Good grief, people – let the meltdown moment die. Crap like that shouldn’t happen in a professional production but it does. (did I see cossack Continue reading
Author: dreamingofsquirrels
finding myself in San Diego, sort of
I found a T rex named after me! Ok, maybe not really my namesake, Continue reading
what happens when you go get coffee
As I’m tearing through the first write of a new short story, Dream Mouse I head to the kitchen for a cup of coffee (sadly, it’s really too early for wine)….. Thanks Jasmine, I was sitting there. It’s ok, Mom, you can move. I moved. It’s the Borzoi mama’s legacy in her that let’s me know I am her servant. Always.
the resolutions…..I’m gonna go out and “do ’em ’till there’s less of ’em” Jeremy’s way
This year I resolve to handle my resolutions Jeremy’s way…. let me explain. Jeremy was one of the guys I hired in a recent team I led. A team tasked with a mandate to turn the sow’s ear of too much work to manage into the silk purse of some impressive metrics.
Jeremy had an impressive red/brown beard long before hipsters in Portland started growing them, and clearly the envy of other beard-growing men. (And yes, I love a great beard!) Jeremy had a very deep, low, soft voice more to be felt than heard. Jeremy had what you can only call “chill”. I’m sure he was dragging around his ball and chain of stress like the rest of us, but he brought a grounding to our team that kept us all away from the ledge as he would look at our impossible workload and say “well…….I’m gonna go out and do ’em ’till there’s less of ’em”. It became our team mantra.
So here it is the time again – when we start again. Whether we make a list and tape it to the front of the fridge or just tell ourselves that “this year I will…” I think we all make some promises to ourselves to start/change/do/make/quit something as we hang up our new calendars.
I’m gonna look at my impossible list of resolutions and “go out and do ’em until there’s less of ’em” Jeremy’s way.
Saturday with Hazel & Liz and too much fun – not
Dear Hazel,
So just how much fun can one person have and still say they are at work? Is there a rule about that? I wouldn’t know ’cause I’m not having any. Fun that is. So now I find out I have to fly 2 separate flights to pick up a prisoner Tuesday. That’s ok as long as I don’t get screwed around with the weather. Remember the time it took me 4 days to get back with a bad guy? Yeah, the trip from hell, that was. A pretty quick turnaround at the airport this time so I’m thinking I better not wear my slippery soled shoes in case I end up running and dragging my handcuffed, clanging, jangling buddy along behind me. (Traction can be an important thing, you know.) Continue reading
see ya, 2016……
2016 reminded me that the only thing constant about change is that it will continue to happen – sometimes delightfully, sometimes well – it sucks.
Some of the squirrel moments from my year….In February I had some treasured big brother 1:1 time exploring the missions of California and of course, a burger at Gilroy In -N- Out Burger. Yeah!! And in March at a meeting I realized that sometimes the best you can do with a pile of poop situation is to metaphorically kick dirt on it and walk away. Continue reading
damn it, Mark!…don’t put dog food grumblies on the counter
I love trail mix. All kinds. As long as it’s crunchy, full of mysterious nuts and seeds, fruits and maybe chocolate…I’m there. I munch on it while I drive, at my work desk, at home…..kind of like a friendly addiction some might say.
Some of my work buddies vacuumed out my work car and commented on the trail mix the vacuum sucked up. In my work cubicle, there is enough escaped, dropped and missed trail mix to feed a small village for a week….. which I left for the guy who took over my little cubicle world….maybe I hope for a rat infestation there…..but I digress.
So with the holidays I have a bowl of trail mix and other goodies on the kitchen counter and as I stumbled out in the morning without my glasses on (can’t see anything unless it’s at least a mile away without my glasses), and I spy an errant piece of trail mix on the counter. I eat it.
It was a piece of dog food. A dog grumblie. “Mark!” I said, “I just ate a piece of dog food off the counter thinking it was trail mix ’cause I couldn’t see it up close without my glasses.. wtf!?” He replied, “yeah, I know I put it there….it was stuck on my sock and I put it there”. As if he put a treat out for me pulled from his old wool sock. “Well, that’s just not cool. Put it in the garbage or back in the dog dish, but don’t set me up with my trail mix addiction to scarf it up off the counter!” and he just laughed.
hotel carpets are a test
I’ve travelled a lot – enough to have some top status at hotels and so forth and I’ve come to the conclusion that there’s a test hidden in hotel carpets; like a Rorschach test. I wonder how they come up with the dirt-hiding, wear-hiding carpet patterns. Where does the inspiration come from? Clearly, this one is simply a repeat pattern of some old MRI results woven into blue and gold….as I see it.
Let’s make it interesting. I have some old polygraph test printouts that would make a dynamite carpet pattern, or how about some of my old firearm qualification targets? Now that would make a pretty cool carpet pattern. Give me a call you hotel carpet designers; I’ll be glad to help.
let the Boxing Day madness begin!
Use that Christmas $ for what you want……need? Everyone could use some boxing squirrels. Jasmine said so.
did you just sniff that?? my Christmas message
As we were unrolling a large plastic corporate banner, I leaned in pulling it up close to me and closed my eyes for a few seconds. My colleague looked at me with his face scrunched up and said ” did you just……sniff that?”
And I answered, “yes….why, yes. I did. And it smells like new dolls at Christmas.” I explained that when I was a little girl, the dolls I got at Christmas were made out of some plasticky material that had a particular smell to them when they were new. I’ve stumbled across that scent over the years but not as often as you would think.
Sniffing a new shower curtain liner, I explained to my husband about the new dolls at Christmas smell. And unrolling a banner with a colleague decades younger than me, I again explained the new dolls at Christmas smell. And don’t go telling me about toxic fumes, or chemical things; the smell transports me back to a special time of flannel nighties and excitement to see that Santa came.
My wish for you this holiday season is for you to catch a sniff of your “new dolls at Christmas” memories that take you back to a time of delight, maybe with your big brother and little sister by the Christmas tree from years ago.
Happy Christmas from dreamingofsquirrels.
a little love from Griz today
Christmas shopping today with a little help from grand puppy Griz. Well, kind of a lot of help – and a lot of love.
dreamingofsquirrels 
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