Flamethrowers and Umbrellas

Three good things:
- CG is pretty good at biking now and seems motivated to get better; biking on her own to school by end of summer??
- Beach soon! Beach very soon!!
- It's 63F and I have the windows open - in June

June's looking pretty stocked. Dayjob is gonna be rough, what with three projects due by July (yikes). Wife will be gone for a week to a conference. My bro and his family will be in town that same week. We're going to the beach the minute CG is out of school for a few days. At some point in there I want to hit up the springs like they're going out of style, rent some kayaks and explore the rivers, fucking enjoy summer, damnit.

And on top of all that, start another WIP? And maybe, just maybe, query catastrophe!WIP? Even though I keep convincing myself that maybe it's not a good one to land an agent with and maybe I'm better off self-pubbing that one... man, my brain really hates me some time. I need to at least wait until I have beta feedback before I decide.

And on top of that, abruptly changing my diet to Fix What's Wrong With Me, Maybe.

Phew. Is that why I'm already tired?

I'm so glad I took this week off. It's always a roll of the die whether or not I'm going to get sick that week or something else will come up. I mean, I guess something else did come up, which is helping my parent-friend get a car, but that isn't taking up as much time as I feared it would.

I know in my bones by now that I need more than an hour here and 30min there to really get into the meat of a book and its plot but wow, actually getting to do it is always a surprise. It's like getting a chance to speak a language you used to be fluent in but haven't been able to flex in over a decade (highly specific, I know). You're like, can I still do this? And then, after a little fumbling, you absolutely can.

...or like riding a bike, I guess. That's probably a more universal analogy, hah.

Anyway, this is reminding me why having that one day a week to really gnaw at plot problems helped me get so far in writing TPA and TUC, even though I still had a dayjob and a baby. It really just comes down to the luxury of time. A four-day workweek would do wonders for my writing, if I could ever swing that again.

So yeah. I wrote towards The End all weekend (well, you know, mornings before the kids woke) and on Monday spent a good chunk of the afternoon just gnawing on plot. Today I wrote until I had to wake the kids up and then spent a few hours in the backyard doing all the stuff that has been sorely needed for months (our poor butterfly garden is so neglected) and then another hour writing and finally hit "The End."

Of course, as any writer knows, it's never actually the end. But this is the first time in about three drafts that I've actually reached "The End" and now I can confidently start the edits I've outlined.

I've got three days left in this week. Let's see how far I can get. Would be absolutely amazing to have a query-able WIP by mid-April.

I started baking again this month after many years and previously only failures. Bagels were a gateway bread, it turns out; my brother had made them a handful of Christmases past. I knew if he could make them, then surely I could. See, this is what sibling rivalry is for.

So I made bagels at the beginning of January and they were not only super easy but they turned out delicious. Then I made a second batch that were even better and I thought to myself, maybe, maaaybe... I could try bread? You have to remember, every single previous attempt at a basic round bread had turned out inedible, so I'd long ago taken it as a fact that I simply can't make bread.

But bagels are bread! So I already had. What was the harm?

Besides, I needed a distraction from the oncoming train that's the new administration. Something that would keep me off of the news sites and bog me down in details. Turns out baking is great for that. I found r/breadit, the King Arthur Flour recipes, the spread of pages devoted to the science of gluten formation in the Science of Cooking, and down the rabbit hole I went. Instead of reading NYT, I was reading about autolyse. Instead of hearing about the obscene amount of executive orders -- most of which will get tied up in lawsuits and court anyway -- I heard about poolish and resting times.

Now I've made two basic round loaves and two sets of baguettes and all of them have been edible -- not only that, the last baguettes earned me a solid thumb's up from Cabin Girl, whose favorite bread is baguettes. I feel like I've made a breakthrough; and yes, part of that breakthrough is autolyse, aka just fucking putting water and flour together, barely mixing it, and letting it rest for 20min before you knead. Seriously, how did I not know about this before? It's like the dough magically kneads itself and the "oh fuck is this kneaded enough? is this over kneaded?" question can finally be put to rest.

