Washday.
Insert every cuss word you know here.
I forgot to close the lid. After waiting eagerly for ten minutes, the washer started to pump out my soap and water, and will refuse to recognize my existence until it is *quite* done. Then it will rinse and spin no matter what I tell it, and there is no telling how many rinse and spins it will have to do before it can again accept suggestions from me.
DON'T EVER BUY A COMPUTER THAT DOESN'T HAVE A MONITOR AND A KEYBOARD.
⁂
Somehow, somewhere, Dave came up with the information that if you press "cancel" a second time, it will reset the computer, so when the washer was finally done throwing away my soap, it deigned to wash normally.
I carried a box of "Crochet for Women Only" and two boxes of Bike-Abouts to the attic today. That makes three boxes that don't have to be shuffled back and forth on Roomba day.
Next step is to separate the manuscripts from the other papers, sort them out so that different drafts of the same story are together, and put them in properly-labeled boxes that can be taken to the attic.
After supper, I intended to go for a point eight, but the Greenway hasn't been plowed, and the thaw followed by freezing didn't do it any good, so I walked up Chestnut to Ninth Street instead.
We didn't feel like going to First Friday — just what does "March Into The Future" mean anyway? — so I warmed up some hot dogs in left-over Steak 'n Shake canned chili and served them in hotdog buns I'd bought at Aunt Millie's in the morning. Hit all the sprawls on the way there — though I didn't stop in Sprawl One — and had a wad of receipts to punch into Quicken today.
I bought a pint of pickled pork hocks at Big R. I hope they are better than the pickled turkey gizzards I bought on a previous trip. They still have "red hot" pickled sausages, and I still don't want any. What's this obsession with cauterizing your tongue? I eat pickled sausage to have fun, not to show off how tough I am.
Canned Steak 'n Shake chili isn't a patch on real Steak 'n Shake chili, but at least it's chili and not cumin-flavor barbecue sauce. I think that they thought that removing fat *always* means adding sugar, lots and lots of sugar.
Stayed home and sewed today, but not very industriously. At nap time, I'm ready for the final row of topstitching on the seam I started on Thursday.
Finished the seam and sewed the hem; now all I need is elastic in the wrists. I thought I had to buy a polyester ribbon to make a drawstring, but remembered while dressing this morning that I have a drawstring I pulled out of a pair of elastic-waist sweat pants. I *do* have to figure out how to draw a thick round shoestring through a casing. Ah, loop a string onto a bight of it and tie the string to the tape threader. May be easier than threading tape.
Yea, rah! It is so warm today that I didn't wear trousers under my skirt. Whereupon I discovered that I've become very careless about how I arrange my skirts while putting on shoes.
The steps on Ninth Street are very nearly clear of ice.
I intend to dig my bike out tomorrow, and ride it to the grocery store.
Bought groceries *and* had the wash all hung up before nap time. Well pleased with the day even though I never looked at my sewing.
I remembered how to put shoes on, but forgot to tie them asymmetrically. But I noticed before hitting the road. I stopped at the Trailhouse on the way home, but they didn't have thin wool socks.
Have to go back tomorrow; I'm out of pills again. Must remember to ask Dr. Darr to change it to three months at a time.
Perhaps I'll put some old magazines in my pannier and go a little farther.
My plan for today was to finish my new windbreaker and wear it to Owen's East to pick up my prescriptions. Mission accomplished, and I also went by the Emergency Room and dropped off a few magazines. They were down to two copies of Good Housekeeping, so I felt good about having gone.
After picking up my pills, before leaving for the hospital, I noticed that Owen's was having a Manager's Special on a nice little steak, so we didn't have reubens for supper tonight.
Reflecting on Dave's high-salt diet this evening, I realized that I should have also picked up a pound of bacon.
I experienced a brand-new, never-before-heard-of mechanical failure on this ride. As I was mounting up, I felt a tug on my pants leg and heard something hit the concrete floor. I looked down, and there was the head of a safety pin. Further investigation revealed an open and headless pin in the ankle of my sweat pants.
Took a while to find another big pin in the box — there aren't many left, and they were all at the bottom.
And yes, there are assorted pins stuck into the lining of my wallet, and more in the emergency kit.
First job this morning was to clean out the parlor so the piano tuner can work. It's about ten years past time to put that piano into the hands of someone who will play it.
I told Dave to put an ad in the paper saying "Antique Steinway — $10,000" — he opined that that might actually work in New York.
