I haven't persuaded Thunderbird to stop messing with my hard returns. I'll post a copy of this message at http://joybeeson.home.comcast.net/MarBan09.txt -- WsFTP doesn't mush my paragraphs together. I back up this document at http://davebeeson.home.comcast.net/~davebeeson/LETTERS/MarBan09.txt while I am writing. If you just can't wait for the next issue, you can try http://davebeeson.home.comcast.net/~davebeeson/LETTERS/AprBan09.txt -- but I correct a lot of mistakes just before sending. If this message was forwarded to you, send me your eddress and I'll add you to the mailing list. 2 March 2009 Still haven't dated anything 2008 -- but I started to type the year in the date above by pressing "1". 4 March 2009 Last Saturday we cleaned the freezer. It still feels odd to just reach in and take out what I came after! Figured I'd get the fourth of the five pew cushions made this morning, but fiddled around about getting started until there was only enough time to cut out the cover and tear off some black broadcloth for the facings. Tore facings for both of the remaining cushion covers. I'll have to get on with it, because I don't want to change the thread in the White until I've finished it, and my bra is ready to stitch. Not to mention that I'm wearing the last clean bra! I meant to wear the bra that's on borrowed time today, but when I started to put it on, I put my finger through one of the holes and its time ran out. I forgot to put my hemp jeans into the wash this week, and they are getting really grungy. 5 March 2009 No scarf, no longjohns, no coat! I did wear two shirts, though. Meant to ride the bike, so I figured that since I had to wear the darker pants anyhow, this was a good time to clean everything out of the pockets of the white pants and throw them into the wash. Then I stepped outside to check the weather and said to Dave, "I think I can wear my short-sleeved jersey!" He said, "On your bike? You're going to get blown away." I looked at the windsock, chickened out, and swapped my jersey for the red raw-silk shirt. Driving out, I passed some bike riders and said, "Oh, it's a *lovely* day; I should have ridden," but come check-out time, I was just as glad I'd come by car. Since I was wearing easily-removed pants, I went to Big R first, but they'd cleared out most of the winter stuff to make room for spring stuff. On the way out, I remembered that my laundry sprayer is wearing out and went back; like to never found the garden sprayers -- they were on the first shelf I'd passed on the way out, so were the last shelf I checked going back -- and the one I saw a few weeks ago wasn't there. Did some recreational shopping at Dollar General on the way to Big R. Nothing of interest, except that they now carry non-woven grocery bags. Since I was in the gift-wrap aisle when I first noticed them, I thought that grocery bags would be a clever alternative to throw-away gift bags -- but a closer look showed that they are printed with a particularly yucky slogan. The above shopping took place in the afternoon. I woke up an hour and a half early today, so I started my nap early, so there was plenty of time before supper. In the morning, I sewed the facings to the fourth pew cushion and hemmed them down. Should be zippity-zip when I resume work on it. Most time-consuming part will be folding back 8.5 inches on one end and enough to make it 43" long on the other. Then two long seams and four corner seams. But I don't feel up to an intellectual challenge this evening, and Pastor Bonnie will be out of town another week, so I'm going to read Science News instead. [Actually read Usenet.] Also ironed a shirt and put more iron-on interfacing behind claw holes that seemed likely to enlarge. I noticed more holes just below the back yoke, and one in the seam-crossing in an armpit, so I don't think Al is entirely to blame. Dave has already bought a new shirt to replace it. 6 March 2009 When we took our walk yesterday, there were still small patches of ice stuck to the shore in places, mostly chunks that had piled up thick and re-frozen. I don't see a speck from the window this morning. Dave turned off the humidifier yesterday. I hope I remember to change Al's water dish -- all winter I've been changing it when Dave runs the water out fresh. 7 March 2009 Finished the pew cushion yesterday. Not as nice as the shorter cushions that are just two pillows stuffed into one case. I'll arrange the stuffing on the next one a bit longer, so that I have to push it back when sewing the tick closed. You know I've been going to church a lot when the first place I look for my needlework tools is in my bag! When I'd pinned the corners of the bag flat, I reached for my disappearing marker to draw the stitching lines that nip off the corners -- not there. Not where it belongs, either, nor any place that I might have left it. Odd, I know it was in the bag Wednesday night, because I made a joke about the possibility of grabbing it by mistake. So I ate lunch and went to bed. Next time I looked, the marker was in the bag, exactly where I'd looked the first time. Sewed the corners standing up, because twirling the handwheel for four two-inch seams was less trouble than dragging the chair back into the bedroom so I could treadle. Not to mention that the seams were all start and finish, where I'd twirl the handwheel anyway! 