Tag: Step Kids

Heading Back?

We drove up to Burlington yesterday, had brunch with Bellana (which was wonderful), then dropped a few things off at Harry’s new dorm room and helped him set a few things up. That was great too.

After we were done helping Harry we headed North, which is 100% in the wrong direction. We wanted to make the ride home a sight seeing thing. We drove across the islands in the middle of Lake Champlain. The lake looked amazing. We did get stuck behind a draw bridge for a while, and we also got stuck at a rail road crossing. There was no train. The gates came down and traffic in both directions stopped. It was weird until an ambulance drove up, the gates came up so the ambulance could cross, and they didn’t come back down. There really was no train. Did the ambulance trigger the gates?

Eventually we ran out of islands and just headed South. We left the highway for traffic reasons a couple of times and didn’t get home until after 8:00pm. It felt so good to just get out of the house and road trip like a couple of road tripping road trippers again. I really enjoyed the whole thing. I especially enjoyed the kid time and the Jen time, but the whole thing was great.

……and now we are going to do it again today?

Jen is at a doctors appointment. She’s texting with Harry about some additional things he needs us to bring up to him. I have a half day today for a doctors appointment at 2:00pm. Since I’m already leaving work early, I can just head up to Burlington again and take care of things. Why wait until the weekend? Jen and I are texting about planning things. I’m not clear on whether or not she will come up with me. I’m 100% committed to this today. The only question remaining is will I be able to stop at Quechee Gorge on the way home.

Road Trip Take Two, babie! WOOHOO!

Scenes from a Road Trip Volume Two

Friggin’ point and shoot. The settings dial moved in my pocket, It went from Auto (where I want it) to Scene with the scene in question being soft focus. I wouldn’t say most of the pictures were ruined, but I will say they SUCK. Here are a few anyway.

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Before the catastrophe
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After the catastrophe, but this one would have sucked anyway
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Best soft focus photo in the history of the Earth.
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Stopped at a train track by a train that never came.
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A little tiny sliver of Lake Champlain
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Rest area sunflowers.
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The moment I realized the catastrophic mistake. Also the closest I’ve ever come to seeing a road rage massacre with my own eyes.
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Harry Just Left

Harry just pulled out of the driveway and set out for Vermont. Sigh of sadness.

Jen and I are going to go through the morning routine and follow him. I’ve got my stuff packed.

Add two (2) water bottles to this little stash (they are in the fridge) and I’m good to go.

The plan is to meet Bellana for breakfast/brunch/lunch first. Probably not in downtown Burlington but somewhere a smidge South of town. After that we will go to Harry’s new dorm and deliver his television and a couple of other small things that didn’t really fit in his car.

I’m happy for him but sad for us. At least we will see both kids today. It’s going to be a good day. Overall.

Ready for Tomorrow

Harry’s stuff is all packed and ready to load into the car in the morning. My camera batteries are charged and the Mazda has a full tank of gas.

Harry is planning on getting up after 6:00. I’m thinking of getting up a lot earlier than that. Maybe I’ll be able to get my walkies in before he wakes up.

I’m really going to miss him when he’s gone, but that’s the price you pay for raising smart kids. They go off to college and leave you behind. It’s sad but it’s also awesome. I couldn’t be more proud of both kids.

It’s Only Thursday?

Going into the office on Tuesday this week has melted my brain’s internal calendar. Yesterday felt like Friday but it was only Wednesday. Today is Thursday and it feels like Friday too. Shit.

This weekend is going to be emotional. Harry comes back from a week at his dad’s tomorrow. Then we have the whole day on Saturday. Then at the crack of dawn on Sunday we move him back to school in Vermont.

I miss the kids when the they go to their dad’s for a night or two. Last year was rough with both of them away at school. We only had Bellana back for a few weeks this summer, but we’ve had Harry for the better part of three months. It’s going to be hard seeing him go again.

He’s moving into a new dorm this year and he’ll be in a suite with a bunch of friends. That’s going to be a great experience. He has some interesting classes on his schedule. He’s going to be challenged but he is also going to enjoy himself. A little piece of me is jealous, but I’ve already been there so not really. I am excited for him but I am also going to miss him. The empty nest is looming again and it just makes me sad.

The drive to school takes us past the town Jen and I stayed in on our wedding night. Maybe we should drive through on our way home and try to sort of cheer ourselves up. Who knows.

Until then, I have a Thursday that feels like a Friday to get through. Wish me luck.

Bad Night

I went to sleep last night at a little after 11:00pm and woke up a little before 1:00am. My CPAP mask was slipping and sliding all over my face and it was leaking like nuts. I pulled the straps as tight as I could stand it and went back to sleep. I woke up again a little before 4:00am with a splitting headache. Were the two things related? I don’t know, but I couldn’t get back to sleep for a while. I got up and walked around for a bit (earning two stand hours! Bright side, babie!) and then managed to get back to sleep.

When I got up at about 7:00am my head was still a little funny, and I was extra tired, but as I started going through my morning routine I definitely felt better. I wouldn’t say I’m feeling 100%, but I’m getting there. I’ll probably take a Covid test this morning, just for paranoia’s sake. I’m sure I’m good though.

