We´re all mad here

 ...LJ died on me. I just had posted yesterday´s entry when I remembered I had wanted to add some garden pictures- the Japanese dwarf marples, which had decided for themselves to not stay dwarfy, had been a sea of red and orange and extremely pretty to look at. So I tried to go back to LJ, but it was dead on all of my devices. It could be a DDos attack, but those are mostly originated from RU itself, and why sabotage their own media! It is also said that LJ as a RU platform is getting blocked now without exception. Means that I will have to use DW from now on, which I do not like at all. And my acorns will stay on my mobile, because I am too dumb to add them here for posting. (PS: found out how to do it but did not find my mobile, which must still live in my car). I may post the pictures tomorrow. Good that I took them yesterday morning, because last night a cold front crossed our country, the strong winds taking off most of the leaves. And for the first time this season we got a whiff of winter coming- the tops of the hills were white. Of course,once again I forgot to take a picture...
Today I got up at six thirty, had breakfast and a whole newspaper for me alone, because hubby overslept. Afterwards I drove to Tedi and Action and once again did not get the things I needed. But I bought candles for the Advent wreath- in a strange colour, a pale turquoise, very different from those I used before, but nice on the new wreath made of branches. My friend will be appalled that I won´t make one big wreath this year, but my poor fingers do not love to wield fir branches and wire. And the boys´s wreath is always a small, thinly one and quickly done. Maybe the wreath-loving lady has to bring her own fir branches this year- a novelty, because she always lets me buy them.
No cooking got done, we defroze Japanese Oyakodon (which I did not like, because the frozen onions turned out too sweet for my liking), then I did more investigation about LJ. If it´s an ISP or DNS problem I will ask son to install the Opera browser and try it out. This way I might be able to bypass the blockage. Or not. We will see!
Since hubby is off to a concert I have a free Friday evening. Then again, my cold is still here, even though I am definitely feeling better. But I am a nice girl and won´t wander over to our neighbours to spread my germs. Perish the thought, they are even older than me, hence even more vulnerable. A pity that Friday prime time programme is always so bad...

 At five in the morning I had a terrible cough attack. That was because I had choked on a cough sweet I had taken at three, when I woke to a sore throat and a first coughing attack but fell asleep before sucking it to the end. In plain English, the antibiotics did not do their job. Even the ear pain is back, but bearable. I was furious (furious I can do perfectly even when sick), dressed for the shopping tour I had planned and left the house at nine thirty in the morning, dead certain I´d be able to make it to the doctor´s office in time after shopping. Not only that the infotainment system of my car had died again (it was out almost all the way to the shopping centre, then started a racket all of a sudden, so that I almost veered off the street in shock, after the shopping halt it was dead again), I also did not even get half of the things I had intended to buy, because they were already sold out (the young so still ambitious salesgirl told me that the days before a very few women had bought in all those items I asked for, and she thinks those might have been professional gardeners- the time of Advent wreath making has begun). And when I ended up at the doctor´s office I noticed that surgery times had been changed and they had closed already. Next time for a try: tomorrow in the late afternoon. At least hubby had cooked lunch. It smelled very good but was salty, as always. Hubby only does salty, even though he shouldn´t. So I ate the Faschingskrapfen as a compensation afterwards- hubby bought some to celebrate the start of the fifth season (that´s what the Germans call the carnival)- turned the TV on then slept. I think hubby got four phone calls during nap time which I was able to ignore. Once again my husband was required as a caretaker, this time for daughter´s landlord, who wants a new window for the flat, but only if the company is able to build one in during the (short) time the time scaffold will be available- the flat is on the 7th floor! Hubby also built in the new door lock at son´s house, so that Florence and her rabid cat won´t have to crawl through the gap of the roller shutter of the flat´s loggia, when she needs to leave for work. And in the evening he drove to kindergarten, where Flavius was having the yearly Saint Martin procession with self-made lanterns. I opted for a stay at home with lots of typing- Lj entry, e-mails, a few paragraphs to the book sis and I are ´constructing´. And some really barbed additions to the Disassembly of Saint Mizzi´s aureole. This has been daughter´s fault only...

