I figured I’d pop this post with a nice visual. In truth, for some reason, my knee has been bugging me. The thing is though is that it’s my other knee, rather than the one that was bugging me over the summer, which seems to be ok these days for the most part.
I think I’m just going to try to rest it tonight while watching Howard Stern interview Bruce Springsteen on HBO Max. It’s pretty interesting!
Hope you guys all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We had a pretty low key one but that was alright with us. No need to get all stressed out and all that. We kept it pretty intimate between just the two of us and, of course, Carson. The main fixings we all had prepared for us but we did make the LadyDoc’s signature green bean casserole and she also made an baked apple crisp of which I did most of the preparation of ingredients. I think we actually work well together in the kitchen and I even find it a little enjoyable I also finally put the outside grill into storage for the winter marking the end of our outdoor BBQ season..
The Christmas tree, or holiday tree, if you prefer that phrase, was finally put up. We quickly added the lights, decorations, and everything else. By now, we are experts at it. This year, to give it a more classy look, we chose to use only white lights, and also the fact that the usual lights we use seemed to have shit the bed. Why can’t they make any of those that can last? Of course, we also retrieved Peng, a large penguin, from storage that we like to think Carson makes friends with.
If you’re wondering about the photo in today’s entry, here’s the quick story behind it. I found this shirt in my closet recently which must have been hanging there for years featuring one of my favorite models of all time, the legendary Bettie Page. I always liked Bettie Page. Nearly 60 years after her modeling heyday—which made her the most-photographed model of the 20th century—Bettie Page continues to fascinate fans worldwide. The so-called Queen of Pinups tied with Einstein at No. 8 on Forbes’ 2013 list of top-earning dead celebrities, and Time named her one of the 100 most influential people on fashion; her impact is so enduring that Madonna, Beyoncé, and Katy Perry borrow style cues from her (they’ve all donned the U-shaped “Bettie bangs”). It’s interesting to note that her fan base is not just men as it was originally. Such an iconic look. she had a pretty interesting life too, and in many ways, a little tragic. There’s no denying her style or signature look. LD thinks this picture of me looks a little trashy, but I don’t know, I personally thought it was actually a pretty good picture of me. What do you guys think?
I finally downloaded the Libby app to my phone so I could take out books from the library right from my smartphone now that I signed up for a library card after having a defunct one for years. Not sure how much I will like reading off the small screen. The app itself is pretty cool though. very well thought out and intuitive. I didn’t mind the Kindle I had but I do find something satisfying about having an actual book in my hands to read, Anyways whenever you want a book you usually have to put a hold in for it and then when it gets freed up you can read it for a limited time. I currently have two holds on a couple of books I think I want to read. Empire of Pain about the Sackler dynasty and their peddling of their products which led to the opiate epidemic. The other tome I’m interested in reading is Caste, about the unspoken caste system in America. Looks like that one I’ll be reading first.
Watched a show on Netflix last night called Stutz about Jonah Hill and his therapist. It was actually pretty good, Check it out if you think you might be interested in something like that. I also watched a thing on King Tut on PBS, a two episode presentation about his allies and enemies in honor of his tomb being discovered 100 years ago this month, Everyone loves the boy king. Besides him and the pyramids that’s probably how most people get interested in this sort of thing. For me, it was the pyramids and the enormous structures and intricate artwork. And of course the mystery of it all.
I know this entry is kind of all over the place but that’s the way I roll sometimes. And remember! Mark Bethoney Photography to check out some of my artwork for sale. Might make a good gift for you or someone you care about that digs things New England and likes to look at pretty pictures.
Small Business Saturday is here! If you’re looking for a great gift for your home or office, why not consider checking out some of the photos that I have available?
Mark Bethoney Photography to check out some of my artwork for sale. Thank you in advance for considering! You know I don’t like to be all spammy and such but it really, really, really helps out.
P.S. You might see some of my business cards floating around local establishments soon! (Special thanks to LD for that!)
It’s that time of year again! Just a little gratitude can unlock the great fullness of love.