8 March 2009 Finished my bra yesterday, and wore it today. Now it's time to cut out a black one, but tomorrow, Weather Underground says, will be a perfect day for an all-day bike ride. I'm planning to go to Owen's to pick up my prescription, then to the hospital to drop off magazines, then to Walmart by way of the Beyer Trail and Park Street, to shop for gladiators. Followed a link on the re-enactors' list to cheap dressy sandals called "gladiators". No Target around here, but if they are in fashion, Walmart or Kohls should have them. I'm taking the library list, but I suspect that I'll be too tired to stop on the way back. Now to figure out how to carry a pew cushion on the bike. I didn't take it to church with me because it was raining. (Not to mention that I was running late.) (I told you not to mention that!) I want to see it on the pew as soon as possible so I can cut out the other one while I remember what I did. And before I lose the little book I took notes in again. 12 March 2009 A trash bag and a couple of bungee cords -- no sweat. But the cushion is two inches too short; good thing I didn't cut out the other before finishing this one. Woke up late, wasted half an hour hunting for a debit card that was in my pocket all the while, and generally got off too late to even think of going to Walmart. Thought for a while that I had mislaid my library card, and was hoping that they would accept my driver's license instead, but after putting the cushion on the pew, I laid my wallet on the counter of the church's ladies' room and went through it again -- the library card was stuck between two frequent-shopper cards. So I had a pleasant trip; I got hungry a mile or two after I'd passed Subway, but I'd brought granola bars for just such an emergency, and I was halfway home. Picked up a prescription and some moleskin at Owen's, dropped magazines at the emergency room, rode the Beyer Trail little wotting that it would soon be underwater, found _The Sharing Knife: Horizon_ at the library and also Vance's _Emphyrio_, which someone had recently said was the best novel ever. Judging by the speed with which I'm not plowing into _Emphyrio_, someone's tastes differ sharply from mine. But _Horizon_ kept me up until four in the morning Monday night, and I was also late for my nap on Tuesday. Rained all day Tuesday, the lake is higher than we've ever seen it, and Dave says that there has been some flood damage on the other side, particularly along the outlet. He saw a car that was up to its door handle when he drove around the lake today. Got the laundry done Tuesday, and suited up to go to Handwork Circle, then looked at cars splashing through the spot where the lake crosses the road and chickened out. Water was even deeper Wednesday, but was shod-wadeable on Chestnut Street when we walked to the church on Wednesday. When I walked back from Banner class, I detoured through the recreation trail, thinking that because it had been built up, it would be dry. I was quite right until the very end, at which time I remembered that the Heritage Trail parking lot is under puddle whenever it rains. Water was running over the pavement -- inspection showed that it was overflow from the creek. It continued flowing through front yards all along Boys' City Drive. Before coming back, I went into Boys' Camp as far as the ford across the smaller creek. I hope no-one is foolish enough to try to ford it now! The dry culvert was noisily diverting flood waters from Wyland Ditch into the small creek, obviously a greater volume than was already in the creek. Had there been any light to see by, I'd have gone on down to see what the merged streams looked like. [Post Thursday walk: I had gone down to where the fistula flows into the creek, but it was too dark to see it.] I'm glad I took that side trip, because it is so much calmer now that I wouldn't have believed the water had been so high. Daylight solved the puzzle of the collapsing noises the smaller creek was making. Today there is a small whirlpool above the inlet of the culvert that carries the creek under the road, and it was making small noises recognizably the same as the alarming noises I'd heard in the night. Today the lake is higher still. Dave went to look at the dam (during my nap, I think) and says that you can't even tell there *is* a dam. I presume that it makes a riffle in Eagle Creek. It's dropped some since Dave took his first walk at four; the debris on Lakeside Drive is back a little from the edge of the water. Friday, 13 March 2009 Finally got around to cutting out the last pew cushion. All