Wednesday, April 20 2022

Dear Journal,

Good morning, everyone. Happy Wednesday. I'm off to a late start today, admittedly taking advantage of the fact that my first meeting isn't until 11 AM this morning. I think I woke up on the wrong side of the bed today. I've got this subtle, narrow headache right between my eyes and I feel like my stomach is all out of whack. In a last ditch attempt to save the morning, I took a quick power nap and a hot shower, but I still don't feel all quite there. If I have any hope of finding my mojo, it will be at the bottom of this coffee mug. I had better get started.

Sip. It's good to be here. How are you today? See any big spiders lately? The elusive Tio was out again for a morning stroll. While waiting for Rodney to get ready, Marissa snapped a picture of him while he was up on the glass.

I housed Tio in my first bioactive enclosure. He was my first spider to get a real plant. I admit in the early days of this bioactive experiment I was too cavalier with the waterings, and I accidentally turned poor Tio's neighborhood into a swampy mess. Gnats found their way to the warm, humid glass box, and I wondered if they would bother Tio. But spiders never cease to surprise me with their adaptability. He covered the entrance to his tunnel with thin, mesh webbing. Is this his own make shift version of a screen door?

How do you get rid of gnats? It's pretty easy - you just have to stop watering the plant and let the enclosure dry out. I think this is why Tio has been taking more walks around his enclosure lately. Also, thanks to Marissa's photo, we can get a good look at the size of his butt. If it's the same size or slightly smaller than his carapace, it means it's time for a meal. Remember, kids, a bold spider is a hungry spider.

We had a crazy day yesterday. Keeping up with ticket duty at work pulled me in all sorts of directions. Meanwhile, Marissa became errand lady, driving all over town tackling a list of odd jobs. She carted a trunk full of paint, thinner, and other weird chemicals to the waste disposal. For her next art release, she drove to Garver Mill to photograph her paintings in front of the wide brick wall.

"How did you get the smaller paintings to stay like that, it looks like their floating?" I asked.

"There's a tiny ledge," said Marissa. "One of my paintings fell off, and I caught it with my leg. But the edge got me right on the ankle." Marissa held out her foot, showing off a fresh raised welt on her shin bone. It still had a dot of fresh blood. "Feel bad for me," she commanded.

It was a day for injuries. We had to take Rodney out of school early. The nurse told us he ran into another kid during gym class and hit his head on the ground. Even though it sounds like a true accident, there have been a lot of other incidents where Rodney was shoved to the ground or ridiculed by another kid. He tells us he cries at least once a day at school.

We don't know what's going on. Rodney seems well-liked by other kids. He's not causing any problems in class. He just keeps getting hurt in gym class and at recess, and it's hard to piece together the facts. He's never been the kind of kid to pretend to get hurt or cry at the drop of a hat, so it's got us a little concerned.

While reflecting on the day, I may have figured out why I'm feeling so tired this morning. Better Call Saul is back, and Marissa and I just watched the first two episodes. To make time for the long, spell-binding installments, we've admittedly fudged our bedtime a bit.

If you've ever watched the show, you'd understand how hard it is to pause an episode and head up to bed. It's a masterpiece, in every sense of the word. The characters are frighteningly relatable, so much so that Jimmy and Kim remind me and Marissa of our own marriage. The plot is believable, yet so intricate that we find ourselves pausing the show for side discussions. The photography is beautiful. Last season I pointed out that you could pick any random frame and hang it on your wall, and we have yet to find a moment in the show where that isn't true.

That's what I got today. We're going to call it a bit early so I can nurse this headache before work. Have a great Wednesday, everybody.