Month: January 2023

Furnace problem was a minor one: the safety switch was out, either pulled out or fell out.

I am SO GLAD to have heat again!

Last night, I was pretty discouraged about this house, feeling overwhelmed by the number of decisions that have been and will need to be made, the problems that keep coming up and the drain on savings.

According to this blog, I was down on Mashpee as early as January 2004. That means I’d stuck it out for at least 19 years. I only hope Williamstown and Henderson Road also don’t break my heart.

Ryan and the other “suns” worked on the roof yesterday, said the job is about half done. We have shingles on part of the roof.

Dave and Devin put down several sheets of plywood.

Got a call from an attorney at the DPU. She’s had conversations with National Grid on my behalf. I was able to see some of my account using a link from an earlier email.

One of the carpenters was working in the basement yesterday.

He may have disrupted one of the circuits; had no power in the garage doors and last night, I noticed that the furnace was off.

It’s about 54 degrees in here now.

Left a message for the electrician. The oil company is sending a tech, he should be here shortly.

Never occurred to me to get a service plan for the furnace.

This is predicted to be a very cold week, minus temperatures tonight and Friday. Let’s hope this gets squared away today.

Yesterday, a lady whom I’d met at an earlier standout mentioned Don Kurlander, the former art teacher, who lived on Henderson. She was sure we bought his house, but he lived at 315.

I can’t find out anything earlier than the 50’s about number 71 in the North Berkshire Registry.

Ron was cold so we only stayed for about 15 minutes.

We stopped at BJ’s then picked up our grocery order at the North Adams Stop & Shop. Used their shopping service, which included bringing groceries to the car, and that could not have worked out better!

Mac and cheese and steamed mixed vegetables for supper. Watched the first half of Bengals/Chiefs playoff game.

I listened to the new First Congregational Church minister’s sermon via ZOOM. She’s a good speaker.

Woke up at quarter to three again. Stomach is a mess from last night.

After Ron got his account number and a debit card and ordered checks at the credit union, we made a stop at the trailhead off Syndicate Road and had coffee at Five Corners Market and Cafe.

Brought home perogies, bagels, mac and cheese and a slice of focaccia.

We enjoyed a visit to and joined the Williamstown Historical Museum.

I did a little shoveling in the driveway and the deck. Lots of deer tracks and some scat in the back yard.

We took the top off the post lamp, found it’s just a solar light.

It looks as if we’ll be by ourselves, Ron, me and the mice.

The carpenter spotted deer tracks in the back yard and thinks they jump over the left side fence.

The motion sensor light went on this morning around 5 am, but I think that’s because I flipped the switch, which is on the downstairs bathroom wall (huh?) by mistake, not anything going on in the driveway.

The carpenter managed to get 12 foot boards inside via a window so he didn’t have to cut them – cool! He worked on the kitchen drawer and sympathized with my problems with the foam stuff – “it’s always a mess.” More demo; Devin was here for half the time.

The three of us did a tour of the basement. Dave says it’s in good shape but could use some “sistering” of cracked boards, some of which has been done.

I booked an appointment with Terminix for next week.

Have an appointment to close on the HELOC next Friday.

Stopped by the Senior Center and had a pleasant chat with our neighbor, the Executive Director. He signed us up for their newsletter.

Got some errands done yesterday – Aubuchon, Cumby, library (Ron found music), lunch to go from Pera. Drove up to the overlook on Sweet Farm so Ron could see it.

The work on the second story seems to have disturbed mice. The carpenter caught one and I spotted one in the kitchen.

Had a video meeting with a doctor about my eyes. She prescribed prednisone, which we had for Lizzie. I took the first dose early this afternoon. Picked up the Rx for me at Walgreens: 79 cents. Love my health insurance! The doc thinks I should start feeling better in 3 days.

Work is progressing on the bedroom. Dave the carpenter spotted charred boards; maybe a fire from a stove in or below that room (would be the coat closet)?

I booked an appointment with the assessor for Tuesday afternoon and a plumber for that morning to check out the hot water valve behind the washing machine.

Ryan was here to get snow off part of the roof.

Took Ron out to eat. Ordered online at one restaurant, found it was closed. The second was full-up: trivia night. We landed at our neighbor’s restaurant and chatted with them afterwards. Ron, who claimed not to be hungry, devoured a big Greek salad.

I tried filling in a hole under the kitchen sink with a foam spray but didn’t do it correctly, it didn’t stick. Bloody heck.

The drawer that we thought the carpenter had fixed came off the track.

Win some, lose some.

The electrician changed out the light in the upstairs hallway and wired the thing properly. The old light needed light bulbs that have since gone obsolete.

He also remounted the fan in the master bedroom. Got to it through the attic.

He’s found so much bad wiring that it sounds like it would be worthwhile for him to check out all the switches, once he’s done with the outlets in the “office”.

Barbara called; great to hear from her.

Think I may have unclogged the upstairs sink, finally. We’ll see.

Ron and I made a double batch of biscuits, thus using up the big box of Bisquick.

I got approved for the Green Loan from the Credit Union!

It’s snowing but not very hard, not yet.

Ron’s wallet is still missing.

WHAT THE WORKPLACE PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY ACT WILL DO
It’s time to say we’re not going to allow our government to tolerate abuse at work. Just as our government steps in with abusive families, our government needs to take action with toxic employers.

1. It gives targeted employees legal recourse for employers creating a toxic work environment with a focus on specific, common behaviors that a reasonable person would deem toxic. Right now, it’s perfectly legal to be abusive at work in the U.S., even though it’s illegal in most of the industrialized world. Employers simply have way too much power. Targeted employees will be able to:
   File a restraining order against the employee who violates this Act depending on state law.
   Call for an internal investigation.
   Bypass a rigged internal process by calling for an investigation by OSHA or a similarly charged state commission, with positions funded by employers themselves so they’ll stop passing the costs of employee well-being onto taxpayers.
   Sue the employer and/or individual(s) in violation of this Act directly for economic, compensatory, and/or punitive damages and attorney’s fees. Employees can also sue criminally and choose to anonymously publicly disclose the case outcome, removing employers’ ability to silence them with non-disclosure agreements.
2. It requires employers to acknowledge, monitor, detect, prevent, discourage, and adequately address incidences of psychological abuse. Employers will no longer be allowed to sweep abuse at work under the rug and pretend they’re following protocol while ignoring abuse or retaliating to avoid liability. They’ll be required to:
   Adopt and implement policies and training
   Conduct an annual anonymous workplace climate survey to monitor the prevalence of abuse in their workplaces
   Start third-party investigations within five business days and complete them within 30
   Take responsibility if the outcome favors the targeted employee, including minimally issuing an apology, reinstating work, and coaching, counseling, or disciplining the employee who engages in toxic conduct. Discipline may include removing supervisory duties or termination.
3. It doesn’t pretend this issue is only an individual one. It also goes after the root issue: the oppressive, dehumanizing system that reinforces positive stereotypes for men, white workers, and high-wage workers and negative stereotypes for women, people of color, low-wage workers, and other groups considered “other” by the dominant groups. It calls for organizational accountability: the quarterly reporting of the number of discrimination and psychological abuse complaints and discipline, workers’ compensation claims, absenteeism rates, termination rates, stress leave rates, attrition rates, investigation rates, followup action rates, the workforce gender and racial makeup, and de-identified wage and salary data by protected category to government agencies for public access.
   Workers deserve psychologically safe work environments.