Sunday looked like this–cold and snowing.

Today it was 65º, like a windy spring day.  I actually mowed the lawn.  Asters are still blooming like crazy, while tree leaves persist in brilliant red.  It was a freak warm day–it’s going back to frigid tomorrow.  I’ll take what I can get.

That was after a visit to HQ, where I finally got my long-awaited official Tavern t-shirt, courtesy of E.  That rated two beers, one from Michigan and one from right here in Yellow Springs.  Here’s a pretty view from their back room.

Welp I’m back, on my brand new shiny MacBook Air.  Did you think you could be rid of me that easily?  Heheheh [evil laughter].  It was sad to let go of my faithful old mac of 10 (!) years, but it was overdue.  I was able to trade it in toward the tech support/warranty, plus it will be used to help rebuild new laptops for needy communities, a worthy cause, not just dumped in a landfill.  So long may it run in its next incarnation.  Here are the old and new macs.  This one shall remain sticker-less (so I say).

I even managed to set up my new Canon printer and connect our laptops through wifi, not easy for the tech-challenged, so we’re back in business printing/scanning/copying.  It only took us a whole day.

Outside, it’s cold and snowing!!  Here’s the view from Misu’s enclosed patio (where I have my herbs and mixed salad greens sprouts coming up).  She and I are still getting used to this northern climate again.  Down south it’s like 20 degrees warmer, one of the few things I miss about TN.  Back to going dormant for the winter.

Goodbye old friend.  My old MacBook Air (2012) has served me well, but it’s on its last legs (like my Subaru), so it’s time to say goodbye and start a clean slate.  I’m quite nervous about this transition, but I’ll get through it as with everything, with a little help from the Apple genius bar.  If you notice a temporary absence, I’ll just be learning my way around the new updated version.  Hopefully it will be a relatively painless process.  See you on the other side!

One by one we’re checking off the major to-do list.  Can you guess what today’s was?  A return to our original favorite Subaru dealership to order a shiny new Impreza to replace my very old one (’04).  (Though not quite as old as the one pictured!)  She has served us well, and I will miss her.  At least we got a better trade-in figure than we expected, plus the friendly, reputable, no-pressure Subaru treatment which was so lacking in Tennessee.

Definitely the end of an era–literally–for me.  Because of the current supply chain issues, they actually have to build our order from scratch, and let us know in a few months when it’s ready.  So I have a little more time to say goodbye to my faithful ride.  “Long may you run, although these changes have come!”

Our latest “reunion” was at Clifton Gorge today.  It’s a deep canyon cut by ancient glaciers, with the Little Miami River rushing through it down below, and towering cliffs with huge old trees clinging to them above.  They’ve rebuilt and improved many of the wooden stairways, bridges, and boardwalks since we were last there years ago.  It was a perfect cool fall day with both colorful turning leaves and persisting greenery sheltered by the rocks and cliffs.

Yesterday was auspicious in that we notarized and submitted the final paperwork to the probate court for E’s change of gender marker on her birth certificate.  Amazingly, everything went smoothly and non-eventfully, a rare experience on this long journey.  This step was almost anti-climactic.

There is probably one more step, submitting the judge-approved documents to the appropriate department for the updated birth certificate.  Then she will finally be 100% official.  “What a long strange trip it’s been”!

Naturally we had to celebrate at HQ.  Here’s a friendly cat that hangs out at the tavern–it must be her/his HQ, too!  Here’s a good Ohio oatmeal stout.  On the way home we visited some of E’s relatives at the cemetery.  At least the dead ones can’t shun her.

Since I last wrote, we’ve checked off many business items from the list of goals.

We went to our first real doctors in years, at Equitas Health in Dayton, which went well.  It’s so refreshing to go to an LGBTQ+-friendly medical group, where they get the unique issues of marginalized people, and even the medical history forms and referral lists of specialists are geared to that community.  Such a contrast to the “doctors” in TN.  Here are some alien UFOs sighted hovering in the clouds over the Equitas building.  Funnily, they want to send me to a shrink for my first referral, go figure!

