May 2024

Weather: 55° and overcast, sunny in the afternoon. Light wind.

Exercise: Several hours doing lawn work and getting the garden ready for planting on Saturday.

Weather: 60° with a cold wind. Started sunny and became overcast, threatening rain.

Exercise: 4.0 mile walk with Teddi on the Causeway path. Saw the female Osprey in her nest. The buds on the scrub and the small trees are starting to burst.

Weather: 65° and sunny. Glorious day. No wind.

Exercise: Re-stained the mahogany rails on the deck. Six straight hours of brushing. Glad that box is checked. I wonder if I'll still will be able to do this kind of work in five, or ten years, when it needs it again.

Weather: 70° and mostly sunny. Light wind.

Exercise: None really.

Musing

This week provided just the right kind of weather to get things done. Wednesday was 50° and cloudy. All I needed was to wear a jacket and I got the garden repaired and plant ready. No sweating; no freezing. Perfect landscaping weather for weeding and turning the ground and amending the soil. Friday was 65° and sunny, no wind. Perfect weather to re-stain the mahogany rails around the deck. Once one starts that task, one is in for the long haul. Six straight hours without even a pee break. Sure hope I don’t ever have to do that again. Well, maybe I do hope I get to do that again. Getting old is just math.

Two big boxes checked. But the most important of the two boxes is, of course, the garden. Jill was mighty unimpressed with my lack of effort to properly prepare the ground for planting two years ago, the summer of 2021. That was the last year I took having a garden seriously. We were talking about moving to Tennessee and my heart was not in the whole garden thing. Clearly, we decided not to move. Jill came home from a bike ride in late May and said, with intent, "I don't want to move out of Vermont." And I said, "Alright. That's that.''

Because of my total lack of effort, I may have lost our asparagus plants. That's too bad, because they would be seven years old this year. There may be a few left, my fingers are crossed. I will not know for a while. If they are all gone, then that will open up some prime garden real estate in the corner of the box.

Here's a list of the stuff we planted today: Three kinds of tomatoes; three kinds of peppers; onion, garlic and shallot sets, basil, two types of cucumbers; and a ton of leaf lettuce.

Growing vegetables is clearly not about saving money. When one amortizes the infrastructure, the soil and its preparation, the veggies, and purchasing the various plant support structures, one ends up with some of the most expensive tomatoes on the planet.

When I say "we" planted, I mean Jill planted. I schlepped and carried.

Weather: 50° and rainy and windy. Raw.

Exercise: None. Not even my mind. Watched stupid TV all day, into the evening. We sat side by side, Jill and I, in the comfort of our recliners.

Weather: 70° and sunny; light wind. Chamber of Commerce weather.

Exercise: 4.0 mile walk with Teddie on the Causeway path. Both Osprey were in the nest. Getting close to the last few days when one can see the nest. The buds have exploded into leaves. A few sunny days and the view will be blocked.

Stoic Prompt Week 18 (2024)

Show Don’t Tell

Weather: 70° and sunny. Light wind. Chamber of Commerce weather part deux.

Exercise: 5. 0 mile walk on the Causeway path sans Teddi. Got to see the male Osprey drop off the nest, flap a couple of times and fly away toward the lake. The female's head was just visible above the rim of the nest. Nature offered another gift today, too. I got to watch a small group of deer make their way, hesitantly, across the path, just before the hollow.

Weather: 55° and rainy. Light wind.

Exercise: 4.0 mile walk with Teddi on the Causeway path.

Musing

Neither Osprey was visible in the nest on the way out to my turn around point. Even though the leaves are just about to choke off the view, the nest is still observable. I shrugged my shoulders and moved on, deciding not to look any more. At some point it is just frustrating to parse out a view from all the branches and the greenery. Especially if, after all the effort, an Osprey might not be discernible above the rim of the nest.

