Of Moose And Men

Two point six eight miles

Tue, 08 Sep 2026 00:32:49 GMT

A little further, and a little more consistent on the one minute on, one minute off. 1.3 miles was a natural turn around unless I wanted to wait for a crossing light and run across and intersection for a hot minute before turning around at 1.5 miles. Still feeling okay, knee is still good.

Knitted a lot this afternoon. Getting down to the last few repeats on the dancing droplets scarf, but took a break with the husband for dinner and catching up on yesterday's Lanterns. Still kind of annoyed at the changes hey've made to the personalities of Hal and John in the show. I get that it's a new story, new universe, but the personalities are just grating. And just when you think they might be likable, they go and do something irritating.

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Knitting time

Mon, 07 Sep 2026 01:16:27 GMT

The DC Men's knitting group met this evening down in Alexandria at Fibre Space. Two new(ish) folks - one who'd been before, but only sporadically, and another gentleman who had intended to go to another knit-in-public thing that the store sponsors on the second Sunday of the month, but who we quickly coopted into our group as well. 'Twas fun, and got through another round of decreases on the scarf I'm currently working on. Also picked up some yarn for another scarf I want to make when the current one is done. I had tried 'stash shopping' for the new one, but alas nothing in my rather scattershot stash was appropriate.

Frustrated with my yarn winder, though. I broke my old one, bought another of the same variety, but it keeps causing some sort of catch, such that when you're pulling from the center (the whole point of winding them up) it snags and you end up having to pull out and unwind a bunch of yarn to keep it moving. Spotted a fancier one that seems to be highly regarded and put it on my wish list for an upcoming birthday or Xmas. I just want the yarn balls that work properly. In the meantime I'm pulling from the outside instead, which I find a little fiddlier, though it does work. I should also grab some cheap hair clips from the local pharmacy at some point - they hold the end of the yarn on the outside of a ball so it doesn't unwind, and you don't need to knot it or try and slip it under.

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Two miles

Sun, 06 Sep 2026 01:29:45 GMT

I managed two miles today, mostly one minute running, one walking. Out to the trolley trail that runs on the far eastern side of our development, down to the local courthouse, and back again. A route chosen because it would be easy to bail and walk home if anything happened. Nothing did, I just ran (and walked). Hal-le-lu-jah.

Now I want to build up to 3 miles, and then up the running time to make that whole. Step-by-step. I've also incorporated a lot more warm up into my runs. No more making the first part of the run the warmup. No, now it's a ten minute walk plus five minutes of rope flow (which thoroughly moves the shoulders, spine, and torso), and maybe some couch stretch, too, to avoid the back thing I did when I first tried running a couple weeks ago. Then I go run.

The husband was feeling restless and cooped up, with a heavy dose of all work and no play from both his full-time job and some side writing projects he has going, so I dragged him out to go comics back issue hunting. He found a bunch, including thirty in the dollar bins at one place, so he was much better after that. We both came back and plopped down on separate couches to read after that. I finished Howl's Moving Castle, a favorite of my librarian Mother and my nieces. I've seen the anime movie several times, but hadn't read the book, since it came out while I was in high school. Next up is There Is No Antimemetics Division from the local library.

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Early release

Sat, 05 Sep 2026 01:31:07 GMT

Got all my workouts in this week. Got the silly thing done for and sent back to the lord high muckety-mucks in the Mad King's administration (redrafting part of a draft rule that they got a shit ton of negative comments on because, surprise surprise, they wrote it badly, and ended up farming out edits to a bunch of us in the agencies, which I got stuck with at my agency). Got half a day off from the career guy in charge of the agency for the holiday on Monday, and checked out at lunch time. Done and done.

The husband was not so lucky, though he was also working from home today. Did knock off a little early, so I ran him to the post office to mail a package off (he's been selling collectibles we've gotten over the years and no longer need or want), then to the local Whole Foods for some staples. I especially wanted to get some gluten free bread from their frozen section because I have a recipe to try and the dough for it starts with commercial gluten free bread that you grind up, rather than trying to fiddle up your own ratios of obscure flours to make a home made dough. The cookbook is about ten years old, written before commercial gluten free flour mixes became as easy to find as they are now. I'm fascinated by the concept, so I can't wait to try it.