Wishing you all a wonderful holiday full of love and plenty.
Happy Thanksgiving!”
Today’s National Jukebox Day so I figured I’d reiterate a little history of the one that we have serving court in the sitting room across from the fireplace and add some things from last time out.
It’s not one of the super expensive famous Wurlitzer’s but it gets the job done. This particular model is from a company called Rowe/AMi and it dates to 1982. We actually found this one on Craigslist (this was during a period when I was searching for random things for a man cave – it’s also how we obtained a Foosball table, air hockey table, and an authentic full size Ms. Pacman arcade machine – each one with stories for another day, especially the foosball with the kid having the climb the walls to a window to get back inside his building). I’m not sure now what made us decide to get a jukebox in the first place, perhaps just really feeling nostalgic at the time. Anyways, this guy Dave in Braintree wanted to part with it, so we got it. We were able to haggle him down a little bit from the price he originally wanted. I think he said it was from his mom’s house or something when he was growing up but since was sitting in the garage for a while taking up space. That’s the thing about these machines – they’re actually pretty large. In getting it home we actually had to get movers to move it because it weighs so much – all that mechanical workings are pretty heavy – also due to the nature of the innards they had to be very careful not to jostle it too much because it could get cranky. One thing out of place by just a smidge and it gets messed up. It came with the records as well but I think we replaced most of the selections he had in there, as they weren’t to our particular tastes. We prefer pop, hair metal from the 80s, classics, that sort of thing.
It only holds 200 45 RPM LPs. Part of what we like to do is search bargain bins or antique stores once in a while to pick up some. It’s a crap shoot on the quality because a scratched record can ruin the experience, but overall we’ve been pretty lucky, and they’re actually pretty cheap. There’s a antique place in New Hampshire down the road from where we’ve done baby goat yoga that has never let us down in selection or quality. You can also buy some online from some reputable retailers. And yes, an iPod or your cellphone can hold and stream thousands of songs (like LD’s friend Michelle seems to always mention) but we like the nostalgia of actually having a real jukebox. It’s always fun having friends over that can dance along it front of it with us, in fact we did just that about a weekend or so ago with our guests at the time. As I mentioned, most of our selections are from the 80s, but we also have 70s and older stuff. LD has a whole collection of records from her mom and dad when they were younger and those are great, and in great condition too. Every so often, in a need of change, I’ll swap out some records and their labels with new songs and get those into the rotation. Thankfully there’s a website where you can print and customize the labels to your liking for free. We finally created a database in Google Docs to keep track of what we have in there, what’s in storage, and their condition, so that when we go browsing again someday we’ll know what we have and what to look for. That was an ingenious idea from LD, whereas before we just got whatever looked good to us not realizing we already had that one.
It has an electronic selector – you just type the number that corresponds to the number on the song you want to play. There’s a mini-computer in this one that supposedly keeps track of what songs were played the most, etc. but I could never figure out how it actually works – I need to look into that a little bit more. Speaking of, when I have the top open, it’s kind of cool to actually see the robot arm select the record you’ve chosen, grab it, and place it on the turntable. Then the needle comes over and places itself on the disc, and the tunes start flowing from the speakers, which are VERY LOUD if turned all the way up. It’s currently set to free play but the coin mech is all there and can be set to accept coins for play, it defaults to 25 cents per song.
Hopefully, it will never need service, because most of folks who actually know how to repair these things are in their late 80s, gone or no longer working!”
You might be wondering about the décor around the machine. The large hanging 45 over the machine on the wall was a pick from someplace in Maine on the way back from a trip I believe. An antique dealer dealing in kitsch and stuff. He didn’t really want to part with it but he eventually gave it up. The round mat in front of the machine is a personalized gift I got for LD and me. The label has our nicknames on it with the heading “Making music since 2008”, the year we met.
Gametime: Flopblock – I think I’m rather liking this game! Makes you think in certain ways.
