Inside The Perimeter

I’m actively seeking a new company to provide auto and home insurance. In November my soon-to-be-former insurance company laid out demands for tree limb removal and a new roof, proof of the completion of these by March 30th else I would be dropped. Well, last week they sent me a letter two months ahead of their deadline, informing me that my policy will be terminated on March 30th due to failure to comply with their demands. I could confront them, but instead I’d rather stop giving them my business after being a loyal customer for forty consecutive years.

It’s that time of year where the weather fluctuates so wildly that my body can’t handle it and I feel “sick”, as if I have a cold. Which is how I feel at the moment. I interact with so few people on a daily basis, sometimes none, that I can’t blame others for spreading their germs, though many do as if they cannot remember what occurred six years ago, sneezing and coughing without any effort to contain their germs.

Wordle: six, my starter was ORBIT. Might be time for me to quit Wordle?

Happy birthday to my brother Ronnie, aka Bill.

I made yesterday’s cheap “It’s Groundhog Day!” repeat joke not knowing the news from the New York Times that was released last week, namely that they were going to allow repeated Wordle solutions. In case you are not a Wordle Nerd (Nerdle?) like me, permit me to tell you that yesterday’s solution — CIGAR — was a repeat of the very first Wordle solution from June 19th, 2021. I understand the logic (a word which is back in play) behind the move, but I feel as if I’ve lost a bit of my competitive advantage by keeping a list of never-before-Wordle-solution words. I’ve been starting each day with one of these words to increase my odds of scoring an ace (yes, I know it’s been a long time since the last lucky strike (two more words back in play) occurred on August 15th, 2014 2024).

Wordle: three, my starter was SHOCK

It’s Groundhog Day!
It’s Groundhog Day!

I went to do a trainer session yesterday afternoon and was flustered when I couldn’t easily find the movie “Stop Making Sense” in the YouTube movies. I have been watching the movie nearly each time I’ve ridden the trainer recently, so I expected to see it. And then I realized that we were in a new month and one of the annoyances with streaming is the removal of content. Fortunately, I found an illegal upload to YouTube so I was able to watch it yesterday.

This month I will have to do some major adulting — financial management, decisions about home and auto insurance (more on this Wednesday), getting estimates for ITP Estate work. I will also be making my first trip to Florida since selling my mother’s house; I’m not returning to that part of Florida, however.

I didn’t manage to get through the entire month of January without making an Amazon purchase; I faltered just before the finish line. I have a few items in my wish list, which I really want to add to a shopping cart to buy, but I think that I will attempt to resurrect my “Amazon Free Month” goal for the shorter month of February.

Wordle: three, my starter was USAGE

The Thrill of Victory:
I have completed my “True South” project — recoding the information presented in eight seasons of episodes, usually six episodes per season. I have put pins onto Google Maps for all of the points of interest that I could locate, and am in the process of making Apple Music playlists for the songs referenced in each episode. Okay so I’m not done done, but at least I have done all of the watching and note taking.

The Agony of Defeat:
On Tuesday the YouTube algorithm recommended to me a video in which a British woman named Anna Lapwood explained the workings of a church pipe organ. I was enthralled.

Before I go further, a wee little bit of family lore…

I have (had) always been told that my paternal grandfather, a man I never met, made a great living as a pipe organ tuner. I was also told that he pissed away a lot of the wealth he earned, as a womanizer – a gene that obviously skipped over your truly.

And back to agony…

Lapwood is an amazingly talented organist and plays incredibly beautiful music on the pipe organ. For shits and giggles I decided to see if Lapwood toured, realizing that a church pipe organ is not something which can be schlepped on tour. She is playing a free concert in Athens on April 19!!!, which is also the last day of Spring Tune Up. Of course the show is sold out and I’ve yet to find a waitlist, but I’m trying.

