2020 Life Logs, Day 129: Windy and Cold, Even a Little Icy Snow
Date: Saturday, May 9, 2020
Weather: Partly Cloudy, Really Windy; High 49, Low 35 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

The high temp today was 49 degrees, but with the 25 mph wind, it felt colder. For me it was a winter coat, winter hat, and gloves day for my walks with Shadow, even when the sun was shining. It is not as windy tonight, but the wind will return tomorrow. But hopefully we have seen the last of the icy snow. I had heard that areas north of here were going to get snow today, but I didn’t expect to see any here on the Cape. But on my morning walk with Shadow, he looked like he had a bad case of dandruff. Little icy balls were falling from the sky and accumulating on his black coat. He would shake it off, only for it to accumulate again. The snow only lasted about 15 minutes. Then the sun came out, but the wind didn’t go away. So, I kept on my winter gear and Shadow and I headed to Melissa Berryman’s for a people training session. This was a one-on-one pep talk to convince me that I have to come down harder on Shadow when he does something that is not acceptable. I do say no, but Melissa explains that I need to say it like I REALLY mean it and add a little bop on Shadow’s head when he jumps up on people. We’ll get there.

After the class with Melissa, Shadow and I went home to have lunch and then I left him at home while I went to Heather and Jed’s for the afternoon. Because of my back, I really can’t help much with the renovation work, but I offered to pitch in as the laundry lady. Most of the clothes were already washed and dried and just needed to be folded. Then I headed home for a 5 pm Zoom call with my dining-in group. During the afternoon, Olivia White had delivered a little bag containing some of her famous lemon cake to each of our homes, so our first order of business was to thank her for that. This was her Mother’s Day gift to each of us and she included a card that read, “God could not be everywhere, so He created Mothers.” Thank you, Olivia.

2020 Life Logs, Day 128: More of the Same
Date: Friday, May 8, 2020
Weather: Mostly Cloudy and Cool; High 55 degrees, Low 38 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Today was more of the same. More walking and exercising to battle the sciatic back pain, more overcast and windy weather, and more success in doing nothing. I walk the dog, come back and ice my back while doing some computer work, then walk the dog again, and then do a little cooking and more stretching exercises. Then I start over. Today I spent a good deal of time preparing for my book club meeting on Tuesday. The book this month was suggested by me. It is Barbara Kingsolver’s Unsheltered. I read it when it was first released in 2018, so reviewing it today was quite interesting. I had remembered the science connections in the book, but I had totally forgotten that it also includes a lot of references to our current political situation. I’m looking forward to our discussion via Zoom on Tuesday. And speaking of Zoom, this evening I had a Zoom meeting with my wine group. It is a very eclectic group of great people and I always enjoy our Friday Zoom meetings. Tomorrow evening I meet again on Zoom with my close friends in our dining-in group. It will be the second time that we have met on Zoom and I am looking forward to the sharing of ideas.

Tomorrow morning I have an 11 am People Training class with Shadow and Melissa, the trainer. Then in the afternoon I am going Heather and Jed’s to see how I can be helpful. I think folding laundry is my easiest contribution. I can do while sitting down so that it doesn’t involve any lifting or bending over. It is not a huge contribution, but something is better than nothing.

For Mother’s Day, I think we are having a three way Zoom meeting with me, Jed’s mom Marti, and the Goldstones. Then I have invited the Goldstone’s here for dinner on Sunday. The weather tomorrow and Sunday is supposed to be overcast and extremely windy. So it sounds like a weekend of inside activity.

2020 Life Logs, Day 127: Practice Makes Perfect
Date: Thursday, May 7, 2020
Weather: Partly Sunny, Cool; High 56 degrees, Low 44 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

I’ve been practicing doing nothing this week, and I’m getting darn good at it. I guess practice really does make perfect! The reason for the ‘do nothing’ policy is the sciatic nerve pain in my hips, originating from a problem in my lower spine. It is not getting better and today the chiropractor insisted I call my primary care and try to get him to refer me for an MRI. My chiropractor wants to see what’s going on before he continues to try and adjust things. Usually my back issues are caused by misalignment, but that is not the case this time. My primary care is not seeing patients unless it is an emergency, but I do have a Zoom appointment with him on Monday. Hopefully, I can convince him to make the referral for the MRI so that it can be determined if the problem is a herniated disc or bone spurs or just general bone degeneration in my spine. Ugh. This getting old thing is just no fun.

