Beeson Banner for January 2024
Thursday, 4 January 2024
It took me eight minutes to walk what Google maps says is point three miles. That's two point three MPH. Not bad at all — but I suspect that the distance I walked was slightly shorter, since I followed the walk instead of the driveway.
Just peeled off the cotton ball from the blood draw — it doesn't usually leave a bruise. There is also a little lump.
After tomorrow, no more appointments in January, but that might change when the results of the blood draw come in. Almost certain to have a change of prescription, since my blood pressure is still unsatisfactory. It doesn't help that I haven't been getting aerobic exercise because of the weather and lots and lots of trips to emergency rooms and other medical facilities. Yes we have a stationary bike — but it doesn't *do* anything when you pedal it. I did climb staircases on Sunday.
I really, really ought to get the treadle sewing machine repaired.
Today I had two appointments and Dave had two, and my second appointment precluded driving myself home. Lovely day for cycling, but I had no way to get my bike home from the second appointment. So I packed a lunch and some sewing and went with Dave to his first appointment, which was with the same doctor as mine and half an hour earlier. The nurse surprised me by taking me in before I'd sat down, so I was done only a few minutes after Dave. He offered to come back and get me, but I decided to stick by the original plan and walked to the eye doctor, where they surprised me by coming back from lunch just when I'd finished the sewing and was about to get a book out, so I was out of surgery before they began his infusion. Having only one eye, I read my book instead of getting out my other piece of sewing, and leaned back with my eyes closed a few times.
Ordinarily, when I'm still up at four, I skip my nap, but a nap is prescribed after getting a needle in the eye. I slept for two hours, but Dave had fallen asleep in his chair, so we ate ramen noodle together.
⁂
We cleaned out the freezer yesterday. Now the baskets can be slid back and forth. The freezer is much roomier even though all we threw out was a one-pint jar of something neither of us could identify. I also removed two nearly-empty boxes of pasta and cooked one of them.
On Tuesday, I rode my bike to the library to return a book. On the way, I stopped at Warsaw Health Foods and bought thirty dollars' worth of candy. Still no sesame sticks. On the way back, I picked up some necessities and a strip steak at Kroger. We had the steak with boiled petite-gold potatoes on Wednesday night, and somehow I managed to cook it exactly right. A meat thermometer helps.
On New Year's Day, I edited the Banner and organized some sewing.
Friday, 12 January 2024
Optiplex 3L has been crashing of late. I was reading Facebook when it crashed today, and suspect that that may be a common factor in the crashes. I'm quite sure that Firefox was running each time.
I've no idea what I did with the week. Today I sewed a pillow case together, then discovered that I'd cut it wrong. But I have plenty of twill to cut another.
I also swapped Optiplex 3L's defective mouse for the mouse of the bedroom computer. Latest crash was after the swap, so I can't blame random clicks.
In the afternoon I drove to Zale's to pick up Dave's prescriptions, then came back by way of Jimmy-John's, where I bought an Ultimate Porker for our supper. There's enough left for somebody's lunch.
On Saturday, I went to the winter market at the Pete Thorne Center and bought chocolate-chip cookies and peanut-butter cookies. Also two empanadas for lunch. I find that they can be warmed up in the toaster oven just fine.
I had a blood draw after the gall-bladder scan last Friday, and it left a spectacular bruise. Both bruises still show.
Climbed a few steps on Sunday.
That leaves Monday through Thursday unaccounted for. Sometime in there I made an excellent meatloaf, and there is one slice left. Also found an old manuscript that I should scan and post on my Web site.
Saturday, 13 January 2024
At well after nine, the geese on the beach are still hunkered down.
⁂
We waited too long to dump the rain barrel. I thought we could break the ice around the black pipe that extends the downspout into the barrel, but the pipe was touching the side of the barrel all the way down, and is stuck in the ice lining the barrel.
So we can't tip it over.
It's also frozen to the ground.
I created a fountain when I hit the top layer of ice with a hammer.
We siphoned out as much water as the siphon would reach, and I dipped out a couple of buckets of broken ice and water. The remainder is probably solid by now.
There's a right smart of wind out there. Weather Underground says that the wind will ease off while I'm in church, but I've no plans to walk to the teller machine.
