Category: General Website

I Goat You Babe

Posted on by Markman
Goats are my therapy. Eustis and I goat this.

I was looking over some new dehumidifiers to replace the old one we had that finally went to it’s grave. Did you know they have ones now that even include WIFI and will alert you to their status? The Internet of Things (IoT) really is everywhere these days.

I’ve been playing around with the website design again, just for a change. If you’re viewing the page on computer you’ll see a bunch of stuff on the right – a sidebar if you will, otherwise that stuff shows up and the very bottom of the page. I might go back to the previous design but for now I just felt like changing things a bit.

What a wonderfully pleasant day today, with cool breezes. Thinking of doing a fire tonight. But for this afternoon, we felt a trip to the sanctuary was in order, plus LD had some produce she wanted to donate to the animals. As we got there we met the owner who mentioned that she was thinking of LD and had “summoned” her and missed her and called us family. That was really sweet. We got goat time which is our favorite part (see photo of Eustis and I!) Eustis is one of my all time favorites (even though it’s a girl’s name the goat is actually a male) but we heard that he’s been having a harder time lately – arthritis and all, the animals are getting up in age sadly and Eustis has been there a long time. Still, just sitting in the sun and the sand seems to make us all pretty happy.

I did end up making a fire around 4:30. We were out there til about 6:50. The fire was nice because it actually felt somewhat cold outside by the late afternoon.

Currently watching: Behind Her Eyes on Netflix.

Vote for Me!

Posted on by Markman
thanks in advance!

If you like this picture I would appreciate a vote! You have to scroll to the bottom of the page, which is dumb. If I win, I promise to make good on your contribution to me in some way!

https://www.visitma.com/state-of-wonder-contest/#g1899161

Also I may go ahead and convert this site from http to https. Stay tuned on that one.

The Weeping Willow Represents Balance, Harmony and Growth

Posted on by Markman
The House with the old Weeping Willow.

The story behind the photo: Kinda bummed about the recycling bin in this shot but as the kids used to say, ‘whatevs.’ I grew up down the street from this house and was always enthralled by the large weeping willow that has been there for as long as I can remember. The house seems somewhat out of place as it’s surroundings don’t really match the décor of any of the surrounding triple deckers. Also the fence out front seems to have some kind of pagoda motif to me. I always wondered if some artist of some sort lives here or not. Seems like the place would lend itself to that. Strangely out of all the million times I’ve passed by this place, I’ve never seen who actually lives there. I just looked at Zillow and although the place isn’t for sale, it’s listed at close to a million and was built in 1900. The house I grew up in and is still in the family was built in 1856, and let me tell, sometimes it feels like it as nothing is to any proper or standard dimensions.

Yesterday Mom made it through her surgery A-OK! She’s due for another one on the other hand in a couple of weeks but now having gone through the process once, we know what to expect. I’d like to give a shoutout to Cambridge City Hospital for their good work. I guess it’s just called Cambridge Hospital now, just outside of Inman Square. Trivia bit: it’s the hospital were I was born! I’ve been spending the last two days over there helping out a bit so that’s why I haven’t updated much. I got a strange email from my webhost saying they needed to delete some giant file that was on the server under my account. I think it might have been some old backup of my previous site although I’ve no recall of ever backing that up. Anyways, I don’t think it matters or that I’d ever need whatever it was.

I found an old picture of me today frequenting the Egyptian artworks over at the MFA. Makes me want to go back there and visit the museum and the Gardner one too. I have a deeper appreciation of the artwork nowadays than I did back then and would like to see them again in my enlightened thoughts.

Happiness is a Way of Travel, not a Destination

Posted on by Markman
Stud.

