What did you do this week (and weekend)?

We had our first kid! She came a month early which was definitely a surprise. I am learning a lot and making mistakes. It’s immensely stressful but we’re figuring it out!

Birds: there is a nest in a vent which had a broken cover. Over the last couple of weeks, eggs have hatched and over the last couple of days the hatchlings have started to fledge. Instead of leaving via the broken vent cover, though, it seems that they are somehow going from the vent area above the main floor washroom to the laundry room in the basement and getting stuck. I have rescued five birds from the laundry room and released them. I am now trying to figure out how they got to the laundry room, and I have purchased the new vent cover. This weekend I will put the new vent cover on.

Tree: we had a tree that was dying I called an arborist and he told me that it would be $3500 or so to get it taken care of. I have a chainsaw, so I declined. I have cut down the tree, and have been slowly getting rid of the tree debris. I still have a lot of large pieces, but tomorrow my father is coming with his trailer and we will get the remainder taken out of the yard.

Van: the brakes on my van need replacing. Last weekend I did the rear brakes; this weekend I will do the front brakes. I always like doing the brakes; it's the perfect home task. It's not difficult, it saves a lot of money, and it is enough of a real "job" to be impressive to people who don't know how to do their brakes. Also I have a nice garage to do the work in, and have a bunch of comforts in the garage; a decent smart speaker for music, a comfortable stool, a great floor jack, a series of safety jacks, an air wrench, etc. My son will probably help me as well, and there's something great about father-kid task time. One of my favourite pics of my middle daughter is getting when she was helping me do the brakes on my old mustang.

Relaxing: I might take my son to see a matinee movie today. He is interested in seeing the Backrooms movie and so am I. I'm not sure it's as great idea; he's 11 and not particularly into horror movies, but he's really into backrooms lore. I think the last movie I saw in theatres was the first Mario movie, so it has been a while. I'm sure the prices are going to give me apoplexy. Edit: my boy has asked to watch this at home when it comes out, in case he wants to opt out of the movie part way through. I said we could do that in theatres; he said that "didn't seem fiscally responsible". He is 11.

Parenting: last night was the arts awards night for the aforementioned daughter's high school. She won two awards for excellence: one in her drama program and one in her music program. Her significant other was also there and they won an award for excellence in visual arts. Her best friend was also there and co-won the award for excellence in drama. A winning night all around!

One full week without an ER trip. A win.
The new personal assistant is excellent. A godsend.
I have a sovereign citizen student at work making their own life difficult. Everyone acts like the student is scary, I'm just concerned we'll have to physically evict them and that sucks.

And planning to go to the farmers market this weekend. SNAP gets doubled there with the extra being for fruits and veggies. And we're just starting to get some good produce.

We went to a hangout where we only knew-knew the person hosting Blood on the Clocktower, and it went very well. I cannot overstate the amount of validation-chi I've regenerated by being around folks that know how to hold a conversation and include new people in them as well. It feels like talking to people is a dying art, so it was nice to feel welcomed (and invited to another hangout, so I know we didn't miss-read the situation too bad). Also I won 2 of 3 rounds, which is also important ;)

Also went to see Obsession which I briefly talked about in another thread. Great movie! Gearing up to see Backrooms this weekend with an understanding that the writing might be weaker. But I like Kane Parsons' other work so I'm down to go regardless and have fun with it.

Watched the Amazing Digital Circus: The Last Act with the siblings. I have thoughts that I'm willing to save for the discussion thread.

I make hummus from fermented chick peas.
Our power got cut off, not for the first time, because the landlord didn't pay his municipal bill. This is the 4th time now I've had to pay the municipality myself just to have electricity.
Anyway today for lunch I mixed crunched up flaming hot doritos and a scoop of fermented hummus

I have unexpectedly come into possession of a very large orchid (approximately 3 feet tall, wide, and deep).

I am not an orchid person, so it took me a while to identify it: Dendrobium speciosum.

I'm now trying to figure out what to do with it. I'm not really in an appropriate climate for it (it doesn't like frost) and we're getting properly into winter now, so it's currently sitting in the middle of my kitchen floor while I try to come up with a way to overwinter it.

Part of what's tricky is that every care guide I've found for this orchid assumes it's potted. The plant I have is not potted — or if it is, the pot is buried so deep inside that it might as well not exist. This thing is just one amorphous mass of leaves, pseudobulbs, and aerial roots. The original owner had it hanging on a rope — which is now so thoroughly embedded inside the plant that there's no way to remove it without sawing the plant in half.

At this point, I'm thinking of setting up some kind of pulley system under our balcony so I can raise it up into an out-of-the-way sheltered position in frosty conditions and lower it into a sunny (but still hopefully out of the way) position when it's not frosty.

If I can get it through the winter, I can divide it into more manageable chunks in the spring and maybe sell or give some of them away. It's a pretty valuable plant.