by Judy Handley | Feb 16, 2024 | 2024 Life Logs |
2024 Life Logs, Day 46: Phone Success
Date: Thursday, February 15, 2024
Weather: Sunny Day, A Little Snow Tonight; High Temp 37, Low 32 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth MA
It is after 10 pm and I just took Shadow outside and found there was a light snow falling. But the temperature is rising tonight by a couple of degrees and the snow is supposed to turn to a mix and then to a bit of rain. We are certainly getting a taste of winter this season but not too extreme. The snow is beautiful, but I am not liking the ice that comes with it because it interferes with my walking. Jed came over this morning to take Shadow for a walk. I was already outside with Shadow as I was going to try walking in the neighborhood. We decided Jed would take him first and report back to me the condition of the road and sidewalks. The report was not good. The sidewalk that runs in front of this property and on down the street is one snowy, icy mess. That meant I could not even do the short loop around the block because of the icy sidewalk. And I can’t walk in the street on Lakeview as it has too much traffic. So, Jed suggested that I stick to the roads and walk where there is very little traffic. He recommended a loop walk through a neighborhood that is not far from here. I did that walk and then drove it to check the mileage. It was almost a mile. Hurray! It was my longest walk since the surgery and my goal. I just reached the goal a week sooner than expected. That same neighborhood has another a little loop that will extend the walk to more than a mile. Until the sidewalks are cleared, I’ll stick to that walk for the next few days.
Next on my agenda was going to T-Mobile in Mashpee. As soon as the young man helping me heard me say that incoming voices on my phone sound garbled, he thought he knew the problem. He asked me some questions about battery life and internet search speed, both of which are fine. He then went into settings and started turning things off. I cannot explain to you want he really did, but whatever, my phone is fine. I think that somehow, probably when I was on a public wifi network, something he was called a free wifi network attached itself to my phone and was constantly monitoring everything I do and then placing marketing ads to match my needs on my phone. Somehow that was overloading my phone and interfering with calls. He turned the setting off that allows these networks in and somehow erased my phone’s memory of that network so it cannot return. If none of this makes sense to you, welcome to the club. I’m sure I got most of this wrong, but at least my phone is working fine. Phone success! And he told me my phone is not “too old”–that actually I probably have two more years before I will have to replace it. And now I know where to go to get help if the same thing happens again.
by Judy Handley | Feb 14, 2024 | 2024 Life Logs |
2024 Life Logs, Day 45: Happy Valentine’s Day
Date: Wednesday, February 14, 2024
Weather: Sunny, Windy, Cold; High Temp 33, Low 21 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth MA
Valentine’s Day here on the Cape was a beautiful sunny day, but it was cold and windy. The snow that fell yesterday and clunk to every tree branch making our world a winter wonderland was even more beautiful today as the sun sparkled on the ice crystals. All of the beauty of yesterday was simply frozen in place and enjoyed again today without the falling snow and the added bonus of plowed streets. Of course, the challenge with snow that lingers because the temperature is hovering around freezing is that it melts a little during the day and then freezes solid again at night. Today my driveway was plowed, but because everything froze solid during the night, some of the driveway is now clear, but other parts are almost solid ice. I moved my car as close to the house as I could get it so I won’t have to walk on those icy patches. And I will walk through the snowy yard to get out to the road to walk with Shadow until the driveway is clear. I certainly do not want to fall.
This morning early, I drove over to Heather and Jed’s to deliver my Valentine’s gifts and to take Shadow over so Jed could do double duty—walk Ollie to school and take Shadow along. While I was waiting inside, I was looking out onto their deck and I was very surprised at the amount of snow on their deck compared to mine. We are less than a mile from each other, but their deck had a good two inches more of snow. As I was talking to Heather about that, I mentioned how windy it was yesterday and how it blew much of the snow off the tree branches and maybe off my deck railing. Heather responded that they were surprised that they did not get the wind that was forecast for yesterday. I am not sure why, but even this morning when I got home, it was windy here. But when I was at Heather’s just minutes before it was totally calm. All I can figure is that I live on a major street that runs through town and they live in an enclosed neighborhood that is heavily wooded. Maybe the wind doesn’t get a chance to build speed like it does coming down my street. Bottom line is that they had at least 5½ to 6 inches of snow yesterday to my 3¾ inches.