I had to do was to cut a rectangle of fabric in half -- but even though this fabric is stable, it's still a knit. And the right side is fuzzy and sticks to itself so that it's impossible to fold it in half neatly enough to mark on the fold. I instinctively avoided putting marks on the right side, and after engaging brain, the instinctive decision was right: the print is so small-scaled and busy that it would have been very difficult to see a mark on that side. Eventually the dime dropped and I folded it with the slick side inside, stuck pins in the fold, then unfolded and marked along the pins. 14 March 2009 Just checked UPS -- the fabric for my new cycling knickers will be delivered on St. Patrick's Day. I ordered ten yards of black broadcloth as well, as I've been using up the old piece rapidly. Now watch me wait three years before I want more broadcloth than enough to back a patch with! Last year's knickers are still in good shape, but I was looking for something else and found a lightweight cotton-and-linen blend; I'd never seen any in black before, so figured I'd better get some before this roll was all gone. I ordered four yards; if the width doesn't shrink much, I can get knickers out of one yard, so there should be enough for something else if it turns out nicer than expected (as often happens with fabric.com). Returned _The Sharing Knife: Horizon_ to the library today. Took _Emphyrio_ too, even though I had only poked around in it. I got a lightweight Kurtz from the sf paperback collection. Author's note says she wrote _St. Patrick's Gargoyle_ just for fun -- that's what I'm in the mood for. On the way to the library, I hit the health-food store to stock up on nuts, and remembered on the way to the check-out that I'm almost out of toothpaste. Also stopped at CVS to buy shampoo for Dave; didn't find any shoe polish there either. I suppose that after I finally find some, it will jump off the shelves at me in every store I visit. I hope that they still make the solid kind that comes in little flat cans. Seems to me that I saw shoe polish in all the stores I've been looking for it in just before I decided that I needed some. I knew that the park would be flooded, but the road leading to it was also under water! It was probably safe to ride through it, but I couldn't see the pavement, so I walked around the fence at the BMX park and came out the other end of their driveway, which wasn't flooded. But it was very wet, and the stone on it had broken down into a clay-like substance, so I was a bit uneasy riding on it. It went better after I realized that the tire tracks were harder despite having water in them. Pike lake crossed the road at the park, of course -- or maybe the creek was very, very wide. One of the houses on the other side of the road had four-foot foundations, and that was the only one without lake in the yard! Wise householder, said I to me. Sooner or later Pike Lake is going to get a lot deeper than it was today. [Later on, I heard a rumor that a dam upstream from Pike Lake was opened because it was threatening to break.] I saw a pick-up truck wade into the lake and park in one of the flooded driveways, and I recall from approaching from the other end during high water that the flood on the other side of the bridge is shallower, but I applied discretion and turned back. Went into the graveyard and rode around two sides, where I found enough vistas that included the road and the bike trail to show that it was dry once past the creek. Couldn't see the boardwalk from the graveyard, but after depositing a copy of the Smithsonian at the emergency room, I rode down the boardwalk until I could see it rise to meet the blacktop. It was comfortably above the water, but one short section looked as though it had been slightly under not too long ago. While riding to the boardwalk, I realized that I was hungry and resolved to eat my granola bar at the first bench, but didn't, and remembered it after passing the last bench on the way back, so I reflected that I was nearly to Owen's; I'd eat before going in. Then forgot again, until it brought itself to my attention halfway through my tour of Owen's. So I parked the cart and went back to get my candy. Maybe that's why I bought rice crackers twice! I bought rice-pecan crackers at the health-food store, then got rice-sesame at Owen's. When I left home, I noted that the water on Park Avenue is no longer part of the lake, and rode along the yellow line because it was above water. When I came back, the above-water streak was a good foot wide. When the water was deeper, cars kept to their own lane when sloshing through. Now that it's shallower, they drive down the middle -- perhaps because they can see that it's shallower in the middle, while that wasn't as obvious when you couldn't see any of the road. I left about eleven and got back at three. 