☆paging doctor gorgeous☆

Today is our dog Velma's birthday.

Initially we planned to throw an actual party for her, inviting a few friends and their dogs, who Velma gets along with. We decided we didn't have the time and funds to plan that, especially with a trip coming up, so instead we planned to do something small just here at home: special food for meals, a couple of gifts, a long walk through the local forest.

Unfortunately, Blair ended up having to work extra late today. It's half past three and she's still not home.

So! I went out. I bought Velma's gifts, I got some doggie ice cream, some party hats, and a couple of cake pops for Blair and I. I came home, dressed Velma up and took some photos, then loaded up her enrichment puzzle toy and her snuffle mat and let her play some party games.

Now we're sitting on the couch together - her resting, me folding some laundry - listening to a spooky podcast and waiting for Blair. Hopefully she gets home with plenty of time for a walk, but I know it was a rough day so she might not have the energy for it.

Either way, we have cake and ice cream and presents left, and some family birthday selfies to take.

Today, we got up and headed downtown to an event called Dilly Dally, which on the flyer sounded like a cool flea market, but ended up being about, mm... ten small local vendors selling a bunch of junk. Still, we did a lap and looked at (almost) everything, before heading to MoKa to grab some drinks and wait for everyone else to arrive.

Blair and I traveled with Blair's mom, sister, grandma, and a friend to a place called Gays Mills, about an hour away. Here, they have many different apple orchards where you can go to pick your own fruit, as well as buy cider, donuts, pastries, and other wares. There's pumpkins, squash, and pears out there as well, but today apples were our focus. It's the last week, and while somewhat picked over, it was still pretty busy inside the market.

As a group we came away with like six heaping bags of apples, plus Blair and I got some cheese curds, wine, cider, donuts, and a cute ceramic pumpkin jar.

The drive was absolutely beautiful. Along the Mississippi River for a lot of it, then through the winding hills with trees on both sides blooming with Autumn colors.

Got home, yadda yadda laundry, yadda yadda put everything away, yadda yadda made dinner.

Had a DnD session, the first in about a month due to all kinds of scheduling conflicts we've been having. I felt a little rusty, but it was fun all the same and I look forward to getting back into a routine with it.

Submitted my piece for the Star Wars zine, too, and am happy to have that outta my hair.

The family vacation actually went really, really well. It was relaxing, a lot of fun, and honestly? I feel like I'm legitimately a part of the family, now. I told Blair as much, and she got teary eyed about it.

We drove out in a three-car convoy around noon on Thursday, stopping in a town roughly an hour away to eat at a favorite, semi-famous restaurant called Norske Nook (famous for pie!). We got all the way up to the North Woods and found the cabin around 4pm, unloaded, and explored the property.

It was on tons of property with a long, long driveway that went through the woods. Tons of land with a huge semi-wrap-around porch, three entrances, a fire pit, and a path through the trees that led to a dock onto a stream.

A nice kitchen, great living area with two couches, a big beautiful dining area surrounded on three sides by windows. A cozy upstairs loft with couches and beanbag chairs and a tv. Two bedrooms and a bathroom on the main floor, and a basement downstairs containing a HUGE game room with air hockey, billiards table, shuffleboard, a table for cards, and half a dozen arcade games. There's a door that goes right outside into the woods, a bedroom on either end of the game room and an incredibly large bathroom in between.

All things considered, plenty of space for seven people to mingle all together or go off in singles and pairs and do whatever. I never felt like I couldn't get some time to myself, which was what I was sort of worried about being in a cabin in the middle of the woods with six other people.

We ventured down to our dock by the stream, then crossed the road and went down to the other dock on the lake to check things out and admire the view.

The owner of the cabin had arranged a sort of scavenger hunt. In order to open the box wooden chest in the dining room and find out what was inside, we had to locate all 7 Sasquatch in, on and around the property, and send him the photos. We did it in record time, and by the time we had gotten a fire going in the fire pit, we'd received the code to unlock what ended up being, fortunately, supplies for s'mores. We sat around the fire for a long time, until it was time for bed. Came in, showered up, and went to bed.