Part of my afternoon was spent trying to figure out why I have such poor phone reception here even when my phone shows I have a strong signal. I checked with Sam, Heather, and Jed this afternoon after visiting the T-Mobile shop. The consensus is that it is time to buy a new (refurbished) phone, but I am going to make one more stop at the T-Mobile shop in Mashpee before ordering the phone. My friend Midge says that they have very knowledgeable staff that might be able to help. People can hear me just fine, but on my end, everything is garbled and every few minutes my calls drop. Today new things started happening. Incoming calls go directly to my voice mail when I hold the phone up to my ear, where my face touches the screen, the screen senses that touch and starts scrolling though various websites. Part of me wants to continue to troubleshoot to make sure it is not a wifi issue rather than a phone provider issue. But the other part of me just wants to order a new phone and move on. I have had this phone since September of 2019 which doesn’t seem that long ago, but the young man at the T-Mobile shop was like, “Lady, this is an old phone. It doesn’t even have 5G. It’s doing crazy things because it is old. You just need to order a new one.” Yikes. What does that attitude imply for those of us who are getting older?
by Judy Handley | Feb 13, 2024 | 2024 Life Logs |
2024 Life Logs, Day 44: Winter Storm Lorraine Brings a Beautiful Snowy Day
Date: Tuesday, February 13, 2024
Weather: Overcast, Windy with Snow; High Temp 36, Low 28 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth MA
What a beautiful snowy day Winter Storm Lorraine produced here on Cape Cod. The trees are dripping with a heavy snow making for a picture-perfect wintry landscape.
It was too much for one of the holly trees in the yard and it is now on the ground.
I measured the snow on the deck railing throughout the day. The wintry mix turned to snow around 8 am and one hour later we had a half of an inch of snow. By 10 am there was more than inch.
I went out with Shadow and the big snowflakes were making his black coat look polka dotted with white
and after just a few minutes outside he was trembling with cold. So, we went back inside and I tried to capture the beauty by taking photos of the falling snow through the windows.
At the end of the day my measurement shows a total snow fall of 3¾ inches.
As evening falls, the snow has mostly stopped, and beauty is frozen in place as the temperature is dropping quickly. I tried walking with Shadow on the streets that had been plowed, but it was just too icy. I surely don’t want to fall while I am recovering from back surgery, so until the streets are dry, Shadow and I will only walk in the yard.
The kids knew last evening that school was cancelled for today and everyone prepared for the storm. Jonah spent the night with Joey and today Sam spent the day with his friend Robert. That left Ollie at home, so Heather got up extra early to get much of her work done so she could play in the snow with Ollie. Then he got together with Simon, a friend who lives in the neighborhood. Heather sent a great phot of Ollie snowboarding down the hill across the street from their house. Lots of snow fun!
My book club was supposed to meet today, but yesterday we decided to meet on Zoom. There were only five of us, but we had a lively discussion about our book, “Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers.” If your want a light read, a murder mystery with great characters and lots of humor mixed in, grab that book.
by Judy Handley | Feb 12, 2024 | 2024 Life Logs |
2024 Life Logs, Day 43: Wine Group
Date: Monday, February 12, 2024
Weather: Mostly Sunny; High Temp 48, Low 26 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth MA
It was a sunny day and not too cold. The lull before the storm. I took advantage of that to go water plants for friends who are away for a bit. I was supposed to water tomorrow, but with the reports of Winter Storm Lorraine barreling up the coast, I opted to go today. My friend Midge went with me in case I could not do the stairs as some plants are on the second floor. But my right knee hung in there and I made it. But by the time I got home, I grabbed a quick lunch and took a nap to rest my back. Due to the Superbowl late night last night and waking up at 6 am and not able to go back to sleep, I needed that nap. By the time I got up, it was time to get ready to go.
Tonight’s wine group theme was to bring a bottle with a fun label.
We started with a prosecco from Spain call True Colours that comes in a showstopping bottle. It is a social product that provides the opportunity to contribute to projects that the producers are passionate about. Highland Imports is very excited to be celebrating the one-year anniversary of the U.S. launch of True Colours. For every bottle sold in the U.S., a donation is made to organizations that help support accelerating the acceptance for the LGBTQ Community.