 ...when Christmas is near without looking at your calendar- the obligate calls for donations on TV will at least triplicate, if not more. There´s Licht ins Dunkel, Weihnachtswunder, Hoffnung schenken- all of them honourable but annoying, because those spots will come and go in a neverending stream from November on (and at the same time pensioners get to know that tickets for them will become pricier or cancelled, health insurance contributions will rise, they are in for more and higher patient´s contributions and and and... and all without inflationary adjustment). There´s also WWF- save polarbears, save the tigers and heaven knows what else (those donation calls are very impressive, because the narrator prattles along in a boring way save for the moments his voice will go dark to imitate the growling of the beasts). Now imagine how I felt when I turned the TV on in the morning to watch a documentation about the condition of today´s world and noticed that the narrator was the same. I was practically asleep in front of the TV save for the passages the man did indeed growl- to tell us to not waste water (who does, when one has to pay for it), never use palm oil (aha, are we forced to do our own cosmetics from now on?), quit eating meat and have vegetables instead (a big no to the last one, I eat green salad, asparagus and carrots only but love meat). But I sat through, torn between short naps and crocheting one last Christmas stocking (I simply could not cast away what was left of the wool). And I did a lot of hubby-watching- that man thinks winter will fall in next week and he is the chosen one to save...erm, I think he does not know even know much about what he´s supposed to save. But he was running, running, and running again, all morning long. I almost got dizzy by watching, so I decided to cook lunch- pork schnitzel Parisian way with porcini and potatoes, did a crossword puzzle afterwards then went upstairs to continue my drug-enforced resting- drugs that won´t do their trick properly, because my ear is still hurting and my heart rate still up, yet I will have to wait for a next visit to the doctor till Tuesday, when I hopefully will have my car back. Temperatures outside will hopefully go up tomorrow- the last two days gave us a first taste of winter, with temperatures never above seven and frost during night. Which reminds me that the yuccas and the palm trees have to get brought in, but hubby will be off most of the day. The lighter ones I can do by myself, but not the three bigger ones...

 I spent a quiet day inside the house save for the mum-cab tour to the airport, which was interesting. Originally I had planned to get up early to watch those slow meteorites, which have a longer visibility in the nightsky- I think they are called the Southern Taurids. Good that I didn´t wake early (three is bad enough)- I cannot remember a day with such dense fog (probably because I usually won´t drive during night). And my wind shield was covered with white frost for the first time during this autumn.
I had some spa time with aromatic shower and massage oil, while hubby was off to son´s- Florence had killed the lock of her entrance door and can only get into her flat via emergency exit. Neighbour helped to identify the problem, they drove to a company and ordered replacement, which will arrive on Monday, the day my car will be in the car repair shop, which hubby forgot about. He hopes replacement will fit into his car, too. Meanwhile I cooked lunch (marry-me-chicken, not that I´d ever marry again) and crocheted another Christmas stocking. I am up to number five already, but need seven- one for every grandchild to get filled with little presents. Since it was foggy all day long and extremely dark, I thought that I´d go to the bedroom to get a bit of rest. I swear I turned the lights on to keep my rest short, but at some point I fell asleep and woke in the late afternoon only. Daughter had already warned me that my medication cocktail would make me drowsy- I think she was dead right!
One of my friends is miffed at me, that much she told me via Whatsapp. I do no more provide the obligate visiting time for her- sure thing, when my family is beating a path to my door, while hers will give her a wide berth. I think I know why. And now that my family is finally off and she thought she might drive over for exchange of gossip I dare to fall sick! Unforgivable!
Concerning mad world: In quite a few cases, but definitely not all, Halloween sweets manipulated with shards and nails originated in a TicToc challenge. The bomb threats against aircrafts is said to be staged by ru ss i an hackers. AO3 got hacked by a group called Anonymous S u dan, which is said to be part of a previously mentioned hacker community, and brought the site down because of hosting sexually provocating fan work forbidden in their religion. Maybe I can add more to the list tomorrow...

 Bad news- I had to do a tour to our family doctor today instead of shopping. In the morning my throat was still burning, and my ear had started hurting quite a lot. I had to wait for more than an hour in the waiting room, until the doctor told me that I had picked up streptococci- again. Tonsillitis, middle ear inflammation, probably inherited from son number three, at least that´s what I thought. Only when daughter came in the afternoon and told me that she was having a sore throat since last Sunday it dawned on me that she was the culprit. Will have to apologise to number three. I also had to apologise to a former student- I had been sitting vis-à-vis her mother, not sure if she truly could be the person I had thought of (she wore a mask, so not much to see of her face). It had been the mother, indeed. That´s so embarassing, but I have always been bad with recognising faces. I am on antibiotic diet for ten days from today on. The carpet I wanted to buy today will hopefully get bought tomorrow- it´s so nasty to have to put your feet onto the cold laminate when getting up in the morning. Things will be a bit slow for the next days, but I am definitely not feeling so well at the moment. Example? I did cook two strudel for lunch, one with minced meat, one with plums. I did not eat any of it. Swallowing is too painful...

