Yesterday

Ron accomplished a lot yesterday: bank deposits, got his prescriptions refilled at Emerald and squared away his old insurances.

Today, he’s going to find out how he gets reimbursed from Cal’s new spending account plan.

I did a small amount of shoveling. It’s been so cold (4 degrees last night) that there’s almost no melting.

Stomach was bad all day yesterday starting with breakfast. Practically drowned myself in Rolaids, Pepto and handfuls of snow. We went to FET at St. Anthony’s for supper. Very nice: salmon, fresh green salad, and my favorite, mac and cheese. Skipped bread and dessert and felt well enough to sleep soundly last night.

Snow, Shovel

We hadn’t planned to, but we shoveled ourselves out yesterday.  A couple of people from John’s Pond got us started on the driveway.  We finished around 5.

Ron spent almost the entire day (about 6 hours) fussing over his new pharmacy plan, only to find that it will actually cost him less than his old one.  I think inactivity has affected his brain.

I made a hearty soup for dinner: chicken, onion, rice, pinto beans, spinach.

Worked on the handout for the Monday forum on minimum wage. Mildly irritated by what seems to be an attention-seeking move by Judy and Margaret, who aren’t used to sharing the spotlight.

Continuing work on data visualization project.

Recap

What did I do today that was useful?  Oh, yes…

Recycled 3 bags of beyond use, high sodium dry and canned good containers; one exploded in my face.  Roasted a chicken on sale at Roach (88 cents a pound) and found to my joy that the largest of the new glass containers could hold the entire roaster.  Made pilaf.  Did the transfer station run with Ron.  Stopped off at iCape to pick up Ron’s late Christmas gift, a telephoto lens for his iPhone.  Met the new owner who was very charming.  Deposited cash to the joint account.  Did laundry.  Changed the sheets.  Researched some info on minimum wage for O-F.  Posted Margaret’s article.  Thanked the CEO of Comcast for the fine service we received yesterday at their Hyannis office.  Put together a little report for Steering tomorrow on the web and FB pages: lots of photos this time.  Tried to watch the AFC Championship game, but Aereo was really “off” this evening, although Netflix was great.

Ron should be on his way back from the Woods Hole Folk Music Society concert pretty soon.  I don’t envy him especially; the wind sounds pretty fierce.

New Modem

Switched out the Comcast modem today at their Hyannis service center.  Internet connectivity has been “iffy” for days.  It started right up, no need for a nudge from Comcast.

We had lunch and enough food for at least two more meals at Centerville Pizza.  Found to our delight that Four Seas is open through the winter Wednesdays through Sundays.

Siding!

Bob and Dave from Capizzi finished the insulation and got a great deal of siding up today.

I was in a seminar in Wareham on greenhouse plants.

Rain started yesterday morning and continued for the rest of the day.

Ron announced yesterday “It’s done!” about his worker’s comp claim.

I had a terrible burning pain in my left side starting last night.  My hand felt a little numb after the pain subsided.  I wonder if it was related to that problem I had a couple of years ago with chronic itching, in pretty much the same spot.  As the neurologist said, that’s the first level of pain.

Ron and I are still feeling the effect of whatever bug slew us.  I slept until 9 am yesterday.

Siding

The guys from Capizzi – Bob and Dave – got the shingles stripped and a layer of insulated fabric stapled to the left side of the house today.

Fortunately, the plywood under the shingles is intact, save for one small spot.

Ed happened to come by this morning to drop off a tax form and say goodbye before he leaves for Florida.

I had a good meeting with the IT folks in Barnstable.  Before that, I did some investigating of electricity supply rates, which are going up by about half.  After comparing with NStar and Cape Light Compact, we decided to renew with Viridian at a fixed rate.

Also talked with Comcast customer service about the problems Margaret has had sending emails to me and our intermittent service.  After identifying a problem, something about downstream I think, they sent a signal to the modem.  That seems to have helped.  The modem is 3 years old, so it might need to be replaced.

After leaving the office in Barnstable Village, I drove by the Organic Farm, which was not open, and headed for Hyannis.  Stopped off at the hospital to check out when we could give blood again and visited Harbor Freight.

On the way, called Peter with a belated birthday suggestion, a spare propane tank.  That sounded good to him, so I picked one up at Breakaway in Centerville.  Dropped it off at Edgewater.  James was nice enough to take it off the truck for me.  Bought some raffle tix from him for his DC trip fundraising.

Got back in time to admire the work done on the house.  Put together sausages, onions and green peppers with rice for supper.  Had rice, egg, cheese and lemon soup for lunch.

I’m tired.

An Old Favorite Cowboy Song (2 Versions)

“Cowboy Lullaby”

Desert silver blue beneath the pale starlight
Coyote yappin’ lazy on a hill
Sleepy winks of light along the far skyline
Time for milling cattle to be still
So, now, the lightnin’s far away.
The coyote’s nothing skeery, just singing to his dearie
Yahoo! Amollo Holiday, so settle down, you cattle, till the morning.

