A peanut for Rufus

This little guy was busy scooping up peanuts this morning on the back patio. I love his little tooth and paws and toes. I watched him for a bit as his tail swayed in the wind. I can't bear to call him Rudy anymore after the buffoon Rudy Giuliani ruined the name. We had a pair of gerbils as a teen called Rufus and Gwen that I loved. Our red squirrels are not as fabulous looking as European ones, but they are small and fiesty with a pretty color even if it's faint.

No luck as yet with a vaccine appointment. I was on the ha, ha newly improved site this morning. In a line waiting, that was a change. The wait went from 71 minutes to 91 minutes to 5089 minutes, then down to 33, what?? When I actually got to the point of scheduling, all the appointments were gone. Same for my friends. People are just fed up, they say there will be more appointments released next Thursday at the large venues and perhaps 20,000 doses for some pharmacies. A state steeped in technology cannot pull this off?? There are backdoor ways to get in, but not enough vaccine(thanks to you know who) to provide enough slots for the 65+ phase. Now the governor plans to open up another age group phase, the rest of the population on March 22nd. In this state, our local health clinics are not getting vaccine. I'm sure it has to do with refrigeration issues too, but it makes it harder. I have to try to stay hopeful and keep trying.

We're warm with our addition heating system working again and the weather is much warmer. We have decisions to make. Take a chance on  cleaning the sooty 22 year old steam boiler with no guarantee that it will work 5 minutes, months or years or invest in a new very expensive one that will see at least 20 more years. This old house is not set up to use some of the new fossil-less fuel set ups, ductless split systems, so future proofing is not a possibility without really expensive revisions. We will need a new roof sometime soon and we do have a bathroom upstairs from 1929 that could use major work too.  Next step is a chimney sweep coming on March 5th in case there is soot build up now in the chimney and boiler flue. That's a requirement and a smart one from the company that could clean or install.

Our painting group is meeting via Zoom tomorrow, I'll be glad to pay attention to "Cream" the Jacob sheep instead of ruminating about boilers. I have to say, I'm missing my lovely Union 537 Pipefitter dad and his advice more than ever. 

For the Record, 
This day came in sunny and warm , springlike and lovely.

All hands wary