I was overdue for a long ride, but I couldn't work up any enthusiasm for any of the quarter centuries. I *would* like to go to Spring Creek, but only if I'm sure they are open!
But I've been wanting to look at the re-opened Indiana Restaurant Supply, so I decided to go there by way of Pierceton. Google Maps says it was twenty miles even, and the route I plotted isn't too far off from the route I travelled.
I went out through Heritage Trail, took Wilcox Road to 350 S, didn't turn north until I got to the cemetery at 700 E. On the way to Wilcox, I turned onto Lake Sharon Road by mistake for Cost A Plenty Road, and it turned out to be a more pleasant way to go, if somewhat confusing until I re-checked the map. Also a tad longer, but I didn't tell Google -- it thought I had come down on S 275 E.
The Sunoco station in Pierceton had a case of mostly-unlabeled fried stuff; I pointed at random and got a small basket of potato-chip size tacos. They also have a picnic table, where I ate my minitacos and finished the bottle of tea I'd bought at Dollar General.
The mysterious construction project, by the way, is a school. Appeared to be in session.
I went to Wooster by Van Ness, thence to Aunt Millie, then Indiana Restaurant Supply, which is still in the process of setting up, and the antique flea market next to the Penguin Point building. A rather small display case rents for seventy-five dollars a month; I didn't see any sign that the merchandise was moving fast enough to pay that back.
A stop at Aldi, where I forgot to buy paper plates, then straight home. Well, directly home; the route zig-zags a lot. I paused at Sweet Corn Charlie, considered calling Dave to ask whether *he'd* stopped at Sweet Corn Charlie, looked at my piled-high panniers, both with squishables on the top, and moved on.
Shopping day: we are out of most flavors of fizzwater. I really ought to go to Walmart, too, to see whether they have any of those twenty-dollar chairs left.
I picked the kow choi (garlic chive) flower buds after breakfast. There weren't very many, and I'd dallied so long that most of them had very short stems. (The stems toughen from the base up as the buds mature.) I need to dig up a lot of stray kow choi clumps.
Yesterday Dave came home with a programmable hearing aid on trial. So far he likes it a lot, but he isn't sure he likes it five thousand dollars worth.
They charge, not for the hardware, but for the program installed in it. I don't see this as a stable, long-term business plan.
I've been fiddling with the pattern and fabric for my new winter jacket. I should get it done just in time to put it away for the summer.
I'm wearing pretty much the same outfit to Alice's birthday party that I wore to the shower yesterday, but with my beat-up old sandals instead of my Sunday sandals; they are firmer for long walks.
Kathy took Linda, Lois, and I to New Haven in her van. Lois and I had a good long visit on the drive; Kathy drove and Linda navigated.
I had a hearty breakfast this morning, because I'm not getting lunch until two in the afternoon.
It's been a long time since Spot vanished, but I just looked out the window, saw a squirrel foraging in the grass, and looked for the spot.
For a while, when in the garage, I'd look at a squirrel and say "That's not Spot -- he's over *there*." When he saw us, Spot would run up and ask for a peanut.
Two years is a good long run for a squirrel.
I hope it was quick.
I finally moved the tansy this morning. The raised flower bed looks much better, and I expect the flower bed beside the chimney to look less forlorn once the tansy gets established. There was just enough space between the chimney and the rain barrel for the tansy.
While planting the tansy, I noticed wasps going in and out through the hole where the gas line enters the house.
Everything in the raised bed is volunteer, except for the Thai basil. I think I'll cut the flowers off the volunteer basil and let the Thai basil go to seed. After I dug the tansy, I cleaned up some of the weeds and found that there were a lot more volunteer basil plants hiding among them. I've taken to "taste before you yank".
I've been picking pods off the volunteer marigolds and sprinkling the seeds where the tansy was.
I'm thinking of riding my bike to Goodwill tomorrow, and coming back by way of Aldi.
So I'd better bag up the combs that I washed this morning, and put them into the box I plan to bungee to my rack.
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Turned out that once dry, two of the combs were visibly dirty, so I put them back to wash again.
Thought I'd clean up some of the boxes in the sewing room before starting work on my wool overjersey. This involved reading the manuscripts so that I'd know what labels to put on them, so I only increased the clutter.
I did determine that the five pinfeed paper boxes under and beside the XP monitor do, in fact, contain pinfeed paper, and that more than one manuscript box is labeled "First Arrangement".
Anyone with access to a pinfeed printer can claim any or all of that pinfeed paper. I've got twenty-pound letter paper, ditto in yellow for banners, four-part paper, and something I can't read the label of in this light; it's on the bottom of the stack, so I don't want to open it and look. [It's notebook-punched paper.] There are two boxes of letter paper, one nearly empty and one completely full.