17 March 2009 And I read a couple of chapters of _St. Patrick's Gargoyle_ tonight. The gargoyle of the title belongs to the cathedral, not to the saint. (Had gargoyles been invented in St. Patrick's day?) Exhausting night at Handwork Circle: I'd been wondering whether I could handle two students at once -- in addition to the two sisters, their two brothers and their mother also wanted to learn how to knit. I managed to pay attention to three of the students. The grass emerging from the flood seems to be greener than the grass that stayed above water. Didn't think to check my winter onions until today, after sunset. I could see only one clump coming up, but there might be more hidden by the bad light. Not many strawberries made it through the winter either. I can see where the bed around three sides of the windmill pad is now. Haven't waded out to see how the winter onions, catnip, rhubarb, and asparagus are doing. I sure hope all are dormant! A few days ago a mysterious black object floated into the park and Dave pushed it against our fence so it wouldn't float away. Yesterday a fellow drove up in a pickup and told us it was a pile of tarps used to keep freshly-poured concrete from freezing. Today he came back wearing boots and took them away. All our pier sections and quite a lot of the Wildmans' toys are buried in leaves etc. in our yard. Dave was planning to bring the pier in as soon as it got warm enough to work in water so we're pleased that the lake brought them in for us. The only actual damage is that two of my railroad ties floated away from the garden and will have to be dragged back. I don't recall how I managed to move them in the first place. The railroad iron helped me make the final adjustments. I didn't think those things would float. Nothing is washed; the bed they were planted in is flat and square, so it was pure flotation that moved them. A good part of the island was under water, but I hear that nobody suffered anything worse than water in the heating ducts. I believe that people built higher in them days. (The only recent house on the island is Point of View; the rest date back to the summer-cottage days.) Not a good day for machinery: I used a broom to pile heaps of fluff in the middle of the hallway -- the dust expanded and expanded when I attacked the gray strips the vacuum can't reach. Then I discovered that the vacuum wasn't sucking. My fabric was delivered, I wanted to overcast it so I could wash it, the Necchi has stopped zig-zagging. Skips every other stitch, but switches parity now and again. Cleaning and switching various adjustments on on and off didn't help; I'll have to get it to Lowery's soon. This made me dig out the Montgomery Ward, but it's a straight-stitch machine -- and I couldn't figure out how to thread it. Later on, while I was taking down the dish towels and pillowcases, one of the guys working on the Wildman's house complained to another that his power tool wasn't getting enough air pressure. Looked like a nail gun, but they were taking siding off; don't know what he might have been nailing. The Wildmans have taken all the siding off their garage, and now the crew is working on the house. When I told Dave about the vacuum, he took it apart -- discovered that the handle comes apart for cleaning, and it wasn't working because there was about eight years of dirt in the air pipe. So he cleaned that out and vacuumed the hallway. I basted a french seam into the linen-cotton fabric and put it in to soak. The ten yards of broadcloth is backup, so there is no rush to get it ready to use; I had considered leaving it in the roll until it's wanted. (Had it all unrolled before discovering that I couldn't overcast, of course.) I might up and make a pair of summer slacks out of the fabric that's in the washer. Making that up *is* urgent -- I just checked last summer's cycling knickers, and they are getting thin in the seat. 18 March 2009 Was thinking about packing up the sewing machine to take it to Lowery's, got one more idea: took the needle out, put it back, works perfectly. So I overcast the ends of the broadcloth. Most of the beach is showing, and the puddles in the park are separate from the creek now -- though just barely, in one instance. The ducks love it. We are still puzzling over the Wildmans' attack on siding that was in perfect condition. Dave thinks they might be planning to put on brick facing. [Seems to be wooden siding. Now he speculates that it's going to be painted one of the official Winona-Lake "earth tone" colors. I think they all look dirty.] I frittered the morning away doing nothing much. Haven't even had breakfast yet, though I've had several snacks. 