Category: Life with Pratts

Take us out to the ballgame

Eric and I are doing something we haven’t done in a long time. We’re going to Fenway Park to watch a Red Sox game. I think the last time we went the seats were about $75, but now they’re $125. We’ll be back there on August 5 with Carol to see Paul McCartney. Those seats are $100, but fees bring the total up to about $115. The field seats for the show — which don’t exist for a baseball game, of course — are $200.

Well, the Sox lost to the Orioles, 6-2, but mercifully it was a short game, especially because we got sunburned. I’d like to point out two photos that I took. First, in the background of this one is the Prudential Building, commonly called “The Pru,” making it a must for Prue Bury if she ever visits Boston…

The Pru

… and the big Budweiser sign makes me want to point out that the King of Beers now belongs to a company in tiny Belgium. The present King of Belgians is Albert II.

Budweiser sign at Fenway Park

The tyranny of technology

Doing my part to help move the economy along, and move myself along, I bought a Garmin 305 GPS for running. J&R had it for a fantastic price on one of their typically tempting close-out deals.

Garmin 305

The damn thing works! Too well. It revealed that my 8-mile running route is actually 7.63 miles, and my 6-mile run is in fact a mere 5.5 miles. Therefore, my pace is slower than I previously believed.

You know what that means. I need to do more running and less blogging!

Door Bore

I’m sure you’re dying to see the front door that has caused me so much anxiety. I’ve applied the first coat of tung oil to the threshold. The rest of the wood trim will be primed and painted white. Not sure yet if I’m going to gel stain the fiberglass door or paint it. I’m using an old tablecloth for a dropcloth. Hey, not all of the items I post can be exciting and entertaining!

New front door

Door Man

Today has not been good. A small home improvement project — a new front door — has turned into a major undertaking, with the end result still unknown, and the (new) contractor is still here after nearly twelve hours. I wish my original contractor, the one who did the porch, hadn’t run into some personal trouble and left me high and dry on this job.

Home on the range

Only five months ago I replaced the bulbs in the microwave oven that light the stovetop. And now one of them has already burned out again. Rather than wait for the other one to go out I replaced them both.

Yesterday we were about to leave to go out to dinner, when an intense hail storm hit. They were the size and shape of Mentos candy. In this video you can hear them hitting the skylights on the porch which, fortunately, weren’t damaged.

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After the hail there was heavy rain. Ten seconds into this video you can see that the downspout next to the garage couldn’t keep up.

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Later, at Legal Seafood in Framingham, MA, Eric’s salad was delivered with hair in it. That’s a first for us at any Legal Seafood restaurant, and it took way too long for a replacement salad to be delivered. It should have been complimentary, but it wasn’t. Boo, Legal Seafood!