Oh Hooray it is FriYay

 

A short work week but it felt like a long one. Next week my boss is out Monday and Tuesday; and two other co-workers are out Wednesday through Friday. So it should be interesting. We just rolled out a new product that I don't support, but with both of them out it could be very busy. 

That's okay. I actually understand the product and can help people out. And I'm so proud of all the work they did - I have been super way on the periphery of it all. Sometimes it is like that. We have a lot of products, and I'm not in charge of them all. 

I had two client meetings today. One was to go over a problem a staffer was having with a product I support. She was doing things almost alright. But. There are things she could do better and I helped her out a lot. We also had a lot of laughs. I really love her - and that makes things fun. End of day, I trained a brand new client on that same product. I was happy to let them know they are probably the last people I'm training on this product in the state it is in. We're getting ready to launch a reboot/refresh of this product and they will be happy to see all the new things that are coming.

Two hours later.... 

They were also fun, and I really can't wait to see what they do with this tool. 

Around 5pm today, Toffee was napping with Doug, so I slipped out for a solo walk. Without her, I can walk faster so I pounded through 20 minutes for an exact mile. After dinner, I needed to do more steps so I went out again and took her with. She did pretty good. At night when there is no traffic I'll walk her in the streets and on the asphalt where she won't stop to sniff every three inches. I got back to the house and dropped her off, and went back out for another 10 minutes just by myself. I trotted a little bit, not a lot, but it felt like jogging.

So far, for the month of October, I've only missed 1 day of 10k steps. So I feel like I'm back in the game walking-wise. Goin' an gettin' it. 

Not sure what are plans are this weekend but I have a little bit of a list of things. Doug may have things he wants to do. And I do hope we get some things not at the house. We'll see what the days hold. 

Digits, below.

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. 2 walks; solo 20 min/1 mile; with Toffee, 20 min/1.05 miles. 10k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

9am: 94
5pm: 109
10:30pm: 155

food & meds:
9am: jaridance + phentermine
11am: apple w/pb
2pm: met+glip
5pm: atkins protein bar
6:30pm: creamy chicken stew w/tomatoes, black olives, onions, some sort of wontons? (thank you Geoff)
9pm: met+glip; bowl of fritos
vodka & zero sugar san pel. 

Recycling and Dog Park Day

The recycling and trash guys don't move in the same circles. Our trash is done with a truck that has arms. At 4:30am. Recycling guys come later in the day, and they do not have an arm truck.  

I had put our recycling and trash out last night. With the normal bottle/can/plastics recycling, the freaking giant blue bin was absolutely full. I packed in a couple crushed boxes, the 2 pizza boxes from last Thursday, and I collapsed as much cardboard into other cardboard so what looks like a box that used to be mac and cheese is really 201 other boxes smooshed in. 

I try to be as compact as possible. 

So I heard the truck coming down the road. I had also put out 2 large moving boxes full of packing paper. And I wanted to make sure that was okay. 

I have..... a lot more boxes. 

The dude was super sweet but slightly confused. He asked how much I had and if I wanted to bring it on out. Um. No not yet. I just .... wanted to make sure these two boxes I put next to the container were okay. 

He looked at me funny and said "oh yes ma'am. You're fine. You can put out all the boxes you want, just try to crush them down and put them inside each other." 

"Well, these ones are full of packing paper that needs recycled too, but yes. I'm the queen of box condensing." He laughed and picked up one of the boxes. 

His co-worker picked up the second and said "oh man, this makes me feel like I'm super strong!!!" He hoisted the box above his head and made grunting and struggling noises until he could lock his arms fully upright. Then he howled in victory. 

Walking to the truck he then made motions as if he was losing control of this giant heavy load. The first guy yelled "Oh no! I got you! I got you!" and they got to the back of the truck.

Hi-Fives all around. 

Who knew the recycling guys could be this much fun?

I swear I'm just seeing the beautiful side of people lately. It makes my heart fly. 

At about 4:30pm, we took Toffee to the dog park. It is getting darker earlier, and pretty soon 4:30pm is going to be dark o'clock. We talked about how we're going to possibly Dog Park in the dark and cold months. 

There were only two other dogs there, a big black lab mix named Beau who played hard, fast, rough, and awesomely with miss Toffee. And a big mutt named Buddy who just kind of chilled by his momma and watched, and then dragged his ass across the grass (but no! HE DOESN'T HAVE WORMS!!! IT JUST FEELS GOOD I GUESS! his owner said). 

