Third Time's a Charm

Or what is the opposite of charm?  Curse?

Started third round of bonus chemo last night.  Since the first two went swimmingly, we decided it would be fun to finally go up to the full dosage.  Again, fun may be the wrong word here.  Perhaps "awful"?  Maybe "unfortunate but likely needed"?  Let's stick with fun.  Feeling a bit more crappy today.  Though it could be any combination of: extra bonus poison, being cooped up in my house, a serious lack of broadband capacity, and just the general state of the world.

I'll be doing my max bonus chemo till Tuesday, then likely sheltering in place for some time after that till my immune system is no longer compromised.

So, I need to cancel poker night next Thursday.  And the rave we were supposed to host on Saturday.  And I no longer can volunteer at the blood drive in two weeks.  Sorry everyone.  

Oh, and I likely have a pass to Aqua Fest over the summer that will go unused.  But I kinda think Aqua Fest may have ended several decades ago, so max bonus chemo may be justified.

Eight things I've learned during the corona virus zombie apocalypse:

1) people are stupid.  Not all, but some.  And you know who you are.

2) Mainly because they have decided to hoard every fucking thing they can get at HEB.  I don't actually think end times are here, but if they are, some of my neighbors have a crapton of Rice-A-Roni, butter, English muffins, and jackfruit.

3) Central Market is still my favorite store ever.  Before retiring to the Smith compound, I made one last tasteful trip and got brie, sticky toffee pudding, malbec, a single box of risotto, and a well-marbled ribeye.  We may not have provisions to last the winter, but we will have one damn good last meal if we get to that point.

4) some healthcare professionals have the whole telemedicine thing down better than others.  My oncologist is getting things figured out, but no way I'm letting my new gastroenterologist do a virtual colonoscopy.  That'll have to keep waiting.

5) kinda wish that Theranos woman hadn't been a con artist.  An at-home blood test would have come in handy this week.  Had to get blood work done before starting the poison.  Left the first lab while they were checking my insurance because some woman in the waiting room started hacking up a lung.  Probably just COPD, but seemed wise to leave quickly.  I'll get a new license, insurance card, and credit card later.  And

6) I still have a seriously compromised ability to pre-estimate the number of things I am about to include in a list.

A Sacrifice to the Harvest God

I replanted my garden today. Hey, there are pickles to be made at some point in the future.

As I was finishing putting in the final seedlings in the ground, I noticed something completely terrifying on the back fence.

No, it was not this baby skunk.  This is perhaps one of the cutest creatures I have ever seen.  I start with Apollo here to give you some benign context.

I’ll explain. Kaileigh graduated in December 2018 with a degree in  wildlife biology. When Kaileigh came back from her travels last summer, she stayed with us and did a gig on a research project with bats at Texas State.  This past January, she did a short internship in Northern California studying mountain lions.  Or maybe it was Pumas. Or it could have been cougars. It was definitely kitties!

Then she moved to Illinois where she is on a project studying skunks.  And has sent us pictures that make me want a pet skunk.  Like Apollo. No, this is what was on our back fence. And actually still is because there is no freaking way I’m touching it. I could only think of six possible explanations.
1) this is the neighborhood association’s way to tell me our grass is too long.
2) brain tumor. But you can see this, right?
3) Elsie finally got the upper hand in the cat wars. But that assumes she killed the boy, stripped the body, and somehow managed to hang his skull and spine on the fence. Two problems- I don’t think she can get out the back door, and 2) exactly who is she trying to warn off with this display, seeing that in this scenario there is an ex-Leo?
4) Jill has a new hobby and I really need to pay more attention.
5) I have a new hobby that I don’t know about, See #2 (brain tumor) above. Or
6) my wildlife biologist daughter left us a present.
likely the last one is the most plausible, but I really don’t want to think about my lovely daughter ripping the spine out of some mid-sized mammal.
And one final possibility. I don’t watch horror movies, but I imagine this could portend some looming evil upon our homestead. If it’s in a different part of the yard tomorrow, I am so out of here.