At that point I smelled smoke and suddenly remembered that I hadn't turned the fire down after putting the last of the gunpowder tea into a saucepan of cold water. I don't want to touch the glass saucepan until after it has cooled, lest a change of temperature break it.
I could start over with brick tea and one of the steel pans, but I think I'll make a side trip to Meijer or Walmart and buy bottled tea. Lipton makes a fairly decent bottled tea that they call "Pure Leaf".
Google Maps makes it ten and a half miles to Aldi by my chosen route, but making it go that way used up my ten destinations.
Huh. Google's way to get from Aldi to Winona Lake goes up Durbin Street instead of Jefferson. I'll have to try that. But it persists in thinking that a bike rider would go through the tunnel on Argonne when McKinley Street is right there. The extra distance is more than made up for by not waiting for two changes of the light.
But then it sometimes takes three changes to cross Winona without a light. Come on roundabout!
<add destination> 2.3 miles to get from Aldi to Winona Lake. Makes 12.8 for the trip.
I autoDuckDuckGoed this morning and discovered that a web forum called "Ravelry" has indexed the "lace laundry bag" pattern that I sold to Crochet World in 1981.
I'm glad to see that someone is saving those old magazines. I have a nearly-complete set of the magazines I indexed (one issue was the file copy and they wanted it back), but I doubt that they are in collector condition after fifteen years in the attic in cardboard boxes.
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Well grump grump grumpity grump. I just ordered my prescriptions so that I could pick them up on tomorrow's tour -- and discovered that it's time for my annual check-up. They are calling Dr. Darr to get permission to issue one more thirty-day supply, but it won't be ready tomorrow. And I'll have to make an appointment Real Soon Now.
And I still have to call Women's Imaging to get an appointment for a mammogram.
Dave is decidedly un-grumpy. He just came in to tell me that he has ordered a new GPS to replace the one that was stolen. This one can communicate with his phone.
When I wrote "Anjelan Spring" yea many decades ago, I had no clue that we'd call pocket terminals "phones". Indeed, I mention that one character's pocket terminal is twice as bulky as most because it includes a microphone and speaker.
<hysterical rant> the slang word for "microphone" is "mike" -- MIKE i tell you, NOT "mick".</rant>
It was so calm this morning that I could see the reflections of the swans on the lake. One of them looked like a line drawing because the light on it was so odd.
We've decided to move the south rain barrel so that it can leak on the winter onion instead of the walkway, but clear weather is predicted for a week, so we didn't want to dump it, and it's too heavy to move without dumping. We did slide it to the edge of the concrete, which makes the puddle I have to step over smaller.
Oops! I'd better water the rosemary and the raised flower beds before I head out today. And clean the cat boxes.
I'm planning to get rid of plastic bags at Owen's, get rid of magazines at the hospital, get rid of some surplus hangers and a cheese shaker at Goodwill, buy bread at Aunt Millie, and stock up on paper plates and a few other things at Aldi. May do some recreational shopping in Sprawlmart if I don't buy anything frozen at Aldi. After dithering, I put a bottle of ice in my cooler, so merely-cold groceries wouldn't inhibit dallying.
There's a flock of geese pulling weeds around my garden. I hope I don't scare them off when I roll out.
I took half a bucket of water out of the north rain barrel, then the dime dropped and I took all the rest out of the south barrel, including two half-buckets for a plant growing beside the north barrel.
Then I was able to drag the leaking barrel partly onto the grass. I think Dave and I working together could move it to the desired position. But it's best to wait until I water the plants again.
Maybe I should haul water to the ferns -- but I think that they are going dormant; I'll leave them alone.
I used my favorite recipe for supper tonight: one set of car keys and a debit card.
We ate too much fried chicken.
On the way, I realized that doing without Market Street isn't much of a problem -- it's having every street that crosses Market blocked off that makes it nearly impossible to get from here to there.
Well, from here to there was easy: keep going straight to end of Argonne, turn left with the light, turn into second driveway on the right. But coming back by the same route would have meant turning left onto Center, out of a driveway, at five o'clock.
So I went out the back door to Fort Wayne Street, crossed Center on Harrison, then took an alley to Cleveland, where the "road closed" signs don't mean it after the crews have gone home for the night, and got back to Argonne by way of Jefferson. The stoplight at Winona was backed up to the top of the hill, but I came close to crossing on the first change of the light, and was first in line for the second.
We moved the rain barrel yesterday.
When I went outside to comb my hair before we took Al to the vet, I heard a pile driver from the general direction of Little Eagle. I presume that was work on the bridge on Country Club Road.
