The Raven's Roost

 Things are getting a little busier here as we gear up for fall, Tokyo, and the Black Creek 10k. Overnight lows for my area are sometimes starting with a 6 instead of a 7, and daytime highs are often in the 80's rather than the 90's. We'll be having some hotter weather over the next week but it shouldn't be too bad, and by the time we leave in October it'll be kinda comfortable. Last year's weather data isn't as useful because it was unusually warm, but previous years tell me we may be able to open the house before we leave, and we can definitely have it open when we come home. I'm also keeping an eye on Tokyo, and I picked a random weather station near Haneda International to follow. Japan has been having a shit time lately between typhoons, earthquakes, and insane heat, but the temps I'm seeing on this particular station are also starting to come down, so I think my clothing selection will be perfectly fine. If I'm too warm I can always go digging around in Mode Off, since I should be able to wear the larger Japanese women's sizes.

My neighbor who graciously accepted an offer of a cat-sitting job says she's still available to do it. I wanted to check in with her since I made the offer first in July, and they weren't even back in their house yet at that point. They've been able to move back in - just in time for her girls to go back to school - and got settled, so I emailed her again. I guess it also helps that I'm paying her, not just asking her to do it out of the goodness of her heart. So next month I'll walk her through the house and the simplified daily routine for these guys. I'm also going to write up a cheat sheet - I like to have written lists and such, so I tend to make them for other people, too. One of the cats she'll actually get to see and pet. One is a maybe - if Feisal decides she's okay he'll come out and visit. Crowley and Sheba will just be little black phantoms. I promise there are actually four cats here, LOL. 

I finished the side story, so the whole Dream Speaker comic is up on DA now. I'll be adding click-through links at some point, despite the fact that DA used to already have them coded in and you didn't have to fiddlefart around with their shitily coded nightmare site but sure I have nothing better to do why not. I'm working on some illustrations and personal pieces right now, plus learning to use some of Clip Studio's manga features, like easier ways to utilize their page layouts, and how to modify textures. Once I'm home I'll be getting to work on The Beast of St. Beryl's, which I'm planning out right now and trying to plug plotholes, sketch maps, etc. I'm also looking to do some character sheets, just straight-up drawings of streets, rooms, and buildings, all that sort of thing which I'll probably post on DA also if anyone is interested. And I will be setting out my begging bowl, I mean linking to my Ko-Fi account. It's a good way to help me purchase the coffee and cinnamon rolls that creativity runs on.

I had yet another dentist appointment, and now the cavities are taken care of. He spent a lot of time on one in the front, getting everything just right, but he built up the compound so much on one side that it's now next to impossible to floss between those teeth. Hopefully that'll either wear down a bit, or when I'm back for my cleaning Thursday I can mention it and see if he can grind that down a tad. Once this final cleaning is done I'll look like a regular person again, and I'll be able to do shit like ... smile. Talk with my mouth open. Eat in public. Yes, dental shame is a real thing and I had it really bad. Gah. Happily insurance is picking up a lot of this, so it's not even costing me super-duper amounts of money to get this all done. The reason I let it go for so long was that I didn't have insurance, and without it dental work can cost a fortune. Anyway, after the numbness finally wore off I had a little residual pain in my gums, but nothing bad enough to even bother taking an Advil for. Today I'm dandy - no hot or cold sensitivity where the new fillings are so HUZZAH. 

Anyway, I should get on to things if I want to have time to run, do yoga, get some art done, and everything else scheduled for today. Yesterday I was almost useless sitting around with Anxiety Brain. (Dude, we've had cavities drilled before it's not that bad...) I did manage to run and do some strength training but didn't get much house keeping done. Today's a 50 minute tempo run - one of the longer ones I'm doing now. I'm running every day until the 10k, where I'm hoping to smoke the fuck out of my previous PR, then I take two weeks "off" in Tokyo (no running but man am I going to be walking a lot) before taking up Dopey Challenge training when I get home. Next year if we're not traveling anywhere I'm hoping to do the Jacksonville Marathon, which falls in December, AND Dopey in January. I think I can handle it physically provided I schedule my training the right way, and Jax falls around a good time to start tapering for Dopey, so run one, then taper off, then run the other. Dopey isn't an event where I try to PR anyway, so it's more a matter of finishing than finishing fast. ANYWAY BYE.

It's been a very interesting couple of days at Chez P'shaw. My close neighbors on Monday had their house (technically trailer) torn down. We'd seen them working on the back part of their property lately, and a lot of crap being put to the road, which annoys me to no end because the trash pickup won't take it and it just sits there being a trashy eyesore. But I'd just finished a run on the treadmill and was making a smoothie when I started hearing loud crunching and crashing, and went to go see what was up. Then yesterday they sorted the wood, metal, and I-beams and hauled a lot of stuff off.

