Wednesday, October 13, 2021

Wednesday, October 13, 2021

Tonight's picture was taken in October of 2008. Students of mine created this wonderful Halloween basket for Mattie. Mattie had a mixed reaction to this gift. His first reaction was great sadness and tears, as I think the basket reminded him that he had cancer, was in the hospital, and that his life looked very different from his friends. After going through all those emotions, Mattie then started playing with the basket. Which is the photo I captured here! I also notice the big blue chair in the background. That was the chair I slept in most nights when Mattie was hospitalized. It doesn't bring back happy memories seeing it. 

Quote of the day: Today's coronavirus update from Johns Hopkins. 

• Number of people diagnosed with the virus: 44,643,913
• Number of people who died from the virus: 718,115

It was another fun day on the farm. We still have a team of people here working on weeding, cutting dead limbs, and shaping shrubs and bushes. The clean up here is intense. So far they have carted away four trucks worth of debris. That is how overgrown and unkept things were. Perhaps it is a look, but when weeds are strangling out actual plants, I have an issue.

This morning, I took Sunny on a walk. When I tell you that three foxes passed us, I am NOT kidding you. 

Do you see this one brazen fox? He was sitting on someone's front lawn and remained there despite our presence. At one point, the fox just sat on the lawn, basking in the sunshine, as if he lived in this house. 
Our newest issue is a horrible smell coming from a shower drain. Whatever the plumber did yesterday did not rectify the situation. So I am trying to analyze this from all angles. Given the lack of care this house received from the former owners, I am now worried about the house's septic system. Though we would have preferred to be on a public sewer system, this isn't how it works once you move outside the beltway of Washington, DC. In fact, I am learning that the majority of the US is on septic versus a public system. In any case, I am nowt trying to get a reputable company here to do a septic inspection and to help pin point this smell. All I know is the smell is subtly intense, if that is even an accurate description. I notice it and it bothers me and I also feel this can't be healthy especially for Peter who works near this bathroom all day. 

Days here are just not peaceful. I jump from one chore to the other, and I feel unable to settle into a routine, much less find time to focus on work. My form of therapy is two fold... chocolate and crafts! Not necessarily together, but you get the idea. 

There is this tiny ledge over the front door. I feel this makes the perfect place to do seasonally themed displays. So today I worked on this. I got battery powered candles that have a remote control to them. So with the remote I can switch on the candles and they have a nice twinkle in the evening. 

A close up!