random thoughts - Day 1,988 (Tuesday) - new environs

The past few nights have been plagued with poor sleep due to my old frenemy sciatica. It's been several months since the last hellacious episode and things have been mostly okay, so clearly it was time for some punishment. At the glorious hour of 3:00 a.m., I had been reading stuff on my phone for two hours in an effort to take my mind off being uncomfortable. It was a miracle when I got out of bed for the day at 6:45. 

The days are taking on a pattern and flow. There is coffee with Mom, and then I return home with the daily delusion that I will kick ass and tackle the unpacked boxes of stained glass supplies and set up a work station and sand the brown painted dresser and paint it black and rip out the built-in unit and replace it with a freshly painted black dresser. One nob (out of eight)  was sanded with the block today and it worked great and then I stopped. The drawers will be taken outside tomorrow for sanding (updated daily delusion).

Solo evening crow.

The crows were busy in the morning launching themselves off the roof (noisily) and onto the lawn where they walked around quietly. Their feathers are glossy and pretty in the sunshine. In the afternoon, six crows gathered in the tree behind the shed making all sorts of racket. I like them. Later, one crow walked the front yard. 

Really what happens after the coffee is I get lost in a vortex of emails and then torqued up with job alerts from LinkedIn, Glassdoor, and a host of other job boards. Anything and everything for which I'm qualified is sent a resume. Today, there was an alert from the unemployment office about a webinar tomorrow to prepare for a big job fair in Worcester and I'm now registered. 

Mom and I went to the bank and the library so I could drop off books for their upcoming book sale. I didn't have a piece of mail with my new address on it so I couldn't get a library card today. Then we went to Price Chopper, which was pleasantly quiet at 10:30 in the morning. 

There was an item on today's calendar for a "walk-through insurance inspection." The inspector had called a couple weeks ago and on the phone had the personality of a rock. He arrived at the front of the house at 3:55, a smidge early for the 4:00 scheduled time. As I headed to the back door to greet him, he rang the bell, then immediately began banging on the door with the assertiveness of that early morning law enforcement raid across the street from me that time in Lowell. The banging was loud enough to drown out the doorbell. Dude, relax.

He was standing so close to the storm door I couldn't open it to let him in. He said "I'm Bill" and marched into the kitchen with a notepad in hand. There were rapid fire questions that felt like an interrogation -- "When was this built? How many skylights? How many bathrooms? What kind of heat? Where is the electrical panel. I need photos." Then he went outside for a lap around the house and by 4:05 he was gone. The telephone absence of personality was matched by the in person absence of such. He said the insurance company will probably have someone come out in another three years. I hope it's not him again. 

Evening walk, 8-26-2025.

There was Chinese food leftovers for an early supper and a walk to the mailbox at 5:40 pm. The lowering evening sun shone through the neighborhood trees. It's much prettier and more calming to see tall trees behind the house rather than tall houses. The night sky is free of city lights and filled with more visible stars than I ever saw in Lowell. It's nice.