A seething mass of turgid drama.

We went to Investiture yesterday. It was good seeing people we hadn't connected with as much recently. The site was small (apparently the church double-booked, and we got moved) but worked okay. It was significantly colder than we expected; I was glad I wore a felted wool hat, but the linen outfit was insufficient.

I sat with gate recon as I volunteered to take Principality Exchequer next year. I'm not actually insane; it's been five years since I stepped down from Kingdom, and Principality is a lot less work. I expect I will spend a more time at first getting everything humming along the way I like it, but that's okay. It's not that the current exchequer is doing a bad job, but I will be making some changes for efficiency and also based on how my brain works. (Spreadsheets and Google Sheets are my friend.)

The outgoing royalty started a new order, called the Keystone. Named for the arch piece that keeps everything in place. It is given to greater officers when they step down, and they call up all the members when they are giving a new one. Of course that number is small right now, but in coming years it will be impressive. This is exactly the sort of appreciation that punches far above its weight in recognition. I made sure to tell both of them as a former and future officer how much I loved the idea. Also, the incomings gave their officers coins. Again, that small token means a lot for what is often unappreciated work.

The handyman did a good job putting up the scrolls. It was a good thing we had our giant uneven folding ladder for the stairs (it was an Xmas gift from my dad shortly after we moved in here - eminently practical even if we don't need it very often).

I tried something different for HOA dessert last night. I had a bit of a (planned) lazy day and instead of baking a cake or a pie, I pulled out the last of a previous year's batch of cotignac (15^th c Fronch quince cheese). We had it with a couple different Manchego cheeses. It worked out very well.

Yesterday, the main spring on our garage door broke spectacularly in two after the fuzzy upstairs neighbor closed it. We had just put both flats' cars away.

This has happened at least once since we bought the place, but not recently. The neighbor will be calling today to schedule an appointment - hopefully getting it fixed before the weekend when we would normally do our shopping. Of course this puts crimps in lots of other plans, including theirs to go to Crown this weekend.

From what little I remember, it's a relatively quick fix, so here's hoping.

ETA: apparently fixed today.

I was somewhat surprised that calling the plumber yesterday produced an appointment for this morning. Not going to question the gift horse's (potty) mouth, though - while this isn't an emergency toilet repair, we would like to get the replacement done as quickly as they can. Having to manually tip the tank stopper every time is, if nothing else, a waste of water.

However, I realized that it would be better if I came into the office today. That way I am not bothered by installation clanging... and I have access to a working toilet. But I did decide to wear my usual Friday work-from-home clothes: a T-shirt and tennis shoes.

Our older backyard fence lost its supports in the first big storm of our current cycle and is now sagging. It might have been new when we moved in, but that was twenty years ago. We already had to replace the fence on the other side so this does not shock me.

The owner next door is a construction guy, so we'll see if his firm wants to handle it.

Our one battery-operated smoke alarm decided its battery was too low around 3 AM. So it started chirping loudly every ten seconds. We couldn't find the damn thing for a while, and then it took me much longer to get back to sleep.

Today is going to be (at least) a second cup of coffee day.

If I'd thought about the next-door neighbors getting their roof repaired today, I might have gone into the office.

On the other hand, I have Miss Beatrice on my lap. Which is both very nice and an impediment to productivity.

The house has a new coat of paint. They should finish up today or tomorrow. (If the scaffolding is still up when I get home today, I will go into the office tomorrow again. It's not worth trying to work from home when there is that sort of noise right outside my window.)

First reaction: it's more... salmon-y than I expected from the paint chip. That's not really fair, but it is definitely a redder beige than I thought when the whole house is that color. I joke that it's not fresh ginger, it's powdered galingale.

I don't dislike it, but it will be an adjustment.

I am running on fumes today. Miss Bea slept on the bed, which is always welcome, but it also meant that she woke me up repeatedly around 3 AM because she wanted attention and a blanket cave. I eventually gave it to her, because they usually win through dogged (catted?) perseverance.

I am in the office, but one of our crucial systems is down. It's not anything we control, so I'm metaphorically twiddling my thumbs.

Our house is getting painted today. We got more bids, but they all were in the same insane range. So we're only getting the front done - which is the absolute minimum we can get away with. If they're still painting tomorrow, I might come back into the office instead of working from home. I am looking forward to seeing the new bland tan color instead of the vaguely greenish-yellow though.

We have a minor ant invasion. It makes sense, given the recent rain. Of course they have found the cat food.
Hilde finds the whole thing fascinating. Not enough to actually kill them, though - they probably don't taste good. She just stares at the movement.