I had two digestive biscuits for my bedtime snack: one with cranberry compote, one with peanut butter and PBL pickles.
Albany got eighteen inches of snow last night, which set us to reminiscing about our first year in New York, when Albany got its biggest snow since the nineteenth century and we got an entirely wrong idea of what living in upstate New York would be like.
The storm of '69 still holds the second-place record, but the storm of 2019 came close.
Hum . . . each storm came earlier in the century: '88, '69, '19. Perhaps the storm of the twenty-second will come in 2050.
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Evening of washday, and everything that has not been put away is still damp or, in the case of my wool socks, suspected of being still damp.
One of the new pants hangers I bought yesterday is now in the closet.
I found my sheepskin slippers, then later I found a pair of scissors that had been missing for months.
I should go not-looking for my red wool scarf.
But the third find may have been used up. Dave found his wheat-penny collection a few hours after it turned up missing. On the other hand, he was looking. (It was where he had looked for it the first time.)
I started a new wallet yesterday, and made some invisible progress today. That is, I decided to use cotton broadcloth instead of linen-cotton canvas for the checkbook pocket. (No, but I still carry some stuff in a checkbook case.)
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Just a spoonful of cod, sole, and shrimp
paté
Makes the Cosequin go down
In a most delightful way.
Grump. I was in Meijer today and didn't think of buying more canned tea and coffee. I did think of buying more pistachio halva, but firmly informed myself that the last thing two fat old people need is twelve ounces of fudge.
Then I bought eight ounces of horseradish cheese spread.
I haven't worn my silk dress in ages, so I thought I'd wear it today. The jersey under-dress that goes with it has stretched out enough to brush my shoe tops. It isn't the sort of slip that's *meant* to show, so I'm wearing my pleated skirt again.
Washday. Again.
I think I'm all ready for tomorrow's check-up. For once, I've got nothing to complain of; everything is in remission except maybe my fungusy toenail. And I think I'll get off one of my medications.
Got off the gabapentin, got put back on the flucanazole. Dr. Darr didn't like the looks of the toenail any more than I did. But it's for only six months this time.
If I don't flunk any blood tests, that's it until June.
I went to Martin's and Aldi afterward, and wore myself out — not to mention missing my nap and having candy bars for lunch. (They call them "protein bars", but they are all sugar.) I lay down from four-thirty until five-thirty, and we had chicken salad (Aldi) on flat buns (Martin's) for supper.
News Now reports that the South Side Soda Shop in Goshen has been named the best diner in Indiana.
Nancy, Alice, and I used to stop there. I've forgotten whether we were on the way to Bonneyville Mill or Michigan. I know Sara Lee was with us once, because she was surprised by her salad not having water in the bottom of the bowl.
The also made an excellent reuben.
This week the Ink-Free News Weekly Poll is "Has Black Friday lost its sizzle?". I wasn't aware that Black Friday ever had any sizzle, but the excursion to Kokomo that Alice, Debby, Sara Lee, and I used to take while the boys shot the wily skeet was fun. We never stopped at a place with a crowded parking lot, and always stopped at the Op Shop. I think I still have some glass beads.
Dave and I are going out for breakfast at the Crazy Egg tomorrow. Aw, that doesn't leave me any time to go out and freeze my fingers on the bike, and it's supposed to snow on Saturday.
I'd better take some extra laps up and down the stairs at the church on Sunday. I told Dr. Darr I get exercise every week.
Saturday is a lovely day, but I stayed home and washed the dishes.
Breakfast at the Crazy Egg was a very heavy meal. I had a square centimeter of Ghiradeli chocolate and half a cubic inch of focaccia bread for lunch, and ate not much bean soup and only half of my cornbread at supper. I had the other half, zapped with feta cheese, and some more focaccia for ten-o'clock snack.
After telling Dr. Darr my sciatica wasn't bothering me, I limped around Aldi. I think that that is because I spent a lot of time standing still in Martin's.
Though all I remember of standing was looking at dozens of toothbrushes, searching in vain for a plain old medium-bristle toothbrush with all tufts the same length. I finally took a child's soft toothbrush. It is stiff enough (just barely) to clean (unlike the previous "soft" toothbrush I bought), and doesn't scratch my mouth like the "firm" toothbrush I just discarded.