Heather saw her doctor this morning, but she really doesn’t know much more. The doctor thinks her problems stem from stress/anxiety and exhaustion but did test for thyroid and anemia. But no coronavirus test. The doctor’s prescription is light exercise, meditation, and sleep. The problem is that the reason for the exhaustion is not going away. So, we’ll see how this works out.

Tonight, I had my now nightly phone conversation with my sister who lives in the Nashville area of Tennessee. The extreme weather events there are really wearing her down, but today was a calm weather day and she seemed a bit better. Living totally alone during these coronavirus lockdown days has been really hard for her, but I was happy to hear that she seemed better tonight. Then I talked with my friend Helaine Kanegsberg. Alan and Helaine live in a multi-leveled retirement community. They live in their own home on the campus and life is good for those in independent living conditions. Dinner can be ordered and delivered to their door and there are planned online activities all day and all evening. There have been a number of cases of coronavirus in the nursing home facilities on campus, but the staff has been able to control that and are being sought out by other assisted living and nursing facilities for advice on best practices. We agreed that we are blessed to live in a state where Republican Governor Charlie Baker is leading by setting policies based on science and facts. When I see what is happening in different states across this country, I am so glad I live in Massachusetts. At this point, Charlie Baker certainly has my vote of approval.

2020 Life Logs, Day 126: Day Off to Rest Ye Old Back
Date: Wednesday, May 6, 2020
Weather: Cloudy and Cooler; High 54 degrees, Low 38 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

I took today off to give ye old back a rest. I walked with Shadow three times today, instead of our usual two long walks hoping the walking will help with my back. And then I just did a little of this and little of that. Justin called during the afternoon. Their pony Hopi, who had baby Barnaby in March has been sick from some sort of infection, so the vet was visiting today. Justin was running errands while we talked and when he went into the post office, he got the little box of seeds I sent to Jo last week. Hearing that motivated me to do some planting after our call. I planted some sunflowers and luffa gourd seeds in the indoor planters. I have another package of seeds to send to Jo which includes the luffa seeds. I ordered two packs so I could try to grow some here just for fun. There’s a place at the back of Heather and Jed’s new house that has a trellis. Since the luffa vines can climb to 30 feet, I’m hoping we can grow the luffa in that spot and pick our own sponges. It can be a science experiment of sorts. Do luffa plants produce more gourds in Puerto Rico or Massachusetts?

Wednesday has become science day for me. On Wednesday afternoons, the Woods Hole Research Center webinar that Heather hosts is online from 2:30 to 3:30 pm. This afternoon I watched their Zoom presentation on how climate change is affecting the Arctic. Then tonight at 7:30 pm I watched the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution’s now weekly webinar. Tonight the topic was shipwrecks. Both very interesting webinars.

Phil and Margaret are my daughter-in-law Jo’s parents who live in England. We keep in touch via email, but we seem to be corresponding a bit more often during this coronavirus time. Among other things, we compare the response of our national leaders to this pandemic and the work we are doing in our gardens. Their garden is their backyard surrounded by beautiful flowering plants. It is in full bloom right now and the photos they sent today are stunning. Usually their garden is a source of peace and beauty, but in today’s email they shared that last week they had a bit of garden drama. Their 120 year-old American oak tree made a very loud noise as it fell into their garden and partially into their neighbor’s garden at 4:15 am. Miraculously, it didn’t fall on the house or on their two garden sheds. No one was hurt, but it did break their treasured magnolia tree and the fence in a couple of places. Other than that, they are surviving these challenging times just fine. They do not get to see any of their children, but they are keeping in touch via Zoom and FaceTime.

Shadow is no less rambunctious after his day at the kennel yesterday, but I sure am happy to have him back. I was amazed at how much I missed him for the few hours he was away. The trainer, Melissa, sent me a text this morning reminding me that I have to rise to his level of excitement, directing my intensity at curbing his behaviors like I am doing karate. Wish me luck!