I'll wear my velvet sweat pants under my skirts. It's supposed to be so cold that the ice won't be slick.
I had a nice visit with Linda this morning. We plan to go to the farmer's market together next Saturday.
A new mouse came in today's mail. I put it on Optiplex 3L, put its mouse back on the bedroom computer, put the old mouse into the box the new mouse had come in, and stashed it with the spare keyboards.
My box of permanent labels is more than half gone. I'll have to buy more in less than twenty years.
Sunday, 14 January 2024
The last time this happened we had a new preacher from California, where an inch of snow is a major disaster. This time I concluded that WLCC is a bunch of pansies — six below isn't a problem when you are in a nice warm car.
I'truth, there was a thick layer of slush on the roads when the cold hit. It might be that roads outside the village were for emergencies only. I walked down the middle of Chestnut Street on the way home and neither met nor was overtaken by anybody. But a car passed just before I entered Chestnut, and I stepped aside for a car that turned off before it got to where I was.
By the time I tended to the refrigerators and freezers and climbed all the stairs, it was about the time I usually leave the church. But the text I sent Dave to let him know I had safely arrived is dated about a quarter hour after the service would have started. I hadn't started *that* late, but stiff boots slow me down. And I took off a few things before I sat down to text.
Should have checked my e-mail before I left, but I'm glad I went.
Monday, 15 January 2024
All ready for a *premeditated* trip to Goshen. This is a follow-up to the surgery.
I thought I'd wear my oxfords, but they require thin socks. So I decided to wear Fisherman's two-ply socks over "wool" socks and my oversandals, the ones I wear over indoor slippers to church and then forget to take off. A strap broke loose. I decided not to throw them out before sandal-buying season, since it might be possible to repair it with Gorilla Glue.
It proved possible to wear my default sandals over the two pairs of thick socks by punching an extra hole in each toe strap.
I've got polypropylene tights and my red coat in the car, and a raw-silk scarf in my go bag.
Wednesday, 17 January 2024
It was a lovely day for a drive, and Dr. Bolduin was quite pleased with the way Dave is healing.
Yesterday, I rode my bike to order a new pannier at the Trailhouse, deposit a check at the bank, and pick up a few things at Kroger. It was noon before I got dressed because I had to hunt down all my cold-weather gear. I wore the wrong old helmet, and it refused to hold the rear-view mirror where I could use it. (My current helmet is too small to wear over a balaclava.)
I didn't put enough grease on my face, but I wasn't out in it long.
Today I finished making a new cover for my small feather pillow, and I'm soaking the tattered old one in a bucket of dilute ammonia. Also washed the bra I wore yesterday.
Now it's time for a nap.
Thursday, 18 January 2024
Today's agenda is washing my underwear and making two pillowcases for my small feather pillow.
The ammonia water is still coming off the old overtick filthy. This bucketful isn't as dark as the previous one, but it hasn't soaked as long either.
To think that I seriously considered putting the new overtick over it without taking it off and washing it.
A thin film of snow in the night left the lake uniformly white. I looked out before noon and there wasn't a goose in sight. But tracks showed where a bird had made a thorough inspection of the walk outside the bedroom door. Then it walked to the patio, where a few scuffs in the snow suggest that it may have found something.
Friday, 19 January 2024
There was enough snow in the night to hide the bird tracks. A mammal, possibly a small cat, has been to visit.
21 January 2024
I got back from church too tired to eat lunch, so I ate some woven-wheat crackers with sharp cheddar melted on them, and one with lemon curd, and went to bed. (Took a while to get all those clothes off.) I slept like a rock until nearly four, and woke up with sore legs. How could I go so soft when I've been walking to church every Sunday since forever? I didn't even skip when it was six below.
I carefully checked that my reading glasses and so forth were in the little shoulder bag I carry to church, then walked off and left it lying on the bed.
⁂
An excellent supper of Boston Market entree, fresh vegetables, and an apple. Lots more to say, but I'm too sleepy to say it.
I should have carried the garbage out before I took off all those socks. Ah, well, it will rain tomorrow.