Still plugging away at comics, still. Made a sizable dent this afternoon, hoping to continue that through the weekend.

Thankful that Congress passed a continuing funding resolution so early and the Mad King actually signed it, so we know we have funding through early December. it's anyone's guess how they'll react after the election this fall, so all bets are off for a lapse in funding after this runs out, but at least we're good until then.

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Another run

Thu, 03 Sep 2026 01:09:24 GMT

Got another run done this past weekend. One mile this time, still doing repeats of run up the block, walk back. But still no knee pain during or after. Huzzah. Plenty of Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS) this week, though, between the run and my regular workouts M/Tu. Whee.

I am working from home this week and next as my office building is reinstalling network cable all throughout our floor. The floor that was the first one occupied back in May. So while the last cohort of everyone else doing the whole Return To Office thing came in on Monday, half of the first folks back are once again at home because they didn't have the cable done before we moved in. *snert* Whatever. I will say that I am terribly out of practice for working from home, and it definitely doesn't give me enough other movement (aka steps) versus going into the office. I don't miss the time for the commute (I do appreciate the uninterrupted reading time on the train), and the cats have enjoyed being able to bug me 24/7 again, but I think I'd rather have a mix of in-office and at-home.

Had my first crown done a couple of weeks ago. Aside from the gums feeling a little roughed up for a couple of days it's gone smoothly. It helps that the doc has the printer for the things right in the office, so no more having to wait weeks with a temporary one - they fit it 20-odd minutes after he got done drilling. And while I'm not thrilled with the location of the office (Foggy Bottom), he's a whiz at the anesthesia shots, so it's worth it.

Starting to catch up on comics finally. I think I'm two months behind at this point? But I'm dedicating more time to get caught up, which isn't easy when there's a new batch every week. Plus trying to keep up with other reading.

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Progress

Sat, 15 Aug 2026 01:07:27 GMT

The husband has some sort of bug. Here's hoping it's not contagious. Or that I just fight it off without actually coming down with symptoms. Poor guy.

But, in happier news, I ran this morning. Wasn't long (11 minutes, 8 repeats of run the block of townhomes and walk back, 0.7 miles), but no knee pain while running and as of this evening, still no knee pain. I almost cried at the end. Fourteen months after the knee surgery, and eight months into an overall strength and conditioning program, and I was able to run without pain. Don't get me wrong, I anticipate being hella muscle-sore tomorrow, maybe, but as of tonight I'm absolutely golden.

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Random thoughts

Sat, 25 Jul 2026 10:44:14 GMT

Up way too early this morning. Been a rough week for my gut, which has not helped my sleep. FODMAPs hate me, and I haven't been able to eat at home where I can better control the food as much as I should.

I make it a habit to flip off the statute of the 40th President of the US every time I pass National Airport on the Metro (twice daily on work days). While I've found most presidents are a mixed bag, I have a particular dislike of that one because of his inaction on HIV and what it did to wipe out the generations of gay men right before mine.

The husband thanked me this week for insisting that we not look at any properties which were anywhere near a flood zone of any kind on the FEMA flood insurance maps, after one of his coworkers complained he was going to have to completely redo his finished basement in the house he'd just moved into 11 days prior.

Work has asked me to write up my second memo in six months on constitutional issues facing our agency for the folks at Justice to weigh in on. On the one hand, hey, they like me and like my writing. On the other hand, no pressure, it's just the future of the agency and how it operates. Eeck.

Because of the lack of sleep my personal reading has been light - rereading the Cradle series by Will Wight, which is fun, but by no means a heavy intellectual lift. Thank you, Kindle unlimited.

The husband and his sister are bungee jumping off a bridge this afternoon. Her daughter and I will watch and make fun of the screaming. All good.

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Smoke gets ... everywhere

Sat, 18 Jul 2026 20:51:20 GMT

As with large swaths of the rest of the upper North America, the DC area got a return of wildfire smoke this week. It sort of hit Thursday, then it really hit on Friday. When I went out to drive to the Metro you could clearly see the haze in the air just looking down my short block. Smacked the 'recirculate air' button on the car AC as I headed out. At the Metro parking lot I got out, took a whiff of the charred smell and promptly put on a COVID mask, which actually helped a lot with the smell. Took it off once I got inside the train car, and noticed the smell fading as we rode through the tunnels through most of the District on my way to Virginia.

