2 June 2006 The ants are back on the clothesline. We don't see the orphan ducks as often as we used to -- I suppose they are ranging farther, now that they are bigger. When getting ready for bed tonight, I reflected that some tyrannical regime had been rumored, when excessively-tight pants were in style among the "decadent", to have policemen arrest any man who couldn't get his trousers off without taking off his shoes. I'd have to be careful not to wear my sandals if I ever went there! I buy them half a size too long to get them wide enough, and adjust the straps to shove my feet forward until they fit, which leaves a half-inch shelf sticking out behind my heel. I never notice that -- unless I try to pull my foot out of a pants leg with my sandals on. It's rather like a barb: it goes in, but won't come out. 5 June 2006 The last week or two, I've been thinking that there was something special about the fifth of June, but I still can't remember what. Thought it might be a Fellowship committee meeting, but when I finally found where I put the folder when I cleared everything out of my attache' case to make room for social-security and driver's-license papers, I couldn't find any notes about the next meeting -- and the dates on the minutes of previous meetings strongly suggest that we meet on the *second* Monday of the month. --------------------- Last Saturday, I decided that it was high time I cooked a pot of soup on the outdoor fireplace. I hadn't provided myself with suitable seasonings for beans, so I used an "assorted pork chop" and about half a cup of rice -- all that was left of the previous purchase of brown rice. The most-suitable iron kettle in my collection has no lid, but the lid from one of the other pots would do if set down very carefully. I started the fire with the largest piece of driftwood, which was rotted into ribbons and then thoroughly dried -- it was half a section of log, the other half of which had fallen away. It filled the whole fireplace, so that I had to put the grill on sideways, across the two arms of the fireplace, but I figured it would burn up like paper and be gone in short order. It turned out that there were large chunks of sound wood inside, preserved by being saturated with pitch! I cooked over that log for hours before it broke up enough to put the grill in. Smelled nice burning, though. Excellent soup -- the rice, in three pints of water, cooked into a lumpy gravy. I put a carrot and a potato in an hour or two before supper time. I shouldn't have left the cayenne peppers in when I put the leftovers away -- today's lunch is a bit zingy. 10 June 2006 I saw ear corn in the supermarket yesterday, and was shocked to remember that the Farmer's Market opens in May. Now for the eternal question: is it open on Monday and Wednesday or Tuesday and Thursday? But I'm sure it's open Saturday morning: I looked forward to riding my bike there today -- and writing down the dates and times, in case I get up from my nap before it's all over some weekday. What I heard when I woke up dissuaded me from that notion, and what I saw when I looked out made me wonder whether it was wise to rake my drainage ditches yesterday. I thought the rhubarb from Alice had died in the flood, and the rhubarb from Nancy, which is on slightly higher ground, had taken less damage. But the Alice rhubarb is rebounding vigorously with dozens of new sprouts, and the Nancy rhubarb has only half a sickly leaf. I raked some muck yesterday, and carried off a wheelbarrow full. Seemed to have almost stopped washing up, so I might get it cleared off and Cult-A-Ezed before Dave gets back. Shipped Dave off to New York Thursday morning, and ran the cultivator over most of the beach that afternoon. Friday was mostly devoted to going to the dentist: I threw the newspaper and junk mail into the back of the pickup and stopped by the recycling center on the way home. (Both the dentists' office and the center are on Union Street.) I thought I was rather inefficient to carry the bundles to the dumpsters one at a time, but a car that was parked by the plastic-and-metal bins when I arrived was still there when I left. The train that arrived while I was shifting the truck into "drive" wasn't there when I turned out of the parking lot, which made me wish that I'd looked at it; it couldn't have been more than half a dozen cars. 13 June 2006 Grump. About half-past eight, I looked out the window and realized that if I'd rushed the trash out when I first realized that I'd forgotten to do it last night, they would have taken it. Given how much trash the people across the street put out last weekend, the trash men are probably just as happy I didn't. I was pleased to see that they emptied that nice wire basket and put it back. Ditto the "milk crate". There also remains some stuff that is too big for the trash truck. Headline news: I've worn out one of my pairs of blue, white, and ivory plaid pants. I'm going to tear the hem off one of the matching shirts and re-hem it in sound fabric any day now. Just when stuff gets nice and soft, holes start appearing. Had a "well duh" moment when choosing