Sent today to Advanced Eye Care:

I am one of your patients. After my last exam, I ordered glasses online through my insurance, VSP. When I received the glasses, I thought they needed adjustment.

I made an appointment with Tina for this. She charged me $25 but was unable to adjust the glasses, so I sent them back for replacement.

When I received the new pair, I still had some difficulty with reading. I went to Moulton’s Spectacle Shop in North Adams for help. Peter Moulton checked the glasses against the prescription, assured me that they were made correctly and made some suggestions for helping me to adjust to the new prescription.

He didn’t charge me a penny. I think it’s unprofessional to be charged by your practice for work that someone with no financial interest in my care helped me for free.

After visiting Moulton’s, I stopped for produce and treats at the North Adams Farmers Market, then to Walmart for frozen main meals and other groceries. On the way home, picked up a couple more baked goods at Great Falls in Williamstown then dropped off recyclables at the transfer station.

It started raining around 11 and at one point got heavier, still more pleasant to walk than to drive in.

Mixed a solution of water and fish plant food, fed the vegetables on the deck and in the garden.

Jett and I went across the street for the mail – no leash and he was very good!! I’m thrilled, hope we can do this as a regular “job” for him.

No word from the plumbers. Mr. Rooter doesn’t service this area.

Plumbers came and after about 3 hours, left without being able to clear the kitchen sink.

They think there’s a giant clog of grease in a pipe that is inaccessible. They described a strange arrangement of pipes that look like a cludged attempt to reroute them, possibly from a septic tank to the sewer line.

I got in touch with two other companies last evening, specialists in clog removal. Haven’t heard anything from yesterday’s plumbers yet about a follow on visit.

Meanwhile, we’re doing dishes in the bathroom sink. Bought paper plates last night.

The plumbers also did not fix the downstairs bathroom sink stopper. They noticed that the shower didn’t have a trap (!), so they added one. They think is the reason the bathroom had a foul smell from time to time.

Pleased to see a red nasturtium blossom yesterday.

Ron and I cleaned the big kitchen window.

Jett left a diarrhea pile in the side yard. I probably gave him too much canned food the day before.

Ron took Jett for a long walk up the hill yesterday. Washed dishes afterwards: admirable.

Ron got a referral to a plumber from our across the street neighbor. New plumber for us; he’s sending someone over tomorrow to help us. Hope this’ll be the start of something long-term.

We made a terrific salad for lunch: two kinds of local(!) lettuce, tomato, olives, radishes, English cuke, balsamic vinegar, EVOO.

Handful of peanuts for supper. Cookies for Ron.

Did a few dishes. Sent a scan of Jett’s renewed rabies certificate to the Town Clerk; she emailed back a nice thank you. Filled out a survey for the library.

More frustration with the Remedy app. One step forward, two back.

$0 electric bill! The mini split has taken good care of us.

It appears to be raining but not much. Pleasant air, seems we’re past the killer heat.

Food Pantry.

Washed two more windows, two to go.

Received refund checks from Berkshire Health Systems, deposited them online to Rockland.

More work on the Remedy app. Found a bug after all these weeks.

Did chair yoga and new exercise routine.

Slept for a bit. Jett kept me company. Ron vacuumed the living room.

Ron had an accident.

Egg salad for lunch. Not much for supper.

Ron asks if we have a plumber’s helper. It doesn’t help. Neither does baking soda and vinegar. We removed the p trap but there was no debris. Left a message for a plumber.

While waiting for baking soda and vinegar to clear the clog, I decide to clean coffee stains off the stairway carpet. The stains have been there for days, maybe over a week, and it has irritated me every time I see them.

Lord, I am sick of “things to do”.

Until now I’ve not understood what Edna St. Vincent Millay meant by “A yellow darkness, sinister of rain” in untitled Sonnet XVII.

Today, though, Canadian wildfire smoke has turned the sky light yellow and almost vanished the mountains.

It’s been overcast most of the day I figured good time to clean the windows since sun can cause them to streak, supposedly.

