But do any of us give as much as we can?

I especially like to support history and the arts, so being (and remaining) a member of the Museum of Fine Arts does something to feed my soul — and in return, I get to enjoy world-class art exhibits year round. (In the years I wasn’t an MFA member, I was a season-ticket-holder at the Boston Baroque, supporting an excellent local fine performing arts outfit. If you live around Boston and haven’t been to a BB concert, you’re missing out.)

We’ve talked, casually, about expanding our giving to include other near & dear causes, but this year I’m setting the goal to finally do it. It’s in our power, so why not give a little back?

1. Continue supporting the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston (November)
2. Finally donate to NPR!! Best to wait for a matching challenge, so what we give goes twice as far. (a spring or summer fund drive perhaps?)
3. Orchard House, Louisa May Alcott’s home in Concord, Mass. I’ve never even been, but this year I want to go visit and I want to give in support of this historic home and the efforts of its caretakers. (March, probably — how symbolic!)

And maybe one more cause — maybe a local animal group? Maybe donate something material, like dog or cat food?

A question for my (few) readers:
What do other people do to give back to the community?
How could we all try to give a little extra this year?

Here, to help me out, are Shakespeare’s works in the chronological order in which they were first performed. In bold, plays I’ve read before, or more than once before, and can remember having read.

Henry VI, Part II
Henry VI, Part III
Henry VI, Part I
Richard III
Comedy of Errors
Titus Andronicus
Taming of the Shrew
Two Gentlemen of Verona
Love’s Labour’s Lost
Romeo and Juliet
Richard II
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
King John
The Merchant of Venice
Henry IV, Part I
Henry IV, Part II
Much Ado About Nothing
Henry V
Julius Caesar
As You Like It
Twelfth Night
Hamlet
The Merry Wives of Windsor
Troilus and Cressida
All’s Well That Ends Well
Measure for Measure
Othello
King Lear
Macbeth
Antony and Cleopatra
Coriolanus
Timon of Athens
Pericles
Cymbeline
The Winter’s Tale
The Tempest
Henry VIII

1. We Two: Victoria and Albert: Rulers, Partners, Rivals (Gillian Gill)
2. Death at Gallows Green (Robin Paige)
3. Fundraising the Dead (Sheila Connolly)
4. Death Comes for the Archbishop (Willa Cather)
5. Athénaïs: The Life of Louis XIV’s Mistress, the Real Queen of France (Lisa Hilton)
6. Unsolicited (Julie Kaewert)
7. Death of a Tart (Kate Gilley Borden)
8. The Princess of Nowhere (Lorenzo Borghese)
9. The Mischief of the Mistletoe (Lauren Willig)
10. The Orchid Affair (Lauren Willig)

11. Death at Daisy’s Folly (Robin Paige)
12. The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake (Aimee Bender)
13. Death at Devil’s Bridge (Robin Paige)
14. Crocodile on the Sandbank (Elizabeth Peters)
15. The Curse of the Pharaohs (Elizabeth Peters)
16. The Tell-tale Horse (Rita Mae Brown)
17. Devil’s Food Cake Murder (Joanne Fluke)
18. Homicide in Hardcover (Kate Carlisle)
19. The Holy Thief (Ellis Peters)
20. On What Grounds (Cleo Coyle)

21. The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party (Alexander McCall Smith)
22. Hounded to Death (Rita Mae Brown)
23. Lion in the Valley (Elizabeth Peters)
24. The Ninth Daughter (Barbara Hamilton)
25. Death at Rottingdean (Robin Paige)
26. If Books Could Kill (Kate Carlisle)
27. Mistress of the Vatican: The True Story of Olimpia Maidalchini, The Secret Female Pope (Eleanor Herman)
28. Howl’s Moving Castle (Diana Wynne Jones)
29. The Sisters Who Would Be Queen: The Tragedy of Katherine, Mary and Lady Jane Grey (Leanda de Lisle)
30. The Lies That Bind (Kate Carlisle)

31. Death at Whitechapel (Robin Paige)
32. 44 Scotland Street (Alexander McCall Smith)
33. Harmony (Charles, Prince of Wales)
34. Death at Epsom Downs (Robin Paige)
35. Through the Grinder (Cleo Coyle)
36. American Jezebel: The Uncommon Life of Anne Hutchinson, the Woman Who Defied the Puritans (Eve LaPlante)
37. Brother Cadfael’s Penance (Ellis Peters)
38. Latte Trouble (Cleo Coyle)
39. The Last Camel Died at Noon (Elizabeth Peters)
40. Glazed Murder (Jessica Beck)

41. Death at Buckingham Palace (C.C. Benison)
42. Fatally Frosted (Jessica Beck)
43. Heresy (S. J. Parris)
44. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (J.K. Rowling)
45. Murder Most Frothy (Cleo Coyle)
46. Our Lady of the Lost and Found (Diane Schoemperlen)
47. A Murder on the Appian Way (Steven Saylor)
48. Roman Blood (Steven Saylor)
49. Rubicon (Steven Saylor)
50. Dirty Sexy Politics: A True Story (Meghan McCain)

51. Decaffeinated Corpse (Cleo Coyle)
52. Dearest Friend: A Life of Abigail Adams (Lynne Withey)
53. Death at Sandringham House (C.C. Benison)
54. Bedeviled Eggs (Laura Childs)
55. Anne of the Island (L.M. Montgomery)
56. And Then There Were None (Agatha Christie)
57. Pawn of Prophecy (David Eddings)
58. Town in a Blueberry Jam (B.B. Haywood)
59. Queen of Sorcery (David Eddings)
60. Magician’s Gambit (David Eddings)

