Come Now The Weekend in Book Seven: Reconstruction 2020

I am so glad I’m visiting MBFITWW this weekend. Seriously… if, and obviously this could happen… if this gets cancelled last minute: I’ll just use all of my vacation time accrued and disappear for a few weeks because I’ll no longer be able to deal with the world in any way. I suppose if I’m being entirely honest with myself, I end up doing too much of this to myself in some ways. But… the reality is, it isn’t like I’m some dude obsessively rehashing what brings me pain because I like drama. It’s just…

Last night after work, I tried to conquer. Give the dog a decent walk, pick up all of her poop in the yard, play with her, collect and take out the trash and recycling, put dishes in dishwasher, make dinner, do two loads of laundry (and fold/put them away). The shit that a full grown adult should be expected to do. I got home at 5 p.m. (The time frames of things won’t add up because ‘gearing up’ to do something isn’t listed). Nala’s walk was the “quick walk” (still about 30 to 40 minutes)… but it was a muggy and humid 87 degrees out. She was panting and slowing down, so I figured she was getting to “tired.” Drove home, she and I both had a bunch of water, went to the backyard. I picked up 10 separate poop piles and then played with Nala (fetch, chase, tug) until she laid down in the grass, which I took to mean she was tired. From there I went inside to grab up the trash and put it on the curb… only to discover the replacement trash bags I bought were the wrong size. Which sucks. Then sorted the recycle and put that on the curb. Of course, Nala was back at the door, whining to play more. I let her outside (but stayed in) and she just sat in front of the door, watching me and waiting for me to go out and play with her. I started the first load of laundry and pre-washed the dishes and put them in the dishwasher. Threw a 7 minute microwave meal in the microwave and poured a large glass of water. Let Nala back in the house. Ate my food. Laundry in the washer still had 20 minutes. So, went outside to play with Nala some more. I’ve said it here… I wish I could get that girl an Agility Course Trainer. My sister in law even said “With her energy, speed, and agility- she’d do well.” But then (of course) my SIL says, “So you train her, Chris. It should be your job to handle your dog.” Which… a lovely sentiment but between a full time job, a pain condition, and trying to manage my house… I’m not exactly swimming in extra time or energy. After about 15 minutes, I was too hot and too tired so I went back inside. Nala raced after me wondering what the next game would be. My washer/dryer are weird in that it has its own sense of relative time (somehow) and the machine said there was about 25 minutes left to wash. So, I went downstairs to play video games. Because I don’t have the energy to play with Nala all evening and I’m not particularly interested in just passively staring at a moving screen all night. And Nala is… okay… in the basement sometimes. She’ll chew on a bone, run around a bit… but as above, so below… it doesn’t take long for her to start whining. Because especially in the basement… she wants to play chase. Like, I wouldn’t mind playing tug or fetch… she comes over, drops the toy, or waits for me to grab the toy… I can do that. But what she does is walks over, whines until I reach for the toy, I reach for it and she runs off (while looking back over her shoulder) hoping I’ll chase after her. When I don’t, she walks back over to me. She’ll whine a little and I’ll ignore her because… this isn’t a game I want to play. So then she’ll lay down, chew on her toy a little, and start the process all over again. Of course, I don’t want to encourage this process so eventually… she’ll just be sitting there whining. At which point I take her back upstairs. “Go outside?” She does; but then immediately stops at the door and sits waiting for me to come out and play with her. Instead, I switched laundry out and went back downstairs to play video games. Thirty minutes later, check on laundry and the dog. Dog comes back inside, prancing and energetic. But she also knows that this is usually the time where we go to bed. But… laundry dictates otherwise. Instead, I go to the bedroom and put the TV on, start the fan… basically “stage” the room so that it is exactly like it is when I go to bed… but for my presence. Then go back to grab the load out of the dryer (whether the machine says I can or not). Mostly? Everything is dry. SO… throw the Washing Machine Clothes into the dryer, and take the dryer clothes to the bedroom. Nala is following me around the house as I do all of this. I begin to fold laundry, put it away, hang clothes up… Nala squeezes herself under the bed and hangs out there. When I finish up; it is later than I’d like but the dryer still says about 45 minutes left. I go back downstairs (shutting the door behind me, preventing Nala from going downstairs, too). Play about 30 more minutes of video games. Come back upstairs to check on Nala and laundry. Nala is dead asleep, splayed out on top of the bed. I figure… it’s almost friggin’ midnight, dryer be damned. I pull everything out, fold and hang… and find a single pair of jeans that are still wet. Damn. Throw those back in the laundry and hang out with the dog on the bed for another 30 minutes. SO I finally “get to bed” around 12:30. Start falling asleep around 1 or 1:30 at which point Nala jumps off the bed and goes back to her dog bed. Sleep. Until about 4:45 a.m. At which point Nala’s whining and shoving the bed to wake me up gets me awake. I let her outside. Grab a drink of water. Play a cell phone game as I watch the dog peeing in the pre-sunrise dawn. Let her back in and get another hour of sleep.

