TheCapeBlog

Did more work on “Warranty”. Picked up soup and biscuits for lunch at the organic store. Ron sawed the one tree limb that came down following last night’s rain and wind storm.

We lost power for only about 20 minutes this morning.

I sat in at Wild River’s Saturday chat group. Nice bunch, will try it again.

Sunday, I drove in snow. Really. We wanted to drop the truck off for a Monday service appointment at Bisson’s but didn’t get going until it started snowing, around 2:00. Ron was encouraging and figured sooner rather than later was wise. It worked out fine.

The doc found a 1 cm ulcer and an enlarged hiatal hernia. In other words, worse than my last endo 4 years ago.

Ron didn’t get ready in time to drive me to the hospital, then kept me waiting for two hours because he was too stubborn to take Route 7 – a straight shot from Williamstown.

The nurses were remarkable. Three of them were on the phone with Ron giving him directions. The nursing director got coffee and a lunch for me, courtesy of the hospital. The anesthesiologist tried to find a solution, but every alternative would have involved discharging me AMA.

My insurance company would have covered the claim even so. Fortunately, it’s no longer an issue since Ron finally showed up.

I plan to go back tomorrow to pick up the Corolla.

The endoscopy appointment went so well, we’re doing it all over again today. They had an opening for 11:45 this morning and since the weather forecast was pretty good, I decided to book it.

We had lunch at Guido’s yesterday. Enjoyed a gourmet pizza and rollup veg sandwich, but we won’t be back: the grocery prices are very high and the parking lot is nasty.

Didn’t do much more than work on MRS for the rest of the day.

Ron was finished with his eye surgery sooner than expected and called just as I was heading back to the car from picking up my prescription at Walmart. Perfect timing.

We had an hour-long visit from the wildlife specialist from Modern Pest. He did a thorough examination and did not recommend any additional services or work. Refused a tip: professional.

It started snowing about an hour later. I received a very unexpected check from a settlement with Apple and wanted to deposit it as well as return a DVD to the library. Ron was nice enough to be my “emotional support animal” and traveled with me because I am terrified of driving in snow.

Turns out, the roads were fine, but I noticed the cement walkway at the library was getting slippery around 3:30 or so. In fact, there was a post on Facebook a little before 5 that the roads were slick. Plows have been back and forth on our hill all evening. Hope our friends at the bank got home safely.

More debugging for MRS, might be some missing files or references. Too tired to figure it out now.

I have an appointment tomorrow afternoon in Pittsfield, a reschedule requested by the GI specialist’s office. Hope it’ll only be raining, I can deal with that, not snow. Sure would be nice to have an excuse to visit Guido’s.

Had our first snowstorm of the season yesterday. Plow person came by this morning.

Ron is apprehensive about his laser eye appointment tomorrow. I will drive. Peter suggested that he get a built-in laser eye. Handy for clearing snow.

Watched “Oppenheimer” last evening. Fine film except for the (usual) gratuitous sex scenes. Why? It won five Golden Globes in spite of it.

Ron was very stuffed up last night, and fortunately we have meds that helped him. My right ears is plugged this morning.

I’m slogging through MRS and Warranty. Finding it impossible to get the DVD player to broadcast in color, although I did discover that the TV remote does, in fact, work.

Started taking down the tree and decorations yesterday. Almost done today. Living room looks huge again.

Ron washed a bunch of old t-shirts and regular laundry. He is gleefully discovering old “friends”.

We made a quick trip to North Adams for 35 mm film (CVS) and a small shop at Big Y. Watched the end of “The Golden Hour”. I hope the Dutch police are not as incompetent as portrayed. I went nuts over the stupidity.

The January 6th anniversary came and went. Missed a standout at the Congregational Church, “Christians Against Christian Nationalism”. Hope it took place without incident. I’ve got to get to one of Wild Soul River’s Saturday noontime chats.

Both IKEA IVAR bookcases are up and have been put to work: finally.

Two days ago I hired a handyman to finish the work. This was after months of begging Ron to get it done. Ron was furious.

Turns out, the handyman is a great person. He even was good company for Ron, claimed he enjoyed his stories. We’ve placed Ron’s toys and are enjoying seeing them.

I dropped off New Year’s gifts for the boys and their folks. Maybe overdoing it, dunno.

I’ve been hacking at SendGrid and Warranty. Jim helped me with MRS, I have a couple of bugs to fix.

Alyssa gifted us with homemade fudge, cookies and school photos of the boys!

She brought them over yesterday to see the tree and unwrap their gifts. Toy money and squiggle stuff were the big hits. I hope they enjoy their serious science experiment kits, too.

We’ve mailed all the Christmas/Happy Holidays cards.

Rockland refunded us for the felonious charge against our joint account.

Had a fine conversation with the Major at the North Adams Salvation Army office. She approved our grant of $400 from the Good Neighbor Fund for oil. We are paid up until they bill us for the oil tank.

We enjoyed a holiday meal at the Berkshire Food Project.

I cleaned and disinfected under the kitchen sink.

The pest company person was here to inspect and offer suggestions for controlling mice.

I had a good appointment with my new doc. He is very likeable.

Got a little food chopper at the Senior Center Secret Santa!

Ron is off to drop off boxes of scrap paper to the transfer station and get a haircut.

I sent money to Ethan Crumbley. Pleased to see the number of people who are not afraid to express public sympathy for him. VERY pleased to be a subscriber to the Detroit News, which broke the story about Trump’s phonecall to two Michigan electors.

Ordered a bed for the guest bedroom.

Enjoyed a 1.5-mile walk with a group of nice people and a first rate Hike Leader, Dana from Williamstown Rural Lands.

Finished decorating the tree and put the storage boxes in the sunroom.

Continued work on Warranty.

Ron made a visit to the A-Frame Bakery and the quilt shop.

Last night we did a drive around Williamstown to see Christmas lights. I put up the tree and strung lights; we both festooned it with garland. I’ve been hanging ornaments off and on. Fortunately, the tree fits easily next to the living room windows. For the first time in 20+ years, we have a living room large enough for the tree!

I couldn’t find the tree stand but scored a bargain at Carr’s: $5 for a folding stand for an artificial tree; it is great.

I made two versions of postcards announcing our new address for inclusion in our holiday cards. Bought stamps at the post office and more hangers at Walgreens.

Just made an appointment to apply for the Good Neighbor Fund.

Off shortly to Secret Santa at the Senior Center.