L---P----1----+----2----+----3----+@10-4----T----5----+----R----r----7--T-+--r 2 January 2007 I'll start taking my new diet seriously when I've emptied the container I filled up with pie, date pudding, persimmon pudding, and cookies. On the other hand, tonight I had baked sweet potato instead of baked white potato -- with fried chicken. (You've got to get into this *gradually*!) The ramp-room door was unlocked tonight, much to my surprise, so I finished darning one sock and darned guide lines into the mate. Takes nearly as long to mark a sock as to darn one, but it's *so* much more comfortable to darn when I can see what I'm doing! I think there will be a committee meeting next Monday at which I can ask who to ask for a key to the church. Then I can start thinking about how to get people to come for instruction! 3 January 2007 We just breakfast/lunched on Jeanie's oatmeal-cinnamon pancakes -- fried and froze some of the leftover dough and put the rest in the fridge, having added a packet of yeast to the mix. And now I'm getting ready to go to Aldi's by reading my e-mail. Still dressed in grubbies. On the way home Monday, I noticed Sydney on the map & realized that it isn't any farther from Winona Lake than Pierceton is, and Dave says he has heard that it has more antique stores than Pierceton does. Be a very good day trip, but I don't know *when*. 5 January 2006 I had a cake of oatmeal bread with frozen mixed berries and chopped walnuts in it for lunch today. The day before yesterday, we mixed up the quart of pancake flour we got for Christmas, with a packet of yeast in it so the leftover batter would keep. Dave also fried four extra pancakes and put them in the freezer in sandwich bags. Only the first batch got the Christmas exemption for maple syrup and butter, but fruit and nuts are at least as good. For breakfast today and yesterday, it was dried cranberries. I'm not at all sure pork chop with gravy is on the diet -- but I did serve it with sweet potato instead of white potato. I pared and cut up a raw sweet potato and steamed the cubes in my tiny cast-iron skillet, with the other tiny skillet for a lid. Both were still lightly oiled from lunch. And for midnight snack -- which I eat at ten -- a peanut butter sandwich with raw onion and pickled hot peppers. We walked to Roy Street and back when Dave got back from the dermatologist -- I had just got up from my nap. He has to do the hamburger cream again, this time on his arms. He predicted that; his arms are downright scaly with keratosis. Not as scaly as they will be when the hamburger cream takes effect. And we went out again when the rain let up an hour or so after supper -- only a point eight this time. I got my socks wet; I was wearing sandals because all this walking has made me keenly aware that my black oxfords don't fit properly. I've been planning to get new ones for months. Oh, do I hate to shop for shoes. And this time I have to find a new brand; I've never been happy with the current pair. No progress on getting the paper banner ready to mail. And I've forgotten what the first four entries in this addition were supposed to be. [I may paste something in from e-mail. 10 January 2007 Finally got around to the hem and wristbands on my black mock-T shirt. I find that I have wee dainty wrists! I managed to sew the bands on by machine, but they are so deep that I'm going to have to hem them by hand. 12 January 2007 The last time we hiked out to Roy Street, there were orange marks on the pavement every fifty feet, with even numbers painted on every fourth mark, and a glitch at mark #17, which was where a mountain-bike trail intersects the Greenway. We have been having fun trying to figure out what that means. We also looked at what we hope is a pole barn going up on an old foundation from the Boys' Camp days, at the foot of the steps leading down from what was the Southtown trail before the Greenway chopped it off. I walked to Owen's Saturday night, and Dave went as far as The Entrance with me. The orange waist pack has disappeared I thought the red day pack inconvenient, and I'd have had to move the truck to get at the carry-on backpack, so I emptied the Trafalgar Travel carry-on I've been using for a purse. Turned out to be just right; a shoulder strap is sufficient for what I bought, and, unlike the waist pack, it allowed me to buy cabbage and frozen veggies in addition to the sweet potatoes I'd gone for, and it was easier than any of the others to pack off the conveyor belt. By good luck the bag boy went out to the car with the previous customer, so I was able to pack it myself. After my nap yesterday we walked to the entrance again, this time with GPS in hand. It's nine tenths of a mile from our house. And, we guestimated, half a mile to the church. The return trip along the canal was about the same length as the outward leg along Park Avenue. No walk today: it's soggy and wet out there. I spent most of the day editing the 2006 Banner. Sent copies of the text version to Dave, realized that I'd forgotten to run the spell checker, sent him a second set, then opened it with Open Office, found a mess of unwanted paragraph breaks, discovered I'd missed deleting a ruler line, sent him a third set. And I may yet discover mistakes while formatting the ODT version. I'm learning a lot about Open Office -- for example, it *does* have frames, and I can push them around with the keyboard for delicate adjustments. And I learned how to keep the header off the first page. Come to think of it, I found a mistake already, and haven't corrected the text versions. A