12 months later...
Reflecting on a tumultuous year marked by personal loss and global challenges, I find solace in family and new beginnings while also cherishing moments of joy amidst the struggles.
Relationships with a parent can be complicated.
A reflection on the complicated relationship I had with my mother, expressing both admiration and regret while acknowledging our shared human imperfections.
Got my first mechanical keyboard!
A low end Keychron (the Amazon exclusive one) with brown switches. Couldn’t resist the price and didnt want to go huge on something I may not be able to use over time (RSI issues and whatnot). I’ve wanted to move back to a mechanical keyboard for years now (after using them ages ago in school and different jobs) with the hope of possibly building my own in the future. Might be a nice hobby as I get older. 😊👴🏻⌨️
Anyways, we’ll see how it goes! The sound and feel of using it sure is lovely so far!
Not proud at all of the time it took me to do this but...
…I finally deleted my Twitter account. I can’t offer up any valid excuses really. All I was using it for these days were the few remaining hyper-local weather geeks that I followed. Maybe I would check it a few times a month?
So, yeah, while it feels good to have let that one go, it does make me pause for some self-reflection when I think about how long that inner process took. 😕
After 4 years… it finally got me.
Mild symptoms at the moment but, I definitely feel ill. Bummed to finally catch it, but not surprised either with the numbers climbing as much as they have in recent weeks. 🤒😷
Not too bad 📱 13 Pro macro lens!
Been a while...
I’ve intentionally stepped back from participating in social media for a variety of reasons, most of them boring and, by today’s standards, cliché. But, to boil that particular ocean, I did it for my mental health. This last autumn brought a lot of change and the rise of Omicron had me refocusing on the things that are important. Well, important to me anyways, and as much as I love y’all, participating in social media was waaaaaaay down at the bottom of that list. Not at the very bottom mind you, but close.
Still, I do recognize the value in letting friends and family know that I am still alive. So, yeah, hi there! :)
Some things that have changed quite a bit since the last time I updated this space:
Professional stuff. I got a “new old” job back at the Duke Clinical Research Institute. I worked there for about 13 years before heading out on my own for a bit. It’s going great! It’s surreal to be back and seeing a lot of familiar faces. It’s also nice to be working/collaborating with long time friends - and to be able to walk to work again - if we ever head back to the office. Before heading back to the DCRI, I worked a little over a year at a wonderful design firm in Raleigh called Walk West. I learned a ton from that awesome crew of hyper talented people and it was not easy to leave. But life can take you in unexpected directions. RIP Conduit Designs, it was a good ride!
Requisite chicken update. Our chickens suffered a really awful loss in January. A loose dog got into our run and we lost six hens. Pretty devastating on a lot of levels as those hens saw us through some tough times. Looking forward, we still have Banana and she gets consistently broody when the days get longer and warmer. We are hoping to slip some fertilized eggs under her the next time she is, to see if we can get some new chicks for the Spring!
Last big thing is my sobriety. It’s been 2 years and 4 months since I’ve had an alcoholic beverage. I’ve battled substance abuse off and on throughout my illustrious drinking career. Right before the pandemic took over the world I had been leaning WAY too much on alcohol for just about everything and it was changing me into someone I didn’t want to be anymore. It was the easiest toughest decision I’ve had to make thus far and literally everything in life has improved significantly for it. It’s nice to be back and present for all of life’s slings and arrows. It’s nice be present for all of the lovely things as well. 10/10. Highly recommended. Would do it again.
That’s it on my end! I’m doing all right and I hope that, on your own terms, in your own time, you can do the same.
Finally got around to introducing a Magic Keyboard into the mix for my iPad Pro.
I had a Brydge keyboard before and, honestly, the difference between the two products is night and day. The MK is superior in almost every way.
I do miss the shortcut keys found on the top row of the Brydge keyboard, but literally everything else is better on the MK. And the smart connector? It obliterates a bluetooth connection any day of the week! As advertised, it’s instantaneous with not a millisecond of lag. Add in the over all build quality, and it only took 30 minutes of typing and trackpad use for me to realize how much of the Brydge was actually a compromise.
The best part? I can hand it to my wife to use with her new iPad Air without pairing. So we can both use it without finagling bluetooth connections and disrupting our workflows. Honestly? It’s like an Apple commercial, it simply works. Every time.
And just like that! We suddenly have 7 active egg layers! The coop also gets a roost upgrade. 🐓
The last few weeks have been kinda crazy in the egg laying department. We went from three eggs consistently a day to five to six on the regular. The biggest surprise? The two younger pullets we replaced the roosters with started laying last week!! We had no idea that they were mature enough and expected them to not start laying until the spring. So, needless to say, we were genuinely surprised to find the cutest speckled dark brown eggs mysteriously showing up. All three of our Welsummers are stealth layers (our term, not technical) in that they don’t sit in the egg laying boxes for terribly long. They hop in for five to ten minutes tops and hop on out. The others sit in there for an hour so.
One of several deciding factors in choosing our hens was the prospect of naturally colored eggs. I am so glad we did this, as we end up with quite the spectrum of colors in our dozens. The eggs taste the same of course, but seeing them laid out all pretty is quite joy-inducing. 😊
We now officially have had our first traffic jams at the egg laying boxes and we couldn’t be happier. They all make a crazy racket pre, during, and post, laying. Luckily our neighbors find it as amusing as we do! I’m sure the occasional free eggs help a bit. 😅
One last thing I recently did with the coop was to upgrade the roost rails. The original roost I built worked just fine, but as they grew I kept Frankenstein-ing more scrap pieces of wood to it until it became quite heavy and unwieldy to remove whenever we turned their coop bedding. It only made sense to give them more space and get it all off the coop floor. Now that it’s installed, I honestly wish I’d done all of that when we built it originally. So much cleaner (visually and spatially) and now there’s more space for them to move around inside.
Three eggs a day and an extended run for the hens! 🐓
This last week our third hen started laying eggs on the semi-daily. They all take a day off periodically but, for the most part, they are producing 3 eggs a day a now! For the first time since getting these ladies, it feels like we are quickly getting to a point where store-bought eggs will be a thing of the past. At least for a little while anyways. When all 9 are laying, that’ll be crazy!
We also took some time at the end of November to extend the run beyond the existing fenced-in area. It’s open air, so we have to be out there with them (too many hawks in the area nabbing hens), but they seem to really, really love this addition. Lots of frolicking and happy chortling! It also gets us outside a little more, which is much needed these days.
