Month: June 2023

The Second Coming
BY WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

Source: The Collected Poems of W. B. Yeats (1989)

The new oil tank arrived this past Wednesday.

The crew from Potential Energy and an auditor from Clear Result worked here yesterday and today.

The auditor found a couple of small deposits of vermiculite which we took care of. That left only trace amounts, so he gave the okay to proceed.

James was also here and texted later that we got our permit!

I picked up paint at Aubuchon.

Ron’s prescription came through at Walmart!

Bill did more work in the driveway side bedroom.

While I was out fetching Ron’s meds, Norm figured out the vent business.

We enjoyed a terrific set by the Grace Jones Quartet at MCLA. Nice theater, easy parking; we’ll be back.

The Potential Energy crew finished work today. Their lead was great about answering my many questions and they worked diligently and well.

They were able to cover the two crawl spaces with moisture barriers. They replaced the aluminum siding perfectly and finished the blown-in insulation before it started to rain.

Norm came back to connect the vent to the pipe he’d installed in the attic. Rather than cut through the wall, he set the fitting by touch and sound.

Bill was back briefly this morning. It looks like that bedroom will be finished some time next week.

Once again, Ron ran out of Tramadol, had fits about it and insisted that we drive around North Adams during a thunderstorm for no real purpose other than to assure him that his whims prevailed.

We go through this almost every month. Ron “forgets” to order meds and it’s a horror show until the prescription is filled.

I don’t blame the medical practice. They have a 3 day rule for ordering refills and it seems easy enough to conform to that rather simple request.

Pharmacies are pretty good at giving short-term refills while the process is ongoing, but it doesn’t work that way with opiates. Blame the government for overreach, but it is a fact that people with chronic pain have to live with, unfortunately.

I’ve failed at everything I’ve tried: freshman year at college, parenting, running a business, friendships, marriage, home ownership.

I’ve also done just about everything I wanted to, i.e., all of the above.

Today I feel neutral about this: not regretful, not resentful either.

I think it’s called coming to terms.

I still remember the smug look on the face of a woman who demanded that I stop smoking at an outdoor concert. She was so very, very proud of herself, so full of self-satisfaction. I would bet that if she had been similarly rude to someone who was not a middle-aged White woman, her companions would have shushed her up.

DEET-based insect sprays are the new smoking. At least from the standpoint of some self-righteous so-called environmentalist types.

I recently was called out on an outdoor hike by someone who objected to my using a DEET spray.

Since moving to this “unique environment”, I’ve encountered a whole new set of nasty flying animals that have left scars on my arms. Some holes from insect proboscises are large enough to be seen by the naked eye.

I don’t care about the cosmetic aspect – scars are a badge of honor at my age – but I do care about infection, inflammation and losing sleep.

So, I’m left with a dilemma: do I stop attending outdoor events with strangers or slap on the DEET and risk disapproval?

After the big lower cabinet cleaning and disinfecting, I’ve been working on the kitchen counter.

Also dug out a bunch of grass and weeds from the uphill side of the driveway.

With the help of PBS Tech Support, our Roku/PBS problems seem to be solved.

Ron’s new hearing aids are uncomfortable and bothering him. My legs are still hurting.

We prepped salad vegetables yesterday from last week’s CSA. This week’s box looks like a nice assortment.

A house is not a home, and ours has a way to go, but as we decided at breakfast this morning, it’s been one step back but two steps forward.

So far, the good people who have been working with us have replaced the roof, windows and hot water heater, removed a chimney that was falling apart and repaired or replaced bad electric, a crumbling ceiling and out-of-code plumbing.

We’ve had vermiculite and mold removed and/or remediated. Ron and I cleaned up the cellar floor and the yard. The front of the house is not beautiful but respectable, and we are enjoying the discovery of old plantings in the back before adding to them, if ever.

We’ve had the ceiling raised in one second floor bedroom and work on reinforcing the floor in the other has started with the installation of posts and a new header in the basement. The old floor was ripped up in February and it’s taken this long to get a contractor.

We’re trying to prepare physically and psychologically for demolition of half the living room ceiling next week to allow installation of floor joists.

I’ve taken to drinking wine with lunch, having learned that “sun over the yardarm” meant midday in the British navy and thus, the time when sailors would be issued their first tot of rum.

The mountains are no longer shrouded in Nova Scotian forest fire smoke but our hill is heavily forested so we won’t have a view again until winter.

Meanwhile, Bennington Potters, who have covered the Southern Vermont landscape with their flyers, hasn’t been open to the public for the last three years with no plans to reopen any time soon.

Go figure.

Yesterday we were visited by our three wise men: Ryan, James and Norman.

James discovered a mystery vent. He’s back today working on the basement part of the bedroom floor project.

Ron and I moved some stuff from the part of the living room which will be the main event next week to the sunroom.

Aside from that, a transfer station run with recyclables and an offload of compostable leftovers at Wild Soul River, I haven’t done much today.

Our plumber needed to shut off the water to replace the pipes leading to the sewer, so we elected to spend the day in Bennington.

We had a great day.

Originally we were going to check in to a motel but they’d forgotten to add our reservation to their system, so we were able to cancel without charge.

We had a veg lunch at the Blue Benn. Ron was surprised that a diner would have a variety of vegetarian options. We couldn’t find much music to play, though.

We spent most of the day, before and after lunch, at the Bennington Museum. Ron was enthralled, so much so that a staff member had to track him down before locking the door for the night.

High school students’ artwork was the subject of one exhibit, and we were struck by several pieces that showed exceptional talent.

While Ron finished his museum viewing after lunch, I walked through the museum’s flower garden and spent the next hour and a half in a spacious pavilion enjoying a thunderstorm.

We came home to find that the ceiling and most of the walls in the “office” were sheetrocked and the new plumbing installed.

Paid the permit fee for the next project, the big one. Missed Norman while we were gone. Ryan and company spent the day here and finished drywalling.

I installed a new Roku purchased yesterday at Bennington Walmart on the way home. It took a while but seems to be working well now.

Unfortunately, my PBS account is not working correctly. My Passport membership is with WGBH but because of where we live, the channel insists on routing me to stations available to Western Mass. That means I can’t access premium shows like Masterpiece.

I’m still wondering if our router is “off” in some way.

Having bad dreams these days, all involving the adopto-horror’s family.

Is the upcoming work on the house the reason?

We are spending tomorrow in Bennington. We’re nervous about not having water all day and I found a hotel that offers day rates. This will also free up half the driveway and a garage bay for building materials. I have some activities in mind like museums should we wish to do something besides surf the web.

Yesterday, Ron picked up and installed a two-way hose splitter that should make watering easier.

The sheet rock is here and in the garage for safekeeping.

I signed off on the loan application at Greylock/North Adams and picked up our lunches at the senior center. Got back in time to say good bye to Bell. Seeing his little hands waving from the giant school bus is a treat!

Introduced Ron to Carr Hardware. Picked up some hose fittings; seems this need never ends.

Ron (good man) is mowing the lawn before the rain. We’re in for several days of it so good to get it done now before the yard looks like a hayfield.