After Beau left, Buddy followed, and there were no other dogs. We decided to walk home and get dinner started. Geoff was at class today, so it is on us to cook, and it was already 45 minutes past when Toffee gets dinner.

Doug has been to the dog park more than I have, and he has yet to see the same dogs and owners twice.Timing is everything, I guess. 

After dinner, in order to make sure I got all my steps for the day in, I went out and did another 15 minute walk just on the side street with sidewalks, from our corner to the end, turn around go back to the other end, turn around, head home, walk up to where the sidewalk ends... that's a solid walk. And it put me into the 10k mark before 8pm. 

The rest is gravy, as they say. 

So thankful tomorrow is Friday. Short weeks are nice but you have to pack 5 days of work into 4 and that can be a lot. 

No picture today but .... digits below. 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. 3 walks, to and from the dog park with Toffee and Doug. 12 min/.52 miles; 15 min/.68 miles. Solo after dinner to hit the 10k mark, 15 min/.73 mi. 11k+ by bedtime

blood glucose:

8:30am: 100
4:30pm: 138
10:45pm: 129

food & meds:
8:30am: jaridance + phentermine
11am: small bowl of mac & cheese and bacon
12:15: quesadilla w/bacon on 2 low-carb fajita wraps
2pm: met+glip
6:45pm: bowl of chili: beans, meat, tomatoes, shredded cheddar, sour cream, fritos
9pm: met+glip
sugar free san pel. w/vodka (2 glasses)

Sunbeam Dog and Daylight Saving Changes a Comin'

We had Toffee give up a couple good things to move here. Her window in the guest room where she'd sit on the bed and watch the back yard and side street, queen of all she did survey. And the mailman. She had to give up her lovely Dave and her daily treats. I miss Dave too. 

Around 3pm here, she gets whiny and pushy. I have to be careful if I'm in a meeting to go sit in a chair and not on the couch because she will get all up on me and it is not pretty. Some folks are entertained but it is utterly unprofessional. 

Our mailman in this town sometimes does not come until after 5pm, which is weird. And he does not have an affinity for Toffee, nor is he super friendly. 

But she gets something here that she never had at the old place. 

Our livingroom window faces south/west and in the afternoon, the sun begins to set, and she gets to sunbathe. Pitties love to lounge in the sun. And here, she doesn't even have to go outside. 

She "disappeared" this afternoon, and I got up, went to the kitchen for a glass of water and came back to find her just .... passed out on the floor. Okay then there, girlie. You enjoy that. 

Perhaps a new 3pm ritual? Until we jump back with the clocks in a couple weeks and she gets all confused. 

Geoff cooked dinner for us. He bought some pre-made burgers at Lidl and they were okay. He fried them in the frying pan because Doug said we shouldn't use our grill until he gets a chance to clean it. I would have preferred these grilled... but I'm not complaining. He also cooked some curly spicy fries, and those were very tasty. Luckily he did not cook the whole stinking bag or I would have over indulged. 

While he cooked, Doug and I took Toffee for a walk. 5:30pm seems to be a good time to go. But I knew our walk wasn't going to be enough steps for me to hit 10k, so I made myself go out after dinner. 6:45pm is a really good time to go out right now. The sun is setting, the lights are on in the big park, we're kind of on a hill that gives you a view to downtown steeples. Church bells ring in the distance during the 6pm hour. Seems to be a thing here. 

Doug started watching some BritBox cop show called No Offence which takes place in Manchester, England. It's pretty good. I think we are up to season 2 after just a couple days. Feels a lot like Law & Order without the courtroom stuff. 

Alrighty then. Check out the sunbeam dog. She blends with the floor too. Digits below. 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. (my fitbit app says I missed 11am but the fitbit itself says I got it so. Ha.) two walks, pre-dinner with Doug & Toffee, 20 min/.93 miles; after dinner solo, 25min/1.2 miles; 11k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8:15am: 111
4:30pm: 140
10:30pm: 101

food & meds:
8:15am: jaridance + phentermine
12:30pm: pb & low sugar j on 647 bread
2pm: met+glip
6pm: one cheeseburger, no bun, and some spicy curly fries
8:30pm: met+glip
no wine/alcohol

Starland

Fun fact about this area, we seem to have a lot of roller rinks! I've counted 3 in a very small area. 

One is actually in our neighborhood. 

I was out for a walk a couple weeks ago, and there is a pokemon stop (to get supplies, it's called a "spinner") about 2 blocks away and up the hill. I figured it was a church. Churches are often pokestops and gyms (where you battle other pokemon trainers), but this. This is a roller rink. They are open Tuesday nights for Family Night and weekends. 