I finally got around to and finished a number of things around here that I’ve been meaning to do. After my shifts, there were a number of small duties that required my attention. We probably won’t be sitting outside on the patio under the umbrella for the remainder of the year, so I finally put the patio umbrella in storage. Maybe a firepit outing, but I don’t see us seated by the table. Three bags of oak leaves that I had been planning to bag eventually got filled. I reasoned that now was a good time to complete that because it was sunny and not too cold outside today. I brought in the sage plant, I think I might want to try to keep that one going over the winter, Most of the other plants that are still out there are pretty much done for the season. Sad. I also threw a bunch of the pumpkins that had been being eaten by the squirrels out onto the lawn for them and to decompose naturally.
I switched the propane tanks putting the almost empty on into the grill and the mostly full one into the outdoor patio heater. It might come in handy on a fire pit night, if we decide to have one, with or without guests. I may store the grill tomorrow but I decided to hold off a bit on that task for now. I also relocated the power washer from the shed to a warmer location to store it for the winter. First and foremost, because doing so was instructed, but also so that there would be more room in the shed for additional storage of items.
The accomplishment I’m most proud of is that I finally finished hanging the curtain string lights that LD had purchased quite a while back. To create a cozy atmosphere, I hung them up in the sunroom near the big glass doors. These are replacement lights that dangle across and down for a really attractive look. We had similar lights there for a year or two before they ultimately died. The wonderful thing about this specific model is that it has 8 various settings, so you could do wave, or slow glow, or strobe, etc. I believe she purchased these from Target months ago. I would never use some of the settings but I like either the solid or the wave and slow glow settings. I’ll see which one LD likes the best and go with that one.
I’m almost done reading the book I bought a few weeks ago about the reign of Akhenaton and Nefertiti. I think I’ll be giving it four out of five stars, it’s a pretty good read, especially if you’re at all interested in the 18th dynasty, The duo definitely made a lasting impression! We’re still talking about him today! The first monotheist, Tut’s father, a heretic to many, and what’s up with those hips? The portrayals of Akhenaten himself greatly differ from the depictions of other pharaohs. Traditionally, the portrayal of pharaohs—and the Egyptian ruling class—was idealized, and they were shown in “stereotypically ‘beautiful’ fashion” as youthful and athletic. However, Akhenaten’s portrayals are unconventional and “unflattering” with a sagging stomach; broad hips; thin legs; thick thighs; large, “almost feminine breasts;” a thin, “exaggeratedly long face;” and thick lips. Could be just symbolic though, he did radically change the traditional art style from thousands of years times past. Fascinating individual. Still, wouldn’t it be funny is they could come back and tell all these scholars, “Uhmm, You guys are way off! it wasn’t like that at all!”
Ok, I got a fairly humorous story to relate. It’s from back in the days when I worked at a pizza place. It was an interesting time in my life, I’ll need to try to remember and perhaps share some more of my experiences from that time, just being a 20 year old kid still learning about himself and his place in the world. Anyways there was a store next to the place where I was working at the time. Sort of like a 7-11 but smaller. It’s a place called Q’s Nuts now, but I digress. Anyways, back in the day, there was this woman that used to work there behind the counter. Her name was Cindy. She had pretty eyes and looked a little bit like Lynda Carter, but not as great really. Everyone almost always commented on that. A few houses down from the store lived this guy. I think he might have been from Portugal or something. Married, a few kids, yadda yadda yadda. Well, Cindy was being a bad girl because she had the hots for this gentleman. She would physically leave the store and stand out on the corner of the sidewalk looking for this guy. She used to think he looked like Elvis Presley. Now, I’ve seen this guy, and I can tell you this, he ain’t No Elvis Presley! It was like she was crazy about this dude! So, she’d be out on the corner, slowly turning her hips from left to right (I think she was trying to impress anybody driving by by showing her butt. Very peculiar now that I think back on it), spinning on her red high heels (which quite frankly didn’t look that good on her.) And that’s all she would do. Left-to-right. Left-to-right. S-L-O-W-L-Y turning on the corner. You could go into the store and just pig out or whatever and she wouldn’t care. I guess now that I’m reading this story back to myself it isn’t that funny, it’s just another one of those you-had-to-be-there deals I suppose. Oh yeah, she used to have this rank station wagon that ,uhmm, has a few stories to tell. Someone told me that one night, she was in it naked in the back, awaiting Elvis, splayed and all, and then later that evening, well, let’s just say when the station wagon’s a rockin’, don’t come a knockin’ – IN THE GUY’S OWN DRIVEWAY NO LESS! I felt sorry for the wife. However I am more sorry for just the thought of those two doing the horizontal bop – gives me the willies! *Eeep!*
