Category — Uncategorized

Beorn had a pop-up playpen that we used for travel or hanging out in the kitchen. He didn’t mind it when I put down towels on the bottom or if it was over carpet, but he didn’t like to walk when he could feel a tile floor underneath. We didn’t use it that often.

We needed to get Quentin comfortable with the playpen so he could travel with us. He was terrified during the first attempt (tile floor underneath), so I got him a padded insert. It’s waterproof, so if he pees on the pad, it won’t sink through to a carpet. It folds up tiny and stores with the playpen.

Every morning, after I’m settled at work, I open the playpen next to me, and Quentin goes to work, too. He pushes his ball with his nose and explores for treats and talks to himself as he walks around. I tell him what I’m working on and ask him to help me brainstorm. We share vegetables during lunch. If he gets tired, he has a space to take a nap, grab some hay, or take a sip of water. At the end of the day, he goes back to his cage, and I pack up his portable office and store it away.

Best coworker ever.

I may like this game because the first time I played, I guessed the city in two guesses and about 30 seconds. (Hey! I know that beach.) The second time, I took all six guesses (Conakry, Guinea). But you will likely be able to guess the place because by the fifth guess, you’re looking at a map. So if you can identify a country on a map, you can generally get the place.

Enjoy!

Pre-COVID, I belonged to a silent book club. Meetings went like this: You had a small socializing period, then you silently read, and then you regrouped to talk about what you read. So a book club, but everyone chose their own book.

The format translated well to Zoom, and we took the club online for a year or two. We started the call with everyone going around saying what they were reading. Then we entered a period of silent reading. And then we all regrouped on the call to discuss what we just read. I got a lot of book recommendations that way, and I was always prepared to participate because I just brought whatever book I was reading.

The club fell apart when we tried to get back together in person. Oh well.

I recently read about the same concept (sort of) except with journaling. The idea would be that you’d start the meeting with a bit of socializing. Maybe talk about good things you’ve read or written since the last meeting. Then a prompt would be given, and everyone would write for twenty minutes. The end of the meeting would be coming back together to discuss the prompt and see how a single idea could be expressed so different depending on your experience or mindset. The host for the month would bring the writing prompt.

I’m kind of interested in starting my own group like this. What do you think? Blogging in real time?

I work from home, so I don’t really have someone looking over my shoulder at the screen, but I still appreciated that someone made a game spreadsheet. You can play popular games, like 2048 or Wordle from the spreadsheet.

Does it look real? No, not really. No one would believe that I would make such a hideous-looking spreadsheet. My spreadsheets are a colour-coded work of art. But it looks better than having Wordle open on your screen.

Enjoy.

Last Friday, we added a new member to our family.

Quentin Aeneas Chamisha is 5 1/2 weeks old; a very talkative, mellow tri-colour Teddy guinea pig. We brought him home last weekend, and he immediately started running around his cage, jumping from hay bowl to food dish to vegetables to toys, excitedly chattering as he checked out each item again and again.

He’s a little skittish because he’s a baby, but he’s slowly understanding the routines and has stopped jumping with every sound. He loves cuddling 100% of the time, though he’ll nip you or tug on your shirt if he needs to get down to pee.

His name. Quentin means five or fifth, and he came to our family in the fifth month and is our fifth family pet. His second middle name — Chamisha — means the same thing (five), and we usually call him Mish-Mesh (which means “apricot,” but sounds like that middle name). His first middle name, Aeneas, comes from Greek and Roman mythology/poetry, just because we like it.

It is hard not to have Beorn, and I often accidentally call Quentin “Beorn,” but we love Quentin in his own right. And it’s nice to have a baby again.