22 March 2009 I put the broadcloth in to soak yesterday, forgot about it until this evening. It's filling up for an ammonia rinse now. The broadcloth was zig-zagged. While thinking about packing the machine up to take it to the repairman, I realized that I hadn't tried changing the needle. Took it off, looked close, looked fine -- has to be bent to produce the symptoms. Put in another needle, machine worked, put the same needle back in, machine worked. I guess it had vibrated loose, and wasn't quite the right length. Somewhat to my surprise, a week under water doesn't seem to have bothered the rhubarb, catnip, and winter onions in the bed on two sides of the windmill pad. Sparse collection of onions; I didn't plant many & some have winterkilled -- or perhaps they were eaten by ducks. But between those and the few by the house -- those seem to have winterkilled too -- I'm hoping a week's growth will give me some greenery to put in the potato salad I'm taking to the pitch-in after church next Sunday. Got a scare when I went to make sure my tires were inflated for tomorrow's bike ride: the Shraeder-poker wouldn't retract when I tried to put the chuck on my Presta valves. Lost a good bit of air finding out about it, too. I went to Dave in a panic & he took it apart and unstuck it, so both tires are at a hundred pounds now. Perhaps I should take a flashlight out and read the side walls. Those might be ninety-pound casings. The dime dropped when I was at Owen's last Thursday, and I looked under the corn plasters for shoe polish. I got a bottle of leather dye too, and yesterday I shined up my "new" shoes and the old ones I wear on the bike. On our walk tonight, we met a woman who was looking for a red canoe. The lake has gone down so much that Dave thinks the dam has been opened. 23 March 2009 Stopped in at Shoe Show during my ride. No sandals I wanted to try on, but they did have cans of plain old Kiwi shoe polish. (What I bought is "premium with silicone", but it seems to work.) I did try on sandals at Walmart and Kohls. Both times, way too long when I could just barely squeeze my foot in. No "gladiators", but one style was called "Rome". I think I would have liked Rome, if it had come in my size. I'd have liked it better in white, but at least it did come in black. The silver and gold were unconvincing, though with the silver you could tell they were trying for silver without reading the label. Never made it to the hospital; I didn't realize that I'd overshot Harrison until I was nearly downtown. I was concentrating too hard on evading the risks of going east through an alley instead of on Market Street -- that's my story and I'm sticking to it. So I went north from where I was, and inspected Pike Lake Park before heading toward Park Avenue on Arthur Street. Pike Lake Park is beside the lake again, rather than under it. I was surprised to find that Arthur Street was still flooded, but the water had gone down enough that I could ride on the sidewalk instead of walking around. I got a bit of a thrill because I hadn't remembered that the walk dips where it crosses the BMX park's driveway, but the water was clean enough that I could see the bottom clearly. Park Avenue becomes Sunset Drive before it reaches Anchorage. Sunset had been under water, but sandbags around some of the houses were the only evidence visible from the road. Dave heard two calls on the scanner a few days ago: one was a homeowner complaining that speeding motorists were splashing water over his wall of sandbags (I saw, when the water was on our Park Avenue, that a car can throw astounding amounts of water amazing distances); he said "The next car that does that, I'm going to shoot it!" A few minutes later a driver reported that someone had fired a paintball at his car. Our Walmart doesn't appear to be one of those that is removing the needlework department; Walmart also isn't as confusing and maze-like as I remember it, but then I was too hungry to explore much after finding the shoes. After rejecting Walmart's sandals, I went to Wings Etc. with only a brief detour into Shoe Show. Ordered a "wrap" from Wings' "light lunch" menu and brought half of it home. Dave had a bit under half of that half and a tossed salad for supper. I had a bowl of spanish hamburger and kettle-baked bread. From Wings I went to Kohls, then back into Warsaw by way of 300E and Fox Farm, with a stop at the nursery on Lake street -- they have some ornamental plants in pots, but no herbs yet. I briefly considered buying some potato sets and onion sets. It's about time to plant, I really should have gotten some. Thence to the library to hand in _St. Patrick's Gargoyle_ and check out a lightweight romance and _The Word for World is Forest_. LeGuin is always a downer, and a glance at the first page showed the viewpoint character being set up very heavy-handedly as a Person Who Will Receive a Severely-Needed Attitude Adjustment. I greatly prefer stories told from the viewpoint of nice people, and abhor villains obviously created to demonstrate the author's strange prejudices. (Farmers obviously don't care a thing about erosion, and won't lift a finger to prevent it.) But it's famous, and it's short. Crossed the railroad on the west side of the foundry, just for a change of pace, which took me past Sherman & Lin, so I went in for the gallon of milk I was too tired to swing past Owen's for. $2.65 when Owen's is selling it at $2.00 this week, and 2% instead of 1%. Also got some chocolate and a can of "fire roasted" tomato puree. Sherman & Lin will open a general-merchandise store in the building next door in April, the sign says. Looks interesting. Came home, fooled around with the computer until nearly four. Couldn't sleep because I was hungry, so I got up at half past and made some spanish hamburger. 