Still mountains of cleanup to do after the storm. Some neighbors orderly & methodical, some puttering around their yards while their broken windows go uncovered. Old Bob across the street is especially disorganized, but rejects all offers of help. He has several rental houses in the neighborhood, and seems to be putting most of his energy there. He does a bit of work at home, then crosses the street to show us the alumni yearbook from the private high school he attended on Oahu. He shows us Barack Obama went to the same school, although much later. We all agree that Obama has probably the worst job in the world, that none of us would want it.
Expecting a call from Allstate adjuster. Got a call from Allstate this afternoon, was very pleased until it turned out to be a sales call for the roadside assistance program. That isn't going to get the roof fixed.
Cleanup made more unpleasant by the heat - it's in the nineties again. Took a break from the yard and cleaned the house. Much more manageable task.
The vultures and looky-loos seemed to have moved on - within hours of the storm roofers, door & window and yard cleanup crews were cruising the neighborhood. Strangers drove slowly through the neighborhood gawking.
My nextdoor neighbor loaned me her leaf blower. I've always hated the noise, but the speed with which leaves & twigs were removed from gravel driveways, paths, and from the flower beds was impressive. That probably saved a few hours.
I found three dead birds in the yard, buried until leaves & hail. A sparrow, a red-headed finch, and a mourning dove. So small, so broken. I buried them next to my fish.
One rose bush is still in decent shape, leaves & buds about to bloom. 2 of the 1o or so lavender plants still have some blossoms.
Exhausted and sore, but when I feel like whining, I think of all my neighbors with their downed trees, smashed fences and boarded up windows. I think of the farmer whose crop was wiped out. I think of the little Italian bakery/cafe near work that lost power for almost 24 hours and lost all their refrigerated inventory. Roughly a $10,000 loss, they said.
Not sleeping well at night, which is normal for summer. Naps are good, but they interfere with sleeping at night. But I don't sleep much at night, so I nap. So I don't sleep well at night....
wondering if I should purge my cookbook collection - I probably have about 4 shelves worth. Plus a bunch of 3-ring binders full of recipes.... I have a hard time applying the 6 months rule to books. The 'if you haven't used it in 6 months, sell or donate it" rule.
I need to get on with something productive. But I just don't feel like it.
3 comments:
I guess the silver lining is that it sounds like everyone was unharmed in the storm. Windows will be fixed, inventory replaced and farmers will replant in time but everyone coming through it safe is good news indeed.
Glad to read you found your iPod as well, music is therapy :-)
mom met some guy who found 7 robins in his yard buried under the hail and she saw a mallard on the news today receiving care for an eye injury from the storm. pinky's been depressed since the storm happened...i think she feels it. i do too and it's sad. i'm afraid to go and walk around the lake across the street, i hope the wild life is okay over there and i thank god that the storm wasn't that severe over here.
i'm depressed now. good thing i have no ice cream to devour or i would.
I hate sales calls from businesses that I have a relationship with. It's a sneaky way to get around the "do not call" list. Putting myself on that list should be an indication that I do not like my phone to ring if it is not about something I actually need to know. Even from friends and family, I prefer a text message.
Okay, complaining over.
Anyway, I am sad about the birds and all the other devastation from the storm.
6-month rule doesn't apply to books...becuase I said so...lol. Otherwise I'd have to get rid of books like Harry Potter, the Chronicles of Narnia, and my favorite, Watership Down. Then I'd go to reread them after a couple years and be pissed that I applied that rule...lol. I also buy at least one book (but usually more) every time I'm in a bookstore. Most of my bookshelf contains books I've never read. And I certainly don't have time to get to them in 6 months (I WISH I had 6 months to spend just reading all the books on my shelf I've bought but haven't read). So if I got rid of a book I haven't even read when I bought it to read it...well, that's just silly. Although I suppose if I forced myself to apply the rule it might cure me of my addiction to buying books that may sit on my shelf for years before I read them. Meh. I just don't go into bookstores if I can't afford it. ;)
The rule I apply instead...which probably doesn't work for cookbooks, but anyway...I use the "pass it on" rule. If I don't think I might reread it at some point, I give it to someone else. Sometimes I end up just taking a bunch to a used bookseller, too, but I try to use the "pass it on" rule as much as possible. I like spreading the word. Haha, or rather, spreading words. ;)
Maybe you could go through your cookbooks and see if there are any that have only a few recipes that you use or ever would use. Write those down and put them in a binder (yes, yet another one, but one binder with recipes from 10 books is better than the 10 books, right?) and then it might be easier to get rid of the cookbooks themselves.
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