Friday, 1 July 2022
The rain never got beyond widely-spaced speckles,
but Dave says that the spoon in his weather
station tipped twice. I think that that is
0.02 inches.
The weather station is back on line, by the way.
There were, I read in the paper, First Friday
events I would like to have attended, but I'm glad
I stayed home.
Saturday, 2 July 2022
Dave had to clean piss out of the cornstarch
litter this evening!
Al must have been using the box for days. I
didn't find the diaper wet even once after I
remembered that one deals with a wet diaper by
putting it into a bucket of water, and when lying
in bed I've heard excavation in the box of
corncobs, followed by a smell of urine.
***
Farmer's market tour cancelled by embarrassing
stupidity. As I rolled into the road I felt
a bit of braking and heard a feeble twang.
When I counted my bungees, I'd overlooked the
short, shabby gray bungee, and it was wedged into
the wheel so thoroughly that we had to put the
bike into the car and take it to the
Trailhouse. Mikah not only made room for me
on an extremely busy day, he refused to take any
money for it.
But of course he couldn't do it right that
instant. And I'd started out late, and Dave
and I had spent a lot of time trying to get it out
ourselves.
I did visit one of the places on my
itinerary. Upon realizing that I'd left my
favorite mask in the pannier, I hopped onto the
flatfoot and went back, where I was allowed to go
into the workroom and fetch it, and then I took in
the new shoe store on Canal Street. All the
shoes are the same, and all the socks are the
same, so I guess it's a tad too soon to check it
out.
Felt weird to ride a sidewalk bike in jersey and
helmet. But I did groove on having all
those pockets.
Later I hopped back onto the flatfoot intending to
see the festival and buy lunch, and when I was
almost to the village, Dave texted me that the
bike was ready, so I picked it up, rode it home,
and walked back for the flatfoot. Then I
verified that not much was going on, bought the
Saturday special at Kilainey's, and brought it
home to share with Dave. We had some chips
and half a pickle left over.
There wasn't a line at Kilainey's to order, but
there must have been a bunch of papers on the
order board in the kitchen. When I got
home, Dave said that he was about to text me to
ask where I was.
Turned to the other computer to see how long I
have before the guests begin to arrive, and saw a
message from Power Chute saying that I need to
move non-critical plugs from the battery outlets
to the surge-only outlets. There's a tangle
of cords in there, all of them the same
color. Each is tagged, but this is going to
be a lot of sorting.
Sunday, 3 July 2022
When I went in to brush my teeth last night, the
diaper was wet, and I've put two or three more
into the bucket today. But it's possible
that some of the puddles were from Dave's
shower. The shower door collects water in a
trough, and dumps it on the floor when the door is
opened.
The cheese dip was so well received that I should
try to remember what I put into it.
Early in the evening, I put half a stick of butter
into an iron saucepan, chopped vegetables, and
stirred them into melted butter so they wouldn't
spoil. There were three fat winter-onion
bulbils, peeled and minced, a piece of frozen
jalapeño, about an inch and a half of red
long sweet pepper, an eighth of a teaspoon of
smoked paprika, and a scant half teaspoon of
salt. In Mother's memory, I added one thyme
leaf and an oregano leaf not much bigger than a
thyme leaf.
Then, says I to me, when it's time to make it, all
I need is eight ounces of milk and one ounce of
white-wheat whole-grain flour. I forgot the
eight ounces of aged cheddar until almost time to
turn on the fire. But I had a dedicated
cheese knife handy, and it didn't take long to
chop it up. Did take a while to figure out
how the scale works. The bar weighed ten
ounces; I eyeballed two ounces to put back into
the package.
I stirred the flour and butter until I thought the
seasonings had cooked and infused, added milk the
usual way and stirred and stirred and stirred
until it had thoroughly boiled, then turned down
the heat, dumped in the cheese, and stirred and
stirred, being careful *not* to boil even a teeny
bit.
Since it was white cheddar, the sauce was
unappetizingly pale, so I sprinkled in some
turmeric, stirred it, and added a tiny bit more.
