Day 31, Year 7: Yes, Judy, There Really is a Santa Claus
Date: Friday, December 9, 2011
Weather: Sunny and Warmer, High Temp in the 50’s
Location: Brewer Fiddler’s Cove Marina, N Falmouth, Massachusetts
On a couple of afternoons this week, Mark has been locking himself in Heather and Jed’s guest bedroom saying he was working on a Christmas surprise. I thought he was doing some sort of wood working project, maybe a carving for me for Christmas. That thought was solidified when he came out and said that his work was going slowly because his skills just aren’t as good as they used to be. Then late this afternoon while we were at H & J’s, Justin called and said he, Jo, and Ziggy were in an internet café in Santa Fe and wondered is we would like to connect via Skype. We have not been able to see Ziggy on Skype since Justin and Jo moved to their new home as the internet connection is just not strong enough to support video. Heather and Jed weren’t home with their computers and we hadn’t brought one with us today, so I thought Mark told Justin we wouldn’t be able to talk this afternoon. But then Mark asked me again if I would like to see Ziggy. My reply was that of course, I would love to see Ziggy. So Mark gave me the present he has been working on. The present was not a carving, but a new computer to replace my old best friend, the IBM ThinkPad. Mark was planning to give it to me sometime before we leave for New Mexico and he has been working to get it set-up. He has heard me bemoan the fact, over and over, that I won’t be able to use our “passage” hours on the bus very productively without a computer. So now I have one which just proves that there really is a Santa Claus. The new computer is a Toshiba. She is a beauty but it is going to take some time to figure out all her nuances. I’m still having trouble letting go of my trusty old IBM, but I’m sure before we leave for New Mexico, I’ll have a new best friend. Thanks, Santa.
We had a good Skype call with Ziggy. He got to see Sam and Jonah and they got to see him. They see way too little of each other. It is so hard when families are scattered across this very big country. At least we get to see Justin, Jo, and Ziggy when they fly to England to visit with Jo’s family. But we are going to have to make a Handley-Goldstone pilgrimage to New Mexico at some point in the next year.
I can’t end without giving an update to the bird war. When we woke up this morning the winds had calmed down and I was afraid to look out on the deck. Without the flags flapping in the wind, I was sure the deck would be covered in poo. What I found was some poo, but not nearly so much as there was before we put up those ‘spiky things’ from Bird-B-Gone. So that was good. I walked up to the clubhouse and when I came back down the dock, I watched a bird land right on top of the mast amidst the ‘spiky things’ Mark put there a couple of days ago. The bird didn’t land directly on the spikes, but just beside them on the mast light. Unbelievable. I went ahead and washed down the canvas and deck yet again and then Mark went back up the mast yet again to put more ‘spiky things’ on the spreaders. They had been cleaned off by the rain but were already accumulating new poo. Boat Works came late morning to start the covering process, but they barely got started when the winds picked up again. They left for today but will return on the first non-windy day. And we’ll see in the morning how effective the newly installed Bird-B-Gone spikes are. I’m hoping, but not hopeful. These birds are relentless.
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| 111209 Day 31 Cape Cod, USA–Birds and Birthday |
