by Judy Handley | Jun 21, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
201 Life Logs, Day 172: Happy Birthday to Jo
Date: Monday, June 21, 2021
Weather: Overcast and Misty; High 76, Low 65 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
It was an overcast and sometimes misty first full day of summer here in New England and I heard from my daughter-in-law Jo that it was a freezing and wet day in England. But regardless of the weather, it was Jo’s birthday, and she was enjoying it despite the weather. So, Happy Birthday, Jo!
When I went to pick Ollie up from school this afternoon, I was dressed all in white. Ollie asked me if I was going to a funeral. I replied that actually I was going to a celebration of summer where everyone was requested to wear white, but it was an interesting moment as I realized my nine-year old grandson is much more multi-cultural in his thinking that I am. In other cultures, white is the color of mourning. But I explained to him that I in my experience, black had been the color of mourning. It was an interesting conversation, but then he said that if I was going to the summer celebration, I needed to stop at the car wash on the way to taking him home and have my white car cleaned for the occasion. So. we did. I then took him home and headed to the Cape Cod Winery.
Eileen and Billy Sullivan are members of my Newcomers Wine Group who hosted this evening’s ‘summer, wear white’ event to celebrate the opening of the summer season at the Cape Cod Winery. It was a fabulous gathering and all of us that attended were giving thanks to Eileen and Billy. I sat with other members of my wine group and we caught up with what everyone has been doing since our last gathering in late fall. It was a fun evening and great transition into summer.
by Judy Handley | Jun 20, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 171: Happy Father’s Day and Happy Summer
Date: Sunday, June 20, 2021
Weather: Mostly Sunny; High 79, Low 65 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Happy Father’s Day to all, especially to my two favorite fathers, Justin and Jed. I spent the late afternoon and evening with Jed and talked to Justin, Ziggy, and Coco via Skype. They are all still in quarantine at Jo’s parents’ home in England, but they managed to have a lovely day at home. And happy summer on this longest day of the year. Summer solstice happens officially at 11:32 tonight, making today the official first day of summer 2021. But in my mind, tomorrow will be the first full day of summer since there will only be 28 minutes of it today. I love summer and I love the long hours of sunlight. But I prefer to celebrate the winter solstice as the days start getting longer from that day onward. Starting tomorrow, our days will get just a wee bit shorter each day. I love long days of sunshine.
Heather, Jed, and boys came over late in the afternoon for some fun out on the water. Sam has decided that he loves sailing after only two times out in the sailing dinghy. He is already lobbying for a bigger boat. At some point, Sam joined Ollie and Jonah on the Maui mat while Heather sailed for a bit. It was another afternoon of water fun in the Eel River. Heather and boys allowed Jed to sit on the shore and read as a Father’s Day gift, but he landed in the water by accident as he was helping get all the boats in at the end of the day. I spent most of my time cooking dinner for all and Shadow had a great time running from the dock back to the cottage to check on what I was doing.
by Judy Handley | Jun 19, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 170: Dog Training, Garden, Basement
Date: Saturday, June 19, 2021
Weather: Mix of Sun and Clouds; High 76, Low 63 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
The good news is that a good night’s sleep solved the problem of my achy body. I guess climbing and crawling on concrete is harder than I thought. But it is strange. I felt like I worked harder today, but no achy body. Today I was lifting heavy bags of compost in the garden and lifting heavy storage bins in the basement and putting them back up on the shelf. At the end of the day, I have a slightly more well-behaved dog, a mostly planted garden, and a basement that is almost back to normal. Life is good.
by Judy Handley | Jun 18, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 169: Insulation Job Completed
Date: Friday, June 18, 2021
Weather: Sunny; High 76, Low 64 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
The cottage is now well insulated and the shelf in the basement is freshly painted and ready to have all those storage containers returned. I’ll work on reorganizing the basement tomorrow after I do some gardening. But I can’t do that until I go to my last private lesson with Shadow at 10:30 in the morning. It will be a busy day, but only if I feel better than I do tonight. For whatever reason, I am totally exhausted and every muscle in the body aches. Maybe it was just the climbing I did to paint the three to four-foot shelf in the basement. To get into the corners, I had to climb a ladder and crawl on my knees on the shelf. So that is probably the issue. But I have taken an attached tick off me every other day this week. They all looked like common wood ticks to me, but if a good night’s sleep doesn’t make me feel considerably better, I’ll make an appointment to be checked for Lyme.
