We were out of milk, so I took a three-supermarket tour yesterday. One point of the tour was to have a hot dog at the hot-dog truck between Sprawl One and Sprawl Two. I figured back-tracking after I'd been to Aldi would get me there at lunch time. I stopped on the way out and found it buttoned up like a drum even though the hours sign said that they'd been open nearly an hour. I figured I'd come back anyway, since I could go on to Taco Bell if it was still closed — which it was and I did. Then I found my way back to Sprawl Two (not purely obvious in the tangle of driveways and access roads) and took the K-Mart exit across US 30.
I got to Martin's Supermarket by way of the new roundabout. I should have gone straight, and found my way back through the residential area, but I turned right, onto the road just north of Martin's.
I didn't buy anything but a package of paper plates at Martin's. We were down to five of the little plates that really are paper, as opposed to light cardboard, and I had stopped at the dollar store, K-Mart, and Big R without success. At Big R, I did find a rubber spatula that I'd been looking for for years.
Thence to Owen's, where I did some serious food-buying; I was surprised that there was a little space left in one pannier after I'd fitted everything in.
The day before yesterday, I made lasagna in a 5" by 8½" glass pan with two noodles and two Chinese dried raw sausages, sliced thin.
Turned out that lap xuong is *terrible* in tomato sauce. It's cured with salt and lots and lots of sugar, and the sugar all leaches into the sauce.
I think it would be delicious in a casserole, if I can think of a sauce that's both good when sweet and compatible with meat and vegetables.
And the casserole would have been delicious with ground beef. I plan to try again after buying some more yellow squash next Saturday.
Someday I'll try macaroni-and-cheese made of two noodles and lots of raw veggies, with slices of Spam on top. I may have just invented scallopping. I suspect that the term originated with potatoes cut into scallops.
⁂
I had the last most-of-a-tostada for lunch. I'd have bought another bag if Aldi had been my last stop instead of the first.
Not one tostada in this bag was whole. Only one tostada in the previous bag had broken. Law of averages, I guess.
Now that I've finally got my computers back, I no longer feel like composing an e-mail and writing a letter. Both are moderately urgent.
When I got up in the night, I heard a very loud whine. When I realized that it was coming from the sewing room, I said "awk scrickle" and shut down JOY98. Screech kept screeching. I shut down the monitor, then shut down JOYXP and its monitor, screech kept screeching. Then I thought, whatever it is is plugged into the UPS, and the computers are the only gadgets that mind getting their plugs yanked — checking this morning, there are only four plugs in the UPS, so the computers and their monitors are the whole bit. The document scanner gets its power from an outlet on XP.
So I felt around for the black-on-black flush button, the alarming whine stopped, and I went back to bed.
This morning, after much puzzlement, Dave opened the battery compartment of the UPS and found a melted connector that had burned a tiny hole in the battery, so I added the battery to our collection of bricks; Dave will take the UPS to the recycle center.
But we had a spare surge protector, so I'm back in business. Just need to remember to save frequently, and not leave documents open when I knock off for a while.
We think the damage happened during the storm that put the lights out for a while — the battery acid would have gradually made the connection worse.
My new UPS should get here Tuesday. It's slightly bigger than the old one.
Duh! All those years I've fiddled and faddled with the fire, and used flame-tamers to keep my corned beef hot without allowing it to boil and get fibery — Today I plopped it into a crock pot set on keep warm and it's *perfect*! And it's only half-past two.
Sometimes a mistake isn't all that bad. I remembered that I'd meant to put my pants in the wash when I spilled food on them at lunch. I'd have been very annoyed if I'd been wearing a fresh clean pair.
I promptly changed anyway. There is no such thing as an empty laundry bin.
The chocolate ice cream didn't come out of my jersey even though I left it soaking in borax ever since I undressed on Saturday.
I've have been more impressed with Pierceton Days if I'd noticed that the Harvest church was selling apple dumplings *before* I tanked up on french fries. And, if I recall correctly, they don't bring apple dumplings to the Tomato Festival.
