E:\LETTERS\NOVBAN11.TXT 1 November 2011 I think I've found the problem: Thunderbird puts "read as plain text" into the headers. There doesn't appear to be any way I can change that. 2 November 2011 And changing my account settings to "compose in HTML" didn't help. 6 November 2011 I've got so far behind in reporting that I've lost interest in catching up. I went for a bike ride yesterday that ended at the emergency room -- note "at", not "in". When suiting up for a pointless exercise, I noticed a few magazines on the shelf -- we stacked the garden benches behind the bike to store them for the winter, and they've been handy -- and decided to drop the magazines off at the emergency room waiting room; going downtown the long way would ensure that I didn't get to the comix store or the flea market before they opened. But I noticed something odd when going through the intersection of Harrison and DuBois, pulled off onto the grass, and discovered that my back tire was flat. So I walked to the emergency room (taking a shortcut over the helicopter pad, so I guess you could say I've been to the trauma unit too) and called Dave on one of the two phones in the lobby. I'd thought them pay-phone booths when they registered only peripherally, but they were dial-9-for-an- outside-line phones instead. Which makes sense: there wouldn't be enough traffic on the phones to make it worth the trouble of collecting the quarters, and people who show up without their cell phones probably don't have a pocketful of quarters either. And I did leave the magazines. Discovered, during the service, that although my Capezio slippers are good walking shoes, they are horrible standing shoes. I think that my feet were sore from walking to Roy Street and back to make up for the missing bike ride, since I hadn't had that problem before. I got a pain in my right arch shortly after reaching Boy's City Drive on the way back from Roy Street. I went out through the bike trails and came back on the Greenway. Quite pleasant, and I had to take my coat off in the still air under the trees. 7 November 2011 We have loads of food, but I'm completely out of ideas. The first thing I saw in the freezer was a package of meatballs, so we are having spaghetti. Washday. I hung the king-size sheet out for a while, but didn't dare leave it out during my nap, so it's draped over the shower-curtain rod. 9 November 2011 I don't know what I did with Tuesday, aside from getting a start on drafting a pattern for a jersey-shield T-shirt -- the last of the cap-sleeve shells I bought when they were in fashion is getting thin, and I really ought to have a fresh undershirt for each ride. The looks of the side seam makes me think I ought to cut this out in cheap fabric, but the cotton interlock I'm designing it for is as cheap as fabric with that exact stretch gets. Some coupons from Kroger came in yesterday's mail, including one free dozen eggs and one free jar of peanut butter, so I went shopping this morning and managed to put $63.44 into one of the short-wheelbase carts. (Not as much of a feat as it would have been in 1964.) Still need some stuff from Aldi, but nothing urgent. I stopped at Walgreen's on the way, and they not only had three-packs of Omaprazole bottles, they were on sale. 10 November 2011 I guaranteed that I would get the ironing done before nap time by piling all the stuff from the ironing board on the bed -- but when the shirts were ironed and I started looking for black 50/3 cotton to do some mending, I ended up writing a chapter about thread organization for _Rough Sewing_. Well, I did get my thread organized. And the selected thread is almost installed on the sewing machine (I have yet to thread the needle.) I still haven't put a new tube in my front tire, but the wheel, the tube, and the tools are pushed neatly to the side. Dave used Woolite spot-cleaner on most of the living- room carpet today, and it looks *much* better. You still have to look close to see that it's snowing, but not *very* close. 12 November 2011 Repaired both tires yesterday. The back tube was much easier to change -- I think that the front has an inferior casing, but I suppose it could have been practice -- but it was a real bear to get the wheel back onto the bike; I couldn't have got it done without Dave's help. Then it was another struggle to get it straight. Both wheels seemed to work fine on today's expedition -- I went to Big R to price the enamel kettles, as we need a new humidifier. I stopped in K-Mart on the way, reflecting that it was only pro-forma because K-Mart's mandate is to sell stuff cheaper than is possible, so I wouldn't buy anything there. On the way to the kettles, I noticed that the wooden hangers were quite acceptable -- when I got home and remarked on it, Dave reminded me that K-Mart has been bought out by Sears. So maybe I should give them another chance when I want something cheap. On the other hand, Big R's 21.5-quart kettle is a dollar cheaper than the same thing at K-Mart. I have yet to price Tractor Supply and Ace. Might hit Ace on Monday -- I have a book due then. My emergency cans of evaporated milk had sell-by dates in December, so I dropped them off at Our Father's House. I took a lap around the store looking at the merchandise, and as I was leaving I saw the clerk duck into a room between the store and the dining hall, which I presume to be the kitchen, saying in a good-news sort of voice "I have two cans of cream for you". If