My Seagoing Ancestors

Happy Halloween! It looks more like Christmas around here, and the little delivery robots are laboring through the snow. If there was ever a day when I would want to have a robot deliver some food to me, this was it, but alas, they are apparently still in the testing stage. I did brave the flurries to take a walk on the Lakeshore Path, and almost nobody else was there, so I got to enjoy the winter wonderland in peace.

This is such a contrast to Sunday, when it was warm and we were in the boat. I always assumed that my need to be on the water came from the west coast of Ireland, where a good deal of my DNA came from, but there were other fishermen in my family tree, apparently. A few months ago I was notified that someone was my fifth cousin, and that I was on their family tree. Indeed I was, although two days younger than I actually am. This family tree was very impressive, going back to a man born in France in 1660, but I don't have any French DNA per my genetic test. It did include “Lucinda,” the woman I suspect was part African, and a few branches above her was a man who had no wife listed. “Ah ha!” I thought. “There it is!” I contacted the woman, who told me this man was the son of a freed black slave and a Chicksaw mother. (But I have no First Nation DNA either.) She told me to contact a woman in North Carolina, so I did.

This woman, who I think may have created the family tree I was listed on, was a fount of information. She has even written a book that you can buy on Amazon about that branch of our family tree, but it is only an e-book, and I don’t have a Kindle. Apparently we are descended from the William Hobbs plantation in Virginia, and the story about the First Nation heritage is untrue. I am also descended from African whalers who eventually settled in Virginia, but they were originally from West Central Africa. She found out about all this after being contacted by a distant cousin who identifies as black. So between Nigerian whalers and Irish fishermen, is it any wonder I always want to be on the water?

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Starship Delivery and Scary Deer

An update on the Starship robots: today I went for a walk at lunch and ran into my buddy from Congress, and she told me they are delivering food to undergrads from the campus cafeterias. Remember when we had to walk everywhere in college? Now the students have free buses to take them up those pesky hills and robots to save them from the long walk to the cafeteria. How do they ever get any exercise? The robots are very cute, though. When one was approaching us, and I said how cute it was, it kind of reared up a little as if it was begging for attention. I suppose the fact that they are about the size and speed of cocker spaniels makes me see them like dogs on wheels.

Last night as I was coming home, I slowed while approaching a stretch of road where there are often deer. Sure enough, one was just leaping gracefully across the road, and a young buck was waiting on the side. I stopped to wait in case he was going to follow the first deer, but he just looked at me. Then I did the most logical thing: I spoke from behind closed windows to a creature that doesn’t understand English. “Go or don’t go!” I told him. He continued to stand there, so I slowly started up again, and then he began to run alongside my car. I was terrified he was going to suddenly jump in front of my car, or into the side of it, so I stopped again, and then he ran off in the other direction. Whew! Who knows? Maybe the first deer was a young doe who was trying to escape his amorous pursuits, so she was relieved as well. Or maybe they were buddies, in which case let’s hope they met up again.

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Starship Robot

Yesterday as I was taking my rosary walk at lunchtime, I saw a strange vehicle that looked like a shiny white cooler on wheels, with an orange flag over it. It was across the street from me, and then it turned and went a different direction, so I continued on to my usual path. Today at lunch I was just walking (since I pray the rosary during my adoration hour on Tuesdays), so when the vehicle appeared in my path again, I followed it. It seemed like a remote control toy, but I could not see any obvious person who was controlling it. It stopped, and I saw there was a sign on it that said, “Open Here.” And then what? Was there candy? Was there a bomb? I wasn’t brave enough to find out. I also noticed that it was called “Starship” and that Starship was hiring. I kept walking, and it followed me like a little dog, but when I stopped and turned around, it stopped, seemed to think a moment, and went around me. I took a picture of it and sent it to Rich, who knew all about Starship robots. He sent me a link to their homepage, so I saw they were hiring a robot technician here in town, and Kathbert used to be a robot technician, so I sent the link to her. Then later I had to run an errand on campus, and the Starship robot was hanging around my building again. It is supposed to be a delivery system, so maybe it’s useful on campus, but I have a feeling they are mostly just advertising to find that robot technician. Though why they would have it hang around the language building instead of the engineering campus is beyond me.