four-line poem was run together as a paragraph. It's corrected now. I told Dave I was going to hold off a while on e-mailing it to him. 14 January 2007 The weather bureau asked Dave to look for freezing rain last night, but if we got any, it had melted before we got up. It was misting rain when I walked to church, but I didn't need the umbrella on the way home. Except as a cane. I developed a backache yesterday, and it feels like the kind that takes a week to go away. Not too bad when I've been up and moving around for a while, but I'm fairly spectacular when I'm trying to figure out how to get out of bed. Dave just called from the next room that the comet is visible in broad daylight now. I haven't seen any broad daylight recently. On the other hand, the national radar says that the big blob over us is all the weather there is, so it should be clear for a while when it finally moves on. On the third hand, the trailing edge of the blob is in Mexico and we don't have any radar stations down there. 15 January 2006 I'm going to have to limit the time I spend sitting at the computer, or at least remember to get up and walk around frequently. I developed a backache on Saturday, and on Sunday I was sure that it was the kind that takes more than a week to heal, but I slept much better last night than the night before, so I'm getting better -- even though I still make quite a spectacle trying to get out of bed! Standing up from a chair is quite easy this morning, if I put my hands on my knees. I mustn't twist any, which is most of what makes getting out of bed so interesting. In addition to tweaking the format of the 2006 Banner a bit more, I've got a LOT of repair work to do on my web sites, and I'm giving L-View a test run. I'm not sure it's worth forty dollars, but there doesn't seem to be any other program for saving graphics in assorted compression schemes. All I want is jpg, gif, and bmp, but this is the only one that has all three. The "pole barn" is now framed enough that we can see that it is going to have garage doors. We now speculate that it is an equipment shed. Has a "Village at Winona" trailer parked by it, which means that Dane Miller is involved. (Since he owns the land it's being built on, this is not too surprising.) Yesterday Dave came past my door, where I was reading Usenet, and said "there is no ice" -- I commenced wondering how we could have used up all the cubes when Dave *does* refill the tray when he empties it, and confused him mightily. It hadn't occurred to me that he was on his way back from checking his rain gauge. (He's the only one in the house who has iced drinks at this time of year.) Weather bureau still wants us to look for sleet and freezing rain. And the lake still looks like spring: it's so high you'd think the dam was closed. Must be a pretty good waterfall on Eagle Creek. 17 January 2006 We have seen snowflakes on several occasions, and this morning there's a patch of ice on the lake -- strong enough to hold up a flock of seagulls, which is how we know it's ice. When the sewing circle broke up last night, I was a little embarrassed that Candy had to wait for me to suit up: vest and coat, two scarves, and a hat -- both scarves pinned on. I'd forgotten I was wearing two pairs of long johns: no wonder I had to take off the vest! And I *wear* my knitting bag; she had only to pick up hers. We went out the ramp-room door and walked together to the parking lot. The wind had been biting during the walk up with Dave, but died down during the meeting. About halfway around the church, I said, surprised, "It's quite nice out here!" Candy said "You're dressed warmer than I am." She gave me the Fellowship Committee's key to the church -- and I practiced locking and unlocking the door -- so I have no excuse not to get on with *promoting* this Circle. I have no ideas beyond printing out a new poster (and remembering to post it instead of leaving it on the hat rack!) I was thinking of using the keychain with the ball-of-yarn charm for the church key -- Knitting Circle, y'know -- but I think keeping it in my little pocket bag will be more effective, since I always have that with me. Our *other* church key won't fit into the pocket bag. :) 19 January 2006 We have visible snow this morning. A little of the lake is frozen at the Rattlesnake-Island end, and probably has been all along. It has come to me that even though I don't have handwork clip art, I can find Valentine's Day and St. Patrick's day art -- and may not have to go any farther than Wingdings to get it. Now is a fine time to notice that Martin Luther King Day was on Martin Luther King's birthday this year. I wouldn't have been near so grumpy about the fake holiday had I known. But closing the schools still seems like a strange way to honor the man. 20 January 2007 There are patches of ice on the lake again this morning. No ice even at the southern end the last time we were down that way. I walked to Owen's & back to buy three pounds of apples. Took less than two hours total. This is the second time I've done that. Well, last time it was sweet potatoes. Dave went with me as far as The Entrance, but he'd been walking during my nap, so he went home and washed the dishes while I was shopping. Good news: though there weren't any kipper snacks on the shelf, there *was* a spot reserved for them. 21 January 2007 Woke up to an inch of snow this morning, as measured on the picnic table with Dave's little ruler that is marked in hundredths of an inch. It's snowing again. I went to bed early last night, woke up at three, lay awake until five, and woke up so late I went to church without breakfast, if you don't count a glass of milk. Then came home to discover that I'd also run off without taking my pill. Carried my cane to make sure I wouldn't slip in the snow, which made the people who want to give me a ride unusually persistent. Probably alarmed the sledder I met on Sunday Lane when her big dog jumped up on the poor old cripple. At that point I was glad I had the cane, though I don't *think* I'd have been knocked over without it. It wasn't really enough snow to sled on a street, and I don't think she got many more rides before wearing it bare. I came back by Park Avenue, so I didn't see Sunday Lane again. 