 ...about hackers. And family. And maybe about a few more things I won´t write about. I was half dead yesterday evening after having to get up so early. As usual, I wasn´t able to fall asleep quickly after being back to bed at four thirty, yet the obligatory reading of fanfic on AO3 won´t happen after the hacker attack, probably not for weeks. It had been such a delight to plow into those fics, even though some of them led to laughing fits beyond control. Yet after a short while I´d put my tablet away and sleep. Now I am mimicking hubby- a windmill discarded in a marital bed. I cannot even fathom how intense hatred towards fanfiction must be to even start such an attack, but the world has gone mad, so...
This morning I got woken by our grandchildren´s war cries- the two won´t fight often, but early mornings seem to be their favourite time to dig up the hatchet. Hubby stormed down to the living room to see what happened, and he was like a rhino in attacking mood. Which also meant that I had to give up on sleeping in. Turned out that the children were hungry, mum and dad were in the guestroom resting and had not allowed their offspring to turn the TV on. An effective way to get the grandparents out of bed and stay in bed themselves! But Matthäus, clumsy as he is, smashed two coffee cups when he wanted to bring them to the table. That sound and the ensuing howling made the parents leave their sanctuary, but only to console their howling child- it was hubby who did the sweeping up. For breakfast we had three different jars of jam- Elsa wanted apricot only, Matthäus raspberry, and hubby ate the one we had the last days, which was strawberry jam, the sort not one of the two will eat. I made me a roll with ham and rolled to the TV nook, being aware that I´d be followed. The remaining of breakfast got spent with chasing sticky fingers off the couch, while hubby, son and DiL had a quiet time. So, family life as usual...
Blessedly the family was off after lunch. For me the time of boxing Halloween decoration had begun, and that´s when it downed on me- some of the decoration DiL had sacked had been mine. Matthäus had been in love with the white baby ghost and the glowing spider (and the singing pumpkin, but that one had been Elsa´s favourite), but that does not mean that those things will turn automatically into his possession. Another lesson learned- mark your belongings off, or they will change ownership without you even noticing it! I won´t even blame the boy- it´s his parents (first and foremost his mum, who did the packing) who should have noticed the error. Well, they did, when they were halfway home and finally started asking questions...
Weather was very wet and cool today. Blessedly no snow, as weather forecast had feared it might come down, but still... I watered the lemon trees and put a foil over them. From tomorrow on the conservatory will be their hibernation quarter again, the Yuccas have to go to the mudroom, the palms will stay on the terrace a while longer. Only the strong survive...

 Today I finally made it out of the house, and three times at that! Granted, it was mostly by driving in my car, but still- progress, progress! I will not let autumn depression bring me down! Today hubby´s car was in for tyre change, but he had lost his lug nut socket and the repair shop did not know which one to use, so he had to go to VW first, to find the correct one. Back at the repair shop hubby´s slot had already expired and he needed a new one. So first thing I did was bring husband mine back to our home, because around lunch time we were supposed to get a visit from a company worker- our entry door, bought a few years ago, does not close properly anymore. One can lock it without problems, but cold air and wind make it into the entrance area easily. The mudroom is always icy in winter now, even though we have underfloor heating. At first we did not think much about it. Then we installed a heating panel, which started up, when temperatures in the room went under 14 degrees, which was pretty much all the time in winter. Some weeks ago hubby did a proper examination of the door and found that it was bent at both ends. He contacted the firm, and today was the day a worker would inspect the darn thing. Since hubby had to stay at home, I went to number one, had a friendly talk with him and his wife, got to see young Konrad but not the older boys, who are sick (and I did not want to pick up their germs, too old for this) then drove back home. Hubby and I had a very late lunch, then I brought him to the repair shop and made a beeline to Aldi to get some groceries I need for Saturday evening. Ghosts in a blanket, spider eggs, hubby will do spooky bacon, and that´s it. My guess is that Mrs Ozempic (DiL 3) will be in bed at eight, because she always does. And she is also used to take Elsa with her, even though her daughter would love to stay up late. While Matthäus would love to go to bed with his mum but must do so with his pa, which often ends with both coming back after half an hour- daddy fuming, his son grumpy, because he is so very tired. At this point I will pour me a glass of wine and retire to the conservatory, snitchig one of hubby´s Cuban cigars on the way out and have a good time. Maybe I will open a window to let in some ghost- no, that won´t work, Cassian told me lately the poor ghost would come in pixelated because of the fly screen, and ghosts might be spooky but never dumb :))