So I Froogled — holy cow, they really are fetching that kind of money! Or, at least, folks are asking it.
Thought I might continue to expand my range by going to the library today, but I refused to use the Greenway yesterday because it hadn't been plowed — I got to Harrison and Market just after the tree trimmers I'd heard KABS drivers warning each other about had shifted to the west.
On the other hand, the path to the library is mostly bridge, the bridge on the Greenway was clean, and the snow I could see at the next bend after the junction with the escape route to Harrison was thin, on the third hand that was probably because the bridge runs north and south, while the boardwalk is mostly east and west. And the snow can't melt from the bottom because, presumably in order to see to it that the plants under the boardwalk get as little light as possible, the boards are butted tightly together.
And then — is this an odd or even number of hands? — Weather Underground says that tomorrow will be much nicer, and a rest day might not be out of line.
It's still rather foggy out (It's now 10:50 and plinks are coming from the parlor) so I think I was wise to stay home. I'll be wiser if I get some of my mending done today; I have a lot of little five-minute jobs such as the loose snap on my flannel nightgown.
While clearing the parlor, I carried a box of fanzines to the attic.
With no ice out there, I don't know where to dump the cat box.
I did sew the snap back on the nightgown, and also sewed up a popped seam.
As far as I can see from the window, all of the pounded ice at the end of the driveway is gone. It's probably safe to use the recreationway to get to the library.
Grump. When I was at Lowery's yesterday, I bought the yellow ribbon and the white elastic, but I forgot to look for black fleece.
It was my first Tour d'Warsaw, but I truncated it so much that it was hardly any farther than going to the library and coming straight back. I returned _Captain Vorpatril's Alliance_ and checked out _Undercity_.
And I've read most of _Undercity_. Turned out to be a novella and two more chapters. It's also an origin story; if it sells well, there will be Further Adventures.
I hung the sheet on the line today. The daffodils and tulips think it's definitely spring.
I can see the garden now, but I don't think it will be fit to dig tomorrow. Not to mention that I don't *have* potato or onion sets. I don't intend to try to grow peas.
The multiplier that I allowed to overwinter is well up. Probably time to plant all but the finest and fattest of the rest of them.
Got me a green bandanna I bought last winter just for today.
The Roomba filled up with fur yesterday. How does a housebound cat know that it's spring?
I'm planning to make a less-truncated Tour d'Warsaw today, but at the rate I'm going, it will be time to come home before I get started. I may sew instead.
I bought six duck eggs on Saturday's tour. Yesterday we scrambled one and shared it for breakfast; today Dave's planning to have one over easy. I think I'll scramble one in butter and eat it on toast. With a slice of swiss cheese.
Got yesterday's wash put away already. Still have to press my red silk dress. I was about to put it on last Sunday when I noticed a big splotch of something in the most-conspicuous place. So I washed it with the blacks, and it bled — nicely uniform, and noticeable only on a hemp lining and a pair of socks that I wear for sitting at the computer when the floor is cold. Being dyed pink is actually an improvement on the lining.
Today I tied a green bandanna around my neck and went for a truncated Tour d'Warsaw. I don't think anyone noticed it peeking out from under my wool scarf. I selected the thicker pair of gloves, but took them off for the last leg of the trip.
Google Maps says it was about six miles, so it wasn't as long a trip as when I didn't go as far. Comes of not insisting on using the boardwalk, I guess. Hadn't finished my book, so no need for the library, only one magazine, so no need to pass by the emergency room. I did climb up and down two different flights of stairs; that should count for a little something. Also spent a lot of time walking. Got home too late to take a nap, but it was after eleven when I started.
I bought fleece to make a pair of slippers at Lowery's, and dumped a box of old floppies at the recycling center. Visiting the recycling center was the primary purpose of this trip, and that was as far out as I got.
I'd intended to dine downtown, but needed first to stop at Owen's West (the rest rooms are on the second floor: staircase one) and took a fancy to the fried potatoes in the hot deli case, but it was after lunch time and no deli clerk was in evidence, so I started eating the chocolate bar I'd bought at Sherman & Lin's on the way out and headed for home. Passed by the second-hand store on Columbia Street, the second flight of steps.
Checked out Market Street, which has been improved by cutting down the lovely old trees that used to line it. I was pleased to see that the desecration didn't extend all the way downtown, but Facebook says they'll get around to the trees west of Bronson Street in the next phase. It also says that little whips of trees will be planted in what's left of the verge after they put a ten-foot-wide side walk on it.