Monday, 22 January 2024
Woke up knowing that I was sick. Not a rhinovirus, so I guess I'll call it stomach flu even though the symptoms are a bit farther along in the tract.
I changed the sheets this morning, then crawled back into the bed as soon as I had it back together and slept until after one.
Yesterday, I wondered what to put on my feet, then remembered that the cycling sandals that I bought while wearing three pairs of thick socks are black. I think they look better than my winter Sunday sandals, as they don't have obtrusive chrome-colored hardware.
On the other hand, the dirty-tan innersoles stuck out beyond my black socks. (I put black knee hose on over three pairs of thick socks.) I have now rubbed that part of the shoes with a black Sharpie King Size.
I suspect that I did that before and it didn't stick.
The predicted rain didn't materialize. Or was "light freezing rain" that I didn't notice. I doubt that our snow cover will persist through Thursday, when the rain is predicted to stop.
I took the garbage out to the compost heap this morning, wearing Dave's lace-to-the-toe Adidas. Well, they laced to my toe, since my feet are a tad shorter than his. The shoes fit pretty well over a pair of thick socks.
Tuesday, 23 January 2024
There was an ice fisherman on the lake this morning. I don't think anyone would go out now.
I'm not quite over whatever I've got, but no longer feel unnaturally tired. I washed clothes this morning, and caught up on some of my sewing.
Two of the shirts I washed need to be ironed, but the ironing board is buried in jobs to be done. I *have* gotten two pairs of jobs off it, but one set is still on the sewing machine and the other is back on the board waiting to have a crease pressed.
⁂
For a change, the laundry was all folded and put away before bedtime, except the two shirts that need ironing.
Wednesday, 24 January 2024
The lake is either open water or melted snow lying on the ice. I think it's some of each.
The snow is mostly sticking to the yard where it isn't under puddles. I looked at the rain barrel, which I knocked over yesterday or the day before, and decided that there would be drainage before we got more freezing, and left it full of broken ice.
There are no puddles between the house and the lake. It's a bit hazier than when I first looked out, and I can't see much detail beyond the ridge of ice around the edge.
Meanwhile, back at the briefs that I left under the foot of the sewing machine yesterday . . .
Thursday, 25 January 2024
Yesterday, Dave kept his Monday appointment. (The doctor had unexpectedly been called into surgery on Monday.)
Today his goal was to Roomba and steam mop the entire house. All that remains is the parlor and hall, and Roomba is charging, so I think he's going to make it.
I spent the morning replacing a photograph on my Web site with a better one, and correcting a typo under another picture that I noticed in the process. It proved unexpectedly complicated. Then, after uploading to the Web, I found a typo in the filespec of the new picture and had to re-copy the file into DOSBOX, since I moved, rather than copied it, back onto PAGESEW to reduce clutter in DOSBOX.
I got a little sewing done in the afternoon, and may finish after supper.
Friday, 26 January 2024
I'm planning to ride to the library after the fog burns off in the afternoon. I was awakened about midnight by a dream that transformed that into a trip to California — still planning to get home before dark, and that was the least weird aspect of the dream. My cell phone figured largely, but was useless. Also I was a teenager and somebody else entirely. Still female.
⁂
It's misting rain. I was about to say that I'd risk it if I were twenty years younger, but rain gets on one's glasses.
I finally remembered to tie on the recycling-barrel bags when readying the bike. But no matter where I go next, I'll be passing near Kroger.
Not any time soon. The ten-day forecast says Monday will be excellent — and I'm scheduled for a needle in the eye. No travel without an escort, and take a nap at once.
Dave has it worse — he has a five-minute appointment in Fort Wayne. At one hour before we are usually out of bed. But he doesn't mind the highways around Fort Wayne as much as I do. (That's a low bar. I'd rather follow a path laid out by a kitten playing with a ball of yarn.)
I could drive back just fine; it's on Dupont Road, and if you get on Dupont Road and head west, you end up in Warsaw. That doesn't work in the other direction.
At least my visit with Linda wasn't rained out.
Saturday, 27 January 2024
It was lovely weather for a bike ride when I woke up from my nap yesterday.
It was also time to start the oven for warming up supper. I found five minutes to take a lap around the short block in my house clothes.
