elainegrey

Long work day yesterday. New Director was *NICE* when i replied to his txt for the monthly report. I'd just spent hours trying to get the QA system our department uses and most of the division depends on for development and testing authentication up and had succeeded. It had been down for a week. I'd just ticked over at 12 hours at my desk and he said the monthly report could slide another day.

So, thank you New Director.

must go now to do the monthly report.

8 pm on the deck, the sun not quite set. Anna's hummingbirds feed at the scented geraniums and chase each other about. Goldfinches eat thistle seed, robins warble, California towhees hit their single note over and over. Crows call in the distance, and gulls cruise above the redwoods. I note the temperature (66.2 °F), sunset in 20 minutes, and wonder how quickly it will cool off.

I've a sweatshirt, jazz, tea and too much to do.

8:11 hummingbird checks out the lemon tree and the house finches "feeding." From the sound of the seed hitting the deck, i imagine them just tossing it out of the feeder. I've made it onto the VPN, onto the software control page and type while waiting for my approval to cycle.

8:16 Goldfinch at feeder. Distant robins. The highway sounds begin to dominate. A gull flies by catching the last red light. Sun still glows on the redwood bark.

8:20 four minutes to sunset and the goldfinch flies off. Robins are still singing.

8:26 Jazz and the highway and very distant crows. A robin whinnies around the corner. Mr M comes out on the deck to explore between the pots. It is remarkable how quickly the birds responded. It's dropped half a degree Fahrenheit.

8:44: airplanes, robins, and an insistant California towhee. Tweet. Tweet. Tweet. Tweet. Sky is still light, but colors are fading to silhouettes. The cats circle me on the deck. The glow of the solar garden lights now seems significant.

8:50 last tweet? Mr M nests in my lap.

8:54 Mr M gives up on my lap. A robin is still warbling in the far distance. The sky is still light with no stars. I keep hearing Edward's collar bell ring from the nearby sidewalk.

8:59 I toss a blanket over my lap.It's 64.5 °F. Two install plans done, two to go. Not going to get to my performance appraisal or monthly report today.

9:50 Stars are out. I've made a nice dinner and eaten it. I just heard a cat yowl and went down to find Edward facing off with a inky black cat.

10:17 I'm done. Had a lovely chat with Christine who will be home tomorrow, huzzah. 61.8 °F

ARGH. Procrastination.

Feel desperate need to take shower and not get to work.

I've curated my eBooks not quite to death, but more than i needed to. I know have the first volume of the antique natural history journal Zoe on my iPad. I read numbers 1 and 2 yesterday, and note that Mendeley's app for reading on the iPad is a miserable experience.

Yesterday i also read Rob Sheppard's A Nature Manifesto. I feel that the goal of the project i'm starting on resonantes a bit with his call, in that my goal is to help people see the diversity of life in their locale.

Anyhow, first step is opening my work computer.