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APR

17

2013

this morning i moved all the trash bins back to their normal locations now that i knew the roofers weren't coming back. afterwards i went out with a ladder to see if i could remove my screen window. i'm not sure how that other roofing guy did it when he removed that other screen to fix it, but i couldn't for the life of me figure out how to take it out. it may just have to be repaired on-site.

i then called renee to see if she was home to try to remove the broken storm window on her house. her tenants weren't home but she had the keys so she let me in and left me there because she had to leave. it was an old window, and i couldn't figure out how to remove the frame. besides, with my broken collarbone, i had a hard time lifting, and there was still broken shards of glass everywhere, so i decided to leave it to the professionals. i called bob of ranch roofing and left a message telling him i had the keys to renee's place and he could come by anytime to fix the windows.

i went to rite aid to see if they had any donut cushions for my mother (back at work following her surgery, but having difficulty sitting). they did, but $20 seemed kind of pricey for a glorified miniature life preserver. next i went to market basket, where for a second day in a row, the supermarket was surprisingly empty. i bought a container of shredded cheese for the spaghetti i'd be making later tonight. finally, i stopped by walgreens to see if they carried any seat cushions. they had something similar to what i saw at rite aid, but this one was only $13, so i got it.

i went to the cafe to drop off the inflatable donut cushion. along the way i saw what appeared to be a raven. i was so intrigued i got off the bike to get a better look. i'd only seen a raven one other time before, at halibut point. this particular bird got my attention because it was so much larger than a crow, and i initially thought it was a hawk swooping into a tree.

i tried out the inflatable donut, it actually feels pretty nice, like sitting on a waterbed, all bouncy-like. my mother said she'd make a cover for it to make it seem less obvious that it's a butt cushion.

after eating a leftover slice of pizza at the cafe, i returned home. i stopped briefly to check out the glass insulators at the intersection of linnaean and avon street that i recently spotted a few weeks ago. i shouldn't have been to surprised, because there are also glass insulators at the other end of avon street, which i used to see all the time when i went running.

bob called me back in the late afternoon to schedule a visit tomorrow morning at 9:30 to fix the windows. i wrote a note to renee's tenants to let them know that i checked out the broken window and about the appointment and slipped it through their mail slot. an hour later renee came knocking on my door to get her keys. i told her about the note i left and she freaked out, because her tenants had just been complaining to her about going into their apartment unannounced. so she went in once more to intercept the note before they got it, so they wouldn't know we'd been in their apartment this morning. renee then trapped me in a chitchat vortex for the next 15 minutes, and every time i tried to leave, she'd open up a new topic of conversation and i was too polite to just walk away.

the big news in the late afternoon was the possibility that investigators had at least one suspect in the bombings based on surveillance videos, photos, and cell phone records. there was even rumors of an arrest but that was premature. that was followed by a bomb scare at the boston court house, ricin mail sent to obama, and defeat of the gun control background check bill in the senate, a busy news day.

i wasn't that hungry, and took a short nap on the couch from 7 to 8. today was another warm day (68° inside the house), hot enough that i actually thought about turning off my furnace, but then decided i'd wait a few more days just to be sure the temperature doesn't drop down again. i made some meat sauce for spaghetti, it was pretty easy and i was operating on auto-pilot, my eyes sort of glazed over. the sauce was a little sweet so i added some red wine vinegar followed by some actual red wine. the wine/vinegar gave the sauce a savory aftertaste. i ate while watching the rachel maddow show, followed by a new episode of the americans.