I got home pretty tired, because a few drops of rain on the last leg persuaded me to skip a planned rest stop.
I'm dithering between left-over corned beef and an egg fried in canned sausage for lunch.
I bought the can at Schultz's Market, thinking that "Banner" was an IGA label. DuckDuck revealed that it's a Pinnacle Foods brand, and turned up reviews sharply divided between "yum" and "yuk".
When I opened the can and saw the "pinkish gelatinous mass", I thought that the people who found the sight of it disgusting must be professional offended-getters, but reflecting back on the reviews, I realized that all the yuksayers thought that you are supposed to eat the entire can in one sitting. That's partly the fault of the label, which says "heat sausage" instead of "heat a tablespoon of sausage" in the recipe for sausage and eggs.
We foundered ourselves at Noa-Noa yesterday evening. If we go again, we're going to get one dinner and two plates. Dave had mahi-mahi, and I had roast-pork salad.
I said that the next time I rode up Jefferson Street after five o'clock, I'd order a slice of key lime pie to go. I rode up Jefferson Street today, but chickened out of the key lime pie — partly because I wasn't sure it would be packed in a rigid box that I could bungee to my piled-up panniers. It's too soon to indulge in sweets anyway. (I did bring Dave the chocolate-chip cookie from the Kids Meal I had for lunch.)
I'd been to Meijer, Walmart, Tractor Supply, and Aldi. I went to Big R too, but didn't buy anything. Tried to get in line at the checkout anyway, but realized what I wasn't doing before I embarrassed myself.
I must ride on Saturday more often than I thought; all the time i was in the shower, I kept thinking about being ready for church tomorrow.
I bought some small paper plates at Meijer. Then realized that I'd paid a bit more than five cents per plate ($2.49/48), when big plates of the same kind are significantly less than five cents per plate. No wonder so few stores offer small plates.
Retroactively, Mom and Nancy went to the same school. While looking up Riley Hospital, I discovered that Methodist Hospital is now a part of Indiana University Health.
I skipped my nap yesterday, and feel dueless and dilatory today. Details of yesterday are in my training log.
This morning we had papers to sign to finish up what we started on Tuesday. Brock was tickled that we had taken his suggestion to dine at Noa Noa.
I plan to make diabetic lasagna (only two lasagne, lots of veggies and cheese) after my nap.
I'll probably go to the farmer's markets tomorrow.
I *like* it when the Banner is boring!
The most exciting event of late was making an online backup: Aaag, Peaky is down. And our intranet is down! Eventually I tried jiggling JOY98's data cable. Dave had bumped it while dusting.
For the department of "I'd really, really like a look at the code": I read an ad for a store in Warsaw Commons, and wondered which strip mall that was.
So I opened Google Maps and typed in "warsaw commons". The first hit was the store I'd read an ad for and I thought "wow, mind-reading!" — but the four spots were all over the map, no, five spots; there was one under the list of hits.
The first three hits were all the same slightly-blurred spot: three stores in Warsaw Commons. The other four hits were Starbucks in Martin's, Starbucks in Owen's, Creighton' Crazy Egg Cafe & Coffee, and Ink-Free News.
Triggering on coffee shops sort of makes sense, though that's a long way from being all the coffee shops in town, but Ink-Free News?
Not to mention that there are a lot more than three stores in Warsaw Commons.
Yesterday was a lovely day, and I dried all the wash outside even though the third load didn't go into the washer until after my nap.
And I got all of it folded and put away, including the socks usually forgotten in the dryer. The dress I wore Sunday needs ironing, but it also needs to have four inches cut off the bottom. (I'm too old to wear floor-dragging skirts.)
I also pulled a detectable quantity of weeds out of the garden, and put a few onion bulbs on a railroad tie to air.
Dave sprayed sealer on the patio, after months of preparation. There was *exactly* enough sealer in the jug to do the job, which caused him a little anxiety toward the end. The results are not in proportion to all that hard work.
