Month: October 2020

What a fine visit with James last evening. We didn’t get to bed until 11. He’s a fascinating conversationalist: brilliant, urbane, knowledgeable.

Where did this person come from and do we get any credit for his existence?

The layered casserole was good: homemade sauce, black beans, corn, cheddar.

To my joy, grandperson #2 is back!

Raining again today, thank goodness. It’s predicted to get cold, and glad the hibiscus and olive tree are indoors. Sprayed them today.

Ron panicked twice today, once because the “cold water isn’t working” in the washing machine (the dial was set to “hot”) and his computer’s “alarm was going off” (it was his phone).

We’re working on laundry. I stopped by Cumby for gas.

Shaw’s customer support graciously credited my account with $7 to make up for the specials I’d missed by not preloading them. I also got $1 off at Walgreen’s.

I volunteered yesterday at the Farm and picked carrots and turnips, and bagged 40+ bags of potatoes.

Brought home a pile of carrots that either looked weird or had no tops (easily broken when harvesting), our produce box and some bittersweet.

I did a big shop at Shaw’s.

Washed and peeled about 90% of yesterday’s carrots. Made carrot cake and carrot soup. Also made a tomato/onion/garlic/pepper sauce for tonight’s Mexican dinner with James.

It’s been raining all day. I ran out to Andy’s for walnuts for the carrot cake and clipped some more bittersweet that we spotted yesterday in our walk around the neighborhood.

There’s a Libertarian on Winslow Drive. Their yard has a Jorgensen/Cohen sign and a Pine Tree flag.

Typical Sunday morning, then Corey installed the NEST thermostat, replaced the basement/workout area ceiling fixture and installed an outlet in the attic.

I repotted the hibiscus and brought it downstairs. Hacked up its root system; hope I didn’t kill it.

I hope the water on the floor is due to my dousing the kousa on the side of the house.

I didn’t want to do anything today, but disabled some startup programs and removed others, wheeled Ron’s filing cabinet to my den, cleaned the top of the frig, washed the damp basement floor, switched out the electrical multi-outlet on top of the frig, set up the grow light, repacked the hanging lamp and vacuumed. As Ron kibbitzed.

This afternoon, I brought cardboard and yard clippings to the transfer station and did a shop on the way home. Lots of used produce.

Changed the furnace filter.

I mowed front and back yesterday and did a little garden cleanup. Late afternoon, we visited Geri and Free.

Updated my insurance information on the Quest Diagnostics website this morning.

Baked potatoes, roasted butternut squash, made pie.

Nice afternoon walk at Four Ponds in Pocasset with Ron, Stephanie and Abe. Ron picked up corn on the way at a farmstand in North Falmouth.

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Yesterday we did some shopping at Home Depot, Job Lot, Target and Whole Foods.

I got the wrong Roku streaming device and need to return it, it’s not compatible with the big TV, no matter how I set it up.

I was able to donate blood, though, very pleased to have exceeded the hemoglobin requirement. The North Falmouth location is the nicest by far in this area, comparable to the doctors’ recruitment center in Hyannis. Will keep an eye out for the next one.

We got a different light fixture for the basement, batteries, another big towel and on-sale frozen pizza. Good run.

I put the back of the treadmill on 2×4’s this morning. There’s no other way to adjust the incline. It works pretty well, although not recommended by Sunny.

I was antsy yesterday morning and collected another 23 pounds of trash on Ashumet Road from parking lot entrance to parking lot entrance.

Ron donated blood yesterday. My count was too low (12.2). Brought the road trash to the transfer station, picked up beer and groceries. The lights were out at the Commons, traffic was a mess.

Disgusted with having wasted the afternoon doing nothing, I finally spread mulch around the hydrangeas and Montauks.

We skipped Town Meeting after hearing a warning on NPR about Covid transmission at “city meetings” from Michael T. Osterholm, epidemiologist, regents professor, and director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota.

Made squash soup and eggplant parm, and steamed beans and turnips. Was able to fit the cookware, including the coffee carafe, in the dishwasher, which ran twice yesterday.

We did a 1.5 mile walk in the afternoon, after laundry and changing sheets. Ron brought a plastic bag to collect trash.

I wanted to walk the route from John’s Pond Estates to Hoophole Road, but on the way, noticed that the a path adjacent to the Fairgrounds was open now that the summer foliage had died back.

We collected a pile of trash on that path and more on Ashumet Road: over 12 pounds.

Someone had abandoned a pair of hedge trimmers at the edge of the Fairgrounds parking lot. It has beautiful wooden handles and even covered with rust, the blades work very well.

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I picked radishes and turnips and brought my Jo sign to an anti-Trump standout at the rotary.

Drove to 4C’s for food distribution but they were done before noon. Unsuccessful in reaching Geri for a visit, but the drive along 6A and short walks on a couple of trails in West Barnstable and Marstons Mills made the trip well worth it.

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We had a good rain on Tuesday. I picked peppers and brought home a load of produce.

Cindy came over yesterday evening and Cathy is expected around noon today.

Weedman was here yesterday to lime and reseed.

After checking out prices at Bayview, Walmart and Warby Parker, I ordered new specs from 39Dollar glasses.

Submitted reward claims to Harvard Pilgrim yesterday for the flu shot, annual wellness physical and colonoscopy.

Ron made a couple of trips to the transfer station, post office and Stop & Shop.

Watched the Barrett hearings off and on. Not clutching my pearls: it could have been Barr.

We participated in an online “tasting” courtesy of Roche Brothers. They distributed cheese, cracker, chocolate and hummus samples to the first fifty per store to respond to their Facebook invite. It was difficult to hear some of the presentations but we did enjoy the samples along with grapes, wine and fig jam.

-Narragansett Creamery Burrata

-Narragansett Creamery Grilling Cheese

-High Lawn Farm Wilde Field

-Effie’s Cocoa Cakes

-Mystic Cheese Melinda Mae

-Vermont Nut Free Crispy Milk Chocolate Bar

-Brewer’s Sea Salt Crackers

-Chica de Gallo Guacamole

-Vermont Smoke & Cure sticks

-Cedar’s Hummus Original

-Cabot Seriously Sharp

-Tribe Chocolate Hummus

-Just Hummus Original

-Lake Champlain 57% Dark

-Daniele Diced Pancetta

Did about an hour of picking at Pariah Dog, eggplant and turnips.

Dropped off shredding at Cape Cod 5’s event. Very short line.

Spent the afternoon with Geri and Free. She’d found a gorgeous leather jacket for Ron that “fits to a T”. Her friend Paul dropped by with FDA food and invited me to take home a huge onion, cottage cheese and shredded mozzarella: could be lasagna or a casserole.

On the way to the truck, Geri pointed out a bee-decorated coat rack on their “free” table: perfect for Selin. I got to see her and her property, as well as the bee hive.

Ron was busy grinding branches and filled up a barrel-plus. He wants to finish today.