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Mini Kiss

I hope my readers had a good weekend. Friday Travalon and I went to Rich’s house for a small birthday party for Kathbert and the Single B-Boy, who had both had birthdays on Monday. Cecil Markovitch was there too, and he tried to convince Travalon and me to go with him to the Marian shrine outside of Green Bay the next day, but we wanted to watch the Badger Game and then go to the Mini Kiss concert in the Dells. So of course Saturday we had to suffer through that horrible Badger game, made worse by the fact that for the first quarter they were hanging in there with Ohio State. But no, in the end they were destroyed. We did take a satisfying hike at Governor Nelson State Park. But it was downhill from there.

First of all, you have to understand that the sound of casinos (which to me always sounds like hellish gamelan music) drives me crazy. Also, I had no idea that at the big Ho-Chunk casino outside of the Dells, the main entrance brings you right into the smoky part, which is in the middle of everything, since they always advertise about how they are “smoke-free” now. All that means is parts on the periphery are smoke-free. We hadn’t eaten dinner yet, and we didn’t want the snack bar stuff, so we went to the buffet, but it was $33 because it was prime rib night. We figured for that price we might as well go to the steakhouse, so we trekked back through the smoky part to get to the steakhouse, but they were booked until the “concert” started. So it was back to the snack bar for an uninspiring cheese pizza for me and dry fried chicken for Travalon. At least we figured out that we could avoid the smoky part by going outside, and there we saw a glorious sunset. (I took pictures.) Then after dinner, back outside to get to the show. Here I thought Mini Kiss was a cover band of Little People, but no, it is Little People wearing Kiss makeup and lip-syncing. What the what?? Who wants to pay for that? At least it was a short show, and not expensive to attend. They also told us we got $20 in free play with our ticket, so we had to wait in a line to get our card issued with the free play money on it, which also had your name on it, and they gave Travalon the wrong card. Once we got that sorted out, we went to the non-smoky part of the casino and sat down at two slot machines, but we couldn’t get them to work. Finally we called someone over, who explained that you had to put a dollar of your own money in before you could access the free play money. Travalon had a dollar and I had no cash, so we put the single dollar bill in my machine, but it still didn’t work. THEN the employee helpfully pointed out that our two machines, out of all the machines in the whole casino, had tiny signs on them saying they did not accept free play money. By then I was in a homicidal rage, so we left, and Travalon said, “We can use the free play money at the casino in Madison.” “Yes,” I replied, “but the free play money is only good for tonight.”

Yesterday after Mass we got coffee with Cecil and told him how we should have gone with him instead of having that fiasco of a day, and he just laughed. Then we went to Plaka for brunch, and for some reason they served a couple who came in after us long before they served us, so that they were almost done eating by the time we got our food. It was like the bad luck from the day before was still following us! It was a gorgeous day, so we took a boat ride back into Six Mile Creek, but we hadn’t gotten as far as last weekend when the motor conked. Fortunately we had not really gone six miles, maybe a little over a mile, so Travalon tried to restart the motor periodically while I paddled, then he gave up and paddled too, until we got back to the lake. Then the motor started right up. By then it was getting late in the afternoon, so I texted the Rosary Ladies about walking the length of the boardwalk along Lake Waubesa. They didn’t see the message in time, but Rich and Kathbert were free to join us, so we had a wonderful walk. Then Travalon and I watched the Packer game at home, and during the first quarter, the Packers had shown up to play and scored two touchdowns while the defense kept stopping the Chiefs. In the second quarter the Packers seemed to go home again, because the offense couldn’t get anything started while the defense allowed the Chiefs to score every time they got the ball. In the second half, the Packers were way better defensively, forcing a turnover, and Jones ran for a spectacular touchdown, and the best touchdown of all, where it looked like Rodgers had just thrown the ball away… but then Jamaal Williams came up with it in the end zone! That is what I love about watching the Packers – when they have those really amazing plays. And it’s even better when they win!

