

When I was a junior artist, I would always go back and see what the supervisor was changing and try to learn from it. In short order, my work received less revisions and that makes you a more efficient painter. And people notice these things. They can see you putting in the work.

Lunch came around out of nowhere.

We had a guy coming to do a quote to remove the racoons from our attic in a humane way as well as install some beefier soffit replacements to stop them from re-entering the house again. We had an idea of what it was likely to cost and therefore were prepared to what to expect.

The guy who showed up was a bit of a character, but I liked him right away and got the feeling he was a straight shooter. The first thing he did was to launch a small drone and surey the house for any weaknesses and entry points the racoons might have been using other that the obvious ones. He checked the roof to see if we had plastic or metal covers over the plumbing and vents. I was ninety percent the roofing guy had used metal, in fact I remember him showing me the sample on the back of his truck, but I was prepared to hear they switched them out for cheaper ones. Turns out that was not the case. Our roofing guy did come highly recommended and turns out he is a straight shooter too.

The Racoon Guy showed me the screen and pointed out spot where they could fortify things around the downspouts and other areas.

Then he grabbed samples of all the different colours of soffits that they use and matched one to our house. I had Robyn come out for that part, because she is the Queen of all things coloured.

She agreed with colour he picked out, and we signed off on that part of it.

He explained the process of what they would do and what things to expect from the service as well as what we should do if the racoons returned. We left him to complete the exterior inspection and went back inside the house into the air conditioning. It was getting hot out there.

I puttered around in the backyard looking at my plants for a bit and then returned just as he was knocking on our door. He had a quote with all the various things we could do to prevent the animals from returning on an iPad in front of us.

Any of the items we didn’t want done could be unchecked and similarly he had things we could add. I felt some of the items were overkill and not necessary, so we unchecked those and agreed to a price. It came in at approximately $2500 all in. that included taxes, materials and installation and crawling up into the attic to remove feces and do an inspection. It also included his time to come out an do the estimate.

All in all, it was about five hundred dollars less than we were expecting. Not that we wanted to spend this kind of money on pest control, but it had to be done. And I’d rather it was five hundred dollars under than five hundred dollars over.

I felt confident that this service was going to solve our little stowaway problem and bring us more peace of mind.

I headed back upstairs in a rush. I’d forgotten the one o’clock meeting that I was supposed to be heading and it was 12:59. Luckily, I didn’t have far to go and I was online and logged into the meeting in no time. I’d intended to keep this meeting shorter than usual, so I just launched into passing on the information they needed to hear and then gave the floor to my counterpoint, because she always has points to make that I forgot about. We chatted for a few minutes and then I ended the meeting. I think I shaved the half hour meeting down to fifteen minutes, which was great because we all had better things to do.

And I got back to do those better things.

I had more approvals to get through and was humming along at a good pace when my Teams started pinging again. Artists looking for more work. And then the power went out at our Ottawa studio. I didn’t know it then, but it would be out for the rest of the day. That meant at least hald of our team weren’t going to be getting anything done. And with it being a short week already it just added fuel to the flames. But these things happen, and often during the warm spells. I guess I just sorta wish it had happened in Toronto instead of Ottawa, because I would have liked the break.

I spent half the day with my desk in standing mode and the other half in sitting mode. My lower back/arse is still painful from the other day. Not as bad as it was the other time not long ago, but still enough to have me stiff when I get out of a chair or bed.

Not having the time to take our walk today didn’t help with the back pain either. That walk often knocks the kinks out of my spine. But a walk just wasn’t in the cards today.

Around five, we got the message that the power had returned to the Ottawa studio. Just in time for people to be thinking about packing it in for the day. I worked for another half an hour and then decided to make Robyn and I some dinner before she set off to her support worker job.

I made another recipe out of the Dishoom cookbook called Butter Garlic Crab Salad. It looked simple to make and I had all the ingredients on hand, so why not?

You fry some fine chopped garlic in butter and then add in ginger, black pepper, dill fronds and fry a little more before adding the crab meat. After a minute or two you add in the remaining dill and cilantro with a tablespoon of lime juice. And you’re done!

I served to Robyn in a low and wide black bowl and thought it looked just like the picture. I even sprinkled some extra cilantro and spring onion on topo to match the photo.