Aside from being a sink for my endlessly roving mind, there's something just soothing about the act of making bread. It's simple, yet you have to pay attention, and there's all these little factors that can come into play, making every loaf a little different. Now that those loaves aren't just being tossed in the trash, I feel like I have room to play.

So... huh. 38 years old and I'm learning new tricks. Taking something I'd almost absorbed as a Fact About Myself -- "I can't bake" -- and turning it around. I did the same with macarons back in August and now I'm tempted to try it with gardening in the coming months. I'm playing piano, relearning how to sight-read music, even writing something fun that will never see the light of day.

Maybe 38 is my year of turning "can't" into "can."

It's a chilly, cloudy, rainy day and I am cuddled up under a shawl with my coffee and laptop. I've already gone to Crossfit, gotten the kids up, ready, and to school, and had my breakfast. Now I need a nap, hah.

Crossfit was great. We have a new coach and he proposed switching bodybuilding to oly lifting on Wednesdays and I am all in. We did a lot of snatch and clean work and I actually felt like I had to try with the skill portions; I'm really looking forward to more oly lifts in the future. Also it's just easier to come to Crossfit m/w/f than m/t/r or whatever weirdness I'd been trying before. As much as I enjoyed bodybuilding at the time, it's not really what I need, and it gets dull quickly since it's about moving weight around instead of technical skill.

...well that was yesterday now. The rest of the day got away from me and now I've got 20min before next Crossfit.

I wanted to check in on my nibbles, since it's already half-way through January. One of the reasons I wanted to focus on those daily practices this first month of the year was to slow things down. I feel like the last few Januaries have all flashed past, leaving me scrambling to keep up.

Not sure if they've been effective in slowing anything down, but at least it doesn't feel faster than usual? The daily joys habit has probably helped the most with that: writing one thing I want to remember about that day. At least when I've done that in the past, I've noticed the days don't blur together as much, and if they're more distinct, they feel less fast.

I ran yesterday, marking the third day run I've done this month. I will get used to it, goshdarnit. It is a lot harder to motivate myself to run in the afternoon, though, so I need to prioritize doing it before then.

I've only missed one day with writing, and that was the day the plumber was here, so you know what, sure. That's fine. I tallied up all of my words so far to see what my pace is -- since I've done anything from 23 words on day and 2000 another -- and I written 9k words so far this month. My WIP cracked 70k, which feels about right with where I am in the story. Another 30-40k words to finish also seems about right, which, at this pace, means I could finish it end of February, mid-March? That's kind of cool. That'll give me plenty of time to work on catacombs!WIP over the summer and maybe, just maybe, have something to query come fall.

I also missed a day of piano practice, but considering I was aiming for at least 15min of daily practice and have frequently done an hour, I'm not too bothered.

So, we're doing good! Hopefully there isn't another plumbing emergency and hopefully this upcoming 4-day weekend doesn't throw me too off track.

I worked a bit last week, but it feels like 2025 really starts tomorrow. School is back in session, almost everyone will be back at dayjob, and the lingering calm/forgiveness of Void Week will be past.

I've been keeping to my goals pretty well so far. I've mentally renamed them nibbles, like I'm taking little nibbles out of my goals on a daily basis, turning them into daily practices. 10min reading here, 20min writing there, 15min piano practice mid-afternoon... I actually read for 30min yesterday morning, put my book down, opened my laptop and immediately blocked the internet and wrote for another 30min. Amazing what I can do when I don't just get sucked into social media or a research rabbit hole.

I also ran again yesterday; an easy 6k, although I tripped and fell at almost exactly the halfway point. Had the whole fun slow-mo "oh shit, I'm about to eat pavement" realization with no way to stop it, but I did only scrape my palms and knees instead of actually eating it. I walked for a minute until the adrenaline had crested, then determined I wasn't bleeding that bad and kept running. I didn't really have a choice; it was either 20min running or 40min walking, while it was 40F and all I had on for warmth was a long-sleeve shirt.