The next day it was raining. We had a big breakfast and then Blair and I spent the better part of the afternoon in town, browsing all the little shops and getting some hot drinks in the cafe. We found a plant shop, some antique stores, a bookstore, a bakery, an art gallery showcasing local paintings and pottery, and a gem and fossil shop.

Blair and I napped when we got home, reconvened with the rest of the family for dinner, then spent the rest of the evening playing billiards, shuffleboard and air hockey with Blair's sister and brother-in-law until bed. Good times. I've started to realize that in my effort not to ever look stupid in front of other people, I avoid trying things and playing games and such, but when I try I'm actually pretty good. I got accused of hustling at cards, shuffleboard and pool.

Saturday, another big breakfast. Blair, Gabe and I went down to the lake and dragged in a big old rusty rowboat we found next to the dock. I've never been on a boat like that, so every time it tipped in either direction I was sure we were going in the water. Luckily we did not, and were able to row across the lake to the island in the middle, where we proceeded to fall victim to the island curse: Gabe accidentally walked into a patch of poison ivy, Blair sat on a log only to disturb a small swarm of bees, one of which stung her, and the strap of one of my sandals broke, making it extremely hard for me to walk on the rocky shoreline or in the shallow water.

We explored a bit, did some rockhounding and some peaceful sitting around. Discovered there were leeches in the water, which, luckily, did not manage to latch onto any of us. We got back into the boat, did a lap around the island, then headed back.

Blair and I had a nice quiet round of snacks and warm drinks out on the back patio, then went for a long walk with Blair's mom where we saw deer, collected wildflowers, and spotted some bobcat tracks. Made it back just before nightfall, had dinner, then started another bonfire and sat out there making s'mores and doing MadLibs until we cried from laughter.

Morning came too soon, but between the seven of us, packing everything up was quick, easy and efficient. The other two cars took off toward home, but Blair and I went back downtown to re-visit a couple of shops before seeking out a zoo we found on a map about an hour away. There was a fun little hike out to a dam, and beyond that a tiny free zoo with a handful of animals.

After that we finally made our way home. Neither of us are ready to go back to work tomorrow, as that trip was just way too short. It was nice to just hang around doing whatever, surrounded by pretty scenery.

On Sunday, Blair and I went on a double date with our friends Sarah and Savannah to a place nearby called SAGRA, which is a high-end, fresh farm-to-table type of restaurant where everything is sourced locally from nearby farms.

I'm a relatively picky eater so I wasn't thrilled when I was informed that we were doing their five-course mystery special, where they will bring five separate courses to the table and we will have no idea what we're going to eat until it gets there. I was pleasantly surprised, though!

Everything was absolutely delicious. The only thing I didn't like was something that no one else at the table enjoyed either, so I didn't feel bad for that. Amazing food, good conversation. Then the bill came and I almost choked on my drink. I won't tell you how much it was, but holy shit lol.

Still, not an experience for every day. It was a special treat. One I'm okay with not doing again for a long, long time at that price point. Maybe we'll stick to more normal fare for our double dates.

Yesterday, Monday, we did absolutely nothing. Celebrated labor day by being slugs. It was awesome.

Today we'll have to catch up. Clean the apartment, go to the gym. Ho-hum, I've enjoyed the long weekend and am not excited about going back to work tomorrow.

Today I got to do something I've wanted to do for years, but could never do back home in California: I went to visit Save-A-Fox, an animal sanctuary in Faribault, MN. Blair, her mom, her grandma and I piled into her mom's car bright and early for the two hour trip North, and it was so, so worth it.

We had a private tour through the sanctuary, being introduced to their collection of foxes, minks, and black-backed jackals. They have coyotes on site as well, but we did not visit them on the tour as their enclosure was under construction.

This wasn't just seeing foxes. We were taken into their enclosures where we were able to feed them treats, play with them, and even pet a few of them. Absolutely incredible stuff.