After dinner, I was about 3,000 steps shy of 10k. Part of me said screw it, but ... another part of me said "you've hit 10k just about every day for a flippin' week. Go get it. I know that about 20 minutes is usually 2500 steps, and we did that before dinner, so I knew I had to hit 25 to 30 minutes to hit the goal. Feh. 

Off I went. No baseball game at the field so no night lights on. That's going to be dark all winter. I walked that direction, up the hill 2 blocks, turned right, turned right again, heard a lot of commotion over at the park where the dog park is, night time over there seems to be sketchy and wild. So I turned back toward our house, and then walked over to the roller rink. 

I could see the neon light from a long way off, so weird in the neighborhood like that. 

I took a picture, I wish my camera was better at night. I got this new phone a while back and Doug talked me out of the really nice one that I wanted, with the muchmuchmuch better camera. So ... I suffer. For my art. 

The road that divides the incorporated and unincorporated parts of my town runs right by the roller rink, and it was super dark, so I didn't walk to my street that way to pickup the sidewalk where it ends. I turned down the road that runs parallel to my street. Tons of Halloween decorations out, I hope our neighborhood is a lot of fun. In my heart I already miss all the kids at the old neighborhood. 

Anyway. Productive day at work today even though it was a Monday on a Tuesday vibe. My work bestie and I knocked two DNS changes out of the park and sent out email to two other clients to get them rolling with their changes. This is a project on top of the DNS project that I did starting this time last year and it took me until the beginning of this summer to finish. 

Geoff went to return our router to our former internet provider but didn't have our cancelation notice number, and I texted it to him but his phone didn't work inside their office so he came home. He's on school break this week, so he has idle time. I wonder if he'll try again tomorrow? I also notice he didn't deposit a check he had that he deliberately took with him to deposit. Our bank got bought by another bank, and the nearest physical offices are 20 min. one way and 30 min. the other so I think we're going to change banks. 

I hate changing banks. I hate going through all the ACH automatic transactions and accounting for everything. Sigh. 

Our new bank's website sucks, and we're supposed to be able to use our old username and password to log in but hell if that doesn't work. I may end up at the bank in person soon. 

Right then. Bedtime. Digits below this lame out of focus night shot of the building...

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. 2 walks. One with Doug & Toffee, 20 min/.94 mi. Solo, 25 min/1.26 mi. 10k+ steps by bedtime.

blood glucose:

7:30am: 140
5pm: 144
10pm: 110

food & meds:
7:30am: jaridance + phentermine
9am: atkins protein bar
12:45pm: met+glip
1:30pm: pb & low sugar j on 647 bread
6:30pm: piece of chicken parm
7:45pm: met+glip
small glass of wine to kill the bottle, mixed with diet ginger ale

The Williamsport that is not in Pennsylvania

Doug says to me at about 11:30am "Do you want to hear my plan?"

Of course I do. What would we like to do today. 

He suggests we head to Williamsport, walk along the C&O canal, walk about town, visit the brewery in town, and be home by 5. 

Sweet. Yes. Let's go. 

Unfortunately, right about then I started to feel rather sick to my stomach. Not sure why. I ate an English muffin, like ya do, at the time that you usually do. Maybe too much coffee? I don't know. But I thought I might throw up? 

I let him know I was feeling less than perfect but that wasn't going to stop our excursion. I just didn't want to overdo it. I felt like Homer Simpson did when he promised to take the kids to Duff Gardens and he wasn't going to let food poisoning stop him (mmmmmmm, sandwich). 

Williamsport, Hurrah! And if you know the Simpsons, you know what I'm talking about here.

Riding down the highway, I said "Isn't Williamsport in Pennsylvania? Where the Little League World Series is? Are we going to Pennsylvania? I didn't think the C&O canal went all the way up there." 

"Wrong Williamsport," he tells me. "That's very far away. But yes, that's where the Little League World Series is." 

And yes, it is far. 

From our house, the Maryland one is about a 15 minute drive if you use the highway, 20 minutes if you go non-highway. Not far at all. I had no idea it was there. 

It is right by the West Virginia border, naturally, since the Potomac River is the border and the C&O is the canal that helped everyone on earth get around the rocky and rough Potomac! We crossed the bridge on Rte 11 just to say hello to West Virginia, and turned around and came back to park. 

It was cool and windy, but nothing like the storm far to the east and north of us. Lots of bikers and a few hikers, some fishing, and no one out on their boats. We walked on both sides of the canal on the tow-path, and I sat a lot, feeling rather bloated and bubbly. 