2020 Life Logs, Day 125: Mother’s Day Gift a Few Days Early
Date: Tuesday, May 5, 2020
Weather: Mostly Sunny; High 57 degrees, Low 40 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

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Today was not as warm as yesterday, but it was a totally delightful day with plenty of sunshine and not too much wind. It was a perfect day to get the raised beds ready for planting, but I could not do the work without help. So, I offered to hire the Goldpebbles for an hour. What I got was two Goldpebbles and Jed. The ‘paid workers’ put in their hour and then Jed continued until more than I had expected was done. I felt like it was Christmas, but then I remembered Mother’s Day is coming up. Jed, Jonah, and Ollie just gave me the best Mother’s Day present a person could ask for. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Jonah took charge of completing the transplanting of the raspberries and Ollie took charge of spreading composted manure and new garden soil in the raised beds. Before they arrived, I had removed the chicken wire fencing so we could rake the leaves and remove the grass growing right next to the beds. Jed assisted with raspberry planting, removed the grass, moved the heavy bags of garden soil, and when we were all done, he put the fencing back up. I had expected to do that myself, but I am delighted that he did it. I kept trying to do things to help and Jed must have reminded me at least 25 times this afternoon to give orders and do nothing so that my back can heal. I am just not good at doing nothing, but I really appreciated how hard he tried to control my misguided deeds! Tonight my back tells me I did do too much, but I’m hoping that icing and a good night’s rest will put things right.

Early this morning I took Shadow to Melissa Berryman’s kennel so he could spend the day there. Melissa wanted to observe his behaviors. When I went to pick him up, it was Melissa’s husband who gave me the report from the day. And it was glowing, of course. Shadow is a really nice dog, got along well with the other dogs, went on a long walk with Melissa and did everything expected of him. While Shadow was doing all of that, I was here at home missing him very much. It just seemed so weird not to have him by my side. So, basically Melissa is saying that he’s a great little puppy. I just need to find some magical way of getting him to stop jumping on people and nipping at them in excitement. So, I will go spend an hour with Melissa and Shadow on Saturday to get another people training class. I have to figure this out because after being without him today I know that I really can’t give up my little Shadow. He is family and life is so much brighter with him.

Now that I have been given my Mother’s Day present, we are all going to focus on a special Mother’s Day for Heather. She has not been feeling good for more than a week and she is not getting better. I tend to think she is just totally mentally and physically exhausted, but she is going to call her doctor to see if tests are in order. She doesn’t have a fever and has only mild respiratory symptoms, but something is just not right. By 4 pm each day, she barely has the energy to keep moving forward. She has been working full-time at home, overseeing the homeschooling of the three boys, and moving all at the same time. Who wouldn’t be exhausted?! It exhausts me to just think about it. I just hope that Heather’s issue is exhaustion and not Covid-related or a tick-borne disease.

I’m going to sign off and call my sister in Tennessee before I go to bed. She lives just to the east of Nashville and they have had horrendous weather for weeks. Just before the shutdown there were tornadoes that tore apart a great deal of the town she lives in. This past Sunday there were storms with high winds and she ended up with no power overnight. She has basically been alone in her house since mid-March with almost no face-to-face communication. It is terribly lonely for her and the weather adds an additional scary aspect. She wasn’t as prepared for the power outage as she would have liked. She is fine now, but am calling her every night, just to check on how things are going. Tough world we live in these days. We have be prepared for food shortages caused by Covid-related issues as well as extreme weather happenings. I’ve always thought about these things, but I’ve never really taken action . . . until now. The new world we live in gets more interesting with each day.

