Beeson Banner for October, 2017
1 October 2017
Forgot my water bottle, but didn't miss it until I was almost to the church, so I guess I didn't need it.
5 October 2017
Farmers' market yesterday. Stock is pretty picked-over if you don't want Halloween decorations. I bought another "candy" onion just to not come back with empty panniers, and that night sliced the older one so that I could taste it.
I expected, from the name, that it was a "you can eat it like an apple" onion for people who don't like onions, but much to my surprise, it has a great deal of flavor. No "bite" like the winter onions, but a perfectly-respectable slicing onion, and not bad when I chopped some into my herbed rice cakes for lunch.
So I looked it up, and it's a specific cultivar, like Ebenezer. Perhaps "candy" was the name of the breeder.
Fall cleanup proceeds apace — look at the size of that pile of debris!
I'll confess to cheating a bit. At the bottom of the pile are several wheelbarrows of sod Dave dug out from the edges of the walkways.
6 October 2017
At eight twenty, I looked out to see two headless swans floating at the mouth of the creek. Just as I was thinking "wow, did I ever get up *early*", one of them started to move.
It's dark and gloomy and very wet out there — a good day to keep your head under your wing well into the morning.
Some sort of water toy with a cartoon shark fin on the bottom is stored up-side down on the neighbor's beach. Every time I glimpse it, I think there's a bird perched on it.
I started to make rice cakes for my fourth meal last night, and found only a teaspoon of spanish rice in the dish, so I added rolled oats, cottage cheese, sliced almonds, and a few cranks of Organic No Salt. It was delicious!
It took longer than rice cakes because I had to wait for the oats to get soggy.
It was probably a lot like the ricotta-cheese burger there was a recipe for in yesterday's paper. I cut it out, planning to substitute one whole egg for two egg whites, and now I think I can buy small-curd cottage cheese instead of ricotta, and not have left-over ricotta.
I'm also planning to leave out the buns, on account of Dave's diabetes. A rolled-oat burger will be carby enough.
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Kathy, who is leaving tomorrow, brought us a patio plant she didn't want to throw out. After she left, I reflected that the plant would probably like to sit out in this misting rain and set it beside the lamp post. I think I'll leave it there.
It would be even happier if I let it get its roots into the dirt, but it will start wanting to come in at night in a couple of weeks.
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Thursday morning, I started to drag my chair into the bedroom, then remembered that we were going to run the Roomba in there, and dragged the treadle sewing machine into the parlor instead. Roomba was done before I got around to sewing, of course, but I decided to leave the machine in the parlor until Tuesday, when it's the parlor's turn to be swept.
I never realized how often we use the sewing machine as a table!
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Piper Cub season is over. It hasn't been flying for some time, and today John asked permission to drag a portable arc welder over our lawn. Dave says that John said that the arc welding "didn't take", so they are going to have to haul the Cub to the airport to repair it.
I strongly suspect that they'll put the wheels back on while it's there; it won't be long before the dam is opened.
7 October 2017
I realized after a bit that from May through October, Aldi can feature in my exercise plan after all. I usually come back from the Farmers' Markets by the Beyer Farm Trail, the Trail has a branch that ends on Harrison at Dubois, with a little jiggly-jog Dubois connects to Parker, and Aldi is on Parker. On the way out, that is; there's a barrier down the middle of Parker on the Aldi side of US 30 to prevent left turns. But there's a back way in off Husky Trail.
But it puts Aldi in the middle of the ride, when I can't buy frozen food and already have stuff in my panniers.
First thing I noticed was that there were lots of cars in the parking lot. Then I noticed that only a small fraction of the carts were missing from the corrals, then I noticed that the store was crowded. What are all the carts *for*.
One thing I liked about the old store was that you could take one lap and leave. The new layout is similar, but blowing it up and adding more aisles leads to swirling traffic instead of most of the people in an aisle going my way, and there's half an aisle at the end to add to the swirl.
I presume the swirling traffic will let up when the customers learn their way around.
Another thing I like about Aldi is that they don't give coupons. I now have three Aldi coupons in my wallet. I hope that this is just part of the grand opening hoopla.
