Ramblings of a rural(ish) geek

DC and I packed 1002 AV ballots T-W-R, and I came home via the PO Thursday afternoon. Thursday afternoon before I left we started packing up the office in preparation to receive new office furniture on Monday. (No, we didn't have much say in when the furniture was delivered. The installers don't have enough space to hold the furniture for a week, and neither does the twp hall.) This morning, J and I went over with a couple of furniture moving devices and emptied/packed/moved the large furniture out of the office, and my desk+chair came home. (Where I have to find a space for it, but ::shrug::.) DC says she will stop by the hall Sunday evening to see if the cleaning lady has actually *cleaned* the empty office.

Today was supposed to be more fully scheduled, but tonight's UMS usher gig was cancelled because the performers went on strike.

Sunday was going to be full; then call-time was changed and it became impossible (still haven't developed apparition/teleportation *or* bi-location), so I declared defeat and asked for cover on Sunday and someone stepped up (I had taken Sunday because no-one else was available, but apparently I wasn't the only one with schedule changes).

I guess this means I really should get into the garden tomorrow, eh? Or maybe I'll just sit for a while and relax....

Still working on the final documentation of the election. It's been certified by the board of canvassers, so there's that. Still waiting to hear whether our number came up in the random audits. Next week (!) I need to send out AV applications to people who haven't returned their application yet. DC is recruiting hard for election workers. We'll have way more than we need at this rate, and some people get irked when they go through all the training, etc and get put on the reserve team. But it's not my problem anymore. :) I will also begin really training DC on running an election, now that she's mostly done with learning the financial side of the Clerk job. Tuesday I went in early and wore my "assistant to the Treasurer" hat, as both the Treas and DepTreas had kids to deliver to university on Tuesday. It took me longer than it should have to remember how to do that job, but fortunately the first customer of the day was someone I knew from school, and we were able to commiserate about remembering stuff.

We got a nice all day rain on Saturday, so I waded into the garden that really needs the work, and have spent most of the week working on it. Tomorrow after errands, I need to wade into the E garden and determine how many sq feet of space I need for the new iris bed, and how many plants I need to fill the space that the irises will leave.

There are many hummingbirds at the various feeders. It's been nice enough that I've been able to leave the front window open, and I hear lots of vroooming from hummingbirds, and occasional chips as they squabble about access. There's also a new fledging of finches swooping down from the gutter and back up again as they learn to fly....

the final results for the 2027 summer season are in. Due to Band's flexibility, the record was a decent 7 and 5. Bands rescheduled two concerts, both of which did happen in pretty much perfect weather. I missed two matches due to scheduling issues, and those matches are not included in the final record.

Last night was the LCCB season final in Hartland. I had forgotten that they paved the parking lot last year, so I could have worn sandals (gravel parking lots are either mudpits or dustbowls by mid-August, and I don't like wearing sandals in either of those). It was a bit humid, but not hot or raining, so it was fine. SectionLeader said that if she'd known that the other TSax players were going to ghost us, she'd have left me on TSax for the summer. I know I would have preferred that, but hindsight is 20/20 and all that.

Today I took both saxes up to the shop in Okemos. I have bailed on Marshall's for the bari because getting to and from Troy is a real PITA, the good tech there has retired (afaik), and the ELansing shop is very slow. I'll probably go retrieve the horns tomorrow. I may not be playing the tenor for a while, though. I will miss the first LCCB concert, and possibly the second one as well.

Election day is over. we processed 730AV ballots, 350 people came in to the hall, and another 25 voted early. There were a bunch of people who got AV ballots who didn't bring them to the hall when they voted in person, so they had another couple of things to do before they could get a new ballot. Some other clerks saw the same thing, and are assuming some sort of protest/agitation/influencer thing, but I've worked with voters long enough to know that there are people who lose their ballots and don't want to admit it, or screw it up so badly that they bin it, or just don't bring it because "i'm voting in person, why do I need to bring back my ballot?" (because we need to make sure that you don't vote twice, that's why).

There were a few people who asked "how did I get on the permanent ballot list?" "you asked to be put on it." "no I didn't" "well, we didn't put anyone on the list who didn't ask, so somewhere along the line you had to have made that choice. I can take you off of it right now." (it's not my fault that you ticky-boxed the "Permanent Ballot: you will get a ballot mailed to you for every election" -- which is well away from any other ticky-box on the form -- without understanding that this means *every* election.)

Then I got drafted to go to County to turn in the County Clerk and Canvasser envelopes. whee. (The Floor chair who usually takes the envelopes in asked for a rep from the AVCB to come with and answer any questions about the AVCB because she knows that we have one, and who's on it, but that's pretty much the extent of her knowledge.)