But each time the train exited a tunnel into the open air, the smoke smell returned.

The views on bridge over the Potomac were surreal. Couldn't clearly see anything past the two bridges on either side of the Metro bridge - the airport was out of sight, as were any of the memorials and monuments, normally clearly seen in the background. It wasn't quite as bad once I got down to Alexandria as it had been up at home in Maryland, but it was still pretty bad. The ride home in the evening was more of the same; Maryland was worse, and the smell persisted.

Today we went out shopping for some needed polo shirts for me and it was still hot and smokey. Big rainstorms on the drive home seem to have driven most of it away, however. Am hoping they're able to take care of the source fires soon, for the sake of the local communities up in Canuckistan, as well as everyone else's lungs.

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Rest, whether wanted or not

Mon, 06 Jul 2026 17:54:43 GMT

The husband brought in a head cold, which has us both snotty and not sleeping well. Skipped the potluck, obviously, as I greatly prefer not to share such bounties with others. Took today as a sick day, might do the same tomorrow. In the meantime I'm reading fiction that doesn't demand a lot of me (Dungeon Crawler Carl) and napping. Several good sneezing fits today, which typically means I'm on the mend in my experience. Blech. At least the cats are happy with quietly reading/napping Moose.

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Odd week

Sat, 04 Jul 2026 01:24:58 GMT

Odd because of the holiday, and the heat. It's forecast to be in the low 100s F (38-40C) here around DC, and combing that and (for Federal workers) the observed holiday today, my boss told us all to telework yesterday. Meant I had to do some cleaning of my desk at home to relocate stuff that had accumulated on it. I am my parents' child - if there's a surface, stuff gets put on it, at least in my office; I'm better about the rest of the house because the husband won't put up with out there. Yesterday was also odd because the local power company reached into our thermostat and set the temperature up 4 degrees, as they do from time to time to avoid brownouts, and in exchange for slightly better electricity rates. Normally those will go for 2-3 hours, typically 4pm to 6pm, but yesterday it ran from sometime in the afternoon all the way to 10pm. And they never sent a notice that they were doing it, even after the fact. Annoying,.

We laid low yesterday, but braved the heat today. Out to an Uno's Pizzeria for a treat, hit Target for some toiletries (and a clay garden gnome on clearance for the back yard), Barnes & Noble to pick up the third book in a trilogy I've really enjoyed (Rebel Blade by Davinia Evans). Hit a theater on the way home to see the new Minions movie, which was cute. It was more an opportunity to do something outside that house that wasn't impossibly hot than anything else. Remembered to put some internal window covers on the sunroof of our Mini so it wouldn't get quite so hot inside the car. Also remembered to put bags over the (black) front seats where they'd get sunlight while parked so we didn't fry our legs when we got back. Makes me ever so glad we bought a townhouse with a garage - that always makes the initial temperature setting easier when taking off from home.

Have a potluck on Sunday with the neighbors but haven't decided what we want to make yet. Looking forward to meeting more folks in person.

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Day off

Fri, 19 Jun 2026 21:25:29 GMT

It's (still) a U.S. Federal holiday today (Juneteenth), and the husband and I have taken advantage. I did my morning workout, then we headed out to the movies to see Masters of the Universe again, mainly so we could get out of our housekeeper's hair while she cleaned. Then on a lark we hit IKEA to see about new shelves for my office. Picked some out, but didn't buy because we needed to figure out what to do with the current shelving and cat tree that are in here now.

Came home, and went ahead and rearranged the current shelving (it's a set of four modular blocks that stack on top of each other - an expensive impulse purchase pre-husband that I'm trying not to get rid of). They fit within the office in some spaces we thought they might, so I went ahead and moved them. Still trying to figure out what to do with some of the stuff that was on them (much of which desperately needs to be put away out of sight somewhere). This has annoyed my male cat because his spot was in the very bottom cube where we kept a heated bed for him. The bed moved with the cube, about 4-5 feet over, but of course he keeps looking for it in the old spot (in his defense, it's been there for six years, or almost half his life). But hey, now the stuff that used to live on top of the printer is elsewhere so I don't have to unbury it every month or two when we have to print something. Only thing that truly doesn't have a home yet is a vacuum cleaner we kept on this floor in my office for the occasional minor mess (because who wants to walk down two floors to get one?).

