Ramblings of a rural(ish) geek

Gaah! the first solved

2026-06-18T20:44:42Z

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.)

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gaah!

2026-06-17T17:17:29Z

I have not run into anything this opaque in a long time. I need to schedule days to work early voting (because BC Will Not. and DC Cannot, and County is asking every participating jurisdiction to provide two days of coverage). I did not forward the email from my work email to home, and it's so very unclear how to sign up for days. I have submitted my unavailables, which is about all I can do without the instructions in the email. I'll have to do the rest of it from work tomorrow. (Yes, I could, theoretically, set up access to my work email from home, but I donwanna. And I couldn't do that until tomorrow anyway.)
(It's also possible that County has not set up my account with the correct eligibility, and the reason those shift aren't showing up on my schedule is that the app doesn't know that I'm eligible to work them. Again, that's something I can't check until tomorrow when I have the County email addresses readily available.)

And next week we're supposed to mail ballots. But we can't mail them until we test that they will work with the tabulators. But I can't run the test by myself, and BC will not be in the office on Monday. I will need to see if someone else can come in to help. And then BC and DC have a morning meeting on Tuesday and an afternoon meeting on Wednesday, and we all have an afternoon Zoom on Thursday. I think I'll take my tablet in on Thursday and watch the Zoom while I'm stuffing ballots into mailing envelopes.

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back from Pennybyrn!

2026-06-11T18:10:16Z

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.}

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round one of election stuff done

2026-06-05T14:32:23Z

I have handed custody of/responsibility for the training spreadsheet to DC. Most people on the list need to be reminded to do their training before the end of June if they want to work the election in August. The twp election commission met (5 minutes! because they'd all read the materials beforehand), and I was able to get official confirmation of an AVCB to the County. I have delivered the tray of AV applications to the PO. I have opened the official Election Materials drop box, and let the office manager know so that she can check it when she goes to the Township drop box next to it.

Tomorrow, I drive to NC. Sunday I will do very little, and then Sis shows up Monday and the festivities begin. (mostly food, some light adventuring. Mum is 95, after all, and it will be hot in NC.) Today, I pack. And do laundry. :)

Yesterday (Thursday) was the first day all week I'd been home in the afternoon/evening. I am, understandably, way behind on the things I usually do then. Like laundry. And weeding. (I haven't had any time to weed since Sunday. OTOH, we've not gotten any rain in over two weeks, so I may not have been able to pull any weeds anyway.)

Tuesday afternoon I got a message from section leader at Livingston "for Reasons, can you swap back to bari for the summer?" It was 4pm when I got home from work, so I didn't have a lot of time to get the music together. And the printer is misbehaving somewhat. Fortunately, I keep all of the music I've printed out for LCCB, so mostly what I had to do was go through the files. I only had to print four or five new pieces. One of which I had to outsource to J and the OLC printer in the basement because the page that came out of this printer was very hard to read.

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Late May natter

2026-05-29T14:19:53Z

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.

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catching my breath

2026-05-22T20:21:58Z

Many things have finished.

The FCB concert last Sunday went really well. There were many very nice comments shared with us afterwards. J says the space is difficult to record in because the sound wraps around the audience, and that's a thing that cannot be captured in two (or four) channels. We tried a new set up, and Maestro said "YES! Do that next time!". So now I know. (there will be a slight modification, though - the BSaxes will not be so close to the altar, as I kept banging Lily into the steps.)

I got the reimbursement form for the May election filled out, and tracked down all the timesheets/expense sheets that I had. BC (or DC, I think) needs to sign it and then it can be sent off to County. I have built a timeline for the August election, but I may actually get a couple of days off (when all I have to do is Inbox, it's silly for me to go in). I have set up email forwarding so I know if anything election-related comes in. [BC and I spent an hour on the phone with ST's election clerk as she was moaning about how Bureau of Elections was giving her a hard time about her election records. I very carefully did not say "well, they're right. You screwed up, and your records are wrong." BoE is *also* incorrect, because it's not QVF that's wrong, it's Election Records that are wrong. (There are three ways to handle record-keeping for AV ballots, and they are not compatible. She chose to do a mix of two of them. That way lies madness.)]

