by Judy Handley | Jul 19, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 200: Medical Issues
Date: Monday, July 19, 2021
Weather: Mostly Cloudy; High Temp 78, Low 66 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
This weekend there was a bit of drama next door where the aunties live. Shirley is 96 and Doris is 102, so things are usually very quiet. But Friday night Fire and Rescue arrived. Doris had slid to the floor because her left leg just wasn’t responding. The helper on duty was not able to get her up without help, so she called for the EMTs. Saturday night the same thing happened. Then this morning Fire and Rescue returned for the third time. This time Doris was taken to the hospital but the only problem they found was a urinary tract infection. She was admitted and her daughter, along with Karen Baranowski, her niece, will decide on next steps. Getting old is not for sissies, but at 102, Doris takes only one medication and is mentally sharp. I’d say she’s had a good run.
Jed took Jonah to Hyannis late this morning to have two baby teeth extracted. They were just not wanting to come out and were causing the incoming adult teeth to come in crooked. Their Honda needed to go in for some minor repairs at Hyannis Honda, so I drove to Hyannis to pick up Jonah and Jed so they could leave the Honda there. Jonah had been given ‘happy gas’ and injected novocaine. He was fine, just lethargic. We didn’t get back home until after 2 o’clock. No one had eaten lunch, so the boys and I headed to my house for lunch. We had planned to either kayak or play croquet or table shuffleboard. But we all just crashed in the backyard until we got a call from Heather telling us Sam needed to come home for a tele-med appointment. He has a scratch on his shoulder, probably from Shadow or the kitties that is infected and this weekend he developed other spots on his side and the underside of his arm. The doctor decided that he needs to be seen in person, so that will happen tomorrow.
And then there is me. My left hip is giving me fits and causing me to limp. I don’t know what caused this, but I suspect it might be the fact that I have been eating things that I know cause inflammation in my arthritic bones. For two years I have avoided gluten and dairy, but this summer I have been eating ice cream and having hamburgers on buns, among other things. So, I must get back on the arthritis diet. I will also call my primary care to see if I should have imaging of my left hip so we can see if there is another issue.
Add to these issues the fact that Heather got attacked by a ground warps as she was working on landscaping in her front yard last evening and that my niece called this afternoon to tell me she was in the doctor’s office with my sister who has been dizzy and disoriented for a few days. Hopefully, none of these issues are serious. But definitely the focus today was on medical issues all around. So, I’m going to stop writing and get on my exercise bike. Maybe that will straighten out my hip issue!
by Judy Handley | Jul 18, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 199: Fun Sunday with Ollie
Date: Sunday, July 18, 2021
Weather: Rain Overnight, Partly Sunny Day; High Temp 80, Low 69 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Jonah and Ollie spent the night last night. We got to bed late after watching a Red Sox versus Yankees game until it was ended due to rain, so we got a lazy start this morning. We didn’t eat breakfast until 10:30 and then Jonah had to get ready for Heather to pick him up to go get his second Covid vaccine. Ollie opted to stay here and we watched a YouTube video about building a creative luxury bamboo villa with primitive tools. It was an hour-long video, but it certainly kept my attention. Then we went down to the basement to play a couple of games of table shuffleboard. 
While playing, Ollie asked if he could look at his Uncle Justin’s primitive tools from West Africa. This was prompted by watching the video. I got out the box of tools Justin used to make a djembe drum and in that same box was a leather sheathed machete from Panama that went around the world on Windbird. The leather was brittle and the blade was very rusty. This prompted Ollie to ask if he could try to revive the machete which prompted me to get out all of my Dremels to see if any of them still worked. I knew I had attachments that would attack the rust and we found that two of the three Dremels worked just fine. Ollie set up a makeshift worktable using an old tire and some wood I was throwing away and he spent the next hour or more grinding away at the machete blade using me as his assistant. I have wanted to check out those Dremels for weeks and this gave me the perfect opportunity to have fun with Ollie and accomplish a goal of my own. We had left over beef burgers for lunch in the back yard. I sat at one of the tables and Ollie mostly ate his beef burger while lying in the hammock. Ollie refuses to call them hamburgers because he says there is absolutely no ham in them! Next, we played croquet and then I took him home. Ollie and I had a delightful afternoon together and Ollie seemed to really enjoy his personal time with Shadow. And when I took him home, we both enjoyed seeing the front yard improvements the rest of the Goldstones had been working on all afternoon.
I spent much of my evening on the phone catching up with family, but that did not go smoothly. Earlier in the day, Karen Baranowski had called me from New York and we kept getting cut off. She could hear me but I could not hear her. I assumed it was her connection on Long Island. But then tonight I had the same problem while talking to my sister. I called Heather for technical help and the same thing happened while talking to her. She could hear me, but I could not hear her. She texted and told me to reboot my phone. I did and all was well, but that was after a lot of frustration. So, lesson learned. When having a technical problem with a phone or a computer, the first troubleshooting activity is to reboot. Hopefully, that will solve the problem.
by Judy Handley | Jul 17, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 198: Two Goldpebbles Still Here
Date: Saturday, July 17, 2021
Weather: Overcast AM, Sunny PM, Hot; High Temp 86, Low 72 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Today was a hot one that continued the pattern of the last week—overcast, foggy mornings and sunny afternoons, getting sunnier earlier and earlier each day. But starting sometime during the night, it looks like we will get rain that will usher in a new pattern. This summer has been a potpourri of weather, with no pattern lasting very long. One week cool, the next one hot, one week rainy, the next one not. But I shouldn’t complain as we haven’t had the intense heat that some parts of the country are having. I’d just like sunny mornings that stay that way all day!
