What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

Caterpillar

2026-05-08T18:06:48Z

I just found the first caterpillar of the season on my cabbage, so I need to start checking regularly for them. Ugh.

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More digging

2026-05-07T19:44:20Z

I got back to digging the trench under the short wall for the raised bed today. It was easier while listening to Murderbot. Also, I've gotten to a part that has more gravel, which makes it harder. I did a bunch of weeding too, so the yard does look a bit better.

I'm kind of moody. Because we'll be travelling soon, I assume.

Every time I see one of the desktop backgrounds from one of my favorite romance games, I miss the characters, so clearly I should try to find time - somehow - to play again.

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Doing All The Things

2026-05-05T19:08:38Z

The new Murderbot book is out, so I picked activities today that don't require a huge amount of focus, so that I can just binge listen to it. As a result, this is my most productive day in a long time. I did a ton of little chores that I had been putting off (like watering plants, cleaning the sink, changing the tablecloth on my desk), worked on some larger project (finishing sewing a pair of paints, digging the trench for the gravel under the wall of the raised bed), and did some things earlier than I normally do (like making soup for the next few days). I have a couple more things to do before I start my art time, which will definitely get me to the end of this book and may get me to the end of one of the other books that I'm listening to. Tomorrow, I'll have to get back to all the stuff that I need to do that requires my undivided attention. Oh, and Platform Decay (the book) is fantastic!

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Still worn out

2026-05-04T15:46:18Z

When travelling, we discovered that if I go much more than 12,000 steps, I'm going to be exhausted for a while after that. I walked more than 12,000 steps on Friday and am still really tired. I'm going to need to eat more carbs, I guess.

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Worn out

2026-05-03T18:26:37Z

After a couple of (quite fun) days of early mornings, I'm really tired. That would be fine if tonight wasn't supposed to be a late night playing Dungeons and Dragons. I think it might be time for a nap.

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A lovely walk

2026-05-01T16:38:05Z

I joined a couple of friends for a walk along the river this morning. Quite lovely! There is a boardwalk above the wetlands most of the way.

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Much better

2026-04-29T18:22:06Z

While keeping the yard under control is constant work, I've got the entire yard usable, mostly. There are spots where I'm not pulling the weird groundcover plants, as they seem mostly inoffensive. I'll have to deal with the weeds and grass that are growing in the same area, but there are no sections of yard that I can't get to because of waist-high grass or out of control nettles. If I can keep this up, I might be able to get the ivy and jasmine under control someday. Thank goodness for the scythe.

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A good day

2026-04-28T17:50:35Z

I keep feeling like I'm forgetting something, as I have more time than usual. However, I've done all the normal stuff. I'm going to see if I can get some sewing done now, as I'd really like to have another pair of pants. I should be able to finish up a painting tonight, and I'm going to see if I can do another one with a stencil, since it should be really easy. I have no idea if I'll have enough time. Anyway, all is going well.

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Forgetfulness

2026-04-27T20:42:43Z

My psychologist would like me to get a bit more exercise. She expressed it in the form of steps. I don't want to give up things that are exercise but don't generate steps, which makes sense. However, I keep forgetting to turn on the exercise counter for things like tai chi and gardening. An hour of tai chi is actually a lot of work, but it is too slow to show as lots of steps. Of course, one would think that the heart rate monitor would tell the band that I was exercising, but it seems to not do so well at that. It got readings from before and after, plus one reading from when I was actually working on gardening (which was much higher). However, now that I check the settings, it was on the "check every ten minutes except when exercising" setting, which is probably part of the problem. So, with a better setting, it might do what I want it to.

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Busy!

2026-04-26T16:28:35Z

Tai chi was postponed until today, as yesterday was a big holiday. I went and am glad that I did, as we learned a bunch more of the sword form. However, I'm really tired. Also, I've decided about the neurofeedback. I won't do it this summer, as I need to prep for the language test. However, I'll go see the neurologist, tell him about the report that I need from him to get the tDCS covered, and get the ball rolling on that. Then, I can work on it later. I'm going to do the minimum this afternoon, as (like I said) I'm so tired. Joel's changed his mind about the need for bike repairs, so next week, we are planning on getting me set up with a bike route to the train station and back. We'll see how that goes.

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And then a miracle occurs

2026-04-24T20:49:33Z

Well, after saying that I wanted one for quite a while, I finally ordered the components for a drip irrigation system. Hopefully, it will all work out. It was expensive, but not insanely so. Most importantly, I actually ordered it, so now I can stop fretting. It was fine to just say that I wanted one and do nothing when we couldn't travel, but now with the prospect of travelling and then coming home to find that our garden has wilted down to nothing, I finally had the drive to place the order. I'll need to expand it later, but being done for right now counts for a lot.