When I was shopping, I bought cherries and brown sugar intending to make fruitcake today, but forgot that we were almost out of eggs. Dave bought three dozen this morning; I can start baking tomorrow night. (A dozen and a half are destined to become devilled eggs.)
I haven't bought any figs to make figgy pudding yet.
Al says that if he can't have the Lady Baltimore suitcase lined with a Tough Traveller carry-on, the lid of my purse will do nicely.
I should have known better than to leave it on the bed open while I dressed.
One day I stopped at Paws & Claws and bought a can of Dave's Restricted Diet cat food. This went over so well that I seriously considered using it instead of Fancy Feast to get his Cosequin down, so the next time I was out that way, I bought four cans. Even the first wedge, fresh and warm, he sniffed and said "where's the food?". Warmed, chilled, as a wedge, mashed, kneaded, "where's the food?". After scraping a little over half of it off the plate as dried-up lumps, I set the rest of the can out for our possum. Or coon — *something* is eating the cat food crumbs.
When I was putting away the groceries that I bought on Wednesday, a bag of chips fell behind a cupboard in the garage.
Yesterday, I got around to trying to get it out. I could see it from the side of the cupboard next to the door, but the tongs weren't quite long enough to grab it. So I used the handle of a push broom to push it to the other side, then pulled out the Wheelie Cool and reached into the space where it had been to get hold of the bag. The leg of the shelves narrowed the path, and the shelves would take a week to unload and move, so I dragged it through by main strength. Most of the chips survived the trip.
I put it on the table to be used first, and went to the sink to wash my hands. Could the red ink on the bag be that loose? My hands were dry and this is running in streaks.
Then I turned my hand over and saw my knuckle.
The abrasion has been slow to close up because I keep re-bashing it, but I've finally persuaded a dot bandage to stick. I wiped my knuckle dry and hoped that the antibiotic cream I'd put on the previous dot was still working. It's almost impossible to put cream on a quarter-inch dressing without getting any on the stickum. Now is a fine time to think of using a toothpick!
I'd better wash a few dishes with bleach in the water after I get up from my nap. There aren't a lot, because I caught up on Saturday, and we eat off paper.
In the afternoon, I made a special trip to Warsaw Health Food and Owen's to buy dried fruit and lots and lots of walnuts. I should have bought some slivered almonds too. Then I walked from Owen's lot to Jimmy-John's and bought a "Big John" for our supper. When I park on the east side of Owen's lot, I'm at least as close to the door as any spot in Jimmy-John's lot, and Jimmy-John's lot has no stoplight to let you out.
I'd been passing up walnuts whenever I saw them because we had plenty. When I was stirring up the apricot cake yesterday evening, I couldn't find *any*. Luckily, we had enough almonds and pecans to finish the job. Almonds go with apricots better than walnuts anyway.
I walked to Spice Merchants just before supper (I left the leftover bean soup over low heat) to buy mustard seed, ground mustard, and ground cloves. I discovered that the tight pockets of my jeans are really good at scraping off dot band-aids, but I was able to press the dot back each time I paid for something, and it stayed until I peeled it off before washing the pan I'd made cake batter in (and the soup bowls and a few other things). And there's no blood on the replacement yet.
Cherry cake today, and the quality-control cake is good.
Tomorrow is supposed to be a good day for riding, but when I went out to the garage to get ready for a dump tour, I couldn't find anything but a dish-drainer tray to take to Goodwill, and decided that I'd rather stay home and bake and maybe sew. I get a late start on Thursdays anyway.
I meant to stop at the Trailhouse to ask what their turn-around on complete overhauls is now, but forgot. I think I'll type up a list of what I want done, take it in tomorrow, and hope they aren't too busy to deal with it before New Year. The handlebar padding is getting to be urgent, and I'm none too confident of my tires.
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I read on Usenet that a transportation strike has led to an enormous increase in the number of bikes on Paris streets. The first sign of this was an enormous increase in the number of crashes — most of the new riders have no idea of how to ride.
I took this opportunity to wash a king-size sheet and dry it on the line. Also a dryer of hand towels and washrags.
While looking for some brussels sprouts to bake beside my stuffed poblano, I found a mis-filed bag of walnuts.
