Remember when I blogged about our neighbor’s wall that crumbled to the ground? Well, A few days after that someone was reconstructing the wall. The same guy quoted us a price for part of our stone wall and less than a week later we’ve got a nice looking retaining wall (for not a ton of money). We haven’t done the front of our house yet, but the section he did complete was in danger of collapsing. I think our front retaining wall has at least another year left before it starts to look bad. First photo is before, second photo is during, and third photo is after.
Last night, our neighborhood watch group took a tour around the ward. Much of it seemed like a photo opportunity for the sheriff and chief of police, but it was also a good chance for us to finally mingle with some of our neighbors. I posted photos of the Ward 4 walk at MassLive.com.
P.S. Here’s a better link: Gallery view
I’m currently recovering from a somewhat crazy week. It started at the vet where we took all three cats to get shots. Molly and Luddie were perfectly manageable, but Miles went into a possessed state when the vet put his hands on him. The vet and the technician ended up having to put on heavy-duty gloves and corner him with a net. When they finally got the shot in him and put him back into the cardboard cat carrier (it’s my fault that he wasn’t in a carrier of his own so we had to get one from the vet), the bottom fell out of it. So, they had to do it all over again. Miles weighs 18 lbs, by the way.
Read more »
I’m currently recovering from a somewhat crazy week. It started at the vet where we took all three cats to get shots. Molly and Luddie were perfectly manageable, but Miles went into a possessed state when the vet put his hands on him. The vet and the technician ended up having to put on heavy-duty gloves and corner him with a net. When they finally got the shot in him and put him back into the cardboard cat carrier (it’s my fault that he wasn’t in a carrier of his own so we had to get one from the vet), the bottom fell out of it. So, they had to do it all over again. Miles weighs 18 lbs, by the way.
Read more »
I take my camera everywhere I go – even on simple walks to get lunch. Sometimes I get time to post these photos. Sometimes I don’t. When I don’t, I put them into file folders called “MMDDYYphotodump” and then I forget about them. I just went through a few of these file folders and am pulling out some images of Western Massachusetts. I hope to do this more often in my blog. We’ll see.
The first photo is of the exterior of the Wistariahurst Museum. I took it on the afternoon that I went to hear a talk on Holyoke resident Anna Burns Sullivan. Sullivan was a prominent union organizer for the local mills in the late 30s and continued to be an activist until her death in 1983.
Read more »
I went to the Holyoke Sox opening dinner last night and put up a couple of photos here.
Some things that are new:
- The Holyoke baseball franchise now has its own “dance team.”
- The mascot is a dog. His name is Big Red. The team still seems to be working through the color problem, since Big Red’s jersey is red and white.
- At least the team will be wearing blue. Presumably.
- I get that it’s the socks themselves that are blue, but I don’t get that the dog is still Big Red. I suppose I could have asked at the event, but everyone seemed so excited and happy, I didn’t want to rain on their parade. For the record, I’m wicked excited. Home opener is June 11th. Are you going?
Matt and I headed to City Hall on Tuesday to “apply” for a marriage license. I use quotes around “apply” because although that is the standard way that one might describing going to the City Clerk’s office with the intent to acquire a marriage license, there appears to be no application involved whatsoever.
There were papers to sign, but there was no real need to prove that we’re worthy of a marriage license. They didn’t even ask for any identification, a fact that chilled Matt and me to the bone.
Fact: We are the 100th couple to declare our intent to marry to the city in 2008.
We were way more prepared than I thought we’d be so that may have contributed to the quickness of the experience. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts no longer requires a blood test, so that wasn’t necessary. We did have to raise our right hands and swear that what we wrote down on the application was true. I think I said yes. Matthew confirmed later that he had replied “yup.”
Read more »
Today was an important day.
I woke up thinking it was going to be one I would just want to get through and be done with. I had an 8:30 appointment at the oral surgeon to look at a spot that has been on my pallette for at least a year. There was the possibility of a biopsy, but I was hopeful that it was nothing and he’d send me on my way. Then there was the memorial service for a friend of Matt’s.
Read more »
We’ve been taking to walks on Ashley Reservoir (three times in the past week-and-a-half). I’d never been there until this month, which is an unbelievable factoid. Other factoids:
1. Matt and I have devised a rock-kicking game. The object of the rock-kicking game is to kick a rock down the path as we go along. Whoever kicks the rock into the water loses.
2. The one thing I hate about Ashley Reservoir right now is the bug-swarming problem.
Read more »
holyoke, home improvement, western mass | kristen August 21, 2008 | 
Comments (3) 
