Dragon Day

Inspirational song: Stop Draggin' My Heart Around (Stevie Nicks and Tom Petty)

When I started coming up out of my dream sleep, before I was fully awake, I thought someone must have put on a crockpot of bean soup, because it smelled savory and smoky in my room. Then I sort of jerked awake, first thinking oh crap, who started cooking and left it overnight, then thinking oh, right. The whole house fan is on, sucking air from outside that is full of wildland fire smoke. There were three fires on the front range that I knew of when I got up. Before the sun went down, there was yet another one in Boulder County, up near Gross Reservoir, that damaged at least one structure, but maybe more. It's hard to keep them straight. We learned this morning that the Stone Canyon fire (although I think I read it as Stone Creek somewhere?) killed at least one person, found inside a burned structure. I turned to the Mr and asked do you suppose that was the location of the origin of that fire? I'll see what the updates are tomorrow.

The haze has kept down the temperature just the tiniest bit, but mostly it has made it where the sun doesn't instantly incinerate me. It's still too hot to do much outside, but I can get from the house to the car now. It think the smoke is responsible for my excess fatigue and all-over body soreness. Many of my friends are reporting days-long migraines from it. I got my botox this morning, so at least I escaped migraine.

We needed a few things from Lowe's, and needed to find something to keep us busy until it was cool enough to function outside (although the auto maintenance he was waiting to do never materialized). We asked to steal Dmitri to go with us, and he was stoked for solo grandma/grandpa time. He talked to us the whole way there, and was happy not to be plopped in a cart as soon as we arrived. As we walked through the door, he stopped in his tracks, at the sight of the greatest thing he had seen in weeks (yes, trains and little brothers included). They were setting up a display of animatronic ghouls for Halloween, including two giant ones that could look into his mommy's upstairs office window. He stared at them for ages. I tried to catch on video of him doing a tippy-tappy dance in excitement, but I wasn't fast enough. No matter where we went in the store, he kept trying to steer us back. We had to go back to it five or six times. The set-up guy asked his name, and then officially dubbed it the Dmitri Display, on our fourth visit. I told him to sweet-talk his grandpa and see whether he will buy one.

We closed the day with game night. We finished the game of Wyrmspan we started weeks ago. I did not win, but that's okay. Near the very end of the game, I drew two dragon cards that charmed the heck out of me. One was a "jaunty dragonette," and I don't know about you, but jaunty is one of my favorite adjectives.  The other was a "bargaining grazer," and if that isn't Harvey as a dragon, I don't know what is.

Shiccups and Shiggles

Inspirational song: American Pie (Don McLean)

Near the end of the Rotary meeting, I got a text that a certain little girl was requesting a pick-up to go hang at grandma's house. There was no way I would refuse. I dropped in for some cuddles with all the kids first, before I swiped my girl for an us-day. Dmitri gave me hugs, and I got to hold Avery for a little while. He started squirming in a way that I recognized. I asked him whether that was a little peristalsis wiggle. Sure enough, my hand holding his little bottom felt the rumble. There will be no taking this grandma by surprise. When Val and I left for our afternoon together, Dmitri was absolutely gutted to be left behind. The wails of "grandma!!" at the door ripped my heart out. I promise he gets a grandparent day very soon.

I had offered to go pretty much anywhere she wanted, and what she wanted was to go to my house. I told her I had a plan to make an apple pie, and would she like to help. She was all over that. She started to drag her tall chair over, and needed help to carry it, so we team lifted it. I showed her how to smash the butter into the flour to make a crumb topping. I had her scoop out brown sugar and sprinkle cinnamon in it. I cut the apples, and asked her to squeeze lemon over them, and again her job was sugar, cinnamon, salt, and flour for the filling. She played with Lincoln logs and watched a car cleaning video with me while the pie baked, and it just about drove her crazy waiting to try it. The rest of her family came over, and we polished it off (plus some pork chops and rice for dinner), and everyone was impressed with the excellent pie she helped make. It made me feel much better to see Dmitri running and rough-housing like he was over the heartache of being left behind a few hours earlier. I also got more cuddles (and I think I identified more peristalsis in action) with our new man. He is two weeks old now, and he has progressed to the little old man face phase. We have theorized that all babies are basically the actor Wallace Shawn.

