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Halloween was a moderate success. This year we gave out the small Tony's Chocolonely bars, ring pops and a mix of toys: plush spiders, bouncy balls shaped like bats and Halloween themed rubber ducks. The toys were a big hit. The chocolate...I think a lot of kids didn't realize it was there, even when pointed out. The ring pops were popular last year, mostly among the teenagers, of which we had fewer this year. Next year, I might do small grab bags and have the kids pick a toy. 

By 8 p.m., we'd had what seemed to be the last trick or treaters, but as always we left the candy on the table so whoever might come by late could take what they wanted. We expect someone to make off with all the candy - that's fine. But this year...they also made off with the bowl the candy was in. Little shits. Take the candy, I don't care. Just leave the bowl. 

Next year, I'll be using a cardboard box. 

Saturday, November 1st. Samhain, still. Dia de los Muertos. All Saints Day. And the annual Halloween party. I always end up lazy by the end of October and whatever ideas I had for costumes have either gone out the proverbial window or have just not been acted upon, so I threw on some green eye shadow and glitter, green lipstick, a set of horns, spiderweb arm warmers and called myself a dark fairy who'd lost her wings.

Making up the night were food, sweets and old horror movies playing in the background. I finally watched Carnival of Souls all the way through. (I'd tried once, years ago, when I was a teenager, and couldn't hang with the pacing.) 

Sunday, November 2nd. I did not realize it was the shift back to standard time until I woke up at 10 to 7 wondering why it was so bright outside. So I've been an hour off since yesterday morning. The "fall back" is definitely easier on the system than the "spring forward," but I'm still loopy and groggy and would rather we just stopped with the time changing nonsense. 

Tomorrow, I have to go into the office for a Division meeting/my quarterly "in office" time. There's a lunch pot luck, which means I need to bake this afternoon. 

I think today is going to be a wash on the work front. There are two meetings mid-day and I am struggling to get my brain moving. It's already 9:30. Luckily, I finished the work I needed to get done (in order to pass a storyboard off to our vendor) last week, so I'm back to "updates and tweaks" mode for our course catalog. Meaning, if I drag for the next couple of days, no one is really going to care. 

Yay.

Sadly, she didn't make it. 

Matt texted the wildlife rehab yesterday. She had a spinal injury and they had to euthanize her. Seems like maybe she did hit a window. It might not have been ours (she was propelling herself pretty well along the ground at one point so it's possible she could have come from our neighbor's yard)...but still, I think I'll be looking into some anti-collision devices.

This is the second bird vs window this year. The first bird I found dead in the backyard, near the library window. (Granted, this is the first year since we've been in the house that I've found evidence of birds hitting our windows, so hopefully it doesn't and won't happen often.) 

Today was vaccine day. It's practically a morning date. Matt and I both set up appointments at the pharmacy for our flu and Covid vaccines. He also got an MMR because he's not entirely sure if he ever got that second shot, and considering the way people in the U.S. are trying to Make Measles Great Again, better safe than sorry. (I know I got my second MMR shot. I have my lovely yellow, military-brat immunization record that my mother gave to me when I moved out. But I still contemplate getting another one...just in case. Not today, though.) 

I get the Covid vaccine in my left arm, the flu in my right. The very first set of Covid vaccines (April and May, 2021), made the lymph node under my left arm swell. And it got stuck that way for months, resulting in my first official mammogram. It eventually shrank back to mostly normal, but it still flares with every new Covid vaccine, so I figured instead of having a potentially wonky lymph node under both arms, I'd just keep torturing that one. But I prefer not to double up vaccines in that arm when I get the Covid shot...so both arms it is. I like to spread the pain around. It's a good thing I sleep on my back. 

I'm also counting down the time to when I start feeling side effects. The second shot of the initial set of Covid vaccines gave me a fever, body aches and chills and that pattern has continued, slightly less each time. But still enough to make me curl up on the couch with several blankets and a mug of tea. 

I'm already feeling fatigue, though that could be from the not quite six and a half hours of sleep I got last night, combined with the bird rescue we had to do after the vaccine. 

Before we headed to the pharmacy, I heard a skittering in the leaves and seed pods in our front yard, looked over and saw a grey ball of feathers. At first I thought she was sunning herself, but when I took a step closer and she didn't fly off, I realized something was wrong. I started looking up wildlife rehab places on the way to the pharmacy, figuring we'd try to take her somewhere if she was still there and alert by the time we got back,

She was. 
 

What followed was a series of texts to the rehab, complete with pictures and video so they could assess the bird's condition and then an appointment for drop off a few hours later. 

We got her into a shoebox with a few towels and placed the box in a warm spot. Matt checked on her right before we left to make sure she was, in fact, still among the living. She turned one dark eye toward him and smacked the side of the box with her wing. 

At the rehab, they had us wait in our car. One of the volunteers came out in scrubs, gloves and a mask. They're taking bird flu seriously. They conduct their initial exam of the bird outside. They gave us an intake number and said to give them 72 hours before checking in (if we hadn't heard from them by that point). Head injuries (we're working on the assumption she hit a window) are a 72 hour, make or break. 

So here's hoping she'll pull through. 

But if not, at least she was able to go somewhere safe and warm for whatever time she has left.