by Judy Handley | Oct 7, 2018 | 2018 Life Logs |
2018 Life Logs, Day 280—A Day with Heather and Ollie
Date: Sunday, October 7, 2018
Weather: Overcast and Misty; High 70, Low 57 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Jed, Sam, and Jonah are still camping with 5,000 Boy Scouts from all around Massachusetts, so I had a day with Heather and Ollie. Heather’s goal was to get the upstairs bathroom painted, or at least get the primer and one coat of finish paint on. She also wanted to get started on repainting the dining room chairs, so I volunteered for that job. Ollie volunteered to keep us entertained and happy, so this was our plan for today. We had planned to sleep in, but none of us expected that we would all sleep until 9 am. But, in fact, that is what we did! We checked on the fish in the new aquarium, had breakfast, explored my attic to make sure there’s no way for small critters to get in, and then Heather and I watched a short video with Ollie. Afterwards, we set out for Heather’s and got to work. Unfortunately, my job got derailed. Heather’s dining room chairs are each painted a different bright color, and I was to lightly sand them and do a coat of spray paint to freshen them up. But the weather didn’t cooperate. It was supposed to be partly sunny and warm today. It was warm, but it was totally overcast and misty. I got two chairs sanded and then had to abandon that job for today. Instead, I was the support person. I did laundry, fixed lunch, and played some games with Ollie. Then late in the afternoon, I headed home to fix dinner for us while Heather did the last coat of paint on the bathroom ceiling. This bathroom has been torn apart for over a year and a half, so it is very exciting to see that it is finally coming back together. Heather and Ollie came over for dinner and Heather and I watched a movie with Ollie while we ate. They are spending the night again and I love having the company.
by Judy Handley | Oct 6, 2018 | 2018 Life Logs |
2018 Life Logs, Day 279—Soccer, Kayaking, and a New Aquarium
Date: Saturday, October 6, 2018
Weather: Beautiful Fall Day; High 65, Low 58 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Ollie and I had quite a day. We spent our morning going into town to get the supplies we needed to ‘decorate’ our new 10-gallon aquarium. Ollie chose the aquarium gravel, a castle to add to the aquarium, and picked out the fish we would come back and buy after his soccer game in the afternoon. Then we headed back home to wash the gravel and castle and do the final preparations to the aquarium before adding the fish.
I had him watch a couple of YouTube videos about setting up a 10-gallon aquarium and he learned quickly that we could only add a couple of hardy fish today. The advice stated that if the initial two survive the next few weeks as the aquarium finds its balance, then we start adding more fish friends. We barely had time to get the aquarium ready before it was time to head to a 1:30 pm soccer game. Since this is a long four-day weekend for school kids in Falmouth, many kids were not there today. That was really unfortunate as it was the soccer photo day. Not a good choice on the part of the soccer organization, but I guess you live and learn. Ollie’s team had four players and a substitute coach in Jed’s place.
Lucky for our team that two kids from another team got the time mixed up for their game and had no team to play with. So they joined Ollie’s team giving them enough players to hit the field and win the game 4-0.
After the game, Ollie and I went back to the Falmouth Pet Center and bought the two Platies that he had picked out earlier. Platies look like goldfish, but they are tropical fish needing an aquarium thermometer whereas goldfish are cold water critters. Ollie chose one Platy that was all orange with a slightly lighter yellowish center. The other choice was orange with black markings on its tail. The shop owner explained to Ollie that this is what was once called a Mickey Mouse Platy because the black markings on the tail look like a sideways Mickey Mouse. We looked closer, and sure enough, those markings do like Mickey Mouse, big round ears and all. The owner went on to tell us that our two choices are both female and that they might have live babies at some point, even when male is not in the tank. Interesting. I sure have a lot to learn! We stopped by Karen and Peter Baranowski’s on our way home to pick up some oysters Peter had harvested earlier in the day. Karen has an allergy to shellfish and Peter brought home more that he could eat. So we were the lucky recipients. Ollie and I had already bought Pacific salmon and a few clams for dinner, but the oysters and additional clams Peter gave us made for a seafood feast tonight. When Ollie and I got home, we followed the directions for acclimating our new fish to the aquarium and then putting them in.
I am having a little difficulty controlling the water temperature, but I sure hope I now have it right and that our two little Platys will be survivors.
Heather arrived here around 5:30 pm. I thought she had been at a conference on the Outer Cape, but actually she was in Wellesley, near Boston. She had a great two days and was ready for some fun with Ollie. After he introduced her to the aquarium, the two of them went out for a late evening kayak adventure.