Ok, the website has been updated to PHP 7.4.15 and all appears to be running fine! PHP is the web language that the site is based upon, if this site was a car then you could think of PHP as the engine, so it’s pretty important for the functioning of the site. So that’s a relief. It should provide better security and maybe even be a bit faster. Here’s a pic from yesterday while I was cruising around in Malden running some errands, taken in a parking lot before heading off to my next adventure. (I always wear my seatbelt). I’m rocking a shirt from PA that LD was kind enough to get me when she visited the area a few years back that honors my grandfather as he worked in a Bethlehem Steel mill for decades until he retired. Ironically I believe the plant was formally at the location that the office that I worked in currently resides. The city removed all the old industrial buildings and railways and replaced them with office buildings at some point, probably in the 1980s I’m thinking, and nowadays more and more luxury apartment complexes. Also under my cap, I got a pretty short haircut yesterday, I feel a whole hell of a lot lighter!

In other news, LD started repainting the coffee table the other day with the legs a darkish grey and the top an eggshell grey chalk color that can actually be written on with chalk. It may need another coat or two but it’s basically looking good and is a good use of repurposing an old piece of furniture that we found on the side of a road for free for the sunroom a few years ago. (sort of like this but in grey colors). While that was going on we also planted some more things, moved around some planting hangers so they’re more visible and could get more sun during the day than where it was and trying to get this place looking good for spring and summer. We are discovering more and more that you have to do things that make you happy, especially these days that we’re living in and the circumstances that befall us. The rain coming over the next day or two should do them all a world of good. Toward sundown I grilled some chicken and salmon last night on the grill for dinner as well, which we ate while continuing to get through a bunch of 21 Jump Street reruns. We’re almost done with the whole series at this point, and so was Johnny Depp considering that he shows up less and less in the episodes. I also want to watch that documentary on lighthouses over the next day or so.

I’ll be adding more to this post later…Never mind, I feel asleep, which sucks because it means I missed the Lowe’s final registration for next weeks butterfly house kit, and I’m really mad at myself for allowing that. I’m making amends to myself by taking on a project to make my own, I’ll just buy all the parts. Tomorrow I’ll be picking up my tree sapling for Earth Day. I’m interested to see what that is going to be.

Wednesday Vibes On

Posted on by Markman
Rockport Motif No.1

Tried Wendy’s $5 Biggie Bag for lunch yesterday. It wasn’t bad. I would get it again. LD also set me up for a vac appointment for this coming Saturday but it was for the J&J and soon after booking they announced a halt on those. I would prefer to get an mRNA vaccine anyway, preferably Pfizer but Moderna as a second choice. Even though the chance of a problem with the J&J would be most likely rare for me, I’m not going to get that one. If they don’t switch it out I’ll just cancel and try to find another opportunity. LD did find me another appointment for Pfizer but its up in Amesbury, I’ll probably just do that.

Fun little article on Little Libraries in the latest edition of the Somerville Times. I’ve been to a few of these in the past. I need to go revisit them, since I haven’t really read anything since the end of last year. Jonesin’ a little bit for something good to get into.

Today was the first day of the year that I mowed the front lawn! Might have a guest or two over the weekend outside so it would be good to make it look nice and neat. Took a little longer than usual because I had to charge up the edger, but it’s done so we should be good to go!

The site is being upgraded to PHP 7.4 on 4/21 so hopefully everything will still work. It should, but we all know how computers can be, Keep your fingers crossed!

Can’t Stop the Spring Loving

Posted on by Markman
Happy Spring!

It was a pleasant surprise to receive some telescoping Marshmallow Roasting Sticks from our friends that we visited last weekend, since we mentioned how great theirs were and we wanted to get some. That was SO nice and now makes me want to fire up the pit and start getting some S’mores action going (even though I’m not a huge fan of marshmallows in general but it’s the experience). Also, if the weather trends warmer next week I may pull the grill out early. I also finally got around the hanging up the glass print of Carson that I got done for free a few weeks back. Now I just need to try out the new vacuum and hook up the Smart TV still. By the end of this weekend for sure!

I looked into those Timber Stoves that the Chocolate Sparrow had. As I suspected they are on the pricey side, but they’re so cool. If anyone would like to gift one to me, I wouldn’t complain!