Monday, 4 July 2022
When I open a pouch of Delectables, the corner I
trim off says "Delec". Thereafter, whenever
I pick up the pouch, I think it says "vegetables".
Poor Al spent the night in the garage. When
I got up at six, I noticed that he hadn't touched
his eleven o'clock feeding, but he's been so fussy
that I just threw it out and put down a fresh
plate. Dave always locates the cat before
he goes back to bed, but he slept through last
night.
It's particularly annoying that the can my ten
o'clock soda came in was on the counter because I
hadn't wanted to risk letting the cat into the
garage.
When Al got out of the garage, he went straight to
the dry food, with a passing sniff at the food
that had been on the floor since six. So I
made haste to open a Delectable pouch because that
was the quickest way to put Metacam on the floor.
I wonder what twelve hours with no water does to a
cat with kidney disease?
We slept so late this morning that each of us
decided to skip breakfast and go straight to
lunch. He had bacon, eggs, and toast
for lunch. I used up the last of the
four-dollar tomato on a bacon-and-egg sandwich.
And now I feel like taking my after-lunch nap.
Tuesday, 5 July 2022
Never did feel like doing anything
yesterday. It didn't help that I
accidentally happened upon a cache of my old "Aunt
Granny: how to become an elderly cyclist"
posts and kept reading just one more page until it
was almost too late to have a nap before time to
prepare supper. We had pork pot stickers
and steamed corn.
About six o'clock this morning, I woke up, took my
two-o'clock pill, fed the cat, got back in bed,
spoke to Dave (who had just got back to bed after
taking a melatonin), and was settling my head into
the pillow when someone set off a very loud
firecracker a significant distance away; it
sounded like a high-tension transformer
blowing. Then I saw that the screen on the
phone was lit up with some kind of message.
I handed it to Dave, who can read without his
glasses, but it went out before he could read it.
Started to settle down again, "What's that
beeping" "What beeping?" It came
again. "*That* beeping." "I don't
hear a thing." "Sounds familiar . . . It's
the uninterruptible power supplies!"
Neither of us noticed that the ceiling clock and
the night lights were out.
We got up and shut off all the computers. I
awk scrickled when I realized that the Linux
monitor was on the surge suppressor, not the
battery, and I couldn't see to click "shut
down". Dave reminded me that it's quite
safe to turn off a Linux with the power
switch. (Microsoft products have hysterics
and call you dirty names after a hard reboot that
was entirely the product's fault.)
Then I wondered why there was a green light under
XP's USB ports when the machine was turned off,
and Dave turned off the modem and the routers.
Neither of us could get back to sleep, so we ate
breakfast. The sun was up, but the kitchen
is dark at the best of times and it was raining,
so we ate by a work light Dave brought in from the
barn.
A little after seven, Dave noticed two NIPSCO
trucks in front of the house, and not long after
that the power was back.
The fellow who walked back to tell us that the
power was on said that they got called out at
four, and have been busy ever since.
------------
After my nap I put on walking clothes and rode
the flatfoot to the post office to mail an Arachne
pin to an Arachnerd in Florida. I've never
been to a needlework con, and don't expect to
start now, so when the lacers started organizing a
get-together at a convention, I put my pin up for
raffle.
I intended to stay dressed up until evening,
but when I stepped inside, I realized that
every stitch I had on had spent considerable
time in the broiling sun, so I switched into
kneeling-in-the-dirt pants that had been hanging
in a nice cool closet.
Then I couldn't find a spot on the hooks for my
pedal pushers, and realized that I'd never put
away my winter clothes, so three pairs of tights
and two pairs of sweatpants are in the washing
machine.
------------ 16:07
They are on the line now. Dave came home
after I did, brought in the mail, put new chair
feet on two of our patio chairs, and ordered eight
more feet. He says that something didn't
feel right when he sent in the order.
Now he's roomba-ing the bedroom. When he
moved the cat boxes out, he noticed that Al had
peed in the cornstarch litter twice, but while we
were discussing it, Al wanted to know why the
bathroom door was shut. (Roomba had just
finished in there.)
------------ 18:40
I spellchecked June today. One step closer
to mailing.