I hope I remember to ride down to look at it after I go to the farmers' markets tomorrow. I'll have to turn around and come back the way I went, of course.
Al's doing fine, though he spent the rest of the day passed out from the stress. Didn't help that the vet has to tell us everything he knows at every session, with the result that I don't remember any of it. Longer ramble than usual; Al hissed at him, which is unusual for him.
Dave asked for brochures about some of the relevant things that he mentioned. Seems that there are things you can do ahead of time to keep pets from getting arthritis, and some humans who know vets are using the medicines too.
We bought some lo-cal dry food, which I plan to mix with his old-cat dry food.
Vet also suggested reducing the size of Al's nightly treat.
I did go see the bridge, and there was a pile driver halfway through driving a third pile. But there's no "of course" about coming back the way I came: they haven't removed the old bridge yet, just cut a trench through the road south of it to make a place to drive piles. The depth of the trench is less than the height of the fill the road was built on, so it would be possible to drop into the trench, walk out the end, and climb a gentle slope to get back up on the road behind the pile of asphalt slabs. It wouldn't even slow up a Vietnamese ammunition convoy, but I think it would have stopped me even if I'd wanted to ride back the long way.
The bridge-out sign said that it was half a mile from Smith Street to the bridge.
I came back through a residential street that came out in a good place to cross over to Winona Avenue, so I went through the consignment shop that's where Pretty Pillow used to be, and checked out the selection of separating zippers and ribbons at Lowery's. Also stopped at Sherman & Lin's, where I bought some paper plates, mincemeat, and currants.
The farmers' markets are getting picked over, but I bought a "carnival" squash -- an acorn squash in a clown suit. It was said to be less stringy than acorn squash.
Dave and I made a start at prying up the railroad ties around the garden and throwing rocks under them. I'm trying to make the side ties level with the one across the south end, but now that Brent has filled in the low spot there, I really ought to pry that one up a little higher too. I'll be glad to get the side ties more-or-less level.
I still haven't planted the garlic. I did dig all the potatoes today, and zapped the two largest for supper. Which was about a third of the harvest. (But we did get a couple of messes of potatoes when I dug up the first hills that matured.)
We did a little more work on the railroad ties, and now it's time to haul wheelbarrows of dirt and shovel them under the ties.
I may move the soda to shelves so that I can use the Garden Way cart to move the dirt; I'm not really big on pushing a wheelbarrow.
I left the railroad iron prying up a tie. It isn't supposed to rain tonight.
Weather Underground says it will be sunny all day tomorrow, so I have emptied the lower bag of the laundry sorter into the washer, to soak all night and bleach in the morning, then dry in the sun. Mostly cleaning rags and dishtowels, I think.
&%$#@*#! After soaking in bleach and spinning out, I set the washer for "hot" to deactivate the bleach -- and the water isn't even warm.
I was about to say that I would deactivate the bleach by adding a little vinegar, after it filled and started agitating, but at that point I heard the washer draining -- AND IT HADN'T EVEN FINISHED FILLING!!!! I reset a few times, then set it for "drain and spin".
On the other hand, I've finally found my new pedal pushers. Could the half-knitted socks be far behind? (Yes. They've been missing for *years*.)
Dave's new GPS turned out to be useless, and he's at the UPS store getting it packed to send back. Also a cable box; Comcast sent a new one and wanted the old one back.
He came home while I was checking on the wash. He says the UPS guy says they've been packing a lot of cable boxes.
He bought a new shower head for the bathtub on the way home, and when he looked for pipe sealant to install it with, he found a tube that dates back to R&P. Which he retired from a long time before we moved in 2001.
It still works.
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If I hadn't dropped a dishtowel on the floor while folding them, I'd have ended this laundry day with an empty hamper.
Then I threw a sweat rag in while getting ready for my nap.
I could have used a temporary line to string between the other two cottonwood trees, but bringing in the thin dishtowels made enough room.
Looked out the window this morning: arrgh, I forgot to bring in that last load of wash. I looked to the left: at least I'm not alone in that. But it's more likely that Karen had washed a load and hung it out before I got up.
In sorting Grandmother's handkerchiefs after the box fell off the shelf, I found a "blow" handkerchief, probably made from a sugar sack. It's much softer than any modern fabric -- the latest thread-making machines spin *too* neatly.
I also found a plain handkerchief that perfectly matched one with crocheted lace around it. I think I've found a UFO. (UnFinished Object, the old Big Knitist's term for projects found tucked away and forgotten.)
