by Judy Handley | Nov 15, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 319: Shadow with the Goldstones
Date: Tuesday, November 15, 2022
Weather: Sunny AM, Cloudy PM; High 45, Low 40 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Interesting day. I took my car to Hyannis early to have a flange in the exhaust system replaced. I was told by the garage that changed my oil last week that this was a problem. Well, that was not a problem. The problem was the exhaust smell in the car and the rumbling noise, both of which appeared immediately after the oil change. The young man this morning put the car up on a lift and then called me out to the garage. He showed me the flange was a bit rough but said it probably has two more years of service. But he pointed to oil dripping from the bottom of my car. I told him the garage that changed my oil last Tuesday didn’t mention an oil leak. And that statement caused a light bulb to go off for him. He lowered the car and opened the hood telling me that he thought they had forgotten to put the oil cap back on after changing the oil. Sure enough. The oil cap was laying in the engine area. He checked the oil, put the cap on, and sent me home. No more smell. No more rumbling noise. Problem solved.
When I got home, I somehow managed to spend the entire day doing nothing. I thought I was going to be driving to Boston to pick up Heather, but her return trip home has been delayed. I had a nice walk with Shadow, checked in for tomorrow’s flight, did a few last minute things to get ready to leave, and all of a sudden it is evening. I am delivering to Shadow to Jed and boys after dinner. Then I’ll come back to a very lonely home without my Shadow and read myself to sleep. I sure am going to miss my little guy. But my this time tomorrow, I’ll be with another one of my very favorite guys. Justin and I will be driving home to Rincon from the airport in San Juan. Jo and the kids are staying home and will have dinner ready for us when we arrive around 8 pm. Can’t wait!
by Judy Handley | Nov 15, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 318: Preparing for First Frost
Date: Monday, November 14, 2022
Weather: Partly Sunny, Windy; High 45, Low 29 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
“It feels like someone flipped a switch.” That is what friend Karen Baranowski said today and, indeed, it felt COLD. And tonight, we are supposed to get our first frost. I was reminded that the holiday season is approaching as Jane Woodin came over to gather holly and evergreens for her outside holiday arrangements. I invited her to stay for lunch and we had a great time just catching up. The forecast for the next ten days is for more cool days and cold nights. I guess the turn to cold weather has set us all scurrying about getting ready for the holiday season and the winter ahead. I replaced the shingle on the front of the cottage that the downy woodpecker. Was she building a winter nest? What do the birds that stay here do all winter? I really never thought about it before.
I am writing this early as I am heading to Heather and Jed’s around 7 pm to hang out with the boys while Jed is at Town Meeting. More scurrying about tomorrow to get ready for my flight to Puerto Rico on Wednesday.
by Judy Handley | Nov 13, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 317: Dreary Sunday
Date: Sunday, November 13, 2022
Weather: Overcast with Rain; High 55, Low 34 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Overcast, gentle rains turning to downpours, periods of no rain, cool. Yes, it was a much more typical November day. Dreary, but sometimes a dreary, rainy day is good for the soul. I finished packing for Puerto Rico, picked some no rain times to walk with Shadow, turned the outside water off and removed the drip irrigation controller, installed a new carbon monoxide and dangerous gas monitor in the basement, replaced a carbon monoxide alarm in the upstairs of the cottage, replaced the screen with the storm window in the back door, but I didn’t get the hole in the front of the house repaired. That last one needs some explanation. Last week, Shadow and I kept hearing a loud pecking sound on the front of the house. When I heard the noise, I would go out and see a bird flying away. Then on Thursday, I was shocked to see that one of the cedar shingles on the front of the house was missing. And unfortunately, it was one of the shingles covering a two-inch diameter hole that Mass Saves drilled in order to fill the walls with insulation. They had covered the hole with white Styrofoam insulation so no critters could get in and then covered it with the shingle. I taped over the hole and thought it would be fine until I could deal with it. Then on Friday morning, I heard the tapping again and went out to see a very determined downy woodpecker flying away. The tape I had applied had blown off during the night, but I had to leave to go downtown for the Veterans Day ceremony, promising to come home and do something about this. When I got home, that little woodpecker had been very busy. She had drilled out the white Styrofoam and entered the hole and emptied as much of the blown in insulation as possible onto the ground. Unbelievable. I covered the hole with a cork coaster and fashioned a bird deterrent by cutting long strips in an Amazon bag and nailed it over the area. Saturday afternoon Jed gave me a sheet of shingle material, but I still need to cut it and put it in place. It was too rainy to deal with it today, so that is tomorrow’s job.