Tuesday evening I wandered off to LCCB rehearsal. gah. what a free-for-all. We had the wrong version of a tune sent to the saxes; the layout was messy because people said they'd show up and didn't; the librarians didn't upload a piece; the percussion section was missing half their music (because they were missing a section lead who prints the music), etc. OTOH, I'm playing the smaller sax this summer, which I approve of. (I usually prefer playing BSax, but not in summer band.) I was making stupid mistakes during sight reading, undoubtedly due to tired music brain (FCB concert on Sunday, FCB sight-reading on Monday).

I have been working in the flower gardens as I have time, but I haven't really had time this week. I think today's project will be the grass in the door-side garden. Sunday, after the rain goes past, I hope to get into the E garden, but it may only be the edges I'll get to. There's plenty of weeds to be pulled even if I can't step into it, though.

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Mid May natter

2026-05-15T15:29:45Z

It's been too chilly to weed -- there was ice in the birdbath Monday and Tuesday mornings! The pansies I got at church on Mother's Day are waiting to be planted, which should get done this afternoon when it "warms up" to 65F. And they tell us it will be 80 tomorrow, and 85+ on Monday.

The cats are sulking about the weather. It's been either chilly and sunny, or cool and overcast. And very little rain this month. I really should go set the sprinkler on the strawberry bed.

The shed is mostly done, and pretty much full. (What's left is stuff that's much easier to do when it's warm.) J filled up the shed so fast that I barely had time to move the birdseed stuff away from my car. I've been unable to open the back doors of the Camry all the way because there was nowhere else to put the cans of birdseed. It was really annoying. (The Fusion was a bit narrower and the doors were not as wide so that wasn't an issue.) Somehow he decided that the garden cart that I use multiple times a week "went" into the back of the shed (and didn't tell me), and then he stacked stuff on it. sigh. Took me nearly 10 minutes to find and extract it on Monday. I stacked all the stuff onto the lawnmower....

I must remember to take seat dots on Sunday. The FCB concert is in an off-site venue and the set up will be different. Maestro has been telling us that the layout will be different, so maybe people won't fuss too much. (yeah, right.) IF I'd had my wits about me, I'd have done a test run of layout at rehearsal on Monday.

We got a notice from the State Bureau of Elections that the voter history from the May 5 election hadn't been updated. I replied and told them that I couldn't help because we had no EPB data to update because we didn't have any physical voters and to contact ST. We were kind of unhappy with ST's election team anyway, and this is just one more thing that they didn't do in a timely manner!! (We never did get a Notice of Election from them, despite both BC and me texting and emailing. I didn't find one posted on their website, nor published in their Paper of Record. I borrowed E Lansing's, making the appropriate changes.)

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nattering for May

2026-05-09T17:54:13Z

The wrap up for the May election is just about done. I need to do the reimbursement forms, but I need to find out if County needs the actual timesheets or just a list of hours. If they need a timesheet, then I can't submit the forms until next month, as there's 24 hours for DC on her May timesheet that doesn't get paid until June. I will then be down to just a couple of hours a week until we start spinning up for the August election. In June. (should probably set up forwarding for election emails so I don't miss anything.)

I got half a dozen strawberry plants moved. I did not move the ones that had flowers on them. Maybe we'll get a few strawberries this year! (I will trim off any flowers on the new plants, as they should put their effort into growing roots/leaves rather than fruit.) I did weed around the ones I didn't move. Got another garden weeded, but I really need to get into the E garden this weekend -- I weeded the edge last week, where I could reach without stepping in, but that's only a couple of feet. There's a lot of weeds left in the middle of that bed, and it's now dry enough that I can step into it without packing the soil.

This afternoon is a trip into A2 for the UMS usher party. whee? Food will be good, conversation will be good, timing is kinda meh (mid afternoon on a spring Saturday?), but they have to work around when venues and/or catering are available. I can run a few errands on the way home, so it won't be a single purpose trip.

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It's May?!

2026-05-03T15:17:15Z

BC and DC get to spend F-S-M-T at the office as required by state election law. whee? As I am not clerk nor clerk-in-training/DC, I do not have to be there. They are planning on using most of that time to sort files and update their training because we will all be surprised if anyone stops in. I will be in on Tuesday as usual, and probably another run up to ST with ballots because people don't read. (Monday I have two FCB jaunts -- a site survey and rehearsal. Whee?)