The pictures labeled "Market Street" on Facebook show a bit of chicane-ry, but the pictures don't show any evidence that it's Warsaw's Market Street that is depicted. Appears to be clip art.
Stopped at Owen's East and bought milk and meat.
Ugh. I rubbed my face with a wet rag, but still feel my greasy sunscreen. Time for a shower.
Got a notice that _Undercity_ is due in three days; I'd forgotten that it's a seven-day book.
Dave's been working on the garage most of today; we put three boxes of books up in the attic, then decided to rest overnight before putting up more. My back has been bothering me since the Sunday before last, at the least, and I don't think I should test it, so I left two of the boxes beside the hole; it had been really difficult to move the first one to its spot. But the rest aren't quite so heavy. I'm holding out a box of pictures in the hope that the children can pick them over. No scans of these!
Photographs are all the new scanner will scan, but it does those really well. I presume that there is a way to get it to do documents, but I can't find it by poking around, and all the "onscreen manual" says, after telling you how to plug the machine in and turn it on, is "see online manual".
The on-line manual is an exact duplicate of the on-screen manual.
It's a lot easier to get at my bicycle stuff than it was before Dave started cleaning.
I scratched a couple of items off my mending list today.
Had I remembered that it was Kiddy Kollege day, I'd have tried harder to get my red dress ironed in time to wear it today. I wore my old black skirt with the matching overshirt. Wearing sandals was a bit premature, and the holes in one strap had closed up over the winter and I had to ream them with a knitting needle when I was already late.
I was colder walking back than when going to church — perhaps because Park Avenue is windier than Sunday Lane.
Bit of a double take on Ninth Street, when I realized that I didn't need to avoid the sloping part of the sidewalk. The stairs are all right when slick, because there are handrails and the steps are level, but that ramp is *dangerous*.
While on the stairs, I noticed signs on the doors of the two apartments above the three-car garage, and diverted to read them. They say the final coat is on the floor, don't come in until it's dry. So I guess they are nearly finished.
On Park Avenue, I was pleased to see surveyor's marks on each side of a vacant lot that looks like a gap in a row of teeth. That must mean that someone has bought it, and that may mean that a house will soon be going up.
I rode nine miles or so yesterday, a full Tour d'Warsaw. Almost; I chickened out of having lunch at Penguin Point because it would mean going through the roundabout twice, and I didn't want to strain my knees. Had bland soup at Peking instead.
The reconstruction where Avila burned down is pretty much where I left it last fall, except that the partitions that were a pile of two-by-fours then have wallboard on them now. The space Avila occupied is now two smaller stores. Avila did have a separate entrance for their lunch counter, but there is no door in the partition, or any hint that they aren't going to rent to two completely unrelated businesses.
Bunch of furniture added to the Everything Outdoors display. Still no new tenant where the thrift shop moved out. The Open Air nursery is open, but not expecting customers.
When I left, the ice on Winona Lake looked pebbly and darkly transparent, with a streak of open water growing out from the shore. Pike lake looked much the same, and Winona hadn't changed remarkably when I got back.
Then I went to bed and slept like a rock until suppertime; I looked out the window and saw white ridges netting ice over as much of the lake as I could see, and exclaimed "what happened?". Dave said "The ice broke up."
This morning the ridges were fewer and less striking, and the lake looked more frozen than than it did on Friday — presumably because we are on the downwind side. Now (shortly after lunch) the creek has thawed a channel well out into the lake, but elsewhere it's frozen far enough out that I can't tell ice from open water.
There is snow only in piles in parking lots, and that is going fast.
We went to the Great Wall for supper. Their hot-and-sour soup is much better than Peking's, but wasn't as hot.
Sa Cha sauce, it appears, is a sort of curried beef gravy. We are going to order that dish again.
Al decided that a pile of partly-sorted papers was the perfect place to build a nest. Several valuable photographs fell out — none damaged, but I've no idea which folders they were in.
I chickened out of making pizza today and microwaved a new-to-me brand of ramen noodle instead; it was surprisingly good, and I think I'll buy another package if I see some. Noodles aren't terribly carby when two people share a dish meant for one. I opened a tuna-can of turkey to piece out the noodles.
I have pizza-dough mix sitting on the counter. Don't know what I'll use for meat — sausage, perhaps. Chickened out of buying fresh mushrooms when I was at Owen's.
It Roomba day in the sewing room, but I missed my nap yesterday and don't feel like cleaning up the mess Al made, so instead of carrying stuff into the bedroom, I made a barrier out of it.