61. Castle of Wizardry (David Eddings)
62. Enchanter’s End Game (David Eddings)
63. Death at Windsor Castle (C.C. Benison)
64. French Pressed (Cleo Coyle)
65. A Day in the Life of Ancient Rome (Alberto Angela)
66. Espresso Shot (Cleo Coyle)
67. The Aeneid (Vergil; trans. Robert Fitzgerald)
68. The Night Circus (Erin Morgenstern)
69. Murder Under Cover (Kate Carlisle)
70. The Long Quiche Goodbye (Avery Aames)

71. Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder (Joanne Fluke)
72. Lost and Fondue (Avery Aames)
73. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (Mindy Kaling)

Do you like art, history, society, and women too? Then you might enjoy these books (all the links go to the book’s GoodReads profile):

American Jezebel: The Uncommon Life of Anne Hutchinson, the Woman Who Defied the Puritans by Eve LaPlante It calls itself “The Dramatic Story of America’s Founding Mother,” and while the story is little-known and indeed dramatic, there is so much to Anne Hutchinson’s life — her philosophy, her religion, her social ideas — than can be contained in one volume such as this. What this is is a bare introduction to proto–Colonial New England society, with all its attendant issues and intrigues, that just whets the appetite for more. The story of Hutchinson is clearly, cleanly, and very well told. Do no blame me if you suddenly find yourself wanting to reread The Scarlet Letter.

Galileo’s Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith and Love by Dava Sobel We all know about Galileo, right? And how he was a scientist in Renaissance Italy, and he said he thought the Earth revolved around the Sun, not vice versa, and the Pope got mad at him? But I’ll bet no one knows the name of Suor Maria Celeste, born Virginia Galilei, until they have read Galileo’s Daughter — and then her name will be written in your heart. Committed by her father to a convent near Florence at age 13, Maria Celeste kept up a voluminous correspondence with her father that illuminates not only her own intelligence — a rival to his own — but also the mental and spiritual struggles Galileo endured as a result of his quite-literally-Earth-shattering scientific work and his conflicts with the Church through the end of his life, and the comfort and support which Maria Celeste gave him in his darkest hours.

Mistress of the Monarchy: The Life of Katherine Swynford, Duchess of Lancaster by Alison Weir My especial favorite! Katherine de Roet sits at the root of an enormous and powerful family tree, and Weir’s work as a documentary historian shines here in her reconstruction of Katherine’s life and times. Through her life-long love affair with John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, Katherine gave birth to the Royal Houses of York, Tudor, and Stuart, and her descendants continue to shape the world stage today. And yet we know so little about Katherine, and much of what Weir puts forth here is very well-informed conjecture. But she lays out her proofs and her documents with a clear purpose and says with confidence what she can in all fairness say, points out where she disagrees with other historians and why, and admits when the evidence is sketchy and she’s building puzzle pieces as she goes.

Mistress of the Vatican: The True Story of Olimpia Maidalchini: The Secret Female Pope by Eleanor Herman As a young girl she barely escaped the cloister; as a woman, she dominated the ear of Pope Innocent X and as much as ran the Papal States — to her own ends, of course. Olimpia’s life was chock full of adventure and intrigue, and Olimpia herself was full to bursting with life and vitality, and it shows in this lush bio by Eleanor Herman. Here was a woman who wasn’t about to let life (and men) tell her what to do, SHE told THEM. Do I think she was her brother-in-law’s mistress? In the sexual way, a resounding No; but in the social way, an emphatic Yes. She knew her social powers and was not afraid to use them in any way that would keep her secure and protected. Herman’s prose paints vivid pictures of Olimpia, the Papal Court, and the influence Olimpia held over the Papacy and therefore over all of Rome and the Holy Roman Empire, for she who holds the purse-strings controls the world.

The Sisters Who Would Be Queen: The Tragedy of Katherine, Mary and Lady Jane Grey by Leanda de Lisle Speaking of women controlling the world… Many people know the name of Lady Jane Grey, the “Nine Days’ Queen,” so called because her reign, if it could be called a proper reign, lasted only 9 days. De Lisle’s biography of the three Grey sisters turns the traditional view of Jane Grey and her sisters on its head — instead of as victims, it paints Jane, Katherine, and Mary as rebels and real women who were very clearly aware not only of their power, but of what they could do with it. Being a woman with royal blood in her veins — and her uterus — made these girls into dynastic pawns. Not for them stable lives and love matches. Jane, the oldest sister, was Edward I’s legitimate heir by the terms of his will, and she knew she had a legal leg to stand on — even though she wound up on the block for her troubles. She was in the right, but the Tudor side simply had more brawn. If things had gone differently for the Grey sisters, the last 500 years would have looked radically different and even today, we’d be living with the aftereffects of Jane, the First Queen of England. It is time we saw Jane Grey and her sisters through a proper lens — contrary to degrading the three women, de Lisle’s work lifts them up to their proper places as women and royals.

This, in a nutshell, is one of the most common “criticisms” directed at the dog-breeding world by those who want to bring attention to the plight of shelter animals, pet overpopulation, and the horrid abuses perpetrated by puppy mills. While I understand the impulse to defend the voiceless, the canines and felines who live on the edges, at the whim of humans, without the love and care of a Forever Family, what sets my teeth on edge is when so-called animal activists get on MY case about Amy. When I say she is a former show dog, or that we got her from a (responsible) local breeder, some people get their hackles up and tell me how awful it is to breed a dog when dogs in shelters get euthanized every day of the week.

Well, I’ve got news for you, people.

Amy’s ADOPTED.

She wasn’t bred to order. She needed a Forever Home.

