Author Archives: Sparky
Trolling for miles
My Visa account got hacked in early January. The hacker did the “can’t remember password” thing and managed to guess the answers to my (so-called) security questions, then changed my password. I was notified by email that my password had changed, but didn’t read the message until nearly a day after it happened. I immediately … Continue reading
So not Florida
Because the house did not sell in the fall, we committed to staying in Massachusetts for the winter, living in the house and working on a series of minor improvements and repairs. And one major upgrade: replacing the countertop with beautiful new quartz. We missed Florida. We missed the weather and we missed the camaraderie … Continue reading
A good time to travel
I just filled the truck’s tank: 26.5 gallons at $2.90/gallon. It would be a great time to be traveling. Which we aren’t of course. No, we were traveling when the price of diesel was hovering around $4.00/gallon. Just more bad timing on our part. We may be ruining the environment of North Dakota for future … Continue reading
Senior softball
Now that we have had our first snowfall of the winter (ah, Florida, how I miss you!), it might be a good time to reflect on my softball season. Yes, at age 65 I continue to play softball. Specifically, I play in an over-55 league organized by the EMASS Senior Softball organization. That organization has … Continue reading
Winterization, part 2
Well, we waited as long as we could. We were hoping against hope that the house would sell before the end of October and we could escape to Ft. Myers for the winter. Didn’t happen. So we are going to let the listing expire, enjoy(?) our (hopefully) last New England winter and re-list in the … Continue reading
Coming off the road
Sad, but true – we are out of the RV and back in our house in Medford, MA. We put the house up for sale in early September and agreed that if it didn’t sell by the end of October we would reside there over the winter (ugh!), fix the place up a bit and … Continue reading
Commuting – the lost opportunity
I have been commuting to work via commuter rail – 90 minutes each way – since we arrived back in Massachusetts in March. It is now the end of September and I am about to take my last ride and it now, belatedly, occurs to me that I have wasted those 3 hours each workday. … Continue reading
Liliani
My older son Tony has a daughter named Liliani. I don’t know where the name came from, but I like it. She is “Lili” for short. She is going on 9 years old and is just about the best granddaughter a guy could have. She may not be so sweet when she becomes a teenager … Continue reading
The big 3-0
My 30th birthday is so far back that I can’t even see it in the rearview mirror. But Jett and I did celebrate another big 3-0 this weekend: our 30th state, Maine. We attended our first Escapees rally this weekend in Hermon, Maine, just outside Bangor. I will describe that event separately, but with our … Continue reading
Snowiest? Coldest? Why not both?
We have just put the month of February, 2015, into the record book here in Boston. And what a month it was! Yes, it was the snowiest month since meteorological record keeping began in 1891 – some 124 years ago. It obliterated the old record of 44.5 inches with a new total of 65.5 inches … Continue reading »