Found out, running keeps the pain at bay. Until you stop. I didn't even feel the scrapes until I got home, and then the pain was A Lot. Thankfully, it's just some mild bruises but oof. I haven't tripped while running in easily a decade; idk what happened except I zoned out while on the sidewalk after having been on the road. Must've forgotten to adjust my stride for the irregularities of the sidewalk.

I made bagels yesterday, too. I'd been craving homemade bagels for a while - my brother made them once for us back when they still lived in FL, and I figured if he could make bagels, then so could I. I finally had the time and ingredients to do it, so I did. A lot more time-intensive than I was expecting, but not really difficult technique-wise. And they taste slightly off (probably because I used molasses instead of barley malt) but are still delicious.

It's nice being able to do frivolous but fun things like making bagels again. I've really missed baking and trying new things, but the time just hasn't been there. Now that the kids are getting older/more self-reliant, it's getting easier. I was hoping CG would help me make the bagels, but she wasn't interested. She did pick out another cookbook from the library, though, and has already picked out a few things she wants to try making in it, so the interest is there in general.

Did I mention I also took the kids for a little photo walk on New Year's Day? I don't think I did. I got them both these cute little cameras for Christmas and they've been having a blast with them and I've been able to stop fretting about them using up all the space on my phone, lol. I took them around a lake while Dr Lady did some science on Wednesday and they both got really into taking pics of flowers and buildings. Toddler lost interest fairly quickly, but CG almost had to be dragged away. I look forward to taking them on more photo walks; I mentioned going for a hike and bringing our cameras and CG actually seemed excited. Is this how I get them to go on more nature walks with me?? I'll take it.

Anyway, Toddler is up and I need to figure out how to get Everything done today wot needs doing. Probably by not doing it all, lol.

2024 sure was a ride, huh. I feel like a broken record since 2020 now: wow that was a lot and a lot of it sucked. But a lot of it didn't suck, too, and the kids keep growing and changing and so, hopefully, do we.

Gallbladder
I ended 2023 knowing I was overdue for a gallbladder eviction. Got to spend almost a month worrying that every twinge was its inevitable demise. Thankfully I made it to the surgery date without any life-threatening infections. The surgery itself went well, it was just everything leading up to it that sucked. Suffice it to say, the nurse trying to give me the IV hook-up did such a bad job I had a panic attack 8 months later when I needed to get blood drawn again and I had a giant, gnarly bruise on one hand for several weeks after.

But other than that, I woke up, was sent home, and took a few quiet days to recover, then a few gentle weeks when I wasn't "allowed" to pick anything heavy up. I started picking up Toddler after maybe a week, though; oops. But I did stay away from Crossfit for the whole duration, instead using that time to increase my mileage in running.

Running
I suddenly had the time and opportunity to try for a 10k in March, and I aaalmost made it. I ran 3x a week, got up to 9.8k, and was a week out from the race when I started feeling gnarly. A fever laid me low the day before and the day of I realized I had to cancel. :( My running took a hit after that; between returning to Crossfit and the increasing heat, I returned to my regular 1x week 5k. I've since dropped down to 3k and up to 5k again several times as I went through several periods of illness. I'm crossing the 5k threshold again now and hopeful I can work my way up to a comfortable 7k in the New Year.

Publishing
During all that, I was also wrestling with the decision to break up with my agent. I had promised some author friends that I would if she didn't like another one of my WIPs, and when I shared a thoroughly rewritten story with her and she had the same issues and ideas that she'd had with the previous one, I still hesitated. I'd already felt like I was gnawing through the remaining threads that let me call myself an author, and having an agent was a big one. But the more I thought about revising or sending her something new, the more I dreaded staying with her, and I knew it was just time to move on.

I've felt freer since; I actually look forward to querying again, whenever that may be. And I've had a few author friends read both WIPs and come back with actionable critique, instead of a vague "this is all wrong." Her advice had been sending me into ineffective spirals, trying to please both her and myself at the same time, and eventually I realized I couldn't do both. Our tastes had separated completely. So: time to move on.

At the same time, I had to step away from creating/curating the queer books list, and stepped away from publishing socials in general. When I was ready to come back, though, my close group of author friends imploded. It was the best/worst time, as it felt like a final severing from publishing.

Around that time, I started a new project that is maybe 45% fanfic, 35% it's own thing, and 20% nonsense. It's Half-Life meets D&D, where a young dwarf scientist finds herself at the center of an experiment gone horribly wrong. There are monsters from other worlds, but there's also teamwork, magic, time-loops, and power-hungry sorcerers. I still don't know whether to query it or slap it up on Ao3 when I'm done, but that decision can come later. What matters is I needed to be sufficiently cut off from the publishing world to even play around with it, and writing it felt like having fun again.

Writing (General)
I also learned that having an extra hour to noodle around on projects over the summer helps a ton. My mornings are somehow much shorter than they used to be during the school year; the difference between waking the kiddos up at 6.20 for school versus 7 is easily 1000 words. So I got a lot written over the summer, only to crash into August and almost stop writing entirely. It's been fits and starts since then -- mostly fits, and I don't know how to fix that because

Dayjob
Work has become A Lot. I can't shirk off nearly as much, because I committed to doing more to get that promotion. Now I have a fancy title and my boss is asking if I can use AI to go any faster. -_- That's the downside of investing in my dayjob; yeah, I make more money, but also I have less time to write or cook or do household stuff. I had multiple weeks- and months-long project stints where I was working the full eight hours and the kids and wife would come home and I'd have nothing made for dinner.

But more money means more I can sock away toward retirement and the sooner I can retire. I may not be able to retire in the two years I was dreaming of, but the seven years (now six?) is still absolutely doable. It just sucks that right now is when being a House Spouse would be the most beneficial, what with the kids and Dr Lady's increased need of support, but I just Can't. We just Can't. Even if we cut expenses to the bone, Dr Lady's health insurance needs would always put us in the red.

So I will keep working, keep finding ways to live well below our means so I can sock away money, keep stealing time to House Spouse (clean, cook, organize, etc etc), and any additional dregs I will use to write. It's not enough, it's never enough, but I can survive like this yet.

Loss
But I itch at "just surviving" because life is so short and nothing is promised. This year we lost two family members; one of them expected and one of them very much not. My grandmum had been done for a while, had made her peace, and seen her family. When she died in May, it was knowing she had done what she wanted, had lived a full life, and had known how much she was loved. Our whole family went up last Christmas and I got to tell her how much she meant to me, and that I'd always looked up to her. I got to hug her one last time while she still remembered who I was, even if she didn't recognize the kids.

My uncle, on the other hand, was diagnosed with a tumor in December and still holding out hope in June that the treatments might reverse it or at least give him another year or two. He died in August. I got to see him last year (2023) but I didn't get to say goodbye. It was a shock to everyone and a reminder that the only time we're guaranteed is now. Tell people you love them now. See them, now. Do what you can, now.

So I try, even while I also try to plan for a future. You gotta hold on to both, somehow.

Travel
We went to her funeral at Arlington in October, carving out a full week so the kids could see some of DC. We also had our mini Florida vacation in June, which I would do again although also maybe just stay at the beach the entire week.

Otherwise there was the week in Michigan for work and then last week in Minnesota for family. It was good to keep things relatively chill and local -- the train to DC was absolutely the right idea, and a big hit; and the trip to the coast was a leisurely journey in our own car. I'll have to continue to fly for that week in Michigan, but I think we all want to stay out of airports as much as possible going forward. So: no big trips in 2025. But maybe now that Toddler doesn't absolutely lose it after 20min in the car, we could do more local day trips.

Anything else?
I think that pretty much covers it for the year. There were some things that span the entire year and need a whole post of their own, like Dr Lady's MS getting worse or shifting my political priorities and energy away from the national to the local or continuing my search for community and friends. Those things also blur into next year. Then there are the kids and how they've changed and grown, but again: that feels like it's own post.

I'm still not sure what I've learned and want to bring away from 2024, but I do want to try to be more focused in 2025. The practice of reading every day has been helpful, and the side effect of not being on socials first thing has been equally beneficial. That will definitely become more necessary as the chaos ramps up in 2025.

For now, I've got to go wake the kids and get this day started.

Okay, all you parent friends who have said it gets easier when the kids are a bit older: hello yes, I understand now.

We got a little suitcase for 3yo a few months back, just by chance. Saw it at the 2nd hand store when we were looking for something else and 3yo latched on. I told him he'd have to roll it himself and handle it all on his own and he was just so stoked. Cut to Saturday, and I get it out of his closet and tell him it's time to pack it and he just lights up. I still wasn't completely convinced, but you know what? He rolled that suitcase like a champ through three airports yesterday. He handled it on the plane himself, too, rolling it down the aisle behind me. Little sir! Growing up!

My mom has mentioned a few times that traveling got a lot easier once my brother and I could handle our own stuff and I see it now. Not only does it take the burden of carrying everything + a child off the parents, it also gives them a Job, which keeps them out of trouble that much longer.

I had started to notice it with Cabin Girl when she was around 3, but COVID hit before we could take advantage of her increased self-sufficiency and then we had Toddler (almost child!! what will we call him here!) so I never really got to experience it. Now CG is 100% self-sufficient (can even go off to the bathroom herself) and 3yo can handle his own suitcase. We've arrived.

I really wish I'd gotten a picture of him with his little suitcase, but I didn't want to interrupt his flow. Maybe on the way back.

I, on the other hand, have been stuffed up for weeks and was nervous about getting on the plane. My molars started hurting that morning from the sinus pressure and it only got worse as the day went on, making it even hard to open my mouth wide enough to eat or drink. I didn't have any painkillers on me so I just toughed it out, but wow, a whole day of just unceasing pain is exhausting. The change in air pressure was nauseating and I couldn't clear my ears at all on the last flight, so I couldn't hear on top of feeling like my ear drums were about to burst. Which, weirdly, meant getting off the plane was a relief, because at least the pain went down.

My SIL gave me 3 ibuprofen when we got to their house, saying that's what she was prescribed when she went to a doc for a sinus infection. 3's a lot but I was willing to do whatever at that point. It took a while, but eventually the pain like my tooth root was trying to drill out of my skull eased and now this morning there's no pain at all. So: hoorah. And a reminder to future me. 3 ibuprofen, all right??

Anyway, pain aside, the kids were great. Both insisted on sitting together on the plane and they watched a movie together. 3yo got so excited when snacks came around and watching them just happily munching and content was such a relief. I'm glad I didn't have to deal with squirming and tantrums while in so much pain. 3yo did melt down at the very end, but honestly, he'd been up all day and past his bedtime, so I kinda expected it.

But then we got in the car and left the airport and he saw snow. His little gasp and then "Snow, mama Kai! There's snow on the ground!" A few moments later, "More snow!!" Basically the entire way home, "Snow!! Snow here too! There's still snow!!"

Somehow in all of this, I'd forgotten that he hadn't been to Minnesota since he was 1yo. So of course he doesn't remember snow.

Anyway, today's plan is to put both of these southern kids in the snow before it melts. So, stay tuned. :)

Wednesday morning, I forgot to put my helmet on for the first time in 3 years of biking here. I arrived at Crossfit and made to put it down only to realize I'd never had it at all. I was completely out of it and I've been out of it ever since.

I've been unable to do much at work. I've slept more in the last few days than I have since I was last sick. I haven't really left the house. I'm depressed, yes, but also in shock. I didn't really let myself consider he could win, because I didn't want to ruminate on it. I didn't want to marinate in the dread. And now I'm shifting all my expectations and hopes for the next four years, eight, twenty, and it's bleak.

It's really fucking bleak.