We gave her one.

Her future was far from uncertain — she’d have been loved no matter what, whether we adopted her or not, but she wouldn’t have had a home of her own. But there she was, almost 4 years old, done with the job for which she was born, with a great many years ahead of her. What’s a corgi girl to do? She’s clearly an “only child dog”—she will play with other dogs and even vacation with them, but she clearly prefers being the only canine in residence, thankyouverymuch. As the breeder says, “I can’t keep them all, no matter how much I love them!”

(Currently, she’s zonked out on the couch in the office, at an hour when in her former life she’d probably be snug in her kennel bed by now. She has a king-size comforter at her disposal for nesting and cuddling.)

I don’t think the contents of her life have changed much — food, exercise, play, loving humans. I didn’t rescue her from a dire situation, the way some dogs are rescued; she has been cared for by great big loving hearts since the moment she was conceived, if not before. Her parents were chosen not just for their looks but also for their health, which improved Amy’s health outcomes and further reduced her susceptibility to certain diseases, and she in her turn passed that great health on to her two litters. She, and her breeder, are doing everything they can to eliminate some of the diseases that plague the PWC breed and break so many hearts every year: degenerative myelopathy, hip dysplasia, and Von Willebrand’s disease. Part of her charm is the bill of health she comes with, the “edge” she has, and the fact that I know she’s passing on her disease-free genes to the rest of the corgi community. She’s been given A+ vet care, fed high-quality food, and cared for every day of her life. She is one lucky, lucky little dog. In a world where so many dogs don’t receive the same love and care, she’s blessed. Yes, she’s a show dog, she has a fancy name and everything, and certificates, and a championship medal.

But she’s still an adult adoptee.

Amy was born after Jim & I started dating, but before we were engaged, so she was abroad in the world before her “forever family” even existed. She had her first litter the winter after we got married. She was just getting ready to take her second litter when we met her breeder, and we were supposedly on wait for HER puppies, who were there CUTEST things on Planet Earth, don’t get me wrong. But the babies weren’t in our stars, their mama was. Little Miss was ready to retire and enjoy just being a dog, but needed a home and a family. We didn’t even need to think about it. One glance at each other and the next question we had was “When can she come home?”

It took a year of planning to have Amy’s home ready, before we even knew about her. We knew we needed a proper house, and we had to research breeds still. We were pretty sure we’d be working with a breeder: mall pet shops were out of the question, and a shelter dog just couldn’t come with the same background of health and known temperament. It was nine months exactly from the day we contacted her breeder by email to the night she came home, just like a human baby who is planned for and waited for and loved for.

Jim’s niece urged and urged us to get a shelter dog, to adopt, which is what her family did when they brought home the spunkiest Russell terrier girl I ever did meet; but I think she’s forgiven us for going with a bred dog, because A) Amy is the cutest thing on four feet and B) she IS adopted, even if she isn’t a shelter dog. Maybe the logic’s a little fuzzy, but you can’t argue with this fact: We adopted Amy as an adult dog in need of a forever family.

We see Amy’s breeder a few times a year, either to board Amy when we are out of town or if she’s having a bad day and we need a health consultation; who better to visit than the woman who has fretted over Little Miss from the moment she entered the world, who has nursed her through two C-sections and two squeakerectomies and a spay surgery, who holds in her head anecdotes of all Amy’s forebears, who committed so much time to training her for the show ring? And who has done this not just for Amy, but for the dozens and dozens and DOZENS of dogs she has cared for in many decades of work? Whenever we visit, Amy goes wild with joy and love for the woman who raised her, rooing and wagging her nubbin for all she’s worth, leaping as far as her little legs will take her, climbing on as many pieces of furniture as she can reach to share her affection with this remarkable woman. (Usually couch–>office table–>chair–>lap.)

So I propose we modify the “criticism” that sparked this post:

Don’t buy from pet shops that either directly or inadvertently support the unclean and abusive practices of puppy mills, or from backyard breeders who breed their dogs for easy money without the research and planning required of a conscientious breeder invested in the welfare of a specific breed; both these practices lead to overpopulations of dogs with sometimes severe physical and psychological health issues. Instead, adopt a shelter dog, rescue a dog in need, foster if you can, support your local shelter through donations or volunteer time, or get involved in the pro-active dog breed community of your choice that advocates improving canine health through responsible, planned, conscientious breeding programs and supporting the current canine population. Responsible breeders are working every day of their lives to improve the quality of life for their breed of dogs, by breeding out genetic deficiencies and breeding to enhance the temperament of the breed. They are ambassadors for the many creatures who cannot speak with human voice, advocating for their health and well-being and promoting the positive qualities of their breed to the general public. If you are looking to adopt an older dog in need of a home, in addition to local breed-specific rescue groups, consider contacting breeders in your area and asking if they know of any older dogs in need of placing, get to know them, and cheerlead them on. What they do is a labor of love that, when you think about it in detail, does not reward with a great deal of money…

…but who could ever put a price on the wag of a dog’s tail?

Remember the Ladies. I know we live in a patronymic society here in the West, so the default for genealogists is to follow the line of the surname — the men. This is great, but were there no foremothers among our forefathers? Did the Founding Fathers have no Founding Wives? For the most part, the women in our modern genealogies are just names, sometimes birth years, sometimes birth dates, sometimes birth places. They themselves have no parents, no siblings, no histories, they just pop fully formed in to our family trees. But having inherited a basically complete paternal family tree, I felt there was not much I could do besides just keeping it updated with marriages and babies — not much I could own, no digging I myself could do. Until I thought about the women, and decided to find out who they were.