And somehow now it's 5:30ish and I am spent.

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This 'n that

Sun, 14 Jun 2026 12:33:37 GMT

The tiny town we go to for our anniversary each year (Cape Charles, Virginia) has been putting out Xmas ornaments as a fundraiser for the last 9 or so years. We managed to pick up most of them from our innkeepers, but she didn't have this years. She texted me last night that the new one was out, so it's been ordered. This year is the local theatre, which ironically is the one place in town we've never been. Most years it's closed, or we just miss whatever is showing, or it's showing something we have no interest in (this year was a Dave Matthews cover band - no thanks). Once we got past the first 4-5 of them I put a note in my phone with an inventory to make sure we don't buy extras.

The husband is flying back from Chicago this morning. Has been nice having the place to myself and setting an earlier schedule, but I look forward to hearing about the trip, and the big Spider-man exhibit that was there.

Picked up the latest Ravenloft book from DnD. I remember the original Curse of Strahd coming out in the early 1980s and loved that one, so even though I have little to no time to play DnD these days I still enjoy reading the source books.

I think it's finally time to try running again, a year out from the knee surgery (June 12, 2025). The exercise/mobility program I've been doing has been fantastic for my body overall, not just the knee, but definitely has helped there. Who knew that lots of squats and lifting weights was good for you? Everyone, of course. So I've hauled out some of my favorite books on the subject to develop a return-to-running plan. I also discovered that there's a local running group that meets on Sundays a short walk from the house, so I can get some social interaction with it as well, once I'm sure I'll be back to it. I'm medically cleared, and have been for months, this is more the mental hurdle of "am I going to injure myself again".

Making more use of the local library this summer, but as a result I have a backlog of books now. While I get a lot of reading time on the Metro sometimes you don't want to haul the giant hardback with you along with everything else (lunch, etc.). I no longer mind the weight (thank you exercise program), it's more the bulk of it. Add to that my usual cyclical backlog of comics. I'd gotten them all read the last time the husband went out of town, but when you add to the collection weekly they can overwhelm.

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Juggling

Thu, 04 Jun 2026 17:21:09 GMT

Literally, rather than metaphorically this time. I've taken up juggling, using the Klutz book ("Juggling for the Complete Klutz"), and it's been a lot of fun. I'm laughing at myself a lot as I drop the little beanbags constantly. Benjamin (our male cat) had fun looking at me like I was insane the second time I practiced. Barely getting two back and forth, I did try three briefly this afternoon and had fun watching them fly all over the place.

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Buffers

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 01:12:13 GMT

I always build in a buffer after some time off, especially if it involves travel. There's always something that needs to get done afterward, like laundry, grocery shopping, etc. This trip was no different. The day after the anniversary trip we had the ground floor of the townhouse power washed, and had our handyman over to finish fixing the owner's suite bathroom ceiling and wall.* And, naturally, laundry and grocery shopping.

The trip itself was wonderful. While the forecast called for constant rain, that didn't materialize. There was a lot of rain, but it generally held off to mid-morning, allowing me to get in some morning walks. Only one day did it impinge on the front porch with some wind creating a small lake there. Otherwise was perfect, and I got four and a half books read.

Went into the office Friday for a day of email catch up while it was still the holiday week. Mostly caught up and I know the projects I'll have to get to this upcoming week. Not that it's going to be a full week - I'm taking tomorrow off for a doctor's appointment, and Thursday to see the new Masters of the Universe film with the husband. He's a HUGE fan, as is his sister - they have matching tattoos of He-Man's and She-Ra's swords. So the movie is a big deal, hence the day off.

