And so, updates:

- The DNA thing has reached a minor impasse while we wait for the other party to actually take his own test instead of pontificating about his mother's test. Once we see his results that may help to bring into focus whether Grandpa is the philanderer or whether it's one of Grandpa's deadbeat brothers. Seems there's a brother that already has at least one other child-by-another-mother and who's offspring Queenie had already contacted to try and connect some dots. We will see.

- So now, where is the car? 2 1/2 months later, supposedly it will be done again today or tomorrow. Jackass shop owner STILL thinks we're not 'out anything' over this entire ordeal so it will make for a tense encounter when he's looking for a thanks upon delivery. My inclination is to write up a bill for my Quality Control inspection services along with an accompanying bill that would indicate what I would have paid Joe's-backyard-body-shop to do the same job, only better, for 1/3rd the cost of these yahoos. Anyhow.

- Mum is sleeping comfortably at the nursing home, none the worse for wear. Pop and Queenie are still inexplicably splitting time there, each spending 3-5 hours EVERY DAY visiting and some days even more. The daily visits are fine, but the ongoing durations are just ridiculous. Several evenings a week Queenie and I see each other for an hour after work, then she's gone until after I'm asleep. Nuts.

- Oddkin starts her new-old job NEXT WEEK! Good thing as she's had a rough go with just having her tonsils out then having one of her dogs attack each of her cats, one severe enough to need stitches and the other died shortly after the attack. The net was that the dog needed to be put down as he had become increasingly aggressive with no discernible cause. For an average person that's rough, for a vet Tech who used to believe she could manage ANY pet situation it was a good awakening but harsh and extra traumatic.

- You can tell when you work for liberalish folks. We have a 'celebration' coming up that has turned to something else. Typically every year we have a site gathering for lunch, entertainment, and then freedom. Each year more and more control is put over the proceedings until .... This year we will have to sign in (it sounds like they're erecting a gate and fence and everything) and then we must sign out to leave! Now we have NOT had a problem with interlopers so the only obvious answer is they want to know who got bored with the festivities and left before they were over (and for those of us who get to work early that's usually 2-3 hours AFTER our normal quitting time), an obvious insult to those who organize these fine proceedings. I chatted off the record with not-my-manager and it was confirmed, the managers will be tasked with speaking to those who leave before the appointed time. I think I'll skip the free meal and just stay at work that day ..... some reward, eh? But that just goes along with the arcane dress code, tiny parking spaces to encourage tiny cars, meditation spaces (but don't bring your religion in here!), "we encourage you to vote for' appeals, and other similar things that occur here on a regular basis. Years ago I wrote about how my first promotion here was met with internal rage and protesting because I was a white male getting the first promotion in my hiring group, never mind that I was the only one in the group who had actually created deliverable work by that point. Later my 2nd promotion was delayed about 6 months while they waited for someone more diverse to qualify so that person could be promoted 'first'. My work ethic has never been the same ..... but I meander.

- Garlic! In my second year things are looking up even though the crop was stunted by too much rain. I have made more already and still have a good amount of stock left. I did add a more covert security camera and added a door to 'shut down' the stand over night and the theft has been greatly reduced. I did catch one thief on camera and posted a photo of her back-side that said "Please don't steal or I'll show your face". As near as I can tell nothing has been stolen since, though there is one jerk I want to catch up to who stops by every so often (only when no one is here) and subtracts sales tax from his purchase even though he should know that produce is not taxed. He did the same last year a few times. And it's pre-meditated, he always takes a single $1 head and leaves exactly $0.92 that he has already counted out and put in his pocket. He just scoops it out of his pocket and into the pay box, no counting required.

- The old John Deere has been returned to Big Brother. It was a bit of a bother as he had neglected it long enough that it needed a bunch of work to return in usable order but I was not gonna return it as a limp-along as he would lie and tell everyone that I 'ruined' it after he took such good care of it. Anyhow, the last tie is now broken and Big Brother, in the mean time, has also disowned Little Brother. He does occasionally try to annoy our daughters but they're happy to just ignore him and carry on, he was never the good uncle despite his claims of holiness.

- The next two weeks Queenie and Sensible go on an epic adventure, driving across the country. I get two weeks of peace and quiet and not having to worry about women-folk catching me in a compromising situation ;-)
Wish me luck! Queenie has suddenly decided that I am unable to feed myself and is determined to have most of my meals prepared and frozen, ready for thawing and consumption. Not sure she took me seriously when I said I already had it covered ....... but my tastes are simpler AND less what-am-I-craving-at-this-moment than hers are so I'm also looking forward to some more basic fare. Wish me luck!

- The community choir and church choir have started up again, yehah. We may be quitting church choir 'soon' as the numbers we do are so simple that they do not require the time they waste for practice so they fill in time by unnecessarily practicing Sunday hymns that we already have memorized. Other than us and two of our friends the rest of the choir are generally joyless and incredibly awkward. Not one of them, including the director, has tried to get to know us yet the choir totals at most 17 including the director. They all know each other from way back when and just choose to abstain from socializing at all before, during, or after. We're really not that bad to get to know, ya know?
Community choir is meh. Our Christmas program is one that I sang in and was technical director for more than a decade ago and it was an OK program but as just the technical dude this time around I've already heard the entire thing 15 times (from creating practice CDs) and I still had it memorized from all those years ago, narration and all. Usually the director gives me a few weeks off while she works notes on the piano but she feels that this time I need to be there every week. Bleh. At least the 'board' for the choir finally relented to pay back some of my expenses for equipment and supplies. $75 for supplies out of the roughly $800 out of pocket so far, but who's counting?
They tried asking for possession of everything I've bought so that they have 'equipment' to list as assets but since they've only paid for supplies I turned 'em down for now. I'll probably donate some of it someday when I decide to step down but in the mean time I don't want to be this single biggest donor for something that I'm not on the board of and appear to hold little sway over. Even Queenie, who's on the board, doesn't present or defend my thoughts on the matter. Kinda disappointing but I'm not yet ready to be the one who pulls the plug on the thing so, ya know, what're ya gonna do?