5 December 2012

This morning Dave got an e-mail from Joe that was sent two days ago. I wonder wha hoppen?

Watching Dave answer a "secret question" during a log-in, I suddenly realized: I haven't the foggiest idea what my high school's mascot was — neither Venice-Nokomis nor Colfax. (My grade school was the Crickets.)

I could look VenNoHi up on the Web, if I cared, but Colfax was gone without a trace before the Web was conceived of. Of course, there might be a list of Clinton County's Sectional winners somewhere.

 

 

6 December 2012

Picked up prescriptions, bought milk, got a flu shot, and came back by way of the health-food store where I bought trail mix, salted sun seeds, dried figs, and stuff for the fruitcakes. And after dark I took a quick lap around the short block with Dave.

When I was crossing the boardwalk, the water in the swamp was flowing visibly even when I wasn't crossing streams. I suspect that normally I can't see the water for the vegetation.

To go with the warmed-over bean soup we had for supper, I made a batch of mini-muffins out of one "medium" egg, half a cup of corn meal, and half a cup of oat bran. Which used up all the oat bran; wish I'd known that when I was at Warsaw Health Foods.

Much to my surprise, they were quite as light as corn muffins made with wheat flour. Putting a dab of bacon grease into every muffin tin was a good idea; putting chicken boullion in wasn't. It gave the muffins a whang of MSG. The teaspoon of paprika had no effect at all on either appearance or flavor.

 

 

7 December 2012

I'm late for my nap, and Al has started without me again. He always takes the middle of my half of the bed.

 

 

9 December 2012

Today's lunch: 1/4 cup corn flour, 1/4 cup corn meal, 1/2 teaspoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon smoked paprika, 1/8 teaspoon smoked salt, one egg, 1/2 cup milk. Steamed ten minutes, baked ten minutes. (i.e., I took the lid off the skillet after I turned it over.)

 

 

11 December 2012

wearing silk long johns, wool long johns, and polyester long johns under my sweat pants was overdoing it just a tad. Didn't mind until I made a pit stop.

But one wool jersey over a cotton interlock T-shirt wasn't enough, so I had to put my windbreaker on, and it poofed into the field of my rear-view mirror. But not until I was on the way back; I'll have to figure out what changed.

Didn't eat my lunch, so we are having deli sandwiches for supper. (Two for one sale at Big Apple, so I meant to bring left-overs to Dave.)

I had a vegetable lasagna after I got back.

After stopping at K-mart, Big R, Aldi, and Aunt Millie, my panniers were pretty loaded even though I didn't get anything at Big R, eschewed all the large items at Aldi, and stopped looking after I'd found a bag of bagels and a bag of Slimwiches at Aunt Millie.

Dave got a premises-baked loaf of rye at Martin's yesterday. I took four slices out before putting it in the freezer, after having hamburgers for supper, and they are gone already. I had two for breakfast and Dave had one; the fourth was his lunch.

And I am desperately overdue for my nap.

I should bring home a sack supper every time I go for a long ride — when I woke up, I was very glad that I didn't have to cook anything.

Google maps says that today's ride was about six miles. Or a route that was in the general neighborhood of the route I took was about six miles — they won't let you go anywhere that isn't an official road, and when I tried to map a route around Pike Lake, it insisted on going out of the way to use SR 15 instead of Sheldon Street — even though that section of Sheldon was drawn the same as the rest, every attempt to put a destination on that part of the street snapped back.

The Pike Lake loop is about thirteen miles. I think that a trip around Center Lake is about the same as the Sprawlmart loop I took today.

I'm eating the last slice of Sunday's pizza. I had some puttanesca left over from our latest mess of spaghetti, so I used that for sauce. And I forgot to buy shredded mozzarella, so I used sliced provolone and sprinkled shredded parmesan in the gaps —hey, it's all italian— and after I put on enough pepperoni, there wasn't enough left for another pizza, so I used it all.

It came out quite good, but greasy — I spilled the olive oil.

 

 

12 December 2012

Every time I warmed over the bean soup, I picked out all the turkey tendons I could find. Today we had it again —Dave made corn muffins in one of his soap molds— and there was so little soup left that I scraped out the pot and put it into a petty pan, and it had been cooked down so thick that I had a refried-bean sandwich for my bedtime snack.

I found a tendon.

