I learned this morning that my company gives us only four days of being able to access some of the features on the corp network via our personal computer before they shut you down and you have to request additional time. I requested additional time at 8:30 AM, and at 1:30 PM I still didn’t have access to my files. All I could do was see emails and texts on my work phone. So I focused on personal writing work while periodically checking to see whether I had access to my work writing. Come 1:30, it didn’t matter because that’s when my new laptop arrived. The FedEx guy had already been to my house this morning to deliver another work item. I told him I was expecting a computer and how badly I needed it. He said, “You might be seeing me again later, because we get another shipment to take around at about one o’clock.” Sure enough, there he was, backing into my driveway. My knight in steel cladding with wheels.

I gathered all the cabling and external hardware—keyboard, mouse, monitor, web cam—and hauled it all upstairs to a spare bedroom, setting up my temporary office there. Tomorrow the contractors return, and they’ll be jackhammering through the basement floor to put in plumbing for the bathroom. I have to teach an online class, which I can’t do at the corp office for various reasons. The jackhammering will take place directly below my home office, so…

It’s National Night Out Day (is that an oxymoron?), and the neighborhood behind us had the police over to celebrate, play games in someone’s front yard, meet the local coppers, and enjoy the Mr. Freezie van that stopped by. Hubby and I went for a walk around the block, which is how we stumbled upon the occasion. After seeing about 5 squad cars, a few unmarked vehicles, and a motorcycle cop, Hubby remarked, “It would be a good time to commit a crime somewhere else.” Or not. We both limped along, me fairing much better than him on his ever-growing pain in the foot.

Although on the bug bite front, I seem to be the feed of choice, not Hubby. Got another cluster of those funky bites on my shoulder head. My sister was able to find the info about what they were. Initially, she thought it was the wasp that fed on the Brood X cicada larvae. But it’s actually a micro mite, and people all over the region are going to dermo docs with complaints of persistent, bad itchy, rashiness. Entomologists are saying avoid standing under big trees where cicadas have laid their eggs. Oh, and the eggs are hatching now, so the larvae are raining from the trees to burrow underground. It’s all fun here! Fortunately, those little blighters don’t bite. It’s getting so I don’t want to go outside anymore, with all the large trees in our neighborhood. Tomorrow is one day closer to the bites clearing up. That’s going to be my new tag line: Tomorrow is one day closer to things getting better.