So I need to go in today and finish resetting the rooms we used for election functions, and work on building the Audit Book.

Two concerts this week! Who are all of these people? And why are we all wearing the same color/style of shirt? Why is that man waving his arms at us? {the parenthetical 1 is for the FCB at Heritage Park which has been rescheduled to next Thursday. We'll finish the season there this year, after years of starting the season there....}

Monday's FCB outreach was a bit hazy and hot, but the show went on. A few people bailed because the AQI was too high for them (about 130, which is probably higher than prudent for most people, but cabin fever is a thing). We were in a courtyard with a swirling breeze, so that was fun! I forgot my dots, so between that and people not showing up, the set-up was a little more freeform than usual. But we muddled through, and the audience appreciated it.

The LCCB concert in Howell was lovely, if a bit cloudy and breezy. Got a few tiny raindrops on us during the first piece, but the rest of the concert was dry. And the temperature was dropping, fairly quickly, through the concert (the car thermometer said 67F when I headed home).

In driveway news, the driveway "eater" showed up Monday evening while I was off at the FCB gig. Much of the driveway is now pulverized asphalt and gravel. They did go over it with a roller so that we could actually *use* the driveway until the excavating crew showed up. Last Friday afternoon, J and I moved the cableTV cable, because it was running under the corner of the new driveway. So that was fun! (FSVO -- heat index around 100F, AQI over 400.)

J got his truck back Monday evening, so early Tuesday AM he headed north. He'll be home Sunday or Monday after a long weekend in the Desolate Wasteland. The gang bailed on the 5 day hike on Isle Royale because of the smoke. Which is also why J bailed on riding the motorcycle to the Desolate Wasteland.

(edit for clarification of J's status)

The season series is now even, and in a delightful fashion. The rescheduled FCB concert went quite well on Monday evening. The weather was terrific (air temp around 80, but we were on an island and the river breeze was lovely, it was sunny but not glaringly so), we played quite well, and the audience was appreciative. I got in the wrong lane in a construction zone on the way home, and wound up coming home back roads, but it was fine. Probably only a few minutes longer than if I'd navigated the (new since the last time I went through there two weeks ago) traffic pattern correctly, and 7 Mile Rd is a nice drive when you're that far west.

We were able to cobble together enough people to work the election. The webinar we did a couple of weeks ago pointed out that I really should not chair the AVCB -- if BC should be unavailable on election day, I would need to step in to many of her duties because DC is not at all comfortable with them. The AVCB as constituted is qualified and well able to do the duties allotted to them without me there, but they are _required_ to have a Chair. (Thanks webinar provider! I don't like being Chair anyway, because I know that I will be called away to do "clerk-y" things.)

We got an email from someone who said that when they stopped by to put their ballot in the drop box, a pair of ballots that were not completely inserted into the slot on the drop box fell out. They said that we should "do something" about it! I can't fix stupid. If you're the kind of person who will just shove envelopes into a slot and drive away, would it help if there was a sign "be sure to insert your ballot completely into the slot"? We've been using this drop box since 2022, so five elections, and this is the first time we've had ballots not completely inserted.

And in things I cannot control, the USPS is being difficult. To be fair, it's one out of 1000, which is pretty good. Several of our voters go Up North for the summer. I checked with them all to determine where their ballots should be sent. One of them was returned with a Twp forwarding address. sigh. no, I'm pretty sure this person is at UpNorth address right now. So I emailed the voter and asked him to go poke the local PO so they'd not return his mail again. We've gotten other ballots back as not deliverable as addressed, but those are all on the voters who moved and didn't tell anyone but the PO. I have followed up with them using BoE procedures. (and this is why the voter rolls have "extra" voters on them. Federal law says we can't remove voters from the local rolls unless they tell us (in writing!) they've moved or it's been two Presidential election cycles since they last voted. there are procedures for deceased voters that don't take that long.)

Last night's LCCB concert went off quite well, especially when you consider that the band hadn't played in 3 weeks. I sight-read two pieces, and a couple of others I hadn't played on Bari for years! I still don't like the way DM does LaLa Land, but I think I've figured out how to count it.

The parenthesis is for the FCB concert scheduled for tonight, which has already been postponed due to weather uncertainty. They're pretty sure it's gonna rain tonight, but when it will start is (still!) unclear. Whether the concert actually happens on the tentative new date, we shall see. Now I have to decide if I'm actually going to put all of that gear away, or find a corner to stash it in until I need it. (Hey, I can run errands this afternoon, rather than Friday. I like that idea.)