Weather Underground says that if I move it, I can dash to Kroger and back before the afternoon showers.
⁂
The rain held off longer than I expected, which was fortunate. I'll 'splain why it was fortunate tomorrow.
Yesterday, I decided that my short-ride sandals would be my default sandals until it got too warm to wear three pairs of socks. This morning, I couldn't face putting on three pairs of socks and went back to the glaring white sandals.
And wore summer cycling sandals and house pants for my dash to Kroger.
Dave has arranged for Steve to drive us to Goshen the day after tomorrow because he doesn't trust the truck to go that far.
It's bedtime, and for once I think my brain agrees.
Sunday, 28 January 2024
Of course, once in bed it sprang into full alert. After a while, I got up and did my exercises. Still alert, and it's only half an hour until time for my one o'clock pill, I sat down to type and noticed a whump-whump-whump as of a very large motor very far away doing something that is almost within its capacity. Louder over by the window, but nothing in sight, so I opened the front door. Now the sound is buried in foundry noises even though it's coming from the east.
Must be an echo. Seems northerly from the back door.
Yesterday morning, I had just finished packing my bike but, I later discovered, had not yet written my departure-from-Kroger time in my notebook.
My cell phone rang. I struggled to get it out of my snap pocket before whoever it was gave up. (I get only texts on that phone, so quick draw is not a consideration.)
It was Dave. He was stressed out and his phone was not behaving properly, and I was clueless, so it took a while to establish that he was in Winona Lake, almost home, when someone came out of Twelfth Street without looking and smashed him in the passenger-side doors. He said he wasn't hurt, but I remembered that it had taken Nancy two days to notice that her neck was broken, and worried. (Her husband was out cold and her two babies were screaming, so she was just a bit distracted.)
It looked as though the damage was only to two doors and one fender, but the side airbags had deployed, and it's illegal to drive a car in that condition, so the car refused to start. It was a relief when the tow-truck guy drove it onto the flatbed. I presume that he has an over-ride for all safety features, but I didn't ask.
I got there as fast as I could, with a delay because I got off in the parking lot of the Billy Sunday Museum (I've forgotten what's in the building now) before I noticed that the car parked there was the other guy, and walked the rest of the way.
After learning that Dave had been checked out by the ambulance crew, I dashed home to put my frozen food in the freezer. It's still in the bag I'd lined my insulated pannier with. Phone rang, no connection, then the house phone rang and I hurried inside, not quite in time, and then it rang again and Dave asked me to bring a bag to put the stuff in the car in. I grabbed a trash bag and some other bags and hurried back. Neither of us remembered that there were four tote bags and a bag of grocery-store plastic bags in the trunk until I opened the trunk to clean it out.
A passer-by took the bags of stuff and left them on our porch.
I'm a little foggy on the details of the incident. Dave has to call the car dealer on Monday to tell them where Glenn put the car.
I heard him on the phone with the insurance people.
Upon realizing that we can't reserve a rental car until after we are supposed to hit the road to Goshen on Monday, Dave texted Steve.
⁂
There was a film of snow on the ground when I woke up, and it kept falling while I walked to church, but had drained off when I walked home.
I wore my short-ride sandals with four pairs of socks — I added black knee hose to make them look better. If I'd worn Dave's shoes with one pair of socks, I'd have both dressed faster and walked faster — I call them "short-ride sandals" because the soles are too thin to protect my feet from the pedals, so I had to be very careful where I stepped.
I was a quarter hour late for church, and missed all the announcements.
Tuesday, 30 January 2024
We got a phone call from the insurance company before breakfast. It looks as though they are going to total the car.
Visibly, only two doors are damaged, but when Dave was getting our stuff out yesterday, he couldn't put the back seat down and deduced that there are internal injuries.
When I said I was very glad I wasn't in the car at the time, Dave said he was too.
⁂
And right after breakfast, we got another call from the other insurance company. I was impressed with State Farm, but I don't know how sweet they are to the guy who stuck them with 100% liability for the crash.
Last night, I slept until four, took my one-o'clock pill, and slept four more hours. I got pretty poohed yesterday even though Dave took care of all the phone calls and paperwork.
