TheCapeBlog

Had meself set up to take a shower in the downstairs bath, only to find the stall was full of water.

Water was dripping into the basement.

I called a plumber and he diagnosed a blockage in the sewer drain to the street. The one that was supposed to have been cleared 5 days ago.

Called the original plumbers, and am waiting for them to come back.

Had started a wash; turned it off. Can’t use the water at all.

Ron went to Walmart and Stop & Shop. He wants to go to Home Depot in Bennington as well for a cordless drill battery so he can finish taking apart the monster bed.

Later: plumbers came and went. Need a new sewer pipe. The charge for emergency services wipes out my Chase overpayment/negative balance. Just as well.

Ron returned with most of what was on the shopping list and a few more things, like too many bags of Taylor Farms salads and multiple containers of peanuts.

Got the Sonos working, sort of: not wirelessly but with an ethernet cable. Found a cable, got the Canon printer hooked up. Scanned and sent the repair authorization to Haddad.

More unpacking. Ron made tea.

Found some coats and jackets.

The tools were at the BOTTOM of everything, but I was able to find the 24 ounce hammer and two cat’s claws.

Listening with pleasure to “Slacker Station: Cool Jazz Radio”.

Got through just about all the boxes in the garage. Found a lot of good stuff, including canned goods, and some junk.

Can you make a stew with broth, mushrooms, beans, tomatoes and dried pineapple?

Ron is working on the evil king bed. He’s removing the hated MDF, then we’ll flip it over. It’s an awful piece and I’ll be glad to see it gone.

Lizzy got herself tangled in a rose bush, then slipped on leaves. Tough day for poor doggo!

I need to get moving today to pick up my last med at Walmart and groceries as well.

Seems we both collapsed last night.

I’ve closed several doors on the second floor and that seems to have warmed things up a bit, or at least made it less chilly.

Found Ron’s organic peanut butter and other pantry “treasures” yesterday.

Watching vids from yesterday’s Mashpee Christmas parade, I cried.

Because I earned it.

I didn’t leave my child for good times in the Bay area.

I didn’t blow a fortune on clothes and recorded music.

I didn’t shack up with an heiress instead of buying property.

I moved to an area I didn’t like so that I could better meet my family’s needs.

In other words, I’ve been a responsible adult.

Ron picked up his rental in Bennington yesterday. Nice ride back and forth. I stopped in to a Dollar General to pick up an HDMI cable, only to find (idiot) that the modem doesn’t have an HDMI outlet.

Oh, brother.

Found someone who is interested in the king bed, but it’s complicated. He doesn’t have help and Ron is balking big time about having someone he doesn’t know in the house.

Of course, it’s easier for him to stamp his feet and argue than to actually do something constructive, like take the bed apart and put it outside. On the other hand, he has a point. Liability, for example.

Still opening boxes. There’s several heavy ones in the garage that are hard to reach.

Lizzie is enjoying the yard. She keeps wandering over to the fence that was open the other day. Wonder if she’s trying to get back to Tiverton; long way, old girl.

The two-bedroom house move was an illusion; we really had three floors of “stuff” and it’ll be challenging to fit it all into two floors and a garage.

Lizzie seems to be fine sleeping on the first floor by herself.

The nightlights are providing enough illumination to allow us to navigate.

Crashed early last night, up early, 3 am or so, today. Cleared a few boxes. Got started on sorting out the garage. After a lot of wandering around, Lizzie has been sleeping next to me.

We brought more boxes upstairs – heavy ones. Clothes and linens mostly.

Long conversation today with John from GEICO. Found a repair shop in Pittsfield and booked an appointment for January 16.

Also got an appointment to pick up Ron’s rental car tomorrow afternoon in Bennington.

Learned that rental companies reserve cars for insurance claims, so you can’t always tell what’s available because the website only shows cars for the general public.

Called a Greek restaurant for delivery and turns out, they are our next door neighbors!

Lizzie got to go out a couple of times today and seemed to enjoy it. No escapes or playing in traffic!

Had conversations with the lawyers’ office, Ryan and Pete the electrician. Also called United to complain about Colony.

Ducey, Lee, DeSantis and other governors — including New Hampshire’s Chris Sununu, Massachusetts’s Charlie Baker, Maryland’s Larry Hogan, Ohio’s Mike DeWine, Texas’s Greg Abbott, Iowa’s Kim Reynolds, Arkansas’s Asa Hutchinson, Nebraska’s Pete Ricketts, Virginia’s Glenn Youngkin — make a strong Republican bench. 

Forget about anti-choice zealots Ducey, Lee, Abbott, DeSantis, DeWine, Reynolds, Hutchinson, Ricketts, Youngkin.

Eventful day.

Our angel – he’s got to be, no human being ever lived who’s as good as this person – delivered our goods from the storage unit in Wareham to us. He’s offered to come back weekend after this coming one to help us organize. Says he’s OCD, which is pretty much what we need now.

Lizzie had a good romp in the back yard and found an open gate. We’re told cars were driving around her (they do race up and down this hill). A kind person stopped to corral her, and Ron did the rest.

We found a way to use the broken down trash shed and got our garbage stowed for the night. Hope to get a transfer station sticker tomorrow (Thursday).

Still no word on the closing.

Ron got the platform for the king bed apart until the last step. Turns out the bottom rungs come out by themselves, otherwise there’s no way to get it up the stairs.

What else? Got the cable account set up for autopay. Slammed enough money into Chase and HFCU to clear both accounts.

Took a shower, figured out the faucet upstairs.

Outlook is working. Miraculously.