Who let the dogs out?
"Out! Let us out! Now, please! Out now!"
I did moments later.
Any time I put on a shoe or a coat, Kila and Loki swarm to where I am. Kila starts yipping away, ready to get the show on the road! I wish I got as excited as they did every time the door opened.
I'm not particularly worried about Shane's academics, but I signed up for an English and a Math conference for him. What I wanted was to show Shane I was interested and checking up on him. I hoped it give his teachers a chance to say some nice things about him.
It also got him out of the house. I like his high-energy, but Carrie can only handle so much!
We were probably out for an hour or an hour and a half. I like having an activity, but time to rest and unwind afterward. Only one more day left this week! Next week is a short week. The quarter ends and there's a pair of teacher workdays, woo hoo!
For two weeks in a row, my Wednesday nights were booked. This Wednesday (the 19th) was the first.
Parents were sent a link to sign up for teacher conferences. I ended up booked solid both nights. My last conference finished around 7:30 PMish each night (I think?).
It made for a long day!
I was a little nervous about some of them, but everything went really well. I ended up using/stumbling-through my Spanish to talk to the parent of a CS student when I noticed her son was playing translator.
Since I wasn't home, I asked Carrie to take Shane to Youth Group. I didn't want him to go two weeks without! I told her that I could pick him up as long as she dropped him off.
The first week, it worked well! Carrie dropped him off, went off to do errands, and return home. I was a little worried about timing, but I made it to StudentLife before Shane got out. If anything, I had to go in when he didn't come out with the rest of the kids!
The second week, something happened and Carrie didn't have the energy to take Shane. We got at least one week in, though, so I was fine with it (a little absence may make them fonder of him when he returned!).
There was blood in Max's throw-up. It looked like she'd stolen some bunny hay. It could have scratched her through going down (or up).
There was a week in late November where Carrie was worried, because Max vomited once a day on average. I never saw it, but that could be because Kila likes to clean up the mess (Yum.).
But so far, Max keeps on ticking! I noticed her sleeping in a sunbeam with Happy while I was writing and took a picture.
Max probably ends up interacting with the dogs the most, because she can't reach the high places anymore. She's still a ninja and likes to sneak into Shane's or our bedroom to sleep away from the action. She hasn't shown any signs of incontinence, so she's the only cat I trust to leave alone in a room for hours at a time.
It will be sad when Max passes, but she's lived a full life. Her health is on our minds, but hopefully she'll keep living comfortably and further push out the record for longest lived cat Carrie's ever owned.
Matt was the first to mention it. Bill was the second. Dan said he was game, and a D&D group was formed.
After cross-checking all of our family schedules, we settled on Sunday night. We meet up on Discord around 9 PM when all the kids are in bed, goof around, and roll electronic dice on Roll20. We could only meet up for an hour and a half or two before Matt had to head to bed, but it was better than nothing!
We started off with a small, homegrown adventure for a couple weeks(more on that below), but Bill really wanted to try a module from Wizards of the Coast. I already had the physical copy of one from a starter set I used with Gen, Chris, and Carrie, so I bought the electronic version on Roll20. Briggs showed up on Discord and heard us playing, so we recruited him and the party grew larger!
Bill made a Paladin (of course), Dan made a Druid (also, typical for him!), Matt made a Rogue, and Briggs made a Warlock. I DM'd.
We've been meeting up once a week since! There were a few times someone couldn't make it, but everyone is up to level 3 and working their way through a bunch of sidequests in Phandelver. Bill's luck swings from so much from critical hit to critical fail that it's become a running joke. Matt was unavailable one night and forbade Bill from rolling for him!
The d20 system has some of those big swings built into it. I rolled "shenanigans" while the group was fighting a bugbear early on. He was frantically climbing down a cliff that required an athletics check. He passed, but the goblin running after him failed, crit'd a "shenanigans" check, and fell right onto his boss. They fell to their doom amongst wild laughter.
I had been resistant to doing an out of the box campaign at first, but it's been convenient not having to do much in the way of prep each week. As always, it would be more fun in person, but with Matt in SC, Dan in Vegas, Bill in NJ, Briggs in NoVA, and me on a farm that's unlikely to ever happen.
This particular Sunday night (10/16), we started the game sharing stories to remember Travis. I was the only one who'd been able to go to the funeral, so I gave a report on what happened. Then everyone told a story and raised a toast.
