We brought two patio chairs down from the barn attic — I think it was the day I rode to the Crazy Egg, which I could look up if I cared, because after we brought them down, I sat on one to change my shoes and that's the only trip that I wore cleated shoes.
Yesterday Dave left one of the cushions on edge beside the front door in case he wanted to go out and sit. This morning the cushion was flat and Al was asleep on it.
I bundled up the papers in the recycling box and put them into the recycling bin, to be carried out the week after next. Then in the evening, we put most of today's mail into the box I had laboriously emptied.
With the warm weather, I should begin inspecting the asparagus bed every day. Today was so wet and cold that I never set foot outside, not even to carry the garbage out, and the garbage is piled pretty high.
It's one degree too cold to hose out the cat box. I'll have to put water in it at the sink, then go outside to slosh and toss. I'm getting a hint of what Mom meant when she said that carrying water in isn't much trouble, it's carrying it out that gets you down.
Just as I was thinking that we should keep one cushion out when we put the patio chairs away this fall, Dave said that he's thinking of bringing the other cushion in from the garage and putting it in the living room for Al.
I washed a flag yesterday. Despite having been exposed to the sun for a long time, it didn't fall apart in the washer and is now ready for display again. In not-unrelated news, Dave is in the living room doing final assembly on his new flag pole. He hasn't got a finial for it yet.
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The flag is on the pole, and standing out straight. I think I'll stay inside.
Al is oscillating between the cushion by the patio door and the one in the parlor.
While eating in-the-shell peanuts, I found a roasted, salted rock.
I went downtown today, and successfully dumped old magazines, expired pills, and a pannier of recyclables. Didn't think to go into the re-use room to see what was free, but I did stop at the Home Sweet Home consignment shop. A two-ounce "apothecary jar" just like the ones I have a whole tray of was $1.50 — not quite worth my while to set up an account to sell them. On the other hand, getting them out of the cupboard might be worth it. Perhaps I'll put something in them and tie them up with bows next Christmas.
And then forget to take them to the parties. We don't mind having to eat the fruitcakes ourselves — this morning, we polished off the last of the first one that we unwrapped.
We unwrapped it only a couple of days ago — which is why we post-poned unwrapping it for two months. I may use some as bike fuel, if I can regain enough strength to take all-day rides.
I don't think I paid $1.50 each when the jars were in style, but money was worth more then.
While reading World Wide Words, I learned that "Run" as in Turkey Run is, if you go back far enough, the same word as "Rhine" as in the river in France.
At bedtime-snack time, I tasted the left-over "hearty pea soup", found it impossible that "some like it cold", and looked up "pease porridge" while it was heating. I've been thinking all these years that "pease porridge" was an old name for split-pea soup, but it's hummus made from split yellow peas instead of chickpeas.
We were supposed to get a thunderstorm in the night, but Dave's lightning detector didn't pick up anything.
I'm reading Friday's paper, which says that the #1 Bait Shop has to be re-zoned commercial before it can expand. It seems to me that certain commercial operations are highly desirable in residential neighborhoods, and ought to be allowed as a matter of course.
Going to see whether the #1 Bait Shop sells bread and milk would make a pleasant quarter-century ride, and I can come back by way of the Barbee Hotel and have pizza for lunch. But it will be a while before I can work up to that.
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Upon moving out the fabric hanging in the laundry room so that Dave can put up another hook to hang my bags on, I observe that I have a WHOLE BUNCH of tablecloths, some of which don't even fit my table, and I'm never going to put a cloth on the table again. Or if I do, it will be the autograph tablecloth that I keep in the recipe-book cupboard.
So if you come to see me, paw through the laundry room. If you see a tablecloth you like, it's yours. One of them is a rather glorious border print of blue vines on a dark-red ground — which looks just terrible with the good china. It requires plain white plates. There is also some vintage linen damask, which *would* look good with Mother's china if I ever held dinner parties, and if it fits the table. I think I've got linen dinner napkins around someplace.
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I planted the three sprouted potatoes this morning. I looked out and thought I'd do it in the afternoon, but Weather Underground said that the wind would remain up and the temperature was going down, so I compromised by taking one potato out to the garden. Then planting it proved so easy that I went back and got the other two.
I really shouldn't have gotten the dirt to cover them from the pile I made digging potatoes last fall — negates the point of moving the patch to the other side of the garden — but it was nice and loose and I wanted to get back into the house.
There were worms in what I dumped on the potatoes, so I guess the soil is awake. There are flower buds on the daffodils. The two leaves on the rhubarb are still hunkering down, and they've made it through worse weather than we are likely to get now, so I think they will be all right.
I'm planning to shop for onion sets and two more potato sets next Thursday.
Sets won't be available — at least not at Open Air — until mid-April. And I had thought that at long last I could plant them on St. Patrick's Day.