I was reminded of these characters by going back through the old ancient website when I was much more introspective if also a bit immature, not realizing at the time that these people might have had problems so keep that in mind as I relate this next tale. It brought to mind another character. There was this one guy called Artie. Good customer, sort of looked like Art Garfunkel, but every now and then he would come in the store and be all screwed up, like drunk or high or something. He was a child of the 60’s so basically at least half of his brain cells must have been fried. Every night , or almost every night, he would come in and buy a slice of pizza. Maybe that was his dinner or something, I’m not sure, but he had one almost every night. Always just one slice, that’s it. Nothing else, ever. One night he strolls in, all messed up, and buys a slice. Then he starts acting like he’s in ‘Nam or something and get, like, all weird. He runs out of the store onto the middle of Highland Avenue, which is a fairly major street and has quite a bit of traffic at times. He stops in the middle of the street and his slice falls, *plop* right on the center line. He’s so screwed up, he bends down, picks it back up, eats it right there quick as a whip, and almost gets hit by a car. And it’s as though nothing ever happened. I was scared there for a minute because this dude almost really did get hit! But that was Artie for you. I haven’t seen either Artie or Cindy since I left that place. God, it must be over 30 years by now. Wow! I hope they found happiness in life and are doing ok. I don’t think they’d remember me or I them if we saw each other but maybe if I see a woman who looks eerily a bit like Lynda Carter…
It’s a bit chilly outside today so we decided to lay law, take naps, and get caught up some things. The squirrels outside are working themselves pretty hard decimating the various pumpkins. I can see they’ve dug into at least four of them, the somewhat smaller ones of the group. While the large pumpkins and gourds have yet to be exposed I have noticed bite marks on those as well. I suppose those are harder to dig into so they are going after the smaller ones first. Also, we had 4 tiny white pumpkins which have seemingly just disappeared, I could find no sight of them. My theory is that they took off with them to their lairs for the winter.
Currently Watching: The Keepers on Netflix. Seven episode series going behind the murder of a nun and all the secrets that were uncovered tied into it. Pretty disturbing stuff actually. I’ve also been watching Hip Hop Homicides. Kinda crazy how many there actually have been.
Gametime: Mike & Munk. Pretty cool little puzzle platformer where a boy and a squirrel must work together to escape the traps.
I woke up to see this going on this morning:
Later in the afternoon I was able to discern that this little guy has dug his teeth into at least three of the smaller pumpkins that were around. He apparently is moving them from all about, somehow removing them off the back stairs and moving them onto the concrete patio floor where he can gorge himself.
Yesterday evening I got a chance to head on down to Earth-1 and finally get my physical library card that was applied for online last week. Didn’t really get it to take out books, although that is the main perk, but more so for all the various discounts to things that you get if you have the card and are part of the network. There’s also access to digital media now such as Kanopy, Libby and Hoopla which offer access to movies and shows—plus eBooks, audiobooks, comics, and streaming music. It can be used as a pass to get into museums and zoos or get some major discounts. You can even take out musical instruments now along with some electronics. So some good bennies there.
It was kind of funny chatting with the librarian there while I was getting set up into the system. She asked if I ever had a card there before and I said that I did but it had been many, many years since. Like probably not since the 80s. I mentioned it was a tan color and she knew what I was talking about. “Oh! The tan one with the sticker on the back!” which I remember it did have so I said “Yes!” “Oh yeah, that is ancient.” she replied. “Back then you didn’t even get the card right away, you had to wait for it to appear in your mailbox!” she told me. “Yes!” I replied again, having been reminded of that when she mentioned it. It’s amazing what you can forget but then one sentence from somebody can bring back the memory. Anyways she mentioned if you don’t use it within 5 years you pretty much get erased from the system, so that pretty much must have happened to me probably by the early 90s. It was a amusing little conversation and I was in and out of there within five minutes.