Bill talked about one time he and Ed has a disagreement over something and Travis showed came to his support. Dan and Matt talked expounded about that first night we'd visited Travis' house and he'd blown us away with music and acting in a game! I brought up the "naked animals" tale, and the "cute parking space" came up, too! I don't remember everything we said, but Travis was remembered and missed. He was such a gamer, I think he would have approved of us starting off the night with him on our minds.
BONUS:
The first couple nights I ran a homebrew adventure to refamiliarize/teach the rules for D&D 5e. Since we were online, I had the idea that I could email everyone their own exposition. That way I'd talk less, we'd game more, and maybe I could sneak in some competing individual motives. In my head, the players could text me any actions that wanted to do in secret to add a fun layer of subterfuge.
In the end, that didn't really happen. It was fun to come up with the expositions, but each of those could've been a blog post in hindsight! I'd love to run my own story again at some point, but I don't have the spare time and mental energy to do so. Running a pre-made was the right choice for now.
Shane had Coach tie his scarf like a bandana.
It was a little bit of a downer, though. First, it took a really long time to make. Then, Carrie ordered street corn and was upset when it was corn on the cob. She can't eat corn that way and sat unhappy in the other room when we got home. My burrito was decent and Shane liked his tacos, but it was a bit pricey for what it was (and a gloomy Carrie in the other room).
Still, I wish them success. We won't be regulars, but I like having more options in town. They're a new operation and should improve with time. Burritos are too packed with calories for Carrie, but I may drop by again if she's out of town and I have a craving (I normally work my way through the freezer and leftovers to keep costs down, but sometimes a hankering hits!).
Autumn is prime season for fox-hunting. Carrie has been heading out early Fridays and Sundays. I drive Shane to school on Fridays since she's not around to make sure he gets on the bus.
Probably an hour later the fog was gone without a trace.
My friend Travis Newcombe passed away over the weekend. It was a heart attack. It was sudden. His wife, Anne, and the kids had been with him at the family cabin when it happened.
It didn't feel real when I first saw a post pop up on Facebook. Anne called me a couple of days later. She was making her way down Travis' phone list to notify family and friends.
The funeral was Thursday. I took off work for the day and drove up to NOVA for it.
Anne posted this on Facebook.
There will never be the right words to express the loss of you. Travis O. Newcomb, my darling husband, you are home now--lifting your voice in praise and glory to our Savior. I wish you didn't have to go so soon. I wish we could have had more time together. Two years and nine months wasn't enough time with you. I wanted a lifetime....I wanted to grow old together. When we stood and read our vows not even three years ago....neither of us imagined that "til death do us part" would happen so soon.I'm broken and mourning because the most precious thing in my life on this earth is gone....but I do not mourn without hope. As you yourself said when we were dating: "Married for a season....brother and sister in Christ for eternity." God knit our hearts together as he fashioned us for one another. And that knitting and fashioning was based on Christ and His Word. You LOVED God's Word, and you LOVED His truth. THAT is what truly knit our hearts together....and that is not gone. I will see you again one day in glory....and we will stand side-by-side worshiping our Savior and singing with one voice: "Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me...."I love you Travis! With all my heart.
When she spoke at the funeral, it was obvious she knew the real Travis. He would have been honored by her words and I can only hope I am spoken of as well when I pass. They bought a house together less than a year ago. I don't know if she will retain any custody of the kids, or if she will stay in the area. She was originally from CA and moved to VA to be with Travis.
I could write many stories of my adventures with Travis. We met in college. We had multiple classes together Freshman year. I distinctly remember him from my English class (it was smaller), but we didn't really talk. I saw him in a big, lecture class, but he moved up front to take notes while I parked in the back to hide.
We didn't really get to know each other until the summer session. We both signed up for Biology. I was sitting down, and when Travis walked in we made awkward eye contact. In that moment, our thoughts aligned: We recognized each other, but recognized we didn't know each other! Neither Travis or I believe in coincidences like that. He walked over to me, introduced himself, and we started talking. When video games came up, I mentioned Shining Force 2 as one of the all-time greats. Travis' eye's lit up. From there, we clicked. We laughed, joked, and kept finding similarities.
Eventually, Travis invited me over to play GURPs (an RPG). I brought Matt and Dan, too. We showed up way late and ended up hanging out even later (Nana called me a bad word when I brought Matt home at 6 AM - She'd been sleeping on the couch).
