Siding!

Bob and Dave from Capizzi finished the insulation and got a great deal of siding up today.

I was in a seminar in Wareham on greenhouse plants.

Rain started yesterday morning and continued for the rest of the day.

Ron announced yesterday “It’s done!” about his worker’s comp claim.

I had a terrible burning pain in my left side starting last night.  My hand felt a little numb after the pain subsided.  I wonder if it was related to that problem I had a couple of years ago with chronic itching, in pretty much the same spot.  As the neurologist said, that’s the first level of pain.

Ron and I are still feeling the effect of whatever bug slew us.  I slept until 9 am yesterday.

Siding

The guys from Capizzi – Bob and Dave – got the shingles stripped and a layer of insulated fabric stapled to the left side of the house today.

Fortunately, the plywood under the shingles is intact, save for one small spot.

Ed happened to come by this morning to drop off a tax form and say goodbye before he leaves for Florida.

I had a good meeting with the IT folks in Barnstable.  Before that, I did some investigating of electricity supply rates, which are going up by about half.  After comparing with NStar and Cape Light Compact, we decided to renew with Viridian at a fixed rate.

Also talked with Comcast customer service about the problems Margaret has had sending emails to me and our intermittent service.  After identifying a problem, something about downstream I think, they sent a signal to the modem.  That seems to have helped.  The modem is 3 years old, so it might need to be replaced.

After leaving the office in Barnstable Village, I drove by the Organic Farm, which was not open, and headed for Hyannis.  Stopped off at the hospital to check out when we could give blood again and visited Harbor Freight.

On the way, called Peter with a belated birthday suggestion, a spare propane tank.  That sounded good to him, so I picked one up at Breakaway in Centerville.  Dropped it off at Edgewater.  James was nice enough to take it off the truck for me.  Bought some raffle tix from him for his DC trip fundraising.

Got back in time to admire the work done on the house.  Put together sausages, onions and green peppers with rice for supper.  Had rice, egg, cheese and lemon soup for lunch.

I’m tired.

An Old Favorite Cowboy Song (2 Versions)

“Cowboy Lullaby”

Desert silver blue beneath the pale starlight
Coyote yappin’ lazy on a hill
Sleepy winks of light along the far skyline
Time for milling cattle to be still
So, now, the lightnin’s far away.
The coyote’s nothing skeery, just singing to his dearie
Yahoo! Amollo Holiday, so settle down, you cattle, till the morning.

Nothing out there on the range that you folks need,
Nothing there that seems to catch your eye,
Still you got to watch them or they’ll all stampede
Plunging down some ‘rroyo bank to die
So, now, the lightnin’s far away.
The coyote’s nothing skeery, just singing to his dearie
Yahoo! Amollo Holiday, so settle down, you cattle, till the morning.

 

ROUNDUP LULLABY
(Badger Clark)

Desert blue and silver in the still moonshine,
Coyote yappin’ lazy on the hill,
Sleepy winks of lightnin’ on the far sky line,
Time for millin’ cattle to be still.
    So—o, now, the lightnin’s far away,
The coyote’s nothin’ skeery;
He’s singin’ to his dearie—
Hee—ya, tammalalleday!
Settle down, you cattle, till the mornin’.

Nothin’ out the hazy range that you folks need,
Nothin’ we kin see to take your eye.
Yet we got to watch you or you’d all stampede,
Plungin’ down some ‘royo bank to die.
    So—o, now, for still the shadows stay;
The moon is slow and steady;
The sun comes when he’s ready.
Hee—ya, tammalalleday!
No use runnin’ out to meet the mornin’.

Cows and men are foolish when the light grows dim,
Dreamin’ of a land too far to see.
There, you dream, is wavin’ grass and streams that brim
And it often seems the same to me.
    So—o, now, for dreams they never pay.
The dust it keeps us blinkin’.
We’re seven miles from drinkin’.
Hee—ya, tammalalleday!
But we got to stand it till the mornin’.

Mostly it’s a moonlight world our trail winds through.
Kain’t see much beyond our saddle horns.
Always far away is misty silver-blue;
Always underfoot it’s rocks and thorns.
    So—o, now. It must be this away—
The lonesome owl a-callin’,
The mournful coyote squallin’.
Hee—ya, tammalalleday!
Mocking-birds don’t sing until the mornin’.

Always seein’ ‘wayoff dreams of silver-blue,
Always feelin’ thorns that stab and sting.
Yet stampedin’ never made a dream come true,
So I ride around myself and sing,
    So—o, now, a man has got to stay,
A-likin’ or a-hatin’,
But workin’ on and waitin’.
Hee—ya, tammalalleday!
All of us are waitin’ for the mornin’.

The Rotten Past, the Questionable Present

During our first three years of married life, Ron and I have done battle with each other’s demons:  mine from Rose Cohen and Marjorie McLean and his from his ex’s.

