by Judy Handley | Jun 9, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 160: Yard Work
Date: Wednesday, June 9, 2021
Weather: Sunny and Hot; High 85, Low 61 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
It was a busy day in the neighborhood. It was an early release day for all grade levels, so Ollie and Sam came home with me to cut grass for me, for Shirley next door, and Andrew next door to Shirley. Ollie had a friend over for the afternoon, so he did not join us. This was Sam’s first day back at school after being his with some sort of heavy duty cold. More than half his class has been out with this, and Sam was hit hard. Still, he wanted to come cut grass so he could make some money. I tried to make sure he drank plenty of water since it was super hot today. And we took a rest period mid-way through the jobs. Actually, the break was made necessary because we had to charge the lawn mower battery. Our leaf blower, weed eater, and lawn mower are all battery operated and super quiet. It is a bit of inconvenience that the lawn mower battery only lasts an hour, but today that break was needed. Sam and Ollie make a good team. One mows while one trims with the weed eater. Andrew, the new neighbor from New York, was actually in town today and got to see the results of the boys’ work. He sent a text tonight saying what a great job they did. I don’t have to oversee Sam at all. He is a really good worker and wants to do a good job. Ollie still needs a little direction on trimming—knowing what to cut and what to keep. But he is a fast learner. Next time, I won’t need to oversee the work.
It is truly satisfying to see the boys earning money for doing a good job and taking pride in their work. Andrew sent their pay to my bank account via Zelle. This launched a discussion of bank accounts, a savings account versus a checking account, and the various ways to transfer money from one account to another—Zelle, Venmo, Paypal, Google Pay, and on and on. And that conversation led to more discussion of credit versus debit cards. The conversation in the car when I was taking the boys home was so interesting that I forgot to stop at the bank to withdraw more cash. I was $5.00 short of being able to pay Ollie fully for his work. I said that I would pay him tomorrow ‘with interest’ and that started a whole new learning conversation. What is interest? What is a fair interest rate? The whole afternoon was a great learning opportunity for Sam and Ollie, not to mention that three homes have beautifully manicured lawns.
by Judy Handley | Jun 8, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 159: New Bathroom Sink and Book Club
Date: Tuesday, June 8, 2021
Weather: Partly Sunny; High 77, Low 62 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Turning the water off completely in my bathroom sink has gotten more and more impossible. Having arthritic wrists has not helped, but I had two different plumbers look at it and both agreed that there was no way to correct the problem other than replace both the sink and the faucet. Today was the day. How nice it is to be able to easily turn the water off and on. And no more worries about wasting water. I can’t count the number of mornings I have gotten up find the slow drip of water from that faucet.
The plumber was running late which caused me to be a little late arriving at my book club meeting. But once there, I launched into the discussion of this month’s book. That quickly led to a discussion all of the prickly issues we are facing as a country. The book was American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins. Everyone in our group agreed that this book should be mandatory reading for all people in this country, especially in this time when we are facing the hard issues of immigration. The author personalizes the immigration issue by portraying a mother and her young child in Mexico who have to flee their home and run for their lives . . . to the US border. Although the subject is devastating, the book is beautifully written and I highly recommend it to all.
by Judy Handley | Jun 7, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 158: Gardening; Cleaning House and Shadow
Date: Monday, June 7, 2021
Weather: Sunny AM, Mixed Sun and Clouds PM; High 76, Low 61 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
It was a workday, but I worked at a slow and easy pace. I planted the last of the tomatoes and spent time and money to keep a pesky chipmunk from eating my strawberries. Ollie pointed out to me yesterday that the netting I had over the strawberries would keep birds out, but not other pests. Then this morning, all of the ripe strawberries were gone. I saw a little chipmunk running across my front porch and I knew he was the culprit. I had to buy hardware cloth with half-inch squares and surrounded the strawberries with this—in addition to the chicken wire that was already there. Then I put the netting over the hardware cloth fence. I hope this does the job.
Tomorrow the plumber comes to put in a new bathroom sink, so I decided I needed to give the bathroom a deep cleaning. And while I was at it, I gave Shadow a bath. The woman who grooms Shadow every six to eight weeks gave me a tip that helped tremendously. In the past when I gave him a bath, I waited until he was totally dry before trying to brush out his coat. The tip was to do this while he was still damp. Much easier!
by Judy Handley | Jun 6, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 157: New Boat in the Family
Date: Sunday, June 6, 2021
Weather: Sunny and Hot; High 86, Low 62 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Heather and Jed bought an Optimist sailing dinghy and this afternoon Heather and Ollie tried it out. An Optimist is often called an ‘opti’. It is a small, single-handed sailing dinghy for children up to the age of 15. But since Ollie has never sailed anything but a kayak with a broomstick and tablecloth sail, Heather got in with him today to give him his first lesson. It was not a smooth maiden voyage, but they did finally sail. The tide was too low and there was not enough water to let the centerboard down. And without it, the boat just slid sideways. Then when they did get going, they hit hidden sandbars and rocks. Lots to learn and figure out, but hopefully Ollie will get the hang of it soon . . . during high tide.
