Last Boat Ride of the Season?

 

Today Travalon and I took what might be the last boat ride of the season. I took some photos.

Walking back along the dock, I saw this old lotus leaf with its own little pond.

Our neighbors were coming in at the same time, and they said it was going to rain. Soon after I got back in the house, I heard the steam whistle warning the boats to get off the water, and then it began to rain. Our timing was so good! 

It stopped raining by the time of my afternoon break, so I went out and ate some crabapples. Our new little sugar maples are changing color. This is the best of the three.

I went for a walk after work and could see there would be an incredible sunset, so I hurried back home to go check it out from the dock. This picture is from the start of our road.

Then I heard a train horn and rushed to where I could watch it, a spot where I couldn't see the sunset, so I missed it, and no train ever came. But yesterday Seabird and I watched one on campus going backwards, stopping, going forward, stopping, and backing up again. The cars must have hated it!

I thought there was an Oktoberfest party at the Edgewater tonight, but I checked the website to make sure it was still on with the weird weather... and it had been last Friday, when we were eating noodles with Seabird and her husband. We decided to go to Bierock, where I had a small infused drink and a small pumpkin beer with dinner, which in my case was a spinach puff, mushroom spaetzle, and a bit of a tikki masala bierock. Once we got home, I said we should write a story, but I was too lazy to write, so we recorded it on my phone's voice memo app. That's how we wrote our song about songs about trains, but this might not be the same kind of masterpiece. I'll listen tomorrow and see if I still like it.

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Benefits Fair 2026

 

Today Seabird had two long meetings, so we were going to go to the Benefits Fair early. Then my sorta-boss told me he needed me to proctor an exam at that time because my coworker was coming in late today. Fortunately my coworker came in earlier than expected, so once I got the student set up, he could take over, and Seabird and I went to the Benefits Fair. Another colleague tagged along to ask us work questions, but then she wasn't interested in going to the fair. I like to get the swag. These are highlighters.

I colored this during a boring meeting this afternoon.

After Seabird's first long meeting, she and I took a quick walk at lunch. Hardingfele asked if we were walking, but then she said she didn't want a hurried walk, so she and I walked at three. Seabird said she had too much work to join us. The colors are really starting to pop on campus. This is through our dirty windows.

Meanwhile, Travalon has been out and about. Yesterday before work he went to Cross Plains and hiked on the Ice Age Trail.

Then he went to Mazomanie and took photos of train graffiti.

Today before work he went to Portage and hiked on the Ice Age Trail.

Then he went to the rail yard and took photos of train graffiti.

These are train engines. The graffiti artists never mess with them.

Travalon also took some photos of Columbia Lake and Lake Wisconsin.

After work I had a Union meeting, then after dinner Travalon and I went to Kohl's to try to find a dress for the wedding I'm going to. I wanted a long, dark green dress, and they exist, but the sizes don't make any sense. Some of them were a size larger than what I wear in comfy clothes like tees and hoodies, yet they didn't fit me. And they didn't even have larger sizes than that. I may just wear the dark pink dress I've worn to other weddings, even if this is a fall wedding. Or I may find something this weekend.

Here's something crazy: for the first time ever, I was perfectly balanced in my food intake.

What's crazy is that today I didn't exactly have the healthiest diet: I had a fast-food bean burrito, a protein soda, two mini Reese's peanut butter cups I got at the Benefits Fair, and two packages of salty snacks that were leftovers from the ceili last night, as well as a banana, berries, soy milk, and a healthy breakfast and dinner. I also didn't eat nearly as many calories as I'd assumed. Perhaps I should regularly eat fast food bean burritos and packages of popcorn.

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