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My Advice to the Packers

Last night I got together with Light Bright for the first time in forever. We met at Brasserie V because her husband was home with her little boy, so we got lots of adult time. She said when she told Corban, “I’m going to have dinner with Hat,” he said, “Hat – we eat salad with her!” We both thought that was hilarious, since I have done lots of things with him that you would think were more exciting to a preschooler, like playing, reading books, and planting plants. But no – I eat salad with him. We laughed really hard all evening; I can’t remember everything we said that was funny, but she just died when I was telling her the story of how I decided not to do the Litany of Humility anymore, and when I told her how Travalon used to always order IPAs when we would go to brewpubs because they have the craziest names, but then I would have to trade beers with him because he hates IPAs, finally I put my foot down and said, “You are not ordering an IPA – I don’t care how much you like the name!” and she said, “Yeah, it doesn’t affect the flavor.” That really made me laugh. (Sorry, Travalon!)

I realize that I forgot to blog about the Packer game on Sunday! Oops! We had taped it, because it was such a beautiful day, and then we watched it in the evening. By that point we knew that they had dominated the Raiders 42-24, and that Rodgers had a perfect quarterback rating for the game, but I still yelled at the TV like it was happening in real time: “What are you DOING?? Move or they’ll sack you!!” Travalon thought that was hilarious, and admittedly it is pretty dorky of me. It reminds me of years ago when a bunch of us were watching a Packers game at the rectory, including a very cute guy and a woman who I think was only there because he was. At one point I yelled at Favre, “Stop with the running game! You have to try a passing game!” and to my surprise the woman turned to me and said in a very vicious tone of voice, “Be quiet! You don’t know anything about football!” That stunned me into silence for a moment, until the parish priest leapt to my defense: “Famous is absolutely right – they should really try a passing game because the running game isn’t working for them.” Later it occurred to me that the woman thought I was showing off for the cute guy, but the sad truth is I just can’t help yelling at the players on the screen when they are not doing what I, in my infinite wisdom, know would be a much better play. Which is why I am an NFL head coach. Just kidding, but I seem especially prone to giving advice to quarterbacks. When I told Travalon and Tiffy the story about the woman who told me to shut up about football, Tiffy said, “I’m offended too, because you learned everything you know about football from me.” So this woman was insulting both of us! Luckily she hasn’t been around in years.

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Photos of China Lights and Six Mile Creek

Yesterday I was at a wellness seminar most of the day. I wanted to take a class on Gratitude Painting, but apparently so did everyone else, and it was full by the time my buddy and I got to the room. We went to a class on food as medicine instead, which was very interesting. Golden milk was not mentioned explicitly, but the presenter did say turmeric should be taken with black pepper and a source of fat, which is basically the recipe for golden milk. Another class we took was on using improv skills in our work life, because "yes, and" keeps conversations going. First we practiced saying "No, but" and I had to convince a partner that we should do something. I said we should go paddle boating, and she said, "No, but it's cold." I said we could wear coats, and she said, "No, but the paddle boat place is closed for the season," so I said, "We could buy a paddle boat!" and she just lost it. "I did not expect you to say that!" she laughed.

In the evening I went to the Labor Temple for a class on becoming a Union steward, but the bus got me there early so I prayed a rosary while sitting by a dracaena and a neantha bella palm. They were much happier than my own dracaenas and neantha bella palm, and I wondered why. That made me wonder if plants are actually the most evolved souls, and in the afterlife they will judge us. I know this is not a Biblically supported idea, but it is an interesting idea: will I be judged on the plants I have killed over the years? Or will plants judge me kindly because I have always been aware of them?

Here are some recent photos. This is the "before" and "after" shots of my sunshine bowl, and Tiffy's spoon rest, that we made at Fired Up.

These are some photos from China Lights in Milwaukee.

One of my cacti is blooming, and my pickle cactus now has two arms sticking off of it.

Here are some photos from our trip back into Six Mile Creek, including the rainbow we saw.

And this is just a really pretty young tree on campus.

I can't find the drone photos that uploaded from my phone, but when I do, I will post them.

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Corn Maze Failure

I hope that my readers had a good weekend. Sorry that I didn’t blog yesterday, but I had a meeting after work, and then because of the rain I hadn’t taken a lunchtime walk, so I had to somehow get most of my daily steps during my foreshortened evening. Travalon is still sick, so Friday evening we had a quiet evening, going to Cherokee Country Club for fish and then just staying in. I do love their Puttin’ on the Ritz fish, which is cod encrusted with Ritz crackers on a bed of broccoli slaw. So tasty!