A freeze was predicted for last night, so yesterday I put a blanket of duck mulch on each of the three hills of potatoes already in the garden. I think the two shovels of dirt already on each hill would have sufficed, but duck mulch will enrich the soil.
I just noticed that one of the garments on my overcrowded to-do hook is there because it needs ironing. And another needs two two-inch seams with a thread that is already on the Necchi. Perhaps today is my day to draw down the to-do hook.
Wednesday's winds were ferocious. I put a paper plate on top of the plate of garbage so that the garbage would stay on it until I got to the compost heap, and a great deal of the heap was missing when I got there. Then the garbage plate blew out of my hands, and while I was chasing it, it split into two plates. Then I tripped — I instinctively rolled as I hit and wasn't injured, but I dropped the lid plate and it instantly caught up with the other two. They landed face down and paused for a moment, but while I was picking up one, the other two blew across the road and out of sight.
Yesterday was mirror-calm, and Dave burned the obsolete financial records and a great deal of yard clutter — speaking of which, he collected a wheelbarrow of rot for the compost heap and I forgot to dispose of it. I'd better do that Right Now.
Today I rode to Aldi by way of Pierceton, where I had a bowl of chili at the Oddfellow Café. After putting everything on my list (except onion sets, seed potatoes, and anchovies in olive oil) into my basket, I looked over the office chair in the special-purchase aisle and decided to come back in the car on Monday or Tuesday to buy one. The lightweight mesh appears to be nicer than my current chair even without considering that the Aldi chair isn't upholstered with duck tape.
I already have a list of six Aldi-only items to pick up when I go back for the chair. Dave suggested taking the truck.
I must also stop at Big R, as we have only one more week of cat litter.
The freezing wind was pretty bad as I returned through Sprawlmart; I teared up enough to be a hazard. But the wind dropped off immediately after I left Sprawl One; I suppose it was coming from exactly the right direction to be funneled among the buildings. It also helped that Jefferson street slopes up, so I was sheltered some by the higher ground.
The check-out clerk at Aldi complimented my yellow coat. I don't appear to have taken a picture of the completed coat, but a picture taken just before I turned up the hem, put elastic in the sleeves, and bought a black ribbon to thread through the belt casing is posted at http://wlweather.net/PAGESEW/BLOG1XVI/SL9VE_6h.JPG The black diamond on the right pocket is a snap to keep my cell phone from falling out. But I always wear the coat over another jersey, and keep my phone in the inner pocket.
The coat is so heavy that I haven't worn it often, but I was really glad I had it today. When I was riding north on SR 19, my left elbow wanted to know why I hadn't worn my windbreaker too.
I took the pins out of my gibson before going to bed, and it fell apart in the night. This morning I looked into the mirror and thought that it's a shame I can't wear my hair that way on purpose.
I've been working hard at making my walker a waste of money, but this week Dave has been making good use of it.
Dave has continued doing his share of the work, but I had to move the cat dishes so that he could sweep the kitchen today. Which causes me to wonder: what happens if we *both* get sore backs?
I'm planning to go to Aldi first thing tomorrow. There are now twelve items on the list. I was thinking of going to Big R for cat litter first, but according to Weather Underground, I can leave anything but ice cream in the car for as long as I please. And I'm not sure 27F is too warm for ice cream.
Got a turn there. The "17" on the wind chart lined up with one of the arrows showing wind direction, and I read the combination as "47 mph". It won't get above eleven or twelve mph during the time I plan to be out.
After supper, I noticed that everything I dried on hangers is ready to move to the closet. Or it was until I dropped two bras into the bucket where I was soaking a scarf.
I rinsed them with the scarf, and they are spinning out now.
Roombas got headlights! One can see a fan of beams shining out of it when watching it with an infra-red camera. I think those are to trigger the virtual walls into sending "don't come here" signals.
I went to Aldi in the morning, and Dave went to Dr. Darr's nurse-practitioner in the afternoon. She gave him the same stuff Dr. Darr gave me, and before suppertime I cautioned him about bending over to pick something up, and he said "I'd almost forgotten about my back."
And that's why Roomba is running in the parlor in the evening.
In honor of Pi Day, we ordered Papa John's pizza delivered for supper.
Dave's status upon waking: "I'm not out of the woods yet, but . . ."
Sometimes I have to remind him not to bend or stoop.
The instructions on my new chair left out a step: before "attach castors until they lock into place" it should have said "summon a male to push them in really, really hard."
Nothing left but to attach the arms. I put one arm on, then socked and socked and socked and finally got all three bolts tight — then picked up the other arm and realized that I'd put the right arm on the left side.
The bolts were easier to get out than they were to put in, but I'm waiting until after my nap to install the remaining six bolts.
Dave Roomba-ed his room, the powder room, the hall, and the sewing room this morning. And I've already got everything I moved into the bedroom back in the sewing room. Except the KikStep, which belongs where-ever it was last used.
