To-Do List.....the May Edition

Here's how the progress on the May To-Do List turned out............

May

* Pay Bills  DONE  Always at the top of the list and the first thing I get done.

* Read 1, 2 Books  DONE
I read this one..........

"Blood Brothers:The Story of the Strange Friendship Between Sitting Bull and Buffalo Bill" by Deanne Stillman
The title is a bit misleading once you get into this one.  Mostly it's biographical information on various people of this era-Sitting Bull, Buffalo Bill, Annie Oakley, George Custer and a few others and how their lives intersected along with  general history of the end of the "Old West".  
There really wasn't much of a "friendship" between these two other than Sitting Bull spent 4 months touring with Buffalo Bill's show in 1885.  The author uses this brief acquaintance as a jumping off point to delve into the events such as the Battle of the Little Bighorn(Siting Bull was for decades thought to have been the one to kill Custer), the Ghost Dance and Massacre at Wounded Knee and the Murder of Sitting Bull.  A few interesting stories but more an easy, light read(except for all the Native American slaughter and such). 8-(

And this one........

"Ten Hills Farm:The Forgotten History of Slavery in the North" by C. S. Manegold

This book traces the life of John Winthrop, the first Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony(the second colony founded in what is now Massachusetts), his descendants and other families who owned the farm-five generations of slave owners who profited from human misery at Ten Hills Farm.

Winthrop owned the 600 acre farm which is where Medford MA now stands called Ten Hills Farm.  It is Winthrop who wrote the first law in the New World condoning slavery and owned a large number of slaves that toiled on his farm there, all the while proclaiming their colony as a beacon of enlightenment and justice.  
Slavery was an entrenched way of life in New England but it is rarely recognized or admitted to.  Many of these founding fathers in MA not only owned slaves but traded in slavery(even when it was outlawed)but also owned slave sugar cane plantations in Caribbean lands(most notably Barbados).  And this doesn't even touch on the New England shipping industry that profited from the Atlantic triangle of trade between the New World, the Caribbean plantations, the shores of Africa and England.

These New Englanders of the gentry class also suppressed religious freedom other than the mainline Puritan teachings(exiling and/or killing those who didn't subscribe to the Puritan ways).  Among the native peoples they made and broke treaties to suit their needs, looked upon the natives as lesser forms of humans and started wars with them so as to sell the captives into slavery and ship them off to their Caribbean plantations. 

It's a long sorted past that the North refuses to acknowledge and it's a breath of fresh air to read this awesome book and see the truth of how widespread this cancer was rooted in the Northern colonies.
Slavery wasn't just a stain upon the Southern parts of America, it was an affliction upon all of it.  The North just got rid of slavery sooner than the South as the North due to weather conditions ended up as an industrial economy while conditions in the South was more conducive to an agrarian economy.  

John Winthrop's legendary "city on a hill", the example for the world of rightful living and a model of "Christian charity" was anything but to anyone other than it's leading citizenry.

I highly recommend this book to anyone interesting in American history and New England history specifically.


* Hold Giveaway  DONE

* Mail Giveaway  DONE  And it's winging it's way to Sue L. as I type this.

* Go on ED Plan  DONE

So far it hasn't turned up any foods my system/my HS doesn't like.   Except my body doesn't like eating only potatoes.  I'm ok as long as it's not a potato monotrophic diet.  I haven't added back in dairy(other than a bit of cheese on that cheeseburger last Thursday)and there were no issues in the 24 hours after eating that.  My HS symptoms haven't changed since going on this ED either(for the good or bad).  

* Start Home Projects  DONE  The Monday after the Daughter pulled out of the driveway we began the purging and cleaning.

Things have been uncovered that haven't seen the light of day since the Daughter moved back home 3 years ago.  The living room has become the dumping ground for items leaving and for items we have to keep and find a new place for.
We have completed a few tasks and we are deep into this project now.
It's a process people! 8-)

* Email a Company  DONE

I emailed Alka-Seltzer about their informing my entry was invalid AFTER the window to resubmit it closed(and they told me to resubmit it!)  Radio silence from them so I am putting them on my AVOID THEIR PRODUCTS list and moving on.
I did return the product to the store for a refund of course!

* Purge Garage Again  IN PROGRESS
We got lots of things removed from the garage, including the evil Dreadmill which Daughter packed into her POD.  However the garage doesn't look like much progress has been made yet since it's packed with garbage cans and trash bags awaiting being carried off by the garbage company.  Daughter and Ex-College Boy have filled so many trash bags that we've had to space out throwing them into our trash collection pile for pick-up over the last three weeks.

This morning 2 large trash cans, plus another 5 trash bags and a large broken exercise bike got picked up.
We only have a large broken desk sitting on the front porch to send to the garbage now.

This is a shot of the garage this morning before Hubs took one of the garbage cans to go back and live on the side of the house as we usually only fill 1 can, but we've been filling two cans+ for the last 3 trash pick-up weeks.
See the clear pathway through the garage?  We haven't been able to walk out of the garage on this side since Daughter started packing and throwing shit out.

* Sort Through Seeds  DONE
I went through my old packets of seeds and found quite a few things I can plant this season.  I put some mesclun salad mix seeds in the half barrels with the broccoli and cauliflower plants.  I've got some basil to sow among the tomato plants later today and in late August I'll plant some spinach seeds after the cukes and Summer squash are done.

* Buy Plants  DONE

Plants were bought in early May from our favorite nursery and everything got planted by mid-month.


* Plant Garden Beds  DONE

We've had lots of days of rain(too many days!)but the plants are hanging in there.  The broccoli and cauliflower are loving the cooler temps though.

* Cash in Savings Bond  DONE
Cashed in the first chance I got to go to the bank and the proceeds are squirreled away with all the other funds from cashed in matured Savings Bonds.

* Move More $ Into a CD  DONE sort of
I got this accomplished on the last day of May(so it was still processing until June).  I say sort of did it because I moved the $$ but I didn't put it into a CD as the rate was lower than the rate to just move the $$ into an online savings account.  I didn't move that much, just the portion of interest earned last year on a previous CD since I didn't roll that CD over fully into a new one.
That $4K+ in interest is now sitting in my "Misc." Fund at Capital One and earning 1% instead of .25% at the brick and mortar bank.
This is just temporary until Hubs and I can sit down and talk over what we want to do next with this $$.

* Help Daughter Pack  DONE

All packed into the POD and her car and the POD got picked up the day after she left for Louisiana.

* Start Selling Locally  DONE

I put a few things on the FB site but the only thing selling are the diapers and pull-ups.  That's fine by me because I had 3 large boxes filled with diapers.  I still have quite a few left(about 30 packs)but I've made $115 so far.
I really don't want to do a garage sale(and I really don't have enough stuff to make it worthwhile)but Summer is not the time to list stuff on the FB site around here as people just want to go to garage sales now. sigh.
Plus people around here answering my FB ads are driving me crazy.  Morons, imbeciles and idiots, the lot of them!!!


Sluggy