I got a call mid-day from the other Judy Handley that lives in Falmouth during the summers. She returned to her condo today to find that she had received a big box. She opened it and it was a computer. But she didn’t order a computer. Then she looked at the address and found the box was addressed to a PO box in East Falmouth. She put two and two together and gave me a call. Indeed, my sister who is moving had sent her computer to me. It was supposed to be sent to Heather and Jed’s as Fed Ex and UPS do not deliver to PO boxes. And besides, the computer was for Sam, not me. Thankfully, Judy had met last fall and she had my number. How Fed Ex decided to deliver the box to her is a mystery as we live in two different parts of town. All we could figure is that because she conducts all her official business under the name of Judy Handley and I use Judith Handley, a box addressed to Judy went to her.
by Judy Handley | Jun 5, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 156: Saturday Threesome Plus a Little Covid Scare
Date: Saturday, June 5, 2021
Weather: Sunny; High 74, Low 64 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Sam got his second Pfizer Covid vaccine late yesterday and during the night he developed a very sore throat, a headache, coughs and sneezes, and the need to use a ton of tissues. Instead of playing Saturday soccer, he spent his day in bed and on the sofa. Heather tried and tried to reach his pediatrician with no luck, so when she took Jonah to the park for his mid-afternoon soccer game, she dropped him off and took Sam to get a rapid Covid test. I went to the game and three-quarters of the way through, I got a text saying, “Yay!!! Negative.” So evidently Sam has a cold that might have been ‘enhanced’ by vaccine side effects. Whatever, he has been hit hard. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day for him.
My Saturday threesome consisted of gardening, going to Jonah’s soccer game, and working on basement organization. Heather dropped by around noon with the van and we loaded up the things in the basement that came here during their move. I thought this would take a whole day, but it only took half an hour. So, I’ll take that extra day to do more clean-up and organization. I ran errands early this morning and then worked on gardening. By the end of the day, I got tomatoes, peppers, and basil planted. The tomatoes took the most time as I planted ten of the paste tomato plants that I grew from seed in an area that I just cleared. And I planted six regular tomato plants in containers that I had to fill with soil. And in the middle of this, I went to Jonah’s soccer game.
What fun it was to watch the soccer game this afternoon. It was the sixth and seventh grade boys against the sixth and seventh grade girls. Of course, I wanted Jonah’s team to win, but as the game progressed, I found myself cheering on girls at times. The boys dominated the ball for most of the game, but the girls did a fantastic job on defense. They had two good goalies that kept the boys from running away with the game and girls on the field that could definitely hold their own with the boys.
At one point Jonah was headed for what looked like a for sure goal, when out of nowhere came Faye who blocked his shot. Faye has a brother who has always played soccer with Sam. Faye’s block brought memories of she and Jonah playing for fun on the sidelines or in an unused adjacent field while Sam and Gus were playing a game. They were Ollie’s age or younger. The years really do fly by so quickly. But after Faye’s block today, Jonah did make a beautiful goal near the end of the game. He kicked the ball high to avoid the deft hands of the girls’ team goalie, and then the ball just arced right down into the net. That was impressive.
Jed and Ollie spent their day at a Cape and Islands Cub Scout affair called The Chuckwagon Derby. Ollie’s Pack won an award for teamwork and a third-place overall award. Not sure what all of the activities were, but I love the idea of winning the teamwork award.
Late last night I talked to my good friend Lynne Kirwin who is still in New Zealand. She was supposed to come home for the summer and fall of 2020, but due to Covid she could not. She will come back to visit family at some point, but as she pointed out, why would she leave a country where the leadership is competent and is allowed to make decisions to keep everyone safe. And everyone follows along with the decisions for the greater good of all. She said that following what is happening politically in this country is so depressing that she just has no desire to come back here except to visit family. I miss her, but I can’t blame her. Life is good in New Zealand, and I am just so happy for her.
by Judy Handley | Jun 4, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 155: Second Day Down Under
Date: Friday, June 4, 2021
Weather: Overcast with Periods of Mist; High 63, Low 57 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
At the end of my second day down under, the basement is coming along. I need to spend one more day moving some things out of the basement to Heather and Jed’s and another day getting the last bits off the shelf and away from the wall. But I did make a lot of progress today. I am exhausted even though I don’t feel like I did enough to warrant this level of ‘tired’. Just a reminder that I am no longer a spring chicken.
