I don’t think I will complain too much about my electric bill given the prices in Texas. Orchard Valley, where I live, was built with all-electric homes. Over the decades I have had energy audits, had storm windows installed, added insulation in the attic, switched light bulbs, put in heavier window shades and added solar panels to keep costs reasonable. I hang laundry outside.
Also, for many years I have set the thermostats at 50 degrees. (Each room has a thermostat.) And I am comfortable. When I go to people’s houses with higher thermostat settings, I am too hot. I turn on the heat on Nov. 15 and shut it off March 15. This November was a gift. I didn’t need heat until Thanksgiving.
I sleep with five blankets, a spread, a bathrobe, a hat, socks and gloves. That is an exaggeration. I don’t sleep in a hat and gloves.
As for Texas, can you imagine the dilemma — you have to boil water but don’t have the power to do so.
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Dragana Perkovic-Martin, the daughter of Dr. Ljilana Korugic-Karasz of Amherst, was the leader in the team of 16 people at the Jet Propulsion Lab that designed, constructed and installed the radar on the Mars Perseverance rover. The radar helped in landing operations and was sacrificed in the final phase of landing.
“With greatest pleasure I am proudly announcing the success of my only daughter Dragana in soft lending of the Rover Perseverance on Mars,” she wrote in an email.
And there is more — Daragana clarified on Facebook that the Jazero crater is named after the Serbian word for lake. Jazero is a village that has 581 residents, according to 2013 figures, and is located in the western Republika Srpska region of Bosnia Herzegovina, according to the email Ljilana sent.
That is an accomplishment any parent would be proud of.
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Kathy Lanza sent me an email about the March virtual exhibit at the Burnett Gallery in the Jones Library. She wrote that while the gallery is closed due to the pandemic, the virtual gallery has a new exhibit every month.
This month the exhibit includes the artwork of several Burnett Gallery Committee members, including Pat Cahill, Elisa Campbell, Shirley Fredrickson Conant, Adele Gladstone-Gilbert, Bernie Kubiak and Susan McQuaid. Artists’ contact information is available on the gallery webpage.
I know them all and some from their earlier non-artist lives. The link is joneslibrary.org/virtualburnett./
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The Jones Library is presenting a virtual livestream program, “I Now Pronounce You Lucy Stone,” on March 9 at 7 p.m. It is free but reservations are required. The link that came with the notice is incredibly long. The best way to register is to visit joneslibrary.org or email ryanj@joneslibrary.org.
The program celebrates the passage of the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote. Stone was the first woman from Massachusetts to earn a college degree, and was an abolitionist and women’s rights activist. Judith Kalaora portrays Lucy Stone.
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Many thanks to all those who sent information about efiling tax returns. Will keep you posted.
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