But now I’m all set up for some sweet benefits from the local library!
The people at Duxbury Beach Reservation just got back to me, letting me know that some of my work would be on their calendar for the following year. More information will be provided once I receive it, and they will send me a copy of it for me to keep. I was also asked to a gathering with all the other photographers and similar professionals. I’ll check into it a little further, but for the time being, I’m very eager to share some of my work with the people of Duxbury!
Update! We have decided to go to the awards ceremony early next month! Looking forward to this exciting reception!
Happy Birthday to this little old weblog of mine!
On this day, 21 years ago in 2001 that I went ahead and registered the domain name of this website, Hatchetation!
It’s all grown up now.
You can catch up some older versions of the site through snapshots in time at the Wayback Machine. Of course not many of the links work anymore including much of the graphics that I created at the time. I tended to be much more link focused back then, things I found interesting on the web and shared them. Here’s a link to one of the pages at the time. I remember being so proud of the design, basically a three column table. I do like the colors, Anyways this was done back when I hand coded everything in HTML, and I’d have to upload the updates manually every time using FTP. I still have this massive book on how to write HTML from back in the day. It was quite the resource for me. I wish I could find the even earlier versions of the site back from GeoCities but I think it’s on some zip disk that I can no longer read. Those very first pages of mine were just static and very simplistic. Before 2001 my site was called Markman’s Home on the Web. So I probably really got interested in websites probably back around 1998 or so.
Back then at first I was hand coded everything but eventually I found some software called Greymatter that some dude wrote in his spare time to automate a lot of the tasks like automatically creating the archives for you and helping with uploads and such and even a little of the design. It was pretty cool and I ran it for a long time but it ended up just not being supported anymore and I eventually I had to move on. I probably used it for way longer than I should have been since it pretty much died out by 2005.
Seems so cringe to me to read some of those posts now. It’s just where I was and my mindset at the time. Like, just take a look at this except from 1999:
“You lie down in your bed. You ponder the same things that I do. And yet we have trouble communicating it to eachother, almost afraid of what the other would do or say or take us a way we wouldn’t want them to envision. Still the thought lingers on your brain. It lingers on mine too, like a moth caught in a flame, can’t escape it, the flame licking at your thoughts, exciting, irritating, dangerous? Is it normal to feel this way or just childish foolishness? Can one read too much into something so little? Can something so little mean so very much? Haven’t you ever wanted to see your idols? Or just a new smiling face? Don’t you want to do it? Don’t you want to see things? Wouldn’t it be interesting to see things you see through someone elses eyes and get meaning, no matter how little, from it? Don’t you want to be shy or nervous? Don’t you want to see people as they are? Don’t you want to see what they can be like? Don’t you want to see me, imperfect as I am? Are you any more perfect than I? Don’t you want to feel alive? I do. I’d like to see you, but sometimes I think I’m scared. Afraid to expose myself. What if I’m not all you envisioned. I was safe in my anonymity but it was empty. Would it really matter what you thought? Can’t we just spend some time doing nothing? Maybe we have more in common than we ever thought. Maybe we’ll like what we see, or have a funner time together than we ever thought we would. Or maybe it would be the worst waste of time ever, but it isn’t it worth taking that chance? Wouldn’t it be nice to see the person behind the persona? To watch their body language, to see their voice speak in time with thier mouth? To actually be humans interacting. Real. To look into thier eyes and see yourself. Have I seen you before, passerbys without knowing? Do you know me? The real me? Would you care? Universes expanding and colliding in the space of a few minutes. And when its over, assuming it ever really happened wouldn’t it be grand to maybe want to see eachother again? Why do I get scared when I think that maybe those moments will never come? Wishful thinking, you close your eyes and go back to sleep. Will we really ever know eachother at all?“
Pretty cringe, right? Ah, youth.
