Month: January 2013

The rain is pounding so hard on the windows that I thought it might be mice.

Ron has been organizing his clothes off and on since Sunday. I’ve brought several boxes upstairs as well as about 30 shirts, a couple of jackets and a small bag of individual socks.

We’ve been watching Season 1 of American Horror Story.

Yesterday, I brought tea goodies from Bean and Cod to the kids and figured out table-valued parameters. Tried to hook Craig up with some work-at-home jobs.

Candy was discharged from the hospital yesterday and is now at Spaulding. I hope to visit soon.

The jasmine is spectacular – lots of blooms and new growth. Daffs are coming up at Edgewater.

We made it to the Wareham Y. Swam for about 40 minutes, then stopped at Krua Thai in Wareham. Delicious meal, but my stomach was acting up and not sure why.

First flower of the year. Hope it has a second bloom in May. Wish it were possible to upload the fragrance: intoxicating. I expect it’ll perfume the whole house when it’s fully in bloom.

Got almost everything together for submittal to Ron’s FSA. Just waiting for a receipt from Beltone.

We had lunch at Pickles, had a 2 for 1 coupon from the paper. It was good but still quite expensive.

Down today.

We got about 2-3 inches, less than half of what was expected. It was easy shoveling, but overnight, it stuck a bit to the driveway. It was so cold today that very little melted, unfortunately, so we are left with icy residue.

Ron put up the second mini-blind (!) and installed a new furnace filter.

Musical cliche: an often-heard riff or hook (passage, or phrase).

As a community bank, Rockland Trust is a heroic partner in the recovery.

I finally read MLK’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail, written 50 years ago this April 16, and the “Statement by Alabama Clergymen” that preceded it.

I daresay that at this point, the eight signers of the “Statement” are little known and barely remembered by any but their immediate families. Rather than being honored as stalwarts of the community, their cowardice, paranoia and lack of understanding of the times make them ignominious participants in the ghastly history of racism in the US.

MLK’s letter is remarkable in its erudition, logic and poetry. The manner in which he wrote it is also remarkable:

“Dr. King had no paper, so he wrote his response around the edges of the newspaper ad and on pieces of toilet paper in his cell. Later, or one of the other attorneys brought him a notepad. King could only work in the daytime when he had enough scant light to see. When he finished the response, and his other attorneys secretly slipped the assorted bits and pieces of the letter from King’s cell and into the hands of NAACP’s Wyatt Walker. Walker and his secretary, Willie Pearl Mackey, pieced together the scraps of paper, and Mackey typed out the rough draft of the letter.

“Andrew Young recalled that Willie Pearl Mackey “had a terrible time reading Martin’s handwriting. Most of the letter was brought in installments delivered from the jail by our attorneys, Clarence Jones, Ozell Billingsley, and Arthur Shores, during their trips to jail to visit Martin.” When Mackey had finished typing the draft, one of King’s lawyers smuggled it back to Dr. King to edit and make corrections. Then one of the lawyers carried it back to Walker.”

Arthur Shores, Martin Luther King, Jr. And The Story Of The Letter From The Birmingham Jail

I believe I’ve written about the shade in the second bedroom South-facing window.

Ron had no problem operating it, but it seemed to never stay put for me.

So, I got fed up and bought a mini-blind to replace it.

Ron installed the blind today, and it looks great, but it was a two-day ordeal.

The window dimensions on the box were not especially helpful, and once I got the blind unloaded, I was sure it was too small.

I bought the blind at Rocky’s Ace Hardware in Fairhaven, and they seem to be the only retailer in about a 15 mile radius that sells this particular brand. No other Ace in the Upper Cape carries mini-blinds as far as I can tell; you have to special order them.

Ron convinced me that the blind would be wide enough. It took him a while to figure out how to place the holders and how to mount them. We then brilliantly concluded that there was something wrong with the release mechanism and made it fall apart.

It’s finally up now and working as it’s supposed to. In fact, it looks great. I said that already, but it bears repeating.

Now to do the same thing for the other window, ha ha ha.

We might get snow tonight, but it was in the low 40’s today, so I was motivated to do some premature spring cleaning in the yard, particularly in the small corner garden and behind the shed.

There were piles of weeding debris, and I was hoping that by sifting and consolidating, the material could be used for compost. Too many pine needles and other junk, though, so I used it to fill in holes. Maybe over time it’ll decompose enough for the garden.

I did find a pair of clippers which are still usable; they are soaking in vinegar now to help loosen the rust.

We tried to install new windshield washer blades on the truck but gave up. I managed to get the old ones back on at least.

I grilled burgers, too, first time all winter in daylight, and was horrified at how messy the grill is. Cooking by moonlight hasn’t provided the best conditions for cleaning.

I spent a chunk of time yesterday at Cambridge Eye while an optician laboriously calculated several permutations of frames, lenses and costs. I finally gave up and ordered a pair online last night. I messed up the prescription, but straightened it out with them on the phone this morning.

He figured it’s been about a year and a half since the last one. He was tired of fussing with long hair, and I was inclined to agree: we were starting to get “Can I help you ladies?” comments. This cut is very similar to one he had in some old photos, and I think it’s quite flattering.

I had good intentions of coding for most of today but got sidetracked.

I did a fair amount of catch-up of O-F stuff in preparation for tonight’s meeting, finished the back yard cleanup, did a couple of errands including a quick trip to the transfer station, emptied the dishwasher, made soup for lunch. I also did some post-holiday updates of my Cape Cod Progressives site.

The reality is that I’m tired of income-producing activities and would like to stop.

Cut down most of the grasses at Edgewater and brought them for composting to the transfer station. Fed the indoor plants, including the jasmine. Made some two-serving chicken/pork pies from leftovers, frozen vegetables and mushroom soup.