by Judy Handley | Jul 2, 2024 | 2024 Life Logs |
2024 Life Logs, Day 184: Ollie Overnight
Date: Tuesday, July 2, 2024
Weather: Gorgeous Day: High Temp 80, Low 58 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA
It was a gorgeous day with a clear, Cape Cod blue sky, wind, but not too much, and the temp reached 80, but it didn’t feel terribly hot. I thought it was a perfect beach day, but we had some complications. Yesterday Jonah stubbed his little toe and by last night it was sore and purple. Heather too him to Urgent Care today and the diagnosis was that it is probably broken, but it is not worth the risk of radiation to do an x-ray. If it is broken, it will probably take 3-4 weeks to heal. If it is not broken, the swelling will go down more quickly and feel better in 2 weeks. But for now, Jonah needs to limit his activities to things that don’t hurt. That means no soccer and no skim boarding at the beach. So Jonah really didn’t want to go to the beach today. And Ollie didn’t want to go without Jonah or a friend. Ollie decided to ride his bike to Woods Hole again today and have lunch with his dad. I suggested that I come pick him up and give Stoney Beach in Woods Hole a try without Jonah. After he had lunch with his dad, I met him at Stoney, but to no avail. He decided to ride his bike home and go to the beach later in the afternoon when his mom or dad could come. I still can’t go in the water because the incision from my knee replacement is still not completely healed. Some of the internal stitches are still working their way to the surface and make a tiny hole when they emerge. I am going to call the surgeon tomorrow to see if those tiny little pin prick openings are a problem because I’d love to get in the water.
Ollie was totally worn out after his ride back to my house from Woods Hole,
so he crashed in the living room and read for a couple of hours. Then we finally w to the beach to meet up with Heather and Jed after work. And Jonah came and stood in the water playing catch with a tennis ball. While we were at the beach, Ollie asked his mom and dad if he could spent the night at my house. It’s been a while since I have had an Ollie overnight, so I was excited to have him ask. I always love having him.
by Judy Handley | Jul 1, 2024 | 2024 Life Logs |
2024 Life Logs, Day 183: July Started with a Bang
Date: Monday, July 1, 2024
Weather: Mostly Sunny, Windy: High Temp 74, Low 61 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA
July has started with a bang, and not in a fun and good way. The decision by the Supreme Court today to basically give any US President totally immunity was just shocking. The idea that there is no one above the law just got shot out the window. Bang. And for a second day in the last four days, I am just speechless.
I had an Encore meeting all morning, checked in with Ollie and Jonah, and then accepted an invite from Jane and Bruce to come to the Senior Center to have today’s lunch special, a lobster roll. It was great to catch up with Bruce and Jane and the lobster roll was really good and affordable. As I was getting ready to leave, Olga walked up to the table where I was sitting. I have only seen her once since my knee surgery, so it was a special bonus to see her today. While I had lunch, Jed and Ollie biked to Woods Hole and Jonah watched a soccer game. When lunch was over, Jed and Ollie were still in Woods Hole, so I had time to go home and play with Shadow. Then Jonah called and needed a ride to East Falmouth to a friend’s house in East Falmouth where they would do some trail bike riding. I had Jed and Jonah put my bike rack on the back of my car earlier in the morning, and I was glad I did.
While I was in East Falmouth, I stopped at Mahoney’s and bought a few more veggie plants. Then I stopped at Curtis Automotive to see if they might be able to help me with my car ignition issue. Peter Baranowski told me he thought they might be able to help, and they were. At first, the person I talked to thought Hyannis Honda was trying to rip me off with their $1600 estimate for the repair. But when he searched online, he found that he could not get the ignition cylinder for less than $800. Honda’s price was $1,000, so not far off. The guy was absolutely shocked that such a small piece was so expensive for a Honda. He said usually that piece can be found for under $200. Just not for a Honda. He then started searching for a used part with no luck, but he found a complete wheel column for less than $500 and decided that might be the quickest and cheapest fix. Just replace the entire thing. He is going to keep checking to see if he can find one even cheaper and will give me a call. His estimate for the fix with a used wheel column is less than half of what Hyannis Honda was going to charge to replace the ignition cylinder. If he can find the part, I think I’ll go with it. Peter, thanks for the referral!
I then headed home and did a little gardening before Jonah texted needing a ride home. When I got home from picking him up, I ended the day by getting my garden irrigation system up and running. Other than the Supreme Court decision, it was a good and productive first day of July.
by Judy Handley | Jun 30, 2024 | 2024 Life Logs |
2024 Life Logs, Day 182: Reflections on the Month of June
Date: Sunday, June 30, 2024
Weather: Rain Early, Cloudy, Heavy Rain Late Day, Misty Evening: High Temp 72, Low 64 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA
The month of June began with Justin, Jo, Ziggy, and Coco here visiting for ten days as I was recovering from my knee surgery in mid-May. I have been thinking of them all day as I think this was the last day of the Glastonbury Music Festival they have been enjoying for the past four days. I saw a great photo of Justin and Coco on Jo’s Facebook page.
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Evidently Coco has really been enjoying the festival. I am very anxious to hear from Justin or Jo as to how their performances went, but from what I can discern from their social media posts, I think it has been wonderful.
