by Judy Handley | May 25, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 145: Noon Tunes, PICC Line, Hadal Zone, Full Moon
Date: Tuesday, May 25, 2021
Weather: Sunny, Windy and Cool; High 64, Low, 57 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Interesting happenings today. At 11 am I left to pick up friend Olga Mitchell. We drove downtown, parked in front of the library on Main Street, and walked the quarter of a mile to The Station Grill at the bus station. We wanted to get some exercise while we were walking to lunch and to hear some mid-day music. Another friend, Bruce Woodin, and the music group he plays with called Noon Tunes, were playing outside The Station Grill providing toons for people at noon.
Noon Toons play Celtic fiddle music and today they added a Turkish tune or two. The bus depot is right on the bike path, so bikers stopped to listen. Olga and I had lunch while we listened. Terry and Olivia White were there, so Olga got to meet them. I was not dressed for the occasion. The sun was shining, but the wind was howling. We were all cold. I was glad we had to walk back to the car as that gave me a chance to warm up. Olga and I then drove to Wood Neck Beach and the Sippewissett Marsh.
Olga had never been there, so I decided she just had to see it. By the time I got her home, it was time to go pick up Shadow at home and then go pick up Ollie after school. I had gotten a text from Heather saying I didn’t need to take Sam to Hyannis for rowing as their was a wind advisory. So I took Shadow with me. Ollie and I took him for a walk and then I went to get Sam from his drum lesson, took him home, and then Shadow and I headed home.
Heather, Jed, and Ollie had a 4 pm Zoom appointment with the Infectious Disease doctor from Children’s Hospital in Boston. This was the meeting Heather thought was happening yesterday. But it did happen this afternoon and the order was given to remove that PICC line. A visiting nurse came to do that. I am sure that made Ollie very, very happy. He has not been able to get his arm wet for a month. I’m sure he will still have to careful until the insertion point heals, but at least he doesn’t have a plastic line hanging out of his arm that he has to constantly protect.
The MIT Club (those people who have graduated from MIT) had their annual meeting on Zoom tonight and the topic of the program was the Hadal Zone. I certainly didn’t graduate from MIT, but I have a friend who did and she always invites me to their programs. Heather and Jed could also invite me, but they are so busy that they themselves don’t attend. I had to Google ‘Hadal Zone’ before the presentation. What is it? The name comes from the word hades or hell. This zone in the ocean was named ‘hadal’ because it encompasses the deepest regions of the oceans from 6,000 to 11,000 meters or 4 to 7 miles deep. These regions are called trenches and they comprise almost 50 percent of the earth’s oceans. Tonight’s program was about how those areas are being explored by a new kind of autonomous vehicle and what is found there–extreme cold, extreme pressure, and complete darkness. Sounds like hades to me! When you get down to 8,200 meters or 5 to 6 miles there is life but there are no fish. The program got more and more engaging as it went along and left me wanting to know so much more. But two things stuck with me. One was the photos of what the scientists thought was some sort of seaweed that ended up to be an octopus camouflaged as seaweed. The other was the answer to a question about how climate change is affecting life in the deep ocean. The answer was that the ocean life found in the canyons (deeper than Grand Canyon) off the East Coast of the United States is migrating northward because of the increase in water temperature. And according to ALL current models, the area of the East Coast that will be affected the most is off Cape Cod. The deep sea temperatures in our area are changing faster than in other areas. Depressing.
On the other hand, the moon tonight is glorious. It is a Blood Flower Full Moon and a lunar eclipse will happen in the wee hours of the morning. I won’t be up for that, but I certainly enjoyed the beauty of this full moon when I took Shadow out for his final outing of the day.
by Judy Handley | May 24, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 144: Day School for Shadow, Writing, and Soccer
Date: Monday, May 24, 2021
Weather: Sunny, Much Cooler Than Yesterday; High 63, Low, 48 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Shadow had his third day of doggie day school and at the end of the day the trainer said that Shadow likes me too much. He has terrible separation anxiety when I leave him and gets way too excited when I come to get him. I pointed out that he has the same issue with Heather, Jed, Sam, Ollie, and Jonah and they have not been the ones that have spoiled him. That has been all me. But he ignored that and said that my relationship to Shadow is just not healthy for the dog. But he didn’t tell me what to do about it. In an upcoming private ‘people’ lesson I will hopefully find out what I should be doing. For this trainer, I know that means keeping Shadow in a crate at night and anytime I am not at home. But I hate the crate. I feel like I am abusing him. So therein lies the problem that I have to work through. Tough love. So hard.
While Shadow was in school, I met with friend Christina Brodie. She has been editing the chapters of The Voyage of Windbird for me and came by to deliver the last four chapters. She has such wonderful recommendations and I truly appreciate the time she has spent doing this for me. I gave her the last completed chapter and when she left, I continued writing. I have two more chapters to write to complete the first year of the voyage and I hope to have those completed by mid-June. Once Camp Oma begins at the end of June, I will continue to write, but would like to have year one behind me.