We fight, of course. We were always going to fight. But now we fight to keep what little we have instead of improving anything at all. I've been looking up laws and statutes to see what will happen to us when Obergefell is overturned; best case, the Respect for Marriage Act stays in place and we don't see much change. Worst case, that act is repealed, too, and our marriage is null in Florida. I would have to adopt Toddler and draw up a ton of legal docs and in the end, we might still have to leave.

I'm trying to find the balance between Having a Plan and Catastrophizing. Last time, they didn't make it to Obergefell. It doesn't seem to be a high priority. My plans should probably revolve more around making sure both my kids have funds for school out of state, have healthcare funds, etc. My plans should include the assumption that social security isn't going to be a thing in our retirement (which, tbf, is something I'd been assuming all along).

I don't know how much more to plan for because the calling card of this dumbass is chaos. A recession, yes. A depression? Fuck. How do you prepare for that? I just gotta play it safe and hope we can roll with the punches. We've been here before and we made it through. My first priority are my kids, and then our community. Thankfully, we've got a pretty good one of those. Our county is only one of 5 remaining blue ones in Florida and the way our community overwhelmingly supported all the progressive policies and people gives me hope.

That the entire country decided to make the same mistake they made in 2016, doesn't.

But again: focus on community. Focus on what's local. That's what is going to see us through. I don't care about the Nazis in Idaho, the fascists in Texas, or the Christian extremists in Oklahoma. I care about here, about us, about my friends, my queer community. And that's how we're going to get through this.

Here's the brief pause between trips.

Michigan was a whirlwind -- I dubbed it Dayjob Con early on and that actually helped me approach the 2-3 days I was there with the right mindset. This time I was proactive about seeing people outside of the scheduled meetings and it felt less like I'd been forgotten and more like I made an impression. IDK why it took me so long to approach it like that. Maybe because I've always been a little resistant to having to go aaall the way back to Michigan.

I'm a little worried after our meeting with the head of HR yesterday -- it sounds like they want to implement AI more, but they're always short on the details of how. That's the thing that really bugs me about all these businesses trying to use AI (aside from the plagiarism, natch), none of them can give examples or case studies. Just a vague "it's going to change everything!" Who said, and can you show me that they're not in the pocket of Microsoft or one of the other big places pushing AI? Because interestingly enough, any and every gungho article I've seen around AI is written by a company heavily invested in it. And no one every addresses the fact that all this "free" genAI is going to be pay-to-play soon, and then the prices will start going up.

I guess as long as it's still cheaper than hiring real humans, they'll do it, which is the depressing part. -_-

Anyway, because of my commitment to con it, I didn't see as much of Michigan as I usually do. I made it out to our old house while it was still dark and tried a run around the nearby park with only moonlight, which was much harder than I remember. Small things have changed in a good way -- it looks like Lansing is finally recovering from the pandemic era and popping up fun local things that would've been nice while we were there. Also it helped that it was sunny and kinda warm the entire time.

I got home just in time yesterday to help put the kiddos to bed, then crawl in bed myself. Gotta enjoy my own bed while I can because we leave again tomorrow. Thankfully it looks like it'll be warm in DC, because I was not looking forward to figuring out how to dress the kids and bring all those extra clothes with us.

I don't have much in my brain leftover after last week. I need to finish this outline for this story but apparently everything is just going *dial-up noises*. I'm hoping a week away from dayjob will help me reset a bit, because it's definitely begun worming its fingers into the rest of my life. I try to keep boundaries, but man... it's hard sometimes. And especially when I was just there and immersed in it.

Anyway, wish me luck getting these cluckers ready for the next trip.

tl;dr We're all safe and fine and didn't get it as bad as other places.

But that storm was definitely worse than anyone around here expected it was going to be.

That little system showed up on the NHC maps last week in the southern Gulf and they knew within a few days it was going to be at least a cat 3 and track toward the panhandle. We had plenty of warning, and I'm glad the coast did too. But even with all that warning, little things can make a big difference.