Then Heather fixed a clam-oyster-salmon feast while I talked to Justin, Ziggy, and Coco on Skype. It was great to connect with them. After our call ended, Heather, Ollie, and I had a fantastic dinner and I most enjoyable evening together. Great day!
by Judy Handley | Oct 5, 2018 | 2018 Life Logs |
2018 Life Logs, Day 278—Ollie Overnight
Date: Friday, October 5, 2018
Weather: Partly Sunny, Very Windy; High 62, Low 45 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
The north winds did indeed blow in cooler weather for today and for tonight, but it looks like it will again start warming just a bit tomorrow. But when I say cooler, it was not really chilly. I didn’t really need a jacket, so no real weather complaints. I tried a new class at the gym this morning that was a bit challenging, but I made it through. There was a lot of work with weights, lots of push-ups, pull-ups, and other strengthening exercises. It is a special class only available for the month of October, so I will probably return each Friday and tough it out. After class, I checked in with Heather and Jed. They were trying to get Sam and Jonah all packed for their weekend camping trip and Heather was getting ready to leave for her trip to the Outer Cape. There was nothing I could do to help, so I headed home and assembled a new wooden storage unit I bought yesterday. I know assembling these things should be easy, but I always struggle. It took me way too long, but I got it done. Then I worked on getting the aquarium filled with water and ready for fish that Ollie and I will buy tomorrow. Ollie arrived at 5:30 pm, ready to spend the night. Jed and Jonah brought him over and Ollie and Jonah immediately headed to the dock. It has been ages since they have been here and they decided they needed to collect all of the seaweed floating on the water and pile it on the dock. They called it their seaweed farm and they really enjoy just messing about on the dock. Jed took a look at my aquarium set-up and pointed out that 10 gallons of water on the top of a short bookcase with chipboard shelves is going to cause that shelf to bow drastically. I should have known better, but I just didn’t think about it. Jed and I came up with a plan to add another board that sits on top of the bookshelf uprights and that will hopefully help distribute the weight. While the seaweed farmers were busy down on the dock, Jed helped me cut the additional shelf, but had to leave it to Ollie and to get it in place. Jonah has to leave for camp at 5:30 am, so he needed to head home with Jonah to have dinner and get to bed. Ollie and I emptied most of the water from the aquarium into buckets and together managed to lift the aquarium and get the additional shelf in place. Hopefully this will work. Ollie and I had a delightful evening together and are looking forward to more seaweed farming, soccer, fish acquisition, and who knows what else tomorrow. One activity that I am going to focus on is this seaweed farming idea. I am going to check with the local feed and seed tomorrow morning to see if they have straw. If so, I am going to actually compost the seaweed. Evidently if you do multiple layers of 4 inches of straw topped with 2 inches of seaweed, you end up with great compost. I have an empty compost bin and hope to give this a try.
by Judy Handley | Oct 4, 2018 | 2018 Life Logs |
2018 Life Logs, Day 277—Out and About All Day
Date: Thursday, October 4, 2018
Weather: Partly Sunny; High 69, Low 57 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
I was out and about all day today. I went to the gym for a 9:15 am class, then on the h annual appointment with my dermatologist. All is well there. And then I was of to Hyannis to do something I should have taken care of two years ago. My car was bought in both my name and Mark’s, and I needed to go to Motor Vehicles to get the title in only my name. It was not as straight forward as I had thought, but actually the staff there was extremely helpful and helped me get the job done. Then I headed to Hyannis Honda to get a new key fob. I stupidly lost my keys in a field of milkweed a couple of weeks ago. I was getting milkweed for the Monarch caterpillars and somehow my keys fell out of my pocket and feel into the tall grass. I searched and searched and didn’t find them, but luckily had an extra key in the glove compartment. I thought I could survive without the remote key fob, but it is just too frustrating. Unfortunately, even though I had called ahead, Hyannis Honda did not actually have the replacement fob for my car. So, it has been ordered and I will return next Tuesday to get the key cut and the fob programmed. While there they told me I needed to get a new passenger seat air bag as the one I have has been recalled. They will do that on Tuesday as well. I then returned to Falmouth and ran a few errands. By the time I stopped by Heather’s on my way home, it was almost time for dinner. I wanted to check in to get my ‘marching orders’ for the next few days. Heather is out of town tomorrow and Saturday and Jed, Jonah, and Sam are out of town on Saturday, Sunday, returning on Monday. Ollie will be with me tomorrow night and all day Saturday until Heather returns. We worked out all of those details and then I headed home. Not an exciting day, but productive.