to wear my old shabby hat because the new one is a tad loose, and wishing I had time to make a new new one. So last night, while waiting for it to be time to go to the Fellowship Committee meeting, I picked the sweatband off, then, because it was quite brown with sweat and I didn't want to wait until washday to put it back, put it on the bathroom counter and scrubbed it with a toothbrush rubbed on a bar of toilet soap. Then I put it in a bucket to soak, and, after the meeting, rinsed it and laid it out to dry. To my surprise, it came out cleaner than it had been when I tore it off the bolt. I was even more surprised when I re-measured it and found it a quarter inch longer than before! Good thing I didn't rely on washing the hat to bring it down to size. Had a fairly productive Monday. Got some sewing done, cultivated the garden and pulled some weeds, raked a little muck out of the lake. It's in pea-soup mode again -- or was yesterday. There's a slight current which might have carried it over to Brent's beach. In bed last night, I noticed that I'm spending so much time in the lake that I'm getting dishpan feet. They seem to be re-oiled this morning. 13 June 2006 Not as much done today, though my new hat is back together. I cut an inch and a half off the band, which was only half an inch too loose -- in addition to the stretching, I used narrower seam allowances -- and it's still a tad loose. I think this is because I stretched it mightily to make it fit the brim, so it should tighten up a bit. [It did] But I think it's also because the brim is too wide, so that it feels lower than it is. I wore it when I went out for supper this evening. While poking about the fridge and cupboard wondering what to cook, I felt an urge to go to the ice-cream shop for lunch, and on the way, I decided on a banana split instead of a malt. I'd noticed that "banana split" was merely one of the flavors under "sundaes", but thought that they were classing a banana split as a kind of sundae. Instead, what I got was a banana-split sundae. It's like the difference between a taco and a taco salad: all the ingredients are there, but the experience is entirely different. And I don't like the hard "waffle" that the deep round bowl was made of half as well as the wafer-like "cake" that ordinary ice-cream cones are made of. Al is asleep on my T-shirt in progress again. Next step is to sew on the pockets and sew up the side seams, then all that remains is to finish the tail and sleeves. Haven't decided whether to hem the sleeves or put on a band like the neck. 14 June 2006 Al is still asleep on the corner of the bed -- I must not have napped as long as usual. He doesn't get in with me when I take a nap when Dave is home. Every night when I unplug the computer, he's on the ironing board behind me. He has a snack while I'm brushing my teeth, then spends the night on the corner of the bed beside my feet, and when I wake up he's washing himself. Then when I get up, he has breakfast. I expect that if I got a suitcase down from the attic, it would freak the poor little guy right out. 16 June 2006 And later that very day I did get a suitcase down from the attic. I needed milk and fancied a long walk, so I got my carry-on backpack down and tried the empty milk jugs in it for size -- they fit nicely -- but chickened out and went by bike yesterday morning. I got a bit more of a ride than I'd planned on. I was planning to go through the interurban tunnel, but, distracted by the heavy traffic while turning left onto Winona, I went past the turn. So I decided that as long as I was headed that way I'd tour the pawn shop, but they were closed, so I went on to the grade crossing just beyond Dalton Foundry. Which led to passing Save-Mor first, so I went in to look around, and bought a pound of pasta and a dill pickle. That's the second time I've found a single pickle in a discount store -- the first time was at Aunt Millie's, where we get most of our bread. I wonder whether I'd see them more often if I frequented convenient stores. And were the pickles Mom used to get when buying lunch along the way in bags like these, or do I date back to the pickle barrel? The carry-on is lying beside the bedroom door, under my attache' case and the clothes I took off yesterday. When on my way to get ready for bed last night, I stepped on something in the doorway, and paused, wondering what in that pile was fuzzy and cylindrical. Then Al said "rrrh!" rather calmly. I presume that my bare foot hadn't hurt, but he realized, after a split second, that it was a good idea to let the clumsy human know there's a cat down here. 17 June 2006 ???! I just heard on the scanner that an adult female shoplifter had just been detained -- at Dollar General! Finally got to the farmer's market. There were blank spots and a fellow who had sold out was folding up his table when I got there. But there had been tomatoes earlier. There were some vegetables left, but most of the remaining vendors were selling flowers. Also maple syrup and freezer beef. Drat. I forgot to read the sign to see whether to come back on Tuesday or Wednesday. Stopped at