On the walk back I did not even look, well consciously, that is. As I moved down the path beyond the nest, for whatever reason, I looked over my shoulder and saw the male on his perch above the nest. He spread his wings and dropped from the nest and flapped his wings, catching a breeze. He completely circled the nest, then flew toward the lake. The female could be seen, too, rising from the nest, presumably sitting on her eggs and straining, as if is to watch her partner circle the platform.

A few moments later the male glided by me, about thirty yards off to my left, cruising over the wetlands. So cool. I spied him once again over the ball fields at Airport Park. If this is my last seasonal nest sighting, I am OK with that. This has been wonderful. I need to keep in mind that although I may not be able to see the nest, that does not mean that my Osprey are missing in action.

Weather: 55° and cloudy.

Exercise: Several hours of yard work getting ready for Mother's Day.

May 10 and May 11

Weather: Shirley, MA. 60° and partly sunny.

Went suit and shoes shopping with Colyn. Ended up getting my son his first suit and a top-shelf pair of shoes, Allen Edmond’s Park Avenue with a cap toe. Classic.
When I was twenty-seven,

Musing

In November 1982, I got elected to the New Hampshire Legislature. I did not own a suit. I did have a blazer and khaki pants, but I needed a suit. Back then, that meant a three-piece garment, a jacket, pants and a vest. Nobody wears a vest today. I think the only reason guys wore a vest back in the day was to keep warm. Frequently, I was glad to have that vest on, in the depth of January we froze our collective butts off in the people's house in Concord, NH. In early summer we roasted in the chambers. Someone would make a motion, for the “gentlemen to be able to remove their jackets.” An audible and collective sigh of relief would erupt as the “gentlemen” removed their jackets and sat there in shirtsleeves and vests.

I asked my grandmother if she would buy me a suit. She told me no, but she would loan me the money, as long as I signed a note. That stuck in my craw. My mom was dead, my dad in locations unknown, and my grandmother, believe me, had plenty of money. When I signed that note, I made a private promise to myself that, if ever, I had a son, I would be buying his first suit out of my pocketbook, not his. Promise kept.

Weather: 60° and showers in the morning. Light wind.

Exercise: 4.0 mile walk with Teddi on the Causeway path. No Osprey sighting today. I could barely see the nest. I did get to see an otter scurry across the path about ten yards in front of us. Teddi did not seem to see it, but she picked up the scent when we got close to where it moved from one side of the swamp to the other. She perked right up and got her nose close to the ground, moving right up to the edge of the scrub where I had seen the otter emerge from the ground cover, before it made its move to cover the distance over the path and into the ferns on the other side.

Weather: 60° and partly cloudy.

Exercise: 5.0 mile walk on the Causeway path sans Teddi. No Osprey sighting.

Stoic Prompt Week 19 (2024)

We are a product of our habits

Weather: 70 ° and cloudy. Light wind.

Exercise: 4.0 mile walk with Teddi on the Causeway path. No Osprey again.

Weather: 70° and mostly sunny. Threating rain in the afternoon.

Exercise: 5.0 mile walk on the Causeway path sans Teddi. Thought I was not going to see the Osprey again. At the last moment, just before I was about to avert my gaze, her head popped up into view, then she climbed up onto the edge of the platform.

Weather: 70° and humid. Light wind and partly sunny.

Exercise: 3.0 mile walk on the Causeway path. Poor Teddi. I took her out too late in the morning and the sun was too high and it was very humid. She was not a happy camper from the get-go. She finally mutinied and I turned around and brought her home and out of the sun. She hates it when it's hot. Well. Any temperature over 60° is hot to Teddi. Her favorite temperature is in the 40° - 50° range.

Weather: 75° and sunny. No wind and humid.

Exercise: 5.0 mile walk on the Causeway path. No Osprey sighting today. Five yards of mulch dropped onto the driveway this afternoon. My work is set out before me. I will reduce the pile next week, one cart of mulch at a time.

Weather: 70° and sunny. Light wind.