I was wise to block the patio door with a stick — though I always remembered before flipping the lock. The bedroom door is just as convenient, but my habits use the patio.
I walked to the line and back to the house at least four times per load of clothes, and never once stepped in either pile of deer poop. I suspect that being barefoot made me more alert, even though feet can be hosed off and you can't wash the stink out of shoes.
I've got an appointment with Dr. Hollar tomorrow, and Ink-Free News says that Prairie Street will be closed for maintenance tomorrow. I've printed out a map of alternate routes. Perhaps I should print out another in case they don't finish Pope Street today.
I should leave early in case I have to walk.
I allowed an hour — and got there in fourteen minutes. I saw machines on one of the side roads going out, but didn't see any work when I looked down Prairie as I crossed it on Union on my way home.
I was much annoyed when I passed the recycling center to realize that I had known I would be downtown when they are open and hadn't brought any junk with me.
I spent the rest of the day wandering around town, and bought some vegetables at the fairgrounds market in the afternoon. My last stop was International Foods, where I bought one of every non-fish 39¢ noodle soup, and two of Bulalo — remembering what that was called was the point of the exercise. Bulalo is a Philippine marrowbone soup, and *very* good.
In the evening, I pulled a symbolic few handfuls of weeds and put them on the compost heap. The strip where the weeds are gone enough that I can comb them with the five-tine hoe is now wide enough to require two passes, and I've pulled all the onions. Except the winter onions, of course, and I think there are a half dozen stray multipliers lost in the weeds.
I haven't touched the garlic, which is way overdue. I was surprised that the bulbils I planted last fall made full-sized plants, each with a bulbil spathe. There are quite a lot of spathes that I didn't eat green, and I need only one for replanting.
I'm doing pretty well at eating the flower stalks on the garlic chives before the flowers open. Only a few have been tough at the bottom. (I break the stalk where it snaps easily, and leave the tough part on the plant).
I have too much garlic chive/kow choi; I need to dig out another clump.
The roots of the clump I dug out the spring before last are still trying to grow. They are on the concrete surround of the outdoor fireplace, having fallen off the arm. At this point, I haven't got the heart to burn them, but if I do dig up a clump of kow choi, I'll drop its roots down the chimney.
I think it's brighter now than it was while it was raining. When I got up, I had to turn a light on to see well enough to type — and I'm a touch typist.
⁂
Wondering whether we were out of Brookdale Corned-Beef hash, I took everything off the meat-and-soup shelf of the canned-goods cupboard, washed the shelf, and put the stuff back in logical order.
This caused me to notice that the fruit, chocolate, cat food, and medicine shelf is orderly, but visibly dirty.
But we have only two cans of fruit, it being fresh-fruit season, we are down to one cannister of dry cat food, and we are almost out of chocolate, so it won't take long to clear that shelf.
I am pleased to report that it took four passes of the cultivator to comb the combable weeds. I also pulled enough weeds to find some of the lost multipliers. Those are going into the crisper drawer for immediate use.
I pulled up the garlic, but it was so overripe that all but one bulb and half of another stayed in the ground. No mind; I use so little garlic that I'll have to make a point of using even that little up before it spoils. I might preserve some of the bulbils in vinegar. I haven't seen the 12% vinegar that I used to buy at Kim's Oriental at International Foods, but I haven't specifically looked. A saturated salt solution of 5% vinegar would work. And I think I still have some pickling salt. I guess I should clean that shelf off next.
I'm packing the multipliers away for the winter — the back of a cupboard in the garage that's mounted on an inside wall seems to be an adequate substitute for a cellar beam. Cleaning the clumps is tedious, particularly the ones that I didn't hose off immediately after pulling. (The ground was very wet when I pulled the multipliers.)
A fabric-painting brush that I probably bought at Arlene's Art Supply, but may have inherited from Nancy and Alice, has been a great help in removing dirt between bulbs and brushing out the roots.