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I spent all day yesterday buying a chair and all day today putting it together — and it doesn't fit. The lowest setting of the seat is at least two inches too high. It feels all right when I keep my feet on the feet of the chair, but that makes my keyboard two inches too low. And the back doesn't have any setting except "bolt upright if not leaning forward".
The guarantee doesn't cover "you bought the wrong thing", so I can't take it back. Pity there are no office-furniture stores in town, where I could sit in it before buying. (I'm not counting Staples because a chair I bought there fell apart — dangerously — a few weeks after I bought it.)
This is motivation to figure out how to get to Fort Wayne. Well, getting there is no problem; I've driven there and back more than once. But if I went there and shopped, I'd be too tired for it to be safe to drive home without taking a nap first.
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Yesterday I planned hot dogs for supper tonight so that I'd be sure to be done eating and ready to step out at six to be in time for the committee meeting at six-thirty.
This morning, I said to Dave, don't let me forget that I have a committee meeting at six-thirty tonight.
When I got I from my nap, I thought "I must change into walking clothes before supper, so that I can step out as soon as I'm done eating."
At seven-thirty tonight, I said AAAAAUUUUUGGGGGHHHHH!
I decided to chicken out of today's ride last night — but it wasn't until nearly noon today that I realized that this would have been a perfect day to wash hot with bleach and hang it outside to dry. The rag-and-dishtowel bin overfloweth, and it won't be sunny again until next week.
Well, Sunday is clear, but I have other plans.
GAH! I went ego-surfing, and learned that one of the other joy beesons on the Web is a rabid Trump fan.
My opinion of the guy improved when the torches and pitchforks came out. Nobody who inspires foam-mouthed circle-runners to that much fury can be as shallow as I thought he was.
And it *was* in the 1980s that I noticed that he was immature.
Overheard on the Grace College maintenance channel:
"I blew up Lower Alpha for you."
"Pardon?"
"Let me re-phrase that: I enlarged a picture of Lower Alpha and printed it out."
Today is "wash hot with bleach and plant potatoes" day. Haven't set foot in the garden, but I've got the rags, towels, and pillowcases in the washer. I decided to allow the washer to use half-and-half and call it hot; I'm going to dry them in the sun, and turning the cold water off and on at the proper times is a royal pain.
I've found a side effect of storing the ammo boxes on the top shelf: they aren't available for making non-virtual walls for the Roomba. I used a patio-chair cushion backed up with the piano bench.
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I planted the potatoes. The soil was amenable to planting the onion sets too, but the cold wind wasn't. It would be going too far to say that I was blown off my feet, but I did lose my balance while hanging up the wash. Also had to fetch my hat twice.
I didn't leave the wash out in the sun as long as I'd hoped to. I brought the pillowcases in before they were entirely dry, as they were whipping more than the smaller things. (Pause to take the pillowcases off the rack and put them into the linen closet.)
Al regards human food as disgusting, with a very grudging exception for liverwurst. He will also sniff and lick cheese, but won't eat it.
A couple of days ago, he snatched a round wheat cracker (knock-off Ritz) out of Dave's hand and ate half of it. We were gobsmacked.
Dave put the remaining piece of cracker in Al's food dish. A few hours later, I put liverwurst on it. The next day I put the licked-clean cracker on the compost plate. I guess Al has checked "eat a cracker" off his bucket list.
Last summer I dug up an unwanted clump of garlic chives and put the roots on the wall of the raised flower bed to dry. Whenever I passed the bed, I would grab the tangle of roots and whap it to knock some more dirt out.
It stayed on the wall all winter in the drying wind and the freezing cold.
It's sprouting.
The next time I want to get rid of a garlic chive, I'll dry the roots in the outdoor fireplace.
I went out and looked at the garden today. One end of the row where the onions belong is all holes and humps from digging potatoes; the other is sodded over with some small, low-growing weed. Might be chickweed.
Didn't get anything done today, if you don't count washing the dishes.
Pretty nice weather,but I stayed indoors. Mostly playing with the computers.
I went for a quarter-century ride on Wednesday. Came back in pretty good shape, so I think I'll go to Spring Creek the next time it's a good day for it.
Then I'm out of places to go. My blood pressure really needs exercise, but every place interesting is either too close or too far, and I'm already fed up with circumnavigating Winona Lake. I can do a farm-stands tour after the farm stands open, but I need something every week.
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I worked in the garden a little in the afternoon. After a rest, I pushed the cultivator across the proposed onion bed three times and came in winded.
After supper, we went for a walk for the first time in ages. We went around the shortest block, and were feeling it before we'd gone halfway.
I was almost overdressed in a long-sleeved T-shirt, and made haste to change when we got back.
