Nomad Life - Day 185

After yesterday's amazing day in Canada, it was hard to return to "normal."  My body seemed to be ready for a new day, though and I woke up at 0615 without an alarm.  For some reason, I smelled smoke and guessed that Eileen had woken up earlier to stoke the fire.  Before investigating, though, I sstarted teleworking and only later joined Eileen in the living room - she had, indeed, been working with the woodstove.  We talked for a little while and then both started to get ready for our day.  I resumed teleworking (with a short break for breakfast) and was online until 0730, when both Eileen and I drove our cars to Lehman Park so we could to take Mika for a walk.  Like yesterday, it was cold (low teens) but clear.  Despite the cold, we played frisbee, marveled at all the birds and got some exercise along the Raquette River.  Afterwards (0800), I took Mika back to Eileen's house and she went to work in Canton.  At Eileen's house, I spent the rest of the morning teleworking - with short breaks to play with Mika.  At lunch time, I started doing "chores" for Eileen.  She'd mentioned most of the items in passing, without "assigning" anything to me, but I wanted to help her out to thank her for hosting me this week.  First, I fixed a bathroom door that wouldn't stay in its track.  This required using some leftover nuts and washers from Eileen's garage but I eventually got the door working (mostly) normally.  Next, I rehung a bedroom door (Eileen had removed it so she could get a couch through) - that was much easier.  The following project was something I usually do when I'm visiting - I restocked the firewood near the woodstove.  Eileen's stock of wood has been mostly used due to the cold winter but there were still pockets of logs in various places along the eaves.  I played "Tetris" with the variously shaped logs and managed to fill up the storage area.  Finally, I (re)covered some of the legs of living room chairs with floor protectors (they'd come off and were lying on the floor in the living room). Especially during the firewood task, Mika distracted me with attempts to play with her.  I was not able to resist her charms and we had fun with a deflated soccer ball and some random sticks.  In the end, I skipped lunch (I did eat some snacks) and, feeling every accomplished, I returned to teleworking at 1300.  With my afternoon meetings completed (1415), I decided to take Mika for an excursion.  I'd hoped to walk with her at Irving Park in Potsdam but I could never find a parking spot nearby.  Instead, I drove back to Lehman Park and spent over 45 minutes there.  By then, the weather had gotten much nicer (high 20s, sunny, snow melting) and I had a good time playing frisbee with Mika.  I also kept her walking and guessing about our itinerary.  She turned this whole plan around, though, when she surprised me by going into the water - she was chasing Canadian Geese.  With this action, her Frisbee started floating away (she'd been carrying it)!  Somehow, I managed to snag it with a long stick (I was NOT going in the cold water) and then walked with it for a while, basically playing keep away.  This decision caused her to get interested in the frisbee again and we had a bit more fun.  When we got back in the car (1500), I didn't realize how wet she actually was and drove her all the way home without making sure she was dry.  It was only when we went into the house that I saw the drops of water everywhere.  Mika was very good, though, and let me put her into some towels.  She stayed in that position while I (finally) took a shower and got cleaned up from my busy day.  By 1530, I was in the kitchen, prepping the corned beef brisket we'd hoped to make the previous day.  It was no longer St. Patrick's Day but we both wanted to try the meet.  Since it took nearly three hours to prepare, I got the food started in a covered pot and then returned to teleworking.  I stayed online until Eileen returned home (1630).  By that point, I had some food and wine out sitting for her; this made her happy.  We chatted and snacked on nibbles for about 30 minutes.  Eileen was already itching to go for a walk after staying mostly still all day at work - she encouraged me to return to Lehman Park immediately.  I didn't object and we drove back there (1715) and spent about 30 minutes walking in the park, playing frisbee with Mika and walking on some of the sports fields connected with SUNY Potsdam.  By 1800, we had returned to Eileen's house and the the corned beef was nearby done with the cooking phase.  Eileen boiled some potatoes and prepared some salad.  Meanwhile, we continued drinking the wine while we set up for dinner.  Once it had rested the appropriate amount of time, the corned beef brisket turned out well - I was as surprised as anyone!  Eileen and I had another great conversation while we ate our dinner.  Afterwards, we cleaned up the kitchen and were going to settle down for another movie.  At that point, though, I received a call from Amanda and this distracted us from our conversation.  While I was talking, Eileen went into the living room and promptly fell asleep (2030).  Mika apparently didn't like that she was resting, especially when there were still some waking hours left - she woke Eileen up long enough for her to remember the movie.  Reluctantly (because I knew Eileen would never make it through), I put on "The Majestic".  Within about 30 minutes, though, Eileen had decided to retire to bed.  After that, I stayed up (with Mika) and watched most of the rest of the film.  At 2145, I was ready for bed myself - on the way out of the living room, I checked the fire.  Before calling it an evening, I did some reading and Duolingo.  Bed time was at 2215.  For the first time in many months, I felt like I was a home owner/renter - the "chores" made me feel like I had a stake in a piece of property.  It's not easy but there is some satisfaction in fixing things...