* Some time last year a bird got into a vent on the front of our townhouse. Called a trapping company, they confirmed there was evidence a bird had gotten in, was no longer there, and they put a new vent cover on. Around the same time we had some water damage on the wall toward where the vent was. I had surmised that the bird had broken the duct when it got in and we were pumping moist air into the wall when we ran the exhaust fan. Finally got someone in to fix the duct, they put a hole in the ceiling to get at it and discovered ... there was no duct. As in, the vent cover didn't connect to anything. Apparently on the other models that's where the clothes dryer vents out, but on ours the dryer vents to the back. The builder put the hole and cover in the wall for the vent, but didn't connect it to anything. The exhaust fan piping goes up to the roof. Oy. The water damage was from something else, but wasn't anything active, just a coincidence with the bird intrusion. Hence the need to get the ceiling patched and painted and the water damage cleaned up and painted.

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Free for a week

Thu, 21 May 2026 00:08:58 GMT

Left work as the winds picked up for what were supposed to be thunderstorms (they never materialized over my route). Turned off the work phone on the Metro, as I am officially off the clock until next Friday. The husband and I are headed to the Eastern Shore of Virginia for our annual anniversary trip (actual anniversary is the 26th). Looks like the weather is going to be cool (65-75F/18-23C) and rainy, which is not so good for tourism for the town, but is fantastic for us, since we spend a good chunk of the time sitting on the porch and reading.

A couple of errands tomorrow (pharmacy, library, ATM; cleaning and re-coating the car windows with Rain-X; packing), then finalizing which books and knitting projects I'm taking, and packing. We'll see the Mandalorian and Grogu movie on the way there, per tradition - we stop halfway to the Bed and Breakfast and see a movie to break up the drive. The car is good to go from an oil change and annual maintenance last week, and as luck would have it they didn't find anything extra (e.g., tires, alignment, etc.) that needed doing.

So ready to get out of town.

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Little things

Sat, 09 May 2026 12:58:23 GMT

Puttering around the house this morning, doing all sorts of little maintenance things. Watering the new grass-and-clover mix in the back yard, brushing a cat, refilling the dish soap dispenser. The foaming hand soap dispenser in the kitchen is starting to run low so I looked online to remind myself what the ratio of soap-to-water is (1 part soap to 5 parts water). In doing so I discovered that the designers made it easy for you - fill the clear part at the bottom with soap, then fill the rest to the 'max fill' line under the metal portion with water and voila - just the right ratio without needing an external measure. I love little details like that, where designers work with the product to make it easier to use and aesthetically pleasing.

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The return

Thu, 07 May 2026 23:50:58 GMT

So far the new office is ... fine. They managed to wire the window offices for internet (but not the internal ones), so my connection has been steady. It's roughly the same time in the commute that it was to the old office, but with a longer walk at the end (a couple blocks versus just across the street). Have to cross a major street, but there's a pedestrian tunnel that allows one to pass under the street.

On the plus side, we have solid doors with locks on them (the old building had glass internal walls and doors), so if you need some quiet it's there.

I will admit to getting home Monday, backing into the garage, and as the garage door was coming down saying to myself, "Well, that was fun; let's never do it again." Heh.

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Almost back

Sun, 03 May 2026 01:51:24 GMT

I head back to the office on Monday, part of the first wave of folks moving into our new office building. Hopefully the internet will work; supposedly we're going to be on hotspots, which does not sound like a sustainable model. And based on the calls with the few leadership folks who've been in the office, the connection will be ... less than optimal. Whatever. Y'all set the conditions and I'll do my best to work under them.

Tomorrow I'll have to go through the stuff I hauled home from the old office building and see what needs to go back immediately and what can wait until I decided to drive down.

Hardest part is going to be figuring out the new morning routine so I can get my exercise in, and still make it to the office at a reasonable hour. I know myself well enough to know I have to do it before work or it won't get done, and I've made too much progress this year not to make this happen. Heck, the other day I was able to squat down and play with one of the cats and stay in that position for a while. Not bad for ten months out from knee surgery!

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Something missing

Mon, 20 Apr 2026 22:37:52 GMT

For some reason today I remembered something I noticed when we were in London - none of the sinks had faucet aerators on them. Perhaps because I once worked with the folks who helped develop energy and water efficiency standards for the US I tend to pay attention to details they used to talk about, so took note that none of the faucets over there had them. In the States they're a water and energy conservation tool. Less water through with more pressure means you get the impression of more force, but use less water overall, and if you're talking about heated water, less energy usage because you're using less hot water. Nowhere near as exciting or visible as, say, driving on the opposite side of the road, but just something unusual that struck me from the trip.