26 March 2009 Good session at Banner Making, mostly because Martha was there for the whole time. I'm shirking my leadership duties. Also shirking my fridge-inspection duties, but after cleaning the fridge portion of the right-hand fridge, I was almost out of "Bird Food" stickers and completely out of mental energy. The left-hand fridge is much less stuffed, though, and most of the items in the freezer compartments are large, so the rest of the job should be easier. Harrumph! Thunderbird is back to saving in HTML again -- triggered by length of file, perhaps? I'd better execute that copy of Alpine that I downloaded yesterday. I don't think I can learn Alpine in time to send this issue with it, though. It will take much longer to learn Alpine than it took to learn Thunderbird -- but once I learn how to do a thing, I can keep on doing it. A glance at the end of _Word for World_ showed that the disgusting-and-don't-you-fergit-it protagonist gets even worse as the story wears on, so it's in a plastic bag in the bike basket. I finished the pew-cushion cover yesterday; now I have to dis-assemble three pillows and put them back together. Found a paragraph wrongly marked as a quote while proofreading previous entries, fixed it, and now Thunderbird is saving properly. 27 March 2009 Nothing done yesterday, except for ripping a broken zipper out of my wool cycling jacket, and opening one of the side seams to the top of the pocket. It isn't worth repairing, but I can't buy washable-wool jersey to make a new one. Must be being made: when I Googled "wool jersey" I got page after page of offers to sell me a ready-made wool cycling jersey -- all to men's patterns, of course. I didn't go to the Rivendale website. But I don't want one that isn't made to measure. (Though this Jones jersey was made to my measurements, they used a man's pattern. Which is one of the reasons I'm opening the side seams. The other has to do with weighing a bit more than I did when I had it made. And the elastic supporting the pockets was breaking out of the side seams.) I started to cut up three old pillow ticks to make a tick for the pillow I'll make by re-assembling three old pillows, but realized that I need to wash them first. The prayer room has enough pew cushions to look right from the doorway, so I guess dallying won't hurt. Went to Aldi after supper tonight. Yielded to the temptation to buy "Peanut Puffs". These insidious treats combine the "I haven't actually eaten anything" sensation of corn puffs with the sensation of having eaten just one peanut. Found another wrongly-quoted paragraph, and fixed it without checking to see whether it would mess up saving. I don't know whether it was the same paragraph that got a spurious quotemark before, so I'm noting here: it was the one that started "From Wings". I've really got to get around to installing that copy of Alpine that I downloaded a few days ago. But first I'm going to put on shoes and rake a bushel or two of debris. 30 March 2009 Laundry day -- I'm hanging out not only the sheets, but the rest of it as well. Went out when the first load was almost done to wash the line with only hat and slippers added to my indoor attire -- not all that cold, so when I took the load out, I didn't bother with a coat then either. In the meanwhile, a breeze had come up . . . That was the sheet load, with very few pieces, so I stuck it out instead of coming back in for more insulation. I have a second sheet in the washer now, with only one bath towel for company. Next, half a load of colored clothes, and I think I'll do a hot white load this week too. Started to save this, got the "you can't save in anything but HTML" indication, looked: the "From Wings . . . " paragraph had been marked as a quote without my permission again. Deleted the quote mark, re-wrapped quotes, was permitted to save. What's with Thunderbird and paragraphs that start "From Wings"? Now's a fine time to think of it: I should have put some cinnamon in my apple jelly. A while back I bought some "Granny Smith" apples that were blushing red. Turned out to be some red variety that had been picked grass-green. There were four of the hard, sour things left yesterday, so I peeled, cored, and chopped them, then boiled them in apple-juice concentrate with a couple of packets of plain gelatin. With the aid of a set of wheels and Brent's bucket loader, we have put both railroad ties back. I have to nudge them with the railroad iron (big crowbar) and pile a little sand around them yet. I'm planning to re-level