Assembled a pair of underpants today. Just one because I want to see whether I need to wash the jersey before cutting the rest. Cotton jersey yardage is a pain to wash, and I've got five yards of it. Should have done the finishing too, but I consulted my webbed sewing book to see how I did it —I last used that pattern in 2009— and spent the whole day revising.

Also realized that I forgot to invite the kids to pick through Evelyn's Christmas decorations.

And it's past time to polish and mail the Christmas letter. Pity inkjet printers don't do red. Things can look all right in photographs, where your eye can be fooled into thinking the light is funny, but a plain patch of solid red never looks right.

I wonder how many of my addresses are still good.

 

 

15 December 2012

Today I cut two slices off the radish I bought at the last Farmer's Market, and threw the stem out. I think the remaining radish sticks are going to be a little woody; I haven't eaten one yet.

We've left-over fresh hamburger in the fridge, but no ketchup and no cottage cheese. I meant to ride to Owen's today, and could have made it before the rain started, but didn't feel like dressing for damp, chilly weather.

Also forgot to buy pizza ingredients when I drove to Owen's yesterday. I'm threatening to make a sausage-and-cheddar pizza. Better dig down to the red-wheat flour, if I do.

 

 

16 December 2012

Something is wrong. I slept past nine, ate a cooked breakfast, and I'm ready to step out ten minutes early.

Well, it was ten minutes early when I sat down here.

 

 

17 December 2012

I should have started buying dried fruit and stashing it in the freezer last August. When I shopped for it, I couldn't even find dried apples.

So far I've made mincemeat cake, apricot cake —I hope that the apple-free version isn't whangy— and figgy pudding. Hope of mixed-fruit cake seems slim.

 

 

19 December 2012

We have a walk-in butter compartment. The herb butter and turtles Martha gave us were getting too soft in the kitchen, and the fridge would have made them too hard, so they are in the garage.

Rode to Owen's to pick up levothyroxine this morning. Had to start twice. The first time, I used the Greenway, forgetting that there was a one-way-the-other-way stretch before I got to the teller machine, and bypassing it through Cerulian's parking lot took me past the Trailhouse, so I went in and bought a saddle. It's a lot squishier than my old one, but I never take long rides any more. Haven't installed it yet because I didn't want to use it for the first time on a real ride.

I went on to the teller machine before bringing the saddle home, because sure as shooting I'd forget to stop if I went home first.

Went by way of Warsaw Health foods and now we have oat bran. I forgot to put it on the shopping list, but remembered when I saw it on my way to buy nuts and figs.

I went on a Sprawlmart tour by car yesterday. Dry cat food, litter, lots of paper goods. And card envelopes. I'd better get around to freshening up the mailing list and printing the Christmas cards. Dave says he'll address the envelopes — I was threatening to print the addresses on a sheet of paper and paste them on.

 

 

20 December 2012

The Christmas cards are out in the mailbox, except for two that I haven't stuffed yet.

 

 

21 December 2012

Crownover Jewelers just called — Grandmother's watch is in North Dakota, and it will cost $325 to repair it. We thought for a moment and said "yes".

I'd jolly well better wear it once in a while!

I made mixed-fruit cakes today. Cherry, peach, apricot, and pineapple.

 

 

22 December 2012

Snacking delay: I went into the garage to get a little herb butter for my rosemary crackers and discovered that our walk-in butter keeper has turned into a walk-in refrigerator.

So I moved the seed multipliers to a cupboard against an inside wall, in case the garage turns onto a walk-in freezer.

Today was a lovely day for a ride, but I'm completely out of places to go, but I needed at least some token exercise, so I rode out the Greenway to Roy Street and came back by way of Kings Highway. Took half an hour to dress — and I could have used one more layer.

I started out thinking that my new saddle needed to be moved a little bit forward and came back thinking that it needed to be a whole bunch forward. I had to strain my arms against the handlebars to get my ischial bones onto the wide part of the saddle.

So Dave rounded up his socket wrenches and we did it, and I took a lap around the block and decided that the nose needed to be down another half degree, but it stuck and I pushed too far when it suddenly yielded, and another lap demonstrated that I hadn't corrected that enough, so we raised it again, and another lap showed that it needed to be still another half degree higher, but by then I was hungry and ready for my nap.

Somewhere in there Dave corrected a very slight twist to the right in the seat tube.

After supper I went out and raised the nose, but another test ride will have to wait for another day.