------------ 23:15
When I went into the kitchen to check Al's food
supply before going to bed, I happened walk along
the line where the light topping Dave's flagpole,
which looks something like a four-point star, was
precisely in front of one of the red lights on the
radio towers. The effect was most queer.
Thursday, 7 July 2022
A delightful disappointment: Dave was
looking forward to going across the street for a
Big Mac while he waited for my Mohs surgery, but
they got it on the first try. We had been
home for hours before he was ready for lunch.
I ate my PBL-pickle and liverwurst sandwich about
noon. After reading, with the aid of a
magnifying glass, the papers I brought home.
The bandage doesn't obstruct my vision, but it
does prevent me from putting my glasses on
properly.
By good luck, I can read eighty-column displays
without my glasses, so I might get June proofread
during the forty-eight hours that I've been
instructed to sit around and "be a bum". On
the other hand, I've been instructed to hold an
ice pack to my face for ten minutes out of every
hour today, and I'm an unbearably-slow one-hand
typist.
I'm utterly grounded — no bike riding or
strenuous activity ("don't lift anything heavier
than a gallon of milk."), and I'm not licensed to
drive without corrective lenses. But I take
the pressure bandage off Saturday morning, and the
new one might be more co-operative.
*** 18:23
It's not often that a place setting includes a
magnifying glass.
An unexpected problem with
running walking around with no
glasses on is that I can feel that they are not
sitting right, and I keep trying to adjust
them. I'm also beginning to feel my
pressure bandage as something that ought to be
wiped off.
I'm taking my nap in ten-minute increments.
I haven't got the full hour yet because it took a
while to think of doing my ice pack in the
lazyboy. And even longer to realize that a
pile of pillows on the futon would do just fine
when I'm not at risk of rolling over.
The lazyboy isn't easy to get in and out of.
The futon is so comfortable that I don't want to
get up when the timer goes off.
So far, no significant pain. The
instructions say that the pain usually peaks on
the second day.
Friday, 8 July 2022
Still no pain, unless I squeeze my eyes shut real
hard. But the bandage is bugging me.
When I look through the bifocal part of my
glasses, it looks as though I need to wipe
mayonnaise off the lens, and every now and again I
think I need to wipe something out of the corner
of my eye.
It's harder to remember not to bend over than it
was yesterday. "Keep your head higher than
your heart" sounds like philosophical advice.
Saturday, 9 July 2022
I spent the whole morning changing my
bandage. It won't take so long
tomorrow. I won't have to peel it off and
start over, and I've got the stuff organized in a
half-gallon semi-disposable container.
There was blood on the bandage that I'm pretty
sure wasn't there yesterday. I was
uncomfortable in the easy chair last night; I
might have rubbed my face on my pillow.
Then I walked my bike to the Trailhouse. It
doesn't actually need an overhaul, but this way it
won't come due when I need to use it.
I can wear my glasses now, but Dave needs the car
every day next week. Steve is going with
him on Thursday, to bring the car back so I can go
fetch him on Friday or Saturday. But I may
ask Steve to go again; I don't think I think fast
enough to deal with the short-hop Interstates in
Fort Wayne, and the GPS is on Dave's phone, which
I don't know how to use.
I've been lazy-bumming assiduously, but I haven't
found time to proofread the June Banner.
Monday, 11 July 2022
It's a lot harder to remember not to bend etc.
with a pinhead-size pit in my eyelid than it was
when I had a skin graft on my nose.
I drove to Aldi this afternoon, after Dave got
back from his pre-admission exam in Fort
Wayne. They put a wristband on him and told
him to keep it dry — and also told him to
take two showers with special soap. Seems
to me the wristband could have been closed with
something reclosable instead of glue.
I have decided to go with Dave and Steve the day
after tomorrow. I don't think it matters
whether I decide I can handle the whoopty-dos in
Fort Wayne's knotted Interstates; skipping my nap
on the bike, when I have plenty of time to think
things over, and the exercise keeps my metabolism
up, is fine, but I don't want to be running on
caffeine while driving a car.