The stuffing was one thawed 85% hamburger patty, a minced mini-sweet, a minced celery stick, and some spices. First I ground a quarter teaspoon of freeze-dried garlic with a sixteenth of a teaspoon of celery seed, then I added half a teaspoon of beef powder so the salt could help grind up the herbs, then I added a few flakes of freeze-dried oregano — I don't appear to have thyme of any sort — um, I haven't looked in the "small packages of meat" compartment of the big freezer. Yup, an envelope of McKenna Farms thyme; I put it into the little freezer with the mustard and ground cloves I bought yesterday.
When everything seemed to be powdered, I added a quarter teaspoon of ground cumin and ground until all was mixed.
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We think that Al has been getting more than his allotted eighteen hours of sleep. But he *did* eat most of his breakfast this morning, and he's never given up slurping down all his Cosequin. I've been wondering whether I should salt his other meals with medicine!
ARRGH! I washed hot whites yesterday and forgot to fetch in the grocery bags. Some of them are visibly grungy.
So I put one of the bags into the laundry bin to remind me next time. I also decided to start laying my hat on the washing machine instead of hanging it on the hook, in hope of remembering to wash it Monday.
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I rode my bike to the Trailhouse this morning and left it for an overhaul. He said it would take a week, so I'm counting on getting it back for New Year. I hope that's not too optimistic.
I also hope that I wasn't too rash in leaving the mechanic to select my new panniers.
Checked the ten-day forecast: if I do get it back in a week, it will be just in time for a string of showers. Since we've had a long string of dry days, I presume that the showers will also be a long string. Only two fit into the ten-day forecast.
Tomorrow is to be sunny and warm. Perhaps I should have planned to drop the bike off on my way home from my Saturday trip downtown. But it's more important to get it done than to get it done in an ideal manner. The padding on my right drop is going to fall off any minute.
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I took the dot off my knuckle yesterday and left it off. So far, no inclination to tear the scab off. It's still sore, but I have to push harder to tell.
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Argh! Tomorrow is the Winter Market, and I want some yellow corn meal to make cornbread mix. I could park at the library and take a walk. Might even find some stairs to climb.
Did, didn't get any corn meal, but Hill 'n Dale did have sausages.
When I took the bike in for service, I didn't stop to think that the truck is also in for service, so I have to co-ordinate use of the car with Dave.
It was a lovely day for a walk, and I didn't really need my coat.
I stopped at Owen's on the way back and bought milk, butter, and yogurt. No bread.
Dave and I were playing with Alexa and turned on a musical arrangement called "Calm my Cat". It woke Al up.
But he was calm.
I haven't been able to get a fresh copy of my pills list because Open Office freezes every time I try to edit it. The first couple of attempts will complete if I wait ten or twenty minutes, but I haven't managed to make a hard copy. I did manage to copy the text into Notepad, so I can delete the document and start over — I think.
And waiting for Open Office to work kept me from reading Usenet tonight.
I did wash the hat, and I decided that washing the bags in lukewarm water with no bleach was better than waiting for the next load of towels. There are only five bags on the drying rack — I'm sure that I have at least six.
They are getting small holes in the bottom — gee, they are only thirty years old! I wish I knew who made them.
I just looked up Jim Nichols' memorial — he opened SuperValu in 1995, which would have been when I bought the first bags. I thought it was more than six years before we moved.
It was really convenient to have a grocery right in Voorheesville. I hadn't been able to use the Grand Union for a long time before they closed. Once I took shelter from the rain on Grand Union's porch and didn't go in even to walk around. I'm unreasonably picky about food, and little things like being told that the mold on the yogurt is "culture" turn me right off. I was much surprised, when I had to stop at a Grand Union in the hilltowns, to discover that it was *clean*!
I was sad to learn that Jim died in 2002, but somewhat mollified that the accident happened while he and Elaine were on vacation in Grand Cayman; that suggests that they were doing well right up to the end.
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It looks as though I'll get my bike back before Dave gets the truck back. Toyota is waiting for parts, and Dave is having the wheels powder coated. It's not much cheaper than buying new wheels, but powder coat holds up better than paint.
The dispatcher has a new script for the Santa hunt this year. It's much less annoying. Started with two deer with antlers hiding in the bushes, do we need to call DNR?, which had me wondering until a red SUV type vehicle was reported as speeding north on Old 15.
I made a little progress on my new wallet today. Also got a few file folders off the card table in the parlor — I'd like to have that table to spread my wallet pieces out on!