Each person or couple in our group normally brings an appetizer to go with their wine. But for tonight, with a reduced group due to some of our snowbird members, the hosts provided Dom’s steak tips and salad for dinner.
Other members brought the appetizer, rice as a side dish, and I brought dessert. We went from the bubbly to two red wines to go with our steak dinner. We had The Walking Fool, a really good red wine, and then on to Frankenrocker Cotes du Rhone, both with great labels. For the dessert we went back to the sauvignon blanc I brought. I chose it because it was organic wine with a big blue bee on the label.that caught my attention.
Melea is also from Spain and also has a social dimension. Anthophora melea are bees that this winery tries to support for the health of the planet. And Melea was the first Spanish wine brand to become a member of a group called ‘1% For The Planet’. 1% of Melea gross sales go to charities that support biodiversity and promote the use of organic farming, avoiding the use of agrochemicals that harm bees and other pollinators.
There were only six of us there tonight.
We missed our friends in Florida and in the Turks and Caicos, but we tried our best to have a good time without them. It was a really fun evening with great food. At the end of the evening, I was checking the bottles to see if there was any wine left and I got caught on camera. Honestly, I was not desperate for wine, just checking the bottles.
Yeah. Right. No one is going to believe that!
by Judy Handley | Feb 11, 2024 | 2024 Life Logs |
2024 Life Logs, Day 42: Superbowl Sunday
Date: Sunday, February 11, 2024
Weather: Cloudy; High Temp 48, Low 32 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth MA
Superbowl LVIII was way more exciting than I had anticipated. I joined Heather and family for dinner and the game, expecting to come home after halftime. I went wearing my red sweater thinking I would be a Kansas City Chiefs fan, but within ten minutes of watching the game, I switched my allegiance to the San Francisco 49ers. I was drawn in by the composure of the 49ers quarterback, Brock Purdy. I knew nothing about him prior to the game, but Sam and Jonah filled me in on some of his background and they were very persuasive in getting me to be a 49ers fan with them. They just didn’t want the Chiefs to win two Superbowl’s in a row. Plus, they dislike Taylor Swift because they say she is ruining the planet with all of her flying back and forth around the world.
If you watched the game, you know it was a nail biter. The two teams were so well matched. One would score, then the other. Right up to the 19-19 ending that took them into overtime. I was so into the game by halftime that there was no way I was going home. So, we enjoyed the game, the ads, halftime, and the overtime. The boys, Sam in particular, are always critical of the halftime, but the fact that Sam was still humming one of Usher’s songs throughout the second half told me he enjoyed it more than he let on.
I will also note that we all loved the Dunkin’ ad with Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, and Tom Brady. And we thought the State Farm ad with Arnold Schwarzenegger and his “good neighbaaaah” was a riot. Heather loved the Pfizer ad honoring scientists. And we all enjoyed the Michelob Ultralight ad with soccer great Messi kicking the ball up the beach. There were many more that we found interesting. In fact, I thought there were more interesting ads than usual.
by Judy Handley | Feb 10, 2024 | 2024 Life Logs |
2024 Life Logs, Day 41: House Cleaning and Food Shopping
Date: Saturday, February 10, 2024
Weather: Mostly Cloudy; High Temp 45, Low 39 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth MA
It was a very quiet Saturday for me. Shadow and I walked our six tenths of a mile early this morning and then I spent the rest of the morning sweeping floors. It is a painfully slow process, as I can only do one room at a time and then stop to rest my back. I am using my new light weight stick vacuum which is working nicely. And I even Swifter mopped the kitchen. The afternoon was equally quiet. After lunch, I went food shopping. I stopped at Heather and Jed’s to say hello and found out that the boys did go snowboarding this weekend with their Scout troop. The last I had heard they were undecided. They went to Pat’s Peak in New Hampshire and Heather told me the high temp there today was supposed to be in the upper 50’s. It is not supposed to be that warm in New Hampshire in February! She doubted there would be much snowboarding in the afternoon after things warmed up, but I guess we’ll get that report when they return home tomorrow. The temperature here today was in the mid 40’s, but by Tuesday we will be back to winter with gale force winds and maybe some snow. But in the meantime, I am enjoying not needing to wear gloves when I walk and play fetch with Shadow.
