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Because the world is filled with useless things.
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If that’s the case, I’m guessing he’s doing it wrong.
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No, it’s not nails or ears.
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If my gut bacteria is going to outlive me…. why am I so concerned with pre and pro biotics now?
And speaking of dead bodies.
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Damn, and here I have a hard time getting the husband to mow around my flower beds.
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I don’t believe I’ve had the pleasure. But I’m also not clicking on that story.
🤣
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Husband is back to work, and back to work these days means teleworking from home. While I’m not exactly thrilled with this situation, Lord Dudley Mountcatten is ecstatic.
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He’s been a daddy’s boy from day one and simply tolerates me because I am the opener of the can.
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Having a home office with a cat in residence can be challenging.
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Reports and correspondence take a back seat when the royal feline says attention must be paid.
❤️
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Eleven days in, this is where we are.
Status: Suspended. No progress. Work stoppage until further notice.
Mood: Annoyed. Aggravated. And basically bat shit crazy.
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Part one, the windows –
We have two brand new custom built windows that are leaking air, gap ridden and nonfunctional. Our bedroom is still empty, torn apart, blind and curtainless.
We’re waiting to hear from one of the five specialty crews from the manufacturer who have been assigned to fix our problem. They cover the entire state and while they could be here tomorrow? They could also be here two weeks from now.
We are not happy.
Part two-
When last reported, our contractor had been sent out into the world to procure a door.
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A stinky little nothing special door which I figured everyone would have in stock and didn’t bother to special order because it would take too much time. I was wrong.
Boy, was I wrong.
Our contractor scoured the area, checking big box stores and small mom and pops. He even tried the Habitat for Humanity re-store.
Nada. Nothing. Zilch.
There isn’t a replacement door available in the size we need anywhere within a 300 mile radius. And probably beyond that. Hell, at this point I’m beginning to wonder if they exist at all.
So we’re going to have to do the thing I didn’t want to do in the first place, special order one. The contractor has been tasked with that job because if I have to think about doors any more than I already have? My brain will explode.
And because he’s special ordering one door?
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We’re having him special order a replacement for the other door which will eventually have to go as well. At least this way they’ll both be new at the same time.
As I write this, I have no idea of the lead time on special order doors. With my luck it will be sometime in mid December when there’s 3 feet of snow on the ground.
As always…
I’ll keep you posted.
🥴
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This is what gun violence looks like.
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18 innocent lives lost.
They were bowling.
They were playing corn hole.
Yes, the gunman was found dead so we’re safe.
Or are we?
I’m not going to type his name because he’s not who I want to remember.
I’ll type these names instead…
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Ronald G. Morin, 55
Peyton Brewer Ross, 40
Joshua A. Seal, 36
Bryan M. MacFarlane, 41
Joseph Lawrence Walker, 57
Arthur Fred Strout, 42
Maxx A. Hathaway, 35
Stephen M. Vozzella, 45
Thomas Ryan Conrad, 34
Michael R. Desiauriers II, 51
Jason Adam Walker, 51
Tricia C. Asselin, 53
William A. Young, 44
Aaron Young, 14
Robert E. Violette, 76
Lucille M. Violette, 73
William Frank Brackett, 48
Keith D. Macneir, 64
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Maine is still reeling from the shock.
We thought things like mass shootings couldn’t happen here.
We were wrong.
Hold your loved ones close tonight.
💔
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As you know, I’m an avid reader who buys a lot of books. Some I love, some I don’t and some I want to enjoy but can’t.
Enter S.
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It arrived wrapped in plastic with a removable hard box and seal.
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I’d read good reviews of it and was eager to jump in.
S, conceived by filmmaker J. J. Abrams
and written by award-winning
novelist Doug Dorst, is the chroni-
de of two readers finding each other in the
margins of a book and enmeshing themselves in a deadly struggle between forces
they don’t understand. It is also Abrams
and Dorst’s love letter to the written word.
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Made to look like an old library book, I admit I was intrigued.
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The synopsis:
One book, two readers. A world of mystery, menace and desire.
A young woman picks up a book left behind by a stranger.
Inside it are his margin notes, which reveal a reader entranced by the story and by its mysterious author. She responds with notes of her own,
leaving the book for the stranger, and so begins an unlikely conversation that plunges them both into the unknown.
THE BOOK: Ship of Theseus, the final novel by a prolific but enigmatic writer named V. M.
Straka, in which a man with no past is shanghaied onto a strange ship with monstrous crew and launched on a disorienting and perilous journey.
THE WRITER: Straka, the incendiary and secretive subject of one of the world’s greatest mysteries, a revolutionary about whom the world knows nothing apart from the words he wrote and the rumors that swirl around him.
THE READERS: Jennifer and Eric, a college senior and a disgraced grad srudent, both facing crucial decisions about who they are, who they might become, and how much they’re willing to trust another person with their passions, hurts, and fears.
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As soon as I opened it I saw reading was going to be an interactive experience.
..
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It was positively crammed with letters, newspaper articles, post cards…
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There was even a hand drawn map on a paper towel. You actually had to be careful how you held this book when reading because things fell out all over the place. And while that might sound like fun, to be honest… it wasn’t.
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It was a confusing mish mash of multiple voices and long drawn out tales. The book itself was a story, and a pretty lame one at that. Then there was the translator who wrote the introduction and footnotes about the mysterious author. But the most maddening part? The margin notes conversation between two people who tell yet another story.
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There are so many of them they completely take over the pages. I found it virtually impossible to follow all three narratives at once and tried various ways to finish this clearly epic undertaking.
