There are tons of burdock plants behind my building. For some reason the lawn care crew won’t touch them. They would have been easy to weedwack when they were small. They’re 4-5 feet tall now though and not so simple to get rid of.
I’m glad I have a short-haired dog. The dried burrs don’t stick to him.
Someone dumped strawberries on the sidewalk in front of my building. They’re so mummified that Thomas didn’t want to do more than sniff them.
There was a tornado warning last night, right after I took this photo. It was for the northwest corner of the county though. I’m in the northeast corner of the county, so I wasn’t too concerned. But we got a hell of a light show, and swirling pink spots on the radar passed north and south of us. I could hear hail plinking against the windows.
I’m dragging my ass today, because the storm kept me up way past my bedtime.
Air quality is much better today. Yesterday it was hard to breathe. But now we have storms to the north and incoming from the southwest, and the sky is a blanket of grey.
Today’s genealogy rant: Someone on Reddit posted that they looked at the FamilySearch tree, and they’re descended from nobility. They listed out 30 generations and wanted someone else to verify all of them. Bless their heart. That is a doctoral dissertation worth of research, and no one (NO ONE!) wants to do random homework assignments from the internet.
My zinnias are making progress. I’m still salty that the deer ate my daylilies, but there are other things that will be blooming soon.
I love these cute, little pinecones. they’re maybe an inch tall, at most? Adorable.
I woke up to this in my email this morning.
I got a whopping 3% cost of living raise, which is more than we got last year. I work for the state, so this is normal. Merit raises for support staff are not a thing. My rent and bills have increased, of course, as has health insurance. With a 3% raise I’m effectively making less this year than last year.
I don’t know how this new round of loan forgiveness will play out, obviously. I hate this rollercoaster. I know I’ve been looking at my budget and wondering what the hell I’m going to do when student loan payments restart next month. If this really happens it will be amazing, despite the fact that I live in one of those shithole states that decided to tax student loan forgiveness. Paying taxes on the forgiven portion will still be better than trying to figure out how to pay off a balance that is now more than twice the amount I originally borrowed.
The sky was beautiful again this morning. And it’s my Friday! No work tomorrow.
I made a giant batch of veggie scrambled eggs, so I have breakfasts for the rest of the week. I just sautéed frozen riced cauliflower with green onions, bell pepper, portobello mushrooms, and spinach, then added eggs. Salt and pepper to taste. I usually line the dish with a whole wheat tortilla, add the veggie eggs, and top with shredded cheese. Sometimes I also add a veggie sausage on top, if I’m feeling fancy. They reheat really well in the microwave.
So breakfast is sorted, and I don’t have to think about it for the rest of the week.
red paper boat 