Monday morning, Dave looked out and said "Why is the lake all white?" Then we saw pellet snow bouncing off the patio. It changed into regular snow pretty soon, and the picnic table accumulated at least two inches. I didn't go out and measure it.
I washed my old windbreaker to put it away for emergencies, and the string came out of the hood. It wouldn't fit into the coarsest of the needles I use for tape threaders, so I zipped it into the sound pocket — if I ever want to wear the windbreaker again, that will be plenty soon enough to put the drawstring back into the casing and mend the torn pocket.
I didn't wash Dave's yellow coat, which really needs it. I should have put it into the basket Sunday night. I washed my yellow coat a week or two ago, and it came out quite well.
I had no interest in going downtown again yesterday, but Weather Underground said that I won't get out of the house again until Saturday, so I went. Finally saw the inside of the new city hall, which has been open for years. Learned that The Little Seamstress has no time to do construction, which puts the kibosh on *that* plan to catch up on my sewing.
Also stopped at the library and got rid of a surplus library card that mysteriously appeared in my wallet, and checked out the only James White book because it was their last James White and I didn't want that they should throw that one away too. I've read _Final Diagnosis_ before, but when I sampled from the middle, I find that I've forgotten most of it.
I came back by way of Beyer Farm Trail even though I knew I'd have to walk the full length of the boardwalk. Pike Lake was completely clear of ice. Winona still looks half frozen from our window. It's hazy out, so it's hard to tell open water from wet ice, but it's blowing hard enough that anything flat is probably ice.
There isn't a speck of Monday's snow in our yard, but I see some in Brent's.
Had trouble getting across Winona Avenue because the construction had just released what seemed like a mile or two of eastbound back-up, then on Park Avenue I had to maneuver around excavators — apparently digging foundations in the vacant lot I noticed on the way home from church last Sunday.
Chickened out of going to church today; didn't want to sneeze on anybody.
Started with a sore throat on Thursday or Friday, and I got only three hours of sleep on Friday night — or, rather, Saturday morning, since I didn't fall asleep until six — so Saturday's Three-Grocery-and-Sprawlmart ride got truncated. I rode to the emergency room, managing to get lost on the way, and came back by Harrison so I could stop at Owens and buy groceries. I bought so much stuff I had to fuss and fume to get it all in — or balanced on — my panniers. My purchases included both oranges and orange juice. Dave asked for them, but I need some too. It's over a week for him and he's still not back to normal, so I told the Fellowship Committee I wasn't available for the Easter breakfast. I don't *think* I'll still be shedding virus then, but it's best not to plan on it.
According to Google Maps, the loopity-loo around Johnson Street brought my miles up to 4.6
Didn't think to look at the construction on Park Avenue. Perhaps I'll go for a walk in the afternoon.
My cold got to the "can't breathe lying down" stage last night. It was somewhat better toward morning, so I hope that I'm through with that. Helps that in the morning I found a dose of pseudo-ephedrine that Gary Gerard overlooked when he decreed that cold sufferers should give up breathing in order to make it easier for him to torture drug addicts. What would we do for news if we couldn't have the sheriff chase mobile meth labs all over the county?
My cough is better — it should be, I've practiced enough!
But I'm definitely going to miss the Easter Breakfast next Sunday.
Thursday and still hacking. I'm going to have to get with the healing if we are going for a visit on Sunday!
I haven't felt like doing much, but spurred by predictions of rain for today, I got half my multipliers into the garden -- about ten sets. Fewer than that remain, because I planted the smallest. I dug a trench, put potting soil in it, stuck the onions in -- after lengthening the trench and adding more potting soil -- and covered them with more potting soil. I planated only half in case the Miracle Gro is the wrong kind for onions. Bag says your plants will be twice as big, but doesn't say what kind of plants it's for. I may use bagged topsoil for the remaining bulbs; it worked pretty well last year.
That was after Dave, similarlly spurred, planted his Ohio Buckeye tree. It has nice fat buds, but the bare root looked rather pitiful. He used a bag of dirt to fill the hole, and dumped what he'd dug out in a low spot on the lawn.
Thought I'd use my grumpy time to edit Rough Sewing, but it seems that I don't have any in-progress revisions among the icons on my desktop.
Time to purge the icons. A utility that promises to remove unused icons pops up now and again, but I won't trigger it for fear that it will remove without asking, and I have a lot of icons that I'm saving for later. Just because I haven't clicked it in over a year doesn't mean I don't want it!