Month: February 2023

Ryan and the two young Suns installed the new garage gutter and downstairs windows. Exposes a good scraping and painting project when it warms up.

Got new plates for the truck at the North Adams RMV.

I visited rk MILES. Picked up a window well cover and a knob for the kitchen drawer that Ron is cleaning up.

Heard from the ZIA Trust that we qualify for compensation. Interesting that this came a day after my call about this.

Submitted income verification info to Mass Save. Set up appointments for next week with the architect and a garage door company.

Ordered aster seeds.

Seems we need pay no federal taxes this year.

Hung curtains in the living room this morning to help keep out the cold until the windows are sealed. Pain.

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https://www.etsy.com/listing/903225050/aster-salmon-janina-heirloom-seeds-25

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https://www.etsy.com/listing/1346784016/aster-seeds-salmon-janina-callistephus

Got pizza for the crews from a restaurant in North Adams.

Went to RMV. They gave me instructions and GEICO sent me the document needed to re-register the truck.

Received a rough sketch from the architect. Looks good to me!

Boys received their welcome home gift.

Found a cellar window, needs a well cover to replace a board.

Roofers made great progress, they are almost done.

Electrician ran a wire to the new panel in the garage. We found an old fuse box which I hope he’ll remove.

Mirabito tech cleaned and tuned the furnace. They are allowing me to buy a maintenance contract and cover the cost that way. Works out to almost the same amount.

Finally, the tech from Modern Pest surveyed, placed traps and sprayed, all as they described on the phone.

Ron and I bagged more leaves. I cut down some big roots that were sticking up as a result of the sewer repair work.

Ron is fixing a kitchen drawer. I stopped him because the inside was unbelievably filthy. Need to find or buy shelf liner.

This week, I’ve facilitated appointments for Ron with a doctor, a hair salon and Beltone. I made appointments for us at Williamstown Dental.

Since moving here, I’ve spent half my life on the phone and the other half on Google search.

Ordered a fun housewarming gift for Robert and James, a vegetarian Weekender Gift Box from Zingerman’s.

Yes, actual yard work yesterday. Ron and I raked and bagged leaves. I took on the ugly pile of partially burned wood.

We were astonished at the richness of the soil. Haven’t seen anything like it for decades.

The electrician and roofers were here.

I gave GEICO wrong information on Ron’s Corolla. It was not financed through Toyota but through Bank of America. I thought BofA was an agent for Toyota Financial. GEICO Claims is sorting it for us, and we hope to have the payoff soon.

I was too late for a guided walk at Field Farm, but enjoyed the grounds on my own.

Later, Ron and I tried out the bike path and found it a fine place to get a happy dog “fix”.

I took out a subscription to YouTube TV so we could watch the Super Bowl.

Did a shop at Stop & Shop.

The Corolla is in the driveway. It’s a good car with lots of features.

The salesman set up the Toyota application that connects my phone to the car. It has, among other things, remote starting.

Yesterday, Ryan and Erin installed new windows in the second floor. What a difference!

I was late getting back from Bennington, so we missed the pizza lunch at the Williams College theater. I picked up mac and cheese at the senior center but that was a mistake, hadn’t signed up. Hope no one else was looking for it.

Got a pizza at Cozy Corner. Crazy, busy place, hardly room to park.

Struggling with decisions about the guest bedroom. I think we need it, but getting rid of it would make it possible to improve the hallway and stairway. Emailed the brain trust this morning asking if making it shorter would accomplish the same thing.

The windows arrived and more roofing got done but little else.

A structural engineer met with our construction supervisor. They came up with two possible scenarios: eliminating the guestroom or reinforce with a beam. Estimates to come.

I cooked a chickpea, rice and stir fry vegetable stew with components from a HelloFresh package, then homemade vanilla pudding. Both were good.

A driver from DelMolino took away the pile of boards and carpet from the attempted guest room renovation.

Ron gave me a huge boost yesterday by calling the Bennington dealership to remove the truck from my leasing deal.

The salesman was great, fully cooperative. The sales manager pushed back, hard, claiming that it would be illegal for me to drive a vehicle with a welded frame.

A GEICO representative assured me that this is not the case.

I had the truck towed to a fabrication shop. They told me the frame is repairable.

I added the truck back to the policy, taking Ron’s name off drivers for the Corolla. This resulted in a substantial decrease in the premium.

The salesman from the dealership brought new paperwork for me to sign.

I’d cancelled the registration so need to get to an RMV office to reinstate it.

Meanwhile, another construction supervisor confirmed Ryan’s thoughts on reinforcing the upstairs bedrooms.

Temporarily carless, we were lucky enough to get our lunches delivered from the senior center. The van driver was headed to Henderson on a scheduled trip and since we were on the way, dropped off our meals.

The credit union deposited the funds from my Green HELOC to savings and wired the check to our branch.

I joined the Trustees of Reservations and signed us up for a walk this Sunday at Field Farm.

I don’t know how all this will end, but by the end of the day, I was feeling more optimistic than I have in some time.

Libertarian: Chase Oliver

Progressive: Rep. Delia Ramirez

Republican: Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders