September 2024

[jedimentat]

Start of School

FDOS pics





(after these pics they ripped off these clothes to return to sweatpants)





Homeschool started off really strong. Liberty skipped 6th Grade Math and went to Pre-Algebra, and it's been more challenging and more time-consuming for her; both children started Science this year with their online school and I had to do a lot of support helping them write up science labs etc but it's been good. Our September unit was on The Enlightenment period and they learned a lot about scientists and thinkers and classical music composers of that time, and watched 'Amadeus.'







Kirk's 10th Birthday







fun visit to Sparta Renaissance Faire and Angry Erik Brewery afterwards







































Apple Picking with Stratfordgal













Whittmore forest and stream hike with a cool pal









Dentist Appointment, Mammogram, Orthopedist, and RRP checkup in NYC. all the things.















Soccer Season started









went to New Hope and Lambertville after a soccer match and walked around (lost my smartwatch on the way home by hanging my arm out the window while driving, like i always do, and didn't notice until later, expensive mistake)





"Peace Pie" ice cream



My Aunt and Uncle visited from VA







Liberty



majorly into origami.

spent the month starting cross country at our district's middle school, but honestly it was too socially brutal being the homeschool-kid-wearing-a-mask; kids that she has known from private and public school as well as summer camp weren't the most friendly or welcoming, so she bailed after two and a half weeks. I cried with her in the car and we went to get consolation-bubble-tea.





Liberty got glasses!











cuuuute!




Kirk







started off with nearly an entirely new soccer team, but the coach held on to old impressions of his effort, and Kirk spent a brutally unfair (IMO) amount of time on the bench. Its been a test of spirit and will, hard for Kingfox and I to watch. Tried to build confidence and also worked in some shots-on-goal extra practice at a local park into our schedule.

Dogs











Kingfox went on a business trip this month, which was his first trip in a while, and nerve-wracking for all in terms of trying to be as covid-safe as possible.

My bro's divorce and family stuff went through another very intense month; tried to be supportive through all that.

made beef jerky, and also experimented with meringues in the dehydrator. Very gloppy results.
Added a water softener to our Culligan system. While its better for our appliances, my hair *hates* the softener. Started getting eggs from all five of our chickens this month.



Garden and Cooking
















At the end of September, Hurricane Helene hit the US, causing a wide swath of destruction from Florida to North Carolina; particularly wiping out Ashville, NC from the map with unprecedented mudslides. Additionally, many other locations around the globe were hit with unprecedented flooding.







pic from a commercial plane flying over mainland Spain as its hit with fires







One week later, in early October, Florida was hit with strong Cat 5 Hurricane Milton. There was massive evac from FL and while it flooded and suffered wind damage from an enormous number of tornadoes etc, there wasn't the extreme loss of life that was initially expected. The emergency responses and aid-drives sort of blended together, since they followed on each other's heels. The amount of misinformation surrounding the government's FEMA response to the storms was truly insane, though, and extremely politicized.



tornado map









Different random things: Starlink worked really well in an emergency. So many tips on how to prepare and deal with power outages and bugging out to safer locations. Quite honestly the destruction and how people are coping with it didn't seem to get as much media coverage in my area as it all should have done. Concurrently with this was all sorts of election/campaign stuff, and also a longshoreman strike which fortunately only lasted a day bc it could have caused a lot of supply chain issues.

Gaza was increasingly liquidated this month, with horrific videos of refugees burning alive. Lebanon was bombed repeatedly.

The US election is just sort of insane. I honestly don't know if there will be a peaceful transfer of power or what to expect. There was terrible climate news in both September and October; drought all month in my area in October and more wildfires across the US and Canada.
I felt really grateful for the air quality being good and for the sunny warm days.

pic of Springsteen concert in Asbury Park this month



The summer Covid surge of August turned into the September 'permanent high tide,' it wasn't great. people who got sick in August seemed to get another round in September. Kingfox got Novavax. I held off, bc last time I got vaccinated, I got horrible MCAS/histimine reactions for 6 months or so.

I've been struggling with hip issues for a while, paired with leg pains that seem to be from lactic acid buildup (LC thing). I don't know whether my hip issue was exacerbated by reactive arthritis or AVN, but an orthopedist confirmed that my hips have a genetic issue and that a replacement is a matter of time. I got my first cortisone shot treatment (in both hips, actually). The doctor who did the shot procedure was making small talk to set me at ease and was like, "How long has this issue been going on?" and I was like, "Two years," and she was like "two YEARS??!" and I was like, yeah, I don't like medical stuff and have enough issues to deal with. I *did* try for unconscionably long to resolve this with large, large amounts of collagen (gummies and other supplements), elimination diets, relentless yoga and Pilates, and was not successful. The shots themselves made me really tired for a few days and I didn't see much effect in terms of better or more painless movement. I'm gunning for hip replacement, but also pretty concerned about the possibility of getting hospital-acquired Covid, since the mitigations in hospitals are so lax now and it's kind of a shitshow.

These two months, September and October, have been a lot.