22 January 2007 No more precipitation today, but the inch of snow is still there. A bit thinner, I'm sure. I didn't think until this evening to brush the snow off the Buick. Suddenly re-thinking my plans to ride the boardwalk tomorrow -- but it's short enough to walk if the snow has been pounded into cobblestone. Now all I have to do is to wake up before ten: the earlier I go to bed, the later I sleep -- if I go to bed before midnight, I wake up from three to five. 24 January 2007 I did go riding yesterday, Tuesday, and I did have to walk the boardwalk. I walked more than that: the entire Beyer Farm Trail, including the asphalt part, was so snowed under that I missed the turn and went through a gate into a maintenance area, all the while thinking the road had been in *much* better shape the last time I'd come, and didn't it slope down instead of up? I wished they had put the boards a bit farther apart, so that the snow would get pushed through instead of being beaten into ice; Dave said that cracks in the walk would be hard on in-line skaters, but I haven't seen any skaters on the boardwalk anyway. Even as is, I suspect that it's a very poor substrate for very small wheels. I went to the health-food store for cranberries and pistachios, then to Lowery's for black ripstop nylon -- I'd thought I'd have to settle for polyester lining, but she not only had nylon, she had ripstop! -- to make my wind pants. Then I seriously considered going straight back home, because there is no good way to get across the railroad from there. Finally crossed Detroit on Winona, crossed the railroad on High Street, then had the problem of getting back across Detroit. More walking, because I was almost to the intersection of Main and Detroit before the arrows painted on the pavement reminded me that Main does not cross Detroit; it's one-way on the other side. But I got to the hospital and dropped off my magazines, then stopped at Owen's for a few essentials. Not including milk, so I'll have to go back this evening. 31 January 2007 According to Quicken, I went to Aldi's the next day instead. The lake is frozen entirely, even the patch that the creek kept open yesterday, and as near as I can tell from here, the creek is frozen too. It was skimmed over Monday morning, and has been thickening ever since. There was 1.7" of snow on the picnic table yesterday. Most of it is still there. It was a mite nippy coming back from Sewing Circle last night. I decided to walk fast after I got to where the wind comes off the lake -- in the street, since that's where the footing is best. No traffic to speak of. I met Pastor Doug and Pastor Lynelle driving up Ninth-Street Hill as I was walking down. Had to talk him out of driving me home. I didn't see whether the girls were in the back seat. No customers again. After putting up a new poster, I'm out of ideas. Maybe I can hand out flyers the Friday after next: I've volunteered to teach embroidery at the Valentine Date Night. The church is baby sitting kids for parents who want a little time alone together. I'll stamp the designs ahead of time, so as not to have a hot iron around. I may warm it up for the finishing, but I'll try finger-pressing ahead of time -- that's something I can have the children do, if it flattens the puckers enough. Since there's only one session, I'll probably skip teaching them how to draw a thread. Hope I remember how to get all that stuff into my backpack! 1 February 2007 Having sent Dave to Spring Creek to buy whole-wheat bread flour, I felt obliged to make some rolls for supper tonight. Worked out very well, but I should have put them into a eight-inch cake pan instead of the nine-by-twelve pan. They came out rather flat. But the bottom crust is the best part, so that's all right. I may make yeast crackers sometime. But I didn't use either the whole-grain flour he got this time or the New Rinkle flour he got the previous time. I did empty the flour bin, so I'll be using the New Rinkle flour next time. I think there's enough of the old "organic" flour left to make another batch. And he's stopping at Spring Creek again tomorrow: I forgot to mention raisins, and I used the last packet of yeast. Yummy altogether; I cooked a small "teriaki" pork roast in the rice cooker, with a mess of frozen mixed vegetable on top, and that turned out to be a very good way to do it. Also diced and fry-steamed a large sweet potato, and put the covered skillet into the oven with the bread to finish cooking. I'm planning to serve leftover meat loaf tomorrow. When Dave put his hamburger cream on tonight, he said that it was the last time. He still has five days or so on the stinky pills -- the antibiotic for his thumb. Still red, but seems to be healing. -- Joy Beeson http://joybeeson.home.comcast.net/ http://roughsewing.home.comcast.net/ http://n3f.home.comcast.net/ -- Writers' Exchange http://www.timeswrsw.com/craig/cam/ (local weather)