If you read yesterday, you saw me getting a little nervous about fire season in northern Colorado. We are hot and dry and last year's wet weather gave us a lot of growth of grasses (fuel) that are now dried up. The Alexander fire from yesterday was over 3500 acres by evening tonight, and now there is a new one, the Stone Canyon fire just north of Lyons. It's 10-15 miles from where I am sitting right now. It was around 30 acres when I picked up Valerie (and noticed a second smoke plume as I drove across town). I have not checked for an update, but an old high school friend who lives in Lyons did say his family has been evacuated. I'm glad they are safe and will be sending out all the good vibes that his home stays safe. The same goes for the whole of the front range, my own home included.

 

Flower Crowns

Inspirational song: I'm on Fire (Bruce Springsteen)

The existential dread of fire season is upon us. For the last three months, our seasonal average rainfall is supposed to be north of six inches, and most places around here are working on two or less. Yesterday when the boys were heading down from the cabin, there was a fire in Jefferson County that closed a highway. Today there was a new one that popped up, west of Loveland, that has closed part of highway 34 leading up to Estes Park. This one is called the Alexander fire, I believe, and as of an hour ago, it was growing, covering nearly a thousand acres. We may be called upon to offer space to someone the Mr knows from Berthoud, who doesn't yet have alternate plans if they end up in the evac zone. (As of this moment, they're on the edge of it.) After the last ten years of watching fires get bigger and more frequent, and seeing entire towns cease to exist, I suggested to my daughter that perhaps we need to keep bug-out bags handy. The Marshall fire from three years ago made a strong impression on me, and taught me I'd rather not have to stop to think about clothes and medications, when I should be gathering up my cats and dogs to head for safety. The place where I live is a 60-70 year old neighborhood, not really wildland, but I can't say that it's immune. It's probably highly unlikely that a fire would race through here, but not impossible. A few rounds of rain coming through would go a long way to making me feel less grim.

I wasn't gloom and doom all day. I did have fun. I got my hands dirty, refreshing a pothos that I basically restarted from zero (I cut leafless stems in single node "wet sticks" and left them in a prop box for months.) I gave up on the sempervivum that literally didn't live up to its name, and put a sanseveria propagation in its place in the porcelain planter from Hollywood. And in an effort to use up produce from the fridge, the Mr made a "pottage" dinner, so I gathered fresh herbs and some bolted kale to go in it. No day is bad that has that much plantiness.

Plus, I ended the day with a little Snapchat filter conversation with the children. I was traditionally reluctant to do much in the way of filter selfies, but when it's making faces at the grandkids with a big mustache and Mario hat "on" me, I'm all for it. Tonight, there was a sunflower crown filter that perfectly matched the yellow shirt and sage green overalls I was wearing. I wasn't about to let that go without seeing all three kids in it back at me.

They Were Right

Inspirational song: The Rose (Bette Midler)

A month ago I admitted that I was wrong, my much-wanted Gertrude Jekyll climbing rose was not dead. I should restate the other side of that equation. The people who told me to be patient and see if it did break dormancy were correct. I repeat, to them, you were right. I've been watching a tiny bud develop for the last week, and today when I went out to water the pots, I saw it was starting to open. It is so beautiful. It's barely a foot off the ground, so I had to really lean over to sniff it, but that tiny bloom had the purest classic rose scent. (Contented sigh) It was worth the wait.

I skipped seeing the babies yesterday, to be sure that the tiny pain in my right tonsil didn't turn into an actual sore throat. Today I felt fine, and I'm thinking it might have just been dryness from always having fans blowing right at my face day and night. I went over this morning, and got to feed Avery just a little, which was enough to get him back to sleep. I watched the big kids be silly and smart, and it was as awesome as it sounds. Then we went grocery shopping, just my daughter, Dmitri and I. This was one of our best trips with him. Without the others, we could focus on him, and he was allowed a lot more freedom. He appreciated that, and did a lot to earn it.