Anyways, I’ve mentioned before how I came up with the name of this site. Markman’s Home on the Web was getting tiring and I wanted a “real” domain name. At the time I had just happened to be reading a biography of Carrie Nation at the time and couldn’t think of any other name. Although I did like the thought of the “cyclone of hatchetation.” Plus the thought of a bible-thumping, 6 foot tall old lady all dressed in black coming in with a hatchet smashing things must have been quite a sight. So even though this site has nothing to do with her or her beliefs and such, the name stuck. I had to come up with something and it just so happened at the same time I was reading that book about her. So that’s what I chose. Nothing earth shattering. What is earth shattering is that that happened over 20 years ago! Where did the time go? Holey Moley! In the time since I’ve think I’ve grown and advanced in many areas but there’s still some parts of me that will just never change. I suppose we are like that somewhat.
Maybe I am still pretty cringe.
All right! The dishwasher is finally installed! It’s all done now, the new appliances are in, the floor is in, everything looks great. I spent some time today with the electrician to make sure the washer is up and running, The guy we use is really good. It’s important to get folks you can trust and are reliable. Especially when it comes to house things and such of that nature,
Earlier in the day I had a chance to finally install the remaining storm door for the side so we are all ready for the colder weather now. I also installed the reflector light poles in the front lawn for when plowing occurs. Hopefully that won’t be for a while and we don’t have to much of that but I figured since I was pulling out all the winter tools I might as well go ahead and get those in. I still need to hang some lights in the sunroom that drape down over the doors and give it a warm glow. The ones we had up for the last couple of years finally died so we got new ones that I haven’t had a chance to get up there yet. Soon though!
I had to forethought to pull in whatever plants I wanted to to keep alive over the winter last night as it got pretty frosty. Big change from the 70 degree temperatures we were teased with over the weekend, I even got out all my winter gear as I needed it today.
I’m currently on Stage 144 of that Pill Escape game I mentioned the other day, the sliding puzzle game. I plan to get through all 147 stages. It’s my mission.
Tonight I decided to make a shrimp and orzo dish.
We had a wonderful time last night. LD had made a variety of home-cooked dishes, including meatballs, the “lacy” chicken, roasted veggies, pasta, cookies, and even brownies, in advance of our guests. We had a problem where some of the meatballs and sauce that were being refrigerated started seeping out onto various drawers and things while the cookies were baking, so we had to remove any item that got touched as well as a lot of drawers and shelves and had to wash them down and clean them. It took a little bit of time but any crises were thankfully averted as the cookies balking in the oven at the time didn’t burn.
I think I was feeling a little worried out about the whole situation since there seemed to be too much going on. I discover that I struggle under those circumstances. I suppose I prefer to have control over things and like to act in a measured, linear manner. I don’t seem to do well with a lot of spontaneous things happening all it once, it stresses me out. Even worse, I was reportedly stress eating, which is something I don’t recall ever doing. or at least not to my knowledge or ever noticed before. Go figure!
But because of how exceptional our visitors were, all the worrying and worrying-about was in vain. Although I had some concerns about our visitor’s son, let’s just say that I thought he might be a bit ‘boisterous’, he turned out to be a lot of fun and quite lovely. We even ended up playing a game of Air Hockey in the game room while his mother was playing Ms. Pacman and he was really good. Overall, it was a beautiful get-together with lots of interesting chat, especially after the son found the iPad and started making music on it to pass the time. Even Carson was intrigued and came out of hiding to watch and listen to him play as he sat on the beanbag lounge (something he’s been taking to do a lot lately), and watched and listened to him play. Oh, I almost forgot, we also fired up the jukebox and played a few tunes as well. Yeah, we can be pretty retro nostalgic here!
Needless to say we have quite a few leftovers to eat!
Today’s image is a beach shot from the other day when it was 70 degrees F outside and we decided to hit the beach for a few.
We went to the beach yesterday! In a strange turn of events, the temp today was close to 70 plus degrees and sunny so we had to take advantage of it.