I did get involved in copying the registration for the Rogue, as running the scanner is my job. I scanned it, printed, discovered that it had been printed on slightly-used paper that had been put in the printer for shopping lists, pulled a good copy, Dave noticed that there was a bunch of extra stuff below the registration, I removed the appointment record that had been stuck to the lid of the scanner, scanned again, ?? same stuff. Noticed on preview, I think. I put a sheet of white paper over the registration, got a good copy, printed it, handed it to Dave, and he noticed that it was the registration for the truck.
So I started over, confident that we'd already made all the mistakes, and the printer insisted on spitting out blank paper, sometimes one sheet, sometimes two. I tried the other print menu, I tried both "print all" and "print pages 1 to 1", we reset and rebooted and hard rebooted and made new scans, and it kept on doing it.
Eventually, the printer resumed working as mysteriously as it had stopped, and Dave got two copies of the registration.
I didn't count the blank sheets when I put them back into the paper tray after the job was done, but there were a lot.
Now I need to update my calendar and print next month; fingers crossed.
In the morning, Steve drove us to Goshen for Dave's catheter change.
After lunch, we picked up the rental car at Enterprise. I was very, very careful driving the truck home. Starting with taking forever to back out of the parking space because I no longer know how to do it without cameras.
The rented car has a back-up camera, and a button marked "camera" that lets you use the back-up camera when going forward.
We spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to separate the keys before Dave gave up and cut the ring. I think the plastic ring was meant to be disposable.
I duckducked before he gave up, and found scores of people who were terminally offended that rental companies give you two keys to the car, and thought up all sorts of nefarious reasons for doing so. I'm awfully glad that I don't live in their world.
Another delay in backing out was that I had to take the truck key off the split ring to keep the tools on my key ring from bashing me in the knee. If I drove the truck frequently, I'd put the key on a lobster-claw clasp like the tools. Assuming that I could find one; the Beaded Peacock has stopped selling that size.
One of the valuable lessons Mother taught me was how to make potato soup. I used that yesterday evening to make vegetable soup with a can of Grabil chicken dumped in. Added three bouillon cubes, our last mini-sweet pepper, and a chunk of jalapeño, and left out the milk. I peeled a very large yellow potato and cut it into eight pieces. One piece was left.
⁂
Spent most of today sewing. That is, re-organizing the walk-in closet to find my gray darning wool. I stocked up on Medici and darning wool when they were still available, but don't appear to have any gray. By good luck, persian is more appropriate for the very thick socks I want to darn, and I have several shades of gray in that.
⁂
I was bummed to think that car crashes are so common that ours would be reported only in fine print under "public occurrences". Today I was even more bummed, after reading today's public occurrences, to check yesterday's paper and see that it wasn't reported at all.
Wednesday, 31 January 2024
I feel much better today than yesterday; it takes longer than it used to to rest up from a strenuous day. Dave is still a bit off.
Clean-up day: I'm cleaning the toilet, changing the bed, and I have the second load of wash in. First the top blanket of the mattress pad (which is now on the bed as the bottom blanket), now two sheets, next a small pillow, then my underwear.
I think I'll wash the clothing after lunch and a nap.
⁂
I got everything checked off my agenda except "iron the two shirts I washed last week" and "put the Banner to bed."
There were three pairs of white gloves in the wash, and five bandannas. Only four of the bandannas came out of the Persian box; one of the handkerchiefs I took out to wrap yarns in had something sticking layers together. Heaven only knows how long it had been in my handkerchief drawer in that condition. I don't remember acquiring it.
Thursday, 1 February 2024
Today's trip to Kroger wasn't nearly as exciting as the previous one. On the other hand, I went primarily to buy mini-sweets, and they were out. There were very few large peppers, none of which would do.
I want to go on at length about why I didn't get off until noon, what with swapping dressers and printing out next month's calendar and burying stuff I wanted to use when I dumped my top drawer onto the bed, but in the interest of getting this out today, I'll save that for the February issue.
The insurance agent called before we got out of bed (but after we were awake). The car is totaled and now in a place with "parts" in the name. It was in remarkably-good condition before the crash, so we may get nearly enough to buy a replacement.
Dave is thinking of looking at a Chevy Equinox.
⁂