I may as well share the good and/or interesting stuff of the day. Maybe I’ll do this every so often.
First, I got the little bistro sets up in the break area by the stairs at the Pope Residence. They surprised me by fitting. I even ate lunch at one. Now that no one else eats in the office, I’ll fine solo in style!
Kathleen and I picked these out in hopes that they would fit.
And I opened the box with the dishes for the office. I just set out coffee cups, in case a visitor wanted some coffee. The rest are i. The cabinets for now.
If it’s deemed too junky, I can put them away.
So that was fun. I also had fun looking at birds this afternoon. I finally determined the small heron I keep seeing is a green heron. It was out with the blue heron behind the house, and while I was looking at them and turtles, I spied the BIGGEST bullfrog I ever saw. Turns out they can weigh up to 1.5 pounds!
There was no way to get a photo of the frog, but I did get a picture of this scary kissing bug. It will not give me Chagas’ disease because it is deceased. Buddhism fail.
Eek
The best news is this! We had four eggs today! That’s the first time I got four eggs since we built the hen house here by our house. Thanks, Springsteen!
Bertie, Fancy Pants, Springsteen, and Hedley.
By the fall molting season, we may have a few more kick in! It would be nice to be able to share them with friends and family before they shut down to molt.
The good news came this morning that our renovation of the first floor of the Pope Residence has passed inspection. I hear the sturdiness of the stairs impressed the inspectors, as it should have. I stayed the heck out of the way, as befits the role of the silent partner: you have to stay silent!
That’s the inspector truck on the side of the road. Hey, maybe we can take the permit out of the window!
I’m very proud of the work everyone has done on the project, especially Chris, whose patience I tested (and continue to test) frequently.
Desk with computer and red lamp. I’m in business!
Today I brought the rest of the stuff over that makes an office work as an office. And as I set the desk up, Chris did a few more things for me. He hung up the amber hanging lamp, and it really livens up that corner, I think.
The cozy corner now has its mood lamp.
The stained glass windows I brought from the ranch house also got hung, and they really look cool in the window, and will bring a little privacy while letting in light from the stairway area.
Windows within a window.
Eduardo and the spider plant got their hangers today, so the window looks rather jungly. That area isn’t quite done, because my sister gave me a stained glass window similar to the other ones, which we’re going to put at the top of the outside window as soon as we get another hook.
The jungle.
The other to-do item is the glass for the interior window. Chris is going to put plywood up there until the real glass is ordered and arrives. Glass is the last big item on the list for this place. My window and shelving will let this office have a more spacious look, since the glassware collection won’t be on all the surfaces anymore!
I got new candlesticks on the mantel.
From either guest chair, you can see me and converse. We tested it out.
Back to work. I’m sure glad my phone works as a hotspot, because we can’t figure out the WiFi password!
Actually, more like goofing off on a Sunday. This is one of those posts that has to be only interesting to me as a record of my projects. But, you can read it, of course.
Last week, Chris asked me what kind of reading light I was going to use for the reading nook/guest area to the right of the “fireplace.” I realized I’d forgotten all about what I had planned for that. So many plans to keep track of (fun plans, hoorah).
For the left side, I have this beautiful hanging lamp that I bought from my friend Jean. While it’s old, it’s actually never been used, and still has the tag on it! It was made in Tyler, Texas. There was even hanging hardware with it, so all I need to do is clear the space and ask Chris to hang if up. Isn’t it cool?
I also put more “shit,” as Chris calls it, in the office. These are some pretty pottery by my friend Pamela, which I got yesterday when I was prowling around her studio. I am especially fond of the pencil holder which is really a vase. It really sets off my fancy pencils. The little candle holder (or whatever) I got because it goes so well with the color scheme.
My pretty new stuff.
And What about the Other Nook?
Back to the right side reading nook. I happened to have a floor lamp in my old office that I think came with this building. It was fake gold metal. I’d replaced the lampshade, but the body of the lamp was sad and rusty. I will spare you a “before” photo, because I forgot to take one.
Here’s my begonia re-potted. Hoping it grows!
This afternoon, after re-potting my new plants, I drug the lamp outside and got out my official Suna Colors of Spray Paint (red and orange paint that were laying around) and I turned the lamp into a festival or orange and red spatters. I painted it all orange, then added light spotty layers of red and orange to build depth (or because it was fun, pick your rationale).