I spent Friday doing household tasks that had dropped off my list while I was helping J with the shed. (Sunday was roof, Monday was floor, Wednesday was trim, Thursday was door; or something like that.) Wednesday's errands were run late in the day. It seems that Wednesdays in general are good for going to Costco. I usually get there late morning and it's not crowded, but at least last week it wasn't bad in the early evening either. Yesterday was a church function in the AM and then SEMGS. (I actually went! I didn't have four things in three days, nor a sinus headache or a cranky back. It was weird.) It was chilly and damp so I was glad of a reason to not work outside.

Thursday afternoon, I worked in the E garden. I should finish that bit off today when it warms up, and then get out to the hibiscus garden. Maybe move a few more strawberry plants -- some of the smaller ones I didn't move last fall didn't die off over the winter, and there's now space for them in the new bed. We may have to fence the new strawberry bed to keep the dratted chickens out of it. boo. (The slightly bigger thumb/wrist brace actually helped, so that's a good thing. I usually don't like that one because it interferes with a lot of everyday stuff, but it's good for garden work.)

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It's raining!

2026-04-24T20:18:18Z

not very hard right now, but they tell us that it will continue for the next 12 hours or so. OTOH, it really hasn't rained since last week, and J and his band of helpers got the shed framed and sheathed before the rain started. This weekend, we get to shingle and paint and wait for it to settle enough to put the floor down.

I have ushered two UMS concerts since I last wrote -- a string quartet concert at Rackham Auditorium, and a solo pianist at Hill Auditorium, both very good. Now the UMS season is done. I missed most of the spring concerts due to my own performance schedule. The one concert that I was available to usher was cancelled by the performers. (OK, there were some shows that I had little-to-no interest in, and they'd have to actually pay me to usher.)

I have been working in the garden the last few days, and my right thumb hurts halfway up the forearm. I know why, and I also know that there's nothing to be done for it, other than to not weed. Which really isn't an option.

The neighbor's chickens have been wallowing in my strawberry bed. As long as that's all they do, and they continue to do it at the end where the plants died over the winter, I guess I'm OK with it. The chickens aren't supposed to get out, but they have three kids under 10, and one or more of them cannot/cannot remember to latch the chicken door.

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Finally no rain.

2026-04-17T14:30:51Z

at least for a while. We've gotten 3" this week, and 6" for the month. Yeah, it's a bit soggy out there. At least our ground had already thawed and the snow all melted, or we'd be like the northern part of MI, with flooding and washouts and dams being overtopped or just failing. There was a tornado in A2 on Tuesday night -- we just got storm and straight-line winds. No-one was physically hurt as far as I know. (I saw someone complaining that the tornado siren woke them up. Um, er. Isn't that the point?)

I have a lot of branches to pick up, all over the yard. And it would be a good time to pull stems from the gardens without stepping into the really soft ground. J ripped out 2/3 of the (oh so overgrown!) forsythia clump, so I need to do some remediation over there as well. I need to ask him to get the cottonwood saplings out of the shrubberies behind the garage.

J has finished his project for someone else, so now he begins the project for us. The small plastic storage shed we put up over a decade ago had started to really fall apart, so he's replacing it with a sturdier, larger one. The parts and plans will show up next week sometime, and then the work begins.

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still raining

2026-04-10T13:44:15Z

and chilly today. It was warm yesterday, but it's been on the cool side for April most of the week. (I wore my winter jacket to rehearsal on Monday. Good thing I did, because it was snowing when we came out.) I ran errands on Wednesday in the nice weather because I don't like doing them in the rain, especially when I've got a stop at donation centers on the list. I got into the garden yesterday after work for weeding. In a garden I haven't really worked on in a couple of years, so I didn't get a large area done. It will take a long time to finish the spring garden work at that pace, but I will eventually get into areas that don't need as much work.

We've had three voters drop their ballots at the township hall, even though the envelope clearly says STH. We've also had three voters return their unvoted ballots to STH, telling the clerk there that "I don't live in ST, I don't vote in ST." So I wrote up a letter saying "Yes, you *do* vote in ST for school elections. Here's your ballot again. We sent you a letter in early March telling you that there would be a ST school election." and re-sent their ballots. Another 2oz stamp and a trip to the PO because people won't read their mail, or contact either township hall. (At least now I know that a ballot envelope + mailing envelope weighs 2oz, so I don't have to wait in line, I can just drop it in the box at the PO.)

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and now it rains....

