Leominster – Page 3 – The Big DumpTruck

So This Is Why It’s So Expensive

Posted on April 2, 2007February 24, 2010 by The Jody

There’s an article in today’s Telegram and Gazette that made me double check the date. Apparently Nestle Waters, the kind folks who deliver Poland Springs water right to my doorstep by the case, are looking at some aquifers in Clinton as a potential source for spring water. That’s right, I could be paying a premium for water coming from Clinton. I know, I know, Boston drinks Clinton water every day courtesy of the Wachusett Reservoir, but if you see a headline like “Clinton water may join Perrier” bells and sirens sort of go off. I’m just saying.

Of course, this news is offset with the news that Leominster water is not as good as it should be. There’s a byproduct of chlorinization called trihalomethanes that may cause an increase of cancer if they are consumed, inhaled, or absorbed through the skin. As in, you swim in it, get some steam up your nose when you’re cooking with it, or bath in it. Which we all do, or at least should. I’m not sure how to take this report. I’m not going to stop bathing, but this is not a comforting news story.

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I Remembered!

Posted on February 27, 2007February 25, 2010 by The Jody

I remembered what I was going to write about! I should probably save this for a novel or short story, but don’t you think you have earned a special posting? I think you have. All 3 of you who read this site regularly.

Sunday night there were a lot of odd conversations. VERY odd. We had my niece and nephew over for a while, and then when my sister came to get them, we all went to TGI Fridays. So here are the things that occurred after we got the kids in the van:

1. I became an eastern European tour bus guide. I pointed out helpful things along the lines of “In front of you is road. Behind is road.” I pointed out the rubbish barrels on the side of the road. I told them that if at any point they noticed the bus driver missing, they should “Press ding button”. They seemed greatly amused by the whole drive.

2. There were two shows on the TVs in the TGIF bar – on one was a car race. On the other, I don’t know because I could only see TVs with the car race. I pointed out that race car drivers probably wore diapers. There was some discussion about “pit stop” means something different in non-racing circles. We call it a pit stop when we want a potty break. Mr. Dump pointed out that race car drivers don’t exit the car during the race.

3. Whatever was on the other television involved bees. I asked what it was about and Mr. Dump said it was a story about how they are training bees to sniff out drugs. We envisioned a world where they would release swarms of bees in airports to look for drugs. I thought maybe they meant farms where they were growing pot. We wondered if it would be helpful to attach little cameras to the backs of the bees. Then Mr. Dump admitted he made the whole thing up. I still think you’d get a lot more people admitting they had drugs on them if swarms of bees were circling their heads.

4. Nah, I’m saving this one for the re-write of the nano-novel. I have to have SOMETHING to replace all the crappy stuff I have to remove.

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Don’t Be Mocking Me

Posted on February 19, 2007February 28, 2010 by The Jody

Okay, Junior and I were taking photos today. That was our activity. We did take a bunch of pictures up at Skyview Middle School, which can be seen in my personal Leominster set (they are also in the Leominster group I linked to below.)

That little trip went fairly well, considering it was about 500 below zero up on top of the hill so we decided to take most of the pictures from inside the car.

When it was closer to sunset (i.e. good light) we headed over to Evergreen Cemetery to get a few more shots. I went in the main entrance to see if I could get a good shot of the sign (I couldn’t) and then headed up the road to the right that goes into the “old” section. I got to the part that curves uphill…and it was snow-covered with big ruts. Uh oh, my van was not going to make it up the hill. But when I went to back down, the car didn’t turn, it just sort of slid straight down. I didn’t hit anything but snow, but that snow got good and jammed and my car got stuck. So I tried to rock it back and forth and started to get nervous that I was getting too close to the stones, given that I was trying to do this by myself.

I eventually called Mr. Dump to bring a shovel to save us. How embarrassing. But I don’t think this is my fault. If the city didn’t want to plow that whole road (it was plowed up to that curve) they should have blocked it with a barrel or something. And looking at that immediate area, it looks like I wasn’t the first person to get stuck there.

If the city is going to plow the roads in the cemetery, they should plow all the roads in the cemetery, or block them off so that people like me don’t get stuck and there isn’t a risk of anyone damaging the stones.

So Mr. Dump freed us, and we went home photo-less. I told Junior we’d go back…after the snow melts.

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Flickring

Posted on February 19, 2007February 28, 2010 by The Jody

I just created a Leominster MA group on Flickr. There was already a Fitchburg group. I’m going to make the description that it’s not just for photos of Leominster, but for photos from photographers from Leominster.

http://www.flickr.com/groups/leominster/

I’m going to try to go out and take a few photos today. I am really going to try to take advantage of flickr and the communities. I’ve already learned a couple of things from the Canon Rebel XTi group I joined.

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Ways to Annoy Jody

Posted on January 5, 2007February 25, 2010 by The Jody

Okay, I don’t think I should open THAT can of worms, knowing most of you are probably up late every night trying to work that puzzle out on your own. But the Worcester Telegram did figure out a way to annoy me today, and I figured I’d complain about it here because that’s why I pay hosting fees and domain registration fees every year. That’s what it’s all about, my people.

The Telegram, a good source of local (Leominster) news, decided that instead of having a page of news items of specific interest to the “North” (which is where the Leominster, Fitchburg, Gardner, etc. stories were), and another for West, and another for Blackstone Valley, etc., they would just lump us under the heading “Suburbs”.

Great. No offense to Hopkinton, but your news stories aren’t really all that important to me. And I’m sure mine are not to you. So what the Telegram has effectively done, is go the Boston Media route of closing their eyes, blocking their ears with their fingers and saying “Nya nay nya I can’t see you! You don’t exist!” to anything outside of the 128 belt.

If I didn’t have such a long history of being completely annoyed with the way the Fitchburg Sentinel is run (I love LOVE LOVE! when they run stories about events after they happen, not before, so that I can sit and feel badly that I didn’t know about it. No, really, that’s fantastic.

So ya, there may be a war going on, people dying and starving, etc., but I’m really ticked off that the paper has decided they can’t be bothered to give us our own page any more.