Just updated the website to the latest version of the blog software – most of the changes should be imperceptible to you all – mostly administrative “under the hood” stuff… hopefully, although I may play around with some of the newer features in my posts moving forward.

Wonky Cell Phone Status

Posted on by Markman
Guess where? Another photo from the archives.

Just updated the site to the latest version of the CMS. You shouldn’t notice any differences, it’s more just stuff I can use to configure my site better or in different ways if I so choose.

My phone started doing some weird crap today. While I was trying to make a call I could never get a dial tone. I swear this thing is on the way out. I still haven’t popped on the new cell yet but it’s becoming more and more apparent that I probably can’t wait too much longer. Hopefully just enough to last throughout the rest of this awful year. It’s not even worth a trade in anymore as they only give five bucks for it.

Work on our holiday card for the year has been completed and will be going out shortly, so if you’re on our mailing list expect to see it in your mailbox within the next couple of weeks.

Puffin Love

Posted on by Markman
A puffin soars over the water.
Puffin fly!

“The greater the obstacle, the more glory in overcoming it.”

The Puffin is by far my favorite bird. I just find them fascinating. They are so small and they live in such a harsh environment for most of their lives up in the cold arctic waters. Little fighters.

Just updated the site to the latest version of the software. Most of the changes won’t be noticeable to viewers except one. Images will now wait to load until they’re just about to scroll into view. The technical term is ‘lazy loading.’ Seems legit so far, if anything seems wonky please let me know.

Powerful Ladies

Posted on by Markman
A painted lady butterfly probing some white flowers.
Painted Lady decides to visit

Just spent the morning with a hatchet hewing down all the fallen tree limbs and bagged them up for disposal tomorrow. Good little workout! (must have been how Carrie Nation felt back in the day – the inspiration for this blog name!) I’m not against alcohol (in moderation of course), I had just happened to be reading a biography of the woman at the time I decided to start the website and I couldn’t think of any other name at the time. 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. Anyways everything’s back to the way it was pre-storm.

Spring and Teacher Parade

Posted on by Markman
Spring came just the same.

“I am going to try to pay attention to the spring. I am going to look around at all the flowers, and look up at the hectic trees. I am going to close my eyes and listen.”

Anne Lamott

Just updated the site to the newest version of WordPress. This entry is just more or less to make sure nothing “broke” in the process. Seems to be alright. I’ll try using some of the new features in posts over time as I feel they warrant it.

I braved going to the grocery store last night. Looked like everyone was practicing social distancing and all. In and out. Work for me has been really slow lately – been watching some training videos but will probably have to take some personal time (PTO) to help with utilization. Kinda sucks and is concerning regarding my possible future but keeping the chin up, it all could be worse.

At lunch today we went for a walk around a block and discovered that all the teachers in town drove around in a parade with balloons and honking horns while waving from their cars said hello to the students around town. It was a nice thing to see today. So great to see them spreading positivity their students. What are you doing to spread positivity?

Testing PHP 7.2

Posted on by Markman
Autumn Trees.

Just upgraded the PHP version on the site – this is only a test for myself to make sure nothing broke. So far seems legit. Main benefits are its faster processing and better security – the usual stuff. In my spare time I’ve been watching how to repair jukeboxes of all things. i believe I can change the needle, adjust the tome arm, and some other various fixes, should they ever be needed! There’s just something cool about watching the mechanisms do their things – I don;t know – maybe I’m just old school. Here’s another pic from the cemetery from last week before more rain and wind really made them bare.

New Beginnings

Posted on by Markman

Hello Everyone! As you can see I’m in the process of doing a complete redesign. It’ll take me a little bit to get everything the way I want it, but bear with me. You may see things come and go as I experiment around. Overall, I think this is going to be a much better site that it was going forward, as well as being designed to display responsively on different devices, although curiously this particular post looks very different depending on device and browser. I prefer Chrome so that’s what it’ll look best in.