It’s actually sorta what I wanted!
I didn’t make a mess or anything, since I assume the color will come out of the weeds once they grow and get mowed (assuming we get some rain from the converging hurricanes of 2020).
Yes, I painted everything except where the bulb goes.
You’ll be proud of my restraint, since I briefly toyed with the idea of winding one of my colorful flower garlands up the stem of the lamp, but decided I have enough gaudy fake flowers in there. That place is not for the faint of heart!
Ta da!
That’s all I have for today. I’m working on something for tomorrow, so stay tuned for something sweet.
You can see the red better here.
PS about the Calves
Since one person mentioned it, I assume others thought it. So, no we are not going to keep the young calves in the small pen (which did get made bigger when the two others arrived). This is a big ranch, even just the parts we own! They will have plenty of room to roam, and to rotate sensibly, and all that.
Because I think I annoyed my family by reacting with a sad-face emoji to the news that the inspection of the new office building won’t be until Monday, let me say that I am ever-so-cheerful about how things are going, and am enjoying doing the things I can do. I also extra appreciative of how hard everyone is working and how helpful we’ve all been to each other.
That said, I’m still in the dungeon working away at the ole Agile Transformation and such. On lunch break, though, I went over to the shiny new office (which sure has a lot of spider webs to get rid of), and got to watch Chris put my desk together, so it’s all one piece now.
We still need to add the glass cover (very important to protect the delicate crackle job) and the keyboard drawer, for my typing pleasure. But, that can be done this weekend or Monday. I’ll use the small piece of glass on my current desk until the custom piece is made.
Look, it’s art.
And while he had the drill in hand, Chris was kind enough to hang my art on the walls. That really helps the place look more finished! I have the cool glass hanging lamp I want installed, but it needs more chain, then all that’s left is the stained glass and shelves. These things take time! I’m honestly not trying to get it all done at once. I can work now, once we get the approval, and that’s what dounts.
I seem to have put most of the stuff in this one corner. Hmm.
It’s just nice to have something that makes me happy to focus on, if you know what I mean!
I’m glad my painting of Carlton climbing the fence fit in above the coat rack. I won’t have the view of Lee’s door, once the glass goes in the “window” there.
There’s lots to look forward to the rest of today. Trixie’s coming, so my hope is that Apache gets a clean bill of health, as well as Fiona. Hee haw!
Like I talked about earlier in the week, I need time to process change. Sometimes, though, you just don’t get that luxury. This is one of those times. Yesterday, that one hour when I wasn’t in meetings wasn’t enough time to process, because then I was busy trying to get all the other work I need to do either done or planned out (tomorrow will be catch-up day, I hope!).
Meetings started early, so I got to see the sun pop up this morning, through a dirty window.
Today isn’t much better, though things are a little more spaced out. I’m trying to do a crash course in an entirely different way to work, different teams, different priorities, and a lot of buzzwords. I can do it, but I realized as I was taking my decompression walk a few minutes ago that this is really like getting a new job. And the rest of us are getting new jobs, too. That’s always stressful, even when it’s a job you want!
Also seen on my decompression walk: giant swallowtail
The folks in my department (whatever it is, now) are all in the change stew together and can help each other. I think I was so worried about being slow on the uptake or not coming across as thrilled with all the new processes and such that I totally forgot I’m not alone! My colleagues haven’t done this particular before, either.
Honestly, you’d think I would have figured this out a little sooner, after blundering along trying to figure out how to live life with all the new pandemic parameters. It’s the same deal: yes, you still have to do the same tasks, but you have to do them very differently. You will not succeed at figuring it out instantly. No one else will, either.
Speaking of fun, I got remote-control fake candles for my office. That will entertain my roving eye and add to the curated clutter.
Starting today, I’m gonna have fun all day long OR ELSE. That means, even at work! So what if I had Zoom meetings at 10,11,12,1,3, and 4 today? Fun times shall occur at 2 pm. It’s 2:30. I’m blogging. Thankfully, I consider blogging fun.
To start that fun off right, I made myself Zoom backgrounds so it will look like I’m in my new office. And I wore a cheerful shirt, plus lipstick!
Now, doesn’t that make meetings fun? Sure!
