Eavesdown Abbey

 Since my LJ crew disappeared from blogging ages ago and I don't know anyone on here, I see who comments on the posts by people I follow and if they look interesting, I subscribe. I usually grant access, too, because most of my posts are access-only (a bit safer that way).

So HI if you see me on your list. :)

 I hope you're here from BlueSky!!! If you are, I've missed you and I'm probably already following your blogs. :)

 I'm doing a 100-day challenge to help me break a habit once and for all, and I thought why not try to write daily, too, for that amount of time. There's rarely anything exciting going on in my life, but I still want to try. 

 Anyone remember this? Start at the bottom, read to the top, then go to the bottom again so you can go to the more "recent" *cough, cough* entries. For some reason you can't go to the next entries from the top of the page.

I seem to remember there being more entries, but I could have just imagined it.

ETA: the last bit in Ringwraith #5's diary cracks me up every time. 

cassieclaire.livejournal.com/

 This is the first job I've ever had that allows you to work from home if you or a family member is sick. I've been home this week because sick, and I've discovered that while WFH is lovely, it's also a bit isolating, at least as far as my job goes. The office staff (we usually have less than 10 people in office at any given time), are constantly yelling down the hall to each other about calls and asking questions, and here I'm just getting text messages once in a while and answering calls. It's a strange change. I don't know that I'd want to do it full-time, if for no other reason than having to stop myself from going to do the laundry or the dishes, or have a conversation with my guy. It's nice, though, when I have a coughing fit and don't have to worry about everyone hearing me.

Last night I was surfing YouTube and came across Swedish Death Cleaning again, so while I sat here at my desk this morning, I went through the drawers and trashed quite a lot of things that have just been hanging out in there. I also found Dana K. White's channel again, and am revisiting her fairly revolutionary way of decluttering. Because we have lots. Lots and lots of clutter. He keeps any and everything tool/fixer-upper related, having been in construction for 20 yrs or so, and I tend to keep papers and books and letters, and cards and things. Just things. I look around and wonder where it all came from, quite frankly. We don't buy a lot of things, so I think it just manifests overnight and I don't notice it for a while. Yeah, right. lol

It's chilly today, and as usual with this time of year, warmer outside than inside. I have a little space heater in my study that really heats the room well, and I'm thankfully every fall and winter that he thought of me while at Lowe's and bought if for me. :)

And that's about all the exciting for today!

 I used to be glued to Twitter. Then that moron took over. I would check Instagram frequently, and then the ads got crazy. I found, and still like, CounterSocial, but I haven't checked in for over a week. It's like all the interaction within has ended. I log into Tumblr, read and reblog all the glorious Ineffable Husbands posts, and don't interact with a single soul.

Anyone else feeling like this?

In happy news, I bought a car last Saturday!!!! My first car in 12 years, and that was a '99 Altima GXE. She needed a lot of work, and I impulsively bought a 2014 NIssan Juke S (that's the base model) and I love, love, love it!!! Problem is, a pre-sale inspection by an independent mechanic said it was basically ok, just needed a tune-up and a few minor things. Then it started smelling like exhaust, and the dealership's choice of muffler shops said all was ok, just run some Premium gas in it from Shell. The dealership said the muffler shop just told them verbally and there wasn't any paperwork (really? You're paying for a service without any paperwork or invoice??), and I wasn't able to get over there when they were open to ask for a copy. This morning I took it to a muffler shop I trust, and he said that the right front CV axle/boot needs to be replaced because it's spitting grease and it's getting on the catalytic converter and can CATCH ON FIRE.

ON. FIRE. 

He also said that there is raw gas being dumped into the exhaust from the engine, and that it might be the catalytic converter, could be a timing issue...there's a few possibilities. And no, there isn't an actual exhaust leak.

I'm livid. And sad. My first time buying a car on my own, and this. So Monday I'm going to the first muffler shop, getting the paperwork, and if it states anything like the second one, all hell is going to break loose at the dealership. They're going to fix both issues at no cost to me or I'm going to report them to the Attorney General. If they didn't find any of this (and why didn't they???) I'm going to be really crushed. I don't have the money to pay for any of this; I used it all to buy the Juke.

Oh, and get this. They moved my trade-in at least 3 times that I saw over the week, and when I went in to give them the passed emissions test paperwork they asked about a second key (don't have one) because they can't get it to start. What? So I go and try to start it and some moron managed to completely lock the steering wheel and there's no way to move it or start the car.

I know we use karma in the wrong way, but....karma's a bitch, ain't it? lol

 Last year a bunch of bees totally took over the hummingbird feeder, so much so that I bought a second for the birds and hung it away from the first. Now there are 3 HUGE bumblebees, something I've never seen here before. They have taken the feeder over (the second one had to get tossed), and one just got itself stuck inside the feeder. I had to wait til other two flew off, then I took it off the hanger, leaned over and held it right above the ground, slowly unscrewed it, then ran back in the house. lol It took a minute for it to realize it could get out, and then it was right back to trying to get what was left of the solution out of the base. These guys don't mess around; they've drained the feeder in three days. The hummingbirds try to swoop in to eat when they can, but by today, the bees are there almost non-stop. There was just one the first day, then two, and I saw three today. I know they're hungry, how could they not be in this drought?, but I'm going to have to figure out a way for the birds to eat, too. Maybe if I leave it inside for a day or two the bees will look for the flowers that are blooming in our crepe myrtle and let the birds eat. I think next year I'll buy one that's bee-proof for the birds and let the bees have this one. I don't see any other way that they would stay out of a second one.