Of course, as soon as I get up to go to work; Nala is full energy mode and REALLY wants to know what I’m doing. Sorry, little pup. I’ll see you again in about 10 hours.

Go to work. Nothing on the schedule but 4 things.
(1) File a petition for a baby born 6 days ago because his mom is facing potentially 35 years for Meth Sale, Assault, Meth Possession, and Drug Trafficking.
(2) File to amend a Protective Order because “Protected Party doesn’t want her abuser to see the kids but wants to be able to tell him that.” GUH. Not my circus, lady, but I’ll remind you that I have told you before to get a divorce and a custody order through family court.
(3) Phone Call to a Legal Guardian. Adult with CP was cited for trespassing. Which means… if you are on someone’s property and they tell you to leave, you are required to leave. If you do not and the police are called, they give you a ticket. They don’t arrest you, they give you a ticket… like a human parking ticket; you just parked yourSELF where you weren’t supposed to. But this adult’s legal guardian wants to tell me why her daughter (again 25 year old with CP) shouldn’t have to pay the ticket. BOTHERS ME. Because… yes specific physical and mental complications DO honestly make it hard for some people to conform to the law. And in some incidents of that nature; I have no problem being accommodating. You are confined to an electric wheelchair and tried to get home from the bar? Technically, in our state, that is a criminal OWI. But I’ll work with you on that cuz I find that situation bullshit. You are confined to an electric wheelchair that loses power and a homeowner calls the cops on you? I’ll work with you on that. But in the current situation? Defendant was on the private property. Owner told her to leave. Owner specifically said, “If you don’t leave, I’m calling the police.” Defendant specifically said, “I don’t believe you will. I’m not leaving.” Owner called the police. Defendant fled. That shows to me that the Defendant was (a) physically capable of leaving; (b) was aware that her actions were unwanted; and (c) by fleeing, she exhibits “guilty conscience”. BUT sure… I’d love to speak to her mother who believes that, since her daughter has gone through so much, shouldn’t be held responsible for her actions.
(4) The Suck: Despite our State being similar to the National Charts (COVID spiked higher than ever when we “opened everything back up” then declined but is now rising again)… we’re still going to lift the VERY LAST RESTRICTIONS here in a few weeks. So we’re all scrambling trying to figure out the best way of doing things. Because here’s the truth… if you receive a Jury Summons or a Subpoena and are required to come to court… and you contract COVID19 from that? YOU CAN SUE THE COUNTY! So… that’s a thing we’re trying to tackle right now.

Also… today is July 1st. Iowa’s legal calendar starts and stops today. ALL NEW LAWS (in most cases) go into effect today. So I’m reviewing those changes.

But… the stupid thing… the thing I do to myself? The social media posts of Memes and Twitter to “lighten the mood”. Because… it doesn’t. Like… here’s a “Funny Woman of Twitter” article that I clicked through to. And uh (sarcasm)… nothing boosts the esteem or ego of a guy struggling to date quite like 92 Twitter Statements about how women can’t find guys that they like. Yeah. That one is on me. Though… it does reinforce the idea that I should try to go to England… might have better luck there.

BUT… in the spirit of Memey Goodness.... the most important 2020 Historical Meme EVER (so far)