2020 Life Logs, Day 124: A Very Little Gardening and a Shadow Problem
Date: Monday, May 4, 2020
Weather: Partly Sunny and Warm; High 70 degrees, Low 43 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

For whatever reason, I had trouble getting motivated to do much of anything today. It was mostly sunny and the warmest day we have had this spring, so I am not sure why I wasn’t biting at the chomp to get outside and work in my raised bed gardens. But I wasn’t So I didn’t . . . until later in the afternoon when it got cloudy. When I think about it, the probable cause for my reluctance to go out and do gardening was my back. I had another appointment with my chiropractor this morning after a weekend with a lot of pain. Once he got things back in alignment this morning, the pain went away and I just wanted to keep it that way. When I did go out, I realized that there was no way I could lift the heavy bags of garden soil that need to go into each bed without stressing my back. Instead of doing that, I did a little clean out of leaves and am hoping to employ the Goldstones to help me at some point this week. Later in the evening, on a walk with Shadow, I thought of one solution if I can’t get the boys to come help. I can open the bags where they are and roll them onto a tarp where I can empty all the soil. Then I can transfer it to the raised beds, one shovel at a time. A little labor intensive, but it will get the job done. It is not going to be as warm as today for the next few days, but it should be warm enough to enjoy being outside.

When I was having a late lunch, I saw my neighbor and landlady, 94 year-old Shirley, outside walking around. I put Shadow on his leash and took him out to say hello from a distance. The distance drove Shadow crazy. I really had to pull hard to restrain him and in doing so, he got tangled in his leash. When I went to untangle him, he nipped at my hands. Not hard enough to break the skin, but still unacceptable. And stern as I was, he didn’t stop. This was not the first time this has happened, so I spent a great deal of the afternoon thinking about what to do. My “people training” was halted by the coronavirus shutdown. Training or no training, I have just not been able to keep him from jumping all over the Goldpebbles and nipping at them. They have started calling him a crazy dog. This afternoon, I wrote to Melissa Berryman, the trainer, and explained my situation. She asked me to drop him off at her kennel tomorrow morning and leave him for the day so she can assess the situation. I am going to do that. Then on Saturday or Sunday, wearing a mask and gloves and practicing social distancing, she will have a one-one-one outdoor class with me and my adorable, but much too feisty seven-month-old puppy. When it is just Shadow and me, we have no issues. But he loves other people and just wants to be all over them. Wish me luck on this one. It would break my heart to have to find him a new home, but I know I can’t have a dog who nips at anyone ever for any reason, especially around children. And the jumping on people has to stop. Melissa assures me we can get this under control. I sure hope she is right.

2020 Life Logs, Day 123: Wild Caught Alaskan Salmon
Date: Sunday, May 3, 2020
Weather: Partly Sunny; High 58 degrees, Low 49 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Since I have not been out shopping anywhere since the middle of March, I haven’t had any fresh fish since then. I usually eat fresh fish at least once a week and for the past few days I have been craving salmon. I don’t know if the fish markets have been open for this whole time, but I checked online and found that The Clam Man is open for business. You can order what you want and they bring it to your car. I called and they had wild caught Alaskan salmon. It is $30 a pound, but I didn’t care and neither did Heather. She ordered three pounds, two for them and one for me, and I went to pick it up. Either this was very special salmon or absence really does make the heart grow fonder. I had salmon and asparagus for dinner and it tasted soooooo good.

Another thing that hasn’t happened since the middle of March is a bath for Shadow. So I spent part of my morning bathing and grooming my little guy. I then left him home to dry while I went to Heather and Jed’s to see if I could be helpful. There is certainly no end to the jobs to be done there. They are still working on unpacking boxes while they are engaged in remodeling the second floor bedrooms. Carpet has been removed and today they were working on prepping the walls in what will be Sam’s bedroom to be painted. Once that is done, they can lay the wood flooring. The walls in the second-floor bathroom still need to be stripped of all the glue that held the wallpaper in place to get it ready for painting. And in what will be Jonah and Ollie’s bedroom, they have been working on removing a wall. I think that is almost done, but before it can be painted, they are going to have to have an electrician come in to rewire connections that were in the wall that was torn down. That was unexpected and will slow things down a bit, but progress is being made. The work seems never ending, but the downstairs is looking great. Tomorrow is back to school and work, but Heather is hoping that they can get enough done during the evenings to get the upstairs painted next weekend. Then the flooring can be laid and the boys can move from what they call the ‘big room’ over the garage to their new bedrooms. Because of my back issues, I am not very helpful with all the renovations, but I offered to take over laundry duties this afternoon. I switched laundry loads and folded clothes in between. It was after six when I got home and time to take Shadow for a walk and then fix dinner.