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Grapes and Garden

2026-04-23T19:23:32Z

Well, I thinned out the grape vines a lot. Like a _lot_. They normally are just extremely overgrown, and a lot of the fruit rots or gets moldy under the heavy layer of vines and leaves. I cut the vines back so that there is only one vine every 30cm. Hopefully, this will result in better grapes.

We also laid out some cobbles so that we can see where the raised bed will go. It will be just great! I am sooooo excited!

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Lovely Spring

2026-04-22T16:11:24Z

While my allergies aren't awesome, I had a lovely walk today. While I was out, our 14 bags of gravel were delivered. We now actually have the stuff needed to build the raised bed. Yay! I look forward to getting to work on it.

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Stomach

2026-04-21T19:32:41Z

Once again, my stomach isn't doing well. It was a bit gross yesterday too. Or maybe that was Friday. Anyway, I'm going to rest and take my medication.

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Much more tired

2026-04-20T19:02:02Z

Wow! I'm tired. I was just fine, and now, foom! Tired. That's okay. I'm pretty sure I've had several rounds of this recently. There is a cloud of dust over us from the Sahara right now, so it is warm and the air quality isn't so good. That definitely makes things worse. In general, though, things are going along okay.

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Distracted by funk

2026-04-19T19:15:45Z

I intended to go out and work on the garden, but I was also convinced that I didn't have enough fun music for morning dance party. So, I ended up spending a whole bunch of time buying songs. It was worth it, but I'm a tiny bit annoyed that I wasn't more productive. On the flip side, I stayed up too late last night and got up too early this morning, so once again, I have a headache. It will be fine, but I don't feel great.

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More rest

2026-04-17T17:37:05Z

Dancing every morning seems to be helping with my sleep, interestingly enough. I've tried a variety of things to keep from waking up to use the bathroom during the night, and apparently, the answer is to dance around in the morning. I would think that 14 hours later wouldn't make much of a difference, but it does. Because I'm sleeping better, I need to sleep less, which is good too. So, I wake up about an hour earlier than I did before. All very nice. Today, I also discovered that morning dance party means that I need less warm up time when walking. It usually takes me a bit to get up to anything beyond a slow plod. However, today, I zipped right along. We'll see if this continues.

In related news, I've finished with my week of 1980s songs. I'm going to see if I have enough for a week of funk. I might not. Eventually, I'm going to need to start searching out more dance music, which might be for the best anyway, as I've been playing a lot of darkwave on the podcast. A bit more variety is always good. Here's what I've got for Sunday.

This intro and the song that goes with it

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A Continued Lack of Explosions

2026-04-16T17:55:14Z

We have cooked even more things in the Instant Pot, and so far, nothing has exploded. I tried small jars of chicken (I cooked them on low pressure, just in case), and they seemed fine and are now safely frozen. The pea soup that I made yesterday was not perfect, but it was certainly edible. Good enough for now. Joel made hard-boiled eggs, and they turned out perfectly (cooked just the right amount, and the shells were easy to remove). That had been a selling point for us, so I'm glad it worked out. I just took out my lentils and millet, and that also looks pretty good (harder to screw up). I'll have to ask Joel about how much electricity it is using. What I can say is that despite the time needed to heat up and depressurize, the cook time is still shorter. For the lentils, it is only 15 minutes shorter. However, for the pea soup, it is three hours shorter, which is pretty nice. We aren't seeing the same complete loss of structural integrity that I saw with my food in the US. Perhaps that means that the split peas in the US are less sturdy? I'll try cooking on low pressure there (if possible) to see if it results in soup that is less like baby food.

Songs for tomorrow's dance party:

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Soup and Songs

2026-04-15T20:38:32Z

Tonight, I'm using the new Instant Pot for the first time. I have one in the US that I use when I'm there, but this one is here, new, and slightly different. So, of course, I'm terrified of it. It hasn't exploded so far, though. While it seems like it is excessively large (with an 8 quart capacity, I think), you are only supposed to fill it up to like 5-6 quarts, and the instruction manual is leery of dried peas, so I'm really supposed to only fill it to 4 quarts. Since I usually make 4 quarts (actually liters) of soup, I'm now extra glad that I got the giant one. (Note: it finished cooking and still hasn't exploded.) I'm going to try canning some chicken in it tomorrow. You can't can meat in it and have it be shelf-stable, but I like to put meat in jars, cook them, and then put them in the freezer. It saves me from having to cook the meat later, and it is all in individual serving containers.