We learned about the history of each animal, and about their quirks, their personalities, and their struggles. We were given more information about fur farms, and the fight against their cruelty. The founder of SAF, Mikayla, has rescued over five hundred foxes from one single farm and ended up shutting it down completely, among other great triumphs. She has rescued, rehomed, raised and rehabilitated hundreds of foxes, coyotes, bobcats, minks, even bears and birds and other creatures over the years.

Unfortunately she struggled with mental health issues and relentless online harassment and as of last year, is no longer with us. Still, the care and love given to these animals by their passionate, dutiful and skilled handlers is really something to see.

I hope maybe I can go back again someday, but I am so very happy that I got to go today! Certainly a very unique experience.

Today I bit the bullet and got a new phone. My phone storage has been full for a long time, and I have to keep backing up and deleting photos and videos to make space for new ones. The thing is, even if I delete a TON of stuff, it barely seems to move the needle. The battery also doesn't hold a very good charge. Today, Pokemon Go needed to be updated, but I didn't have enough space to update it, despite deleting tons of photos and files and even uninstalling an app. So done.

It's an old phone. To put things into perspective, it's a Google Pixel 3.

Google is currently on Pixel 11. So it's been a minute.

Biting my nails because it's an expensive purchase and I'm hoping it'll get delivered on a day I'm home, because the mail situation can get pretty sketchy in apartment buildings like ours. But it'll be nice having a nice phone that works optimally! With twice as much storage as my current model, even!

Blair's parents invited us to go with them to see Spider-Man: Brand New Day with them today. So it was seven of us! Myself and Blair, her mom, her dad, her grandma, her sister and brother-in-law. It was honestly one of the best Marvel movies I've seen in awhile, if I'm honest. Enjoyed it a lot!

Simultaneously excited and sort of weary about where the franchise is going, ie reboots and the like (vaguely avoiding spoilers).

Tomorrow I plan to sleep in. I'm so tired tonight, at least three people today remarked upon how tired I look, which. lol

All we have on the docket is DnD in the evening, so!

So, suppose you were about to read a toxic paranormal romance horror novel.

A person dabbles in the occult and summons a demon to do one dirty deed. It spirals out of control, the demon won't leave, and one thing leads to another, ect ect.

When you envision a pair in this scenario, is it het? Are they both male? Both female? Which would appeal to or intrigue you the most?

How has it been ten days since I last posted?

This is the fastest summer on record.

It's been hot and humid, and now the air is filled with smoke as well. Going outside is awful, but I guess the good news is that I don't really have to, much.

Last weekend we went up to the top of the bluff on Saturday to enjoy the view, after doing some shopping downtown. On Sunday, we went on a little day trip to a cute little town an hour or so away where our favorite breakfast spot is at. There's also a big indoor market made up of individual seller stalls, and a big old hollowed out factory that was turned into a used book shop. It's kind of a famous book shop, and I'd been excited to go since moving here, but unfortunately there is no AC in there and so it was too miserable to browse for long.

On Tuesday, since I was so disappointed about missing out on getting to fully enjoy the big book shop, I went out while Blair was at work and poked around in our little local indie one. Found a couple of books. Had lunch. It was nice!

Also this past week, I got my hair cut. Feels much better, especially since my head is less hot.

Yesterday and today were just really lazy days. Well, yesterday I worked, but after that we chilled at home. Watched not one, but two movies (Be My Cat, which was bizarre, and Alone which was fine). Today we slept in, got some drinks at Moka, hit up a local bakery and then bought a nerite snail from the aquatics shop for our betta tank. So far Bracca is getting along with him alright.

Not looking forward to work tomorrow, but I will soldier on.

Re-watched Project Hail Mary late last night/early this morning. Man, I love that movie. I like, hover on the fringes of the fandom without participating, but I love it so much. I also finally started in on The Vampire Lestat. I know I'm running a little late, but I'm here now and I'll catch up.