Vacationing at home
Okay, first the sucky part. I have four or five people emailing or phoning me a day needing me to just do "something quick". One came in tonight at 9:30 saying they were refinancing and needed their tax return ASAP. Being on vacation while your boss yammers at you four times a day to get back to work is NOT effective. My work and home email are too intertwined. I'm doing a decent job of ignoring the phone calls, but the emails... I see them. I flag them to get back to. I don't reply. And so they ask again, or call me. Because who doesn't answer emails within a day when they're on vacation? Arrrgggh! This is WHY I have an island house! Why can't I be on my island?!?
The reason I'm home at all is because I needed to get some personal stuff done on my vacation. Take the dog to the vet. Do some personal shopping. I've done all that and just taken to spending all day outside with the dogs to avoid the place I work (inside my house). River may actually be housebroken at this point, it's hard to tell because we've just gotten into the habit of taking her out at least once every three hours. At this point I can't tell whether she understands she needs to hold it and ask to go outside or whether we've just become trained ourselves. Anyway, it's working. No more pee or poop in the house. This is good.
Another good thing is how much I've gotten done in the yard.
I have an enormous brush pile waiting for Eldest Son to take to the transfer station when he comes home with the pickup truck. I've planted the cherry tree, pruned the deadwood off the raspberry patch, planted morning glory seeds along the lattice fence, planted forget-me-nots in the cutting garden, planted broccoli and boston lettuce and brussels sprouts in the sheltered #2 garden (I can keep that garden going all year with my hoops and some plastic). I've filled in the divots from where the tree came down in the yard and seeded all bare spots. I've prepared another garden bed for potatoes (although not planted them yet.) I've gone on an invasive species hunt and pulled all the garlic mustard, broad-leaf dock and knotweed I found, and hunted maple and horse-chestnut seedlings while I was at it. I've pretty much filled up the southeast compost bin from up top, and started using the middle compost bin for my plantings. I've pruned rosebushes (to my peril) and picked up sticks (that River redistributes.)
While I was out in the yard today a mailman came up and greeted both of my enthusiastic dogs with treats. The mailman knows Ela well and remembered River's name today, too. My dogs are in love with our mailman. A short time later my meat farmer arrived with our monthly cooler of frozen meat and pulled out two large bags of beef bones for my dogs. She opened up a bag on the spot and gave each of the dogs a thick juicy bone. The dogs were in HEAVEN. Until that moment they had been mouthing each other in their pretend-biting game they do, but when the bones arrived they each grabbed their own and went to separate corners of the yard to work privately on their own bone. It was a hoot. I've never seen River as dedicated to a project as she was to that bone.
So I guess that stands as another good thing; we have the sort of social network here where people randomly show up and give my dogs delicious treats. ( commander_zero is probably shaking his head about the security risks we're subject to, but I have to point out that my dogs are perimeter alerts, not attack dogs. They bark just as loudly when they expect treats as when they don't. I doubt a labrador retriever could ever be an attack dog. They just LOVE people and expect nothing but good things from everyone always.)
My shopping is all done. My projects are planned out. It's time to go back to the island for one last week-end and then we'll see if I'm fit to wrap my brain around complex puzzles. Right now the answer is "no". Monday I'm just doing payroll returns. Tuesday I need to be back in top form. Will I be? I honestly don't know. Even my husband doesn't understand how broken my brain is. I'm functional in terms of walking and talking and dressing myself now (which is an improvement over two weeks ago) but my brain feels BRUISED. Trying to think actually HURTS. I skitter away from deep thoughts like water on a hot frying pan.
Three more days. I need them.
The reason I'm home at all is because I needed to get some personal stuff done on my vacation. Take the dog to the vet. Do some personal shopping. I've done all that and just taken to spending all day outside with the dogs to avoid the place I work (inside my house). River may actually be housebroken at this point, it's hard to tell because we've just gotten into the habit of taking her out at least once every three hours. At this point I can't tell whether she understands she needs to hold it and ask to go outside or whether we've just become trained ourselves. Anyway, it's working. No more pee or poop in the house. This is good.
Another good thing is how much I've gotten done in the yard.
I have an enormous brush pile waiting for Eldest Son to take to the transfer station when he comes home with the pickup truck. I've planted the cherry tree, pruned the deadwood off the raspberry patch, planted morning glory seeds along the lattice fence, planted forget-me-nots in the cutting garden, planted broccoli and boston lettuce and brussels sprouts in the sheltered #2 garden (I can keep that garden going all year with my hoops and some plastic). I've filled in the divots from where the tree came down in the yard and seeded all bare spots. I've prepared another garden bed for potatoes (although not planted them yet.) I've gone on an invasive species hunt and pulled all the garlic mustard, broad-leaf dock and knotweed I found, and hunted maple and horse-chestnut seedlings while I was at it. I've pretty much filled up the southeast compost bin from up top, and started using the middle compost bin for my plantings. I've pruned rosebushes (to my peril) and picked up sticks (that River redistributes.)
While I was out in the yard today a mailman came up and greeted both of my enthusiastic dogs with treats. The mailman knows Ela well and remembered River's name today, too. My dogs are in love with our mailman. A short time later my meat farmer arrived with our monthly cooler of frozen meat and pulled out two large bags of beef bones for my dogs. She opened up a bag on the spot and gave each of the dogs a thick juicy bone. The dogs were in HEAVEN. Until that moment they had been mouthing each other in their pretend-biting game they do, but when the bones arrived they each grabbed their own and went to separate corners of the yard to work privately on their own bone. It was a hoot. I've never seen River as dedicated to a project as she was to that bone.
So I guess that stands as another good thing; we have the sort of social network here where people randomly show up and give my dogs delicious treats. ( commander_zero is probably shaking his head about the security risks we're subject to, but I have to point out that my dogs are perimeter alerts, not attack dogs. They bark just as loudly when they expect treats as when they don't. I doubt a labrador retriever could ever be an attack dog. They just LOVE people and expect nothing but good things from everyone always.)
My shopping is all done. My projects are planned out. It's time to go back to the island for one last week-end and then we'll see if I'm fit to wrap my brain around complex puzzles. Right now the answer is "no". Monday I'm just doing payroll returns. Tuesday I need to be back in top form. Will I be? I honestly don't know. Even my husband doesn't understand how broken my brain is. I'm functional in terms of walking and talking and dressing myself now (which is an improvement over two weeks ago) but my brain feels BRUISED. Trying to think actually HURTS. I skitter away from deep thoughts like water on a hot frying pan.
Three more days. I need them.