Saturday Tiffy came to town, and we had been planning to do the corn maze, but it was raining so Travalon just took us on a drive along Highway 60 to see the fall colors. We stopped in Spring Green to go to the bookstore, where there was an author signing. The book was a biography of Frank Lloyd Wrong, and the author was very popular – tons of people were there. I got a book on the classics, abridged (my favorite was Ethan Frome: “Can a farmer’s life get any worse? Hey look – a sled!”) and a collection of articles from the website “I F—king Love Science” about really fascinating facts. In the evening Tiffy and I went to a Baroque music concert that featured three women singing Monteverdi and a woman composer I had not heard of before, and offhand I can’t remember her name, other than that her first name was Francesca. 

Sunday Rosa Peligrosa was in town briefly, so we joined her for brunch. She has known Tiffy even longer than I have, because she used to be roommates with Tiffy’s college friend. She is as entertaining as ever; when going off on a conversational tangent, she announced it by saying, “And now, a commercial break!” Still, nothing beats the time she called the Single B-Boy (Happy Birthday yesterday!) to ask if he would fly her, me, and Anna Banana II to St. Louis in his small plane, and she started the conversation by saying, “Forgive me for being so bold, but there is no taxation on dreaming!” As far as I can tell, these are not actual expressions in her native language of Spanish but just her own colorful idioms. After brunch Tiffy, Travalon, and I did the corn maze, but it was so muddy and the footing was so treacherous that we gave up after finding only half the punches. No Maze Master pens for us this year! I think this may be the first time we have ever failed. After Tiffy had left for home, Travalon and I took a long boat ride back into Six Mile Creek, which was really beautiful. I’ll try to post some photos soon. This is why we leave the boat in the water so long: some of our best rides have been in October, because the weeds are all dead so we can get into interesting places that are inaccessible at the height of summer. I would say this was another amazing October boat ride.

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The Wonders of Golden Milk

Sorry for the silence the last few days. I kept meaning to put some photos on the blog, including cool shots that a drone took of my condo and the surrounding area, but Wednesday I had a class and yesterday I was just too tired after digging all the carrots out of my garden. I should have waited until today, since it’s gorgeous out and yesterday was a bit colder than I expected. It’s surprising how tiring 45 minutes of digging up carrots is, but maybe that’s just a testament to how out of shape I really am. The purple carrots are more consistent, with most of them being a decent size. The orange ones produced a lot of these teeny tiny baby carrots that were barely worth digging up. Maybe I was more aggressive about thinning the purple carrot patch? Or are they just better producers? Surprisingly, the two kale plants and the two Brussels sprout plants are going strong, but basically everything else is dead, including the weeds. And, weirdly, the strawberries still have some unripe fruit on them, but will they ripen in this cold weather? My heart goes out to the cordylines that are in the outdoor planters at Hilldale – tropical plants should not be treated like annuals! It must have taken years for them to get that big, and now they are just being left to shrivel out in the cold. I thought about stealing one but wondered if they would arrest me for saving a plant’s life. In Milwaukee we saw a bank that had cycads in the decorative pots outside – please tell me they don’t leave those out to freeze! They grow so slowly that they must have been at least a decade old to get to the size of small palm trees. I’m tempted to go there and see if they are still outside…

The one thing I was going to say is how wonderful golden milk is. I was vaguely aware of its existence before having one with Tiffy at Garver Mill a few weeks ago, but now they seem to be everywhere. They even make them at the coffee and juice bar at the co-op! They also sell the powder to make them at home yourself, so I bought some and have been adding it to my oatmeal every morning – golden oatmeal! The most noticeable thing was that my vision got so much clearer, and some internet research led me to believe this was because the turmeric in golden milk reduces inflammation. Suddenly the fact that my pants seemed looser made sense – maybe inflammation had made me slightly bloated! The experts are always saying how reducing inflammation is the best thing you can do for your health, so I would recommend everyone have a daily glass of golden milk. Or a bowl of golden oatmeal. It tastes good too!

