Wednesday Walk and TM

Hannah And The Cozy Tree

Today's walk went by a tree with sweater: fun! There was also lots of other good art and an interesting design in coldframes.

I figure I might as well attend other clubs' Toastmasters meetings, learn things, and have fun. This  evening I attended another Kent Evening Toastmasters meeting. The main presentation was a speech by a radio pro about evaluation; we were encouraged to offer comments to the speaker via chat. I tried the sandwich approach, starting with his speaking, which was flawless, and then suggesting his joke about preferring the evaluation from the person who was more positive and also she was cuter would not work with some audiences. It's surprising how stuff like this slips by even well meaning old people like us.  At the end of the meeting, the asked for "Toasts": people praising something good. Mostly they toasted Toastmaster related things, but I though I wanted to recommend FEEST as ewe need drivers. However I was slow because I am shy to intrude. This is not a helpful attitude so I resolved to get my comment in there somehow. The Toast period got by me but the last literally 2 minutes of the meeting had nothing so I jumped in an made my p itch. One person asked for the spelling of FEEST, which suggested she was going to look it up and sign up yay

Mermaids In A Sea Of Strawberries

Sea Monster Amid The Waves Of Berries

This looks like an easy coldframe design

That Third Flag!

Tuesday at Toastmasters

On the way to Hannah and Julie's, I saw a house with a flock of pink flamingos, so we walked that way and saw it and other house had some sort of "Thank-You" going on. Fun!
We also saw a jay bird nest raid. The jays were circling a tree, up near the top of which a crow was raiding a nest. Eventually it flew off with what was probably a hatchling. That's nature. I am told that jays do the same to smaller birds; they are all basically feathered dinos. Still, it was a surprise.

I had found an N95 (unwrapped, but unused) in my emergency kit, and I figure we're in an emergency, so I included it in my Seattle Mask Brigade collection. Also today while picking up, I chatted with a donor's neighbor who liked to sew masks but didn't have anymore people whoi needed them. I urged her to google the Brigade but didn't feel right writing the URL down or handing out a card, because, you know, social distancing.

One of my neighbors is getting a security clearance, asked permission to use me as a reference, and needed to know when we first me. This made me look up when I bought this house .

In the evening, I enjoyed the Toastmasters Leadership Skills workshop with John LeCompte, and a little socializing after.

My N95, donated to the cause

Collection Point

Monday Walk And Talk

Nice overlook view at High Point

 The Monday morning walk went up to High Point for a look around. There's some nice views there of the downtown.
Julie put in a lot of work over the weekend with a former coworker; they're converting the chaos of slop and old flower beds into something neater and more useful.

There was a WSBA Section Leaders Zoom meeting; I don't recall much of it except that I want to write up some On24 usage procedures.
There was a TM 832 run through of the meeting tomorrow.
I finally looked at both my power and light bills and decided both were way too high. My water meter was covered in dirt so I doubted it had been read. I called the utility and was robohung up on several times, but eventually I got to a human. She gave the last read amount from last month which was only 2 units less than the reading I saw.; it was a number close to  who explained that adults normally uses about 2 units per month, also a running toilet can massively increase water use. I realized that the houseguests had been increasing water costs but it should be back to 2 units per adult by next bill.

Hannah supplements trellis art with sign

Next I talked with the electricity people, who told  me that there was no electricity being generated from my solar cells at least as far back as a year. I decided this was probably WES screwing up yet again, but this time costing me real money. I hope this is as simple as connecting disconnected wires. I had not paid close attention to the bills, so now I have to figure out what to do next.

Social Distance Dog Park

The cats won't let me sleep in past breakfast, although really Ginny is interested only in going outside and Imp just wants someone to play with. Arthur snoozes and Shadows wants to be petted. They seem to be content with dry food, except for Arthur who likes being fed something wet at midnight.

My walk first took me to the ducks to drop off some greens. They weren't by the fence when I tossed it over but I'll check with their owner, a "Buy Nothing" pal, a little later.
Then I went to the greenbelt and dog park. The urban forest trails were nice and I think it's funny that it took me so long to find them. I wish I'd gotten a pick of the Good Dog proudly carried a small log (2 or 3 inch diameter, and much longer than he was.)
There was an awkwardness when I exited the fenced part; the person before me was having trouble negotiating the gate, the leash of her unwilling dog, and everything else. I reacted as I would in The Before Time, saying I'll help with that and getting the gate. She expressed distress, and said she'd wait. I realized this was a social distancing thing and said I'd go out another way but she insisted. I am perfectly willing to implement social distancing but it is hard to break a habit.
I moved on a few surplus household items through "buy nothing", but no one wants the used rice cooker that Ron left me.The usual places for donations are closed due to COVID19, so  I will be stacking up a lot of stuff in the basement for when St. Vinny's reopens!