Toffee had a lot of fun. So many things to sniff. 

Rte 11 over the Potomac, to WVA.

The Cushwa building, and yes, this is where the brewery gets its name

I've seen this name before on a bridge in Savage Mill, MD

We walked over to the welcome center which is closed due to the gubbmint shut down (both sides are to blame, don't come at me). Happily, I didn't have to use the bathroom or anything so we just walked about having the whole place to ourselves.

Doug wanted to go over to the Lock House, and technically it is an easy walk from where we were but he was merciful to me and my not feeling good. I opted to sit in the car and just rest a bit. There is a giant decommissioned power plant right there, and it is super cool and wicked spooky looking but my heart wasn't in it to poke about and take pictures. I listened to the Allman Brothers Band live from the Fillmore East.

So you know I didn't feel right if I didn't want to walk about and take pictures. 

Doug came back and our next stop was the Cushwa Brewing Company, which has a location in Colombia MD and over here in Williamsport. 

They share their space with pizza shop Rad Pies, so of course, let's have some pizza and beer. 

I have to say, I felt much better after a slice of Detroit Style pizza and a nice beer. The wall art for the pizza place is hilarious, and the pizza itself was fantastic. I'd honestly not had "Detroit Style" pizza but I have had Sicilian style. They're similar but different. The Detroit pizza seems to have this cheese crust additional to the Sicilian style, sauce on top, and yes. a light and fluffy dough for the pie. 

For years I've complained about being trapped in Pizza Jail here in Maryland. So far, this area's pizza is outstanding and wonderful, and Rad Pies has a rad pie. 

Wishing I felt better and had more than one slice. But I didn't want to tempt fate and over eat with how I was feeling. 

Have to say though, this did make me feel a bit better. 

Miss Toffee was welcome inside, which is good because it was kind of drizzly and damp out by the time we got there. Tons of people came over to pat her and tell her how wonderful she is. Like she doesn't know. She was exceptionally well behaved, compared to two summers ago when we first got her and she was an absolute nightmare out in public. 

And there were no other dogs there, which was helpful. 

Home, and a nap. Only I didn't sleep. Geoff made supper and I was in the guest room trying to rest. I wasn't bothered because honestly I couldn't imagine making dinner. We would have had toast for dinner if I was in charge. 

He made a nice baked ziti with meat sauce and garlic bread. I had a small bowl. 

All told, at the time of this writing I still feel sick but I had some alka seltzer and I'm ready for bed. Happy to have done something with 2/3 days of the weekend. 

Digits below my dog and the cool art on the recycling bin at the pizza parlor. 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. a leisurely walk along the C&O canal and aqueduct, 32 min/1.34 miles. 10k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8:30am: 126
5pm: 144
10pm: 122

food & meds:
8:30am: jaridance + phentermine
11am: english muffin w/pb & zero sugar preserves
2pm:met+glip
3pm: slice of Detroit style pizza, 2 beers
6:30pm: baked ziti and a piece of garlic bread
9:15pm: met+glip

The do pretty much nothing day

Well for all we did yesterday, today we did fuck all nothing. 

I mean, Football Sunday days are like that, and the fact that the first game of the day started at 9:30am because they were playing in England, well. There goes what I used to have as the morning. 

A few things got moved around, and Geoff did go to Target for some things, thankfully. I needed some ZZquill and some Biofreeze. 

Doug went up to "read" at about 4:30, which is code for read a few pages and fall asleep. I asked if he'd be offended if I went for a walk. He suggested I take the dog, and yeah, normally I would. But I wanted to Pokemon and it is so hard to do with her on the leash. I really just wanted time for myself. So I disappointed my dog, yes. But I walked further than I planned, and almost walked even further than that but it started to rain and I thought it was a better idea to get back to the house. 

Geoff had gotten home from from Target so I helped him put the groceries away, fed the dog, and goofed off. 

I like Geoff meal planning for us but he sometimes doesn't take sides into account. He had purchased these frozen chicken schnitzel dealies from Aldi, they're alright. We like them. But. okay. 

Pierogis? a Veg? lil'wee potatoes for roasting? What's on the side. 

He had no idea. 

I need to work on that with him. Like, Grilled burgers yay. Chips? Fries? Cole slaw? small salad? what? on the side. 

Tomorrow is Indigenous People's Day, or Columbus Day if you prefer, and we know our administration is looking to reinstate CC to his throne of glory and pretend that ... well. He didn't contribute to mass genocide or whatever. Anyway. I have the day off, my company no longer calls it Columbus Day, we have Indigenous People's day. I'm all for it. Doug's company does not have the day off, so he took it off. 