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Least Satisfying Packers Victory Ever

How about that game last night? I was already in a grumpy mood that it was at least the third evening game so far this season – I love the Pack, but evenings should be free for getting things done and getting to bed on time. Then the Pack were playing like someone told them to lose, fumbling the ball and doing all sorts of stupid things like they were a clown team. Just when I thought someone had paid them to throw the game to the Lions – at Lambeau! – then the refs started making strange calls, like two facemasks against the Lions that really didn’t look like anything, and a non-call against the Packers for what was clearly pass interference. It started with a helmet-to-helmet foul that just looked like an accident, like the Lions player couldn’t stop his forward momentum and kept his head down precisely to avoid injuring Geronimo Allison, who was injured and had to leave the game. Since Davante Adams couldn’t play last night, they were a little light on good receivers. There have been many bad calls against the Packers (remember that game in Seattle? Travalon was there!) but I have never seen so many against one team like that. Then Jamaal Williams had the chance to run in for a touchdown, but he slid down a yard short of the end zone to run down the clock, so the Packers could kick a field goal and win by one point without the Lions getting the ball back. Normally I would say that was clever strategy, but considering how unfair the penalties had been to get them to that point, I didn’t think it was good sportsmanship. Give Detroit a chance to win fairly! I feel for their fans, and how can you enjoy a victory when it feels so tainted? Though I will say that today someone posted a shot of one of the facemask penalties where the Lions player clearly DID have the Packer’s facemask in his hand, so maybe the refs saw things the rest of us couldn’t. Still, this was the least satisfying Packers victory ever.

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Travalon's High School Reunion

I hope my readers had a good weekend. I had very little energy, so on Friday night Travalon (that prince among men) got fish takeout from Mariner’s. Saturday we met Jilly Moose and OK Cap at the new coffee place in Garver Mill, and I thought the coffee had a burned taste. Some people like that, so maybe they were going for that flavor, but they roast their own beans, so maybe it was an accident. I’ll have to give them another try sometime… I did notice someone else put their entire undrunk latte in the bus bin, so clearly they REALLY did not like it. Then I was supposed to play at Eplegaarden, but I never saw the email canceling the gig, even though I was obsessively looking for it. (I knew it was a possibility due to low temperatures.) Who knows where emails sometimes go on their cyber-vacations? We went to Rich’s house, and he told us he once got yelled at for not responding to an email, and then a week later the email in question popped into his inbox. In the evening Travalon and I went to his class reunion at a park pavilion in Pewaukee (say that five times fast!), and people were friendly to me, but they didn’t really know me so I ended up talking to the very nice wife of one of Travalon’s classmates. We actually went to each other’s weddings but hadn’t seen each other in years. Then Travalon and I went to China Lights in Milwaukee, and they were beautiful. I will post some photos soon.

Yesterday I overslept and couldn’t get to my parish for Mass, so we went to Westport. People there are just not friendly at all; for example, the Knights of Columbus were trying to recruit men, and they didn’t even ask Travalon if he was interested. Why, because we don’t go there every week? We went to the Chocolaterian for brunch but discovered to our horror that they had closed, so we went to Common Ground and then drove out to Sauk to see eagles, since it was so cold. No eagles, but plenty of seagulls. Then we went to Devil’s Lake and looked around a little bit, but I was still wearing Mass clothes and was too cold to hike, so we took the Merrimac ferry back home, changed, and took a hike at Holy Wisdom Monastery. In the evening there was a compline service at the Lutheran church where I used to sing, but we got going too late, so we just got some ice cream. I went to bed really early – for me – but didn’t particularly have any easier of a time getting up this morning when my alarm went off at 6 am. Remember, thanks to the wonders of Daylight Saving Time, it’s really 5 am and totally dark. Sigh…

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Other People Left Out of the Picture

Apparently I am not the only one deemed uncool enough for social media AFTER being requested to submit something. As my regular readers probably remember (since this post was only from a month ago), I was asked to pose for two photos at an event, but neither photo appeared on a post about the event. Here on campus, a number of student groups were asked to make videos to submit to the Homecoming committee, but when the final video was released, none of the clips made by underrepresented groups made the final cut. Everyone in the final product was white (and I daresay attractive), as if this was an entire university of sorority sisters. Disappointing, but not surprising – the committee that made the final video consisted only of these “perfect” white girls. The minority groups were very upset, and I feel their pain to some extent. (I was not excluded for being the wrong color, but for being the wrong aesthetic – ugly.) The excluded students complained to the administration, and now it is a big scandal, and the ridiculous video of beautiful white girls with perfect smiles has been taken down. Good! I’d say what is wrong with people, but unfortunately I already know: those deemed most desirable by society have no interest in the rest of us, whether we are too dark or too ugly or whatever. Changing human nature is very hard, so the best solution would be to have a more diverse committee. Of course, if you are only asked to join the committee by other committee members, that may be where the real problem lies, and where the lack of diversity perpetuates itself. I have no solutions to the basic problem, but maybe it’s time for a more mature adult to intervene in this student committee. Sometimes people just don't learn things without being taught.

