Month: February 2022

Ron and I shoveled yesterday. I started with the deck, stairs, the truck and the driveway around the truck. Ron tackled the plow leavings at the end of the driveway. We finished the drive under Lizzie’s watchful supervision.

The snow was so waterlogged that I could easily walk on it.

Ron had a temporary freak-out over finances, including mislabeling a couple of payments he’d made to credit card companies.

I contacted two other vendors and arranged for refunds totaling over $140.

He was morose afterwards.

Another email about the Foley family tree, this time reporting shared DNA with a half-brother. Still no answer from the originator.

Lizzie and I ventured out before 7. Small amount of snow on the ground and freezing rain now, which for our lifestyle is not as troublesome as the 1-3 inches of snow that had been predicted.

I do feel for those who have to drive this morning. Cathy and Cindy texted that they’re staying put, thank goodness.

I’d asked the surgeon’s office to send me a copy of the preop list. They didn’t but fortunately I found it in a semi-obscure location in MyChart.

I’ve been preoccupied with the upcoming surgery but managed to shake it off long enough to copy, confirm, format and return the thumb drive that had the old computer files to BackBlaze yesterday afternoon.

I mailed a couple of cards as well and booked an appointment for COVID testing on Monday.

Yesterday was Lizzie’s 15th birthday. She was fussy about food all day so I cooked a hamburger for her supper.

We’ve been following the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the right wing Republican reaction with equal revulsion.

Glad the tree work got taken care of on Monday. Also on the home improvement front, fireplace guy says $8-10,000 to install one but our room is too small anyway.

I was on the line with Tech Support yesterday, and when it got to be after 5 pm, took a break to throw a collection of leftovers into a pot with some vegetable broth.

Ron is a master at seasoning, much better than I am. So, I recruited him to finish off the soup after I ran back downstairs to finish my “conversation”.

Good idea: it was fantastic, better than anything I’ve had in a restaurant.

The soup has black beans, tomatoes, rice, rice noodles, kale and vegetarian “meat” balls.

We finished watching “Friendly Persuasion” last evening, and although I enjoyed the film (more so now than when I first saw it) I was put off by the incorrect use of “Thee” as a subject rather than an object.

Turns out, this is historically correct:

“On a side note, I was initially puzzled by the depiction of the Quaker dialect using “thee” but not “thou” in both the objective and nominative cases. Thus, for example, where in the King James Bible we might read “Thou art the man,” the Quakers in Friendly Persuasion would say “Thee is the man.” (Example: “When thee asks or suggests, I am putty in thy hands, but when thee forbids, thee is barking up the wrong tree.”) I was even more puzzled to learn that this seemingly ungrammatical usage goes back to the source novel.

“However, I have since learned from an online article by Cheratra Yaswen that this usage is apparently historically correct: In at least some times and places, Quakers did adopt the practice of using “thee” rather than “thou” regardless of case.”

http://decentfilms.com/reviews/friendlypersuasion

It’s almost 4 pm on Sunday. We got back a little while ago from the transfer station, having dumped a batch of pre-Spring cleanup, including grasses, leaves and a good portion of Autumn Clematis.

We read the Times and Rondromat (aka “Mr. MacSuds”) did a load of laundry and made an omelet for us – good, too.

We re-loaded the truck with some blow-down branches. Our hands were cold and my back was complaining, so I’ll need to finish if anything’s left tomorrow.

I did get to watch “Spencer” today on Hulu, which made me very happy. I’ve been trying to rent it at RedBox without success and delighted that I could see it online and without paying extra. It’s a fantasy with a happy ending for her and her children, and so poignant that her life ended as it did. Poor woman.

Ron noticed that the gas tank on the truck was almost empty and put in $10 for me. Good man!

Yesterday we did yard cleanup (blow-downs from the last windstorm).

I made a pumpkin pie and a batch of food for Lizzie.

The day before we went to Savers and Market Basket while Bennett kept Lizzie company.

Big surprise yesterday when I got an email about a genealogy match from a Susan Foley on MyHeritage. I would bet that someone in the extended family or maybe a non-relative with a sense of humor put this together. Sent them a message this morning.

I had a breakdown a while back at a lumber yard, and can empathize with certain Karen behaviors as a result.

It’s entertaining to watch people acting out in public, and easy to place blame: in some cases justified, but I’m not so sure about all Karen lashing outs.

You can lose it when you’re so tired that it feels like you’re walking under water, or you’ve been battered one too many times by rudeness or ridicule in public.

I don’t envy anyone in retail or in any job involving face-to-face contact with human beings.

Monday was a good day, lunch and conversation with James, who is great company and a first rate raconteur.

Had a pre-op visit with Dr. D’Achille yesterday.

I changed the Home Serve Club contract from five years to three, thus cutting the cost almost in half. Should receive a refund by the end of the month.

Ordered flowers for Betsy and David’s 60th anniversary today.

I lost it last night, tired and out of control with Ron. His so-called deafness is driving me out of my mind.

Expecting fireplace person this morning. Would like a small gas unit in the living room but not expecting that it’ll be affordable.

We’re planning to see Bennett today! They are coming over to stay with Lizzie while we go to Savers for jeans. Might try to stop at BJ’s and/or Stop & Shop in Plymouth. Hate to miss the opportunity to shop off Cape, but it might be too much for one trip.

We had 3 or so inches of fluffy snow on Monday. We both worked on removal.

Lizzie had multiple trump accidents in the house. We did a couple of loads of laundry and changed the sheets.

I put together a meatloaf and topping for apple crisp in preparation for lunch with James today.

Good blood test results from yesterday.

Ron and I did a transfer station run yesterday.

I did the bagel-plus run to Shaw’s this morning and made peanut chocolate clusters for this afternoon’s political meeting.

Spoke with two arborists, one from Mashpee, about removing a big branch from the tree on the right side of the driveway.

Did an estimate of our taxes and decided to hold off on filing them.