Wordle: four, my starter was SHOCK

Today’s Wordle starter was inspired by the raccoon with whom I came face-to-face when I opened the blinds to the sliding doors which lead to the deck; fortunately the door was still between us. It was climbing up the outside of the glass panel doors, and I heard it doing so. The makeshift screen that I had up has fallen and is on the deck. I’m not sure if it came down prior to the raccoon’s ascent, or afterwards. I may have also now identified one of the species of critters that destroy WLF’s crops…

Yesterday I went online to pay my Georgia Power bill and someone curious happened. When I went to pay using ApplePay, as I believe I’ve done in the past, the account to which I was going to send the money alarmed me. The account had an iCloud.com suffix, which seems sketchy for a multi-state behemoth such as Southern Company, the parent of Georgia Power. Therefore instead of paying with ApplePay, I started the process again and paid using a credit card.

I have found a band for whom I am willing to exceed my self-imposed concert ticket price limit. The band is Sugar, who will be playing at The Eastern (walkable from/to the ITP Estate?) on Friday, October 23rd. The ticket face value is $42, but there was also a $14 “service charge”, $2 “facility charge”, and a bullshit $2 forced “charitable donation”, making the total price $59. I have been a fan of Sugar’s founder, Bob Mould, since the 1980s, have seen him perform solo many times and as a member of Sugar once in November 1994 (previously mentioned as the night I should have died driving back to Huntsville). Given that I initially thought that they were only playing Athens, for which I would also need a $100 accommodation, I decided to spend the money.

In the past two weeks Wordle’s solution has started with a C five times. What fucking C-word was Wordle’s solution today?

Wordle: three, my starter was ANISE

I’m going to have to budget a lot more money for my natural gas bill next month. January’s bitter cold has led to a lot of furnace usage, even with my attempts to be as miserly as Mr Scrooge.

I never really got going yesterday. With the exception of the short time I spent outdoors picking up storm flotsam and jetsam (I know I’ve misused this term just as I misused “stymied” a few months ago), I remained in my pajamas. The queasiness I felt after lunch ended my desire to ride the trainer for a third consecutive day, and the lack of sleep I had due to numerous reasons on Monday night caused me to take two involuntary naps during the day.

Wordle: four, my starter was SABLE

Peacock is teetering on driving me to canceling my subscription. Last week before it showed me the Premier League soccer game it flashed up a 15-second advertisement. It did the same thing for my attempt to watch the Tour Down Under on Friday. I pay $170/year for “ad free programming” as a Peacock Premium Plus subscriber, with the acknowledgment that ads during sporting events will occur (even though they have the technology to prevent them). Peacock has boasted about their new ad insertion, clearly not giving a shit about its paying customers.

Initially I was only going to eat leftovers yesterday, but I wanted to heat the house by using the oven so I made “Cheesy Italian Noodle Bake” from “Ramen Noodle Recipes” for dinner last night. It was good, but would have been better with higher-quality ingredients than I used. It’s also another recipe that I will cut in half if I make it again in the future, because I really didn’t need a 9″x13″ casserole dish’s worth.

Wordle: four, my starter was MARSH

If I were a bottle collector I would have been in heaven Saturday. During our forest cleanup we extracted many old bottles, cans, and debris. The only downside of Saturday was learning that the part of the saved forest that I assumed was parking for the area is actually still zoned and slated for housing. Someday fifteen (my guess) townhouses will be shoehorned into that small cul-du-sac.

Pretty proud of myself for overcoming malaise and audio/video issues yesterday and riding the trainer for an hour. It was my first effort since getting sick a week ago.

The predicted temperatures for this week make it appear as if I will get a lot more opportunities for trainer riding as well as indoor choring.

Wordle: four, my starter was WAGER. Wordle continues to aggravate me.

Not knowing what the weather will be like this weekend makes it difficult to plan.

I need to gas up the M6 today, probably should have done that yesterday. If there is milk left at Kroger I may buy some of that as well.

Wordle: three, my starter was TRIBE

Paulie the Podcast Killer seems to be at it again. Last year I started listening to “Indiecast”, a music podcast, and at the end of 2025 they announced that they were going on an indefinite hiatus. I also started listening to “Chatabix”, a daily podcast which has been around for over a decade, but has not released an episode in a month.

Wordle: frustrating five, my starter was GRAPE