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PSA: Get Your Flu Shot!

Today was bookended by seeing two previous coworkers from the press. In the morning I took an early bus to work so I could get free breakfast provided by the alumni association, and that was where I ran into one old coworker. She did not know about free breakfast, so she had already eaten, but she came with me and got some coffee. When she saw they had little yogurts, she took one of those for later. I had to rush off to a meeting because I had somewhat insanely volunteered to take minutes, so we said our goodbyes. Then at the end of the workday I went to a campus benefits fair, mostly because the different vendors give out swag like pens and sunglasses and travel toothbrushes that come with their own tiny tubes of toothpaste. I ran into several people I knew at the fair, including one person working at a table who was delighted to let me spell him while he took a much-needed break. As I was walking back from the fair, I ran into another coworker from the press, who was heading to the fair for his flu shot and maybe the cover you can put on cell phones that will hold credit cards. I told him I hadn’t seen any of those, but this late in the day things were pretty picked over. I also forewarned him that a few days after my flu shot I developed a cold, and then a few days after his flu shot, so did Travalon. Coincidence, or is this year’s batch of flu vaccine so potent that it induces a mild flu? Consider yourself warned, as my former coworker was. He decided it was worth the risk, and it totally is. A mild cold that makes you miss a weekend is nothing compared to the flu, because that will make you miss at least a week of your life and wonder if this misery will ever end. Since it sometimes does end because the victim died, I would also tell my readers to get a flu shot. It’s worth suffering a mild cold not to die!

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Revenge Is a Dish... of Curried Goat

I hope my readers had a good weekend. Travalon and I had a wonderful date night on Friday, when we went to Flix Brewhouse for fish fry, beer, and the movie Downton Abbey. I would highly recommend this movie if, like us, you were an avid watcher of the TV show. If you have never seen the TV show, there is very little explanation of who all the characters are, because it is assumed that you already know.

Saturday morning Travalon and I met Tiffy, the Single B-Boy, and Richard Bonomo for coffee, then Travalon went to check out Harvest Fest on Library Mall while Tiffy, Rich, and I got lunch at the Globe. We had been hoping to do the corn maze that day, but it was rainy, so Tiffy and I went to Fired Up and made fused glass objects. Mine is a bowl (or it will be after firing – right now it’s flat) with a cheerful sun on it. Is the sun a male or a female? The Romance languages consider it masculine, maybe because in comparison to the feminine moon, it is much stronger and more intense. However, in Irish both the sun and the moon are feminine, and I kind of like that. After all, the sun is a star, and stars seem feminine to me. It takes care of us here on earth, providing light and heat so that we can live. That seems maternal to me. After that we met Rich, the Single B-Boy, and Travalon at David’s Jamaican Restaurant for dinner. Rich and the B-Boy wanted to have curried goat in revenge against the mountain goats that continuously harassed them during their hiking trip in Glacier National Park. I took a picture of them eating goat to text to the third participant of this trip, who lives in Colorado and so couldn’t join the festivities. After dinner Tiffy and I went to a Baroque music concert, this one all music of Telemann. Some of it was pretty funny, like the stuff based on Gulliver’s Travels and Don Quixote, and my favorite, a cantata in memory of a canary eaten by a cat.