I bought some tzatziki at Aldi. Dave
doesn't like dill and neither of us likes raw
cucumber, but both of us think that tzatziki is
wonderful. We made away with rather a lot
of it on Nashville hot-chicken kettle chips with
the Thai Wrap I bought at Jimmy-John's for our
supper.
One of the things that I didn't get on the day the
bungee in my spokes cancelled my farmers' markets
tour was El Milagro casera-style tortilla chips at
San José Carniceria.
Aldi has them. Since we have four bags of
chips in the freezer, I didn't buy any.
I did buy a backrest pillow. It was on my
list for Dave to read in bed, but has proven quite
good for keeping my head above my heart.
Tuesday, 12 July 2022
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
While freshening my go bag, I added my follow-up
exam to my list of appointments. It isn't
on the 8th of August, it's the eighteenth!
There isn't going to be much left of the summer.
But the tomato festival is in August — if I
can recover from atrophy in nine days.
I fretted and fumed while changing my dressing
this morning, wondering how I'd get it done in
time to leave the house at six. I have the
stuff all in a plastic container, but the more I
thought about changing a dressing in a public
restroom, the less I liked it.
Duh! I can change the dressing after I
brush my teeth tonight! Then I'll have the
whole day to get around to changing it again.
*** 5:14
I think I know why tzatziki is so good: the
ingredients for the yogurt in the dip are
"cultured cream, nonfat dry milk, enzyme".
Dave came through the parlor while I was adding
tomorrow's pills to my flight bag and said "you're
not going to be gone for a week, only six hours!"
I told him my breakfast was in there. There
won't be time to eat, let alone cook. I do
have to feed the cat. Dave isn't supposed
to eat or drink anything after bedtime, so he's
all set — I don't even need to put a bottle
of Gatorade in the cup holder. (I *am*
taking a chilled bottle of water for Steve.
I don't want to ride with a dehydrated driver.)
Wednesday, 13 July 2022
Once again, the operation went better than
expected.
It took half as long as predicted, so the pager
caught Steve and me in the cafeteria and not at
all sure as to how to get back to the palm
trees. But we had just disposed of our
dishes.
Took a while to figure out that the beeping was
from the pager. When I first considered the
possibility, I said something along the lines of
"but the pager also vibrates" — it was in a
smock pocket that hung away from my body; I could
feel it when I took it out.
Dave was awake for the whole thing, but the
anesthesiologist filled him up with "I don't care"
medicine. As she warned him, he felt light
headed for a moment when they stopped his
heart. It re-started on schedule, and he
will call us to come pick him up some time after
noon tomorrow.
Medicine that lets complicated stuff be done under
local anesthesia is wonderful. Knocking
people unconscious is much safer than it was, but
it will never be safe.
I wasn't any later for my nap than I often am when
I get distracted with something, but I slept for
two hours. And I can already (6:49) feel
that I'm going to go to bed earlier than usual.
Thursday, 14 July 2022
About midnight, what with changing dressing,
cleaning teeth, etc.
Woke up awake this morning — it helped, I
think, that I left the curtains open. Soon
after, while I was giving Al his breakfast, Dave
texted that he slept better than expected.
There are no doors on ICU rooms and it's bright in
the hallway, the bed wiggles, and various things
attached to him make various noises.
Al ate his Metacam and asked for seconds, and I
saw him drink out of the living-room water dish
Time for my breakfast. 08:34.
*** 7:49 pm
Dave walked to the mailbox and back carrying his
cane, but not using it. He's pretty much
back to normal, but for a while it will be my turn
to clean up Al's vomit.
When I woke up from an early nap, I decided to do
a full set of sciatica exercise s before I got
up. (I'd been doing them skimpily, and
propped up.) I'm not sure I finished, because I
forgot everything when my phone rang: Dave
would be ready to come home by the time we got
there. I said I'd call Steve, then get
dressed and go pick him up.
I realized with increasing panic that neither the
house phone nor my phone had a current number for
Steve. Finally I realized that Dave had the
number, and called him, he called Steve, and said
that Steve would pick me up in an hour.
