2023 Life Logs, Day 112: Earth Day 2023
Date: Saturday, April 22, 2023
Weather: Mostly Cloudy; High 53, Low 48 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Invest in Our Planet … the theme for Earth Day 2023. I hope each of you spent a bit of time today considering how you presently invest in our planet and how you can do more.

I had a good day with an intended relaxed morning. I headed out of here by 10:00 am to be out of the way of the realtor who was having an Open House here today. I took dirty laundry and Shadow to Heather and Jed’s, fed the kitties, started the laundry, and secured Shadow in the ‘red room’ over the garage. It is the bonus room and is called the ‘red room’ because the carpet is a deep red.

Once Shadow was settled in, I left for the boat. As I stated in last night’s log, I hoped to be finished with varnish removal today. Silly me. I made great progress, but some of the places are just too hard for me to get to without compromising my back and knees. I have a bit more I can do, and then I will have to wait for help. I heard from Heather that they got caught in terrible traffic in Connecticut and were going to have to stop for dinner and arrive home around 9 or 10 pm. Hopefully they are home by now. She invited me to dinner tomorrow night so I can hear all about the week in DC.

Just got off the phone with my friend Lynne Kirwin in New Zealand. In only six weeks she will be coming to spend the summer in Michigan with her family. And she will come to visit with me as well—just not sure of the timing yet. Whenever, it will be great to see her.

2023 Life Logs, Day 111: Almost There with Varnish Removal
Date: Friday, April 21, 2023
Weather: Partly Sunny; High 54, Low 42 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Today was dedicated to varnish removal. My plan was to be at the boat by 10 am, come home for lunch and rest at 1 pm, and back to the boat at 3 o’clock. I did not expect another house showing today as tomorrow there is 3-hour Open House. But just before I left for the boat, the realtor called and said there would be a showing at 2 pm and the dog and I would need to vacate. I got things ready, which delayed my departure a bit, and headed to Karen Baranowski’s to pick something up before going to the boat. When she heard that I might not be able to return to the boat in the afternoon because I had nowhere to leave Shadow, she offered to babysit for the afternoon. That worked out great. Thank you to Peter and Karen. And the thing I picked up was a tube of NAID arthritis topical pain reliever for my right knee. She suggested that I try it, and it did the trick. I am going to try applying it each morning and at night and hope it keeps working as well as it did today. Another thank you to Karen.

I returned home at 1 pm to pick up lunch and Shadow, dropped him at Karen and Peter’s, and then went into town to Heather and Jed’s to feed the kitties. I ate lunch there, relaxed a bit, and then headed to the boat. I still have the bowsprit, the outside of the toe rail, and a few tight spots in the cockpit to tackle tomorrow. I would be elated if I could get that done tomorrow so I can start sanding on Sunday. Shadow and I leave here tomorrow at 10:30 am as the Open House begins at 11 o’clock. I am going to leave him in the bonus room over the garage at Heather and Jed’s tomorrow. Since I have never done that before, I’ll come check on him and eat a late lunch around 2 pm and then go back to the boat for another hour or two. Here’s hoping I complete the varnish removal tomorrow.

2023 Life Logs, Day 110: Meeting Here, Meeting There, Meeting, Meeting Everywhere
Date: Thursday, April 20, 2023
Weather: Partly Sunny; High 54, Low 42 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

What a day! It started like any normal day with a walk with Shadow. But then I had to go ‘meet’ with my chiropractor in Mashpee. From there I drove to Falmouth to ‘meet’ with Leo and Mel Mel to feed them. I came home and got lunch ready for my lunch meeting with Christina Brodie who will be co-president with me for Encore starting on July 1. We invited the current co-presidents to ‘meet’ with us so we could pick their brains on what they have learned during their tenure. That two-hour meeting lasted an hour and 15 minutes longer than expected, so I had to quickly take Shadow out for a pee break, go pick up Karen Baranowski, and head for Midge Frieswyk’s condo to ‘meet’ for an early dinner with my dining-in group. I got home, talked to my sister for a few minutes, and then my neighbor Andrew popped in for an impromptu hello. We had a great ‘catch up on life meeting’. He just left and it is now time to go to bed. I will be so glad to ‘meet’ my pillow tonight!