2026-04-04T17:24:07Z

The temperatures are still wild (highs last week were everywhere from 40F to 65F), but it's been damp and/or actually raining for many of those days. The Tigers home opener was played on a lovely 70F sunny day, Today is not so nice -- 55 and rain. I was able to get a little bit of garden work done early in the week before everything got soaked, but now it's too wet to do anything. I can't even rake up branches! (the light weight leaf rake digs in).

We finally got the ballots mailed for the May election last week. They were supposed to be mailed the week before, but I didn't have them -- they were late getting to the 'host' jurisdiction, and thus were late to me. But they're in the mail now. We'll see how many get dropped at the township hall even though the envelope says Stockbridge.

The desk refinishing has stalled due to the damp weather -- we should be able to get the final finish on it tomorrow as long as it doesn't rain. Not an expected job by any means. We pulled the desk out of the basement and realised that the desk top finish was wrecked because it had had a fishtank on it for a decade (or more). J sanded the old finish off, and I've been working on getting it stained. There was some inconsistency in the way the stain went on initially, so it took a couple of extra days to get that remedied. It's by no means perfect, but it will be usable once we get a topcoat on it.

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still spring in the Upper Midwest.

2026-03-27T17:52:34Z

which is to say "there will be weather". Whether it makes sense or not is something else. Yesterday morning, it was 35F when I went to work. Yesterday at 3pm it was 70F and I had some windows open. This morning at 8am it was 26F (yes, I'd closed the windows when it started to cool off yesterday). On the plus side, at least it didn't rain or snow or wintry mix. It's still below freezing at 1pm, but it is at least mostly sunny. The cats are glaring at the cold outside while sitting in sunbeams.

The daffodils are showing buds, and a couple of them may open today, but I won't be surprised if they don't. There will most certainly be daffodils blooming by Sunday. There are still more branches down in the yard, but I'm going to go pick them up tomorrow, or maybe even Sunday. Today is "move crap in the basement"(*) day, and I can't do both. I also have to go pick up cat meds.

* -- A desk that's been in the corner is going to work because it's a better size for me to run an election on than the table I've been using, and so I have to rearrange that space. And sort out stuff to Just Go Away. I took four boxes away earlier in the week, and there's another box for the Friends of the Library sale. (which they're not accepting until next week, so it's in the living room.) I need to ask my sister if she wants the "Cool-est" cooler that she Kickstarted and then they wouldn't ship to Alaska. It's been in my basement since Mum moved to NC. (Sis hasn't driven to the CONUS since Mum got it.) There's also Grandma K's china that I want out of my basement -- I already have Gramma B's china, I don't need two sets of 1930's Federal/Montgomery Ward china!

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sheesh

2026-03-20T14:23:40Z

weather whiplash, anyone? We avoided the snow portion of the last weather system, but we still got wild temperature swings. 70F coming home from the FCB concert on Sunday evening, 13F when I went out to feed the birds on Tuesday morning. And wind! the power was out when we got home from the concert, and there's many more branches down. I may go out and pick them up today, but tomorrow looks to be better weather for that -- it's still breezy and damp today. The deck box got blown out of its corner last week, and then Monday it got blown over by a particularly strong gust of wind. The corner has separated, and I'll have to go out tomorrow and see if it's broken or if it just came apart.

J has been spending a lot of time in A2, putting new floors in a friend's new condo. (he works cheap, and he's out of big projects around the house.)

The FCB concert on Sunday went really well. It was Video Game music, and JL put together a video stream to go with the music. Set up and tear down went pretty well, considering that we had to clear the stage after the stage rehearsal on Friday. We did not have to clear it after the concert, although they did ask us to put the percussion away. Monday we started working on music for the May concert. (One piece from earlier in the season, one piece from the Video Game concert, a few brand new pieces, a couple that we've not done for a while, and a Cello sonata. "Something for everyone" says the Maestro.)

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Welcome to March in the upper midwest.

2026-03-13T17:02:21Z

Last Sunday morning it was 55F and sunny. We had snowflakes Sunday evening. Now they're telling us that we will probably have snow accumulating on Sunday morning before the temperature rises to around 60F. Today it's not quite 40F and very windy with occasional bursts of precipitation. The cushion box on the deck has been blowing around, and the freestanding fire pit is now in the pond. Lots of branches down, but I'm not going to deal with them until tomorrow when it's warmer and less windy. I was going to do laundry today, but the washer does not deal well with power flickers, so I think that, too, will wait until tomorrow.

