I was sorta disconnected yesterday. My router was down for most of the morning, but mainly, my wife had one of her infrequent days off from work. She has an erratic schedule, and seems to work approximately 6 days out of 7, and her days off are unpredictable. Working in elder care is one of those difficult and under-appreciated jobs that should be paid better but never will be.

So we took advantage of the time to get a lot of mundane things done.

• We reorganized my home office, clearing out a lot of the clutter, moving the futon I never used to a different room. Now I actually have room to move!
• Our clothes dryer wasn’t working. It turns out the vent was clogged, and we pulled it out of its niche to clear it, which was a revelation. This appliance was here when we moved in almost 25 years ago, and we’d never looked under or behind it until now. We finally discovered what happened to Mary’s favorite gardening hat. To put it in perspective, we found old Howard Dean signs that had fallen behind it.



• We went shopping for a new bed. Mary has some minor respiratory issues, which means she often has to sit up in bed, so we’re looking for one of those fancy adjustable beds that will let us both be comfortable. I think it might be a Christmas gift to each other. I think we’re also sinking into degenerate decadence here in the waning years of the American empire.


It’s not supposed to be bent like that

• I’m also looking for a bookshelf with doors — the evil cat destroyed a camera lens (an inexpensive one, fortunately) by flicking it off a shelf, so I need a cat-proof way to store electronics and camera gear. I’ve ordered one that will arrive next week. Until then, I’m hovering over my lens collection like a dragon over its hoard, and snarling if the cat approaches.
• Of course I went into the lab to tend the spiders.
• Mary restocked her bird feeders. My job was to hold the ladder.