Book completed

The Cloud Roads, by Martha Wells. This is the first of "The Books of the Raksura," a fantasy series by the author of the Murderbot books. Yes, it's got some standard fantasy elements in it, but it's an original and very interesting world, and as one commenter on Tor.com notes, Wells writes "competence porn." People solve their problems.

As I mentioned to J, years ago I read Justice Hall, a book in the Mary Russell series, while sick in bed with the 'flu and a high fever. I always associate being sick with reading that book. And so I realized before I even started that I'll always associate this book with being trapped in the house by smoke so thick it's like fog.

Day 180 / Day 4 wildfires

We just spent two hours reviewing the entire Oregon Driver's Manual with D, and with his good memory he should do fine on his third-try permit test tomorrow. Assuming he gets to take the test - there's only one confirmation email although they were making two appointments (J needs to renew his license), and it's always possible they'll close the building if the fire advances overnight, since they're doing it in Springfield this time. With us quizzing D. on the material, that gave him the opportunity to ask questions when things were unclear, and it also let us tell our stories about unexpected driving events in our own lives to see what he'd do in the same circumstances. I'm feeling confident he's got the material now. (There was also much discussion of the Hollow Knight game, as D's been playing some of the ending parts and J's been watching a streamer as the guy's only audience.)

In other news, today I checked the Wells Fargo estate account, and the money was in there! It had been there since Tuesday. Whew! Now I need to liquidate the mutual fund - maybe tomorrow. I called K (my sister), and she was greatly relieved.

I also spent a whole bunch of time unexpectedly working on a proposal that's due in three weeks - my main colleague is taking the next two weeks off, which I didn't know until today. I managed to find an earlier version of her section, like from a 2017 attempt, for her to review tomorrow.

And J. and I went to Safeway - it was our first trip beyond our immediate houses since the smoke arrived. The smoke is still very much "hazardous," but our houses are in better shape. And we're all feeling more relaxed about it.