Yesterday Travalon was really sick, so we went to Mass in Westport, then I met Tiffy for brunch at Crema Café. It was crowded in there, so we felt we should give our table to someone who was waiting for one, but we weren’t done talking. I suggested a new coffee house at the old Garver feed mill building, and when we went in, two baristas were standing behind the counter as if they were waiting for business, but they said, “We’re not open yet. Later this week.” So Tiffy and I went to a vegan café that had just opened in the same building, and I had golden milk. Not only was it delicious, it made me feel wonderful afterwards. So when Jilly Moose, Luxuli, Travalon, and I took a rosary walk on a path by Jilly Moose’s workplace, I suggested they all try the golden milk. We got there just as the café was closing, but they did sell us golden milk. (I did not have more, since I wasn’t sure of the effects of two golden milks in one day.) Apparently it is coconut milk and almond milk with ginger, turmeric, cardamom, and black pepper, so I wonder which ingredient boosted my mood so much? Oh yeah, on the rosary walk we saw a baby snake on the path, and I tried to move it off, but Travalon was sure it was a baby rattlesnake, so I gave up before it bit me. It was sluggish but looked like it was thinking about striking me. Travalon and I watched part of the Packer game in a bar because I had thought the concert we were going to was an hour earlier than it actually was, and I was so happy to see them defeat the Cowboys even as I watched in real time. Maybe my watching them doesn’t really curse them…? The concert was Chanticleer, an all-male choral group, doing songs from around the world about trade winds. Travalon didn’t really like it until they did a Queen song for the encore. I guess from now on I will only ask him to go to concerts of classic rock, like possibly the upcoming Mini Kiss – an actual band of midgets doing Kiss songs in full makeup. I saw an ad for it and had to tell Travalon, who said, “I was going to tell you about that!” If we go, I promise to give you a full report.

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Why There's a Crack in the Ceiling

Last night Travalon and I had some chocolate pasta we had gotten in Galena. It’s as delicious as it sounds! For the first time in months I bought vegetables at the co-op, since until now my garden has produced enough for us to have at every meal we cooked. However, the kale plants are slowing down now, and it was really wet yesterday, so I decided to just buy kale at the co-op. Travalon says he prefers kale to broccoli, so I found some, which was quite different than either of my kale plants. I have one with plain green leaves, and one with ruffly purple leaves, but this one had kind of wavy dark green leaves. It tasted a little different too, but I put cheese on it and Travalon liked it just fine.

This morning I called again about the crack in my office ceiling right above my head, since it was still there when I got into work. They were really busy with flood damage on campus, since there was so much rain in the last couple of days, but a guy did show up soon after that. He looked at the crack from the back end by lifting another panel, and he said it was scored for some reason, probably when they were cutting panels for smaller areas and they used it for a cutting board. The panel probably would have cracked eventually, and right now they are doing a lot of construction on our floor, so the vibrations might have caused the panel to finally crack where it had been scored. This explanation made sense, so I was no longer scared that something was about to fall on my head, and I was able to go back to working at my computer with a normal posture. Eventually they will fix the cracked panel, but it won’t fall down. Honestly, I might not have noticed the crack if I hadn’t heard it happen. Say it had happened during my lunch break and not right after I got back – I might have noticed the weird coffee ground stuff on the floor, and maybe that would have caused me to look up and notice the crack, but it wouldn’t have scared me as much as it did when I heard the loud sound of it cracking. Anyway, there is no need for panic now that I understand why it happened.

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Ominous Crack in the Ceiling

A very weird thing happened to me at work today. I had just returned from my lunchtime rosary walk and was putting something back into a file cabinet when I heard a cracking sound coming from the ceiling. I looked up, and there was a crack in the ceiling right above where I would have been sitting in front of my computer a few moments later. On the ground was a bunch of stuff that looked like coffee grounds, but had I been sitting at my computer, it might have been on me! I was really weirded out by this and told a coworker, who fetched our boss, and they both looked at the ceiling too. I asked if it was safe for me to sit under a crack like that, and my boss shrugged. So then I texted Richard Bonomo, who recommended not sitting beneath the crack. He sent me the number for the facilities people, so I called them, and they sounded properly concerned. "We'll send someone right out to look at that!" they said, but hours later when I left work for the day, nobody had come to look at the crack in my ceiling yet. I spent the whole afternoon working on my computer sort of sideways, which was a real pain. Hopefully by tomorrow this issue will be resolved, because I do not want to work sideways for a whole day, nor do I want to sit right under an ominous crack in the ceiling. Too bad I don't have a third option, like working from home or just quitting my job and sailing around the world. Sigh.

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