by Judy Handley | Jun 17, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 168: Insulate2Save Rocks
Date: Thursday, June 17, 2021
Weather: Sunny; High 75, Low 55 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Insulate2Save arrived this morning to start work on insulating the cottage. What an impressive amount of work they accomplished today. They will be back tomorrow to finish, but honestly, I was amazed with their expertise and friendly and caring service. They were equally amazed that this cottage built in 1964 had ZERO insulation in the walls. From their experience, most homes of this age have some insulation in the walls, but the fact that this one did not made the blow-in insulation process easier and more efficient. Today they put fiberglass batting insulation between each of the basement sills, insulated, weather stripped, and added a sweep to the door leading from the bulkhead into the basement, weather stripped and added a sweep to the back door, installed vents in the soffit, vented the bathroom fan through the roof instead of having it run the entire length of the house to vent out the side, and completed the job of blowing the insulation into the walls. Tomorrow they will blow 11-inches of R-40 cellulose into the attic.
The process of blowing insulation into the outside walls was interesting. They turned one wooden shingle between every stud sideways, drilled what looked like a 3-inch diameter hole in each space, and then blew the cellulose insulation in to fill the space from top to bottom between each stud. Then they sealed the hole, turned each shingle back in place, and you can’t tell they did a thing. But I watched and they did. Peter Baranowski was next door cleaning the basement in Shirley’s home and installing a new dehumidifier. So, Shadow and I visited with Karen and the aunties for a bit and then Karen and I sat in the side yard and talked and watched the work.
I did not know that cellulose is “green”, but I certainly did know that the alternative, fiberglass, is not. Cellulose is 80% recycled newsprint that is chemically treated with what are supposed to be non-toxic borate compounds that resist fire, insects, and mold. I read that insulating a 1500 square foot house with cellulose will recycle as much newspaper as an individual will consume in 40 years. That doesn’t mean as much these days as it once did since so many people read their news online. But CIMA, the Cellulose Insulation Manufacturers Association, claims that if all new homes were insulated with cellulose, it would recycle 3.2 million tons of newsprint each year. At this point, only about 10% of new homes are using cellulose, so there is lots of room to grow ‘greener.”
The cost of the work done today and tomorrow is $5,330, but with program incentives for rental homes the cost to the customer is ZERO. If you own your home, you pay 10% to 25% depending on your income. The Mass Save program is funded by the energy efficiency charge on all customer’s gas and electric bills. I, therefore, want to thank everyone in Massachusetts for footing the bill. My winter heating bills should be significantly less, but the most important thing is the amount of nonrenewable energy that will be saved. And this is in the best interest of all of us.
by Judy Handley | Jun 16, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 167: Finally, a Productive Day
Date: Wednesday, June 16, 2021
Weather: Partly Sunny; High 74, Low 56 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Maybe it was the sunshine, but for whatever reason, I finally had a productive day. The attic, the basement, and the perimeter of the cottage outside is ready for workers tomorrow. The insulation process will begin sometime between 7:30 and 9 am, go all day tomorrow, and all day on Friday. The weather looks good for doing the insulation in the outside walls. They have to drill holes in the siding up high and about halfway down and somehow inject foam insulation—down low first, and then up high. Cellulose insulation will be blown into the attic and I’m not exactly sure what they are doing in the basement. But whatever it is, it will be better than it is now.
Shadow had his last day school class today in the introductory training package with The Reliable Dog and I have my last private lesson on Saturday. Shadow is still no where near ‘trained’, so I will probably continue with some group lessons. I guess I expected more, maybe a miracle, but he is still his exuberant self. But he is more responsive and does now sit and stay. Coming when called is another thing. He comes if treats are involved, so I will continue with lots of treats.
Justin, Jo, Ziggy, and Coco arrived at Heathrow today and will spend the next month in England with Jo’s family.
They do have to quarantine for a period of time before they can visit with Jo’s sister and her family, but they can enjoy that quarantine period with Jo’s parents. Their garden is in full bloom and looks like paradise, so they have a wonderful place to quarantine.