We have gotten most of the ballots ready to mail. There are still a few left, but there's a (annoying) Zoom seminar that we're doing tomorrow afternoon, so I will finish up the ballots then, and get them to the PO on Friday. (I've looked at the slide set for the seminar. exactly two slides apply to me. I'm gonna take my tablet and run the seminar in the workroom while I stuff envelopes.)

And not something I could have fixed. County had, indeed, set my account up incorrectly. Once they fixed that, I was able to sign up for shifts. BC is somewhat annoyed that the TWP will have to pay me to work EV, but the agreement she signed with County says that we'll provide at least two supervisory shifts at TWP expense; and if she won't do it, I have to.

But now there's another Gaah! I can't get into the ballot portals at the state level, even though they're showing up at my State account page. And support is being really slow, so I gave them four hours of my time, and then came home. I'll go in tomorrow and rattle a few cages and see if I can get any response. There are other ways of getting at least one of the things I need, and if I can't get the other thing done in time because they can't fix their end, it's not my fault!

And in a related gaah!, the ballots came in from the printer while I was gone, and nobody knew they'd come in. sigh. DC didn't know to expect them, BC has gotten so used to someone else handling them that she didn't even think about it. (I think DT was the only one who saw the delivery, and all zie did was make sure they were delivered to the correct address.)

A successful trip, at least my part of it. Sis and I did our "Suzanne's Charming Daughters" thing, and people really liked it. Mum's friends kept telling us how much they enjoyed the Tea Party, and all of the other gatherings we attended over the four days I was there. I arrived late Saturday, had a brunch and a dinner on Sunday, Sis came in Monday and we had dinner on Monday, Tea Party and Happy Hour and Birthday Cake+Ice Cream on Tuesday (all separate events!). Wednesday, we had lunch on Mum's balcony, and then I came home. Mostly because the guest room I was staying in was unavailable Wednesday night, and there was nothing (except resting!) on the schedule for Wednesday afternoon. (I don't nap and there's very little interesting about watching other people nap; and it was already hot and sticky in NC.) The weather for driving was looking less bad Wednesday afternoon/evening than Thursday, so off I went....

On the home front, it did not go so well. J started a cold late last week, so spent much of the time I was gone sleeping it off, because he's got concerts Fri and Sat. *AND* the black cat, who decided that J belonged to him when the dog died in 2014 had to be put down on Monday due to a whole litany of things, but mostly old age. He was 20 years old, which is pretty close to ancient in cat-years. (we'd not had a cat make it past 15 until this current pair - the "kitten" is now 16.)

The first round of Bands vs. Weather went to Weather. I was going to miss the concert anyway, so I don't think I'll include it in the season, but the LCCB concert scheduled for Tuesday evening was cancelled due to probable rain; because even if it didn't rain, people don't come out to outdoor concerts if it looks like they'll get wet.

{edit for grammar. aigh.}

So much for a "week off". Well, that's not true. I am going to get one, but not until *after* the AV applications are mailed. Went in Tuesday to explain the Inspector list to BC/DC, and the ballot-proofing needed to be done. So BC and I did that. Yesterday, I went in around noon so I could monopolize the big printer without annoying anyone. The voter database was being more opaque than usual, so it took a few extra tries to get all the voters I needed. Then the ballot order form showed up "please return by noon Friday." JA, we didn't see this until Thursday afternoon! (not entirely zir fault - it was sent Wednesday AM, and BC/DC had spent Thursday morning meeting with the insurance appraiser and hadn't gotten to their email boxes yet.) So BC and I ordered ballots.

My mother called Wednesday morning -- her 95th birthday is June 9, and my sister said "I'm coming for a flying visit so we can have a Ladies' Tea Party". So Mum called to see if I could come down for it. hrm. Work activities are reminding people that they need to do their training and accepting AV applications; FCB has a rehearsal: LCCB has a concert; there's a Clerk's Association zoom, but I can skip that (not technically a clerk anymore). But the summer LCCB is free-form, and the sign-up sheet explicitly says that "you do not have to play every concert". So, yes, Mum, I can come down for your birthday party. A guest room at Pennybyrn was available, so I don't even have to find a hotel room! (Sis is crashing on Mum's sofa, or I'd do that.)

The strawberry plants that we moved last fall are very happy! They're tall with many stems and big leaves, and sending out many runners. The ones I moved last month are doing about as well as could be expected - they've gotten over the shock of being moved and are healthy but small. They will catch up. We put a fence around the strawberry bed because the neighbor's chickens had started to scratch in it. They've really started tearing up the ground next to the bricked flowerbed, and it's getting a little annoying. I've already mentioned it to A once, but apparently I need to do it again. I really shouldn't have to chase her chickens out of my yard multiple times a day.

This weekend, I'm going to go to the home improvement store and see what they have for my shady gardens. And maybe get some chicken wire.