Wood Arrived, An Incredible Find & Mysteries

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Last Thursday I switched to flannel sheets – Sept. 30th is the earliest I’ve ever had to do that. On Friday I added an extra blanket. Even though the days aren’t bad (if you ignore the cold wind) the temperature at night is low enough that there is a light frost in the morning. I haven’t lit the wood stove yet – a subject of ongoing discussions with the cats. I just point out that they have fur coats and crawl into my nice warm bed.

The ferry has been extended for a month and is running 4 days a week, which is really good news because I ordered wood from Drew on Deer Island. This truck showed up with 6 cords which need to be cut “to length” before I can split and stack. I’m still not allowed to operate a chain saw so Jonathan is going to come do that part.

There was one glitch in the delivery. He started to back into my driveway and I had to do the “crazy lady screaming and waving her arms” to get him to stop. The guy gave me a “be patient with the disturbed person” look and I pointed at that cable. He wasn’t going to fit. Apart from it being a little further from the garage than I’d hoped, the delivery went smoothly.

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The main reason I’m forbidden to operate a chain saw is, of course, my shaky hands. My Nurse Practitioner was also horrified that I’d consider using one because he doesn’t think I’m strong enough to handle the “kick”. I should just stop mentioning it. 🙂

Anyway, on the subject of shaky hands. I was watching last Wednesday’s episode of Sorted Food and they did one of their gadget reviews. If you click on that link you can see it for yourself. The third one they looked at was something called a Tipsy Tray and Holy Sh*t – if you have a problem carrying things without spilling you need to watch that video.

I don’t understand the physics but you can load 8 or 10 glasses of liquid on it, swing it around or dance on the furniture and nothing will spill. In my mind I saw a plate of food and a cup of water etc., and imagined not having to clean the floor every time I try to move things out of the kitchen to where I want to eat. Watch the video if you don’t believe me – it’s not long and the guys do a good job.

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Amazon has the Tray, but the price was above my budget this month. However, there is a smaller option which is big enough for a mug. It has a similar design to the large one and uses the same physics.

If you read the reviews they are glowing – people with tremors like me, people who walk with a cane, who are in wheelchairs, etc. Anybody who is tired of drinking their coffee or tea at the kitchen counter instead of trying to carry it through the house should try this.

I ordered one and it arrived a couple of days ago and can testify that the thing works. I haven’t been daring enough to swing it over my head, but I can carry my coffee in one hand and a plate in the other and not worry about the mug spilling while I concentrate on the toast. This is a big deal.

Yes, I’m still increasing my dose of the pill that’s calming my hands but spilling things will always be an issue. At least, until now. 🙂

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On the “weird” front – Fish started chewing his feet a few weeks ago. I changed all the food and treats I was giving him but nothing has fixed the problem. I mentioned it to a few people and discovered that dogs everywhere on the Island are doing the same thing. Not all of them, but enough that it is way more than a coincidence.

The dogs are all on different foods and don’t even use the same water sources. Some (like Fish) drink spring water from jugs while others use what comes out of the well.

I’m guessing that there’s something on the grass or in the shrubs causing this. We had a lot of rain this summer so maybe there’s a kind of fungus in some areas. My hope is that the cold weather kills whatever it is because the non-stop chewing/licking isn’t fun for them and it’s driving me crazy.

I took Fish to the Park the other day and he was much worse that night. The good news is that I found one of those random objects that make you wish you knew the history of its creation. It’s not quite in the middle of nowhere but it’s close. This photo makes it look much larger than it really is – I hope it stays there for a long time. 🙂

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