Did I mention the book literally stunk? As in physically smelled weird. I think they were going for eau de la musty library but it came across as noxious chemical to me. 🤢
As much as I hate to admit defeat when it comes to reading, I couldn’t finish this book.
Well… okay, I could have.
I simply didn’t want to.
J.J. Abrams needs to stick to Star Wars and the visual medium of film because this thing was a mess.
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Remember the long searched for door we bought the other day?
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The one the salesman assured us was rated for exterior use?
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Turns out it wasn’t.
And according to our contractor, it’s not even close.
Of course it wasn’t what we needed. This is a renovation project at our house where all attempts to improve things are doomed.
Destined to fail.
And more than likely cursed by an angry pickle God.
As I said previously, I’m done. We will take this useless door back to the store and send our contractor out to buy the next one. Maybe he’ll have better luck.
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It’s a sad irony that the following post was scheduled for today. A mere 41 hours after a gunman murdered 18 of my fellow Mainers.
Our beloved state is still reeling from the shock and my area is still sheltering in place. Crazy times.
My neighbor posted this on FB today.
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Another child has lost another parent. It’s heartbreaking… and no state, no city, no town can ever be immune.
We thought we were.
We were wrong.
And now… my post.
Even with all the bad luck we’ve been having trying to renovate our house, there’s no place I’d rather make my home than Maine. It’s laid back, scenically beautiful, has abundant seafood and the most craft breweries per capita in the nation.
Here are a few other reasons I love it.
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That’s my kind of library.
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🤣
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Thanks mom.
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Someday I’m going to have to drive by this woman’s house and take a peek at her gardens. Judging from the amount of flowers she gives away, it must be amazing.
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Halloween is right around the corner and these are some pretty impressive arachnids.
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Yes sir.
That’s a spider.
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Just a simple question.
No hard thinking required.
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What do you reach for when you’re feeling down?
When it’s dark and dreary outside?
When the world is simply too much… what’s on your plate?
For me, it’s homemade macaroni and cheese with a buttery crumb topping. The ooey, gooey packed with fat and carbs, no such thing as too much cheese kind. I may not be able to fit into my jeans after I eat it… but I’ll be smiling when I reach for my stretchy pants.
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How about you.
What’s your go to comfort food?
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I’m sure by now you’ve all heard of the crazed gunman on the loose in Maine. He shot and killed 18 people yesterday at two locations in a town a half an hour from us.
My husband’s cousin bowls at the site of the first shooting.
The gunman’s car was found abandoned less than a quarter mile from my husband’s other cousin’s house.
A third cousin is a police officer tasked with searching for the killer.
We have friends and family in harms way.
As I write this we are still under shelter in place orders in our town.
In Maine.
Where this sort of thing doesn’t happen.
Until now.
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I read the following on a woman from Maine’s Facebook page today. It says everything you need to know about us.
💕
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Ah, Maine.
Majestic, beautiful, glorious Maine.
We live here not because it’s the most convenient, or because there is an abundance of opportunity for great success…
In fact, it’s the opposite, really. It takes forever to get anywhere, and don’t get us started on the weather…or, please do because we secretly love to talk about it, argue and complain about it.
We live here because our hearts are here. We are Mainers.
We live here because even though Maine is ‘YUGE,’ if someone asks, “Do you know ‘So and So’ from whatever town you’ve said you’re from, chances are we do know ‘em. Sure we do!
We live here because we can live through blizzards and freezing temperatures every year, and won’t hesitate to help shovel out our neighbors or push strangers cars out of snow banks…even if we are wearing pajamas and slippers.
Mainers.
We wear shorts until it snows and roll our windows down as soon as we hit 40 degrees in April…a tough breed, if you will.
We think you’re weird if you don’t like Lobster or if you’ve never heard of Fluff…but we’ll talk to strangers like we’ve known them forever, hold the door and wish them a good day.
When anyone from outside of Maine asks where we are from, we just say, ‘Portland’ because, well…you know.
We live here. We love here. We know each other and love each other.
Mainers.
We wanted to think that this could or would never happen here.
We are blindsided today.
We are stunned, scared, confused, sad, pissed, worried and feeling all of it.
But we are feeling it together.
Our eyes have been cruelly opened and our magnificent state is forever changed.
But we have not changed. Our Mainer hearts are still beating together.
We need each other more today than maybe ever before.
None of us are alone, you are not alone.
Reach out to neighbors today, help whomever needs it. Keep your pajamas and slippers on if you want, grab a Dunks and be a Mainer.
Pray and send positive thoughts to the victims, thank law enforcement, first responders and healthcare workers. Give blood.
When the dust settles and the devastation lessens in time, we will all still have each other. And together we will be ok again…
Someday.
Mainers forever.
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When we were finished finding a suitable microwave oven replacement, we strolled down the street.
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Downtown Bath is a quaint waterfront area filled with quirky shops and restaurants and we were hungry.
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J R Maxwells us a family run place that’s been a mainstay for 44 years. We’ve had many meals there… some were perfect, others less so.
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Starting with their signature Cosmo…
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I opted for a less than satisfying cup of clam chowder. Thankfully the homemade bread made up for the soupy disappointment.
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Bath is a shipbuilding town with a rich maritime history and the restaurant’s decor reflects that.
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But while the husband’s prime rib looked wonderful it turned out to be chewy and flavorless. Talk about disappointing.
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Thankfully I ordered crab cake stuffed jumbo shrimp and they were heavenly. Rich and buttery, filled with tender crab. A definite win.
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Photo of the second largest employer in the state, Bath Iron Works. A defense contractor that builds the Navy’s battleships.
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River's world..... 