We're listening to a good podcast called The Explorers Podcast (naturally!) that honestly and carefully reports on the Columbus expeditions, and a lot of other explorers too. His Columbus episodes cover like 5 or 6 episodes, and that's a lot but it is very in depth and I've learned a lot. 

I'm relieved to not have to work tomorrow. I am looking forward to another day, and maybe we'll make up for the do pretty much nothing day and do a thing. 

No picture today. Maybe tomorrow? Digits below. 

 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Solo walk, 32 min/1.6 miles; 10k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

10am: 142
4:15pm: 129
10:30pm: 110

food & meds:
10am: jaridance + phentermine
1pm: very big apple w/pb
2pm: met+glip
6pm: 2 chicken schnitzels from Aldi, peas & corn
8pm: met+glip
no wine/alcohol

The Pen Mar Excursion

A long time ago, it dawned on me what the Delmarva Peninsula was. Delaware, Maryland, Virginia. It never occurred to me before. So today Doug said he wanted to go to Pen Mar Park. So yeah. Pennsylvania, Maryland. 

HA I figured it out. 

We got a few things done around the house before going out. Doug mowed the front lawn, the back yard doesn't need mowed yet but there are tons of walnuts down off the tree. He cleaned up our lawn out in the back on the alley, and found a grocery store shopping cart in the weeds and overgrowth. He said it's his now! It'll make moving walnuts around FUN! 

I unpacked another box or two, for good measure. I have one more box up here to unpack. Then, downstairs! 

Sometimes I forget how very close we are to the Pennsylvania line. Due north, it is only about 8 miles. Pen Mar Park is more to the east, about 16 miles or so.  

On the way, we stopped at an apple orchard. We blasted past the one Doug wanted to go to because the GPS didn't tell us to turn right until ... we were just past the road to turn. We saw a sign for another orchard and figured, why turn around?  Let's go.

Harding's Orchard doesn't seem to have a website to link to, and their Facebook page hasn't been updated since 2023. That's okay. They had a really nice selection of apples, self service style. And they had an excellent display of license plates on display.  

Doug got two big bags of apples while I walked Toffee around. 

The leaves are just turning out here, it was 75 degrees out, and very nice. 

At the park, there are tons of trails and a lot to do and see. The Appalachian Trail goes right through there. It is a very nice park, with a gorgeous playground and pavilions for events. There were two weddings going on while we were there. 

The familiar single white marker lets you know you're on the trail. This is facing south bound, or SoBo as the kids say, on the way to Georgia. 

After some walking around we headed up to High Rock, where tons of people were enjoying the day. Toffee was a big hit and invited herself to someone's blanket picnic, which delighted the couple. They gave her little bits of turkey and patted her. We walked all around there, carefully. 

The place is heavily graffitied up. And some of it was ... rather entertaining. Here is a view looking up the stairs and then ... down the same stairs.  Ha ha ha, very funny.

I love that this picture looks staged. This was the couple that Toffee got snacks from.
I took this picture and then asked them for their camera to take the same picture.
They loved it.

Crazy forever, indeed.

We enjoyed a long drive after leaving High Rock, past Camp Louise (a Jewish girls' camp) and Camp/Fort Ritchie, which has a very interesting history and is experiencing quite a revival of historic interest. Then down to Smithsburg towards home. 

Of course there was a stop at a brewery, naturally. Upper Stem Brewery has a gorgeous tasting room and really nice outdoor seating. We enjoyed a couple beers, Toffee got even more pats and lovings, and we brought some beer home. a mere five miles away. 

Geoff cooked dinner for us, and it was just about ready when we got home. We sat on the patio and relaxed. All very nice and wonderful 

An excellent day. Oh, and here's a picture of my dog and what I believe is possibly maybe the Shenandoah Mountains?  I'm not 100% sure. Digits below. 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours.  Walk at Pen Mar Park, 22 min/.81 mi; 10k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

10am: 119
5pm: 155
10:15pm: 127

food & meds:
10am: jaridance + phentermine
noon: zero sugar yogurt w/ granola bar
1:30pm: met+glip
5pm: 2 beers at the brewery
6:30pm: big slab of meatloaf w/ creamy mushroom gravy & roasted potatoes
2 beers at home
9pm: met+glip

Duck Pond

We are allegedly in for a nor'easter that will send its rainy windy tendrils to our far from the coast reaches. We may have the day clear and free tomorrow, but starting in the evening, we're supposed to be bracing for the big storm of the year. Last night into this morning we had our first frost advisory. I thought about bringing the plants in from the patio, but left them out and they were no worse for the wear this morning. 