When the quart berry basket was half full I got bored and wandered off, but I was working on the kitchen counter, so I clean a clump or two every time I pass through the kitchen, and now I've lined the two pint baskets with paper towels so I can start filling them.
A few days ago I ordered Moo-Shu pork to go, and we had two suppers off it, with enough left for a hearty lunch for Dave today, and enough rice left for rice cakes for me for breakfast.
When we eat at the Great Wall, we order two dishes and eat at least half of them. We *could* order one dish and share, but never do.
My lunch was hot-dog chili sauce, swiss cheese, and chopped onion rolled in a flour tortilla, with butter beans on the side.
I'm planning to make rhubarb soup for supper. I have some left-over "pulled pork" to put in it.
Kroger's "pulled pork" is indistinguishable from Grabil's pork chunks, but comes in a more-convenient size can.
I scored ten at Hexavirus!
An hour after I should have been in bed.
⁂
While getting ready for church, I hunted and hunted for last week's bulletin, to see whether there was anything I should prepare for. About halfway up Sunday Lane, I remembered that last Sunday I'd taken my Trafalgar bag to carry salad in, and when ready to go home, I'd stuck all my papers into its document pocket.
Linda took the piecrust table and the office chair this afternoon. I made only a token effort to get her to look at the iron pots. One of them has feet — perhaps I should show it to Darryl. But it's lost its lid. When cooking over an open fire, you *really* need a lid.
Dave is edging the walkways. I should gather up the dirt and put it on the compost heap.
When the sun was 86.3% gone, we still had worlds a plenty — the only difference I could perceive was that I didn't feel fried when I stepped out into it.
Saw moon-shaped dapples in the shade of a tree.
The pinhole camera worked, but could have used a diverging lens to enlarge the image.
I collected about half the edging dirt this morning. I think I'll go out for the other half now.
And now Dave has dug up more dirt.
I pushed the cultivator on the other side of the winter onions this morning. This is a long way from saying that I've pulled the weeds out of the winter onions, and almost as far from saying that the cultivatored area is free of weeds, but I did add a lot of weeds to the compost heap.
I found a handful of multiplier onions in the process. I hosed them off before bringing them into the house! Since it had been raining — an inch in the night, I think Dave said — the cultivator also needed hosing.
Linguistic note: I said "cultivatored" because the entire garden is cultivated — it's just not cultivated *well*.
I rubbed pure soap into the chocolate stain on Saturday and left it in until Monday. No effect whatsoever. But the black areas where I'd been reaching into my pockets finally came clean.
I may have to run an intermediate load this week. Dave forgot to give me his dirty shirts, and I didn't miss them until I was unloading the washer.
The kow choi/garlic chive roots on the fireplace aren't just surviving — the last time I walked by the fireplace, I saw two flower buds!
Which I promptly removed and ate. I have sympathy for its survival, but allowing it multiply is out of the question.
I must have missed a flower bud last year, because there are three kow choi plants among the mint and marjoram. I'll dig those up Real Soon Now. I've already dropped a kow choi root down the chimney — Dave dug one up while edging the walkway. Which reminds me that he edged the walk to the shop, and I need to pick that dirt up and put it on the compost before the clods dry out and get slower to rot. Or before they get rained on and glued to the walk, but Weather Underground says I have a week before that happens.
I finally went to Rentown yesterday, but it was disappointing. Partly because the weather prediction changed after I'd committed to Thursday — today would have been a much better day. Partly because the route I chose was a long straight road with only one stop along the way. Mostly because I really wasn't in the mood and I'd gotten tired driving.
The smoked gouda I bought at Rentown is really, really good and I'm sorry I took the smallest package, and Woodland Variety (the only stopping place on my bike tour, Miller's Variety being closed on Thursdays) has white colby, but I don't think I'll go back because my rotator cuff is still sore from the driving.
I wonder whether KABS goes that far, and whether they take bicycles.
