Proof of life

06.21.26

Okay, so. Yes. It’s been almost a month. And it’s not that I haven’t had things to write about, it just that … I haven’t really had the spoons.

If you’re unfamiliar with this late stage Millennial / Gen Z term (tbh I had to learn it) – spoons are bandwidth. Emotional and mental energy. Sometimes physical energy. Executive function. If you don’t have spoons it means you’re tapped out and even the smallest task can feel overwhelming.

Work has used up A LOT of spoons over the past almost-month. I didn’t anticipate it doing so but here we are. I’ve been hermit-ing to cope. Couch-rotting mostly as opposed to bed-rotting because my sleep space and routine is something I’m still managing to hold sacred. How, I don’t know. I’ve probably been sleeping too much, to be honest, but I don’t know what to do about that.

Despite the depletion of spoons, there have been a few moments of joy that I’ve really leaned into as much as I’ve been able. And I managed to cook for myself a good bit this past weekend which hopefully is a sign of better things to come.

A lot of the joy has been related to the library cats. They’re really getting attached to me — some of them anyway — and every morning when I pull up there are usually four or five that come wandering out to say hello and yowl at me.

Mostly Pip. Pip is a mouthy girl.

Potato’s kittens are growing fast and Ember had a kitten too. We’re pretty sure Mooch is the father.

We don’t like Mooch. He’s been starting a lot of fights but Bubba has been holding his ground and protecting the colony.

So much so that I had to put this up last week …

Mostly it was just to make everyone smile after a stressful week. But also because I had been outside when a literal cat fight broke out and the above two got launched from the blackberry bush by Bubba and Casper. I’m so proud of those kids for showing these two un-neutered criminals who’s boss. Next step, catching these two and giving them the snip.

Another moment of joy came with a drive eastward up into the mountains, or “up the hill” as the people of the tiny town of Butte Falls would say.

If you’re unfamiliar with this tiny town, I wouldn’t be surprised. BUT it’s not without its fun little quirks.

For one thing, the town has cattle guards at both ends that often fail to keep roaming cattle out of the town. They were featured on a Ripley’s Believe It or Not list for that.

Nearby herds are allowed to roam free in the summer to search for (literal) greener pastures and that often leads them toward Butte Falls. There are “open range” signs everywhere on the way to Butte Falls, although I sadly didn’t catch sight of any stray cattle on my drive.

Apparently the local cattleman’s association and the town are embroiled in a juicy battle over who is supposed to maintain the fence, something I found highly interesting. I love some juicy small town drama.

The drive to and from Butte Falls was gorgeous. I took the long way back so I could swing by Mt. McLoughlin and get a closer look at it. I wasn’t that close to it, but I still got to see it a little more clearly. That and I got to drive through the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest.

Okay, so that last one was me just sticking my phone out my sunroof. But omg that sky! It was also really neat to approach Roxy Ann Peak from the backside. Or. I guess the side of it I usually never get to see. I didn’t get a picture of that but it was equally cool and fun to drive through the foothills of it.

So those were my bright spots.

I’m hoping things will start easing up, or at least stop taking such a toll on my available spoons. For now though, I’ll leave you with some shameless food pics and one beautiful drink pic. Turns out there are some great local wines and even some great local vodkas. Shout out to Wild Roots for their amazing Marionberry Vodka.