And to paraphrase Lee, I “get” to have a lot of meetings today. But, it’s true. I get to talk to a lot of interesting people. It was work book club day, which meant lots of fun.
Such a nice bunch of blurry people to chat with over lunch!
I did “get” to run over to the new office building, sign in to swear I am not sick, and get some pretty pictures of the completely finished stairs. Ahh.
The while trim looks great.
Going downstairs will be a treat every time.
Fun is how you define it! No wonder I surround myself with things that cheer me up. It makes whatever I’m doing fun. I’m extra glad for the happy keyboard and mouse, since most of my “fun” is typing!
Thanks, happy keyboard
What fun have you been having? Do you define your own fun, like I do?
Lee had been waiting patiently for the rest of the blinds to go up at the Pope Residence, to save on electricity. The new-ish windows aren’t terribly efficient, but not old enough to replace.
Now that the stair rails are done, and the custom sized blinds for the really long windows are in, Lee’s dream can come true. They’re going up.
There are even blinds for the upstairs rooms we haven’t renovated yet.
Sadly for some, I like light, as do my plants. So my shade stays up.
Plus there’s the collection of brass birds, which I don’t want to touch.
Lee and Chris quickly got Kathleen’s shades up, while she was working offsite. I also spotted the snakeskin she recently found, displayed on her light fixture. So cool.
Blinding
It’s dark now!
That’s just cool.
Lee’s office has been amazingly bright and cheerful. No wonder he hasn’t moved much in. It’s also pretty warm in there. Once the blinds are up, it will be a lot more hermitage in mood, and efficient in electricity needed.
Well, I like light. I need my shiny stuff to shine!
My favorite office area, so far.
BlindWeirdness
Here’s something. The blinds for the building were all ordered on the same day, from the same store. They are the same brand and style (real wood, but not fancy).
The push up and down model.
However, there are three different mechanisms for raising and lowering them. Some you just push up and pull down, like in my office. Some have sophisticated buttons you have to press before raising or lowering, like in Lee’s office.
The snazzy buttons.
Others have the traditional string pulls, like in Kathleen’s office. Those may be challenging.
Annoying strings.
More Blinds
Anyway, the whole downstairs is blinded now. Lee is very happy with his dimness.
First one
East side
South side. Told you he was happy.
Lee’s Office
The reception room now really wants its furniture!
Front room.
I wanted to see how the blinds looked from outside then I remembered all the sand burs and the fact that the grass is knee high. But I did it, so you can see.
It does seem more secure.
The outside pictures really make it clear that the exterior also needs a lot of work. We will get there! In the meantime, I look forward to enjoying my office from all angles, every day. Next week?
Sometimes, when you’re walking on a hot day and trying to ignore the pain in your legs from climbing hills (you can tell I was in Austin), you get a sudden insight into how communication works and doesn’t work, and your life suddenly becomes better. Well, it happened at least once, and that was yesterday.
I was just enjoying myself not thinking about work during my one-hour break between meetings, and I started to think about how some of the people in my life announce their plans/intentions/commitments. They state them very firmly. “Things will be this way from now on.” “I will act on this plan going forward.” Things like that.
The post is about language, and I think this is cute. Photo by @NAO via Twenty20
In my little head, I interpret such statements as firm commitments. I then adjust my own expectations to go with these plans. If someone says, “I’m going to do this twice a week,” I expect that to happen twice a week. If someone says, “This is the next project I plan to do,” I get my inner expectations set that way.
This is not the other person’s problem; it’s mine. This leads to much disappointment and confusion when life happens, plans change, or the dreaded “spontaning” occurs (that’s what Lee and I call being spontaneous). I get worked up about people not keeping their commitments, or confused when I hear the twice a week thing didn’t happen starting the next week.
Javascript is inside my head. No wonder I get confused. Image by @Mehaniq via Twenty20,
My insight was that when people around me make these declarations, they are not stating a commitment, they are stating an intention. They’re not stating a definite plan, but more of a tentative plan for the moment. And that’s perfectly fine, because that’s how stating plans or intentions work for them. And besides, even people like me, who state things with all expectations that the plan will be stuck to, sometimes have to change things when circumstances change. Huh, I’d been being rather rigid in my expectations of others!
They sure do. Image by @MPstockart via Twenty20
So, now that I’ve reset my expectations, I’ve a word of advice for those of you who didn’t get this concept hammered into their heads while studying linguistics (almost everyone!).
