TheCapeBlog

Lizzie barked last night, I think around 2 AM. She’d Trumped and was RAVENOUS, poor thing.

We went outside this morning in below-freezing temps.

I fell asleep early. We’d taken an afternoon walk and had B&B afterwards, watched the news and that was pretty much the end of my day.

Made an appointment to talk with IRS about my erroneous payment. The person who helped me on the phone was great. She said she enjoyed talking with me.

Attended the job fair at the Library. Few job seekers, not surprising considering the mid-week afternoon hours. Told multiple times that the jobs that interested me wouldn’t be suitable. How very surprising. We got some nice bags and a cookie for Ron, though.

Had a good chat with Kathy about cost of periodicals, which is skyrocketing. Digital fees are out of control.

Great insight from a dev in California about why NEPS isn’t working. Found and fixed a LINQ bug in the controller.

After a nice weekend, it was an unpleasant surprise to go to the field with Lizzie this morning. She seemed uncomfortable as well, ran back to the yard after just a couple of minutes.

Ron dropped off his van at Battles and I followed shortly afterwards. It needs another $400+ worth of work. We came straight back to the house.

We changed the sheets and Ron, having punted yesterday, is up to his eyeballs in laundry.

Soup (out of a can) and salad (out of a bag) for lunch.

Did a run to Shaw’s this morning for bagels. Drove home via the beach.

Took Lizzie out to the field, briefly. Later on, she kept me company while I raked the hydrangea and corner gardens. Filled the back of the truck with leaves.

I pushed the one month out advice a little but feel fine and glad to have a chunk of Spring cleanup done.

We did an afternoon walk. Lizzie, who ate very little up to then, got at least some of her appetite back.

We watched part of the Oscars, missed the now infamous slap.

Lizzie barked off and on for hours. We couldn’t figure out if she was hungry, needed to go out or wanted company.

We watched and enjoyed several jazz videos and the film “Imitation Game” beforehand.

Friends took me to lunch. Good chance to get caught up.

House in the neighborhood is for sale, $550,000. Cars parked all over the place for the open house.

One of Ron’s hearing aids died. Fortunately, he had the old ones, and they still work.

Took Lizzie out for a walk this morning in the field, and this afternoon, the three of us did another. Lizzie loves to run back to the yard, and it makes us so happy to watch her.

Salad for supper and watched an inspiring film, “Adrift”, about a woman in her early twenties who survived for 41 days on a disabled sailboat in the Pacific Ocean. She’d sustained a head injury so severe that it took six years before she could read again.

Yesterday I made wheat pancakes from a failed crepe batter and soup.

Today I ground up chicken, rice and produce (carrots, apple, beans, spinach) for Lizzie.

Ron did the transfer station run.

Had a conversation with GoDaddy Tech Support yesterday about Office and Outlook.

Discouraged about finding decent help for the Angular checkbox bug.

One of my favorite moments: Helene walking on the beach in Amanda’s ice cream commercial: https://www.pbs.org/video/episode-3-0p5r5f/

I absolutely adored this series, although toward the end chose to skip chunks of dialog that had gotten too predictable and too mundane.

The aesthetic, from the setting to the classic outfits to the exquisite buffet platings, was just the balm needed during my recuperation.

I particularly loved Alice Frigh’s feminine but no-nonsense executive looks, Bertha and Amanda’s smart tailored blouses, slacks and shirtwaist dresses and Georg’s gorgeous summer suits, shirts and ties.

CVS is overpriced and understocked, but yesterday the East Falmouth store manager and cashier came through for me.

I did 3 errands in Falmouth Center: Rx at Walmart, shop at Shaw’s and dropped off used printer cartridge at Staples.

I was tired and forgot to pick up aspirin at cheap Walmart, thought I had a coupon for 40% off at CVS. I hadn’t but made the purchase at CVS anyway. The self-service machine wasn’t printing receipts.

I had instant buyer’s regret, and the cashier and manager figured out a way to refund my money without a receipt.

Before the lapse in awareness at CVS, I replaced the snacks that I’d devoured earlier in the week: peanuts, saltines, Snickers. Also picked up salads and grapes.

After gagging on the SCOTUS nomination hearings, Ron selected a horrible film that wore us both out. I fell asleep early; Lizzie woke me up around 5:45 this morning. Shortly thereafter, I heard a series of loud, dull thumps, as if someone or something had hit a wall. Checked everything out but couldn’t see anything out of place, either inside or out.

Cathy’s sister’s surgery went well, so the three of us made plans to together this Saturday for lunch.

Had another good conversation with Seagate Tech Support. I decided to give up on data retrieval but happily was able to format the drive through disk management.