Half a cup of soda made into tooth powder lasts about four months. No wonder I could never remember exactly when I'd made the previous batch. (This time I made a note of it in next month's diary, and forwarded it at the end of every month.)
I'm skipping the last Winter Market; the Winter Market isn't worth going to unless I also enjoy the trip, and it isn't pleasant out today. I'm thinking of going for a walk here in town, though. There's something or the other going on at the park, and two pelotons of joggers have gone by — the first one in matching shirts, with many pushing jogging strollers. There was one stroller with the second batch, who were stepping out more vigorously.
It was a lovely day for a walk. I settled for just to the church and back. Didn't see what the event was, but they seemed to be announcing race results when I passed the park.
OOPS!
It was a fit morning to hang clothes out, but rain was possible starting just when I lie down for a nap, so I put the wash on racks and put the racks on the patio.
I put the racks on the picnic table for maximum air and sunlight — and for a few hours, all you could see on Dave's Web cam was my underpants. We didn't notice until I was about to bring them in to add the second load.
And I hadn't put the racks into the garage because you can see into it from the road.
I was looking at Google Maps while planning to ride on Wednesday, and thinking that I'd come back through Sprawlmart; it's a tad farther, but I dislike the section of Wooster Road between 250 E and College Avenue, and Frontage Road is fairly safe when you are headed west. (It's experts-only in the eastbound lane.)
At that point, I noticed that I couldn't see the Heritage Trail, and clicked the bicycle icon. The precise section of road that I wanted to avoid lit up green.
Weather Underground says that Wednesday's ride is still on, but awkward to dress for: the day is to start at 35F and peak at 57F.
There was a pair of ducks waddling across the lawn when I got up. I thought I saw a heron on the sandbar, but the binoculars showed that it was a very alert goose.
I saw a pair of ducks on my way to the church weeks back, but today is the first time I've seen one on our lawn. I haven't seen a flock of ducks in some time.
The yellow daffodils in the fern bed have begun to open.
Dave had to get up early for an appointment in Elkhart, so I'm breakfasting alone.
Grump. I ride too slowly, so I've been trying to create a table of my times on various routes, but I forgot to note the time when I got back today. I left Aldi at 5:42, it wasn't yet half past six when I thought about it, and it took a while to put everything away. So it probably wasn't terrible time, but I wish that I knew.
I came back feeling great, but about seven the caffeine started wearing off. I took along a bike bottle of green tea with honey and lemon in it, I started drinking it after I'd had a pot of Constant Comment at the Odd Fellows Café in Pierceton, and I bought a bottle of Pure Leaf black tea in Larwill
Not to mention that I ate rather a lot of chocolate after leaving Spring Creek. But single-dipped almonds; I didn't open the triple-dipped malt balls until after getting home.
I poured the bottled tea into my empty tea bottle at Spring Creek. Then I filled the Pure Leaf bottle with water from Spring Creek's tap, and used that to re-fill the tea bottle about halfway back. Or maybe it was right after eating half a slice of pizza in Larwill on the way back. The pizza was actually jerky on a cracker from the hot lights it had been sitting under, so I drank a lot of tea with it.
My jerky on a cracker wasn't bad. When I checked the price to see how much tax the $1.80 included, I saw that I'd been charged about half price (which puzzled me until I opened the box), it was crunchy but good, and I didn't worry about whether the other half of the slice would keep.
I ate the other half before leaving Aldi. I called Dave to let him know I wasn't going to be home for supper, and he, too, was eating left-over pizza.
Yesterday evening, the knobset on the door between the garage and the living room failed so badly that the door wouldn't shut and Dave couldn't get the pieces out of the door. Since we have to have a locksmith come out, we are having all three locks changed.
While I was typing that, he returned Dave's call and made an appointment for eleven today.
I was surprised to find a rat's nest in my hair that took forever to comb out, and even more surprised when my hair wouldn't stay un-ratsnested long enough to braid it. Finally the dime dropped and I rubbed a little castor oil into it: this was a genuine case of "I just washed it and can't do a thing with it."
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My new door key looks exactly like my old door key, so I made haste to drop the old one into the recycling bin.
We are still slightly startled by the shiny new knobs. We should have done this months ago; all the locks were worn. We didn't know the door between the kitchen and the freezer was bugging us until it started working right.
Now Dave wants to paint the shabby old door, but he plans to wait for warmer weather.
We're still impressed with our shiny new knobs.
I spent most of today sitting around. All wet and gloomy out, but I could have done some mending. I'm hoping to plant the multipliers and onion sets tomorrow, if the ground isn't too wet to work.
I'm trying to remember why I wanted the rye chips. They're good by themselves and with various spreads, but there is *something* that is particularly good when eaten on rye chips. It isn't hummus and it isn't guacamole. I didn't go to Spring Creek last year, and the year before that they were out of rye chips, so I'm chasing a very faint memory.