What we didn’t realize until later is that I guess it’s been a while since we’ve walked along sand because when we came back we were all tired and hurting.
Although the tiredness could be due to the open faced turkey sandwiches we got from Gerald’s in Marshfield. Yes, they were delicious and we signed up for their individual turkey dinner for Thanksgiving in a couple weeks. Did that last year and it worked out really well for us.
The rest of the evening was pretty much just laying low, although we do have more stuff to do. We’ll try to cram it in today as we’re having guests later tonight visiting for a few.
Check out this cutest pick of Carson, photo credit courtesy of LD yesterday morning. He doesn’t usually sit next to his doppelganger but for whatever reason he did this time.
In an interesting chain of events, I allowed myself to get signed up for a library card as a service to LD in order to get a deal on some tickets to an attraction that she’s inviting a NJ friend and her kid late this weekend as they happen to be passing through the area. I used to have a card many many years ago but I think it’ll be neat to have one again. They make it real easy these days to get set up all done online. For now I have limited access until I can go to the actual library and pick up the real card. I’ll probably try to set some time aside next week and go get it. I also ended up picking up some more firewood for the outdoor pit so we can have a couple of hang outs this weekend.
When I was young, we couldn’t afford much. But, my library card was my key to the world.”
– John Goodman
Today’s Gametime that’s been keeping my brain moving a bit: Pill Escape. A slider type game where you have to move the pill to the exit while sliding around obstacles in the way. I’m currently in the 30 stages and it’s starting to get real frustrating!
I happened to be able to spend the afternoon over at Earth-1 today. While I was there I was tasked by my mom if I wouldn’t mind bringing in the trash barrels after the truck comes by to empty them, which of course I said no problem. As I got out there and was getting ready to bring the receptacles back in to their storage spot, there was a woman at the front door I guess trying to ring the bell? I asked if I could help her and she asked if I lived in this house. At first I figured it might one of those political things. I replied that I had lived in the house and then she wanted to know if my mom still lived her and if she was alive? (She mentioned my mom by her maiden name). Kind of a weird question to ask, right? She then introduced herself as Irene. Apparently she used to live next door, back when there was a house there. We’re talking quite a while ago, they sold that house back in the early 80s. Anyways, I was able to get my mom out there and she knew her from way back and I do remember playing with her son back when I was like 5 years old through the gate in the back yard. Long story short it sounds like the developer who build the condo that’s there now (for like 30 years prior it was part of a laundromat that bought the property in the said 80s) wants to rent the land that it’s on because apparently this lady’s family still owns the land? They would prefer to just be paid outright. Something in all this seems a little whack to me though. I highly doubt the laundry was paying these people rent to use the land all those years. She mentioned something about a cloud being on the deed, which they cannot find. Sounds kind of weird, but anyway, we got to see a neighbor we haven’t seen in close to 50 years! My mon and Irene exchanged contacts and just might stay in touch moving forward.
I actually don’t remember Irene, but I do remember her son, as I mentioned. I seem to also remember that he had an older sister named Maria if my memory serves, But like I said, I was like 5 years old and they ended up moving pretty soon after. After they sold, the laundry rented the house out for a while. I do remember a band that used to practice there because I can still hear this song they used to practice all the time with the words “Katrina! Katrina!” but sung out like “KatreeeeeeeNA! Ka-treeeeeee-NA!” I found it quite annoying. Anyways after about a year of that the laundry ended up knocking the house down. I remember I wanted to stay home from school that day and watch it (they did have a wrecking ball!) but I had no such luck and was sent to school. When I came home it was already down. The laundry ended up building an extension on the land there where their trucks could unload the linens from the various hospitals that it supported. I know this because I worked there for a time, it was one of my first jobs.
Eventually the laundry merged with some other company and moved their HQ to somewhere outside Union Square and this property slowly became abandoned, They must have sold the building to a developer that knocked down the extension and build the aforementioned 4unit condo there that apparently tis woman still owns the land to. I’ll be interested to see if this story goes anywhere.