Ace Hardware on the way back and bought a "Tommy Yellow" tomato. I was thinking that despite the lack of "potato" leaves, it might be a cross of Tom Thumb -- after paying for it, I remembered that the tomato I was thinking of is called "Tiny Tim". At any rate, it's in the center of the raised flower bed. I must get around to getting marigolds to plant around it. I've got the concrete lawn edging around the herb bed around the raised flower bed more-or-less in place, and am now in the process of putting the dirt back into the trench. Once that is done, I can plant some dill. The volunteer fennel in the raised flower bed looks a lot like dill. I may get into trouble planting dill and fennel in the same bed. But if I can't *see* the difference, I can bite a leaf. I looked over the herbs at Ace too, but the only one I didn't have was salad burnet. It's a pretty plant, but the label said it adds a delightful cucumber flavor to your salads -- and I HATE cucumber. I don't think much of borage, either. Yesterday I looked at the rose next to the lamp post and thought that it was so open that it would never hold until Dave got home. This morning, I looked out and half the petals had fallen off. You'd think that a "bush" that never has enough strength to send up more than a single stem with a single blossom on it would peter out after a while, but what there is of it looks beautifully hale and hearty. 18 June 2006 I accidentally called Alice this evening. Dave and I had just finished trying out his Skype connection, and for some reason the computer dialed Alice after I hung up -- and closed the program. Perhaps I only closed the window, but I never came anywhere near clicking "dial Alice". Poked at the weeds a little after the rain stopped, and made the piles noticeably higher without making the lake noticeably cleaner. There are downsides to living on the east side of the lake! At least this time there was lots of stringy weed that held it together so it could be picked up with a fork. But not many times. My back has been giving me subtle hints, and I'm trying very hard to keep the hints *subtle*. I'm going to have to cultivate the beach again as soon as it drains off from the heavy rain this afternoon. And to think that when packing, I thought that I wouldn't have any use for the cultivator after we started gardening in raised beds! But one of the raised beds is big enough to run a tiller in. One thing I wasn't mistaken about: there is plenty of lake weed to fill the beds with! We haul most of the weed off to the community compost pile. The fogger trucks have begun spraying poison around. I find my long-sleeved linen shirt more effective. But next time I go walking in the bike trails, I'll wear my linen neckerchief too. And take a good look at the map before going in; I didn't this time for fear of frightening the deer. (I want them all shot and stored in freezers, but I don't want to frighten them.) Said deer was still there when I found my way back, though on the other side of the road. She (or he -- do they have antlers at this time of year?) looked up and went back to grazing. Two of my potato plants have been nibbled. I suspect deer. 21 June 2006 Saw fireflies on my way back from knitting class today. We hauled a trailer of muck to the brush dump before supper. 23 June 2006 Our new stainless-steel range hood has just been installed. Dave was very unhappy with the service from Sears, and when Roger Bruce started to install it, he found that some of the parts listed in the manual had not been in the sealed package. But Dave has a large selection of screws and bolts, and Mr. Bruce figured out how to do without the vent adapter, so it is in. I made tamale-pie polenta for lunch. Browned and broke up a hamburger patty in my shallowest cast-iron pot -- the one that takes the same lid as my largest skillets -- then made tamale-pie filling the usual way, except that I measured the the fluids that went in, and used enough veggies and seasonings for a whole pound of meat. Also added a Knorr beef cube and a dash of soy sauce. Didn't think of getting one of Dave's cayennes out of the freezer, and I didn't have corn and didn't want beans. Then I added a cup of polenta corn meal (coarser than corn-bread meal, but not so coarse as grits) and simmered for a while. Dave came home just as it was ready to eat; I said "you can have some if it smells good"; he said "This is a sneaky way of getting me to eat mush." Well, it's not as sneaky as making tamale pie! 26 June 2006 Busy weekend. Audrey and Jacob got hitched on Saturday, and on Sunday the church got together to give the preacher who married them a little momentum. (Old joke.) I still haven't the foggiest idea what all the secrecy was about, but we've got to do our best to make things easier for the new pastor. All I can do is to move the knitting class to the parlor -- which I've been wanting to do anyway; I don't like hassling the pastor to unlock his study, even though he usually does it before I get there. I've been not-doing-anything for weeks about making a new black slip to wear with my skirts, and today I've begun not