Exercise: 4.0 mile walk on the Causeway path with Teddi. Made sure to walk earlier in the day and she did much better. She still gets wiped out from the heat, but walking when it was in the low 60’s and mostly in the shade helped her a great deal. Saw the Osprey perched upon the solitary tree branch that extrudes from the platform nest. I wonder if it was the male. Hard to tell; plus, I did not see his mate's head peeking above the nest.

Weather: 75° and sunny. Light wind. Low humidity.

Exercise: 5.0 mile walk on the causeway path. Although, I left fairly early, there was quite a bit of bicycle traffic. Did not see the Osprey, but I did get to see the Barred Owl for the first time in weeks. Spread some mulch and hosed off the deck, patio and the front porch while Jill planted some ground cover and a new bush out front by the Adirondack chairs.

Weather: 80° and sunny. Light to moderate wind. Not very humid.

Exercise: 4.0 mile walk with Teddi on the Causeway path. No Osprey sighting. Left early again and Teddi did fine. Spread two carts of hemlock mulch, attached to and pulled by our John Deere riding mower. Getting our version of the Four Seasons resort, all ship shape.

Stoic Prompt Week 20 (2024)

Count your Blessings

Weather: 80° and sultry. Expect storms late today. Light to moderate wind. Almost calm right now.

Exercise: 5.0 mile walk on the Causeway path. No Osprey sighting. Spread two carts of mulch.

Reflection

For the Republic it Stands

Weather: 90° and humid. Rained fairly hard in the evening.

Exercise: 4.0 mile walk on the Causeway path with Teddi at about 7:30 am, before coffee and before breakfast. Saw both Osprey. Cut down a bunch of suckers that have grown to three or four feet high in the berm out front by the street. The grafted tree/shrub that I planted produces lots of them, unfortunately. The trunk of the tree has a shrub grafted on top; it is over twenty years old.

Weather: 80° and mostly sunny. Light wind.

Exercise: 5.0 mile walk on the Causeway path. No Osprey sighting. Mowed the lawn when I got back.

Weather: 70° and dry. Moderate to windy; the winds are blowing all the oak seed pods onto everything.

Exercise: 4.0 mile walk on the Causeway path with Teddi. Looked today, but my effort to see the Osprey in their nest is officially over for this season. Trying to see the nest is like trying to see through a clothes drier filter that is mostly clogged with lint. The foliage is so thick.

Weather: 70° and sunny and dry. Chamber of Commerce Weather.

Exercise: 5.0 mile walk on the Causeway path sans Teddi. The bicycle path is always packed over the Memorial Day holiday weekend. Spread two carts of mulch when I got back.

Weather: 75° and sunny, threating rain. Windy.

Exercise: 4.0 mile on the Causeway path with Teddi. Spread another two carts of mulch.

Weather: 75° and mostly cloudy and windy. Lots of rain in the evening.

Exercise: None. Total couch lizard today.

Stoic Prompt week 21 (2024)

Practice True Joy

Mostly a blur of yard work, walking, and following the criminal, the felon, the former President, Donald Trump. I guess it had to happen. Just how long can any republic go before a high roller climbs under the sheets, getting into bed with his dirty boots on, getting in bed with all of us, and leaving his personal stink on the country at large.

Tawdry circumstances. Can't wait to see the movie. America loves a gangster, a villain who seems to get away with tucking it to the ‘man.’ Men like Jesse James, John Dillinger, and a host of other American outlaws. Not just home grown criminals either, America loved Pancho Villa, even though his hordes ransacked and raped their way across Mexico. Back in the day, they attentively followed the news about guys like Willie Sutton, the prolific bank robber, who famously replied when asked why he robbed banks, "Because that's where the money is."

But in this case, it's not the ‘man’ getting tagged and cleaned out. It is our republic that is being ravaged. Who wants to be the only sucker left obeying the law for the law’s sake? Maybe. Just maybe, the Trump verdict is the beginning of the center exerting itself. Maybe. Just maybe.

Weather: 80° and sunny. Light wind and low humidity.

Exercise: 4.0 mile walk with Teddi on the Causeway path.