2023 Life Logs, Day 109: My First Encore Meeting
Date: Wednesday, April 19, 2023
Weather: Mostly Cloudy; High 52, Low 39 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

After seven years in Falmouth Newcomers, or at any time you choose, you move on to the sister organization called Encore. That move for me was today, one year early. The premature exit from Newcomers was because my name was brought forth today to serve as Co-President of Encore with my good friend Christina Brodie for the next two years. The proposed slate of officers was approved, so Christina and I will take over the helm on the first of July. I am so happy to be able to serve in this position as a way of thanking Newcomers for all it has done for my life after losing Mark. Nothing really changes will you move ‘up’ to Encore. I’ll be in the same book club, the same dining-in group, the same wine group, and will continue as the co-leader of the field trip and the public policy groups. And while doing that, I hope to help make the transition from a Newcomer to an Encore member seamless for all.
Tomorrow, I host a working lunch here at the cottage with Christina and the current Co-Presidents of Encore. And just as that ends, I head to an early gathering of my dining-in group. Two members have to drive to the Boston area tomorrow evening, so we are having a very early dinner. I am providing dessert, so this afternoon and evening I have been baking a flourless chocolate decadence cake for dessert (a three hour affair) and a quiche for lunch tomorrow. There was no time for boat work today and there won’t be time tomorrow. But Friday and Saturday, I have dedicated my full time to varnish removal and sanding.
I got a text from Jonah today asking how the kittens are doing. They are now full-grown cats but will always be kittens to all of us. He also sent me some photos he took when they toured the Capitol today. He said they are having a great week in DC, but obviously they miss Mel Mel and Leo. I’ll send photos tomorrow morning when I feed them.

2023 Life Logs, Day 108: Celebrating Earth Day a Little Early
Date: Tuesday, April 18, 2023
Weather: Foggy with Drizzle, Windy; High 57, Low 42 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

My day started by taking Shadow to his every six-week ‘beauty shop’ appointment to be groomed. I dropped him and went to the boat to work for a couple of hours. Just before noon, I headed into Falmouth to feed the cats at Heather and Jed’s and then home to grab a bite of lunch before going on a little field trip to the MASSTC (Massachusetts Alternative Septic System Test Center).

The Massachusetts Alternative Septic System Test Center is the nation’s leading third-party testing and research facility for innovative/alternative (I/A) onsite septic treatment technologies. There are only three test centers in the United States and the work they are doing is so important for the environment. Thus, the title of this log. I felt like I was celebrating Earth Day just a couple of days early. Our guide was a young man named Bryan Horsley. Bryan is the site Operator and is passionate about protecting the local environment.

But what is an innovative/alternative (I/A) septic system test center? It doesn’t sound exciting, but I found it to be one of the best Newscomers field trip I have attended. It is just what the title indicates, a site where alternative septic systems are tested. But why is this necessary? It took Bryan an hour and half to explain it to us, but one of his explanations stuck with me. Our current way of dealing with human waste is linear. We flush and everything goes into a city sewer system or septic tank in our yard. If it is the latter, the solids sink in a tank and the liquids go through a pipe to a second tank and eventually into plastic pipes with holes in them in a leech field of sand. The liquid leaks out of the pipes into the ground and eventually finds its way into the water table or into a waterway. A huge amount of nitrogen and phosphates are in that liquid. The alternative systems are circular. Everything can be the same up to the leech field, but in many of the alternative systems, the leech field. There is still sand, but under the sand there can be wood chips or silt or both. As the liquid filters through this organic material, nitrification takes place. The ammonia in our urine combines with oxygen changing the nitrogen into nitrates and nitrites which plants can absorb as food or fertilizer. So instead of sending harmful nitrogen into our waterways, the nitrites and nitrates can be used to feed plants. There are all kinds of exciting innovations. I am not explaining this very well as I have a lot to learn. One of the main goals of the center, other can research and product testing, is education and outreach. Our guide, Bryan, did a great job of explaining the systems and getting all of us to want to learn more.