The tomatoes are still going, we have some lovely new rose buds, and the zinnias are epic. 

It kind of sucks, this weather forecast for the weekend. I feel like we're at a point in the Unboxing Era that we can mix in some Let's Have Fun Era. And it being fall in Mountain Maryland, perhaps some apples? Some ice cream? Some leaf peeping?

Although hardly any leaves have turned here where we are, to our west and into West Virginia, it is supposed to be close to peak. 

It's been in the upper 70s, so still, shorts, Tevas, no flannel but ... some leaves. 

We'll see if the weather ruins everything or if nothing comes of it.

Doug and I took a good walk with Toffee to a different park today, not the park with the dogpark but a park that is a little more upscale. So upscale it has two fountains AND a duck pond. Doug was there with her a week or so ago and he said the duck pond was absolutely gross. The pond water was low, full of algae and scum, and trash. He was grossed out and felt bad for the ducks.

Today though, tons more water (probably too much?) But we haven't had rain so ... maybe they pumped some in? And it was very clean and pretty. The ducks seemed happy. And even though there are signs there to say "Break the Bread Habit" to encourage people to not feed the ducks bread, people were still... feeding the ducks bread. 

We sat on a bench and I thought of how my dad used to always bring us to the park and feed bread to the ducks. The world is different now, in a lot of ways. 

It is a little further than the dogpark park, and parts of the journey are without a sidewalk which is a little dangerous with the dog. We met a lady that absolutely LOVED Toffee (she's a big hit around town, don't you know) and told us her Yorkie Grandson had just left, and that it was probably a good thing because he's all YIPYIPYIP and she made frantic body motions like that's how the dog acts. 

It was a good laugh. 

We walked down the road to head back to our neighborhood and saw four deer, blending into the field behind them. It being magic hour, the light was epic. The buck had a small set of antlers, so he's a young guy. He watched us carefully as two does and a very young someone grazed in the grass. Toffee finally saw them and got whiny, wanted to go over to them. 

We told her they'd be gone before she even got halfway across the open field. 

Pretty good day. No pictures, but hopefully some good things this weekend. 

Digits, below. 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours.  Dog walk, 38 minutes/1.72 round trip (with a short break about halfway thrrough). 10k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

9am: 180 (eep)
4:45pm: 139
10:15pm: 80

food & meds:
9am: jaridance + phentermine
1:30pm: english muffin w/pb; met+glip
6pm: 2 sausages in sauce w/cheese, peppers, onions
8pm: met+glip
white wine

Saint Junior

We went to the dog park today. 

Toffee had a ton of fun with a husky and I had a great time talking with her human. It actually wasn't her human. The dog lives next door, and the owners of the dog keep her outside 24/7. I didn't get the girl's name, but, she said she gets home from work and gets the dog, and brings her to the dog park. Then she feeds her. Sometimes she takes her to Tractor Supply because they have a dog washing facility there, and she'll get a good bath, brush, and blow out. 

It's not her dog. But. She has called Animal Control to ask what can be done, and they said "nothing. She's up to date on her shots, she's healthy, her owners aren't doing anything wrong." 

The girl and I looked at each other like.... "Yeah, but." 

She can't just take the dog into her house. She has two cats who are 12, she adopted them at the same time and they are her everything. And they hate dogs. So while they are alive, the Husky lives her life. 

"But someday. someday I think maybe. You know. I'll ask." 

I imagined this beautiful husky getting her first night's sleep in a bed. And it will be delightful. I know it will. 

There was another dog who was very scared of Toffee and the Husky, but, tolerant. The dog dad is trying to get her comfortable with other dogs and so I hope Toffee wasn't too too "Toffee" for her. She seemed fine by the time we left. Doug said he and the guy had a really good talk about the dog, and how they just moved into downtown, and they have to walk up 4 flights of stairs to their apartment... every time the dog needs to go out, down and up 4 flights. 

I heard him say "it's good for her, and it's good for me. I've already lost some weight." 

We were there about 45 minutes and then, there was a budding altercation between some other dog folks.

A woman had brought her VERY LARGE male pittie mix into the "small dog" area, which is clearly labeled for dogs 25 lbs and smaller. 

I mentioned that to the Husky companion, and she said "Yeah, she goes in there because her dog is mean and aggressive." 