We have had a run of lovely fall days with moderate temps and enough sunshine to make me happy. But tonight the NNE winds blow in at 15 to 25 miles per hour. This will cool things down considerably for tomorrow and especially tomorrow night when the temp will dip into the 40’s for the first time since last spring. Saturday will also be a bit cool, but on Sunday the winds shift back to the SW and our beautiful, mild fall weather will return. So we will plow through tomorrow and look forward to warmer days starting on Saturday.
by Judy Handley | Oct 3, 2018 | 2018 Life Logs |
2018 Life Logs, Day 276—Applesauce Day
Date: Wednesday, October 3, 2018
Weather: Mostly Cloudy; High 68, Low 52 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
I had intended to get the jars of applesauce I canned over the weekend to the hospital to my neighbor and landlord on Monday. But I ended up staying home with Ollie. I didn’t make it hospital yesterday either, but today I did. I took most of the jars of applesauce I had canned over the weekend to Shirley and I was delighted to see that she is feeling so much better. She is hoping to be released tomorrow so she can go to back to Scituate (near Boston) to be with her sister Doris on her 100th birthday. Shirley was delighted to get applesauce made from her apple tree, and I spent the rest of today making more. I had picked up the apples off the ground on Monday, but didn’t get a chance to process them until today. It takes a lot of apples and a lot of time to make the applesauce, but I hope Shirley and Doris will enjoy it during the winter.
I have been working on other projects as well. After two years, I finally found a home for all of Mark’s suits and sports coat and delivered them today. I’m also working on getting a 10-gallon aquarium ready to accept the first fish this weekend. I started filling the new aquarium this morning and immediately discovered a leak. Yikes! I emptied it and went back to Walmart to exchange it for a new one. But first I went to the small family owned pet center in Falmouth and talked to one of the owners. He assured me that the brand new leaky aquarium was very rare and convinced me to try it again. I started filling it tonight and so far, so good. This weekend Jed, Sam, and Jonah will be camping with Scouts and Heather, Ollie, and I will work on the aquarium project.
by Judy Handley | Oct 2, 2018 | 2018 Life Logs |
2018 Life Logs, Day 275—Lunch with Friends, Afterschool with Ollie and Jonah
Date: Tuesday, October 2, 2018
Weather: Partly Cloudy; High 70, Low 65 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
I generally stay up too late and as a result I get up too late, so my mornings just seem to fly by. At least that happened today and before I knew it, I had to take off to meet with women in the Newcomers Single Group for lunch. We had a great lunch at Liam McGuire’s in downtown Falmouth and I really enjoyed the various conversations. After lunch, I walked down the street to check out the price of a pillow I saw in a shop window the other day. This is a very large living room throw pillow embroidered with all sorts of Cape Cod icons. I rarely see things in store windows that I want to buy, but this pillow caught my eye and I have just the chair that needs it. If I found the cost to be in the $100 range, I would have considered it. But I was pretty sure the price would be in the $200 range which was too much for me. How far off the mark I was! The price was $699. For a pillow! I’ll have to live without this one.
Tuesday is now the set day of the week that I pick Jonah and Ollie up from school. I often pick them up on other days, but Tuesday will be a weekly affair. Jonah exited the school with a huge musical instrument case with a trombone inside. He has decided to play the trombone in the school band and the case is almost bigger than Jonah. When we got home, Molly from next door was already home and was outside playing her choice of instruments . . . a clarinet. This prompted Jonah to thrown down his things and take out his trombone to answer Molly’s notes.
Then Ollie decided that he needed to get out his violin and join in.
They came inside and did a little formal ‘practicing’ in preparation for a concert, but their planned performance was cut short as Molly’s brother, Joey, had a baseball game and they had to leave. Of course, Jonah and Ollie wanted to go to the baseball game, but I insisted that we do homework first. We then took off for the game. Unfortunately when we got there, we found out that there was an hour-long practice before the game that was to begin at 5:30. We stayed anyway and Jonah and Ollie enjoyed watching the practice and the first 15 minutes of the game. Then we headed home in time for them to have dinner.
I am really enjoying the warm weather we are experiencing. The nights are cool, but the days are warm enough. We are going to get a little rain in the next couple of days, but then it looks like mostly sunny weather for the next week with continued warm days. I love it.