Both of use were underwhelmed by the results. It was made of tasty things both loved, but the combination didn’t have us wishing there was more of it. Now with Dishoom’s Chicken Ruby that is not the case. I don’t think I’ll make that recipe again. In fact, I’ll put a note on a Post-it Note to make sure I don’t forget this recipe wasn’t for me.

Luckily, I had also fried up two tuna steaks and roasted some vegetables. We only ate half of the tuna because after the crab salad it was just too much food.

On the bright side we have leftovers for tomorrow.

While I was doing some of the approvals today, I had a new to me Netflix’s show on called Legends. It was the story of the boarder services, the people who check your luggage at the British airports, starting up a covert spy cell inside their agency. Prime Minister Magaret Thatcher wanted the drug problem to get solved, so they were tasked with cracking down on the illegal imports. But since they had never been given the power or resource to pull of something like this, they had to start from scratch. They didn’t want to lose power to another policing agency, so they took on the task. The story is about how and who they used to start the new agency. It has one of the stars that plays the character of C.S. Strike on another show and a few other actors I recognize but can’t think of their names of the top of my head.

I enjoyed the very British way in which they are tackling the subject matter, and as always, I like the less polished look of British actors. Not everyone needs to look like an underwear model all the time. Or have perfect teeth!

I think I’ll be adding this show to my watch list. I need to have a few things I can watch by myself when Robyn is off doing Robyn-y things. Although recently she has been enjoying shows that would have traditionally been only acceptable in my neck of the woods.

Robyn returned home from her parttime work with kiddo#2 and bags of groceries. I was even allowed to have a small slice of cheesecake by kiddo #2. And he usually hoards his cheesecake like mama bear defending its cubs.

Kiddo#1 just came out onto the deck holding a slab of baked salmon and asking it I thought it was cooked. I used my xray vision and a heat sensitivity to deduce that, how the hell should I know?

After a little chuckle to myself, I instructed her to cut into it. Did it flake away, is the colour different on the inside. It is nice seeing her learn to cook all by herself, or at least mostly by herself. Not that we are benefiting from any of the meals she’s made herself. But maybe one day she’ll surprise us with a fully cooked meal. We may faint from the gesture.

My neighbour just came out with his weed trimmer, and it sounds to me like he is close enough to give me a hair cut. Doesn’t he realize that a budding writer is composing just next door? Of course he doesn’t. Nor would he care. Actually, he’s really nice guy, he would probably apologize and cut it when he saw I wasn’t at home.

It’s great to have good neighbours.

And then to top it all off, my wife brings me out a piping hot cup of earl grey. I am feeling like a kind tonight with the cheesecake and warm beverages. My option sought on the doneness of salmon. The temperature is cooling down now, as it should at 9:15. We’ve got the deck lights on, at least the ones the squirrels haven’t chewed off yet and it’s a lovely evening to be sitting outside.

Robyn is reading one of her books and I am hammering out words on the laptop.

I noticed the neighbour who’s care Robyn backed into has parked in the same spot as whe it got damaged. If it were me, I might choose a different spot. I know the likelihood of hitting the same car twice is astronomical, but it could happen. Especially, if you park right where we back out. Maybe they need the damage to be more expensive to get an insurance claim? That doesn’t sound like how real-world car insurance works, but in my mind it could happen.

When I got up to turn on the deck lights, it was the first time I didn’t need to grunt or groan from the pain and stiffness. I can only hope that I am on the mend. I think the stretching and standing for part of the day had a positive effect.  I’ll try to do the same again tomorrow.

Kiddo#2’s bedroom has the attic access in the roof of his ceiling. We told him their would be workers coming in first thing in the morning and he would need to be out of his room. He turned to us and with a perfectly straight face said, “Can’t they just work around me?”

Not kidding.

He would rather complete strangers worked in his room with him still sleeping in his bed than have to get up.

Kid takes after me, I tell ya.

Kiddo#1 seems to be in good spirits after her first day working at the kid’s summer camp. She was always good around the little ones and since it is an art camp she has plenty of skills that are useful. She’s been eating healthy and working out at the gym as well as trying to sleep during normal hours. All this is having a positive effect on her mood and anxiety. She even went straight to the gym after work. Normally, she is the kind of person who would come home first and then decide not to go.