This evening I took Jonah to soccer practice near Hyannis. He plays for the Falmouth league as well as another league that has their practices at Cape Cod Academy near Hyannis. That is where we needed to go this evening. Heather had an important work meeting from 5 to 7 pm and someone needed to stay home with Sam and Ollie and get dinner on the table. So, I volunteered for soccer duty.
Heather and Ollie spent their day in Boston at Children’s Hospital which was a frustrating experience for both of them. Heather and Ollie thought the PICC line that was inserted for the infusion of antibiotics over the last four weeks would be removed today, but that didn’t happen. It will happen in the next couple of days, but since they are no longer to give antibiotics by infusion, why did the doctor not order the removal for today? So frustrating. And it was even more frustrating as Ollie has developed an allergic reaction to the dressing that covers the PICC line. The one bit of good news is that Ollie’s white blood cell count is normal which indicates that the infection is in control. Lyme disease is so difficult to deal with if not caught immediately, and in Ollie’s case it was not. Hopefully after almost three months of antibiotics, the problem has been resolved. We shall be hopeful that the treatment has been successful.
by Judy Handley | May 23, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 143: Helpers, Friends, Family
Date: Sunday, May 23, 2021
Weather: Sunny and Hot, A Little Rain Late PM; High 82, Low, 51 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
The big news of the day was that the high temperature was in the 80’s. Unfortunately, that was short-lived. It is already back to 59 degrees F right now and the high tomorrow will only be 62. But I sure enjoyed today’s gift of warmth.
Jed, Ollie, and Sam came over late morning to help me with some landscaping projects. I had Jed cut down a couple of small trees that were totally shading the raspberries. Sam helped his dad and Ollie helped clear a patch where I will plant more tomatoes. Heather and Jonah stopped by on their way home from Jonah’s soccer game and they worked on trying to secure the screws that hold my new garden bench together. I had already stripped a couple of the screws and Jed will have to return on another day to ‘fix’ the problem. But we made great progress today.
Then it was on to a lunchtime gathering of my dining-in friends on the Frieswyk’s deck. When Terry White turned 80 in January, I gave him an I Owe You for a Smitty’s ice cream cake. Smitty’s is closed during the winter but opened in May. So, Terry made his special order for a cake with one layer of chocolate fudge walnut and a second layer of butter crunch. He decided he wanted to share his gift with the group, and we all appreciated his kindness. It was delicious.
I then got an invitation to Heather and Jed’s for an artichoke family dinner. I had left Shadow all afternoon, so I took him with me for dinner. The new kittens are not yet ready to meet Shadow, so I had Shadow on the deck while the kitties were playing in the living room. Shadow saw them and tore two good sized holes in one of the sliding screen doors trying to get to them. The kittens were unfazed, but I obviously have a lot of work to do to get Shadow ready for this introduction.
by Judy Handley | May 21, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 141: Energy Audit
Date: Friday, May 21, 2021
Weather: Sunny, Slightly Warmer; High 68, Low, 53 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Morning came early today. I put Shadow in the crate last night and neither one of us got a lot of sleep. When I went to the bedroom and left him in the living room in the crate, he was quiet. But after a while I heard him making noises that seemed like quiet crying. It broke my heart, but I tried to ignore it and go to sleep. All night long, he went through quiet periods and then back to crying. Finally, when the sun came up, he quieted, and we got a good hour of sleep before it was time to get up. This made me wonder if he was having separation anxiety from me or if he is just afraid of the dark. I’ll have to keep working on this.
An energy specialist was arriving at 8:15 am to do an energy audit and Shadow had dog school at 9 am. So, we got up and started our day. I got dressed as quickly as I could so I could spend time walking with Shadow. By 8:15 am we were walking back to the cottage with the Rise Engineering truck following us. Since this was the third audit of the cottage, the specialist really only needed to check the new water heater, recheck that the furnace is properly vented, and recheck the attic. The assessment was done by 8:40 am, so I took off with Shadow to deliver him to his second day of dog school. When I returned, the Rise Engineering truck was still in my driveway. Was there a problem? No. The specialist had decided to sit in the driveway and submit his report so that he could give me a printout of the results before he left. He approved $5,400 in energy upgrades—new insulation in the attic (11 inches of R-40 cellulose), insulating the basement sills, drilling and filling the outside walls with insulation, insulating the bulkhead door, new vents in the soffit, and on and on. And because this is a landlord/tenant upgrade, there is no cost to us at all. Normally a homeowner pays 25 per cent of the total, but if it is a rental, the total cost is covered. The work cannot be scheduled to be done until August or September, but it will be done before cold weather season.
