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fox surveillance Wednesday, November 20 2019
I had Ramona with me at work today, and for our big walk of the day (usually the second of three walks), we did our usual loop, but, because Ramona wanted to snuffle along the street first, we went clockwise instead of our usual counter-clockwise direction. Perhaps this confused the local wildlife, who have probably grown accustomed to our pattern. As we walked through the grassy lowland behind the complex where I work (after first walking through the woods and along the edge of the new solar farm), a red fox came running my way. I was standing still at the time, and he or she initially didn't notice me. At the time the fox and I were on one side of a clump of trees and bushes and Ramona was on the other side. I suspect the fox was concerned about what Ramona was up to and was coming around on my side of the clump to spy on her. But when the fox saw me, he or she fled back towards the solar farm (to the south). At the time, Ramona wasn't far from a set of burrows among the roots of a large sugar maple where Neville had once grabbed and attempted to kill some sort of immature doglike animal. Perhaps that really had been a baby fox, and, despite that, foxes are still trying to raise their young in those burrows.
My workday today was unusual because it involved lots of interaction with others. One of my remote colleagues was using my importer to do an import and experiencing issues he needed help with, while another remote colleague was trying to get the new services I'd created (using that Python script) to serve a backend from his local machine, and he needed installation help. On top of that, my boss Alex was wondering why GoDaddy.com wouldn't make it easy for him to buy a new SSL certificate for his keywording app site. I'm not a big fan of either human interaction of multitasking, but I actually found the experience of juggling so many conversations kind of exhilarating. It made me feel more essential than my work normally makes me feel.
On the way home from work, I stopped at Home Depot to get a few minor provisions, mostly the smallest roll of fibreglass insulation I could find (to fix all the insulation I'd fucked up doing recent wiring), some hydronic antifreeze, and things like duct hose clamps and assorted rubber gaskets for a series of landlording chores.
I did the first of those chores at the brick mansion on Downs Street, where a dryer vent hose had come loose from the duct going outside and was spraying lint all over the basement.
Back home, I wanted to earn my ability to drink for the evening, so I painted a small (4 by 4 inches) painting of Jupiter, the biggest planet in the Sun's system of orbiting worlds. Later, beer in hand, I did some prep work for eventually fixing the drywall I'd had to cut holes in down in the shop. This consisted of gluing bits of cardboard to the backs of the drywall to provide a firm backing surface for placing pieces of filler drywall.
Under the heavy effects of 100 milligrams of diphenhydramine (taken well before 8:00pm), I only had one drink beyond that beer.
The painting of Jupiter.
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