I think I need to get my hands on these lighthouse bottles. I don’t care about the booze, I just want the containers! Actually I could live without the current three but if they decide to put one out of Nubble or Pemaquid then I’m definitely going to have to take a trip to Maine to get them.
One last note, I’ve been playing around with some fonts on the site. I still haven’t settled on a favorite yet so the letters may look different here and there over time. I’m never satisfied!
My circadian rhythm is all messed up now. Now waking up and 4:30 AM is pretty normal for now.
Taking advantage of the nice weather I went ahead and made a task list for myself of all the fall cleanup things I wanted to accomplish before the weather turns colder.
I disconnected the back hose and shut off the water line to it and stored the housing in the basement. I dug up a bunch of our tubers and stored them like I did last year so I can replant them in the spring. I raked and picked up a bunch of leaves, mostly ones near the utilities so that they weren’t obstructed. I still need to put some things away back under the sink but I finish that up once the dishwasher is totally installed. Did a bunch more of getting that ready today working with the plumber, it’s almost done. Speaking of new appliances, I fired up the new oven for the first time last night, just a simple bake. It worked like a charm. I may end up changing some of the defaults like the volume tone and certain other things, but generally it rocks. Once that’s in I’ll go ahead and replace the side screen door with it’s winter glass pane equivalent,
I heard about a simple pasta sauce recipe I want to try that sounds super duper easy. Marcella Hazan’s recipe is so basic that it only requires a can of whole peeled tomatoes, 5 tablespoons of butter, a dash of salt, and an onion cut in half. Throw it all in a pan and let it simmer for 45 minutes uncovered. Supposedly it’s pretty good. I need to try this real soon.
I started that new book I mentioned the other day. So far I’m digging it. I do find those people so fascinating, even though they lived over 3500 years ago.
For the latest Gametime I’ve been hooked on Stars Align, a cute little puzzle game that made me think!
I suppose one more try on the Powerball. Right? I got my numbers in again for tonight.
The appliance delivery guys arrived really early the other day. Pretty exciting! Actually the plumber came by later in the afternoon to get the oven installed and up and running. Nice to have a sweet oven with all the new conveniences. I can’t wait to try them all out, like the air fryer and the possibly the griddle. new dishwasher is almost up as well.
No winners on the Powerball so I’ll have to buy another ticket, even though my chances are only has 1 in 292,201,338. But that could be the one, right? Actually I’m cool with any of the smaller prizes.
LD is away on a girl’s trip weekend tonight so it’s just Carson and I holding down the fort!
I grilled up some flat iron steaks the other night. Seasoned with just a bit a salt. LD said they came out great, so that’s what we had last night. Tonight I think I’ll grill us up a bit of turkey burgers. I actually prefer beef burgers but she like the turkey so…
I updated the iPad to iPadOS16. One thing I noticed that I really like is the new weather app. I wonder if there’s something similar for Android? I’ve been running Weawow which I found to be pretty good, but I’m digging the way Apple’s version looks and feels.
Updated the website under the hood, Shouldn’t be any issues hopefully, Let me know if you see anything weird though.(Would any of you really do that?)
I’ve been playing around with some design elements, such as this post with a gradient background and and rounded image that cuts the gradient over to the right. What do you think? It looks best on a big screen like a laptop or tablet, on mobile the picture just goes small and doesn’t look as impressive. Hey, I’m learning new things on my own! And speaking of playing around, I decided to play another Powerball ticket. I mean, come on, how could one not with the stakes so high? When I do play I only play one ticket (and only when the jackpot is super high) – all you need is one.
I ordered a new book to read that just came out. Egypt’s Golden Couple: When Akhenaten and Nefertiti Were Gods on Earth. Yeah, King Tut’s parents and they have quite an interesting story that I’m interested to see what these authors take on them are. So look forward to my review on that.
The plumber came over late this afternoon, I was expecting him at some point although not really today. Anyways, he put in some new line that will go right into the new oven. Speaking of which, the appliances are supposed to get delivered tomorrow morning early, so that’ll be some fun.