“Remoted” – Workday Fifteen (Monday)

When the dogs got into a fight with each other first thing this morning, I knew a full moon was near without even checking the calendar. They used to fight nearly every full moon, so the sound was familiar. Luckily, it’s been long enough since their last tussle that I can’t remember when it was, so I guess that’s pretty good. This morning’s event happened while I was getting dressed, and like nearly every spat before it, I didn’t see it start, but suddenly I was the referee in a fury of yelping and growling and two fur cherubs entangled on the floor.

We moved past the excitement quickly, as there was a workday to prepare for. Today might have been remote workday fifteen, but it was also day one of my temporary reassignment to help out another department. It started with the nervous excitement of the first day at a new school. Is my outfit okay? Are my new colleagues cool? Will they figure out I’m a dork right away, or will there be a grace period? Then I remembered. Sure, it’s a new team for now, assembled from different departments, but it’s also still me home alone working and we’ll be emailing and calling each other. At least I can look up the photos of the people I don’t already know on the internal team member phone list.

There was a training session in the morning that was helpful and left me feeling prepared to tackle the project at hand. The training was efficient, but the wait for a password from an outside agency was more like a train wreck with multiple casualties.

The new keyboard and mouse are a great addition to the home office. The keyboard has a nice touch and is quiet, not clackety. The mouse is a million times better with scrolling than the touchpad on the laptop.

The last few hours of my workday coincided with the first few hours of happy outdoor play time for the neighbors across the street. Three guys were revving and racing dirt bikes up and down the street. Sunny days are beautiful, but damn, gray rainy days are definitely better for peace and quiet in the hood.

When napping, they are quite saintly.

After the working it was time for the suppering. As a sensible grownup, a healthy bowl of vegetable rich soup was had. Then a second. An hour later I was still hungry and foraging in the freezer like a bear in a dumpster. Thankfully, forgotten hash brown potato patties were located in the far corner, perfect with a puddle of also forgotten ketchup. The dogs must have exhausted themselves with their morning fury, as they napped much of the day and all of the evening, just like little saints.