I realized this morning that Peter and Bonnie were right; I have been suffering from brain chemistry imbalance, for lack of a better descriptive, resulting from abuse and possibly pre-natal stress.

Ron’s been neglected, betrayed and taken advantage of, both by one particular member of his family and his ex-SO’s.

I have a lot of bad memories, mostly around work.  For years, I was in the wrong type of job and I still have problems in environments with a lot of other people.

Ron is helping me to heal and I hope to be doing the same for him.

Meanwhile, my New Year’s wish is to live in a place where our neighbors like us and where we “fit in” socially.  That would require either that we move or that some households around us change.  Time will tell.

Ron Is Better

It’s been a week and apparently Ron’s body talked itself into recovery for fear he’d have to go to the doc otherwise (argh).

I think I’m finished with converting preowned to NEPS “look”.  Too much work, ridiculous.

Went to the Senior Center today.  Went to Steering and Emma’s opening last evening.  Got Chinese for supper.

It was cold today.  12 degrees right now.

Jasmine, Flailing

005The jasmine started blooming today! Sweet plant, tough as nails.

I got a tooltips example to run by minor brute force and finally gave up on bower. What a nuisance, this tutorial notwithstanding. Setting PATH was ridiculous. I ended up having to edit the registry because it exceeded 1024 characters.

Feel like I wasted the day. Haven’t even read the NYTimes biz section yet.

I did take about three hours to listen to and read along with the New Bedford Whaling Museum’s Moby Dick marathon. An excellent use of time, come to think of it. I enjoyed the experience thoroughly, first time venturing into the book. Followed along a bit last night as well, especially Chapter 40. It gave me a small insight into Melville’s genius, both literary and psychological.

We’ve skipped all the live music planned for this weekend: Wepecket, Higher Ground, WHFMS.

Did the transfer station run. Quite a bit of recycling and trash today. The transfer station was quiet, mercifully.

Day 5 and Ron still feels miserable. I’m getting the idea that whatever he caught isn’t the same bug I had. He’s promised to call the doc if he’s not better by Tuesday.

Season 4 of “Downton Abbey” starts tonight!

Watched the fourth quarter of one of the best football games of the season, San Francisco versus Green Bay, played in 3 degree weather.

What We Did in 2013 (Highlights)

004Ron cut down two trees at Edgewater – one in the front and one in the back – plus pruned back on Dixon and cut down the cherry tree at Lori’s
Woods Hole Folk Music Society
Discovered that Ron’s Revolutionary War ancestor was a Minuteman
Collected signatures at the West Falmouth Post Office to shut down Pilgrim
Ron got new “toys”: saws, at least two, mitre and chain.
New garden next to the back stairs here, Emme designed the layout; new daffodil/narcissus garden in our small “bosquet”
Robert’s graduation
Fireworks at Willowbend
Ron switched from disability to normal retirement
Fourth of July at Ed’s
Wes and Susan came to visit
Watched the Fire Ball ceremony and heard Emma play at the PowWow
Hummingbirds in the back yard
Attended lectures at the Jonsson Center
Was Emme’s taxi to and from her job at the Falmouth Chamber
Summer trip to Newport with Emme and James: Green Animals Topiary Garden, Kite Festival
We lost our Mr. Fluffles
Cape Cod Conservatory big band at the Craigville Tabernacle
ron was quoted in the Mashpee Enterprise story about the Wompanoag Language Reclamation Program
I had an article on workplace bullying pubished in the Cape Cod Times
Craigville Beach bonfire and rock band; Ron danced – in public!
Visited the Rooneys in Martha’s Vineyard
Waved to the tourists from Oak Street overpass on Labor Day weekend
Fixed the kiosk at Santuit Pond Estates
Anti-war demonstration in Orleans in September
Wepecket Island Records concerts at the Wamsutta Club, New Bedford
Ron finished sanding and cleaning the deck at Edgewater!
Blood donations
Visited Blithewold
Santuit Pond cleanup with the Mashpee Conservation Commission
Got our street removed from the no-plow list
Dissolved my company, CapeCoder.com, Ltd.
Miserable tooth extraction
Rally at K-Mart plaza in Hyannis to shut down Pilgrim
Had heat lamp installed in the bathroom
Visited Betsy, David and family in Jaffrey for Thanksgiving

Snow

The big storm started this morning.  Street is already white.

Ron woke up sick as a dog.  Poor fellow!

Focused on minor storm prep yesterday, like taking down the outside lights and garland.  Got everything put away this morning.  Much easier without a tree!

Yesterday, cooked up all of the organic farm bacon and made scrambled eggs for breakfast.  We barely ate the rest of the day, it was so filling.

Stopped by to see Cathy last evening.  I had a Christmas gift that had been misdirected.  Chatted briefly with Mary on the phone.

Got my d3 apps to work with a bit of tweaking.

Flurry of email correspondence with the Falmouth Chamber about the Forum on RaiseUp issues.  I was of the misimpression that Chambers set their own agendas, but nay: they do their masters’ bidding.