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Quiet weekend in

Sun, 19 Apr 2026 13:14:05 GMT

The husband is off with his sister for their annual remembrance of their mother, who died of COVID this weekend in the first wave back in 2020. So I'm on my own, and taking a quiet weekend of it. Catching up on comics - I had a month plus backlog that I'm about halfway through as of this morning. Not helping has been a sore throat that popped up yesterday with a mild fever. Still sore this morning, but no fever. Bodies are such fun.

Did manage to solve a longstanding eyesore of cables and needed accessories by the TV yesterday, relocating and hiding them all inside the entertainment center. This has long been an issue, and was one of the first things you saw when you came around the corner and saw the TV setup. Now, no more loose wires and doodads hanging out, and all the peripherals that needed them are working. Yay!

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Tools

Wed, 15 Apr 2026 01:51:31 GMT

Had a good coaching call this afternoon with the mobility program folks (yes, one free week back in January turned into a twelve week program, has turned into a twelve month program now - I'm really enjoying it). The prompt for us to talk was about how (if at all) we track our workouts/physical well being. A lot of folks shared that they would use something until it got too much, then give it all up entirely, or for a short period, then resume the same ramping up of intensity regarding the pressure they felt from the tracking. I told them it reminded me of a conversation I had back when cell phones were still relatively new. Was out with friends and when one of them kept stopping in the middle of whatever we were doing to take calls, answer texts, another of my friends looked at him and said, "Remember that it's your tool, not the other way around."

That stuck with me (obviously), and I think it's a useful framing to think about whatever device someone might be using to track activities (garmin, apple watch, etc.). It's definitely an attitude I make sure people know I have with regard to my work cell phone - that thing is for my convenience; it's not an electronic leash whereby anyone can reach me at any time.

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Roped in

Tue, 14 Apr 2026 00:58:31 GMT

Got chosen as the president of my HOA. Oh joy. It was something of a game of hot potato, with the three (of three total) board members trying to be nice and defer to each other, but effectively passing the baton around and around before I said yes.

The pressing issues of the day are parking, lighting, and rats. The Facey-B group for the HOA has the torches and pitchforks out for a business in the boundaries of the HOA that has some (if the photos are to be believed) pretty serious rat problems at their foundation. No indication that they're inside, but the business isn't doing anything to control them outside, either. City Code Enforcement has been out to inspect and warn the owner to get on it. The owner, however, claims to be an attorney and is threatening slander and libel lawsuits. Which is why we're going to let the city go at it. In the meantime, the HOA itself does not control the Facey-B group, thankfully, so there's no there there for a suit. D-R-A-M-A.

Thankfully our newish management company is much more on top of these things than the last one, so the manager has things well in hand with addressing what we can address (calling the city, having the HOA pest people out to handle our stuff).

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Mayonnaise

Sun, 12 Apr 2026 02:28:40 GMT

(thinking about this entry caused me to discover I hadn't posted the catching up entry)

Let no one tell you that mayonnaise is difficult to make. It is not. Most sources online will tell you to go through this complicated drill, getting the eggs to room temperature, drizzling oil slowly into a food processor, and watching nervously in hopes that the emulsion will take. Pure poppycock.

All you need is a quart sized mason jar and an immersion blender. Toss in one and a quarter cups of a neutral oil (canola, vegetable or "light tasting" olive oil), one large egg, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon ground mustard, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, and blend the stuff right in the mason jar. Easy peasy. If it doesn't come together, something is wrong with your ratios (i.e., you put too much oil in) or something is wrong with one of the ingredients. I know this because I had two batches not come together this afternoon because the oil was off. Switched oils (with fresh other ingredients, naturally), and voila, came together like a champ. Hardest part is getting the immersion blender blade assembly out of the jar and scooping the mayo off of it and into the jar.

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Catching up

Sun, 12 Apr 2026 02:14:01 GMT

When last I posted I was getting ready to head to Texas to visit my family back in early March.