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Cavossa is a disposal and excavating company here on Cape Cod and you can rent a dumpster from them. Heather and Jed had one delivered the day after closing on the house, so it has been a part of the landscape from the beginning. But now totally full. Tomorrow is the pick-up day, so there was a bit of scurrying today to get the last bits in. The Goldpebbles have enjoyed putting things in the dumpster, so I have dubbed them the Kings of Cavossa and took photos of each of them at the top of the heap. Since the dumpster takes up a huge hunk of the driveway, I will be glad when it is hauled away tomorrow. The two-car garage is full of boxes that still need to be unpacked and the driveway has been filled with the dumpster, so visitor parking has been challenging.
Not sure what is on my agenda for tomorrow, but there never seems to be a lack of things to do. No Covid-19 slowdown here!

2020 Life Logs, Day 123: Beautiful Day
Date: Saturday, May 2, 2020
Weather: Sunny and Warm; High 67 degrees, Low 47 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

It was a beautiful day and I am going to be greedy and ask for more. This afternoon I sat down by the dock as the Goldpebbles headed out in the kayaks for a water battle. I was wearing a spring sweater with a tank top under and soon had to shed the sweater. It felt great to just sit in the sun and do nothing.

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Once the water warriors returned, we went back to The Cottage so everyone could take a shower. While one was in the shower, I got the other two on Arcade Bloxels on my computer and on the tablet so they could play the computer game Ziggy recently published.

I took a photo of them playing and one of them waving to Ziggy and sent the photos to him. I had a 5 pm Zoom call with my dining-in group, all of whom have become my closest friends. I had hoped to have the buns I was making for dinner at Heather and Jed’s done before the call time, but that didn’t happen. So, I made those 40-minute hamburger buns while talking to my friends on Zoom. I had given the boys an outside job which they completed while I was Zooming and they played in the hammock and built volcanoes in the sandbox that they converted to a dirt/sand digging box last week. Ollie and Sam had black hands and feet when they were done, but a little soap and water took care of that. And then we headed to Heather and Jed’s for dinner. I took the pulled pork I bought at Wicked and Wood yesterday and the just-out-of-the-oven buns. Wicked and Wood is a trailer with a serious barbecue smoker that sits in an empty lot on the highway close to where H & J used to live. As I drove home yesterday, I saw that there was no one in line, so I stopped and picked up the pulled pork. You just walk up to the window in the trailer, put in your order, and few minutes later someone comes out with your bag of goodies. There is usually a line, but not yesterday. So, I lucked out. For dinner tonight we had pulled pork on buns to which Heather added coleslaw with fresh dill. And Jed made a huge latke. Then Heather brought out a chocolate pudding she made. Life is good.

2020 Life Logs, Day 122: May Day During the Coronavirus Pandemic
Date: Friday, May 1, 2020
Weather: Overcast, Turning Sunny Late Day; High 59 degrees, Low 47 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

The first day of May conjures up images in my head of children dancing around a Maypole decorated with brightly colored ribbons. They would be celebrating the fact that this day is the approximate midpoint between spring equinox and summer solstice. It is normally a day that gives hope that warmer days are on the way. Some people celebrate May Day by filling paper baskets with flowers or sweets and leaving them on the doorsteps of friends. The original custom was to knock on the door and yell “May basket!” before running away. If the person receiving the gift ran after and caught you, they would give you a kiss. If you tried this during the coronavirus pandemic, the receiver would be afraid to touch the basket and you would be horrified if someone tried to kiss you. These are times in which we are living. I don’t write this to be a downer, even though it is, but just as a reminder of what we are living through. “The strict Puritans of New England considered the celebrations of May Day to be licentious and pagan, so they forbade its observance, and the springtime holiday never became an important part of American culture as it has in many European countries.” Those Puritans would probably do well during this pandemic!