So I did 10. Ron’s “tiny room”, the big kitchen window and one more in my “office” are for tomorrow.

Fixing the air conditioner in the truck would cost over $1500 so we opted for just an oil change.

After Ron shaved, the stopper in the downstairs bathroom sink became unusable. I don’t know if those things were related; only that I was able to pry up the top enough to unscrew it so at least we can use the sink.

Ron fumed about picking up the truck while I was working on windows, so I ended up wearing sleep/work clothes to K-M since “(He) thought we were going together” and I’d shuffled funds around to pay for the work. Lord forbid Ron should have to write a check (his wallet and debit cards are still missing).

If it turns out that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, I should advise Bonnie to get a divorce before Peter turns 80. Only joking, Peter is not lazy or selfish or lacking common sense (Me: “Can you please push up the top pane?” Ron starts tugging on the bottom because of course he KNOWS and I of course do not.)

He was sarcastic about not stopping at rkMiles on the way to K-M so we could see what time they close (!) I showed him how to use the phone hands-free to find that out…

They didn’t have what he wanted anyway.

I went to a reading by a writers group member who authored her first book. It was well-attended. Didn’t stay for refreshments, which looked terrific. She did an admirable job.

Potato and egg for lunch. Carrot and hummus for supper.

I got up at 5:30, fussing about whether the new plants need water. We’ve been on the go since 9 this morning.

Brought Jett to Pittsfield, got a good report from his doc and a slew of vaccinations. She said his weight is “perfect” – a great relief to me since in I’m the one who feeds him. He should have another round of teeth cleaning between now and mid-November. Maybe later, this is an expensive month.

She said Poodles are fussy and high strung. Who knew after Lizzie, who was so calm?

Did laundry, changed sheets.

Just got back from Stop & Shop. Not much time to rest, Ron has an appointment with his new Primary in 45 minutes.

I thought this was Peter’s last day in retail. It’s not, still a week and a half away.

When the day comes we hope it’ll be forever. It’s been a grueling experience for him and we’ll be glad when it’s done. His new gig will be lucky to have him.

Ron saw the doctor and is not clear about what was discussed or decided, so I took a look at the visit notes in his patient portal. Turns out the doc thinks the problem is minor but ordered a CAT scan to be sure. Ron didn’t remember any of this until being reminded.

Finally, we left the truck at K-M for air conditioning work starting at 8 tomorrow.

Put in the second yarrow this morning. Nice out but hot in the sun.

Drilled drain holes in the round and new rectangular deck planters. Mixed soil from the corner garden with peat moss for the big planter; planted the annuals from Elhannon. Could use a couple of spillers.

Spread mulch in the back of the corner garden. More weeding and watering.

Ron is mowing the back.

Cold cereal for supper.

Got one Yarrow in the ground. More weeding in the corner and deck gardens.

Williams College sandwiches and chips for lunch.

Ron brought two leaf bags of yard waste and a trash bag of trumps to the transfer station.

Ron is doing the front lawn now.

I put up the shell pagoda. Ron loves it.

Scrambled eggs for supper.

Brought Ron to Williamstown Medical for his fasting bloodwork, took way too long, will do the hospital the next time.

Finished trimming the yews in the front. Very happy with the new hedge trimmer. Good upper body exercise, too, that battery pack is heavy.

Jett and I drove to Elhannon Garden Center for Yarrow plants. They were almost giving away annuals so I brought home five of those as well as a White and a Yellow Yarrow.

Turns out I’d ordered a 24 inch deck planter that arrived today. It’s the perfect size for the annuals and as a bonus, is visible from our bedroom window.

Got my work cut out for me this weekend.

My glasses also arrived today as well as a second battery pack for the new hedge trimmer. Glasses are still not right for reading. I’ll need to pay an optician to adjust them, I guess.

Ron never left the house for his eye exam so we had to reschedule it for next week.

Convinced Ron to eat a can of vegetarian chili for supper. He said it was good. I had the rest of last night’s salad and cookies.

Finished a month of Tai Chi inspired standing exercises so have started a new series which is very modified dance routines. Continuing the chair yoga.