Got to the airport (BWI - Thurgood Marshall Baltimore Washington International airport), got parked, got through TSA without a hitch. Then apparently sometime between sitting down and boarding it began to snow. So they had to de-ice the plane. Then it began snowing harder, which meant they needed to re-de-ice the plane using a different, stronger de-icing treatment. Sat on the plane while they did all that, then finally got in the air. Flight itself was fine, but as we were approaching it became clear there was no way in hell we were going to make our connection. United rebooked us to a later flight while we were still trying to get off the first one, because our original flight finalized boarding while we were still deplaning.

Then somehow we wandered through two terminals at the Houston airport that were ... rough. The first looked like the basement of an old municipal buildings: concrete, cinderblock walls, scuffed up earth tones, etc. Caught a shuttle from that one one to the other, which looked slightly better, but still in desperate need of a refresh. Caught some lunch from a no-name sports bar, and halfway through the meal we got told we were being moved to yet a third terminal. Thankfully it was an easy rail ride to that one, which was okay, but still nothing to write home about. In the air for one of the smoothest rides I've had on a small plane, and down to McAllen.

Visited, enjoyed seeing people. Took the three nieces to lunch one day with just them and us so we could talk to them without their parents or mine. Parents were okay. Did get my Dad set up with the hearing aid function on the air pods I'd gotten him for Xmas, which definitely helped his level of involvement, since he could finally hear people. On the other hand, he's also managed to alienate all three of his granddaughters by being a jerk to live with (my brother, his wife, and their three girls all live in a 5 bedroom house with my parents). *sigh* What a mess. But, overall, a nice visit over the long weekend.

The Sunday before we were scheduled to leave it got up to 102F/38.6C (!!!!!). A bit warm, especially since it was snowing when we left Maryland. We were supposed to fly out Monday, then the weather people got themselves all up in a lather over spring thunderstorms and tornado warnings, and air travel turned into a disaster. They got so worked up that schools back in Maryland were closing at 2 or 3 in the afternoon to get everyone home, which meant that workplaces had to do the same. Before we even got to the airport Monday morning we'd gotten an alert that our flight was delayed from 9:30 to 10:50. At the airport it was further delayed to noon, then quickly cancelled altogether. Apparently things were backing up in Houston, with nothing being able to go further east, so they started limiting what could come in. We rebooked as soon as we got the cancellation, but couldn't get out until Wednesday. Two extra days with the family.

With the rebooked flights we gave ourselves a lot of extra time in Houston to make sure we could make the connection. Early, early morning flight, which went off without a hitch, including the TSA process. We were a bit worried because it was the beginning of all the news reports about hours long delays at the major airports. McAllen is so small we sailed right through. When we arrived in Houston this time, though, we were convinced we'd been punked the last time - the C and D terminals have been renovated, very nicely, with good food choices, plenty of clean bathrooms, etc. Was a totally different experience than the first trip through. Was also glad we gave ourselves more time between flights - didn't feel as rushed/stressed about making the next batch, even if it meant more time in the terminal.

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One down, one to go

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 23:44:08 GMT

London was lovely. Didn't quite sleep on the plane. Rested with my eyes closed (under a mask, with ear plugs in), but didn't really sleep. Not for lack of trying. Got in easily. Took a very expensive taxi ride to the hotel (we would not have been in a position to figure out the tube right then, though we used it a lot aside from that), got settled, then took off to wander the city. So much walking, which I loved. I miss that from living in SW DC.

Saw most of the main touristy stuff with the husband before he had to do his work stuff. On the days when I was solo I had a massive headache (migraine?), but managed to hit a couple of museums on my own. Did not realize that folks dine there at later hours than we tend to in the states. Several times I was the first person in a restaurant before it filled up completely, because I hit them too early.

When we left, it had snowed just a day or two before, though it melted before noon. We still had large piles of snow left from the previous big snow storm. London was a delightful early spring (mid-50s-F/low teens-C), with daffodils and cherry blossoms going everywhere, and very lush grass. Then we came back to late spring temperatures (it got up to 86F/30C here today). And now we're leaving tomorrow for what we consider summer weather in deep southern Texas, aka North Mexico, where it's going to get up to 97F/36C on Sunday. Cultural and weather whiplash, for sure.

Worked for one day yesterday, catching up on email and what not, and now I'm off until next Friday. Unfortunately the time off when we're back will be spent getting the shelving in our owner's suite closet fixed because one of them collapsed after we got back from London. Ah well.

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