Harry has spent most of the summer at our house. Yesterday he went to his dad’s and he’s not coming back here until next Friday. Then he goes back to school on Sunday. We are effectively empty nesters again and we’re both feeling pretty sad about it. I need to play guitar this weekend to cheer myself up. I also need to play photographer this weekend to further cheer myself up. When I spoke to the psychologist during my pre-surgery prep time he asked if I had anything to use instead of food for reward behavior and cheering myself up. I said it would probably end up being guitars and cameras… now is the time, my reward behavior friends.

Also, I started a candle time lapse today because I am a total freakin’ nerd. Also…

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Monochrome
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Vivid

A New Week

Hello and welcome to a new week. It’s Monday. I definitely have a case of the Mondays. Urgh.

I had some work to finish up this weekend. I wrapped it all up at a little after 10:00pm last night. Way to wait until the last possible minute, asshole. I then watched the season finale of Westworld (WhatWhatWhat Happened??) before turning in. It was a lot later than I had hoped to get to sleep and as a result I overslept quite a bit this morning.

I was still up early enough to get to most of the stuff I needed to do. The exercise is done, breakfast is made, but the bed is not made and there is laundry to put away. I sort of lived out of a laundry basket today and I don’t like that.

Harry is off work today. Jen is sort of off work too. I am not. I have a lot of stuff to do. I was hoping we could all take a day off together and do something fun, but I am not sure it can happen now. I’m kinda sad about that. We only have about two weeks left with Harry, and half of that time will be spent at his dad’s house. I think we might have run out of time for an extra adventure type day. I guess we’ll just have to drive up to Vermont some weekend day next month and just kidnap him for a while. Sure, that sounds like a plan.

What else? I don’t know. I have work to do. I’ll try and think of something else to write about that can fulfill my goal of boring the internet to tears. Huzzah, boys and girls.

Good Morning

Good morning everyone. How was your weekend. Did you do anything fun?

I didn’t do any of my exercising yesterday until after 10:00pm. I then did this morning’s exercising at a little after 8:00am. I suspect that is going to result in some issues throughout the day today. I also failed to do any weight training over the weekend. Let’s say that today is the day it starts for real.

Jen and I finished Stranger Things last night. The last episode is about 2.5 hours long. For a TV show, that is looooong. We’re up to date now though. Harry still has to run that particular episode marathon, but once that’s done we’ll all be up to date. The show is now clear to start working on season five (I think they’ve already started without my approval).

I have decided that, after season five is over, I want to see a spin off series that is just Nancy and Robin in the X-Files. I think I smell a hit. Steve can show up and be their muscle from time to time, and the rest of the cast can make cameos (except Mike, he’s kind of a douche). Oh! Now that I think of it, Will and Dustin and Lucas can be the guys from The Lone Gunmen! This show is going to rule!

I tried out the new toaster oven/air fryer last night by trying to air fry some potatoes. The results were less than stellar, but I don’t know if it was my fault or the oven’s fault. I think it was a combination of the two. The potatoes were one part bland (my fault) and one part… squishy? I guess? That’s probably the oven’s fault. I want another crack at it tonight (with maybe some broccoli too?) but we ran out of olive oil so we need to hit the store for a resupply. Challenge accepted.

I brought up the idea of maybe Jen and me taking a day off on a day when Harry doesn’t have to work so that we can all have an extra shot at doing something fun together before he goes back to school. There isn’t a whole lot of time left with him this summer and I feel like we need to do something to take advantage of what time we have. We also need to get up to Vermont to visit Bellana and steal some additional time with her as well.

Okay, Robert. Back to work with you.

Back to Vermont

Bellana left for Vermont today. She was on the road by 7:00am. I got up early enough to help her load some of the heavy stuff into her car. She’s moving back into her apartment after about eight months. She also has to be at work at 10:00am, hence the very early start.

We miss her already, and we’re already scheming for an excuse to drive up for a visit. Insert maniacal laughter here.

I did my exercise and my full morning routine today and still had time to go to the post office and drop off my padded envelope full of rolls of film. The package is on its way. Here’s hoping it gets to it’s destination in one piece. I’m actually a little nervous about that. We’ll see how it goes.

I have one more roll to finish. The Nikon is on shot #23 out of 36. I think I will probably go back to CVS for that one, just so I don’t have to deal with shipping and whatnot. Maybe I’ll see if Rite Aide or Walgreens handle film and try one of those. CVS was pretty crummy on the customer service end. Of course, I need to finish the roll first. That could take a while. After that we’re going full digital again until one of two things happen. One, I get a new lens for the Nikon (because the lens I have is kinda falling apart) or two, the Disneyworld trip in January where I plan to shoot one roll per day and go digital the rest of the time (though I am beginning to feel some concern about going through airport security with film). Film is expensive. I need to cool it a bit. I don’t want to stop entirely, but I also don’t want to blow money like this on a hobby. Digital it is.

The Methuen Post Office is downtown, so here are the obligatory red light pics:

August 1st.

In this one you can see the Spicket Falls dam, but the river is so dry right now that there is barely any water falling over the edge. Sorry.