This morning Heather picked Jonah up to take him to his friend Luke’s birthday party and shortly after that, Jed picked up Ollie and Sam to take them to look at stone for a landscaping project at their house. While they were there, Sam looked at paving stone for me for the backyard. Recently I bought a tall table to go with the tall deck chairs that I had. The boys love having their own table for outside eating, but the tall chairs need a solid base for stability. So, I have been toying with ideas of how to achieve that without spending a lot of money. Pavers are not cheap, but they would provide the stability. The place they went to today was way more expensive that the place Jed and Ollie stopped at on their way back from Boston last week. The other place is going to get Jed’s order on Monday. I’m still debating what to do.
I spent part of my afternoon installing window fans. Until this week, it was too cool to worry about open windows and fans. But today’s heat convinced me that we might really have summer after all. Then I went shopping for food for dinner. I invited Heather and family for dinner and to play croquet. 
The kids set up a croquet course in Shirley’s side yard yesterday and they really wanted to invite Heather and Jed to play with them. Heather, Jed, and Ollie were going for a walk and a swim in a pond with friend Lynne Cherry, so we planned on a late dinner here. Lynne Cherry is a children’s book author illustrator of books with an environment theme. One of her books, The Great Kapok Tree, was always a favorite of my first-grade students. Just before they were married, Heather and Jed rented Lynne’s home in Woods Hole and their friendship has continued. Their walk and swim took longer than they planned, so we had an even later dinner and croquet game then planned, but it all worked out great. The insects finally drove us inside and the boys asked if they could watch tonight’s Red Sox versus Yankees baseball game. Heather said they could watch part of it and we were all amazed by the amount of rain falling in New York City tonight. At some point, Ollie and Jonah decided to spend the night again tonight. But Sam decided to go home to his own bed. I love having the boys here and will take who I can get when I can get them!
by Judy Handley | Jul 16, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 197: Goldpebble Overnight
Date: Friday, July 16, 2021
Weather: Overcast AM, Sunny PM; High Temp 82, Low 69 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
It was another overcast, foggy morning followed by a beautiful afternoon of sunshine. I picked up Sam, Jonah, and Ollie at 1pm and we headed to my house for lunch, a round of croquet, and Jonah and Ollie got in a few rounds of table shuffleboard.
Then it was off to the beach for the rest of the afternoon. When we got home, it was time for dinner. I put hamburgers on the grill and we ate outside. Our final foray was to Smitty’s for ice cream. It was almost 9 pm when we got there and it looked like everyone on Cape Cod was there. But Smitty himself was handing out the orders and he made sure things kept moving. The boys are now in bed and I will be soon. Jonah is going to a birthday party late morning tomorrow, but we hope to get in another game or two of croquet before he leaves.
by Judy Handley | Jul 15, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 196: Early Afternoon Sunshine
Date: Thursday, July 15, 2021
Weather: Overcast AM, Sunny PM; High Temp 83, Low 69 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
It is feeling a lot more like summer. The high temp was in the low 80’s today, making for a great afternoon at the beach. Because we are surrounded by water that is cooler than the current air temperature, we are getting foggy mornings. It takes the sun a couple of hours to burn off the fog, but that happened in the early afternoon today. Tomorrow looks like more of today, so the Goldpebbles and I will head to the beach again. The boys will come home with me and have dinner and maybe an overnight. At the least, they will spend the evening with me as Heather and Jed are going out for a Friday date night.
by Judy Handley | Jul 14, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 195: Mid-afternoon Sunshine
Date: Wednesday, July 14, 2021
Weather: Overcast, Clearing Mid-afternoon; High Temp 79, Low 68 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Finally . . . mid-afternoon the sun burned through the clouds, and we had sunshine. But at noon when the Goldpebbles and I made our decision on what to do this afternoon, the beach was out. Ollie and Sam mowed and trimmed Shirley’s yard while Jonah read his book and I got lunch ready. At three o’clock we had to deliver Jonah to the hospital for an ultra-sound that will be used in the extraction of two baby teeth that are causing issues with incoming teeth. While he and Jed were at the hospital, Sam, Ollie, and I went for a short walk around Peterson Farm to check on the sheep. All of us but Sam went for a walk through the farm either late fall or early spring and saw the upgrades being made by the new caretakers. This farm was owned by one family for 300 years. In 1949 it was bought by Captain Peterson who used it to raise vegetables for his local hotel. When he decided to sell, it was bought by the city of Falmouth with caretakers who keep the sheep on the property. The sun was out and it was hot when we went for our walk, but Sam and Ollie really enjoyed it. Sam loves the idea that the town of Falmouth has a farm and I love that he values that!
Jed called to let us know that he and Jonah were headed home, so we did the same. The boys were so excited to see Heather had returned home from her trip to New York City. It was a long, hot ride home with no air conditioning in her car, so she was ready to head to the beach to cool off. Jed couldn’t go, but everybody else headed to the water. I headed home to deal with Shadow and my fish aquarium. While Sam was cutting grass, Shadow escaped and found a rabbit road kill just on the street outside of my drive way. He was so stinky when Sam brought him to the house that I had to leave him in his crate while I was gone. He smelled much better when I got home, so instead of a full bath, I just sprayed his off with the hose and all was well. The fish aquarium is totally out of whack with a very low water pH causing the ammonia levels to rise. So I am doing a daily 50 per cent change out of the water. There seems to be plenty to keep me busy around here!
