I'll get to the rest of it in a minute, but I had a real treat this afternoon when I got a call from a cousin of mine, wanting to stop by and introduce himself. Here I am in my sweats and not all that presentable, but wasn't about to tell him no. I last saw him when he was 6 years old and I was 18, which makes it almost 50 years ago! His mother was my first cousin, older than me but one of my favorite people in the world. I've been in email contact with Kenny for a short time -- he actually found me recently on an internet genealogy site of some kind, but I had contacted him several years ago and we'd lost touch. He is a beautiful 'young' man! Definitely the best treat I've had since I've been here. I feel totally welcomed back into the family, although he's about the only close relative I can claim around here.
Now, to the photo. I had an interesting lesson in the difference between Home Depot and WalMart this morning, after I got the new shelving system (on the right) home and compared it with the one from HD, on the left. Made by the same company, clearly, although the packaging was different. The new one cost a good bit less, but it's the same design. It's just a smaller gauge of metal than the HD version, hence the cost savings. It's sturdy, and they still claim that the shelves each hold 250 pounds, which is way more than I'll ever have on them. I still need to get some baskets to hold loose stuff, and a toolbox to hold the tools, but this should take care of all my storage needs once I get it organized.
I also bought a little jiffy greenhouse with peat pellets, and some more seed, and planted a few things. I didn't think fast enough to only wet a few of the pellets, so I planted large quantities of basil and rosemary, along with my San Marzano tomatoes, bell peppers, hot peppers, and parsley. The rest of the seeds need to be sown directly in the ground. I've never tried growing rosemary from seed, but I use lots of it and would like to have a little rosemary hedge someplace, so I'll plant whatever comes up and grows. I have a sunny, south window in the living room, which is also the warmest place in the house, so they should do OK.
What else made the day so busy? I cooked some of the beans I bought in St. Helena. Assembled the shelving. Planted the seeds. Called Medicare to get my supplemental insurance changed to a local provider. The dryer repairman came (Yay!), then Kenny called. Doesn't sound like much, but I have 6664 footsteps on my pedometer so far, with no long walks or any intentional exercise of any kind, so I've been moving around doing something. I put the odometer on this morning after reading that NYT article, to see just how many steps I would get on an average day, without working at it. This is a lot more than I would ever have done in Brookings, without at least one long intentional walk during the day. About the only walking I did today was in WalMart.
Off to Rome tomorrow. Hopefully, I'll come back with a fully assembled bicycle if they have time to do it.
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