I didn't see the waiting bench just inside the door, and there definitely isn't any bench outside. I didn't happen to need to sit down today, but I'm going to have to look into that. I frequently had to share the bench at the old store, so I'm not the only one who will miss it.
I kept expecting things to be where they were in the old store, and sometimes they were.
Since I planned to come back in after packing my bike, I was pleased to see that the hall leading to the restrooms opened off the packing aisle. I didn't think to check how difficult it would be to get there if one had a sudden need while pushing a cart around.
I was astounded that a store four times as big had half as many stalls as the old one. But the one stall is a dilly; the stalls at the old store were cramped; this one was bigger than both of them put together — presumably so that one could turn a wheelchair around in the stall. I just realized that I didn't notice any grab bars. Opening the changing table blocks the door from opening all the way. And the changing table is the only place where I can park my hat and gloves; the old restroom had a number of horizontal surfaces.
I dig why public restrooms want motion-detector faucets and automatic flush, and they aren't as unreliable as they used to be. At least, brand-new, freshly-installed auto isn't as unreliable as auto used to be.
I still hates 'em, precious, I hates 'em.
When I wanted to put small brown tomatoes — the last of the season, so he gave me the remaining half box — into the relish tray at supper, I couldn't find the Little Salad Bar box of tomatoes and eggplant.
I'm planning to substitute the eggplant for summer squash in my low-carb lasagna.
After supper, I finally located it in the canned-goods cupboard. Fortunately, both tomatoes and eggplant keep at room temperature.
Discovering that Little Salad Bar boxes neatly fit my panniers has made shopping for delicate produce a lot easier.
9 October 2017
That was halloweeny. When I last reached into the dryer, my black undershirt and Dave's orange cat shirt were tumbling together.
I left the cat shirt to tumble clear dry: he'll need it as soon as he sits down to watch television, and that shirt has nothing to lose — which is why he wears it when Al is on his lap.
Al gets excited when he sees that shirt come off the hook.
He also knows instantly when I pick up his treat plate intending to put a spoonfull of water in it, no matter how far away he is, no matter how much I've been rattling around in the kitchen. I always try to sneak, because I think the water will have better flavor if it has a minute to dissolve the crumbs.
Al first learned to notify me when it is treat time (and nowadays he waits until it actually *is* treat time), then he learned that he could notify me when his dry-food bowl is low, and recently he realized that he can tell me when his water is stale, but it still hasn't crossed his mind that he can remind me to prepare his second treat. When I remember, I set a timer and put it into my pocket after serving the treat. We sprinkle medicine on his treat, and washing the saucer makes it more likely that he gets all of it.
11 October 2017
The mammogram was conducted with their usual efficiency. They have new furniture in the waiting room — it seats more than the old furniture, but there was only one person waiting when I got there and when it was my turn, I left the waiting room empty. They also have new gowns that have sewn-on belts that keep the gowns securely closed — no need to clutch with both hands. And the new X-ray equipment requires only two shots per breast, instead of three. But you do have to hold your breath while each shot is being taken.
I'm always impressed that they can make sure the shots are good while you're still available in case they are not. I suspect that the technician who photographed me today has never heard of X-ray film.
The trip to the hospital was horrible — the Sentra doesn't have a rear-window wiper!
A car that you can't drive in the rain isn't a car at all, in my exalted opinion.
And it *is* possible to push the buttons while turning the key. Putting the remote in the key is a good idea, but only if it has a cover like a flip-phone, or a keyboard-lock switch like Dave's timer.
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Exonerated! I'm in the habit of tearing up rags and piling the pieces on the microwave for wiping grease out of skillets and so forth. While Roomba was sweeping Dave's room today, it started making weird noises — and the cause turned out to be one of those rags.
But it had solder on it, and I haven't touched a soldering iron since Heathkit went out of business.
12 October 2017
While struggling with a tiny hem at the sewing machine, I heard "Arrgh!" from Dave's room.
