A Part of Bee @morix@loci.onl

Well that was a fucking slog, but totally made it through #NanoWriMo 2021.

Last year I had more of a plan and only had to skip one scene or so to hit wordcount and time and it all kind of flowed smoothly.

This year I had done basically no prep, and had some vague ideas but then shit got deep and I wrote like half the plot then sliiiiiid over the last half in the last 2 days to hit time/wordcount.

A good experience worth doing. Also fixed my writing environment more :)

Today I discovered and added hl-sentence-mode to my #emacs (https://github.com/milkypostman/hl-sentence).

It's got a few bugs (interacting with folded org sections) that I'll fix later, but having that additional bit of focus on the current sentence really helped my evening #NanoWriMo to not write ridiculous run on sentences and really make each serve a better point, suprisingly effective.

I've been busy and not tooting. This has included driving a van for some friends over 800 miles and also seeing a tiny relative for the first time.

And I got cats! look at the cuties! They've been doing all the normal cautious cat adapting to their environment things like - giving no fucks, jumping up on everything, screaming for attention, playfighting, and complaining that when they climb on things literally to the ceiling they can't get higher.

So cute!

Managed to scrub up the burner and brasso it, even managed to get the O-ring out - although it was pretty knackered but I'm hoping some oil will help replenish it (it's had a couple of thin coats and seems to be drinking it).

weirdly the snuffer/simmer ring is the most corroded, I think the turnable part has been trapping cruft against the base part?

#trangia #stove

The internet offered me a good deal on am old and seemingly well loved trangia. Seller had 10 or so so I'm guessing one of the youth camping orgs is refreshing it's stock.

My weekend fun project is probably cleaning water scale and associated cruft out of this kit and then making a cup of tea, also brassoing the shit out of that burner oh my word. It's clearly been used with kinda bad smelling meths and generally I prefer cleaner bioethanol so this will be education for me.

#trangia #stove

Picked up some cheap new small plates and of course had to include these two silly ones so I can crack a "The two genders!" joke.

My girlfriend of course decided she is a robot spider ballarina based on this.

Having just a time of this phase of the pandemic and work and general life stress.

But totally managed to go out walking with some peeps and a cute dog in just the most absolutely dramatic magical hillsides with the deepest bits of limestone pavement I've ever seen.

Also some geocaching got done :)

#photography #geocaching #landscape

Finished another bit of fun crafting and this time it's for meeeeeeeee, really happy with the neatness of the knots and general vibe of the thing, although I may redo it to swap out the first two large marker beads after the start of the loop for adding weight and bulk without much use.

Oh it's an IC set of meditation/prayer beads for a LARP. But also it's a fiddle.

This morning I had this cat come sit on my back and purr loudly to remind me breakfast existed while I was trying to sleep. Can't really blame her for her catness, but she is cute about it. #CatsOfMastodon

Looking after someone's cat for a bit, yay house is now catty, look at this pretty and neurotic kitty #CatsOfFediverse

Met an extremely friendly kitty while out on a nighttime wander, approached bravely, twined around legs, and then rolled over for fuss, then went to investigate a bush for something to nibble on. 10/10 kitty encounter. #CatsOfMastodon #Photography

One of the useful things I did was picking a bunch of raspberries for my girlfriend from the garden (she has the growing things skills but not always the harvesting things energy) so yeah, tasty snacks for later :)

#photography #florespondence

Went to see the local Meercats and managed to capture a picture of the changing of the guard, the one on top is the fresh one, the other two were a bit lower down keeping an eye out - but managed to get all 3 looking up at once :)

#photo #meercats

Hey I got distracted from posting on the fedi. Basically because it was sunny and I did some safe distance walks with people and also got to walk this cutie dog and see wonderful landscapes and random sights like a grumpy duck.

Intensely recharging, very needed :)

Also irc.libera.chat is operational now and like you should probably go grab your nicknames and channels there.

Today featured unpredicted sunshine, so went and did a little outdoor yoga in the ruins of a local observatory, then had a little picnic and fed the ducks. Very nice time had by all.

When you're a religious figure, but someone absolutely needs to get in the sea.

(one from my recent walking adventures a partner and their family where I got to play tour guide a little in the area)

So how am I dealing with the pandemic at the mo?

Today I took a long exploring drive of parts of the local area, pausing to explore and reconnect with the land.

Also had a lovely charming roleplaying session about someone else's problems.

and I just cashed in 700+ cells in a single Dead Cells run.

yup doing the things to get by.

This morning's experiment (prepping for the return of LARP season) - cowboy coffee.

Following https://www.beansmitten.co.uk/post/how-to-make-cowboy-coffee which refers to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UAoT21eqXI.

Used 30g of coffee to about 500ml of water. I found that gave about two half cups that when topped up with hot water was just very smooth and strong.

I think in a taller pot I wouldn't have needed a filter but in a saucepan it really made it easier to keep the grounds out, still there wasn't much in the filter.

#coffee

So today did a second round of a thing we're experimenting with locally - online connected distant but local walks.

So a handful of #pagan #magician types all on a shared discord call wandering as their feet take them (with a couple resting in homes), poking about and communing with local #landscape and gently chatting and sharing pics.

It's fascinating that both times people have gone different directions than intended and also we've had overlaps between the experiences.