Checked their web site. Anywhere in the county, three dollars. Which means they won't go to Rentown, which is in Marshall County, but starting the tour in Nappannee was the original plan — canceled by the bridge work on SR 15.
Three dollars is much too little. I wonder whether they take contributions? Probably not through the drivers, but I'm sure Cardinal Services has its hand out.
My rotator cuff is still sore from the drive. Oddly, not only didn't pushups aggravate it, it stopped hurting when I got into push-up position. I move only an inch, if that, when doing "pushups", but I see by the wrinkles in my skirts that there actually is vertical displacement.
Every Sunday (except when I forget), I climb all the stairs in the church, and do pushups in Club 56 and the Prayer Room. I wonder whether I'm the only person who does pushups only while wearing a long dress?
Weight-bearing exercise is supposed to strengthen bones. I'm probably not doing a thing for my muscles, but my arm bones *are* bearing weight.
Yesterday, I got to the tomato festival late, but I did score a big green-when-ripe tomato, and I had time to eat a plate of fried green tomatoes and a bowl of apple crisp with home-made ice cream.
I saw no sign of Harvest Church or their apple dumplings, but Pleasant Grove United Methodist's apple crisp was quite acceptable.
I hope that I remember to look for Harvest Church next summer — and that they sell apple dumplings again.
I stopped at Aldi on the way home. There was nothing on my shopping list, but I managed to fill up my panniers anyway. Except for one vacant space held open by the Little Salad Bar box that I brought and didn't put a tomato in. I'd meant to put a tomato in each box, but the booth where I saw the big red tomato packed up before I came back to get it.
I was tempted to toss the empty box and replace it with one filled with potato salad, but we've been eating way too many carbs lately.
I passed Noa Noa, and reflected that a slice of key lime pie would fit into the box nicely, but again thought of the carbs. And I was tired by then and didn't feel like dismounting and going in, even though I'll probably never be better equipped to carry a slice of pie.
I spent most of today playing with my computer, but did push the cultivator around in the evening, and comb a swath of weeds that hadn't been combed before. Also verified that there are no more potatoes in the first hill I dug, and made a place to throw dirt when I dig the next hill.
We've eaten all but a handful of the three pints of little tomatoes that I bought on Saturday, but immediately after noticing that, I realized that the fairgrounds market will be open when I leave Dr. Hickman's office tomorrow.
Oops, I forgot to take my shades with me. So they gave me a "slip behind" that worked very well, but I lost track of the envelope, so I couldn't put the slip-behind down anywhere and had to wear it while buying eggs at Owen's. I put it into a snack bag when I got home, and dropped it into the bag of shades.
Despite the shades, I found a very nice strip steak just big enough for two people, and we had it for supper with salad and two home-grown potatoes.
Before going to Owen's, I bought three pints of tomatoes and put them in the two Little Salad Bar boxes I'd brought for the purpose. I managed to arrive at Smith and Maple at the exact instant that the school on Smith Street let out. It seemed that every last bus wanted to go by way of Maple, but eventually I crossed Smith into the fairgrounds.
I pushed the cultivator around — didn't expand the cultivatorable area, but I collected some weeds and turned up a handful of multipliers. I put one clump of multipliers into my soup for lunch.
I also dug up two meals of potatoes, and spaded half a square yard of dirt in the process. Were it not for all the weeds in the winter onions, I would be more than half done with reclaiming the garden. But I half-cleaned the end clump of winter onions, and getting the weeds out without harming the onions wasn't difficult.
I seem to be collecting two potatoes per hill. Considering that I put one potato into each hill, and only half of them lived, this is not a good crop. But the hills I've dug were the last planted and the least healthy. I planted south to north, and I'm digging north to south.
⁂
In the afternoon I weeded the winter onions — missed a lot of roots that will have to be re-pulled after the next rain — and pushed the cultivator around again, plowing up the narrow strip between the weed-combed area and the patch where I spaded while digging potatoes.