Thoughts from Crow Cottage (My Main Blog.)
crowbelle's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Marching in Place Marching In Place...
So rather than calling this a "complaining" entry, just think of it as a "bringing you up to date on things at Crow Cottage" type of entry. Yesterday, our heating man put the finishing touches (ductwork) on his project of installing a new heating unit and oil tank in the basement. Just in the nick of time, too, as days are slowly getting a tad cooler now. Paul was going to have to borrow the money for this at the beginning of the summer when we had the fire in the heating unit and were shut down here, but he put it off a few months, he pulled lobster traps like mad all summer, banked every last nickel he could, and he has just paid the heating guy $5,300 for his work. So we dodged that bullet of owing more than $5K. Which we like. Not owing money, that is. Then one day not long ago (I've really lost track of days) our older dog, Jasmine Rose, took a turn for the worse in the old-decrepit-body department. She is still with us, thankfully, but her rear legs are very very weak and she has such a hard time getting up and down steps...of which we have way too many here! I'd love a one-level home - I can now see why all those retirees in Florida have those nice one-level houses. My Mom had one, and when I visited her, I noticed how lovely it was not to have to deal with sets of stairs every day. Jazzy would like that too, but, alas, we have lots of stairs here. We have taken to carrying her back-end up the steps each time she is outside and needs to come in... for Paul, it's no problem, but for me, it's a real chore since just getting MY OWN body up and down the stairs is a trial! Then one day a week or so ago, our next door neighbor was found dead in his house. This has been very sad. Also, one of my co-workers lost her mother unexpectedly last week, the same day that Leon passed away, and a cyber friend lost her son-in-law to cancer just about the same time, as well. Wow. What's going on?
Then there was the day last week when I turned on the basement light switch, and we lost all power in the basement, and part of the first floor level. What? Got our electrician in that day, he couldn't locate the problem, but he did get our power temporarily working again. He had to return several days later and he found the culprit, an old wire over a ceiling fixture in the kitchen. He did his magic, and now we have power again. it's always something with a house!
It's been hotter than Hades here all summer, too. Which I hate. Summer can be cancelled right off the calendar as far as I'm concerned. I have to keep my a/c's cranked up all season, which costs way too much money, mainly because I work at home and I work on the second floor of a Cape style house which, you may know, gets like an oven in the summer, with no attic to buffer the heat from the sun above. I tried growing tomatoes, peppers and radishes on the back deck. I did get quite a few "grape tomatoes" and a few "deck tomatoes", but my peppers got about a foot tall, produced some stunted fruit and all I've harvested is one tiny little guy, which turned red after leaving it on the kitchen windowsill for a week. The radishes went to seed and I got none of those. So that's the end of that type of gardening for me. We had dug up a huge portion of our front lawn and reseeded it in the spring. All that came up were weeds that grow to about 2 feet high in a few days. I don't get it. I put grass seed down, and got spikey ugly weeds! Typical. So now I am filling up empty containers of water because I noticed we did get a teeny tiny stream of water back and I'd like to have some water here for washing up if/when the water stops again... which I assume it will. Salem is an old city, and the water pipes are old, as well. Not a year goes by but we don't have a water line break, and it's usually up our way. You'd think by now that I'd smarten up and get a supply of bottled water in stock! One thing that was nice was that I had a dinner party for Paul when he turned 60 in August. I can't believe that man is 60 now! It means 60 is not far away for me, as well, but I still have a few more good years of 50's left..but only a few! We had his folks over for a lobster dinner, and also our friends Margaret and her Bill, and Paul's long time best friend (lobsterman) Bill and his wife (also) Margaret (aka "Peg"). It was dinner for 8 here in our tiny cottage, on a very hot and swealtering Sunday recently, and luckily my a/c's were behaving and kept us all comfortable. The company was great and the lobster was fabulous. Even though Paul handles hundreds of lobsters each week, we very rarely get to eat them. They are too expensive for our budget! And then there's the situation with England. We have put it off and thought we could get back there next spring, but it's not looking so good for that plan now. Replacing the heating unit and oil tank, as well as my ongoing dental repairs, has made that dream kind of fizzle. But we will get back there, eventually. Maybe. So that's the news from Lake Crow-begone. (If you don't listen to Garrison Keillor, you won't get that, but nevermind). Wow, I just hit the wrong key on my keyboard and almost lost this entire entry. I'll say so long for now, friends. I know you are all praying for some resolution to the mess they are in down south from the hurricane damage. It's turning ugly now with people blaming people and the victims suffering beyond belief down there. Keep them all in your prayers, as will I. Happy September. Bex 7:25 am - 02 September 2005 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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