Maybe because it is the first day of new month or maybe because I have been staring at my computer for too many hours every day this week, for whatever reason, I thought a lot about living through this pandemic today. I tried to envision what summer will be like. I didn’t like what I saw, so I decided it is just too soon to think about that. For now, for this month of May, I will continue to focus on staying at home, either mine or Heather and Jed’s, and get my food and other necessities delivered to my doorstep. And I’ll continue visiting with friends via Zoom. Because today was Friday, I tuned into Governor Cuomo’s noontime press conference. I think he does a press conference every day, but I just like to tune in Friday to get his take on how the week has gone in New York. I like to listen to him because he makes so much sense. He makes me feel grounded. He ended today’s press conference with a new Andrew Cuomo quote: “When life kicks you on your rear . . . learn . . . grow . . . get backup.” All of us have been knocked for a loop by this pandemic, but some more than others. For those who have truly been kicked hard in the rear, the rest of us must work together to find ways to help them get backup.

My end-of-the-week statement of gratitude: Hurray for warmer weather with no rain. No winter coat or raincoat needed today. Tomorrow is forecast to be even warmer, so this calls for a celebration.

2020 Life Logs, Day 121: A Day of Battles
Date: Thursday, April 30, 2020
Weather: Overcast; High 51 degrees, Low 49 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

It was a gray and gloomy day, a great day to stay inside and have a battle with my computer. I don’t even want to try to explain my back up system for my photos. The first issue is the sheer number. Since 2005, my computer tells me I have 149,000 photos filed in 3,551 folders. That’s the original photos. I then edited each one of those folders and labeled each picture to be posted on my website. And until March of 2016, I kept up with that process and regularly backed up everything on two different hard drives, plus the copy on my computer. But when Mark’s medical condition worsened and we had to leave Windbird and move back to land, I got behind on my editing and labeling. Some folders got done, some did not. And what I have been working on for months, a day or so here and there, has been going back to name photos that were never named and then cross referencing every folder in the three different locations. It is painstaking work, but I think I am winning the battle. I have at least one more full day of work left, maybe two, and then I will be up to date. Whew!

That was my day today. No change with my back problem. Well, maybe just a tad of improvement. So that battle continues. It is still difficult to walk because of the pain shooting down into my hips, but walking is the only thing that helps. So I have to force myself to walk that first half mile until it gets easier. I also had a bit of a battle with food and beverage deliveries today. I still have not been in a store of any sort since Thursday, March 12. Heather has gone shopping twice for both of us and I order from a small organic market in Mashpee to have the things delivered that we don’t get in our weekly Misfits fruit and vegetable boxes that are also delivered. Today, I ordered a delivery of beer from a small liquor store that I ordered from once before. And then I waited and waited. The last time I ordered from the liquor store, they arrived an hour later. And each time I order from the organic market, they deliver in a one-hour time period indicated. Today neither of those things happened. I kept calling to check, but was assured things were coming. Then the truth came out. Both had been delivered to the wrong address. The beer delivery guy thought it was strange that he had called me 5 minutes before he was to arrive, but when he left the beer on the doorstep, I didn’t come to the door. He started to drive away, but then called me again. He was only two doors away at 23 Madeline. I live on a cross street at 23 Debbie Lane. Shadow and I walked out onto the street and he found us. Then I called the market again and the drivers had returned and assured the manager that they had delivered the bags of groceries at my house. I assured them that they had not. Then I wondered, “Did they also deliver my things to 23 Madeline. So Shadow and I walked down there and sure enough, the three bags were on the doorstep. Luckily no one was home, so all goods were recovered. I love living tucked in away from the street, but it is obviously not a good thing for deliveries. Both deliveries had used GPS and had gotten to the right area, but the GPS kept telling them to do a U-turn at 23 Madeline once they had missed my driveway, so they assumed that was the right house. I am going to have to get a big, bright sign posted out on the street because I don’t see these days of deliveries ending anytime soon.

The sunny news of today was that Ziggy has published another computer game. His first one was called Farmhouse Fortress and was only available on an iPad. This one is called Parkour Paul and is available to all. I went to arcade.bloxels.co, searched for Z1G0, that’s uppercase Z, number 1, upper case G, zero, and the game came up. Justin warned me that playing it might make me feel old, and it did. I couldn’t even figure out how to play! But I tried and I am very proud of Ziggy for persisting and publishing his accomplishments.