We are proud of her, and she is making some great life decisions lately. She used to be the kid we worried about. Now, I think she’s going to be just fine in life.

Job done. I kid, I know the job is never really done.

The mosquitoes are starting to flit about my face. I haven’t put on the Thermacell yet, because we are likely heading inside and upstairs soon. I’d like to take a break from writing and watch a show like the season finale of The Agency. I’ll likely be up until two or three in the morning tonight getting my word count done.

One thing I have learned doing this challenge, is how to estimate how long it will take me to write something. I’m getting pretty good at predicting the times.

Tomorrow night is going to be the hardest night though. It’s the last chance to make the quota and it’s do or die. The only bonus this time around is that I get the next day off and can sleep as long as I like.

As Robyn left to take a short walk, I headed upstairs to continue writing, figuring I’d take a break when she returned. Normally, I’d have gone with her, but the next few days are going to be a bit dicey for me.

I feel stupid saying that I’ll vow to never find myself in this position at the end of the month ever again, but I’ve said that like three months in a row now. One thing that is working for me though, is writing through out the day in smaller chunks. This is true when write while commuting or even yesterday when I broke up the day into five 1000-word goals.

It reduced the stress and made it feel less like a job and just something I was doing for a short period of time.

If I am bold enough to state what my goals for July will be, it has to be to write in smaller time scales, just more often. I can’t see how it could be any worse than what I have been doing so far. And July is the halfway point of this challenge. It’s time to take what I’ve learned and put it into effect. Throw out the things that weren’t working for me and adopt the winning moves.

Have I convinced you that this is a winning strategy? Because I am all in.

Also, don’t use the above statements against me at the end of next month.

I’ll cry if you do.

In other news….

The US Supreme Court just ruled against Donald Trump once again. Lisa Cook’s firing from the Fed, was deemed unconstitutional. This guy loses more cases than he wins, which I guess should come as no surprise.

Closer to home, we are expected to have a bit of heat wave here Southern Ontario starting as early as tomorrow with temperatures between thirty and thirty-six. And even worse the humidex will see those hot temperatures feel more like thirty-seven to forty-five degrees Celsius.

If there was going to be a power outage in Toronto, it would be during the heat wave when all those air conditioners all go on at the same time.

I boy can dream can’t he.

But it would be serious for the elderly and people with respiratory issues.

The eldest just came to ask if she could steal my Aria bathroom scale because it’s better than the one she has.

The answer was… “Ah, no. Go buy your own.”

Sometimes it seems like they think our house is a shopping mall where everything is free for the taking. Thinking back on it, her biological father used to try and do the samething when he dropped by. He was always eyeing up our things and even asked on a few occasions if he could have this or that.

We gave him the same answer.

My stocks have continued to creep higher this week. It’s really getting to that point now were I have to decided to lock in the gains or continue to receive the monthly dividend. I feel like Trump will do something to tank the economy again, but he is very unpredictable at times.

Even so, it’s nice receiving the monthly dividends deposits into your account. We’ll need the extra money soon and even more so now that we have to pay for the racoon removal services.

July is shaping up to be an expensive month.

Apparently that power outage that hit the Ottawa study affected over 30, 000 customers who were without electricity for more than six hours. Imagine that happening when it’s forty-five degrees with the humidex.

I’d be hiding down in the basement if that were the case.

It’s now eleven PM and Robyn just got back from taking her walk to try and lower her blood sugar levels. She had a piece of cheesecake, but it spiked her blood sugar way more than it should have. We wondered if the Tim Horton’s teas she brought home had sugar in it instead of sweetener. People always bring her real coke instead of diet, but it can affect her in a life-threatening way. You really have to stay vigilant when you or someone you love has diabetes.

I still have about two thousand words to write before I can call it a night. It should take me somewhere around two to two and half hours write that many words.

We were supposed to watch the season finale of The Agency tonight, but the evening has gotten away from us and since we are up early to meet the racoon removal guys and I will be up late writing, it seemed like it could keep until tomorrow night. I am looking forward to seeing the finale in all it’s glory.

And as The Agency ends, the finale season of Silo begins.

So, we won’t be short any entertainment for a month or two.

Remember when a series would run for twenty-six or more episodes. Six months of entertainment compared to the modern six to ten weeks. And yet, there are more shows to watch than there ever has been in the history of television.