If you are a family genealogist and you want to try to find the women in your family tree, I have one excellent piece of advice for you: Look among someone else’s sisters. Often a genealogist will have the names of all a person’s siblings recorded, but they usually only focus on their own (male) ancestor. That leaves a lot of siblings floating around, and after women marry, they tend to fall out of their family trees forever, having lost the patronym. Frequently you can break out of a genealogical doldrums and find the woman who married in to your family languishing among someone else’s “lost” sisters. Look for matching birth dates and familiar names — if you know the names of a woman’s children, look for similar names among potential maternal relatives. Usually the second son will be named after her father or a brother. Or a daughter may be named after the mother’s mother, grandmother, or sisters. I was working on a female line and discovered that an Alice of mine probably got the name from her mother’s mother and grandmother, also Alices. This convinces me I probably have the right line.

I also discovered a woman I am descended from twice over. From one of her sons, a daughter married in to my dad’s patronymic line, and from another son, a line of men resulted in a woman who gave birth to a woman who married in to the same patronymic line. I wouldn’t know this if I hadn’t tried to trace my foremothers’ families. Hello, Avis Deacon Reed, I am your many-great-granddaughter twice-over, it’s so nice to finally know about you.

Dear Future Genealogists: I’m trying to help you out. I’m making sure that any of the records you’d be looking for — like my marriage record — are as full of pertinent information as I can make them be. I made sure full birth dates and places were filled in, and mothers’ maiden names. My husband didn’t know why I was insisting he fill in his mother’s maiden name, and I said, “Two hundred years from now, a genealogist will thank you.” You can’t forget the ladies. I will continue to do this as much as I can, tucking bits of family history away for posterity, clues for intrepid archaeologists to find and signposts for them to follow.

Below the jump, I’m listing every woman I know I’m descended from, with her married name in parentheses. If you have found this site by a search engine because you are looking for one of these women, drop a note in the Comments section and I’ll try to help you out with whatever information I’ve managed to glean about her. Some of these women are so far back in history they almost don’t exist, but some of them are near and dear.

“x2″ indicates descent from two of the woman’s children.

Alphabetical by first name after the jump…

Abigail Hinton (Averill)
Abigail Studley (Poole)
Agnes Bernak (Wymbish)
Alice Barnes (Honywood)
Alice Goddard (Heneage)
Alice Nash (Reed)
Alice Reed (Reed)
Alice Turner (Tisdale)
Ann Jones (Williams)
Anna Barbara Stifle (Sparn)
Anna Christina Riettenauer (Wickline)
Anna Maria Buhler (Kauffman)
Anna Maria Margaretha Schnaeder (Spahr)
Anna Maria Thum (Sparn)
Anna Wickline (Knight)
Anne Heslarton (Buckton)
Anne Palmes (Heslarton)
Anne Stone (Buckton)
Avis Deacon (Reed) x2
Bennet Lewknor (Barnes)
Bertha Hosey (Nicholson)
Bethiah Frye (Reed)
Betsey Perry (Turner)
Beulah Nicholson (Avery)
Catherine Caseborne (Honywood)
Eleanor Elizabeth Preston (Heneage)
Eliza Mennis (Reed)
Elizabeth Crossman (White)
Elizabeth Doty (Randal)
Elizabeth Elmer (Hobart)
Elizabeth Macey (Hodges)
Elizabeth White (Williams)
Erdine Dunbar (Tisdale)
Esther Thompson (Reed) x2
Ethel Durrell (Betts)
Ethel Whitmore (Avery)
Eva Presley (Evans)
Grace Honywood (Heneage)
Hannah Bradley (Wickline)
Hannah Bryant (White)
Hannah Deane (Hodges) x2
Hannah Gould (Hobart)
Hannah Hodges (Bryant)
Hannah Jackson (Averill)
Hannah Leonard (Deane)
Hannah Smith (White)
Hannah White (Tisdale)
Irene Knight (Nicholson)
Jael Whiton (Hobart)
Katharina Schar (Riettenauer)
Katherine Bright (Atwater)
Katherine Wymbish (Heneage)
Katheryne (Jackson)
Louisa Poole (Hobart)
Lucinda Colson (Avery)
Lucretia Gill (Hobart)
Lucy Buckton (Heneage)
Lucy Heneage (Reed)
Lulu Terriel (Tisdale)
Lydia White (Leonard)
Margaret Atwood (Hicks)
Margaret Dewey (Hobart)
Margaret Shepard (Avery)
Margaret Winslow (Hicks)
Margery Blyton (Wymbish)
Margret Evans (Wickline)
Maria Catharina Kauffman (Spahr)
Maria Catharina Spahr (Wickline)
Maria Elisabetha Zenss (Riettenauer)
Marion Crocker (Avery)
Martha White (Wickline)
Mary Andrews (Hodges)
Mary Ann Miller (Wickline)
Mary Atwater (Honywood)
Mary Avery (Tisdale)
Mary Brandon (Frye)
Mary Browne (White)
Mary Everard (Hicks)
Mary Filmore (Betts)
Mary Freeman (Betts)
Mary Garst (Williams)
Mary Kenney (Averill)
Mary Leonard (Tisdale)
Mary Martin (Leonard) x2
Mary Minter (White)
Mary Orcut (Hobart)
Mary Thomas (Dunbar)
Mary Watson (Leonard)
Matilda Poland (Crocker)
Minerva Conrad (Nicholson)
Nancy Breeding (Nicholson)
Nancy Evarts (Allyne)
Phebe Hicks (Watson)
Phoebe Allyn (Hicks)
Polly Reed (Turner)
Polly Williams (White)
Rebecca Hobart (Tisdale)
Rebecca Hodges (Tisdale)
Rebecca Mennis (Reed)
Ruth Hilton (Averill)
Ruth Randal (Turner)
Ruth Reed (Tisdale)
Ruth Stetson (Randal)
Sarah Clark (Poole)
Sarah Dodson (Nicholson)
Sarah Hersey (Reed)
Sarah Noyes (Reed)
Sarah Sewall (Terriel)
Sarah Walker (Tisdale)
Susanna Humphreys (White)
Susanna Windstein (Riettenauer)
Susannah Brown (Averill)
Theresa Betts (Tisdale)
Thomazine Mary Lovelace (Honywood)