We do have crocuses and snowdrops in the doorside garden. Wednesday morning I saw that the reticulated irises in the E garden had bloomed (they were green stems on Monday am). The crocuses close up when it gets cold/rainy/snowy, so they'll be fine tomorrow. The irises, on the other hand... The ones that have not been eaten by bunnies have been shredded by the wind and rain. :( The daffodil patches in the NW garden are about 4" tall green stems, but it's another couple of weeks before they usually bloom, and right now they're very sturdy.

I saw redwinged blackbirds in the yard Wednesday morning. I'd heard them carrying on earlier in the week, but hadn't seen them on the ground/at the feeders/bathing until Wednesday.

Monday, the township hall hosted an election 'equipment certification day' for the west side of the county. (and by hosted, I mean that someone at the county said "we'd like to do Thing at this Place on Thisdate. Any objections?") I had no idea what to expect, not having done Thing before (it's periodic, and the last one was before I started at the township), so we were somewhat unprepared. (Turns out that I needed to haul folding tables in from the shed and move tables and chairs in the boardroom, as well as prepare all of our equipment.) I was able to pull a lot of things out of storage and put them into the shredding bin, so that was nice. I got the storage area more organized, as well.

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Not quite winter anymore....

2026-03-06T14:26:17Z

Chilly and damp, but no new snow since Sunday. It rained yesterday - never really hard, but we got over an inch by the time it stopped. Most of the snow has melted -- only the remnants of snowpiles, and the drifts in shaded areas. The cats are not terribly pleased with this -- they want *dry* weather, thankyouverymuch.

The sandhill cranes are back - they were in the yard on Sunday morning when I went out to fill the birdbath/hang the birdfeeders. I haven't seen them yet today, but they sometimes get a late start when it's dreary.

DC was out sick this week, so I got to do her things as well as mine (payroll and filing, mostly). I had to have J come in and put on his IT hat so I could get software installed on my computer. sigh.

Rehearsals for the next LCCB session started this week. I will not be playing that concert (the Farmington concert is at the same time!), but I've been asked to play tenor for a few weeks to get the new guy familiar with the music. They have Jerry Bilik coming in to work with them in April, so I'll stay through that, then step away until late May. Section leader thinks I may be playing TSax this summer.

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Late winter, snow and cold

2026-02-27T14:09:15Z

at least some of the time.

Woke up Sunday to 2"+ of fresh snow, and it continued to snow all day and in to Monday AM. By the time it was done, we had over 4" of snow on the ground. And then it got cold (12F Tuesday AM + 1" snow, 9F Thursday AM). Today will be much warmer (they're saying mid-50s), then we're back into "seasonal" temperatures.

The LCCB concert went pretty well. The quiet part worked out well. I played a little bit louder than I had been, and it seemed to balance well. The BC player got off by a couple of beats in Variations, so I had to choose whether I went with her or the upper winds.

other than that, a lot of same ol', same ol'. No yard work going on, except branch picking and birdbath leveling.

Digging through the boxes of stuff to be filed at work (catching up on *years* of clearing out files). They've got a guy in to design/spec a new office set up for us, so we're waiting on that. Getting new DC trained up and familiar with all the stuff she'll be doing.

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Still winter, sort of.

2026-02-21T17:52:51Z

Very little snow left on the ground (just remnants of the really big piles), and it got warm during the week -- above 50F! sun! Also rain! and wind! Yesterday (Friday), though, the weather changed. Chilly, damp, windy, ice accumulating on the grass and the decks. Today at least it's not precipitating or blowing, but it's still very damp, and my back is quite unhappy with it. (I had to run errands on Friday, and even though I was properly dressed, it still bothered my spine.)

The cats appreciated the warm & sunny days, but were very annoyed with me yesterday and today. Sorry, guys, I don't like it either!

LCCB concert coming up on Sunday. There is one passage that I will be sitting out -- the guy who doesn't know how to play soft (CI) is playing it wrong and thus making those of us who are playing it correctly sound wrong. It's annoying. And then there's another passage where the part is written "one only, pp". At rehearsal Tuesday, DM asked another section to play cues, rather than just having me play p or mp. hmph! We'll see how that works on Sunday - I expect we'll run that section as part of the sound check to see what the balance is. I mean, I'd rather have someone else playing cues than have CI flailing, loudly, at it, but if I can make it work by just playing a little louder....

