For the Birds (Redux)

So thanks to the weather I didn’t get a blog post out on Sunday (more on that later) but I’m here now and ready to tell you about the last week that was. 

For starters, it  turns out the birds weren’t don’t with me. 

I counted thirteen geese at work on Monday. 

On Tuesday, there were thirty-six.

On Wednesday some kind of secret goose signal must have gone out and there were fifty-seven – and it was obvious which one was Head Goose. 

They were like dinosaurs roaming the fields, minus the bloodshed of Jurassic Park. 

It was a fitting way to take my last walk with my Work Bestie, who moved away for a better opportunity. 

Perhaps the geese gathered for her, and then knowing she had left they also followed suit, since on Thursday I only counted nine. I can only assume forty-eight of them had pressing appointments elsewhere.

But the birds weren’t done with me yet. 

My friend had been keeping a hummingbird feeder outside her work window, and before leaving town asked if I would take over.

I happily accepted the responsibility, and even made fresh food for Thursday. I’m not sure how many unique visitors came that day, but at one point there were three of them at once. 

I will say that I now have a seat closer to that window, and I never know exactly when a bird will appear. One moment I’m working on the college website or answering emails, and the next there’s a tiny blur hovering outside my window.

I think they’ve accepted me. 

And with all that said, after years of classrooms, cubicles, shared workspaces, and open office floor plans, I now have an actual office with a door.

It’s amazing how quickly four walls start to feel like your own once you begin adding the little things.

Some photos and tchotchkes and my Pusheen stuffies, including a new one Krystal said I just had to get, and who am I to say no? 

As good as all that has been, the week wasn’t entirely kind to my electronics.

First, my faithful TI-83 Plus (silver edition!) graphing calculator finally reached the end of its journey. I bought it sometime around 2009, and it stayed with me through college and more history lessons than I could possibly count. Some of the programs I’d written into it are old enough to vote.

I replaced the regular batteries.

I replaced the backup battery.

I tried every suggestion I could think of, including pressing buttons like it was the Konami Code.

For a brief moment it sprang back to life – displaying garbled text and random numbers before deciding that seventeen years of faithful service was enough.

I don’t actually need a graphing calculator anymore, but that doesn’t make saying goodbye any easier.

As if in the Olympics for synchronized craving, my DVD player also decided to retire this week, refusing to play any disc whatsoever. 

But back to happier things, I baked a harvest oat bread that turned out wonderfully.

The recipe included oats, cornmeal, flour, salt, baking powder, and a mixture of milk, butter, and honey that I’d infused with lavender.

I’ll definitely make it again.

Wednesday evening brought another D&D session in the Sahdows of Exlipsium.

The party was ambushed by the Marrows we’d encountered the session before – never an encouraging way to begin an evening – but my PC Rustle had an especially memorable encounter as he was nearly constantly electrocuted thanks to a combination of a lack of shoes and electrical attacks while standing in salt water.

I haven’t written the session summary yet, but I’m working on it, I promise. 

Then on Sunday day I’d promised to help a friend make it in between airports.

Then their flight was delayed.

And then delayed again.

Thankfully, everything worked out in the end, but I didn’t make it home until much later than expected. 

And then I typed this all Monday and never actually posted it. 

But all in all, I’d say that’s been a pretty good week.

Even if it was still for the birds.