Let’s look at last year’s hurricane preparedness list and add a few updates for this year. This list can also be used for winter storm preparedness, so I think it’s convenient as a reminder for myself as well as a memory-jogger for anyone else preparing to batten down the hatches for a big storm.

• Milk, eggs, bread. The milk and eggs will quickly cease to be useful if the power goes out for more than a little while, but the bread can be put to good use  in peanut butter & jelly sandwiches. This is more of a precaution in case utilities are intact but the roads are impassable, and you can hold a French toast party to pass the time.
• Toilet paper. You’ll be sad if you run out. I actually was running out — down to the last two rolls! — so it was time to buy anyway. I always buy the largest package I can manhandle, so my last TP shopping trip was this past May.
• Canned soups and stews. We have a gas grill with a gas side burner, so I know I can cook anything that I would normally be cooking on the stove, I just have to do it outside. If we lose power for a few days, I can still make canned soups and packaged skillet meals and feel human. Yay skippy! I didn’t even get boring soups — I got some New England Clam Chowder, some Maryland-style Crab, and chicken with dumplings.
• Instant coffee. No one’s ever mentioned instant coffee to me in conjunction with storm preparedness, but it makes no end of sense to have a small jar on hand. As long as you have good hot water running or the ability to boil it (aforementioned gas grill burner), you can get some sort of coffee-like substance in to your system, which for many, including most Greater Boston twentysomethings such as myself, is imperative. I still have the same jar of Folgers crystals from last summer, like a talisman.
• Shelf-stable cans of tuna salad, chicken salad, and crackers. It isn’t awesome, you won’t feel stuffed after eating it, but it’s food, and it will carry you through in a pinch if you run out of peanut butter.
• Anything that can be grilled. Even if we lose power, we’ve got a grill and two fresh canisters of gas, so we can have steaks or barbequed chicken or grilled vegetables or whatever. As part of your storm preparation, check to see whether it’s time to get a new tank for the grill!
• Bottled water: Two surprise instances of losing potable water to the house last spring have led me to be absolutely nuts about having enough water stored away in the basement to keep a Roman legion on its feet. Emergency management officials recommend having 1 gallon of water per adult per day on hand. For example, ten days of water for two people is twenty gallons, plus water for infants and pets. We currently have 13 gallons in our dining-room/staging-area.
• Speaking of pets, you’ve probably got enough canned food and/or kibble on hand to get by, but just in case your kibble bin is looking low, consider stocking up early! Amy has plenty of noms in her kibble bin and we just recently bought a new bag with a coupon. We also have lots of treats for her.
• And speaking of infants, diapers and jars of baby food should be a part of your staple grocery lists already, but having extra on hand in case of an emergency never hurt anyone; they’ll be used up eventually.
• Batteries for radios, flashlights, and camping lanterns. It didn’t even cross my mind until Friday morning, and I had to do serious hunting to find a large package of D batteries.
• A medical kit. I don’t think about this so much because both Jim & I are somewhat accident prone, so we keep a large selection of latex-free bandages and a fresh tube of antibacterial ointment in a plastic bin in the bathroom closet that’s designated as the “medical kit,” but storm prep is a good time to check that kit and make sure nothing needs to be replaced or refreshed. A reusable wrap we’ve always had came in handy this morning when I lost my footing in the shower and my elbow came down hard on a window casing. As long as I don’t bend it past 80-100 degrees, it feels okay, but there’s  a very pretty bruise forming.Hurricane Irene injuries at Isle of Skye: 1.

Other things to think about:

• Try to trim back any tree branches that may have been damaged during other summer storms, or that are simply too close to your home. This can protect both your home and your neighbors’ homes, as well as your vehicles. I noticed that about the time it became clear Irene would be menacing us, all our neighbors got out and mowed and cleaned up the gardens. Jim says it was because they realized it would be their last chances before the yards got saturated with water. Jim also took the time Friday evening to trim our front hedges, which needed the trimming anyway, but did you know that trimming trees and bushes actually makes them more wind-resistant? It makes sense, so there you go. And it makes your house look nicer to boot.
• Bring any window air conditioning units in if you can! We took out the leaky, older unit in the guest bedroom (won’t be in use for another week anyway) and the newer unit in my office at the back of the house, the room most subject to the winds and driving rains. We left the unit in the front bedroom window, on the sheltered side of the house, and the behemoth in the downstairs window.
• Secure anything outdoors or bring it inside, if possible. Lawn furniture, lawn ornaments, sheds and outbuildings, tools, toys, trash and recycling barrels, plants, bird feeders, anything loose: batten it down or bring it in. We put as much as we could in the shed Jim and my dad built this spring, and then Jim battened the shed down with ties and other securities. That thing isn’t going anywhere. The grill is tied to the deck as well, in case the predicted tropical storm or hurricane force gusts would be strong enough to push it around.
• If you have a pool, do what you can to secure and protect it. Leave the cover off as it could be damaged by high winds or flying vegetation and debris. Secure pool and patio furniture.
• Bring flags in off the front of your house. The pole could snap right off the house, potentially damaging your siding, and at worst be picked up by the wind and tossed through a window.
• We also took the screens out of the big gallery windows on the front porch. We had to make two from scratch this spring and repair one, and they were big and a pain in the gears. I will cheerfully replace any other screen that gets a tear from a flying pebble or twig — but I drew the line at those ones. With the glass panes shut the front porch is enclosed, and the screens are safely stacked inside.

