Duncan da Husky @duncandahusky@redwombat.social

It appears an #introduction is a common thing on Mastodon (pardon the hashtags):
- I'm a 50 year old pharmaceutical #engineer who helps organize #furry #conventions in his spare time.
- I identify as gray-#asexual/#demisexual.
- I am a widower; my husband of 18 years passed away in 2017.
- I am a voracious reader of #mmromance (especially with #werewolves), and try to post a #bookreview of ones I enjoyed (and some I didn't) when I can on my #blog at http://wolfhusky.net/duncan/wp/

So...hello!

The finished cassoulet! It’s really delicious. Also I have, um, rather a lot here. Probably 8-9 servings not including tonight’s dinner. I’ll freeze off what I can’t eat in the next few days.

As many know, my fursona of Duncan da Husky is just me, but with fur. Thanks so much to @ArtByHornbuckle@twitter.com for capturing Duncan absolutely perfectly, coffee in hand!

The commissioning and editing process with Hornbuckle was delightfully easy and I would highly recommend them!

Good lord, the house smells SO GOOD right now! FYI, I'm using this streamlined cassoulet recipe from @seriouseats@twitter.com: https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2014/10/traditional-french-cassoulet-recipe.html It occurred to me after I started that streaming the prep and cooking might be fun. Ah well, maybe for my next big cooking project.

Making cassoulet! I blame @Northpaux@twitter.com for reminding me of this yumminess. This is gonna make a hell of a lot though…

Then there's romantic orientation: aromantic, biromantic, heteroromantic, homoromantic, panromantic, , polyromantic, gray-romantic, and demiromantic. This is separate from sexual orientation. More info on this: https://lgbtq.unc.edu/resources/exploring-identities/asexuality-attraction-and-romantic-orientation For me, I'm gray-a/demisexual, homoromantic.

When you start digging into it, attraction is a complicated thing, with many components: Sexual and romantic attraction, but also aesthetic ("They're cute"), sensual (cuddling), emotional (liking someone's personality), and intellectual (enjoying conversation with them).

It's important to talk about this and understand it. Many people, myself included, have assumed they are broken because they don't feel the same way that other people do about sexual attraction (or romantic attraction, for others). We're not broken, just wired differently.

It's #AceWeek! This is a good opportunity to learn about your asexual and aromantic friends https://acesandaros.org/learn/the-asexual-umbrella As the black/gray/white/purple flag in my avatar suggests, I identify as gray-asexual/demisexual (the lines blur between the two at times.) http://demisexuality.org/articles/what-is-demisexuality/

Hot damn! I sent in my ballot almost two week ago and was really starting to worry. This is the first movement I've seen so I'm taking it as a positive step. I am certain that the County Clerk's office is absolutely buried by all the mail-in ballots.

On a happier note, Charlie is always game to play! For a blind dog, he’s bouncy as heck. He also loves diving in to nip my hair. Of course, no dog can withstand…The Butt Scritches of Doom! 🙂#Dogtober (CW: Loud dog barking)

Good, dense crumb on this too. I'm not happy with the too-light sides of the loaf, but that will be fixed soon. I have a replacement for my battered, 20+ year old pan on the way.

Today's bread; Whole-Wheat Honey Buttermilk Bread. I cobbled together ingredient ratios and techniques from a number of sources. It turned out great! I put a pan of boiling water in when baking and as a result the crust is lovely - not too hard.

Recipe: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OVpKww4GrYNXexm36wzoGblSd6F1ikAx/view?usp=sharing

Deleting old email addresses and forwarders shouldn't hurt this much, but here we are.

Continuing to try baked oatmeal recipes, I made a strawberry-almond version (https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2014/08/strawberry-almond-baked-oatmeal-recipe.html). I didn't care for this one as much - the excess water in the strawberries diluted things a bit too much. Maybe make it with freeze-dried strawberries, though?

Opting for the grocery store at 8:30 PM on a Saturday night was the right choice. I got everything I needed (and holy crap Woodman’s actually carries duck fat! Who knew?)

I was thinking about going to a very good butcher 15 miles over the state line in Wisconsin.
Then I read the news.
And considered it more.
On second thought, that's a big nope.
I'll get what I need locally, and maybe hold off until after 8 PM to go shopping, too. #DontBeStupid

(Yeah yeah, marketing shills, etc.)
I'm pretty OK with this list, though. Sorta all over the place, pulling from folk rock, chillhop, acoustic instrumentals, and dance pop playlists.

I have tremendous respect for Dr. Ngozi Ezike, the director of the Illinois Department of Health. At today's COVID briefing with the governor she had a tearful, impassioned response to someone's question about "COVID fatigue". This is worth a listen.

(I feel like I accidentally reposted something from @AAAAAGGHHHH@twitter.com)

Wait, Charlie - don’t try to jump up…oh, OK then. #Dogtober