After Ron left for the dentist, I picked up aspirin for both of us and a few groceries, including black bean and corn burgers that made a fine lunch grilled and topped with tomato slices, greens, guacamole and condiments.

Watched some of the SCOTUS hearing today: more campaigning, not a lot of the type of questions that we would have liked to have heard:

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/03/22/senate-confirmation-questions-ketanji-brown-jackson-00018982

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/03/22/ketanji-brown-jackson-confirmation-hearing-questions/

Ron treated us (unexpected) to vegetarian afternoon tea yesterday to celebrate the End of the Drains. The restaurant served us chicken salad by mistake and brought two brie and cranberry croissant sandwiches as compensation.

The tea, which we were told is designed for one person, offers enough food for two, although they suggested adding a scone, which we did: four petite sandwiches, four pastries, two scones, one pot. More than sufficient.

Ron, meanwhile, was semi-comatose through the meal, like he’d gone tharn. Weird and a little scary. The waitpersons were great, though.

I had to give up on the Seagate drive, even after corresponding with their tech support and trying their proprietary restoration software. The poor thing really was toast. I was able to copy off the one directory from the old PC that meant the most, the legitimate family info.

Yesterday I got in touch with different devs on the NEPS bugs, and one responded this morning. Gave him access to the code. Fortunately, I’d neglected to send the FTP creds to the Creep from Kenya who ripped me off (he got his money from PayPal today) so no harm to Jim’s server.

Ron cackled wildly when I told him about being ripped off, something about how $100 ain’t worth what it used to be. How he can be so nice and so f*g stupidly mean in the same 12 hour period is something I will never understand.

My friends’ families are having serious health issues. Julia is still not better and Cathy’s sister had emergency surgery yesterday. With their worries, I don’t feel much like asking about our planned get together.

In a few hours, I’ll be rid of the last drain. They have done the job: over 2.3 pounds of blood and fluid removed over the last 3 weeks.

We had the second $3.14 Speedway pizza for supper last night. I made reservations at Dunbar Tea Room for today to celebrate the end of the drains and the return to almost-normal. Dunbar has a vegetarian high tea and I’m looking forward to it!

The open-faced sandwiches on “Seaside Hotel” are artful, but unfortunately, very few are veg. The Danes have a sandwich ritual that starts with herring, proceeds to other varieties of fish, like salmon, continues with ham or roast beef and ends with cheese, all beautifully festooned with red onion rings, radishes and herbs.

Lizzie was restless and barked off and on last night. Ron took care of her, as he always does.

Meanwhile life goes on. Hearings for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation to the Supreme Court begin today. YouTube soon will be loaded with Trump bootlicker senatorial grandstanding.

Discussion and debate here in Mashpee continues around sewage treatment plans, and according to some sources, none of the phases will benefit Santuit Pond, which needs more help than any other body of water, fresh or salt. I for one am confused.

Still no word from the creep who ripped me off. I don’t understand those who steal from other people. The worst I’ve ever done is cop a few manuscript pages from the store room at the BU School of journalism. Taking office supplies home from work was considered a perk that didn’t hurt anyone, but come to think of it, that doesn’t make sense, any more than stealing towels from a hotel does.

I uploaded some new code to NEPS yesterday and this morning it seemed to work, partially at least. Clearing the checkboxes is still a puzzle.

Recently I’ve had more than my poor brain can deal with: too many decisions, too much information.

Sweet Lizzie was shaking a few minutes ago so I covered her with a lap robe, which she doesn’t seem to mind. I chose to bring her to a new groomer who shaved her more than we wanted. Was this the right outcome?

We’ve been keeping up with the events overseas and domestic politics. We can’t do a thing to stop this war. It’s up to the Russians themselves to dethrone Herr Putin, and it’s up to the Red States to dethrone Trump and his minions in Congress and state governments.

I can feed Lizzy but can’t force her to eat.

I can try to get my money back from the PayPal scammer but how likely is that to happen?

Yesterday the Seagate failed. Which file repair software to buy and install? There was a lot on the drive that I don’t need, but I was able to retrieve a number of files that I want to keep.

Decision about the truck: fight with the old repair shop about work errors made a year ago or pay another shop to fix it.

I see the surgeon tomorrow but the drain incision has been sore and oozing. Do I remove the drain myself or wait?

Do I have peanut butter with breakfast or with lunch?

I dreamt last night of losing track of the tall adopto-raptor in a crowd and feeling no regret at all.

Then the Ron surrogate, a dashing young blade, announced “I have plans: for all five of us” and ran off with three girls. The dream ended before I could get up to follow. I felt no regret at that, either.

In a minute there is time
For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse.

Am I J. Alfred Prufrock?