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The case of the missing notifications

I keep forgetting to post about this: we've been troubleshooting the "missing notifications" problem for the past few days. (Well, I say "we", really I mean Mark and Robby; I'm just the amanuensis.) It's been one of those annoying loops of "find a logical explanation for what could be causing the problem, fix that thing, observe that the problem gets better for some people but doesn't go away completely, go back to step one and start again", sigh.

Mark is hauling out the heavy debugging ordinance to try to find the root cause. Once he's done building all the extra logging tools he needs, he'll comment to this entry. After he does, if you find a comment that should have gone to your inbox and sent an email notification but didn't, leave him a link to the comment that should have sent the notification, as long as the comment itself was made after Mark says he's collecting them. (I'd wait and post this after he gets the debug code in but I need to go to sleep and he's not sure how long it will take!)

We're sorry about the hassle! Irregular/sporadic issues like this are really hard to troubleshoot because it's impossible to know if they're fixed or if they're just not happening while you're looking. With luck, this will give us enough information to figure out the root cause for real this time.

(no subject)

Feeling happy and curatorial this week, I restarted Wedding Wednesday and Footwear Friday on Bsky/Tumblr (and will get back to Miniature Monday as well): they've always been opportunities to practice clear but elegant label-writing, nd now I need that more than I have in several years.

I'm also psyched to eventually meet up with the Western NY Costuming Community after so many years of just not being near any groups. They're having a literary-themed picnic in early June and that will be mere weeks after I move out there, so I CANNOT try to make something, but at the same time I am so itching to do it. No!!! By now I don't think I have anything historical that fits ... Well, actually, I have a ca. 1908 blouse I made for everyday wear (except it looks way too frumpy as modern dress), and surely I could put together a walking skirt and be like "this is for The Secret Garden". And just be without a corset because the blouse is loose enough for it not to be too horrendously obvious.

Also having my usual "moving to a new place, is this when I finally get started with the SCA?" feelings. Thescorre has a lot going on.

several days

I had posted on Monday that it didn't feel like a monday (as it was a holiday)

my entry for Tuesday was "but today did. It was one of those days when I was tired all day and couldn't focus on work. Nothing interesting to report about it."

In contrast Wednesday's was: "now that is better. My equilibrium/ability to focus was back. I went to work, worked productively on the bus, and at work, and once home did some pre-packing for this weekend's trip to Crown Tourney before heading to choir practice.

It was the first time I had been since before Easter (and only the third time at all). Since my second week at choir was the last practice before their Easter performances at the church (which I wasn't willing to participate in, in part because too new to the songs, but mostly because church/religious songs), it wasn't as fun as my first visit to them. However, today's choir was much better--now that the pesky religious holiday is out of the way, they are working on traditional Swedish songs in praise of spring, many of which I already know from having sung with the choir in Luleå, so it was just a fun evening again. I guess I will keep going."

and for today (Thursday): a visit from my apprentice. While we were in Luleå last weekend Kakwkylla gave me some honey for Astrid, so today, after dropping her small child off at pre-school Astrid came here, and we worked together, with occasional breaks for snacks. It was really nice. I am, of course, trying to convince them that they want to buy one of the houses for sale in Lövånger. Astrid likes the idea, but convincing Josef might take more work.

Our flight tomorrow morning leaves at 06:00, so we need to be packed and ready before getting a nap tonight, so I will post this and get to work.

it doesn't feel like a Monday

T oday Keldor finished putting up the last of the drywall between the downstairs loo and laundry room, and installed the ventilation tube between the wall and the ventilation box with the fan. Since he wanted the spackel he put up between the dry wall and the original wall to dry reasonably quickly he built a fire in the wood stove in the laundry room. This prompted me to clean the stove (before he lit the fire), and scrub and oil the baking plate from that oven. Then, when the oven had heated to level 2, I baked a batch of scones in the wood fired oven. This is the first time we have used it, and I am pleased that it worked. I hope we are never in situation where we can’t use electricity to cook at home, but if we are, and there is something to burn, we can cook. (the stove tops also get hot enough to cook—I put the Pyrex bowl with butter on top of the stove while the biscuits were baking, and had to take it off before the rolls were done, as the butter was not only melted, but bubbling)

In addition to baking with wood fire, I also did the painting for both his and my banners (Keldor arms silk painting and Kareina arms silk painting)

Sunday adventures

Keldor woke me more than normal when he came in at 03:30 because he was so cold. He didn’t mean to wake me, but his legs and hips felt to me like he had been sitting in a snow bank before coming to bed.