For the next 4 years or so, Travis was a close member of my friend circle. He taught me how to make scrambled eggs at 2 AM one day and asked my mom about clothing animals another (fun story there!). He eventually moved out to near Leesburg with his oldest brother. We saw each other less then, but still made it out to a couple plays (Travis was a big actor!). When Travis moved out to California to see if he could get an acting job, we stayed in touch every now and again over the phone. I tried to visit him when Carrie and I were on our honeymoon (Travis lived in/near Seattle then with his ex). When Travis moved back to Woodbridge, Shane and I visited him there.
Suffice to say, I've known Travis a long time. I last texted him on June 12.
Only Kitsune died. Shane and I never made the road trip to NOVA.
I was thinking about reaching out to Travis for an online D&D game Bill, Dan, Matt, and I were starting in September. Only I didn't. Maybe I should have. It's too late now.
But, if it wasn't clear from Anne's post, I'm sure Travis is in heaven. He's been a believer in talk and action as long as I've known him. There's a big hole in his family that he used to fill, but Travis is with God now. My prayers are for his loved ones who are grieving to be comforted and to draw closer to each other and Jesus in Travis' passing. It's what he would've wanted.
If you get the joke, you'll know what my post is going to be about (Or maybe you read the title...).
Carrie's a big fan of the MCU and she's seen almost all of it. We've been watching She-Hulk as it comes out each week.
I asked her, "What's your favorite Marvel show?"
Then I head to further specify: On Disney+, not a movie.
It was still hard for her to pick between Moon Knight and WandaVision as a favorite, so I asked her to rate things by tier.
Honorable Mentions: Werewolf by Night impressed her, but it was a one-off. She loved the Groot shorts, as well, but they're short (~2 or 3 mins each?).
Note: Ms. Marvel might be promoted to a B+ if we ever get around to watching Episode 6. We enjoyed the first 5, but haven't finished the series. There's this looming, "But will they screw it all up with some standard comic twists?" when we were fine with how things were.
My list looks similar to Carrie's. WandaVision is my clear number 1, but Moon Knight and Hawkeye aren't far behind (one's a good origin story even if wildly different than the comics and the other is rewatchable fun).
Loki will depend on Season 2. He's not my favorite character, but I liked the mystery of it. The season ender left everything unresolved, so how the next season goes could promote (or demote) it.
What If would be demoted to C-tier. There were some good episodes, but I never finished it (and Carrie won't watch the finale with me, so it remains unseen).
She Hulk would probably rank in at the B-tier. There were a few great episodes and the ending is comic book accurate (despite what any internet idiots say), but I felt like it had the potential to be better (more with the rival Titania, odd law cases, etc).
It would've been a lot more work to fill in the non-Disney series. Carrie's watched Agents of Shield and Agent Carter. I haven't, but I've watched almost all the Netflix series whereas she's only seen Daredevil Season 1, I think.
When I asked Carrie what her favorite MCU Movies were, she answered "Ragnarok, Guardians of the Galaxy," and then it got difficult. She got philosophical and asked, "What counts as an MCU movie?" Could she pick any of the Spider-mans or even Into the Spiderverse? And then what about the Infinity War + End Game combo?" She definitely likes the movies that mix the humor with the action, because she finds them easier to re-watch than something like Captain America: The Winter Soldier (Which has a great, comic book spy feel to it).
So far, Carrie has found excuses NOT to watch Multiverse of Madness. She claims she already knows most of what happens from internet spoilers. Other than Black Panther 2, that's the only MCU movie she has not seen. She watched Eternals without me and said, "You don't need to," so I haven't seen that one in addition to those.
It started at Vacation Bible School a couple of years ago. I have become a Chobani Flip Fiend. I buy the variety packs and limit myself to one a day.
I've been on record as not liking yogurt, so I didn't expect to fall in love when I needed a snack one day at VBS. I had a smores flip, because it seemed safe enough. If I didn't like the yogurt, I could just eat the smores fixings!
My current favorite is Key Lime Pie. I wouldn't have ordered a key lime pie in real life before trying the Chobani version. I only tried the Chobani Key Lime, because it comes in the variety pack (and I only by my treats in bulk to save on the unit price!). Now I've tried a key lime hand pie from Yoder's, a cupcake from Baked on the James, and Grandma even baked a real key lime pie, so I could see what one tasted like.
When I like something, I like something. It's fun to go down the rabbithole.
