The past few weeks have been what the ancient Chinese would reportedly have called "interesting times".

The hardware for the new server at work has finally arrived and been installed after seven weeks, so now I'm super busy setting everything up. It's a Hyper-V host with a Windows terminal server, a Linux Jitsi server and a FreeBSD web/VPN server (because of reasons), and of course everything works except the Windows server won't talk to the DC in the same subnet unless both firewalls are completely disabled, which isn't really an option for internet-facing machines. This is not going to be good for my mental health.

I fear that my older stepdaughter is heading towards a depression fast - she's been under a lot of pressure lately, and she's showing all the signs. She desperately wants to see a therapist but the earliest appointment we could get so far is in January. Hopefully SO and me will find a way to stabilize her and take some of the pressure off in the short term.
Her younger sister and me have had a long talk about mental health and handling conflicts in general. She's very understanding of the situation and mature for her age, and I'm immensely proud of her.

Other than than I've used this week to not do much, walk the dogs when it's not raining and re-read a couple of books that I'm particularly fond of.
I've finally started a small project that I've been wanting to do for a long time - a doggy stick library (basically a wooden board with small shelves where dogs can 'borrow' sticks). It's coming along nicely and I can't wait to put it up at that place where lots of dog owners start their evening round. I hope it'll brighten someone's day.

My sister-in-law from Argentina is visiting us. I wish we could chat more. My Spanish still leaves a lot to be desired, and she speaks a (to my ears) particularly difficult 'Spanish'. But it's still good to have her here, she's pleasant company and a great cook.