Scattered Thoughts . . .

I had another visit to Oncology at the University of Vermont Medical Center last week.  I had been up there a couple of weeks prior for some labwork which we discussed in this most recent appointment.   In the photo at right, it appears as though the hospital is empty but we found that the hallways being seemingly dark and empty was a bit misleading.  It was about 8am and my appointment was one of the first of the day so we expected the hospital to be rather quiet.  Most of the people we saw in the hallways were hospital employees.  I'm not much of a fan of waiting in lines so seeing the hospital being so quiet was good news.  I like being able to show up, check in immediately, and then quickly get called into the examining room. When we stepped into Oncology from the quiet and empty hallway, the waiting room was filled with patients waiting to be called in for their morning chemo. On the positive side, even though my health has been miserable this year, seeing all these chemo pati

O ne of my latest projects has been to install rainbarrels to collect rain water coming off the roof.  We use this water to water all our flower gardens and potted flowers.  I also use it for the lawn.  This free water allows our house to look like a colorful and lush flowering oasis. I had actually purchased the rainbarrels last summer.  Unfortunately, one of them arrived with a fast leak in the barrel itself around the spigot valve so that rainbarrel sat around empty until this season.  I set them up on a stand anyway, rearranged the downspout off the gutter so it will fill the rainbarrels with rain water, plumbed both rainbarrels, and then attacked the leaking problem first thing this spring.   My first attempt at fixing the leaking rainbarrel last summer was a failure.  Finding the right adhesive to seal these barrels was a problem.  After my first failure, I ordered a tube of roofing cement and a small sheet of black acrylic.  First thing this spring, I cut the acrylic to fit over