Before adjusting the saddle, I finished embroidering buttonholed bars on my new pants. I could sew on four hooks and wear them tomorrow, but I'm going to read Usenet instead. I can wear the red silk shirt I wore last Sunday with a different skirt.

 

 

23 December 2012

And with an interlock ankle-length underdress, silk long johns, muslin drawers, and knee hose. I didn't notice that the church was cold until the pastor announced that heating-system parts are on order.

A shallow puddle in the park is frozen, and there are narrow edgings of thin ice in the creek. The patch that might have been a skim of ice in the lake is gone.

Still visible snow on the houses across the lake. The only sign of Friday's snowfall on this side was a white streak on the north-west side of each tree trunk, so I was surprised to see such a thick deposit over there. The streaks on the trees are narrower and some of them are gone.

Oops! I heard someone on the scanner refer to his "salty car" so I carried my cane to church — and just now remembered that it's leaning against the wall next to the coat rack of choir robes. All walks and roads were clean and dry except for a thin film of frost on the bridge.

I hope I remember to pick it up on our way to Martha's house tonight.

 

 

26 December 2012

Momentum

Every time I open the cupboard, I think "there's enough dried fruit here to bake another batch of cake."

But I'm out of dried cherries, and it would use the last stick of butter.

Not to mention that we've eaten a whole year's ration of sugar in the last three days.

I've been thinking of making a new bra, so I inventoried my linen this morning — I've got two pieces of red. I remember buying three yards each of "curry" and "lipstick" when Phoenix Textiles (now Fabric.com) had a clearance on three colors of linen — but when did I get the other red piece, and why would I buy it when I already had some? And is it really linen?

[much later] — aha! It's *ramie*! [Time out to re-attach the invoice to the cotton jersey I washed a few days ago.]

This started when I went to Dharma because my silk long-john pants have worn out, cruised around to see whether there was anything else I wanted, and started with the linens.

Chickened out of buying long johns. Perhaps when I'm a bit more desperate.

Three Christmas dinners in a row! Yesterday I said that I was going to spend today sitting around with my mouth hanging open, and I came pretty close. Mostly fiddled with my computers.

When I was preparing to warm up left-over soup for supper, Dave said "Didn't you say something about Chinese a few days ago?", So I put on my newly-washed white jeans and we went to the Great Wall.

Which was closed, so we started toward the China Buffet, but we passed Yokohama's Steak House on the way. I'd forgotten entirely that it existed. A sudden right turn and Dave ordered an Imperial Dinner. Upon hearing that, I ordered just miso soup and a green salad. I should have ordered clear soup or egg-drop; there's faint hint of fish in miso soup — probably the seaweed.

I adored the ginger salad dressing; very rich and subtle. And all the dishes in Dave's Imperial Dinner were excellent; we didn't leave anything but a smear of sauce. I wondered whether they sell that sauce in bottles, but didn't ask.

But I got a couple of grease spots on my jeans.

I could make a no-cherries cake and put in extra dates. And more walnuts.

 

 

27 December 2012

I didn't mean to sit around doing nothing today, but it's nearly noon and all I've done is to check my e-mail. Dave has his weather station scattered around the kitchen. The original complaint was that the wind indicator was reading a hundred and eighty degrees off, but when he put the phone on intercom and went out to point the vane in different directions and have me write down the readings, it wouldn't stay the same number long enough for me to write anything down. Plainly, a thorough cleaning and new batteries are in order.

And I should take my bike in for the same. No new batteries, of course.

So I did. Took longer to suit up than to ride down there. I caught them in the middle of changing to winter hours — if we don't collect it on Saturday, they'll be closed until Thursday.

 

 

28 December 2012

I was all confoozled when talking to the Trailhouse people — somehow I'd got it in my head that New Year is tomorrow, and wasn't disabused until I started setting out eggs last night and Dave wondered what I was up to.

So I should make today's walk to the Trailhouse.

 

 

29 December 2012

Did, and went into a few of the Village at Winona stores while I was downtown.

I walked there again today and rode the bike back. It shifts much better now. Only $50, including a new chain.

 

 

31 December 2012

I can't believe that I'm all ready to go tomorrow — what did I forget?

Finally finished my new suit. I'm planning to wear it tomorrow even though it's thin linen — that's what silk underwear is for.

Two loads of wash.