Our Halloween passed uneventfully, since we put this sign (by me) on the door. Note the bat cleverly delivering a COVID devil.  It seems to have worked, heheh!  Skully approves this message.  Meanwhile, we did a classic Frankenstein movies marathon, and ate up all the M&Ms ourselves, the way we like it.

My new Medicare Advantage insurance plan kicked in, so I can afford all the doctors, dentist, specialists, and meds I’ll be needing.  Blah.  Making up for a lot of lost time.  I am fortunate to even have a (Medicare) plan that pays for most of my medical needs, unlike many (most?) people in this country.

Today we voted in our first local Ohio election since moving back.  It was empty, with brand new (to us) electronic machines with paper trails and helpful volunteer poll workers.  There are actual non-Repub candidates on our ballot!  Let’s hope some of them can get elected in this very conservative precinct.  Here’s my shiny new sticker!

We now have all the necessary paperwork to be notarized and submitted to probate court to correct E’s gender-marker on her birth certificate.  It’s the last stop in the long, difficult process of being allowed to live and function legally as who she is in every way.  The doctor’s form was the final one.

Today was cold but tonight will be below freezing, so I’ve brought in all the annual herbs and put them under grow lights in Misu’s conservatory.  Soon I’ll be adding a salad bar of assorted greens in there.

Speaking of whom, here she is lounging on “her” new kitchen rug.  So gratifying to have such slavish humans to serve Her Meowjesty.

This is a relatively new park created while we were in TN, so also new to us, and it is indeed a pearl of a little fen.  This is where Beaver Creek gets its start from springs.  They’ve built nice boardwalks and bridges over the wetlands and creek, and left the rest as natural trails through the woods.  We just missed sighting some deer, as a friendly dog-walker pointed out.  There were all kinds of birds out in profusion, including I think some Towhees.  There were still some flowers blooming in this unique habitat.  Pearl’s Fen backs up to a quarry-turned-park that we’ve explored, so one day we’ll check it out from that end.

A momentous occasion–the first official lighting of the (gas) fireplace at HQ (YOTT)!  Yeah, old farts here, it doesn’t take much.  But we were there!  And it was definitely a drafty fall day.  As in “She downed the Poet Oatmeal Stout in one draught.”  Actually, I savored it in a snifter glass, but you get the idea.

Imagine me not posting mundane trivia for a week!  How did you 2.5 readers ever survive?  All I have to make up for it is even more tedium.  But lest I forget how to even write, here goes.

As I’ve mentioned, this small boring yard in midwest suburbia is like a blank slate, aside from all the exotic invasive trees and bushes, which I can’t do much about beyond thinning them out.  It’s a different kind of challenge.

But–I made my first real live plant contact, through a local online natives group, and we met her and traded boxloads of daylilies that came with the house for some native/perennial seeds which she had collected and dried.  I’m in the process of sowing them in the beds around the house, where hopefully they will germinate next year.  It’s not ambitious, but it’s a start.

Meanwhile, I’ll be on the lookout for inexpensive native trees and bushes to start surrounding the yard with a green screen and provide basic habitat.  Even if it’s just some rooted saplings dug up by a local landscape contractor, I’ll do whatever I can for cheap.   At least it won’t take a whole forest to make a dent in this place.

My evil bird-luring plan is working.  There isn’t a lot of wildlife here (that I know of), as they have few incentives to feel safe and secure in this environment, so attracting birds using seed in a sheltered area is progress.

Interestingly, we keep noticing groups of huge buzzards hanging out and feeding in the neighborhood, and a couple of raptors or ravens circling overhead.  There may just be some roadkill around, but it’s something.  I’ll take what I can get.

It’s been raining hard for days, after finally turning fall-like.  This photo is self-explanatory.  Not much here, but lots of potential.