It took a bit to fall back asleep, but he warmed up reasonably quickly after i added the extra blanket over our doona.

I slept in till after 07:00, so when I went downstairs Styrmir, Kakwkylla, and their dogs were already awake. My hips were aching, so I did some pliaties.

By the time I finished Alfarinn and Ranghild were up, and I picked back up sewing, as did Ranghild.

It was a a pleasant morning of company and projects. When brunch was served at 09:00 I woke Keldor to see if he wanted some. Yes, yes he did.

Just before noon we left and stopped by Kjartan and Caroline’s, where she was hosting a sewing afternoon for friends in her Middle Eastern dance troop, including Frida, the Archaeologist I worked with on the dig at Kirua. While I hubg out and xhatted with David, Keldor enjoyed chatting Norrland Archaeology with Frida. I would have enjoyed that conversation, too, but it was so good to see David, so I can’t mind missing it.

We spent perhaps 15 minutes or a half an hour there before continuing south. On the way home we dropped the Shire stuff we’d used at JMBards at the storage, and measured the space so now we know how much bigger is my preferred option for moving the storage to.

Once home we set up the pavilion he washed last week, and determined the new poles are about 20 cm longer than they need to be.

In the evening I finally traced Keldor’s arms onto the silk for his new banner

a visit to Luleå

After my morning zoom call with my sisters I finished and sent my letter, and echoed it to my blog, by which time it was already closing on 10:00, and Keldor was thinking about getting up.

So we played Qwirkle, then packed sewing, snacks, and bedding and started north. First stop was to pick up a second hand bow and arrows that Keldor bought, then a quick stop at the store.

When we arrived at Kakwkylla and Styrmir’s house Ranghild and Alfarinn were already there. They had just eaten some saffranspannkaka, so Keldor and I happily finished up what they hadn’t eaten.

Then I started working on the calculations for the Tunic for Styrmir, with a short pause for a yummy bowl of soup, getting it cut out on time to join the others in the sauna and before I sewed the neckline.

sewing

a letter sent

I mentioned in my blog post about JMBards that I got a bonus houseguest I hadn't met, a friend of a friend. I have always had good luck with making friends with friends of friends, and this was no exception. This time, however, we are not only keeping in touch, we are playing an email game I used to play with my sister back in the late 80's (before she had kids and had no more time to send letters). We would exchange letters, putting a new word in the subject line of each message, which the recipient would then have to use in their reply. This was fun, and made for much more interesting letters, as one needed to work the assigned word into the letter in as natural a way as possible, and we delighted in giving the other words that we might not even know (this is how I learned the word callipygian, for example).

Having just sent a rather long letter (wherein my assigned word was "radicalized"), I will copy it here (lightly edited), too.

( the letter )

I like Friday's that are holidays, we get stuff done

got almost 9.5 hours sleep, then did 30 minutes pilates. Then lost a game of Qwirkle to Keldor before putting a coat of primer paint on the laundry room side of the new wall in the cellar. While I painted Keldor finished cutting the trim for between the floor and the wall in the upstairs loo, and put up more insulation in the attic, and after the trim was in place I added some silicon caulking at the joints, and between it and the floor.

trim

After getting the kitchen cleaned up after baking, I had just enough time to before yoga to paint the outline lines on the smallest of the knots in the attic loo. I really like the paint pens that Emma told us about this winter. They are so much nicer for doing a good outline on knotwork than using a paintbrush. Especially when working on a ladder in a corner like this.

During the various projects Rizza came over and cleaned the upstairs. I don’t think I will ever get tired of the joy of having my house cleaned while I am busy doing something else.