The guys are back from the mountains. Beinn is completely sacked out like he had a great time on his adventure. Well, for that matter, the Mr has also gone to bed, equally tired. Saoirse is frantic to go out one last time before bed, and I will not let her. Just as the sun started going down, we had a visitor go from the chokecherry tree, along the fence, to the equipment shack, and up the neighbor's tree. I have to assume he is still there, and I am not letting this giant goofball go find out how well the program to vaccinate raccoons against rabies is progressing.

Not Again

Inspirational song: Do You Know the Muffin Man (Children's song)

Our oldest and largest cat, the estimable Dr Alfred P Love, is causing me concern yet again. He throws up his breakfast almost as often as he keeps it down, and for the last few days, he hasn't seemed very hungry at all. This morning and this evening, he refused to eat totally. When we went through this a few months ago, they gave us a tube of appetite stimulant, so I put some on a Q-tip and rubbed it on the skin of his ears, as instructed. (I should have had gloves on too, not just counted on the swab to keep me safe, but I seem to have escaped an accidental dosing.) I imagined it would work rapidly, for all the fear they instilled in me not to get it on my hands. So far, Alfred is just thirsty, and had no interest in his refrigerated dinner. Muffin Man, please don't stress me this way. We just lost Murray. It's too soon to be worried about you too.

We had a quiet afternoon and evening at home today. Housemate 2 is spending the weekend at her cabin, and Mr S-P took Beinn up to work on building a picnic table at his. Even housemate 1 spent time out and about, taking in the sights and sounds of another cruise night on Main Street. I tried to do functional things while I wasn't distracted by others, but I only accomplished a few basic tasks. I was just so happy to have a still house that it was too hard to move around and ruin it. The Mr uses his cabin as an escape from the modern world. I see my quiet weekends in much the same light.

It's time to honor my new promise to turn in to bed at an earlier hour, but with it being a cruise night, and us living on a major thoroughfare near the center of town, there is an excellent chance that I won't get much sleep until the wee hours of the morning. Saoirse and I will try, though. As long as she doesn't bark all night at loud street rod engines.

Low Mileage

Inspirational song: My Hometown (Charlie Robison)

Wow, I really am a homebody. Almost to the point of embarrassment. I've had my car nearly two and a half years. Today, on the way to the dealership in Golden, to get my second complimentary oil change and service, I passed 16,000 miles, right about the time I reached the northernmost edge of Golden. Technically I have two more free services left, at 24,000 and 32,000, or at the three-year mark, whichever is first. I'm going to need to make a few trips to squeeze one more freebie in before the end of March. What an excuse for travel!

I worried it would be unpleasantly sunny on the drive down, so I wore a loose and flowy long sleeve shirt to protect me from UV rays. Instead it was overcast and sprinkling the whole way, and I kept bumping my car a/c up a little warmer over and over. What a problem to have. It rained most of the time I was in the waiting room. Incredibly calming to watch.

I intended to take a photo to show what an absolute beast our black petunias have been up front, but once I finally fed myself an actual meal (at 7:30 pm), the rain made it to my yard for the first time today. It sort of ruined the effect I was going for. But it was still pretty. And in exchange, cooler air is blowing in, and I get to hear thunder.

Warm Enough

Inspirational song: Saturday in the Park (Chicago)

Oh, no! I failed to take any photos today. I went to look in my gallery, to see what I should write about, and there was only a screenshot of a friend request spoofing a family member's account. (Screenshotted to alert the family.) So I did what any good daily blogger would do. I stole one. I scrolled through messages from my daughter, and picked a nice one of our new baby, snoozing in the shade at the park. My daughter surely expects this by now. Else why would she send me such cute kid pictures?