His thirty-year-old can of Tuner Control Cleaner had just run out. He hopes that Contact Cleaner is the same stuff.
I decided that the easiest way to deal with an inch and a half of hem that's two millimeters deep is to sew it by hand. It isn't the first time I've discovered that sticking a needle is easier than sticking a pin.
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Dave pointed out another deal-killer with the Sentra: the Versa lights up the "door not latched" light when the trunk is open; the Sentra doesn't. So after each time I start the car, I have to get out and walk back to check the trunk.
14 October 2017
It isn't possible that there is no warning light to tell you that the trunk is open. I need to spend some quality time with the manual.
I helped brown beef for tomorrow's chili this morning. Met the leader of today's Fall Hike turning out of Boy's City as I was walking home; took a minute to recognize him. I did wave back.
I'm planning to make cornbread this evening. I hope I have corn flour.
I stocked up on frozen food at Owens on Thursday, and yesterday I did a dump tour (I dump plastic bags and old magazines on the way to Goodwill) and came back by way of the new Aldi, where I bought some more frozen food.
Husky trail was closed — and it looks as though it will continue to be closed to bicycles, because they are installing curbs. I stayed on Anchorage until I got to 175 E.
Going south from Martin's, Husky Trail swerves and becomes Patterson Road, then Patterson curves and becomes 75 N. 75 N is the first right turn that isn't a glorified driveway as you come down 175 E, so there was little chance that I'd miss it, but I couldn't remember the number. I planned to stop and pull out my map when I got there — but there was a sign saying "This way to Martin's" leaning against the signpost, so I not only didn't stop, I didn't even read the street sign.
On my way from the Emergency Room (magazines) to Goodwill, I stopped at a park bench off Arthur Street to eat a snack stick and a granola bar. When done, I realized that I had stopped at the park restroom building, and a basic survival rule of cycling is "never leave a building that has facilities without making use of those facilities", so I started to walk around the building to the ladies' side, at which point I saw a sign that said "closed for the season/no loitering".
"I didn't see the sign" isn't accepted as an excuse — perhaps having lunch doesn't count as loitering?
15 October 2017
I forgot to make cornbread, but somebody else brought some.
On my first trip to the new Aldi, most of the carts were still in the corral, but the store was jammed — and not with people who had no carts. Last Friday, there were no carts at all in the front corral, but the store was much less crowded. ??
There isn't any good parking place. At the old store, I could leave the bike right up against the window and under the awning. The nearest spot at the new store is out of sight around a corner, and it's fully exposed to the sun.
The half aisle doesn't cause swirling, because the previous aisle is so wide that one goes up on one side and back on the other. Helped that fewer patrons were on their first visit.
17 October 2017
I discovered this morning that Facebook can't show more than one level of quoting, and one has to revert to the clumsy method of prepending the name of the person being replied to. Another way to discourage conversation.
I'm not sure I've checked in this week; perhaps I should add Facebook to my folder of websites to view on Sunday. I do click on the e-mails if I've refreshed the Thunderbird backup recently and have a little time on my hands — which is how I came to try to reply to a reply this morning.
(I browse the Web on the computer where I keep my on-site back-ups.)
18 October 2017
At Goodwill, I saw the lunchbox I'd donated on my previous trip. I think that's the first time I've seen something that I brought in. I looked for the "quilted crystal" canning jar I'd brought with the lunch box. I found other canning jars, but it wasn't with them. Was it purchased as soon as it hit the shelf, or thrown away?
This time I had a corn popper and a bunch of stuff from the seldom-used utensils drawer. Including a pair of barbecue tongs I don't remember acquiring.
While waiting for my lunch at Taco Bell, I reflected that meralgia paresthetica doesn't limit my activity in the slightest, but it *really* limits loitering! Fortunately, there was an unoccupied chair with a good view of the place where my taco salad would appear.
I should have settled for my usual double-deck tostada ("mexican pizza"); I was so stuffed that I stopped at the first bench I came to for a five-minute lie-down. Still didn't feel like vigorous activity, so I gave the gravel part of 300 N a miss — at that time, my stomach thought that walking slowly up a steep hill was a good idea.