Ollie and I picked Shadow up from school and got a lesson in how to deal with a dog that was overly excited to see us. Ian, the trainer, keeps telling me Shadow is extremely smart and has learned to outsmart all of the humans in his life. It took 15 minutes, but he was able to calm Shadow before releasing him to us. Then Ollie was able to lead Shadow to the car. Patience, patience. It is time for bed and I am still trying to think of creative ways to keep Shadow from crying tonight. Tough love is tough!
by Judy Handley | May 20, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 140: More Writing and A Short Shopping Spree
Date: Thursday, May 20, 2021
Weather: Sunny, A Little Cooler; High 66, Low, 48 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Shadow and I survived the night apart from one another. But I cheated. I did not feel that he was yet comfortable going into the crate for the night, so I let him sleep in the living room on the sofa and I closed my bedroom door so he couldn’t come in. He barked for about ten minutes once I went into my room, but then he was quiet for the remainder of the night. I spent time today putting treats in the crate to get Shadow thinking positively about it. Then this afternoon when I left to take Sam and a friend to rowing in Hyannis, I did put him in the crate. He went in quietly but didn’t look happy. When I got back four hours later, he seemed fine. Tonight I’ll try the crate.
I spent most of my day writing and then headed to Hyannis with Sam and his friend Alex. We have not been carpooling because of Covid, but now that the boys have had one shot, we decided to do it with all of us wearing masks in the car.
Once we got there, I watched as they got the boats in the water. Alex and Sam were in a double today. Once they were off, I headed into Hyannis to Home Depot. Jed has these amazing loppers that will cut down small trees and I decided that I needed a pair of those to help clear some small stumps I keep tripping over and to trim branches. I have been borrowing his, but I never have them when I need them. Now I have my own. Then I went shoe shopping. I needed something I can just slip on to take Shadow out for bathroom breaks and for gardening. I have never worn Crocs because one size is slightly too small and the next size up is slightly too big. But they seemed like the best choice, so I bought the wildest looking pair I could find in the size that is slightly too big. We’ll see how that works out.
by Judy Handley | May 19, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 139: Day School for Shadow
Date: Wednesday, May 19, 2021
Weather: Sunny and Warm; High 73, Low, 49 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
The wonderful run of spring weather we have had for the past week continues. I’m hoping this continues right through until summer. It is fabulous.
Who knew parenting a dog could be so hard and so expensive? Not me. That’s for sure. And I am not new to dogs. I had two Wire Fox Terriers when I met Mark and he had an Irish Setter. When we decided to head to the mountains to build a cabin, I had to give my terriers to friends, but we kept Shane, the Irish Setter. Shane was not a smart dog and he was not obedient. But other than trying to knock Mark’s mother off her feet on Fort Myers Beach, he did no harm. While we were visiting in Florida, he kept running away. He finally succeeded. Then when Justin and Heather were almost one and three years old, we got a Collie puppy. Her name was Starr. She looked like Lassie and never gave us any problems. She barked at strangers, but other than that, we never had issues with her. At the same time, we had fourteen sled dogs that we ran daily. We certainly didn’t need expensive dog trainers. When Starr died, Justin talked me into getting the cutest little Cocker Spaniel I had ever seen. I spoiled her rotten, but still, I never felt the need to pay a trainer. I just had a spoiled, misbehaving dog that didn’t attempt to hurt anyone. But Shadow is another story. He is so very exuberant and anxious all at the same time. He jumps on everyone, nips at the grandkids’ pants leg, jumps at their faces, as well as Heather’s, will not come when called, and on and on. But he is a very smart dog. Too smart. Despite the very expensive training that we both went through when he was a puppy, nothing changed. The training was for me and I failed! So, we are trying again. This time Shadow is going to a very expensive day school with a few other dogs. He had his first day today and he is already better. I picked Shadow up just before going to pick Ollie up from school, so I took Shadow with me for the after school pick up. Normally when Shadow sees Ollie and the other walkers coming from the school, he starts pulling at the leash and jumping like a wild thing. I can barely control him. But today, he sat and watched as Ollie approached. He did jump once when Ollie got close, but I pulled him away and he settled. The difference was amazing. The reason—treats! The first trainer did not allow the use of treats. Her training was based solely on voice command and the use of a choke collar for corrections. The new trainer, Ian, doesn’t allow choke collars and trains using a special treat. I did not think this would work with Shadow as he is so picky about what he eats. But he LOVES Ian’s treats, and they work like a charm. Eventually, the use of treats will be lessened. But for now, lots of treats are making an unbelievable difference. Tonight, will be the test, however. I can no longer allow Shadow to sleep on my bed until he is fully trained. I have to put him in a crate at night. We are both going to hate that, probably me more than him. I am hoping it is going to be easier than it sounds. Shadow goes back to school on Friday, so you’ll get another update then.
