i took the dog out at like 4:30am. why? because he needed to and thought that it was time to get up. he was WRONG. but i let him out anyway, visited the bathroom myself (my main reason for rolling out of bed), and went back to sleep until it was time to get up for the day almost two hours later.
when i got up for good, the doggo did not do so again. the cats were happy to be let back in from their overnight exile in the rooms at the far end of the house. i played at editing some photos, looking up a list of one of my favorite author’s books, and then made myself some english muffins. while i was waiting for mine to toast, i made breakfast for the orioles that have been visiting this past week. i put out two fresh oranges and a cake of suet for them. i had read that they are hanging around so much because the cold snaps we’ve had this year have killed lots of the insects they normally eat and they are hungry.
work was a jumble. despite the Governor’s misguided, off-base, and premature but seemingly reasonable plan to “re-open” the state from the COVID-19 lockdown, i’m still “teleworking” -working from home- and still not really used to it. it’s claustrophobic to squinch my work through the single screen of a laptop. some things take twice or three times as long to do now. video meetings are different but not really a problem. getting up to take a break means that i am suddenly and actually at home. but then i return to work and things change. i had to throw together a statistics report today because i had not turned one in for April. it would not be correct to say that i forgot to do it because it was more that the usual numbers were simply not there and i thought what numbers were there had been recorded and reported elsewhere. nevertheless, i drafted a report and submitted it, explaining all the zeroes. the logistics of doing nearly everything telework is uncharted and can therefore be tedious. but i have a job and am able to do seventy-five percent of my regular job duties from home so i have nothing to complain about. my words are about growing pains. and who knows what it will actually look like when we do return to work or when that will be? i might end up spoiled by this.
i ate leftovers for lunch, my wife and son sat down to eat with me. i played a not-scrabble app on my phone and watched the orioles (at times, 6 of them) flutter around the tree. we caught up on what we had been doing that morning – my wife was in a virtual meeting because she’s working from home, too, and my son had been goofing around with video games. then it was back to work, ten feet in the other room.
afternoon work was punctuated by a virtual doctor’s visit. i had no idea what to expect but prepared for things to start late and go long — or go short. but what i did not expect was to be put in a virtual waiting room while my doctor prepared to see me. no virtual magazines or tv to look at though. five minutes later and i was speaking with my doctor. the visit lasted about twenty-five minutes. i sat in my vehicle in the garage for some semblance of privacy. it was a very interesting experience.
after work, i made dinner, watched the orioles some more, sat on the front porch for a while with my wife to enjoy the evening air and light, and then came inside to watch a movie before bed.