Dave has touching faith that I can clear out a twenty-year accumulation of clutter in thirty seconds flat. Things speeded up a bit when I decided that if a file wasn't very thick and I knew that there was an item I wanted to keep in it, I'd put it back into the file drawer unsorted.
I'm not looking forward to the half-a-foot thick Summit Bank folder even though I'm sure most of it needs to the burned.
Santa just buzzed the airport.
Merry Christmas!
Mary posted a picture of a limerick on a sign in front of a police station:
He sees you when you're speeding
He knows when you don't brake
He knows when you
Have had a few
So don't go past point oh eight.
Wow! I can stay out until twenty past five already! Curfew was sixteen past the last time I looked.
It's going to keep getting colder for a while, but if I get some *light* I can deal with the cold. But I'm not looking forward to feeling around in my pocket with mittens on.
Al got a gift too. There was tissue paper in our gift, and when I got home I threw it on the floor. He promptly made himself a nest.
The level in the trail mix has gone down alarmingly. I moved it to a less-conspicuous spot.
My ham license expires in 2021. When I got my Extra license, I put it into my "portable desk" to keep it flat. It wasn't until today that I got around to putting it into a file folder, together with Dave's Extra license and all the certificates I got for the emergency-communications courses. I remarked that I was surprised to learn that I'd passed Emergency Communications because I didn't do any of the homework, then added "I tried to turn myself in, but I couldn't get into the jail."
Now there's a sentence begging to be taken out of context! The local ham club, which could have used my temporarily-acquired skills, meets in the justice building. I later learned that one is supposed to use one's hand-held radio to summon someone to let you in.
Whimper, whine.
I had dried apricot and frozen peaches, so yesterday I decided to make yellow fruit cakes. I made the syrup with white sugar, yellow raisins (picking out and eating dark raisins), dried apricot, dried apple, frozen peaches, and frozen cherries. I cut up the cherries so they would make little flakes of red. When it cooled, I added two cups of light-colored nuts and a few pieces of candied pineapple.
It wasn't until I was cutting into the quality-control cake that I noticed that my next step had been to dump in two cups of red-wheat flour instead of two cups of white-wheat flour. It absolutely ruined the whole effect.
Still good cakes, but it isn't apricot-peach cake, it's spice cake with no spices.
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I think I did everything right for the fig and blueberry cake now in the oven.
I opened a new packet of ground cloves for this batch.
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I have gradually become aware that after Al eats, he wants a drink. Good kitty!
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You can't detect the figs in the fig-blueberry cakes, and the only way the blueberries make themselves known is in the rich chocolate-brown color, but the spices are definitely present, so I labeled the cakes clove-cinnamon.
With a blue sharpie in reference to the blueberries.
I used the last of the frosted tape wrapping the last cake, and now all we have is shiny clear tape. The rolls of tape have lasted so long that I don't remember buying either of them.
I was slightly surprised that I gained only two pounds today. Everything was delicious — and very rich; I think Sara Lee put a whole stick of butter into her mashed potatoes.
I heard Roomba making funny noises this morning, and found it trying to eat Al's tissue paper.
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Washday. Not much done aside from cleaning up. I took a look at the great thick Summit folder, decided that I would burn it in the spring, and put it back in the file drawer. That doesn't leave many papers on the card table.
The faucet in my bathroom has had an annoying sideways spray for months, despite frequent acid cleanings. Today, after cleaning it with acid, Dave borrowed one of my doll needles, and now it works.
(A doll needle is a very long needle used for soft sculpture. It also gives you a good grip for any job you might want to do with a pin.)
I'm finally working on my new wallet (which I wanted to have done in time to take my debit card out of it when paying for the overhaul on my bike today), but most of my "working" time has been spent taking pictures to document the progress.
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The bike shop never called. I wasn't keen on a two-thousand foot walk in this weather anyway, and tomorrow is predicted to be a good day to drop in and nag them.
I did get some stitches in my wallet, then the sun set and I couldn't see to work.
We ate the last of the turkey and noodles that Donny gave us for our supper tonight. Then I killed the potato salad; there wasn't much left.
I decided to make potato salad instead of devilled eggs —and a good choice it was— but the only reason there is an unopened carton of eighteen eggs in the fridge is that I got a coupon to get them free after buying eighteen to devil.
I put four eggs into the salad, and boiled four extra to keep on hand. But I can't make chef salad because we are out of lettuce.
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It's been a pretty good year, and 2020 looks promising.