I headed back to the boat after the field trip and made a lot of progress in varnish removal. I won’t get to go back to the boat until Friday, but I am hopeful that I might complete the removal Friday and start sanding on Saturday. That might be a bit too ambitious, but I can hope. I stopped working this afternoon when I got the text that Shadow was ready for pick up. We came home and both of us crashed. My right knee desperately needed to be elevated and iced, so we sat on the sofa, and I watched a couple of episodes of Succession. I watched one episode the other day and got hooked.

2023 Life Logs, Day 107: Patriots’ Day
Date: Sunday, April 17, 2023
Weather: Foggy with Drizzle; High 56, Low 47 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Since 1894, the third Monday in April has been a state holiday in Massachusetts. It is Patriots’ Day. The Boston Marathon is run on this day each year and I think most Massachusetts schools have their spring vacation this week so that students really only miss four days of school.

I didn’t run the in the Boston Marathon today, but I ran my own little marathon. Xfinity was arriving between 8 and 10 am to check out my equipment and update if needed. I was called last week and told that they would be coming even though I had no issues. The technician arrived at 8:30 and his speed testing showed I needed a new modem. That was up and running immediately, but then we discovered that my computer was not “accepting” the new equipment. He got that worked out, then discovered my printer had an issue as well. An hour and a half later, all was well.

At noon, I promised Jed I would be at 43 Grasmere as technicians were coming from Solar Rising to install a new monitoring system for the solar panels. They said they would arrive ‘early afternoon’ and they meant it. I arrived exactly at noon and before I got into the house, they arrived. I took the opportunity to start a laundry and feed the cats as I waited. Then I was off to the boat to continue my varnish removal project. Today’s goal was to get the varnish off the deck sides of the cockpit coaming. It is not just a straight run and the deck is narrow. Difficult to do, but I was making progress when I got a call informing me that there will be a showing of the cottage tomorrow morning. I thought the first showing was an open house on Sunday. But I was told this afternoon that the open house has been moved to Saturday. I had planned to get the cottage ready on Friday, but the showing tomorrow morning meant I needed to head home to do some quick cleaning. My bedspread was in the washer at Heather and Jed’s, so I went there, dried the bedspread, and then went home to clean. It was 6:00 when I got home and by the time I took Shadow for a walk and played fetch with him, my energy level was running low. I did a little cleaning tonight and will get up early and do more in the morning. But Shadow has a 9 am appointment with the groomer, so I will have to leave here by 8:30. Not much time to clean, so whatever I can do will just have to be good enough.

2023 Life Logs, Day 106: A Little Bit of Everything
Date: Sunday, April 16, 2023
Weather: Foggy Morning with Rain, Partly Cloudy; High 61, Low 48 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Sam and I left at 7:15 am headed to Cranston, Rhode Island, just a little further than Providence. It stopped raining before the game started, but it was cloudy and chilly. Heather and family arrived just before the end of the game and then they headed to Washington, DC, and I headed home. I got home around noon, took Shadow for a walk, ate lunch, regrouped, and headed to the boat. My focus today was removing varnish on the outside of the cockpit coaming. This requires sitting in some very awkward positions, so my old body can only do a bit a time. In between all of this, I was on the phone a significant amount of time dealing with issues with my sister. Then I changed gears again, headed home to pick up Shadow to take more bags of soil, a large, round planter, and a bag of echinacea dug out of my raised beds to transplant at the house on Lakeview. The echinacea plants were started from seed by Ollie in the spring of 2019. They thrived and have grown and spread, and I just can’t leave them all behind. Shadow and I explored what will be our new yard and found the just right place for the echinacea—in the planter with a hardware cloth fence around it so the rabbits can’t eat it. While we were at the Lakeview house, a neighbor from across the street came over to meet me and to tell me he had taken packages that arrived from Amazon and put them behind Lynda’s house. I ordered two new metal raised beds and didn’t expect them until next week, so I was very grateful that Andy put them in a secure place for me. He saw all the bags of garden soil I have been moving and offered top soil that he has piled in this driveway for our gardening project. Nice to know I will have nice neighbors.