They still have their garden and a shed, so I'm tentatively assuming they plan to build something new. The old place was really in serious disrepair so it might have become easier and less expensive to just start over than to try to fix up the existing structure.

Anyway the loss of their hummingbird feeders means it's Hummer City at my place! YAY HUMMINGBIRDS. We have three feeders up and could probably support a fourth. The feeder on the back deck is very interesting, as we get to see the behavior of mated pairs because it offers more spots to perch. Yesterday afternoon I got to watch the male displaying for the female, which was really cool. When it comes to the front yard feeders I normally just see territorial battles where this one male tries to defend both of them from other birds.

It's also rained a lot - did any other Florida peeps get drenched? It rained over two inches here in the last 72 hours. Just over an inch of that fell yesterday and last night. My garden's pretty happy about it though.

The major problem is the road. Between all the rain and the big trucks coming to work next door the road is a nightmare. There's a washout about half a mile up from us that's a "car eater." The road is completely gone and the culvert is caved in, it's probably three feet deep and hard to see unless you're used to this place and are watching for things to dodge. I went around it yesterday but unless the neighborhood agrees on something and moves pretty fast it's just going to get worse, and it'll do it quickly. Since the location effects six families we might be able to agree on something and get it done soon before getting in and out of here is an Indiana Jones thing.

 I finally upgraded to a Chromebook. It's a refurbished one but it works perfectly well, and I'm very happy with it. It beats the hell out of my Android tablet. I'm keeping the tablet, though I stripped a lot of the apps off it, as a kitchen device. I can use Chrome and a few other things for recipes, and since it has a cover that allows it to sit up, and there's a dedicated surge protection outlet with a USB port next to the stove, I figured why not.
It's finally cooling off here, so I can go outside like a normal human and not die. I've been doing most of my training runs outside for the last two weeks. I did ten miles yesterday but I don't have anything scheduled for today, so I think I'm going to walk on the treadmill and listen to podcasts. The windows are mostly all open, except for one or two with loose screens that Feisal pushes on. He actually pushed one out a couple of days ago and was sitting on the top deck meowing to come back inside. Outside is scary! Yes, you big doofus, it is. Anyway we're due to get down to 39 tonight, which I find cozy but Fox, being a Florida native, will likely freeze to death.
Health and weight loss stuff continues to slowly but steadily improve. I've seen resting heart rates of 47 in the last couple of weeks, which pleases me immensely. I even got to the point where I had to start halving my blood pressure medication because every time I stood up I nearly passed out. I should really make a doctor appointment about the BP meds, and about my bum shoulder which hurts all the damn time now. Hopefully he can set me up with a physical therapist. Although I noticed if I do a couple of sets of arm raises the pain lessens. It's just annoying to not have the full range of motion on that side.
I need to throw some chicken into the slow cooker in a minute here. I'm making a sort of lazy person's spinach and mushroom alfredo. My meal prep later this week is lentil and brown rice burrito filling. I'm still on a lentil kick, but I love lentils. I just had a bowl for breakfast. The burrito filling recipe makes enough for eight, so I may freeze half right off. I may even do it in single-serving portions if I have enough of those little Tupperware things clean. It's not today's problem, though.

I'm mostly done with the "stuff" I do around the house every day, so I've got several personal things to catch up on. I'd like to get some yoga in this afternoon and get back to drawing this evening. I keep saying I'm going to work on art and I keep not doing it. I also have a thing to finish reading - it's a roleplay chat log, and it's been edited so that it reads more like a story, but it's amazingly long. Like it makes me wonder how long it took to actually play all of the story out. So I think I'll set things up as reading - yoga - dinner - evening chores - art - nighttime wind-down for bed.

I ordered more Zox. *hangs head in shame* Well, I'd budgeted for a consolation order if I didn't make the Mystery Stash drawing, so it's not like I'm digging coins out of the couch cushions. Everything has already shipped, too, which in my opinion is blinding speed. They're shipping out of California, so I have to remember that it'll be late this afternoon for me before their postal person picks the packages up, and sometime tonight they'll start moving through the system. Once they leave the Santa Clarita PO they'll take about three days to arrive in Jacksonville, then weather cooperating, they'll be in my grubby little claws the next day. I just wonder if there's someone at my bank looking at the transactions and thinking, "WTF."

And yes, I'm kind of a postal nerd. LOL

I wish it would rain. I was looking at a drought map for Florida and we're so dry right now. And all the wildfires have me worried. It just takes one idiot not watching their trash pile or doing something else dumb. Summer is supposed to be rainy, but I don't see anything out there that might bring some moisture. Of course, I'll be regretting these words if we get another hurricane. We need rain, but not that badly.

Oh yeah, I need to make dough for garlic knots.