all five, and I've been thinking about cutting the fake railroad tie in half and using those pieces and the spare tie to complete a rectangle around the garden. Dave plans to rent a tiller and plow up the garden. I wonder whether the compost is rotted enough to spread around when he does that; a tiller does chop it some. I didn't move the pile much last summer, so it's probably full of tree roots. All week I'd been noting which herbs were up enough to include in the potato salad: winter onions, garlic chives, chives, parsley, thyme, there might be oregano. But it was dark when I started the salad, so I put in freeze-dried oregano and basil. I did go out and feel around for a few onion leaves. Brought Dave a doggy bag of cookies and chocolate cake -- it was gone within hours. I also filled a snack box with two flavors of Jello salad on my way out; I pretty much killed that this morning. I heard a rumor that two of the choir had never been to a potluck before! We had a good one to introduce them to the concept. 2 April 2009 Just checked: Comcast is still saying that any message addressed to Sherry exceeds a "temporary" size limit. If you are on a server that isn't feuding with Road Runner, please forward this message. Removed "Bird Food" from the church refrigerators for the first time last night. Managed to give two bottles of juice to the Men's Breakfast -- and re-labeled a bottle of syrup without permission; I figure they won't notice that they have one more bottle than they used to. Then while disposing of the stuff, I noticed a signal dot on a bag of greens, so I have to go back this morning. (If I hurry it will still be morning.) I'm also going to return a perfectly-good tub of margarine and label it "Wednesday Supper". Pastor Bonnie caught me cleaning the fridge, and said she'd help by removing the un-opened jars of relish the day before I have to. Dave pointed out that still-sealed, un-expired things can be taken to Our Father's House, but I couldn't get the bird-food stickers off the four packets of "juice" drinks. Next I have to start cleaning the freezers. And I forgot to check the ice cubes. It's happened again: yesterday I cut a new bra out of the thin black linen left over from my current cycling knickers, opened the pattern trunk -- and the dressmaker's carbon wasn't there. Nor was the tracing wheel in the pencil mug. I checked to see whether I'd absent-mindedly put it back in the suitcase, then stuck pins into the marks used a chalk pencil on the other side. Grumble. That trunk is the only safe place to put tracing paper. And a recent thread on alt.sewing reports that you can't buy halfway decent tracing paper unless you live in a garment district, so I'd better take good care of it. If I ever find it. I didn't realize until I was hanging up the hot whites last Monday that I'd forgotten to change the pillowcases. I'd thought that that load was supposed to be bigger! When Dave and I were walking toward the church last night, we met Bernie ambling toward home. Dave said that Brent must have found him; by the way Bernie was walking, I speculated that he was just then finding his way home. Either way, the lost-dog story had a happy ending. Productive banner session ending with hanging the new banners in the sanctuary, and some work done on the next pair. We decided to take next week off. No knitting class Tuesday, but I got the left-hand fridge cleaned out. Took only half an hour, but I'd cleaned a shelf before it was time to go sit in the ramp room. Finished reading two Science Newses. So I saved just before typing the fake HTML code -- and found that the false quote mark was back on the "From Wings" paragraph. The gratuitous quote mark makes Thunderbird think this message is HTML, but a mock HTML code doesn't! I've found, to my great sorrow, that Alpine won't run on this machine. I'm thinking of migrating all my stuff to the living-room computer, where it does run. But first I've got to establish that Alpine on Optiplex will download my mail! Started my new tube of toothpaste yesterday or the night before. It may be non-abrasive, but boy is it ever gritty! "Peelu fiber" seems to be a fancy term for sawdust. Ate the last Peanut Puff today. I'm repairing my wool jacket-style jersey because I can't buy washable jersey to make a new one. (Dry-clean-only can be washed, but it doesn't wear worth a nickel. And even that isn't likely to be found in bright yellow.) But by the same token, I can't buy jersey to make patches. Yesterday I remembered that I have stashed away some worn-out riding shorts for just such an emergency. Now to remember to buy a zipper! I think I'll get black, since a perfectly-matching yellow isn't even theoretically possible. And I've been thinking of putting black godets on the lower half of the zipper. -- Joy Beeson http://joybeeson.home.comcast.net/ http://roughsewing.home.comcast.net/ http://www.timeswrsw.com/craig/cam/ (local weather) west of Fort Wayne, Indiana, U.S.A.