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Still winter, not so cold.

2026-02-13T20:43:05Z

It's actually gotten above freezing three days this week! And the sun's been out at least part of the time, so there's been a lot of melting. The cats are still not trusting it, though. Ji's been glaring at the snow on the deck, and Belle has been trotting over to the door and coming to a quick halt when she gets a face full of chilly breeze.

Letters to voters have been dropped at the PO. The county 'intermediate' school district (a county level administration) next to us is having a bond election, and we have about 350 voters who live in our jurisdiction and are in *that* school district. (School district borders do not always follow municipal borders.) As there are so few of them, state Bureau of Elections policy is that those voters will vote at the other polling place. So we have to let the voters know that.

Next week's LCCB rehearsal is in a different space because the room we've been using will be unavailable. The light will be better (it's the space we used to rehearse in), but it's somewhat unclear how much *room* we'll actually have even though the room is larger. The recent bond issue allowed them to purchase all new percussion/large brass, and there's lots of boxes/large items in the room. And the building is under renovation (why we're not there this year), so access will be much less straightforward than usual.

Capricon last weekend was good. The new space is a new space, and there's some idiosyncrasies that need to be worked around. The hotel restaurant is pretty good, and convenient. GT was actually *not* the last party open on Friday night when KN closed the room at 1am. I think it was the last party open on Saturday, but we closed the room at 4am. I did not make it to any program items (as usual).

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Still winter, still cold.

2026-01-30T17:01:34Z

I skipped FCB rehearsal on Monday -- FPS decided that after school activities could go on as scheduled (they'd cancelled school because the DOT hadn't finished plowing the roads at 5am, by 3pm most roads were at least passable); but it was going to be two-swear-word cold by the time I got out of rehearsal, much less got home 60 minutes later, and I'd been getting "road closure due to crash" messages all afternoon on all of the main routes. I decided to follow the first rule of Winter Driving, which is "don't".

LCCB rehearsal was cancelled on Tuesday afternoon, as the director and president kept getting emails from people saying that they weren't going to make it to rehearsal because they were still snowed in (Livingston County is really slow about getting the secondary and back roads plowed). And it was going to be one(very strong!)-swear-word cold at the end of rehearsal.

But the work of elections and local government goes on, so off I trundled, extra mug of hot water in the bag so I could have not-coffee-flavored tea. (True, I *could* put a kettle in the kitchen, but I'm the only one who'd use it, and it's easier to put hot water in a travel mug.)

The cats have been pleased with the sunbeams to sleep in -- Annabelle has been snoring in a sunbeam for much of the last week. Ji comes into the south room to bask for a while, but then goes back to sleep in his nest on the bed. After glaring at the snow-covered outside.

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Hey, it's Friday. How did that happen?

2026-01-23T17:54:06Z

one day at a time, as usual. But still....

no FCB rehearsal on Monday because the schools were closed for MLK Jr Day. It's possible that the schools would've been closed anyway, although the weather wasn't as bad here as it was on the west side of the state.

Wednesday evening, I ushered a terrific concert at Hill Auditorium. Orquestra Sinfonica Mineria (from Mexico City) did a concert featuring mostly Latin American composers. (They played at Hill a couple of years ago, and they are just so much fun! Very good players, the music is well chosen, and they seem to have fun playing it.) The first half of the concert featured an outstanding trumpet player, who played Haydn's First Trumpet Concerto and a d'Rivera Trumpet Concerto (there were eight different trumpets on stage, and he played all of them at one point or another). The second half was Latin composers, and had two pieces that I've played (Ginastera's Estancia and Marquez' Danzon No 2). I've been humming Danzon ever since

Today, it is cold (-1F before wind chill). It's very pretty outside, all snow-covered and clear, but it's much better enjoyed from inside a warm house. :) Jiji is sulking because it's snow-covered, and is disdaining the warm spot in a sunbeam with a view of the outside, preferring his nest on the bed. Annabelle doesn't mind that it's snow-covered, and is sleeping in a cozy bed in a sunbeam (one of her usual spots).