Turned out that Steve meant that we'd be in Fort
Wayne in an hour, but I was ready and Al was fed
when he got here. I left a puddle of vomit
on the laundry-room floor, but it was linoleum and
wasn't hard to clean when we got back.
Still haven't corrected the phones.
I spent the morning cultivating the garden and
planting the fattest winter-onion bulbils.
I planted whole clusters, and chose only bulbils
that were already big enough to eat, in the hope
of getting some fall scallions. Two bulbils
were already sprouted.
I threw all the secondary growth along the south
side of the house. Perhaps some will
survive. There are lots and lots of bulbils
doomed to be also thrown away.
I stopped using fluff gauze last night, because it
hasn't gotten dirty since the first couple of
days. My bandage is *much* more comfortable
— not because the gauze gets in the way, but
because I can concentrate on getting the tape in
the right place. The non-adherent dressing
sticks firmly in the petroleum jelly, but the only
way to get the gauze on is to stick it to the
tape, and that puts a lot of guesswork into where
the tape is going to end up.
*** 8:43 pm
Dave just announced that his balance is better.
Friday, 15 July 2022
Been a long week. Dave woke up certain that
it was Saturday, I awk-scrickled because I'd taken
Friday's pill. We worked it out eventually.
I took the two-o'clock pill after six.
Annoyed the cat, who was expecting wet food at
two.
I was reaching for a chocolate when I remembered
that I'm not getting any exercise, and must cut
down on the fuel intake.
Pout, whine.
I cleaned out the on-the-floor shelf of the pantry
cupboard yesterday, and put fresh newspapers
in. The old ones were too dirty to recycle.
Reminds me of an old, old joke. A woman
visited her friend and found her cleaning her
cupboards and putting fresh newspapers on the
shelves.
"Oh," she gasped, "you must never line your
shelves with newspaper!"
"Why not?"
"Everyone will know when you last cleaned your
cupboards!"
The trouble with that theory is that I used papers
from last December. I take from the bottom
of the stack.
While checking the date, I saw the toasted
sunflower seeds and didn't eat any. Pout,
whine.
I weigh 146.8 pounds, dressed.
That would have an entirely different meaning if I
were talking about a deer.
Saturday, 16 July 2022
Halfway through sorting the wash and putting it on
drying racks, I took a cookie break and spilled
melted chocolate on my shirt. I rubbed soap
on the stain and put it in for a rinse cycle
— now paused, because it's time for a nap,
A gingersnap with chocolate frosting is good, by
the way, but I should have melted the chocolate
separately.
I drove to the fairgrounds farmer's market this
morning, and bought a cabbage, one daikon radish,
and a half-pint of jam.
There is a garage sale across the street, but
nothing interesting. I suppose that I
should have checked to see whether any of the
clothing would fit me.
I walked downtown to see Checkpoint Three —
the first time I've been there before the route
was cleared. It was in front of the
Trailhouse instead of on Canal Street because
Touch A Truck fully occupied Canal Street.
I wonder whether any of the hundred-kilometer
riders missed it; There was a sign saying "sag
ahead", but no arrow at the turn. And it
wasn't in any of the e-mails I got.
But I presume they knew about it soon enough to
mark it on the map.
Dave said he might walk with me after his rehab
appointment.
Sunday, 17 July 2022
It's amusing that because I have to drive the car,
I don't have time to see the courthouse
market. I don't know how to parallel park,
so I would have to park at the library and walk
downtown.
The chocolate stain didn't come out. But
there's a pale spot around it where the soap
removed some of the dye.
The car is going to be out every day this
week. Dave needs it on Monday, Wednesday,
and Thursday, and I'm due for my annual eye exam
on Tuesday.
I walked to the teller machine after church, only
to see a sign saying "sorry" taped over the
screen. It noted helpfully that I could use
the drive-through, or come inside. I met a
tourist at Sunday Lane and Ninth Street, and was
able to guide her to the Billy Sunday Home.
She appreciated more learning that Kilainey's is
open on Sundays. She was hungry.
Monday 18 July 2022
Dave noticed today that he no longer falls asleep
in his chair.
Tuesday, 19 July 2022
With my bike in the shop, I can't dry my do-rag on
my brake cables:
