TheCapeBlog

It’s a 3-day weekend, which I hadn’t thought about until this morning. Odd to have a holiday on a Friday, but nice for government workers who seem to get an awful lot more time off than the people who pay their salaries.

Poor Lizzie. I’ve barricaded parts of the kitchen and the living room with boxes and picked up two more yesterday from the moving company.

Started packing the kitchen yesterday. My goal is to have enough boxed that we can avoid a dedicated packing day.

Ron is not in a hurry to buy another vehicle, and I think that’s smart.

A neighbor dropped by the other day to see if we were renting the house. This was a rumor apparently created and circulated by another neighbor. Bizarre.

It would be nice to put up the Christmas tree this year, maybe in the sunroom. Come to think of it, that mightn’t be a bad place for a lot of items we’ve been storing in the cellar. Funny not to have considered it before.

Season 5 of “The Crown” started strong but tapered off in the last episodes. Disappointing.

Enterprise offered Ron a chance to look at vehicles – in Woburn. While we enjoyed pizza and beer on the deck, I asked him how he was planning to get there. He thought better of it. He actually could buy it sight unseen if they would deliver it.

Thinking about what a lack of empathy means, psychologically. It’s a synonym of narcissism which on Cape Cod seems to enhance rather than undermine social interactions.

“Not listening to other people’s perspectives or opinions. An inability to cope with emotional situations. Lack of patience for other people’s emotional reactions. Reacting with impatience or anger when frustrated with other people.”

“(It) can be the result of genetics (or the characteristics you inherited from your parents), environment (especially in early childhood), disease, or physical or psychological damage and trauma related to an event. Two psychological terms particularly associated with a lack of empathy are sociopathy and psychopathy.”

In a study published in 2015, researchers found a link between location, genetics and mental illness. In Mashpee.

Maybe “it” really is “in the water.”

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4508761/

Late afternoon I cut down the peonies and a couple of other plants. Was wearing jeans; it was so warm (mid-60’s), thought I’d melt. I am really not eager to do much more cutting down of things until it cools off.

Supposed to rain tonight starting around 8 and continue through Sunday. We may have thunderstorms late, around 11.

The roofing contractor called early to go over some details, including materials. He’s going to contact the realtor to get inside the house so he can give me an estimate on replacing windows.

Ron and I made it to the polls this morning and were greeted by a number of friends who were politicking for some very good candidates.

Caught up with our new selectwoman to discuss last night’s Board meeting.

I picked up more free packing materials from the moving company.

Started packing the kitchen.

I think we have about 25 boxes so far, including about 15 in the attic, some of which need to be sealed.

We had ravioli and a simple salad for lunch. Ron made tea after we unloaded the truck.

Had a good conversation with an insurance agent.

I’ve been working on different rooms instead of one at a time, reason being we are still weeks away from the move and we do live here.

Lizzie was up last night and ravenous this morning.

She is terrified of the scissors and I feel awful about that.

Via Benefits answered their phone immediately this morning and changed our address so I could check out medical plans in our new area.

Everything to do with the move is out of my control except packing. Picking up more boxes tomorrow morning.

Dumfungled: worn out, and in a state of near-imbecility.

Also terrified that everything will fall apart between now and the end of the month.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/interactive/2022/bodyweight-workout-hiit-anywhere/

Yesterday, we had a visit with a neurologist in Hyannis who talked nonstop about politics and his opinion of the state of the union. He’s one of the very few people of Irish background in my acquaintance who has read and mastered Ulysses.

Although some of his opinions are unnerving, I appreciated his “cuckoo” comment.

He was encouraging about Ron; we are all dealing with the consequences of age (Ability, Balance, Cognitive, Diseases, Emotion), normal and not exceptional.

I closed the deal on Henderson and we will soon be residents, as the realtor said not only of Berkshire County but of Williamstown.

https://www.niche.com/places-to-live/williamstown-berkshire-ma/

https://www.bestplaces.net/health/city/massachusetts/williamstown

https://statisticalatlas.com/zip/01267/Overview

Having heard nothing from the insurance agency I contacted two days ago, I took out a homeowners policy with an online company, Lemonade.

Ron mowed the whole yard yesterday afternoon and did his usual fine job.

The Williamsburg sellers made an offer in lieu of the repairs I requested. I gave it a lot of thought and counteroffered.

I like the house and yard, love the location and don’t want another 7 hour round trip to see properties.

Waiting for an estimate from the roofer. I texted him with a question about siding.

Spoke with a gent about renting his house for the month of December.

Lizzie was up at 4.

Ordered shears to cut Lizzie’s hair.

No taxes on up to $500,000 profit on sale of 20 Dixon with married joint return tax status.

Holmes shut off the irrigation system.

I’m working on sorting and packing my basement goods.

Took Ron out last night for Chinese food buffet. I liked the vegetables, spring rolls and fresh fruit.

Got the oil changed at Cormier’s. Probably the last visit before we move, nice goodbye from Buddy.

Todd was over early to install smoke/CO detectors. We had an old plug-in CO detector that wasn’t working so it had to be removed to stop the beeping, leaving the junction box exposed. I stopped at an electric supply store and the great people there sold me a plate to cover the junction box. Ron installed it, neat solution.

Picked up bagels for Ron and hamburger for Lizzie, prescription for me, dropped off a payment to Cape Cod Coop and got advice on when to get the payoff amount.

I sent Jesse a list of to-do items from the home inspector’s report.

Was in touch with a couple of homeowners about a short term rental for the month of December.

Realized today that I never took Ron’s car off the insurance policy. I’d assumed GEICO would do that as part of their claims administration, but Nay. They informed me that I’d need to cancel his registration, which I was able to do thanks to having his license plate info on the police report.

We had a good meeting with the attorney to sign the last papers for the Dixon Drive sale.

Lizzie woke me up last night. I caught up on sleep around noon, but did get some packing done, linens and a start of donate-ables.

Ron and I got her bed back together.

Beautiful late afternoon, enjoying the foliage, drinking wine. Ron is in a decent mood. Wish this perfect moment could be frozen in time.

Finally – after an aggravating conversation with a noxious Sunnova customer “service” person – figured out that they need a draft of the 20 Dixon deed for the solar transfer.

I’d like to have a word with whatever jailhouse lawyer drafted this piece of babble: “ownership of the property used to then verify when filed with county clerk’s office.”

Yesterday, picked up used moving boxes from Colony and Priority Mailed the first deposit funds to the realtor. Also did a transfer station run.

Got a message that I was running out of space on Outlook, which meant I was at risk for not being able to send or receive emails. Went through the Inbox and cleared over a Gig and a half.

I referred to Ron as “thing” the other day and he wasn’t very happy about it.

Asked Barrett if they’d be up for an overnight visit with Lizzie so Ron could come with for the home inspection, but they thought it would be too much for them.

Movers will be packing up on the 23rd.

Lizzie’s poor stomach was growling all day yesterday, but she seems to be fine today. She woke us both up last night. She was hungry but also lonely. I did manage to get a couple of hours of sleep in afterwards.

Pretty foliage around Mashpee this week/weekend.

Turns out our buyer is a musician, a harpist in fact. She’s written a book about the Irish harp. Gee, think she’ll fit in here? Like a glove….