I drove to Columbia City today, where there was reputed to be a dress shop with unusually helpful and well-informed clerks. The clerks were as reported, but there were only two dresses in stock, both knits. I think I have commented before that I do not have a knit-friendly figure.
One of the dresses would have been lovely if it had been the same shape I am. It was rather tense over the Bailey heritage.
I went through other shops in the strip mall just because they were there. The Walmart was no different from ours. I bought two pairs of wool socks at Dunham's Sporting Goods. And I bought a three-dollar dress at Label $hopper, because it has a pretty skirt and ripping the hopeless bodice off would be easy. But I don't own a single blouse that goes with pale blue tiers with lace insertion; I'll probably end up taking it to Goodwill.
I stopped at Goodwill on the way home on the off chance that the typing chair I saw on my previous visit was still there. It wasn't, and they'd acquired a truckload of other furniture in the meantime. I did see a warm and fuzzy lounging robe and bought it; the flannel nightgown I put on over my clothes at sunset last winter is thin and frayed.
It's polyester, but I think that I can stand polyester when I'm cold. I wore my Capilene tights until there was nothing left, and I'm pretty sure they were polyester.
Also tried on a half dozen dresses. All were too large or too tight. At both the dress shop and Goodwill, I noticed a trend to enormous necklines. Some of the dresses had neckline zippers, but not one of them needed one. I can see that sort of neckline on summer clothes, but they were also on long-sleeved, fully-lined dresses.
The eighteenth century lives again! Perhaps I should buy some reproduction neck handkerchiefs.
I dug the last of the carrots today, and three of the leeks. I'm planning turk-a-leeky soup for my bedtime snack -- I've put two tablespoons of rice in a saucepan to soak, and plan to flavor it with chopped leek leaves and a packet of turkey boullion.
Got my mammogram this morning, and stopped at Owen's on the way home to stock up on frozen meals. I got some canned meat while I was at it, and three kinds of frozen hamburger.
And a steak. Yay! I don't have to plan supper!
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It was delicious. I've put hamburger in the fridge to thaw, and plan to make loaf-free meatloaf tomorrow.
Possibly also lime jam. I also bought mini- round containers.
We think our cat is a classical-music fan.
A while back, Dave discovered a cable channel that's a radio station. The sound track is one orchestral piece after another, and the picture displays the title, composer, and performers.
He's left that channel running whenever he isn't watching something ever since -- and Al has been snuggling up to the television whenever he feels like lying down.
At least he did until a few minutes ago, when Dave dropped his new cane on him. Now he's hiding behind the Lazyboy, and we're thinking we should get a very small coffee table to put in front of the television.
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Loafless meat loaf for supper: two ribs of celery, chopped and cooked. Should have chopped three; they shrank when steamed. Particularly since I forget to check whether there was enough water and some of the bits browned. Four four-ounce patties of hamburger, one of them extra greasy. One carrot, grated, one large apple, ditto, half a large onion, chopped. Three eggs and two Knorr jellied-stock tubs. Came out a tad salty; should have used just one tub.
I forgot that mashed potatoes on top of a meat loaf never work out; in addition to being not all that good, they filled up the space where the juice that cooked out should have gone, and it ended up on the floor of the oven. The oven is self-cleaning but that may be more than the catalyst can handle.
It was a tasty meal nonetheless.
After supper I walked to the church and sewed a hook on my new pedal pushers as a sort of dress rehearsal: I've been thinking of asking permission to set up an embroidery class in the ramp room during KidZone, and wanted first to make sure it's feasible.
I got there exactly on time, but so did the children; if I pack my backpack carefully, I can be set up before anyone comes looking for me.
The light was good to work by; there are a lot of windows in proportion to the size of the room, and the chair is right next to them. But the sun set at 7:27 tonight and tomorrow will be two minutes and forty-three seconds shorter -- when we swap from double daylight to daylight, it will already be dark when I get there.
The lights in the room are appropriate to a just-passing-through space, but if I recall correctly, they aren't bad if you move your chair right under the fixture.
I didn't hang around until dark to check; when I started to work, I discovered that although I had the pants, the hooks, the eyes, thread, a needle, a thimble, and a pair of scissors, I had failed to mark the spots where the eyes should be sewn.
So I re-filled the ice trays in the kitchen and went home.
Took the long way home, and I had walked up the steps to the prayer room backward a couple of times. I doubt that that will make up for not riding this week, but I'm not all that interested. The only rides that appeal to me are Mentone and Spring Creek, and I don't think I'm quite up to thirty miles right now.
I've collected up some stuff for the Goodwill store, though.
This morning the music channel is playing "smooth jazz", and Al is a good ten feet from the television. Yup, he's a classical fan.