After the main renovation projects I took the time to bake some homemade crackers, a fun, if messy project. This process is made much easier by the pasta machine I was given by Colin when we lived together 20 years ago (how can it be that long already?). I don’t often use it for pasta, but it is perfect for cracker-making

knotr

After tonight’s yoga we finished up sewing the bag for the new/used (made out of the hammock we cut up to make seam binding). Now I really should get some sleep as I have my fortnightly sister’s call at 06:00, and we will be heading to Luleå to hang out with friends tomorrow.

an early night

Keldor got a vaccine yesterday, so when he woke today his arm hurt and he had a fever, so decided to stay home. I had a meeting, and the next visit for the Swedish Glaucoma Nicotinamide Trial (SGNT), so I opted to go in, but, since the car was available, I grabbed a quick shower and he drove me to the bus stop.

On the bus the computer didn’t want to start the first several times, so I sent a note to IT, who explained that it is time to update my bios, so that might be why. So I backed up my foders that aren’t on OneDrive, and booked time for him to do that after my morning meeting.

I caught the bus home directy after my SGNT exam, and spent a lazy bit of tine on the couch with Keldor. He went to bed at 19:00, I did an hour of yoga, and went to bed just after 20:00.

ideas heading nowhere, and that is ok too

Woke in the middle of the night to go use the toilet, and on the walk back to bed was struck with inspiration. I have often wished for water within reach of bed, so I didn’t have to get up to refill my water bottle.

We have discussed the possibility of putting an aquarium in the attic bedroom, built into the around the bed reading nook.

Would it be possible to run a cold-water only line over there, and a drainage sink? Not only could I fill my water bottle if I run out in the night, but then he wouldn’t need to carry water to the aquarium to refill it, and not need to carry bowls of water from the aquarium to clean it.

So I picked up my phone to make a note of the question, saw that I hadn’t plugged it in before sleeping, did so, and didn’t fall right back to sleep, so updated my logs, and then got back up to do a yoga session.

As a result, by the time I got back to bed, the dawn light had already started slowing waking up, but I got a nap till Keldor’s alarm went off. He really didn’t like the idea of a sink by the aquarium at all. Not one little bit. Sigh. I still like it, but without him on board there isn’t much point in discussing with the plumbers if it is possible.

During my lunch break I looked a the local real estate page, as one does now and then, and I see a property not far from here that is a decent size and a great price If I had a bit more in savings it would be tempted to just buy it and keep living here while we slowly fixed it up. Do any of you want a cheap fixer-upper with enough room to hold camping events? You could live in our guest room and work on it till it was liveable.

In other news, the cats are still seriously cute.

a bit more energy today

It was a much better energy level day. Worked a full day, and a little extra so that I ended the month less than -10 hours for my flex tine calculations (it was more than -10 yesterday). I even managed to wash the bedsheets while working.

Keldor stayed late to add a water proofing liquid to the tent fabric, which is part of how I managed to make up the missing work hours. He had just finished when I put down the computer and called him.

After he got home, we started cutting the first two bits of trim for the attic bathroom loo floor then it was time for Reengarda officer meeting. Still no decision on if/where we will move storage, but before the next meeting we need to go to the existing storage and measure it.

During the meeting, and after, I sewed the first half of the container for Charlemange’s camera holder. Keldor fell asleep on the couch, so I stayed up later than I should have working on it, but the first half is done.

tent washing

When the housekeepers were here on Saturday, they found the cat’s favourite toy, and left it on the shelf in the living room. This morning I saw it there, put it out in the middle of the room (both cats were in the kitchen eating just then), and turned around to hang the dust cover back over the extra monitor. As I did I wondered if I should do anything to call the cat’s attention to its return. I turned around to see Kali already happily chewing on it.

kali

My work day was spectacularly unproductive, which I will blame on the time change. After work Keldor used the high pressure wash on the tent and hung it up to dry (he likes having access to the lifting thing):

tent

After he got home we had time for Qwirkle before our evening zoom yoga/training session.