Namely, winds were originally supposed to pick up around 8am on Thursday and she was supposed to make landfall midday as a cat 3 and she was going to track west of Tallahassee. Instead, she slowed down long enough to become a cat 4 and then went east. That meant we got a lot more wind than anyone had prepared for; I'm glad I realized what was happening mid-afternoon and brought the chickens in. I'd been lulled into a false sense of safety with the last few storms turning away last minute or being weaker than expected, but as soon as I saw we were going to get 50+ sustained winds, I realized we hadn't planned for this.

The power went out around 10pm and I just lay in the silence, listening to the thump-thump-THUMP of branches hitting our roof. There wasn't a lot of rain, just wind, and it was loud. I saw the light turn on under CG's door; I'd given her a flashlight and showed her how to use it if she got scared in the dark. Toddler didn't even stir.

When I woke up again it was 5am and the power was still out. I said, eff it, threw on my clothes and wiggled the bike out of the garage side door to go to crossfit. At least they'd have power and I could get some cold water, I figured. But it turned out, no. They didn't have power. No one had power. I wasn't even out of our neighborhood before I realized how much of a fool's errand this was going to be--every house dark, every streetlight out, just complete darkness. Yet I kept going because, well, they'd held crossfit classes when it was sideways raining in a tropical storm before, and now it wasn't even raining.

The main road was even eerier. All I had was my bike light, shining at an angle and making all the debris on the sidewalk loom large. I had to walk my bike around a fallen tree that took up part of the road, too. When I got to the plaza the gym is in and there were still no lights, I knew no one was going to show up. I circled around and headed back, slowly and carefully and a little chagrined. It felt like the whole city was dark.

Checking the outage map at home only confirmed my feeling. Apparently there were a few places in town with power, but most were without. I couldn't do much so I just read in the dark with a flashlight until the sun came up and we could actually see the damage.

Our street was largely spared. After letting the chickens out and cleaning up the garage (and making breakfast on the grill, because I'd been waiting since the last hurricane to do that, lol), CG and I went for a bike-about to survey the neighborhood. That's when it really hit how much worse this storm was. Usually there's maybe one, two fallen trees after a storm. This time it was tree after tree after tree. One blocking the road completely, one half in the road, one across the back of a house, one cracked in half over a car, one straight through a fence. Neighbors were out looking, too, and they all seemed okay, if a bit shaken.

Power was coming back bit by bit. Ours hummed back on around noon. According to the utility service, two major transmission lines had gone down in the wind. They posted pictures of electrical poles snapped in half and dragged out of the ground, poles hanging from wires or just laying across the street. They were working on getting the transmission lines back up first, but all the outages in the wake of Helene meant the workers were spread thin. I'm honestly surprised we got power back as fast as we did. By the time I went to bed last night, only 1/3rd of the city was still dark.

Most of the parks and playgrounds are closed, too, while the city cleans up the damage. I told Lady that this weekend I want to spend some time cleaning up the sidewalks and pulling the larger branches out of the bike lane. There should be school on Monday, but honestly... who knows.

I mentioned something else-web that most places had expected to be open on Friday and had to hurriedly post closure notices instead, and that was the strongest indicator that we really weren't expecting this to be so bad. Even the university was like "whoops, yeah, we won't be open today." The grocery store down the road is still lights-out; I hope they're able to donate some of their food before it all spoils.

Despite it being worse than expected, we're still okay. This wasn't Charley, where half the city was flooded, too. We got lucky with the lack of rain. It's horrifying to see all those images/videos out of the Carolinas and Georgia, with the roads turned to rivers. The warnings for those areas came a little late and I'm sure some folks didn't take it seriously because landfall was way far away.

I think we're all just a little shook, because typically the storms that have come through have weakened more or swung further away from us last minute, not the other way around. It's probably good we got that reminder in a way that wasn't super dangerous, and I hope this means folks will take storms a little more seriously.

And considering there's already another disturbance in the gulf in the same place Helene formed, we might have another chance at that soon.