Your internal set of meanings for words and phrases may actually NOT coincide (probably don’t coincide) exactly with other people’s.
me
Language is really, really ambiguous. That’s why we rely so hard on tone of voice, facial expression, past knowledge of the person we’re talking to, and sincere hope to communicate anything at all. We all have our own internal grammar, semantics (meanings for words), and pragmatic style.
Now you know why I only communicate with snuggles. They are universal.
So, when there are misunderstandings, which there inevitably will be, let’s not be so hard on each other. It’s a miracle that we manage to communicate at all!
I bit the bullet and got my hair cut today. The place I go made a lot of changes for safety, like a whole bunch of plexiglass, so I wasn’t too worried about going. I waited in my car until I was called in, then went over to the stylist’s station. I stated that I wanted my hair cut, then we headed over to get it washed.
Hair is much shorter but still pale blue.
That’s where I saw it. Some lovely young woman was sitting in the chair closest to the hair-washing sinks. She had her mask on, all right, but her perky little nose was poking proudly out above the top of the mask. It surprised me, because I guess I thought her stylist would have reminded her how one is supposed to wear a mask to protect others from your germs.
Proper mask wearing, though crooked (pre haircut)
Since I was so surprised, I just gave her a long look through my squinty li’l Suna eyes, hoping they conveyed my disapproval.
As I sat in my chair watching Dan cut little triangles of hair, I kept wondering if I should have said something to the nose displaying woman. Excuse me, but your mask has slipped down? Hey, I can see your appendage!
Gaudy mask with giant earrings. Still safe!
Then I countered myself with the fact that I was far from her and she was facing the other way. And is it any of my business to tell her how to behave in public? People are pretty edgy about masks in the US, after all. Why start a fight? She wasn’t coughing on me.
On the other hand, we were indoors, which is risky even with all the plexiglass. She was being inconsiderate, at the least. Dangerous to some people’s thinking. What to do?
I look as tired of pictures of me in masks as you probably are. Also my eye size discrepancy is getting worse as my eyelids droop.
Well, I did take care of the people around me. I kept my mask on, even when big hunks of hair fell in it. I even tightened it when it began to slide. So, I was a good role model.
I wore this sloth mask today.
But I keep second guessing myself. What would you do?
Yesterday after work, I snatched Vlassic out of the RV where he was hanging out with Lee’s brother, and invited him into the car. There, he settled down for a nice petting session while we drove to Austin. Yay, we got to go see our other house!
Yay, in Austin I get to shred toys.
When we got there, he greeted his friend Pickle, then insisted on taking a walk, you know, to see if all the bushes were still there. They were. After that, he destroyed a few toys, napped, and hung out with me until bedtime. At bedtime, he curled up right next to me and slept until morning.
Here’s Vlassic helping me work.
That’s not remarkable, really, but the way he just slid back into his old routine like he’d been doing it all along, it just amazed me. Yesterday he’d been rolling in the dirt, sitting under the RV, visiting the horses, chasing and eating many grasshoppers, and when lucky enough to find one, harassing toads. He is fixated on barking at toads.
He’s now helping me work in the kitchen.
We’ve just had our 2-year anniversary of sharing our lives with Vlassic, who we now think came from the Ben Arnold area (due to the large amount of very black dogs a particular female, who is now neutered and living in Colorado, had been churning out). He is the most laid-back and flexible dog I have ever come across.
I’m also cute outside. I only have one pose, apparently.
Wherever this little dude is, he’s at home. He loves Austin, he loves Cameron, he loves the indoors, and he loves the outdoors. He doesn’t chase chickens, and I think no longer chases small donkeys. While he occasionally doesn’t like a dog or person very much, I find he has pretty good taste in such things.
Honestly, it feels like a miracle that he showed up one day and I got to have him as my companion. The worst thing, for me, about the pandemic has been that I don’t get to spend as much time with Vlassic as I used to, because Penney scared him away from coming into the house. It’s weird, because they get along great outside, but he just won’t come into our house anymore.
He and Gracie are our chicken protectors and mini guard dogs at the ranch. Look at those tongues.
On the other hand, Jim sure likes having him around. So, now Vlassic is providing companionship to both of us. What a fine companion he is, too!
The Hermits' Rest 