It’s the same, but completely different.

I did a little gardening after work. Every other Tuesday the township collects garden waste in brown paper bags. I always have some rose bush clipping and the fallen branches from our squirrel hotel, the silver birch and of course any weeds we have pulled from the garden.

I also try get a few shovel full of clay soil that I keep in a pile into the bag as well. I keep testing to see how heavy it is, because I know the waste management guys won’t take it if it’s too heavy. So, I look for the driest bit and put them into the back.  Lift it to check the weight and then add some more if I can. I have been doing this for years because every time I bring home a plant and I did a hole for it, nothing but clay is on the end of my shovel. If I tried to plant it without removing the clay the plant would die before the year was out. I pile the old clay soil in one spot in my garden and then spend weeks slowly getting off the property. I’m playing the long game here. One day all the soil in the garden will be the moist rich and fertile in the land.

I made me happy to work in the garden for a little while and even happier to get more of that nasty clay off my property!

I should probably find a better solution than a couple of spadefuls every two weeks.

I learned today from the Racoon Wrangler, that the male doesn’t stick around when the babies are born. He heads off to his own abode. So, it’s likely just the momma racoon and the babies that are up there right now.

All I heard was, one less racoon to evict tomorrow.

I’ve been thinking about what to do with all the free time I am going to get back as of Wednesday when the month changes to July. Writing 2026 words always seems easy at the beginning after doing five or six thousand for a week.

I haven’t really been riding my stand-up electric scooter much this year. And I’d like to make more time to read some good books. I’ll need to make those two things a reward for getting my writing done the night before. Use them as a psychological trick.

Probably won’t work but it was worth thinking about.

I just looked at the projected forecast for my area, and it says it will feel like forty-two degrees Celsius tomorrow by noon. I sure hope those racoon guys get everything done before it gets too hot. If there was one place I wouldn’t want to be tomorrow in that heat it would be in my attic space. Like being in an oven.

It may encourage the hairy critters to leave our home though.

I saw in the news that our Prime Minister attended the Pride Parade and unlike most politicians, walked in the parade. How many leaders of a country have done that before? I think it’s great that he made time to go out and support the people of his country and have a good time as well. Trying to imagine any of the Trump regime do something like that.

Chaos would ensue.

I just took a quick break and when I stood up, my lower back/arse muscles were stiff but didn’t hurt this time. That has to be some kind of improvement, doesn’t it?

I’ll take any progress I can get.

I examined the aftermath of spraying the weeds with my homemade weed killer that I sprayed the other day. Almost every leaf that got doused was brown and crispy looking. That means the soap did its job removing the leaf’s waxy protective coating and the salt and the vinegar did a great job drying the leaves out.

I applied a second light coat and that used up the entire 4 litres of solution that I had mixed up. That amount usually lasts me the entire season, but I didn’t get spraying early enough in spring to keep the weeds down.

I think I’ll have to make up another batch this weekend to make sure I can easily stay on top of things for the rest of the summer and fall.

My town is having a forum to discuss the future of e-scooters and e-bikes. Judging by the comments on the post, there is a great and even divide amongst the nays and the yays. I think enough kids have been riding these things with enough abandon and rudeness that people are fed up with them. And I completely see where they are coming from. I have nearly run one of them over myself when they darted out into the street. Not a helmet in sight.

Even the kids riding old school bikes wear helmets.

 I for one wear a motorcycle helmet when I ride mine and I don’t use its full potential either. Its top speed is deadly scary. One little bump and you are sliding across the asphalt like its a cheese grater.

I’m all for a little regulation. Something like bicycle rules would be a good place start.

But I am not up for banning them entirely. They serve a function in our society that few other things can do. And banning something just because you are annoyed with it is just a bad idea. Someone is always annoyed by makes another joyful.

And there are those people out there that are annoyed by everything.

We’ve all met one of them before. Do you really want that person deciding policy?

I sure don’t.

Hopefully, through this portal, the town will adopt a well reasoned and thoughtil approach to the e-scooter conundrum.

Well, I am going to call it a night.

The racoon wranglers will be here early unless its raining cats and dogs.

I’m likely going to have a hell of a day tomorrow anyways with work, racoons and ending the day with the final word count. Whatever I do, I have to make it across that finish line tomorrow night.

Good night and until tomorrow.