Those last few points are less pertinent when preparing for winter storms, since the wind in those storms is usually secondary to the amount of snow that’s expected to come down. Up until just this morning, Irene could have reached us as a Category 1 hurricane, but luckily it degraded to a tropical storm even before reaching New York City. Still, tropical storm winds are sustained winds up to 60 mph with gusting winds higher, and when the ground has been saturated by driving rain sustained winds are nothing to shake a stick at (literally). As I write I am watching trees on a nearby property bend in the wind like licorice ropes. If they stay upright through today I’ll be shocked.

Luckily, our section of the coast is in a deep, protected bay, and winds and even waves may be less intense here than along coastal areas fronting the ocean (such as Nantasket, which is across the bay from us and protects us from the brunt of major storms). The storm surge along the outer coasts is still a threat, and will remain so through tonight’s (unfortunately astronomically) high tide, but our bay is a bit more protected, thankfully, and some emergency repairs have recently been done on our local sea wall. However, after the downpours of March 2010 when our basement flooded at the high tides, we’ve become paranoid about our basement. Thursday night Jim worked hard to get the basement cleaned and items placed well off the floor. On Saturday morning, very early, we took ourselves to our local DPW yard to pickup an allotment of FREE SANDBAGS that were being distributed to coastal residents. We couldn’t get enough to sandbag every doorway and basement window, so we decided to fill the doorway to the back part of the basement, which I call the cellar part, where the water entered the last time there was flooding. Jim has plugged the offending hole with some silicone-concrete mix that came in a tube gun, but sandbagging too wouldn’t hurt. Then, yesterday afternoon, Jim was at the local home improvement box store and found a device that, when it detects moisture, emits a piercing tone to alert you to flooding. I think he placed that in the basement in a low spot just beyond where he sandbagged. He also got one for our friends in Rhode Island, so much closer to the brunt of the storm and the storm surge.

• Cell phones, flashlights. Although the cell phones will stop being useful about 12 hours after the power goes out. Make sure you have fresh batteries for the flashlights on hand as well.
• A back-up generator. Normally I’d say this is going overboard, but in some instances it could be imperative. Friends of ours have a sump pump in their basement which is overactive on normal days, and any prolonged loss of power would naturally result in a flooded basement for them. A small generator will keep that pump going and, hopefully, their basement dry no matter what happens.
• A hand-crank radio. Mostly this is useful in areas of the country affected by tornados, because real-time tracking is essential to survival. In our area of the country and in the situations we find ourself in, the hand radio becomes a simple lifeline to the world and source of entertainment if the power goes out. Because these are so darn useful, we picked up a combination hand-crank/solar powered AM/FM radio with 7 NOAA weatherband stations AND cell phone charging outlet.
• Check with your local DPW — if you live near a water feature, they too may be providing residents with free sandbags. We figure if we get an allotment every time they’re offered, eventually we’ll have enough to sandbag the whole house. All we had to do was show a driver’s license with our local address, and our allotment of 10 sandbags was free and loaded in to the back of Jim’s SUV by two hard-working, good-natured men at the DPW.

And finally:

• Books! I will gleefully batten down in my little beach cottage as long as there is a pile of literature to hand. Preferably something dreary that plays on the isolation you will feel while burrowed away. I am working through a biography of Abigail Adams right now and have my usual stack of murder mysteries nearby. I almost went out and got Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, knowing what a classic of the genre it is, but when I got to the bookstore and started looking at it it just wasn’t catching my imagination. Abigail and Death at Sandringham House were at home and calling my name pretty loudly, so I left without buying anything.

1. Don’t let our country default on its debt.
2. We want you to support a plan that incorporates both spending reductions where possible, balanced by increased revenue from the richest individual Americans and businesses, including close the tax loopholes exploited by companies such as “Big Oil.”
3. Don’t just vote the party line on this one, please actually think about what you are doing.

Dear James,

Thank you for contacting me regarding federal spending and the bipartisan compromise that was reached to address our nation’s national debt.  As always, I value the input of my constituents and appreciate hearing from you.

As you may know, federal spending as a percentage of our GDP has exploded in recent years, to levels not seen since World War II.  Currently, the United States borrows nearly 40 cents of every dollar we spend.  Our country is in the middle of a historic fiscal crisis and we have accumulated more than $14.3 trillion in national debt.  Like you, I agree that Washington’s fiscal irresponsibility is simply passing the problem to future generations, mortgaging the future of Massachusetts children and grandchildren.  This reckless spending must stop.

Resolving our country’s debt and excessive spending habits will not be easy and it certainly won’t happen overnight.  It will require compromise from both parties, and a commitment to work together in the months and years ahead to find solutions to ensure that our long-term fiscal challenges do not weaken our country’s ability to grow, create jobs and promote investment.  This cannot happen without bipartisanship.