I'm still going for songs from the 1980s. Here's tomorrow's list.

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Booty not broken!

2026-04-14T21:22:38Z

It seems that I didn't damage my muscles all that much from shaking my booty in the morning dance party, as I was only slightly sore this morning. I had chosen less jumpy songs and worked more on footwork, so while I'm a bit sore and stiff, I'm not especially concerned.

In other news, I just finished listening to Investigation, Mediation, Vindication by Chris Tullbane. It was a huge amount of fun and very well written (IMO). The main character is a bit immature, but that's fine. There was a nice mix of plot and characterization, the characters were well-developed, and I was engaged throughout the story. I'm definitely going to read the next book. Well, listen to it.

Gardening is going well. I managed to make a progress cleaning up more of the yard. The oxalis is starting to die off, so I feel less bad about pulling it. I'm not exactly keeping up with the weeds, but I'm not falling way behind either. Also, I managed to buy a bunch of gravel for the base of the wall of the raised bed that I'm making. I emailed with the store beforehand, and they said that they could request a delivery vehicle smaller than a giant truck to deliver all the bags of gravel. So, hopefully, it will actually get here. * crosses fingers *

Tomorrow's songs:

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Too much booty

2026-04-13T22:00:37Z

Sadly, my recent increase in booty shaking has injured a muscle, so I'll need to shake it a bit less enthusiastically for a while. That's okay. I'll work on footwork. It is likely that any activity is better than none, so I'm going to keep doing the morning dance party. I'm going to keep going with the 1980s for a bit. Tomorrow's tunes are:

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Dance Party!

2026-04-12T20:43:58Z

I decided to start the morning with a ten minute dance party. Well, I had originally planned it to be a bit longer, but I didn't have that many songs that I thought would work. Also, I didn't want to spend too much time trying to organize the songs. It turned out to be good that it wasn't so long, as I was pretty worn out after bouncing around and shaking my booty. I do a lot of walking, but not a lot of more intense cardio. So, this will be good for me. And already my booty shaking muscles are sore, since I don't really use them often. We'll see if I can keep it up, but I'm pleased so far. I have tomorrow's songs all ready.

I'm not sure if they will all work, but that's fine. I'll survive.

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Organizing music

2026-04-10T19:19:11Z

After going to the dentist this morning, I went home and spent a bunch of time organizing music for the podcast. I even found some music that I had downloaded back in 2022 for the podcast but didn't sort. I only knew about it because I saw an album that I didn't recognize that Bandcamp said that I owned. I went to my music player, looked for other songs from the same time, and found maybe five albums that I missed. Clearly, I was glad to find them.

To figure out approximately how many more songs I need to request, I changed around my statistics page so now it shows the current year (unfinished, which is why I kept it out before) too. I need about 60 more requests to have as many as most years and 90 more requests to have enough songs (according to stats) for 12 months worth of episodes. Usually, I only manage to have 10 or 11 episodes, because of travelling and mental health. I certainly have a lot of songs to request in the queue. I'm doing a fairly good job of actually sending out the requests, though.

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Gardening

2026-04-09T18:24:51Z

It is always so deceptive how much I can actually get done in the garden in an hour or two. I think, "Sure, I can cut all this junk back." Then, I make it through like 2 meters before I've used all my time. Granted, if I just worked on the part that I intend to cover, I would probably get more done. This time, I started working near the south point of our yard and was going to cut back the shoots from bushes that were cut down. Then, I noticed how terrible all the grass that I didn't get with the scythe looked and the occasional nettles that we missed during previous rounds of weeding. So, I went back over that area with the sickle cleaned up the compost piles some more, and pulled weeds around the peach tree. Oh, well. It needed to be done.

I also looked online for sand and may actually have found reasonably priced bags of gravel. I contacted the store to see if they will actually deliver to my house. If they will, I might buy some wood at the same time. Because I always need more wood.

At the south point of the yard, there is a raised bed with a couple of monstera plants, which aren't good in super bright direct sun. Guess what we've got in summer. Yes! Super bright direct sun! So, I wondered if I could build a kind of pergola over the bed and have cucumber or something that grows as a vine on top of it to keep the big leaves from roasting. We'll see.

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Sendin' out requests

2026-04-08T18:35:59Z

Yay! I got back to work sending requests to musicians for the podcast. It is surprisingly exhausting. However, that's done for today. I need to process ten songs per day for about a week to get through this batch. I have enough for at least a few episodes already, although I don't know how well the songs will work together. I'll work on it in a couple of days, when I have to start putting the next episode together.

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