* Unfortunately, I am COVERED in chigger bites. Even though I thought I sprayed down well with DEET, I guess sitting on the camp stool allowed them to drop down the collar of my shirt. Most of the bites are on my upper back and sides, and they kind of follow the elastic line where my bra was.
The good news, I guess, is there are very few diseases chiggers carry and as far as I know none are known to occur here. The bad news is the itch like heck. I am trying not to scratch, that'll get them to go away faster if I can resist.
* Mostly working on a pair of simple socks these days, from a sportweight yarn. It's an Opal yarn, one of the self-patterning colorway. The line is called "Cuddle Gang" (cute animals, I guess?) In German: Knuddelbande (Since learning some German, I like to look it up). The particular colorway is a grey/fuchsia/school bus yellow combination, which is nicer than it sounds; it's "tollpatsch Katze" or "clumsy cat" and on the ballband there's a drawing of a cat hanging on to a branch by its front paws (like the famous "Hang in there, baby" poster from the 1970s)
* Hasn't hit the local-news website, but the small city to the west of me apparently lied on their water-treatment data and were dumping not-entirely-treated water back into the lake. This is .... frustrating is perhaps the best word. There's just so much bad-faith stuff going on, people apparently intentionally not doing their jobs and lying about it.
I actually hope a bunch more comes out because I'm going to work it into my policy and law lectures for fall. Like, "These regulations we have are the ideal, but really quite frequently they are not followed"
Also apparently those lead-tainted cinnamon applesauce pouches were left on the shelves at dollar stores well after their leadership knew about the tainting - so a number of children will now have the added challenge of lead poisoning to deal with, simply because of what I assume is greed and inaction on the part of people who should have known better.
It's frustrating when you're someone who strives to do the right thing in your life BUT the things you can do are so small and unimportant, and then people with the power to genuinely hurt or heal just kind of shrug and go "well it might cut into my compensation" and don't do the right thing.
* definitely feeling the sort of midsummer slumpiness - part of it is it's hot, and there aren't many people around, and I think I miss having the ability to help people/talk to people like I do with students during the regular semester. Also, it's hot out and so spending a lot of time outside isn't great. And there's not as much going on.
The days seem awfully long and quiet, and not the good kind of quiet.
* I thought I had photographed the "Luna" socks (the stripey ones; I finished them over break) but I guess I hadn't. Well, maybe tomorrow - I don't feel like pulling wool socks on over my itchy feet right now.
* I've been watching a lot of "Bluey" - it seems to come on quite a lot. I've seen most of the episodes, I think, but from time to time there's one I've not seen.
I like the show. It has a bit of that "lightning in a bottle" indescribable quality of why it appeals to adults in a way other "kids" shows often don't - it's a bit like the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. And yet, it's different. It is, for one thing, more or less set in the real world and the dog characters are simply stand ins for humans.
I think part of the appeal - and I KNOW I am not the only adult who likes it - is that there are these little hints of what's going on in the adults' lives - you know that Bandit and Chilli have their little in-jokes the kids aren't party to, and there are also sad things alluded to (the much-discussed assumed-infertility of Auntie Brandy). And it gives the show a verisimilitude.
I remember as a kid, adults talking about things, things I didn't quite get, and the idea was that yeah, there's stuff out there kids don't need to know. But as you get older you figure some of it out. (And yes, there was a case in my family of a relative who wasn't able to have kids right away, and I think there was at least one miscarriage....)
Although I will say I don't remember the "magic" or "imagination" being carried through quite as thoroughly when I was a kid - my parents didn't enter into it as much as Bluey's parents do, and I could never quite enter that imaginative world as completely as they seemed to (Or maybe I did, but was too young to remember)
I admit one thing about the show: In real life it would probably be annoying if people literally howled when they were sad (like Bluey and Bingo do) but man, do I feel that and I admit at times I wish I could howl with sadness.
It is mostly a pretty soothing show, though - despite some sadder parts (like the episode with Brandy, and I also find "Sleepytime" kind of sad - as an adult who is out all alone on her own, and who has to put her world back together all by herself when it breaks, and also the idea of "people who love you will always be with you even when you can't see them" - well, that resonates VERY differently when you've lost loved ones to death.)
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