2023 Life Logs, Day 105: Boat Work
Date: Saturday, April 15, 2023
Weather: Partly Cloudy; High 66, Low 51 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

It was a boat work day. I met Heather, Jonah, and Sam at the boat this morning and we all worked together on the varnish stripping process. It was so much fun to have all of us working and the boys seemed to really enjoy it. Ollie and Jed were off to Nantucket today for a soccer game, so they missed the boat fun! Heather, Sam, and Jonah had to leave at 1 pm as Heather had to take Sam to Rhode Island for a late afternoon soccer game. I went home for a mid-day break and returned mid-afternoon to do a little more work.

Tomorrow is an early one. I am picking Sam up at 7 am to take him to Cranston, Rhode Island for 9 am soccer game. Heather and gang will meet us after the game and the Goldstones will travel on to Washington, DC, to visit with Grammy Marti for school vacation week. I will return home and after lunch, I will go to the boat to work for 2-3 hours. Three hours at a time is about my limit.

2023 Life Logs, Day 104: Trip to Yarmouth, Boat Varnish Removal
Date: Friday, April 14, 2023
Weather: Sunny and Hot; High 78, Low 47 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Last week I was still wearing my winter coat and today a short-sleeved shirt was too hot. But I love hot, so no complaints.

My morning included a trip to Yarmouth to the RMV to apply for my REAL ID. The deadline for applying for this has been extended to 2025 in Massachusetts, but I figured I should go ahead and get one now. I made a stop at Trader Joe’s in Hyannis and then came home to play with Shadow and have lunch. This afternoon I went to the boat to remove a little more varnish. To do this on a sailboat, you basically have to be a contortionist. Not my forte, but I continue to make progress. Then it was home to fix dinner and relax a bit before starting again tomorrow morning. I’ll get all of that varnish removed, one day at a time.

2023 Life Logs, Day 103: Another Productive Day
Date: Thursday, April 13, 2023
Weather: Sunny and Warm; High 74, Low 53 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

A miracle happened this afternoon. I arrived at the boat to try one more to see if I could get power to the boat to run the heat gun. I went straight to the barn where the extensions cords are plugged in, and everything looked good. I climbed up into the cockpit, plugged in the heat gun, and presto. It was working. I know the old heat gun only runs for about 15 minutes before it needs to cool down, so I set my phone alarm. When the alarm went off, I switched to the new heat gun I bought today at Lowe’s. An hour and a half later, it was still going strong. I cannot tell you how excited I was. After days of frustration, it felt like a miracle. I have no idea why things worked today and not last week, but I’ll take it. I still have about two more days of work to get the cockpit coaming stripped of the old varnish, inside and outside of the cockpit, but tomorrow if the power is still working, I can at least finish the inside.

This morning, after I took Shadow out for a walk. When we came back inside, I got in the shower and Shadow started barking and barking. I could not figure out why he was barking, but when I got out of the shower, I looked out the window and saw three men walking in the backyard. It was the landscapers whose job it was to get both properties ready to show. Before I left for a Newcomers monthly general meeting, they had accomplished a lot. So, I took off for the meeting as the slate of officers for next year was being presented. I was on the nominating committee and wanted to be there to support the new slate. I left before the program started, however, to stop at the house on Lakeview to drop off another carload of buckets and bags of garden soil. I then drove home to have an early lunch and take Shadow for another walk before driving north to Wareham to drop off my Honda generator to be serviced. And since Lowe’s was in the neighborhood, I stopped to buy another heat gun. I bought one the other day, but I am going to return it as the one at Lowe’s had a much better review. It was after 2:30 when I got to the boat, and I worked for the next three hours removing old varnish.

It was a productive day and I’m hoping for another one tomorrow. I have to drive to Yarmouth early tomorrow to apply for my Real ID. I’ll probably come home to have lunch and then head to the boat for the afternoon. I sure hope the ‘power’ is with me tomorrow as it was today.

Congratulations to Tom and Detta Porat and the parents of a brand new baby girl. Sarah had a 7-pound 3 ounce baby girl today. Her name is Alanis Lee. The middle name is after Tom’s mother who passed away a few weeks ago. Alanis is Irish and means harmony. In Hawaiian it means precious and cheerful. From the photos Detta sent, I could see that she is definitely precious and making everyone cheerful. And our country could certainly use some harmony right now. Welcome, Alanis Lee Jefferson. I can’t wait to meet you.