Ohhhh. 

That dog was easily 65-80 pounds. He was the only dog in that area, and ran up and down the fence with Toffee and the Husky, bark bark bark snarl bark bark. I could see why she was on that side. It wouldn't be good play if there was no fence between them but they all three seemed to be having a great time. 

Run yourselves to exhaustion, sillies! That's how I felt.

But a pair of women showed up, one with a big dog an one with a little. 

The one with the big dog I've seen before. She's one of these Dog Park Police kinds of people so she started to have words with the woman with the big dog in the little dog area, letting her know that she needed to leave the little dog area because a little dog wanted to come in.

The big dog owner lady argued back "I come in this side all the time and no one is here so there's no problem with it."

Dog Park Police Lady (DPPL): Well there's a little dog now, and he wants to come into his area. So you need to bring your dog in here (the big dog area) or go elsewhere. 

Big Scary Dog Owner Lady (BSDOL): Well you can't make me do anything.

DPPL: Oh yes I can. 

She whipped her cel phone out and you know she has park administration/security on speed dial. I signaled to Doug that I thought it was time to go. Because if that big dog was going to come into the big dog side, it could be rough. I didn't want to experience this. 

DPPL has a dog, a cute scruffy scruff scruffer named Tilly. She (DPPL) told me last time we were there that "Toffee is okay but she needs to learn how to behave with the other dogs. She's getting better. But you need to work on her training." 

Oh okay thanks. 

So yeah, I didn't want to be there if BSDOL and her dog were going to come in, and I didn't feel like being there with DPPL, so we rounded the Toff up, and we headed out. Friendly like. 

And the Husky was sad. 

I wish I got some good pictures of them.They had a hell of a good time playing with each other, and it made me miss Meg. I miss her so much. 

Anyway. More stories.

On the way into the park, we saw a guy with his car broken down kind of in the entrance of the park. He was pacing around on the phone, I guess trying to get someone to come help him. I didn't think much of it. 

On the way out of the park, we saw him starting to drive away and he was mouthing off at some guy who obviously had just helped him with his car. The car helper guy was using his air compressor to put some air in his own back tire and mouthed back "It's okay man, just let it go, let it go, there's plenty of fish out there, plenty of fish," and I could not figure out what the hell that was all about. 

As we got closer, he was mumbling "you try to help someone, you just try to help, and they shit all over you and they ...." and he looks at us. "I just helped that guy with his car, and he got all shitty with me, and he was hitting his woman, pushing her around, and I told him to stop it. You don't put your hands on a woman. You don't do that." 

"Yeah but some guys do, I guess," I said.

"Yeah but you don't," he stressed.

"Yeah, you don't but some guys ... they still do," I said. He nodded and shook his head at the same time. 

"I just got out of work at XXXXX garage, and all I want to do is go get some meatloaf." he named the restaurant but I can't remember what it is. "And I stop to help and ...." 

And then he saw Miss Toffee, and brightened right up. And he stopped fussing. He wanted to know if she was red nose or blue nose, which we didn't know what that meant. I told him we didn't know, she's just all cute nose. He thought that was funny. 

He wanted to pat her but he said his hands were too dirty from working at the garage and then helping that asshole guy. I told him to pet her, if it will make him happy. And he did, and it did. He got his face in her face and she licked him all up, which we usually discourage but he was thrilled to get some doggie love. 

He told us his name is Saint. 

What?

"Your parents named you that? That's your Government Name? Your Christian Name? Saint?" I asked.

"Your parents set high goals for you," said Doug. The guy laughed and showed us his tattoos with his name. 

"I love my name. I named my son after me," he said. "Saint Junior." 

I tried not to laugh. The thought of Saint and Saint Junior kind of hit me funny right than, and then I sort of really loved it all. I loved all of it. 

The guy knelt down to get the compressor off his tire, and I said "Well, you keep on being a saint, Saint." 

He looked at me, and I got some really big "cousin Jimmy" energy off of him right at that second. My sister is going to know what that means and hopefully is laughing her ass off right now as she reads this. 

Looking me right in the eye, he said "I'm gonna cry now, ma'am." 

Everyone calling me ma'am here in my new hometown lately. Damn.

"I needed to hear that. It's gonna make me cry." 

"Go get your meatloaf, sir," I said. Doug was already 20 feet ahead of me and I needed to get out of the road because there was a car coming at me so fast, and I thought for sure this dipshit was going to run me over while me and Saint were waxing kindness at each other. 

Doug turned to me and said, "there are a lot of characters in this town." 