by Judy Handley | Nov 12, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 316: Cooler Weather Arriving Tomorrow
Date: Saturday, November 12, 2022
Weather: Sunny and Warm; High 73, Low 50 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
We have been enjoying a run of warm weather, but it looks like that ends tomorrow. The forecast going forward for the next ten days looks much more like November in New England—highs in the 40’s and 50’s with low’s in the 30’s. It’s time, but I will really miss the warm fall 70’s and 80’s there. I will get one more week of warmth!
I spent my morning packing for that trip and then this afternoon, Shadow and I took Sam and Jonah to Harwich for soccer try-outs for the next season. Since they are already on the team, they are assured a position, but all players were asked to come and play. It was a great afternoon to be on the soccer field.
When I got home, I took a close look at the garden. Monday night the temp is supposed to dip below freezing, so I picked the last of the tomatoes. There were just a few Matt’s Wild Cherry tomatoes, so I will savor those.
Then Shadow and I went down by the water to play fetch and watched the sun go down, turning the white clouds a peachy pink.
Not dramatic, just lovely.
by Judy Handley | Nov 11, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 315: Honoring Veterans
Date: Friday, November 11, 2022
Weather: Mostly Cloudy, Warm; High 68, Low 63 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
The morning was spent honoring our Veterans,
the early afternoon was spent helping Ollie do yard work at the Goldstones, and later in the afternoon, I took Sam to Hyannis to meet up with his friend Robert and took my little Fit to Lou’s Custom Exhaust garage to get an estimate on repairing a rusty flange in my exhaust system.
Each year I attend Falmouth’s parade and ceremony on Veterans Day. I started going because the Goldpebbles march in the parade with their Scout troops. I still go for that reason, but I also appreciate setting aside the time each year to give thanks to those who serve our country.
I think the first time I attended Falmouth’s Veterans Day ceremony was in 2016. And my oh my, how the Goldpebbles have changed. Today, Ollie was in the Webelo Color Guard.
In 2016, he was too young to participate, and I have a photo of him sitting on the library lawn proudly holding up a late season dandelion he discovered.
Today, Jonah was also in the Color Guard for his Boy Scout troop.
In 2016, he was a Cub Scout and marched alongside mom, who was also a troop leader.
Today, Sam was the tallest Boy Scout in the parade.
How did that happen?
It was warm today, but there was no sunshine. Tonight, we are supposed to get rain and wind from Tropical Storm Nicole. The clouds are holding the warmth. It is after 10 pm and it is still 66 degrees outside. It was even warmer earlier today. After the ceremony, I stopped by Heather and Jed’s to pick up big bags of leaves to bring home for my soil building project. I wanted to get them before the wind and rain predicted for tonight. Ollie had three big bags ready for me, but there were empty bags and lots of leaves, so I stayed while he filled more bags. I decided to help by mowing the leaves and Ollie emptied the lawn mower bag into the big paper bags.
He also rode his little tractor while holding the leaf blower in order to blow the leaves where he wanted them.
He is quite creative and a hard worker. We ended up with ten bags of leaves by the time I had to leave to take Sam to Hyannis. But Jed reported tonight that Ollie kept working and has more bags that he put in the garage for me to pick up tomorrow.
I picked Sam up from the fire station at 3:30 to take him Hyannis. He and Jonah were at the fire station attending the first in a series of first aid classes. I think he said there are seven more classes in order to get the First Aid badge. I delivered Sam to Barnes and Nobles to meet up with Robert and then headed to Lou’s Custom Exhaust. They can do the job, but I have to return to Hyannis early on Tuesday morning to have the work done. The good news was that the estimate I got this afternoon was $150 instead of the $2,000 it would cost to replace the whole system. Whew!