Dave has been saying that he sees a recumbent tandem now and again. Today I met it on Clark Street on my way to Owen's. They were wearing matching orange T-shirts and black shorts. I was wearing two shirts, two pairs of long tights, and calf-high wool socks.
I bought three pears at the Farmer's market. Considered some turnips, but chickened out.
I think that my wake-the-dead tea just wore off.
20 October 2017
It figures. I'm planning to ride to Leesburg tomorrow. The prediction says that the wind will be from the south all day, three miles per hour while I'm riding with it, rising to nine miles per hour when it's time to turn around and come back.
I meant to sew all day yesterday, but somehow it got to be nap time and I hadn't even opened the sewing machine. I did finish a seam, hem a neck, and start attaching two pieces of bias tape to armholes in the hour before supper.
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I went out this morning to buy cat litter — the bay where the corncob litter belongs was empty. I bought a half bag of pelleted "all natural" to tide us over. I changed the litter yesterday, and there is enough corncob litter for one more change if I put a layer of pellets under it, so we have two weeks.
Passed the old Aldi for the first time since the new one opened — boy, did Aldi leave the site *clean*; no left-overs for the new tenant to clean up. Next time I'm in Sprawlmart on a bike, I'll peek in the windows to see whether they left the inside that clean.
I don't like the layout of the new store as well as I did the old one: the produce is in the very first aisle. In the old store, you passed all the shelf-stable stuff before picking up any perishables. They still put the frozen food last, though. I do like that the check-out aisles are wider, and haven't any gates, so it's easy to get from the store to the packing area and back again.
I had hoped that a bigger store would have potato salad when it isn't a picnic holiday, but chicken salad was as close as they came today.
When we get the Versa back, I wonder how long it will take me to stop turning the key by the edges? The lack of a keyboard-lock switch is almost as big a deal killer as the lack of a wiper on the rear window. I had to smear a paper towel around with a snow brush this morning. Luckily, the window stayed clean once it had been wiped.
21 October 2017
The wind was annoying, but not stressful. On the way back, I stopped at Goodwill to look for brownie servers, and found the barbecue tongs I had brought on my previous trip, marked forty-nine cents. I didn't see the lunchbox.
Old 15 has been repaved since my previous visit. The blacktop is faded enough to suggest that it's been a *long* time since my previous visit.
It might not be so long before I go again, as the "Black Ice" cold packs kept the chicken and the duck bacon perfectly hard for three hours, and hadn't melted much doing it.
Well, it kept the duck bacon hard; the chicken is in a box and I can't tell. But it was *under* the bacon, so has to be at least as cold.
A few days ago Maple Leaf Farms advertised "bring in this ad before Halloween and you can have thirty ounces of stuffed chicken breasts for a dollar". (Paraphrased; I no longer have the ad.) It was a while before I got around to bringing in the ad, but while I was packing my pannier, a car parked, two people got out on opposite sides, and one called to the other "Have you got the coupon?", so it must still be pulling.
Well, it worked on me. Without the lure of six meals for a dollar and a deadline, I'd have never discovered that I don't have to wait for freezing weather. There are several days every winter when the roads are clean enough to ride that far, but there are so many days when I can't leave the house at all that there is no way I'd be in shape for a twenty-mile ride.
28 October 2017
GRRRR!!!
I went to Aldi today for the sole purpose of redeeming a five-dollar coupon that expires tomorrow.
I forgot to give it to the cashier.
29 October 2017
My current skillet wipes are pieces of my City of London T-shirt. I wonder how old it is? Perhaps the Youth-Hostel tour of southern England was in the eighties.
I'll never go on such a ride again. It wouldn't take much to train up strong enough to ride thirty miles every day, but I might not *survive* a trans-Atlantic airplane ride. Even back then, I arrived in poor shape.
31 October 2017
I didn't do a thing for Halloween this year.
I decided yesterday that I'd rather sew than ride today, but I never touched a needle. I did help a little while Dave cleaned up the garage to let the Sentra in. And I finished putting away yesterday's laundry.