While the bipartisan compromise that President Obama signed into law [P.L. 112-25] on August 2, 2011 is not perfect, I believe it is an important step in putting our fiscal house in order.  The legislation avoids default, significantly cuts spending, and doesn’t raise taxes, creating a framework to force Congress to responsibly and reasonably tackle our budgetary challenges.  That is why I voted in support of the Budget Control Act of 2011 (S. 365) when it came before the full Senate.  As enacted, the compromise framework immediately reduces spending by $900 billion by imposing enforceable spending caps, while simultaneously raising the debt limit.  Thereafter, the framework provides that every $1 increase in the debt limit be matched by $1 in corresponding spending cuts.  It accomplishes this balance through the creation of a Joint Select Congressional Committee and subsequent spending mechanisms and triggers, all of which result in deficit savings of approximately $1.5 trillion over 10 years.  Likewise, the bipartisan compromise includes protections for beneficiaries of important social programs like Medicaid, Social Security and Veterans.

In the coming months, as the Joint Select Congressional Committee begins to tackle these tough issues, I will continue to push for solutions that correct our current fiscal imbalance and our long-term structural deficit.  This means Congress must consider proposals to overhaul the current budget process, including reducing and capping spending levels, establishing binding debt limits and imposing triggers if those limits are exceeded, and requiring Congress and the White House to establish budget priorities that clearly increase our economic growth and competitiveness.  These reforms are essential if we are truly serious about getting our fiscal house in order.

Like millions of Americans, I have been very disappointed in the political and often heated rhetoric on both sides regarding these issues.  The United States should never have reached the brink of a potential default.  I will be sure to keep your views in mind as Congress continues to find ways to reduce federal spending and reform our budget process.

Again, thank you for sharing your thoughts with me.  Should you have any additional comments or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me or visit my website at www.scottbrown.senate.gov.

Dear Senator Brown,

I’m sorry, but I don’t think we DO agree with you: We want a plan for America that balances both spending cuts (especially on overseas wars) and waste-reduction (in the entitlement programs) with increased revenue from the wealthiest American individuals and businesses that have profited from tax breaks and loopholes, preferably in a 50/50, 60/40, or even 70/30 reductions-to-revenue ratio. While realizing that we must decrease spending in some areas of the fiscal house, we also realize that raising taxes on those who have historically not been paying their fair share is a smart way to raise flagging revenue. If a household cannot cut all the expenses necessary to live within its means, members of that household must find a way to bring in more money, often by finding a second job or other source of income. The United States of America must do the same.

You are not keeping our views in mind. Thank you for realizing that defaulting on our nation’s debt was never an option, but as further discussions go forward please actually consider the words of your constituents instead of adhering to the agenda set forward by your party’s most extreme and angry members. We did not vote for you in the special election that sent you to Washington, and from what we are seeing this summer, we won’t be voting any differently if you decide to seek reelection.

All the best,

The Trousdales

Quincy, MA

a bipartisan household

We are so lucky, also, that the people in our lives have embraced Amy too, welcoming her as a part of our family, putting up with her shenanigans and ours. A conflux of events has illustrated this to me quite sharply.

The arrival of one of Jim’s old college friends: Amy clearly thinks he’s the best thing since sliced bread, but he has also pointed out that he can tell which room of the house I’m in by looking for which doorway Amy has taken up a post in: she is either watching me, or watching out for me. But wherever I am, she is sure to follow.

A pool party at the home of friends: Amy is invited, welcomed, and given the run of their large and inviting back yard. Dog- and baby-friendly insect repellents are used, and food is sequestered on tables inside a tent (this doesn’t stop Amy from going in to the tent, but she’s so short the tables conveniently keep food well out of her reach). No one makes fun of me when I bring a doggie frozen yogurt and store it in the freezer until the end of the night, a tasty treat for my entirely too-tired puppy. Almost everyone, with one outright exception, knows her name and shows her at least passing affection, and there are toddling children to follow, investigate, and befriend (they might give her a carrot, cracker, or some cheese; one never knows).

This morning: An article in the most recent New Yorker, a personal history by Adam Gopnik titled “Dog Story: How did the dog become our masters?” The story centers on his daughter’s much-wished-for little Havanese, Butterscotch, and the way that Gopnik’s perceptions of the race of canidae shift after Butterscotch becomes a part of his family life. I especially love his closing paragraph:

“Butterscotch, meanwhile, seems happy. She’s here, she’s there, a domestic ornament; she takes a place at the table, or under it, anyway, and remains an animal, with an animal’s mute confusions and narrow routines and appetites. She jumps up on visitors, sniffs friends, chews shoes, and, even as we laughingly apologize for her misbehavior and order her ‘Off!,’ we secretly think her misbehavior is sweet. After all, where we are creatures of past and future, she lives in the minute’s joy: a little wolf, racing and snorting and scaring; and the small ingratiating spirit, doing anything to please. At times, I think that I can see her turn her head and look back at the ghost of the wolf mother she parted from long ago, saying, ‘See, it was a good bet after all; they’re nice to me, mostly.’ Then she waits by the door for the next member of the circle she has insinuated herself into to come back to the hearth and seal the basic social contract common to all things that breathe and feel and gaze: love given for promises kept. How does anyone live without a dog? I can’t imagine.”

The line that just slays me is “They’re nice to me, mostly.” And oh how that is reflected in my own experience being the owner of a domesticated wolf. Mostly, people welcome Amy’s presence, appreciate her personality, and show her affection; some people, however, do take frustrations out on her that I can only deduce come from the fact that she is a dog, an imperfect interpreter of English, a “small ingratiating spirit, doing anything to please.” Yes, she may hover around your ankles, quiet, and staying in your “blind spot,” easily bumped in to or tripped over, but she just wants to see what you’re doing, figure out if there’s something she can do to make you happy with her, earn her a bit of affection or a tasty treat. The corgi is an inquisitive dog, glad to be in the thick of a group of people, curious, especially about food, and maybe that’s not for some people. Because I’m with her so much, I know her personality and the causes for it, and know (or am learning) how to redirect it, counter it, or ignore it.