It's a good thing their park visit was in the morning. It was a scorcher today. We are in the worst few weeks of the year. It was supposed to top out at 100 today, but I think there was just enough haze left from wildfires in Alberta and Oregon to keep us a hair under that. Next week will be just as bad, possibly without the haze to mitigate. I keep telling myself that in a month I will be able to sense autumn's arrival, and the bad stuff will be mostly behind us for a year. Having lived so much of my life in southern states, with unbearable heat and humidity, I never imagined I'd go this long in a house with no air conditioning. But seriously, it's only bad in July and part of August. Everything else is manageable with the whole house fan and timely closing of windows in the morning. After 9 years here, it's kind of an endurance challenge. So far I'm proving to myself I'm tough.

Train Goes Boobooo

Inspirational song: We Don't Talk About Bruno (Encanto)

Not only are game nights the best night of the week, but game nights during maternity and paternity leave means more people are available to come over for rowdy time. I called dibs on the first shift of baby holding. He was sound asleep the entire time. His big brother and sister playing loudly with Lincoln logs from a metal tub, and a room full of adults chatting loudly, and he didn't stir at all. I handed him off to grandpa while I opened a bottle of wine and started arranging chairs at the game table, and I came back to find him with eyeballs open and a bottle of milk nearly finished off. I missed my opportunity.

Things got a little hectic from there, with middle child not knowing when to stop pushing and poking at big sister (should have been before she got pushed to the tile floor, but immediately after that would have done just as well.) It must be tough to adjust to going from baby to middle, right as you are hitting your stride as transitioning from toddler to kid, with a little experimentation with terrible twos. (For the record, I do not consider him terrible. It's just the common name for this age's challenges.) 

The kids hit their limit right about the time we were ready to start playing, so they headed home to have fun bedtime with their parents. We set about the business of building train routes and trying to block each other from accomplishing anything. Housemate had the audacity to be surprised watching Mr S-P and our college roommate trying to outfox each other in the meanest possible ways. I kept saying, we've been playing games since 1988, and they still go for the jugular like 20 year olds. And yet, for all that, who ended up winning? Yep. Me.

Croissant

Inspirational song: Sin Wagon (The Chicks)

Many years ago, when I was describing something we were doing with the officers spouses club (before they combined officers and enlisted spouses at all the bases), my mother commented that I really was reliving her experience from back when she and my dad were married. I totally forget what the event was I described, but from then on, I paid attention to when it felt like I was going through very similar life events. Tonight, I'm seeing my daughter repeat some of my behaviors, and I know she has done it before. They went to sing karaoke at a brewery that hosts it regularly (and allows children to be there up to a certain time of night). She chose to sing Sin Wagon, which used to be one of my go-tos for karaoke in Grand Forks, ND. Last time they went, she sang another of my standbys, but I've since forgotten which one. I'm so proud. If I can get her into White Rabbit by Jefferson Airplane, the transformation will be complete.

My friend announced Avery's arrival to Rotary last week, during the part where they ask for good or bad news to share. I was cool with her saying this, since it was unusual that I wasn't in attendance, and it was joyful news that makes people feel good to hear. So when I was back this week, I had a lot of people comment on it, and several flattered me by saying I don't look old enough to be a grandma. Aw, shucks, you guys. Yeah, sure, let's say I was a child bride.

After going to pick up the prep for next month's procedure ($60 after insurance and a coupon code!), I went and got the baby snuggles I missed out on yesterday when the restaurant did me dirty. They dressed him in the really cute croissant onesie we bought on the off-chance he was born on Bastille Day, July 14. Missed it by one day, else we could have named him Jean-Luc Napoleon Liberté Croissant Smith. Too bad. Not that I am complaining about his name. I'm rather taken with it. Taken with him too. And I'm a little surprised I didn't take off with him this afternoon. I didn't want to let him go, but I was tired and needed to be home. Luckily, there will be plenty of snuggles available tomorrow too.

Bellies

Inspirational song: Hope for the Future (Marillion)

Nine days from now, my contract will officially end. I will have no responsibility for the house next door. I will have returned their damage deposits, and wished the best to them and the new property manager. All that will be left is record-keeping and taxes next winter. I will be free to be grandma, with my whole heart. No more clenches in my belly of "I should be..." Even if literal weight does not fall off my body, enough emotional weight will drop off to make me feel human again. 

