Haloween Revisited

Way back in the past, 30 years ago, I would go to my bosses home to help him celebrate Halloween. "Celebrate" is kind of a loose term.... he and I would grill outside in the front yard (steaks, chicken, lamb chops, etc.) and hand out candy to the trick or treaters while his wife took his two girls throughout the neighborhood to trick ot treat. As you can probably surmise, there were plenty of adult beverages in the coolers while we were holding down the fort. Since this was Florida, there was also plenty of OFF spray and citronella candles to ward off the swarms of mosquitos after sundown.

Good times and good memories with good people. (As an aside, that year we did lamb chops it was amazing). So many years since I can remember being not happy, but at least "at peace." 

Garlic

When your small space in existence, and the world in general, is a depressing mess; you cling to any small victory. My garlic have gotten a good start this fall.

I’ll have to mulch over them this week as the snow will soon begin to fall and the hard winter freeze will set in.

Hopefully when spring comes, I’ll be here to clear the mulch and watch them bloom into beautiful flowers and delicious food.

Watch your step... reconstruction zone.

Holy crow.... it's been so long since I visited this place that I've forgotten how to navigate it. It's going to take a while until I get back into the swing of things. So consider this a construction site until I figure things out again and get them where I'd like them to be. But while you wait #FuckIce.

Grateful

 I know I spend a lot of time on my blog, and social media and other places, sharing all my woe and misery. In all honestly, I do it because it's the only place I can vent my true thoughts and feelings without fear of reprisals or having it used against me. No filter, it's generally how I see life on most days. But then there are times, like right now, that I can block out all of the noise and hear things I don't always hear.

I am lucky. 18 months ago I was put on "furlough" because of the COVID pandemic. I didn't "work", but was able to keep it together enough to keep a roof over my head and food on the table every night. When things started to subside in the summer of 2021, I was able to grab a position in an area that I wanted to work that was ready to go full steam ahead in reopening. It meant picking up and moving (again), but it was something I had done so many times before that it seemed like second nature.

And then I landed. The amazing people who were on my staff were so professional, talented, and dedicated. Even when the major hurdles were thrown at us (which they definitely were), we handled them. My team understood when I wasn't able to be there because I was handling something else. My team understood when a vacancy happened in the org chart I needed to fill it until we found a replacement. We worked together, we trusted each other to get our jobs done, and we pulled off what many others may not have been able to achieve.

And so we land to today. As I've told others (including my boss), I think we are so close to where I want to bring us professionally. One or two more key people and we'll get there. Instead of just getting the job done, we'll do it better than it's been done in the past. People will see it and be amazed.

90% of the time I like the people I work with on a day-to-day basis. Even more so at one of the two locations I oversee. We all work towards a common goal. We all respect each others opinions and are free to express them in a non-judgemental environment. But more importantly... not only are they are good at what they do, but they are good "people". And at the end of the day, that's what is important to me.

I had to check...

 

I woke up this morning achy, but I didn't think anything of it because at my age that happens. Headed to work and had a massive coughing fit during a meeting. It was so bad I had to excuse my myself and leave the room. As the day went on, I started to feel upset to my stomach with a bit of congestion in my chest.

So, by 1:00pm I had put all of the pieces together in my mind and thought I might have gotten COVID. So, I bolted out of work straight for the drug store and picked up an At-Home test kit. Two swabs up my nose and 15 minutes later it looks like I'm negative. I'll take a few Aleve, lay down on the couch, and see if I feel any better later.