The New Normal

Well, Netflix and I will be renewing our affair--M has started school. The second year is supposed to be the most demanding. It certainly is hard on us--I'll only see him a couple of hours per week from now til the end of next summer. Sigh. Facing all this time alone has made me--gasp--consider returning to toiling on my novel. Like Rebecca, artistic inspiration in the form of a chapter structure came to me while I was chopping tomatoes for a salad I consumed today. While alone. That's how bad it is. Sigh.

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Domestic Update: M and I went on our first bike ride together today, making our way through the dry golden field by the fairgrounds, Rex running between us. It was lovely, I love bicycling! But as we finished and were preparing to put the bikes back in the truck bed, I began pulling thorns out of the tires, and it was like I had turned on a fan so much air was shooting out of the inner tubes. M has promised to fix the tires. And buy me streamers for the handle bars.

Wasps are building a lovely nest under the eaves above the succulent post.

And our neighborhood has rats. Apparently they descend from the field behind our house, through our yard, across the street, and gnaw their way into our neighbor's living room. Ugh. I think rats as pets are perfectly fine, but the feral rat thing gives me the icks. M has set out traps baited with cheese and peanut butter, but after exulting in four kills in 36 hours, the cheese stands alone. Smart little furry guys. At least the mystery of Rex's nightly fascination with the scrap wood pile along the side of the house has been solved.

%^!@(*&*!!! Writing this blog entry has made me neglect my steamed vegetables, and now I've burned my saucepan, the potatoes and carrots are more smoked than steamed. Well, perhaps it's all for the good--it's an Emeril brand pan, and I've always felt conflicted about owning it, since I despise his show.

Time, then, for "Mansfield Park" and a bowl of cereal...