After reading this, I'm wondering where the nest is. blog.nwf.org/2021/05/5-facts-about-bumble-bees-and-how-to-help-them/ And I wonder if the three are actually more, and they just take turns eating; would explain how quickly they drained the feeder.

In other news, we spent the evening outside last night, and I swear every. single. mosquito in town bit me. My legs look like I have chicken pox. I hate that we have mosquitoes now. I used to be able to sit out in the afternoon and early evening and read, and it looks like that little pleasure is a thing of the past. I really don't understand why we have mosquitoes when we didn't have them when we had more rain, but now that's it's dry, dry, dry, we do. Makes zero sense. There's a YouTube video that was in the sidebar of the video below that's named, "How to feed mosquitoes. Do you know?" Why, yes, yes I do....all I have to do is stand outside for a minute and somewhere in mosquito world the dinner bell is rung. *snort*

This was interesting. www.youtube.com/watch

 Over 100F every day. The deer are coming down from the mountains because there is no water or food for them. Waiting for the bears and mountain lions to show up soon. Coyotes are already around as usual, but the deer....that's new. There was even a doe up the street in the park the other day. Skinny and running with her mouth open; she needed water so badly. And one of the clerks at the store mentioned seeing a doe and two fawns. Not good.

When are we going to face the fact that we are in deep, DEEP shit and there is no way out? No water, extreme heat on land and in the oceans...haven't seen a single bee this year, and my mom mentioned that the trees near her didn't flower at all. Not one single flower. We fucked around as a species, and now payment has come due. El Nino just began, and it's going to be bad. Gird your loins, kids. I don't see how we're going to get through this. Dying crops, dying wildlife by the thousands (and millions of bees), no water....we have killed our home. Yes, 'we', because while it has been big corporations that have led the way, we all, for the most part, let them. We bought the gas, we reveled in the plastics, we are just as guilty as those assholes. They couldn't have made all that money if we hadn't supported them in some way. It's true. And now it's too late to change anything. I wonder how much longer our species has, honestly. It was fucking 118F in Algeria, and overnight, it was over 100F. Where air conditioning doesn't exist. Where it hasn't rained in so long, I'm sure they've forgotten what rain is. I know we almost have in my corner of the states .

I'm just angry. All those 'head in the sand' people drive me nuts. How do you prep for a scorching world with no food or water? You can't. Because it's not sustainable for life. Our grandchildren...what have we done to them? What future do they have? Hell, will we even survive this El Nino?

 I'm WAY behind on catching up. That is all, for now. lol

 Today was such a gorgeous, totally spring day for here. Windy, but warm, and a bit cloudy. You could just feel it wanting to rain, but the wind was saying, "nope, not yet!". Our neighbors have this huge evergreen tree that sounds like the ocean when the wind is blowing, and boy, it was a full-on surfin' kind of day. :) Tomorrow is supposed to be about 15 degrees colder, so, yeah, spring.

I meant to dive into the library books, but when I started the first I realized that I'd already read it, and then I got distracted by Elementary on Hulu. I'd just finished re-watching Eli Stone, so it seemed logical to stick with JLM. Hadn't watched the series when it was on, and am liking it a lot.

We have 3 dogs, and today was clean the back yard day. We've unable to get the dry dog food we normally feed them (and it's not even an expensive brand), so they've been eating homemade food. Lots of meat, then carbs (oats, whole grain pasta, brown rice), frozen veggies (they love peas and carrots, or squash), yogurt or cheese, peanut butter, frozen berries, fish oil, and tuna - all in varying combinations depending on my mood that day. Oh, and canned dog food, because, yeah, meat and poultry are expensive. Not that the canned isn't; it's jumped a lot in price recently just like everything else. I researched the correct amounts of each component per weight, per dog, so they're getting all the nutrients and food they need. And probably more than they were from the kibble. Anyway....I cleaned the yard, and wow, there wasn't even half what's normally there. They are digesting nearly all the food, oh, and not drinking much water because they're getting so much moisture from what they're eating (I researched it and it's normal), their coats are shiny, our old man who has bad hips is bouncing around and chasing the other two at times; it's great. I will admit, though, that if it wasn't for the InstantPot, I'd have driven to another state to get the kibble, because cooking everyday is NOT my thing anymore. I'm not sure how long we can keep this up financially, but even if we can find the kibble again, I'll be mixing it with real food so they're still getting the benefits without the huge meat/poultry price tag. 

I did a quick Twitter skim, mostly to catch up on COVID info (I like Dr Eric Feigl-Ding and T Ryan Gregory) the news, my friends, and that was enough. There's this site that has lots of Twitter "what's going on with the site" updates that I check, too, and wow, it just gets worse and worse. Check it out. It updates every now and again, and the tagline always changes. Love the snark. :)

And that was my Wednesday. :)