I know that instead of telling a dog what NOT to do, you should tell a dog WHAT to do. I know that just telling Amy “get out of my way” won’t make her move, but telling her to “come along,” or simply beep-beeping at her, will get her to fall in line behind me and succeed in getting her out of my way. Instead of “stop being annoying,” telling her to sit or lie down gives her something to do, something she’s good at, a way to please the person she’s trying to please.

Amy’s an intuitive animal but she isn’t a mindreader, and her human vocabulary is limited: she knows a handful of words but mostly relies on the tone of voice, and most people speak to her sweetly, and she knows that means she’s succeeding at pleasing us, resulting in food and affection, and so on and so on, a two-way street of affection and trust, a social contract, between Man and the Wolf who sleeps in his parlor.

It starts on July 2nd, Illumination Night, when neighbors can enter a contest for the most patriotically decorated home on the Neck. I decorate, usually on the last day of June or first day of July, and I’m still picking up speed. Last year I had fairy lights and bunting in the porch windows, this year I have fairy lights, bunting, and a swag for the front door. Next year I’ll accumulate even more.

The town of Weymouth, at the mouth of our bay, does a big fireworks display on the 3rd, and they launch from a barge on the bay, so those of us on the bay side of the peninsula get a personal fireworks display. About a week in advance, someone starts building a bonfire on the beach — last year’s centerpiece was half of a boat, this year it was a telephone pole — and all the neighbors add wood to the pile. During the day, there’s a family fun day for the kids with bouncy houses, a dj, face painting, sand castle building contests, a dunk tank, and a little kids’ bicycle decorating workshop with parade. This ends around 3 PM and that’s when people start barbecues and cookouts, and it is almost required of one to go around, socialize with the neighbors, nurse a cold drink, and sample the food. We ourselves had a small barbecue this year, a very small family style cookout, then trouped down to the bayside drive for the bonfire and fireworks display. And let me tell you, it is a ZOO down there. This year was a lot calmer, and I think the borderline inclement weather kept people away. People come from off the Neck even, there are cops everywhere, lots of teenagers (we call them FUYAs — Fine Upstanding Young Americans), rowdiness, and some arrests. I make a point of setting up my lawn chairs at our friends’ house — she’s a nurse at the hospital where Jim works, he’s a city policeman, they have a long-haired dachshund who’s Amy’s BFF. If I am at the place where all the beat cops are taking their breaks, I’m in a pretty safe spot. After the fireworks spectacular and HUGE bonfire, the motorcycle police contingent herds everyone away from the beach and the neighborhood gets quiet, and it’s just the neighbors again.

This year, it looked like it might rain. Jim and I got a tent to eat under in the backyard, and we made a cover for the back deck so he could grill in peace. We asked the neighbors, who’ve lived here since the 1940s, what would happen if it rained so bad they cancelled the festivities. “It’s never rained that hard,” they said. “There was that one year, but they just doused it with gasoline and set it off. Someone’s roof caught on fire. That’s why they always station the fire engine down at the corner of our street and the bay road.”

OH. Ok. Good to know.

After the non-”Neckahs” left, and our own guests had departed, we packed up a couple of cold seltzers and went next door to socialize. The corner our house is on is a pretty social one because most of the houses are all owned by one family, mother and sons and in-laws, and another son is just on the next street. We stayed up late and talked about dogs and allergies and how the neighborhood used to be. Then I got too tired and went home to bed, and Jim went to our neighbors on the other side, who host a party well in to the night for the motorcycle cops who are just getting off duty.

On the 4th, we were going to a friend’s pool party and outdoor potluck grillfest in the Ocean State, so I had to get up and make a potato salad, Jim had to take the tent and deck cover down, and we had to pack for a pool party with a pup in tow. I packed up everything left over from the party on the 3rd as well — veggies, broccoli salad, cheese. Amy loves the house in RI. She isn’t a fan of the pool, but she likes the big yard and the little kids. And all the adult people too. They’re ok. She discovered that her favorite Little Girl has a Three Year Old Boy Cousin. “MOM!” she says to me. (She always speaks in capitals.) “WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME THREE YEAR OLD BOYS WERE SO AWESOME?! I LOVE THIS KID! HE’S KIND OF OBLIVIOUS TO ME BUT HE’S MY HEIGHT AND LIKES BROCCOLI!” We didn’t get home til 10 PM or so, but the party was still going at our neighbors’. He has a big(ger) bash on the 4th with bands and enormous slabs of meat grilled on a rotating spit, and they block off the street and everyone in the neighborhood goes by the party. And it continues well in to the night, and they have fireworks. But we were far too tired to go by. We watched the Boston fireworks on CBS (and could hear them over the water — weird) and went to bed.

So yesterday was the 5th. You’d think the festivities would be over, but the neighbor still had food to cook up so there was an impromptu Leftovers Party. I took over the leftover potato salad from the day before to contribute to the spread. He cooked up endless loads of teriyaki chicken wings on the barbecue and we socialized some more. I still had potato salad leftover at the time we were leaving, but I convinced the person who said he liked it most to just let me fill a plate for him with what I had left. One fewer leftover in my fridge is a win.

Today is the 6th. I am totally socialized out. I never want to have another party ever again (I’ll change my mind in a month). Amy is dead tired (she didn’t nap for three days) and she thought yesterday was Monday. She was quite put out that I had to go to work. I had to explain three day weekends to her when I got back home. But I suppose it’s worth it to connect with your neighbors and celebrate the fact that it’s summer, and you can lounge around outdoors, and we live in a beautiful land.