While the kids are home on new baby leave, they don't technically need babysitting. But we know better, that all new parents need a break anywhere they can get it. So when our daughter put out a very vague hint of needing to do some living room cleanup without toddler interference, we jumped on it. We ran a couple errands, and then grabbed the older two. We needed lunch, and they needed to get out, so we went to Modern Market for some sandwiches and lemonade. (Unfortunately, I ended up suffering from gluten cross-contamination, but the food still tasted good.) They wanted some runaround time, so from there we went to a park. We let them play on two different playgrounds at the same park, and before we left, the three whose bellies weren't trying to murder them all rolled down a hill a few times. While there, the squirrel of Mr S-P's dreams circled him a few times. Why can't we get a black squirrel on our block? They're so cute.

Val wanted just a little more adventure, so we drove through the countryside on the outskirts of town. By the time we got back to city limits, both kids were zoned and had to be carried inside at home. I missed out on fresh baby cuddles because I couldn't get out of the car until I was home (seriously, this was a nasty glutening). Tomorrow we will try again to go hold the tiny man.

Coalesce Now

Inspirational song: One Thing Leads to Another (The Fixx)

Working on the assumption that everyone who reads this also is aware of political developments today, it should come as no surprise that I am a bit emotionally wrung out this evening. I've spent the last, what, 8-9 hours tapping my little thumbs out on Threads, posting more in one day than most of the last year combined. I've made my own posts, hashtagged, commented, liked, and clicked "post anyway" when it tried to stop me using swearwords. 

I got pretty upset when I first saw the news, and I felt like I was in the upside down. I walked away from screens, took a shower, and reset myself. I think I'm fine now, but I bet I'll be on a hair trigger for a few days. You know I'm not a fan of misogyny or racism, and I'm dreading getting splashed when it flies around over the next few months.

Yesterday I promised myself I would really apply myself to going to bed earlier. To accomplish that, I think I need to begin my powering down process now. The hard part is going to be watching fewer videos before lights out.

Get Better Sleep

Inspirational song: Dog and Butterfly (Heart)

I just watched a two hour recorded livestream from a young man I think is really interesting. His channel is No Lab Coat Required, and he does a great job of explaining scientific topics (generally medical) in plain English. He has been working on a multi-part series on the biological processes of gaining weight. The one I watched focused entirely on quantity and quality of sleep. Every year or so, I come back around to this topic, swearing to myself I will get better sleep, knowing if I actually did it there would be a cascade of benefits. Within a month, I'm staying up late again, watching videos or something equally unimportant, forgetting all my resolutions. I will try to hold on to this nugget of information a little longer, though. He said studies on circadian rhythm show that the sleep between 10 pm and 2 am is the "money sleep," where the most good is done. The stuff closer to dawn is REM, but this other is deep and more restorative. So on that note, I am telling myself to blog early (it's currently almost 9), and then take a relaxing bath and go to bed. How many days do you suppose I can keep that cycle up? Will I last a whole week?

The Mr had to take Beinn to the vet this morning, for his goopy ear. We got the diagnosis and treatment we expected, yeast infection and twice a day Otomax. They suggested when he cleans Beinn's ear, he use a combo of apple cider vinegar and witch hazel. That was a new one to me. I haven't seen witch hazel since I was a kid, I think. I bought some and mixed up the solution. The smell zapped me back to the linen closet in my grandmother's bathroom, and that was a wild memory. Beinn and the Mr are up on the mountain now. Big tough livestock guardian dog apparently was afraid of mountain thunderstorms, and needed to hide inside the cabin. What a silly boy.

I had a brief out with my daughter and Avery this afternoon. We needed a few craft supplies, and I needed a chance to kiss a soft baby head. All things acquired as needed.

It was unpleasantly hot while we were out, or at least it was to me. It was easily 15 degrees cooler than last weekend. But the temperatures plummeted when the storms rolled through here. We had massive gusty winds and blessedly small hail for a good half hour. Knocked our power out for a second, but that was the worst of it, for all we can tell. Housemate 1 and I stood out front and watched for a while, hoping that the hail would do no damage to our cars. I think we escaped.