Yes ma'am, there are. 

Digits below the one shot of Toffee and Husky dog. 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. two measured walks to and from the dog park. To: 15 min/.61 mil. From: 14 min/.61 mile. 10k+ by bedtime

blood glucose:

8:30am: 135
4pm: 102
10:30pm: 125

food & meds:
8:30am: jaridance 
10:30am: bowl of mac & cheese w/hamburger
noon: met+glip
4pm: almond and peanutbutter granola bar
7pm: 2 pieces of stromboli (cheese, pepperoni, sausage, green pepper filling); wine+diet ginger ale
7:30pm: met+glip
8pm: candied nuts (gotta finish this container!)

Goat Cheese

I usually try to take my blood sugar between 4 and 5pm, far enough away from lunch, and before dinner. If I get hungry, I do get myself into testing around 4. 

Today, at 4pm, I tested at 90, so I declared it time for snack. We had this log of goat cheese with cranberries in the fridge that has been staring at me for weeks and weeks. I bought it at Aldi before we moved. And that's what I wanted. But oh. Crackers. Okay, six crackers and some goat cheese and I'll be done. 

y'all. 

It was hard for me to stop. It was so good. 

SO GOOD. 

I stopped when I ran out of crackers, though. Why is goat cheese so delicious? Why is goat cheese and cranberries so extra delicious? 

I want to learn how to make my own cheese logs like this. 

Some candied pecans and goat cheese. 

Slivered almonds and goat cheese. 

Cranberries, some sorta nuts, goat cheese.

I sound like the bubba gump of goat cheese or something. But lord help me, I do love it.

Today was a good day.  Our combined team had a "retro" to talk about a project that could have gone better. Part of our department sometimes operates as their own department, and they were kind of in charge of some of this, and there was some anger because folks on my side of the team felt there was communication missing and it wasn't clear who was supposed to be doing a thing. 

In the end, it was a good meeting but I do feel that some folks had their feelings hurt. Sometimes you can't help but have that happen. 

And we learn and move on. 

Took a long walk this afternoon with Toffee but circled back around with her and dropped her off, because it was hard to Pokemon with her. 

I didn't have my yoga pants with pockets, and it was annoying to deal with her, pick up poop, heel her, pull on her, and try to catch Woobats. 

She got a good walk, but I needed some more personally and after giving her a cookie,  I got a longer walk. 

Doug and I went to a local bank to withdraw some cash since this weekend, our bank is merging with another bank and our debit cards are going offline, and we haven't gotten our new cards, since our address change came right around the time they started sending out the new cards so they didn't send ours. 

I can't request new cards until next week after the holiday, so 300 bucks cash today, 300 bucks cash tomorrow, and then ..... request new cards. 

We had a little fight about it, because Doug claims he has no idea this was happening even though Geoff and I have been talking about it in front of him for weeks. I had asked him if he wanted to open up an account with a local bank, since the nearest branch to us for the old bank is in Germantown, and the new bank is somewhere in Leesburg, VA or Front Royal, VA. 

 He said "meh" and then he got mad at me tonight when I told him where the nearest branch of our old and new bank locations are, because he has something to deposit. So. Fuck. We gotta drive an hour to Germantown, or whatever how long it takes to get to Leesburg or Front Royal. 

We should move banks. But he's been deaf and blind about this. I'll allow it. Moving and stuff got in the way. So I'll revisit it. We could set up a local bank where we deposit physical checks that we get, and then transfer to our main bank.  

We do most everything on our capital one card anyway, and tomorrow I'll make a payment online to the capital one account once my paycheck hits, and then we'll hover in weird bank transition until next Tuesday I guess. 

While we were fussing at each other and we knew we needed to go to the bank and get cash Doug said let's go to DQ and get some ice cream. Twist my arm. Soft Serve is my kryptonite.

Digits below this picture of a cute inflatable at a house where the sidewalk ends. There's a lot of cute halloween stuff in my neighborhood!

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. 31 min walk 15 min with toffee, 16 min solo/1.37 mil. then it measured me working around the house for 15 min/.4 miles; 10k+steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8:45am: 122
4pm: 90
11pm: 172 (thanks, ice cream)

food & meds:
8:45am: jaridance 
11:30am: english muffin w/pb
1pm: met+glip
4pm: goat cheese w/ cranberries, crackers, some macaroni salad
6:30pm: a not very good beef stroganoff (geoff messed up the roux) with noodles. 
7pm: met+glip
7:30pm: DQ soft serve choc/van swirl ice cream
red wine