Nothing out there on the range that you folks need,
Nothing there that seems to catch your eye,
Still you got to watch them or they’ll all stampede
Plunging down some ‘rroyo bank to die
So, now, the lightnin’s far away.
The coyote’s nothing skeery, just singing to his dearie
Yahoo! Amollo Holiday, so settle down, you cattle, till the morning.

 

ROUNDUP LULLABY
(Badger Clark)

Desert blue and silver in the still moonshine,
Coyote yappin’ lazy on the hill,
Sleepy winks of lightnin’ on the far sky line,
Time for millin’ cattle to be still.
    So—o, now, the lightnin’s far away,
The coyote’s nothin’ skeery;
He’s singin’ to his dearie—
Hee—ya, tammalalleday!
Settle down, you cattle, till the mornin’.

Nothin’ out the hazy range that you folks need,
Nothin’ we kin see to take your eye.
Yet we got to watch you or you’d all stampede,
Plungin’ down some ‘royo bank to die.
    So—o, now, for still the shadows stay;
The moon is slow and steady;
The sun comes when he’s ready.
Hee—ya, tammalalleday!
No use runnin’ out to meet the mornin’.

Cows and men are foolish when the light grows dim,
Dreamin’ of a land too far to see.
There, you dream, is wavin’ grass and streams that brim
And it often seems the same to me.
    So—o, now, for dreams they never pay.
The dust it keeps us blinkin’.
We’re seven miles from drinkin’.
Hee—ya, tammalalleday!
But we got to stand it till the mornin’.

Mostly it’s a moonlight world our trail winds through.
Kain’t see much beyond our saddle horns.
Always far away is misty silver-blue;
Always underfoot it’s rocks and thorns.
    So—o, now. It must be this away—
The lonesome owl a-callin’,
The mournful coyote squallin’.
Hee—ya, tammalalleday!
Mocking-birds don’t sing until the mornin’.

Always seein’ ‘wayoff dreams of silver-blue,
Always feelin’ thorns that stab and sting.
Yet stampedin’ never made a dream come true,
So I ride around myself and sing,
    So—o, now, a man has got to stay,
A-likin’ or a-hatin’,
But workin’ on and waitin’.
Hee—ya, tammalalleday!
All of us are waitin’ for the mornin’.

The Rotten Past, the Questionable Present

During our first three years of married life, Ron and I have done battle with each other’s demons:  mine from Rose Cohen and Marjorie McLean and his from his ex’s.

I realized this morning that Peter and Bonnie were right; I have been suffering from brain chemistry imbalance, for lack of a better descriptive, resulting from abuse and possibly pre-natal stress.

Ron’s been neglected, betrayed and taken advantage of, both by one particular member of his family and his ex-SO’s.

I have a lot of bad memories, mostly around work.  For years, I was in the wrong type of job and I still have problems in environments with a lot of other people.

Ron is helping me to heal and I hope to be doing the same for him.

Meanwhile, my New Year’s wish is to live in a place where our neighbors like us and where we “fit in” socially.  That would require either that we move or that some households around us change.  Time will tell.

Ron Is Better

It’s been a week and apparently Ron’s body talked itself into recovery for fear he’d have to go to the doc otherwise (argh).

I think I’m finished with converting preowned to NEPS “look”.  Too much work, ridiculous.

Went to the Senior Center today.  Went to Steering and Emma’s opening last evening.  Got Chinese for supper.

It was cold today.  12 degrees right now.

Jasmine, Flailing

005The jasmine started blooming today! Sweet plant, tough as nails.

I got a tooltips example to run by minor brute force and finally gave up on bower. What a nuisance, this tutorial notwithstanding. Setting PATH was ridiculous. I ended up having to edit the registry because it exceeded 1024 characters.

Feel like I wasted the day. Haven’t even read the NYTimes biz section yet.

I did take about three hours to listen to and read along with the New Bedford Whaling Museum’s Moby Dick marathon. An excellent use of time, come to think of it. I enjoyed the experience thoroughly, first time venturing into the book. Followed along a bit last night as well, especially Chapter 40. It gave me a small insight into Melville’s genius, both literary and psychological.

We’ve skipped all the live music planned for this weekend: Wepecket, Higher Ground, WHFMS.

Did the transfer station run. Quite a bit of recycling and trash today. The transfer station was quiet, mercifully.

Day 5 and Ron still feels miserable. I’m getting the idea that whatever he caught isn’t the same bug I had. He’s promised to call the doc if he’s not better by Tuesday.

Season 4 of “Downton Abbey” starts tonight!

Watched the fourth quarter of one of the best football games of the season, San Francisco versus Green Bay, played in 3 degree weather.