Winter Ale

We picked up three 12-packs of Sam Adams Holiday White Ale at Spirits. We were lucky to find it since it was made only in November and December.

Watched a pilot of a new series “Watson” on Paramount Plus. Based in Pittsburgh. Texted Alyssa to check it out: last scene shows “their” bridge!

Spent way too much time following politics again. Trump reached a new level of despicable by blaming Biden and even Obama for yesterday’s disastrous crash over the Potomac.

100 pages left in The Known World. Finally got the MySQL connection to work by using “localhost” in the connection string.

Ron and I cracked each other up doing the “Trump Dance” to “I Feel For You”.

Snow

We had snow last night and for a good part of today.

Ron cleared the driveway with the snow blower and did a fine job.

We went to Stop & Shop; he went out again later for beer.

I did more work on the Remedy Hall project and a little more reading for the book club. Problem with SQL connection from Visual Studio, will try something different tomorrow.

Got an email with setup info for McCann Google docs. Read the materials about lathing.

No cooking.

The Trump fool at OMB had to step back an illegal attempt to withhold funding that was previously approved by Congress. Two judges issued injunctions. It’s a mess.

Better

After breakfast I picked up yesterday’s mail and emptied the big pail of defrosted ice, thus freeing up the set tub.

Ron and I changed the sheets.

Ron baked some nice rolls from a premade package and heated broccoli and cheddar soup for lunch.

I’d missed emails from Nicole and Sara, a Greylock closing team member. Caught up with them and in the process, got a tip from Homesite about how to find my most current Homeowners policy which was already updated with current Mortgage information.

Luckily, I was able to make a database rather than a code change to accommodate Nicole’s request.

I received calls yesterday from McCann and a new program Wealth Rewards. Also received an email from McCann with more info about what to expect next week.

Ron reloaded the mousetraps from the basement floor. I vacuumed the living room a bit.

Sent photos of meds and breakfast to Wealth Rewards for cash.

Pretty morning.

Continuing to plow through The Known World.

We are better today but still not great.

Ron insisted on going to Walmart. He’s beside himself with rumors of crazy prices for coffee and eggs less than 8 days into Trump 2. Came back with only some of the items on the shopping list.

Leftover lasagna for supper.

Tired.

Bloody Sick

Impossible to get a solid eight hours of rest. We are hurting and suffering, Ron especially. All I wanted to do yesterday, Sunday, was sleep and watch tv.

We’re snacking on simple foods instead of regular meals: fruit salad, broth, homemade squash soup, whole wheat toast.

I haven’t been out. Ron made a short, futile trip to the drugstore for Dristan.

Cooking

I’ve spent too much time on political news and YouTube videos, but did cook today.

Made two kids of muffins this morning, blueberry and chocolate chip, and a vegetarian lasagna for late lunch/early supper.

I’m very pleased with the lasagna. Briefly sauteed spinach and peppers and added those to ricotta, parmesan and mushrooms for the filling. Ran out of oven-ready lasagna noodles so used angel hair pasta for the top layer, and it turned out fine.

Challenged Ron to bake a wheat flour spice cake from scratch tomorrow.

Got an email announcing that I’ve been accepted to the Advanced Manufacturing Technology program starting next month at McCann.

Still waiting to hear when Greylock plans to close my loan.

Inauguration

Ron cleared the entire driveway with the snow blower and was done by 10. I vacuumed upstairs, on the stairs and downstairs, more work than it sounds and I slept extremely well last night.

Relieved and pleased to read that in the final hours of his presidency, Biden pardoned Leonard Peltier.

I rescheduled a medical appointment in Pittsfield to next Tuesday.

We spent a good part of the day watching Inauguration activities, news and commentary from Bulwark and other pundits. The Bulwark group were pretty good, others were petty, making, for example, childish cracks about Melania’s hat which we thought was fetching and appropriate.

Leftovers for lunch and stir fry for supper.

Bloody cold this morning, zero Fahrenheit or even a little below. French toast for breakfast.

Saturday

We talked about it but ended up not going out even though the temperature wasn’t that bad today, twenties.

We made a nice breakfast for ourselves: potatoes and veg sausage, scrambled eggs with cheese.

I made enchiladas and brown rice for supper. Used up leftover shredded cheddar, refried beans and pasta sauce. Heated up frozen spinach, peppers and onions. Not bad today, probably will be better tomorrow.

I continued work on Andi’s application. Found a free popular library for generating barcodes.

Andi’s App

Looked into using Access as a data source but ran into a brick wall with licensing.

So, decided to try MySQL. Installed the database engine and administrative interface, MySQL Workbench.

Set up the “remedyhall” database, added the first table, patrons. Using a modified version of the schema I copied yesterday from a third party.

Created a desktop app in Visual Studio. Trying to figure out how to add a MySQL datasource. Did find code for creating a data connection programatically.

Mailbox

I reattached the right side of the mailbox door with a long screw. Seems to work for now.

Preite delivered 100 gallons, which should take care of us for at least another month.

Quit both writing groups.

Paid the property taxes with a credit card yesterday. Cost a small fortune in late and processing fees. It was necessary to pry the paperwork out of the state so Greylock could grant the loan. More delays because the only person who can sign off is out of the office and the Registry will be closed on Monday for MLK day.

Same old, same old.

Went to Remedy yesterday. Did an inventory of the library adjunct room. Volunteered to write a barcode app to keep track of items given to patrons. Researching apps.

Difficulty logging in to my email account at GoDaddy today.