June brought warmer weather, finally, which I have enjoyed immensely. This past week, the last week of June, was the first week of Camp Oma which means total focus on summer fun. And now it is almost July. I am still working on recovery from the knee surgery, Camp Oma will continue, gardening will continue, and I hope to enjoy every day of summer … my favorite time of year.
by Judy Handley | Jun 29, 2024 | 2024 Life Logs |
2024 Life Logs, Day 181: Gardening
Date: Saturday, June 29, 2024
Weather: Partly Cloudy; High Temp 71, Low 68 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA
June has come and is almost gone, and this morning the reality set in that I still hadn’t planted my garden. It is probably too late, but today I gave it my best try anyway. I just can’t handle not having a garden! I am in the process of replanting my elevated raised garden as the arugula and lettuce I planted earlier in the spring have gone to seed. Planting in that garden is easy. But it is the raised gardens on the ground that are a challenge for me. Gardening rightly has the reputation of being back breaking work, and I sure don’t want to do anything to ‘upset’ my back. Having back surgery in mid-January and a knee replacement in mid-May have taken a toll on my old body. I can bend now, but only if I squat down and then bend. Well, squatting and my knee is still a little problematic. Thus, the reason I have procrastinated. I made progress today. I ripped out the old kale and Swiss chard from last year as it had also gone to seed and cleared the leaves out of the raised beds. I got a few seeds planted and all of the plants I have bought in the past couple of weeks are now in the ground. I have more I want to do, but at least I got a good start.
I also spent my rest periods today admiring the June flowers in the yard. The hydrangea that last year had only one or two flower clusters late in August due to the late freeze has made a comeback this year.
And the perennial garden I planted last year by the back deck is doing great.
The feverfew and lemon balm that I have been encouraging are also flourishing. These are both plants that just came up naturally in parts of the yard last year. I transplanted some of the fever few to various areas and now its beautiful little daisy-like flowers are everywhere.
And because the lemon balm now gets more light due to the two trees that were cut down last fall, instead of four or five plants, there is a huge patch that gives off that wonderful lemony aroma. All with no work on my part. They are just Mother Nature’s gift.
Tomorrow is supposed to be rainy so I probably won’t get much gardening done, but I am happy with today’s progress and will finish planting over the next few days.
by Judy Handley | Jun 28, 2024 | 2024 Life Logs |
2024 Life Logs, Day 180: Fun with Ollie and Friends
Date: Friday, June 28, 2024
Weather: Sunny, Sunny, Cool North Wind; High Temp 70, Low 57 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA
I tried hard to not to think about politics today because I had a severe political hangover from last night’s debate. But the Supreme Court decision today overturning Chevron made ignoring politics impossible. This decision announced today is going to haunt us for years to come. But I set that aside and spent my afternoon with Ollie and his friends Simon and Seton which brightened my day.
Simon is Ollie’s friend that shares his birthday. They were born in the same hospital on the same day just a few hours apart. And now they live in the same neighborhood. The other friend, Seton, is Ollie’s look-alike friend. When you see them at a distance on the soccer field, you can easily confuse the two. While Sam went boating and fishing with his friend Ethan and Jonah spent the afternoon at Old Silver Beach with his friend Joey, Ollie, Simon, Seton, and I headed to Cataumet to play mini golf, ride the bumper boats, play in the arcade, and have an ice cream treat.
On our way home, I suggested we stop at Megansett Beach to play late day beach soccer. The boys started out playing soccer, but quickly took over the lifeguard stand as the lifeguard had gone home for the day. They made up a game where one would stand up on the lifeguard stand and throw the ball to the other two who would battle for the ball. I think they had more fun doing this than all the other things combined. And I found such joy in just watching them having such a good time.
Heather had a work commitment tonight, so I offered to get sushi for us for dinner and I hung out with the boys while she went to Woods Hole. All three boys had spent their morning shopping for fishing gear to upgrade their current stock. And after dinner tonight, they continued going through their tackle box and organizing. It was a nice summer day from start to finish … almost. When I got in my car to head home, the car key would not turn. I have been battling this car key issue for a month now and I am going to have to bite the bullet and explore buying a used car. I could not get the key to work, so Heather took me home. But shortly, Sam came knocking on my door beaming from ear to ear. He had Googled the problem and was successful in giggling the key just right to get it to turn. So, I have the car, but I really do have to start the car search.
Every day I read Heather Cox Richardson’s Letters from an American. What she wrote after the debate last night helped me make some sense of what I had witnessed. If you have never heard of Gish gallop, read the following from Richardson’s post:
Trump also directly accused Biden of his own failings and claimed Biden’s own strengths, saying, for example, that Biden, who has enacted the most sweeping legislation of any president since at least Lyndon Johnson, couldn’t get anything done while he, who accomplished only tax cuts, was more effective. He responded to the calling out of his own criminal convictions by saying that Biden “could be a convicted felon,” and falsely stating: “This man is a criminal.” And, repeatedly, Trump called America a “failing nation” and described it as a hellscape.
It went on and on, and that was the point. This was not a debate. It was Trump using a technique that actually has a formal name, the Gish gallop, although I suspect he comes by it naturally. It’s a rhetorical technique in which someone throws out a fast string of lies, non-sequiturs, and specious arguments, so many that it is impossible to fact-check or rebut them in the amount of time it took to say them. Trying to figure out how to respond makes the opponent look confused, because they don’t know where to start grappling with the flood that has just hit them.
so he crashed in the living room and read for a couple of hours. Then we finally w to the beach to meet up with Heather and Jed after work. And Jonah came and stood in the water playing catch with a tennis ball. While we were at the beach, Ollie asked his mom and dad if he could spent the night at my house. It’s been a while since I have had an Ollie overnight, so I was excited to have him ask. I always love having him.