doing anything about making a linen dress. I've been postponing it until I get around to polishing my new sloper, but I wore my pink floral-basket shift to church yesterday and realized that, really, there is nothing wrong with that pattern. I think maybe I should lower the bust darts half an inch. And make it at least an inch shorter; I plan to cut the floral basket on the crease of the hem and put in a one-inch hem, which will make it an inch and a quarter shorter. Went to check whether I could let out the hem on the white floral basket enough that I wouldn't need to wear pantyhose, but couldn't find it. I gave all my floral-basket shirts to the Goodwill because I hate ironing that fabric, and may have taken the shift too -- there isn't much point to a shift that you have to wear pantyhose under! 29 June 2006 I'm right pleased with Reinhold's service. They said that they would bring the new loveseat between 9:00 and 11:00, and at 9:20 we were sitting on it. And the two boys heaved the old sofa into the truck with a lot less fuss than we'd employed getting it into the garage! We moved the sofa that was in the parlor into the living room. I imagine that Alice will want to sleep on the new one -- it unfolds into a single bed. I got all ambitious and dry-cleaned the green sofa before we moved it, and vacuum as I might, I can't get the perfume of the cleaner out of the cushions. 5 July 2006 Last time I tried to use it, the clothes dryer made alarming noises. We are undecided whether to have it repaired, buy a new one, or do without. I suppose that the last is out of the question, since I use the dryer to make up for having nowhere to stand while I shake my blankets. I must get around to visiting appliance stores to see what is available now. I most *definitely* don't want any push buttons, but that seems to be all the rage nowadays. I expect I'll have to get all kinds of "features" that I can't use. I read David Friedman's blog while postponing nap time. Today's entry notes that the same ads appear on right-wing talk shows and left-wing talk shows, and wonders what they have in common. What *don't* they have in common? Right Wing vs. Left Wing is like a knock-down drag-out between the people who believe the tribal totem ought to be a ground squirrel and those who believe that it ought to be a chipmunk. There are no differences that go any deeper than the color of the shirt both think we all should wear. Said shirt is much too tight in the neck, and hasn't any pockets. --------------------- Dave has had a busy day. In the morning we went to the brush dump to get rid of the lake weed in the trailer, then installed new wheels on the now-lighter trailer. When I got up from my nap, I found a newly-assembled telescope in the living room -- it had been "out for delivery" the last time he checked the Fed Ex page -- and after a while he turned up with a new dryer in the back of the truck. I helped get the new one off and the old one on, then we went back to Lowe's to leave the old one behind a semi-trailer -- the salesman had said we'd need to leave it *in* the trailer, but the door to the semi-trailer was bolted shut and the employee who answered his ring at the back door said to leave the old dryer on the pavement. Then we came home and he tried to install it, but decided that we need a new vent hose. Were it the dead of winter, I'd try it out anyway, but I don't want hot, wet air blowing into the house now. I did turn it on long enough to see that the fan fans and the drum turns. I don't think he golfed any, the lazy creature! He did take a walk after walking with me to knitting class. I got a little walking in too, as I walked the kid to Sweet Dreams for recess, and after her mother picked her up, I walked back to the church to take down the signs and pick up my books. I do believe that she's getting the hang of it. Good thing, too, as the exhibits have to be turned in Tuesday. Why must they hold the 4-H fair when the kids have barely had time to get warmed up? I guess the gardeners can exhibit green onions. Speaking of which, we still have some of the onions Darryl brought to the fireworks party. I served a couple with the hamburgers I served for supper tonight. And as Dave was crawling into bed, he remembered that he'd meant to call the vet today -- Al is due for a checkup etc. 7 July 2006 Past time to mail the June Banner. Dave hooked up the pump this afternoon, and we watered the garden, the azalias, both raised beds, both herb beds, and filled the Rubbermaid trash bin Dave bought for a water tank. While watering the garden, I noticed that deer have mowed off the potatoes about knee high. Al's appointment is next Thursday -- Dave's is Monday. I ran two loads of wash today, but neither included anything to tumble in the dryer. Yesterday I tumbled two blankets just to fuzz up the lint filter. I've been fiddling with the linen I mean to make into a Sunday shift, and I ironed the five yards of gauze that I plan to underline it with. -- Joy Beeson http://joybeeson.home.comcast.net/ http://www.timeswrsw.com/craig/cam/ (local weather) west of Fort Wayne, Indiana, U.S.A.