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another week goes by

2026-01-16T22:31:56Z

A return email from Ingham Elections led me to emailing the SCS clerk. After a couple of days of phone tag, I stopped by their office this morning and chatted with their election coordinator. They just did one of these "non Opt-in" elections last year, so they're much more familiar with how it works than we are. It's not going to be quite as easy as giving them all the information, but it's less complicated than BC feared. They'll provide ballots/mailing envelopes/etc, and we'll issue ballots. They can 'receive' the ballots, but the way the database is set up they cannot 'issue' AV ballots. I think the worst part of it is that we have to hold office hours the weekend before the election, and someone has to be at the office until 8pm on Election Day. BC will attempt to make it more complicated than that, but hopefully DC and I can defuse that a bit.

Rehearsals are less sight-reading and more working on things. Livingston is a bit more ambitious than usual, and it's disconcerting some members. Farmington's repertoire is less ambitious than usual, but that means that we need to be better at wringing the music out of it.

In the "department for minor annoyances", my Costco card is somewhere 'safe'. It's easy enough to get a temporary card, or even a new card if I can't find the current one, but it's annoying. I've checked wallet, purse, trouser, and jacket pockets. Next up is the pile of reusable shopping bags in the car, and then the floor of the car. If I still can't find it, I'll get a new card (and then the current card will show up, because that's how that works).

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Four things -- I guess it's a post. :)

2026-01-10T18:11:11Z

Two days of sight reading is hard on the brain. Add in going back to work after a couple of weeks away, and I have been a bear of very little brain most of the week (except at work, I hope).

There was a message from County Elections when I got in on Tuesday "your reimbursement numbers don't match. why?" The answer to that, I am afraid, was my error. Two of them, even! A random number entry error that I managed to commit every time I added up the column, and a missing timesheet that made it hard to reconcile. But I tracked down the missing timesheet and fixed my math error and everything is now correct! whee!!

Also on Tuesday, a different email from County Elections about a possible May election for less than 400 of our residents-- how much work we'll need to do for it is very unclear at the moment. The school elections contract we have with Ingham County says that we may be responsible for administering the AV portion of the vote, but it's not at all clear *how* we are to do that. I have asked Ingham County Elections for clarification. (In a perfect world, all we'd need to do is provide Ingham County/SCS with voter information and they'll take it from there, but I doubt it'll be that easy.) At the very least, we'll have to notify affected voters about the election and that they will not be voting at the Twp Hall, but we can't do that until we know how IC/SCS wants us to handle it. So we hurry up and wait.

The weather has been very odd. Very warm for January, rain and wind. The piles of snow in the yard are long gone, most parking lot snow piles are gone as well. The pond is almost completely melted -- the remaining ice "sheet" is about a quarter of the pond surface. I've put a couple of armloads of branches on the burn pile since the wind let up, and there's still more to pick up. But it's much colder today than it was yesterday, and I didn't have my gloves on, so I only did one load today. And it has just begun to snow. (probably not going to stick, but it is indeed snowing.)

The cats are displeased by the weather --they both want to go out when it's not raining or snowing, but it's been cold and/or windy. This morning, Annabelle meowed and scratched at the side door until I let her out. A couple of minutes later, she was at the back door wanting in. It takes her about two minutes to get from the side door to the back door...

(edit for grammar. sigh)

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A quiet holiday.

2026-01-04T14:17:13Z

We did not have a white Christmas, although we have snow now. Sang and rang bells at church on Christmas Eve. EC (the new church pianist) sang a solo. Sunday church was Lessons and Carols, which are a lot of work for the songleader. Thursday (yes, New Year's Day), I trundled off to church to do some setup for the women's group event -- moved furniture, set up tables for registration & food, set up a couple of small seating areas, got assigned a speaking role for the event ("here, read this on Saturday"), etc. Saturday I got up early and made cornbread 'gems', then went over to actually do the event. I was not in charge of anything other than song leading (I like when that happens). I spent time chatting with people I've been emailing for a decade, and talking about the history of the church. Then we spent an hour moving everything back/doing dishes/taking the trash out/etc.

I am staying home today -- it's the first Sunday since mid-November that I haven't had at least one thing I needed to do.

Friday I ran proper errands for the first time since before Christmas, although I bailed on Costco. There was nothing on my list that I need that badly. It can all wait 'til next week.

J wandered off to Ishercon on Monday, so it was just me and the cats for most of the week.

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