 ...that the demolition work will switch over to building work soonest. Today was the last day of the old floor plate, the geometrician did a final measuring, from tomorrow on the excavator can start with digging out the antifrost layer for the new plate, which will be considerably bigger- there´ll be two houses, one even with flats. The old garden with its fruit trees will be sorely missed. Poor neighbours, who will get a building instead of green to look at from now on!
Early morning drive to the airport was boring, the only interesting thing to see the hunter´s moon showing among clouds. Soon after we had more rainfall, which finally stopped around seven, when I finally woke after more strange dreams, not that I´d ever have not-strange ones. Today I was back to the flat I grew up, sorting out books with my lover. Considering that in my parent´s living room there´d been one long wall filled with books up to the ceiling a tediuos affair. I sorted exactly three books out, before I reverted to my bedroom, this one, too, full of books. And a bed. And a lover. Hubby got kicked in the shin, because I wanted my peace. Only that he did not know which peace, because he hadn´t done anything improper.
The late-autumnal weather is driving me insane. After dark, wet days we got a drier but still dark day. It was a bit warmer, but not warm enough to make me go outside and give the hydrangea paniculate a first pruning back before the big one that will come in February. Needs to be done, or the branches might snap if there´s snow and strong winds. The other hydrangeas are safe until spring, their branches are more robust. Unfortunately the next days will be considerably colder even, with temperatures mostly under ten degrees, so preparing the garden for winter is priority now. The bad thing is that with the cold there´ll also be rain, plenty of. That might be a bit of a hindrance- I´m like a cat, prefer to stay in the warmth when the weather is bad!
Daughter came back from work livid- her landlady forgot to inform her that an evaluation of a water damage in her flat, caused by a leaking roof, was planned for tomorrow morning, when she will be at work and hubby has to bring car and trailer for service. That landlady is a special case of mental confusion. Not the first time she forgot about important affairs. Daughter spent the afternoon on her phone, calling landladies, evaluators, the construction company. Hubby will go to daughter´s flat tomorrow in the morning- he thinks he´s the only one competent enough to deal with the evaluator. Which means he thinks that I am incompetent, since I had consented to help out. Mister caretaker strikes again. Just let him...

 We had a rather windy and cold day, never made it over eight degrees and also got some rain. Hubby and I dragged along- yesterday evening was not that bad but lasted longer that we would have liked. The two ladies left at eleven, I went to bed and hubby followed soon after- one cannot quit watching the last part of a 6-episode film!
In the morning hubby tested the new heater in the bathroom while he took a shower and decided that it worked better than expected, I changed the bedding and turned the washing machine on, then we cooked lunch. Oh joy, baking flatbread! With yeast on top of that! Never again, there surely are shops selling those! After lunch we rested, I under the duvet, because it was only 17 degrees in the bedroom. Hubby turned the heating to non-stop service for the duration of the cold spell, apparently one gets chilled more easily when getting old. That´s okay, in a few days temperatures will rise again...
Typing on my PC was still a ´cool´ thing, because even with the radiators giving off warmth the cold was creeping through the cracks of the balcony door. So I quit, and husband mine put on a sealing strip which should help with the draught. only that it took almost two hours for the room to heat back up then. And just when I sat down in front of my PC again, all hell broke loose. So the strong winds hadn´t been the predicted storm, this was it! Since it was so dark already we did not get to see much what made it into our garden for disposal. The only thing we definitely know is that building firm will have to re-erect the construction site fence, it blocks the street on both sides of the u-turn. At the moment we would not be able to leave. Not that we´d want to- too much rain, winds too strong, we too tired...

 It takes a very long time for the website to load, if at all. There are days I think it would be better to completely switch over to Dreamwidth. Not that this page had no faults, but it´s a bit more stable. My mobile doesn´t load LJ at all. Happened all of a sudden. One moment I was reading posts, the next the page was off. Turned off. Blocked. No clue what happened. LJ still works on my PC and the tablet, which is a bit of relief...
This night was the coldest we had this autumn- one degree. Hubby hadn´t read the weather prognosis and dashed to the basement to bring in the bacon, which must not be kept for smoking under such cold temperatures. When I came down in the morning and wanted to put on my slippers I noticed that the floor wasn´t icy anymore- hubby had turned the heating on. Finally! It really was about time! We are seldomly over twelve degrees during day now, which is apparently still too high for the middle of October!
Not much got done- no cooking (hubby did), only a bit of housework, and three of my fingernails died during my attempts at getting the label off (of?) a huge glass bottle son bought for me at a flea market. I was at a loss today, torn between what I had wanted and what I got. My plan had been get up, take a shower then drive to Kitzbühel to the only Jysk shop which still sells the Christmas bedding I want. But hubby protested vehemently that we did not need any new bedding and that driving there will cost a small fortune. Says the man who is off by car thrice a day if not more often. Kitzbühel is not that far away and there are some very appealing restaurants in between. However, when hubby says no it is definitely a no...
Daughter is off to Vienna this weekend, to visit a friend who just moved into a new flat. She has swapped two early shifts with another friend but forgot to tell me. That means that I cannot tell off our neighbour, who invited herself over to have a drink with me. I know how that goes- hubby will be in bed before she will finally leave. She is the only person I know who will insist on having coffee after ten in the evening. Sometimes I will hear her when she rummages in her flat at three in the morning. Or calls for her cats (she has three now, so there´s a lot of calling). Or sings children´s songs. She´s a brick short of a load. But she likes me, which is very unfortunate...