PAIR O' HERMITS - Nancy L. Mills and David M. Perkins

News and Photographs

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The Latest Hermit Happenings:

    We have dubbed this the Summer of Struggles. Not only have we had a seemingly endless series of problems but various friends and family members have also had their trials. Our biggest concern has been Dave's health. Many of you already know that his leukemia came abruptly out of remission in early May. Two trips to the doctor were inconclusive.  If we hear "must be a virus" one more time, we shall scream! His symptoms were so similar to what he suffered the last time when we were in Florida in 1999 that we were fairly certain what was really going on. We connected with a very good hematologist in Low Moor, Virginia (a one-hour drive from home) who conducted all the appropriate tests and verified that indeed the leukemia was again active. That's the bad news. The good news is that it has not progressed far enough to require treatment at this time. The other good news is that new and more effective treatments have been developed in the past eight years if and when that is needed. Fortunately, with adequate rest, Dave was able to beat back the symptoms and recover most of his health and strength. We are trying to be careful about exposing him to crowds and overtiring him. He has had to cut back on walking Elmo but on the days when all he feels up to doing is lying on the couch and petting the dog ... that suits Elmo just fine! Other health problems for Dave have included continuing attacks of IBS and diverticulitis and a broken tooth! Not to be completely left out, Nancy has been plagued with skin problems including a mysterious rash that took weeks to clear up and her attraction and allergic reaction to mosquitoes.

    Our activity restrictions this summer caused us to look at making some improvements to our home. Dave's need to rest led us to buy a new futon sofa for the living room. While we would like to shop locally, not one single furniture store around here carries futon sofas. Thank heavens for the Internet: we found an excellent assortment of quality furniture and were able to have one shipped to us. That led to a total rearrangement of the living room, as you can see in the photos below. Elmo is quite fond of the new sofa, which he likes to sit on, preferably on top on someone's lap. (Guess who!) Towards the end of the summer, Dave felt strong enough for both of us to work together to repaint the porch roof. We managed to keep up with the necessary yard work with help from our part-time neighbor Herb, who did a fantastic job of weed-whacking all along our property frontage -- twice! And he's good company too.

    We've had our share of technological difficulties this summer too. Our email and Internet access has been erratic, between supposed improvements to email and home pages to the loss of satellite service for over a week. First, it seemed that there were satellite problems, then when those were resolved, it seemed that there was something wrong with our equipment. The technician who came changed out parts of the satellite dish and the modem only to discover that there was nothing wrong with our equipment -- it was necessary to align the dish to a different satellite. That was a stressful afternoon to put it mildly. Not to be outdone, our TV satellite system got into the act. (In case anyone is wondering why we don't go with cable, it is not available here.) This excitement started with the demise of our relatively new TV, which suddenly fried itself one night while we were watching a program. That was scary! We were planning to get a new digital, high definition TV for ourselves for Christmas so Christmas came early. Again, we were unable to buy what we wanted locally so we had to resort to Internet shopping. All was well with that until we discovered that the shipping company no longer delivers to our area so they handed the package off to the postal service! Imagine the postal service handling a large, delicate TV! For once, luck was with us and it came through undamaged. But of course, now we had to upgrade our satellite service, which we hadn't done since first having it installed about six years ago. We'll spare you all the gory details of dealing with DirecTV and their installation contractor but it was aggravating, frustrating, time-consuming and, at the end, (almost) comical. Finally we are done and enjoying our new TV although we never were able to get the HD part of the service. What next? Well, our stereo is malfunctioning but we'll save that for the next update.

    On the positive side, staying close to home and quiet this summer enabled us to enjoy our "life of the mind" activities. We've had a wonderful summer of reading and writing. Since mid-May, Dave has read about 20 books on a variety of topics, including a study of DNA and genetics. Nancy has completed about 30 books and has gotten particularly interested in "the green scene". We've listed many of our books at the bottom of this page. Nancy has also kept busy with Snuggle production for the local animal shelter, greatly aided by a generous donation of yarn from the shelter personnel. Since early May, she has crocheted 58 little blankets. And we have been lucky to have had mostly enjoyable weather this summer -- not nearly as hot and dry as last year's recording setting heat and mild drought. Now fall is coming on fast and we are busy as the squirrels in getting ready for colder weather. Even with all the challenges we've been through these past few months, we are muddling through and very glad to still be here. We hope that everyone's troubles will ease as well.

New photos added on September 23, 2008.

View of Our "Library Wing"	Our Writing Desk	Bookcases and New Futon Sofa
Facing the Futon (Old TV!)	Some Lap Dog!!	Nancy Gets Even
Playing Ball with Dave	Snuggles for the Animal Shelter	And More Snuggles

So Many Books ...

Nancy's Latest: (selected)

Vanishing Point and Eye of the Storm (F=Fiction) both by Marcia Muller Laughter on the Stairs (F) by Beverley Nichols An Incomplete Revenge (F) by Jacqueline Winspear The Reserve (F) by Russell Banks Innocent Traitor (F) by Alison Weir Darkness and Light (F) by John Harvey Tenth Gift (F) by Jane Johnson Leaving Home (F) by Anita Brookner Consuelo and Alva Vanderbilt (NF=Nonfiction) by Amanda M. Stuart Living Like Ed (NF) by Ed Begley, Jr. Farewell, My Subaru (NF) by Doug Fine Traveling Mercies (NF) by Anne Lamott Fast Food Nation (NF) by Eric Schlosser Finding Meaning in the Second Half of Life (NF) by James Hollis Big Green Purse (NF) by Diane MacEachern

Dave's Latest: (selected)

Borkmann's Point (F) by Hakan Nesser Middlesex (F) by Jeffrey Eugenides The Garden of Last Days (F) by Andre Dubus III Northanger Abbey (F) by Jane Austen The Night Journal (F) by Elizabeth Crook DNA: The Thread of Life (NF) by Frank H. Wilcox The Library at Night (NF) by Alberto Manguel Teaching a Stone to Talk (NF) by Annie Dillard Panic in Level 4 (NF) by Richard Preston Walker Evans, Photographer of America (NF) by Thomas Nau

We've Both Read:

The Professor's House and Death Comes for the Archbishop (F) both by Willa Cather Now You See Him (F) by Eli Gottlieb Careless in Red (F) by Elizabeth George Away (F) by Amy Bloom Everyman (F) by Philip Roth The Other (F) by David Guterson Atonement (F) by Ian McEwan The Glass Castle (NF) by Jeannette Walls Eat, Pray, Love (NF) by Elizabeth Gilbert

Comments or Questions: Email Nancy and Dave