they are calling canned milk "cream", I'm very glad that I also dropped off a five-dollar bill. After Big R, I went to Aldi to replace the milk and buy a few other things. I've been wanting smoked turkey thighs for a long time, so when I saw a package of two smoked drumsticks, I said "that's close enough" and bought them. Uh, no, it isn't close enough. The maker hadn't pulled the bony tendons out before smoking them, and of course it's impossible to get the tendons out after the feet have been cut off even before the drumstick is smoked. And the meat that was easy to get at was so dried that Dave took it for gristle; there are excellent bits down among the tendons, but they cling tenaciously to the tendons and you have to gnaw them off -- gnawing is definitely not in Dave's repertoire, so he was even more dissatisfied with the drumstick than I was. I think I'll put the drumsticks into a pot of bean soup. The Scylla-and-Charybdis between the rumble strip and the deep ditch took close attention, but wasn't exhausting. Living in the future: I spent $48.23, and got it all into one pannier. My motto is "if the shoe fits, buy it!" -- I dropped into Payless, and saw a pair of Mens 6 sandals being cleared out for $10, so I bought them. They are actually the correct length! But I can wear them only with thin socks, so I took the box (usually I leave boxes, to save space in the pannier) and put them on the shelf in the closet. I hope I remember that they are there next April! I mentioned a while back that I'd bought a beet to pickle eggs with. When I pared it, I saw that all the color was in the skin -- the inside was white marbled with red. When I cooked it, it not only didn't color the vinegar, it sucked out what color the vinegar had, without itself brightening beyond ecru. I simmered the parings with a piece of white wool yarn -- the water turn a very pale pink, briefly, then changed to pale tan, and the yarn is ecru at best. However, one of the coupons that I redeemed on Wednesday's trip to Owen's was for two glass jars of pickled beets, so I can pickle eggs when I feel like it. And I bought a can of plain sliced beets today. I'm developing a taste for beets. 14 November 2011 I'd better run out to Owen's this afternoon -- I'm planning green-lima soup for supper, and we are out of saltines. Good thing I chickened out of riding my bike to the library today -- it started raining before the first load of clothes was out of the washer. I'd planned to dry inside anyway -- except for the blanket, and it's a little half- blanket that fits nicely on the bathtub shower-curtain rod. When I dashed out for saltines, I put on an old raggedy shirt because I had no intention of taking off my coat. Then I didn't wear a coat. Oops! We didn't open the crackers, but I did put them on the table. The turkey legs were better steamed -- the soup was too shallow to immerse them -- but it was still very hard to get at the meat. They lent a superb flavor to the chicken broth. We didn't quite finish the first leg, so I still have one untouched drumstick. 16 November 2011 Which drumstick I took a meat-axe to this morning, so now it fits into a saucepan. My lunch was Fordhook limas boiled in drumstick broth. I returned _Night of Madness_ yesterday and checked out _An Alien Light_; something or the other had reminded me of Nancy Kress, whom I have been neglecting. It was a lovely day for a ride. I stopped at Zales and Ace on the way out, and had lunch at the chinese carry-out next to Marsh on the way back. So far, Big R is the only place to have enamel stock pots. When I got to Zales, there was a little red car out front, so I went inside and hunted up Dave, who was waiting for a prescription. Then we left Ace at the same time, and waved. When I got home, I told Dave "Not one of the little red cars in the library parking lot was a Nissan -- I checked!" Got home in plenty of time for a nap, but I was wound up for some reason and couldn't sleep, so I was tired after supper and blew off Handwork Circle. Hope I remember to go today and clean the fridges -- the Chili Cook Off nearly ran out of ice. Another sign of fall: Dave dumped the rain barrels yesterday, and fitted both downspouts with black corrugated pipe to direct water away from the house. 18 November 2011 Did clean the fridges yesterday. Haven't yet cleaned *ours*. Dave's Kindle Fire came. 19 November 2011 We have a new hobby: trying various metal objects to see whether they work as the "special stylus" that didn't come with the package. (Dave muttered "Gillette".) A table-knife handle and an aluminum crochet hook worked; so far the laser pointer seems to be leading the pack. You want something that is conductive and flat on the end. Evening: Dave spent the day playing with his new toy. You can send e-mail to the Kindle, but only attachments. I e-mailed him a Gutenberg copy of Mark Twain's _The American Claimant_ that I happened to have on my desktop, then he downloaded a Kindle version of the same book. It appears that you can't e-mail the folder of illustrations that go with the Gutenberg book. Well, you can e-mail them twenty-five at a time, but you can't put them where the main document can read them. I went for a bike ride. Lovely day, but I had no enthusiasm, so I went to Aldi. I stopped at Goodwill on the way and dropped off some shoes Dave wanted to get rid of. I stopped at the church first, but the collection box for shoes was gone, so I think that must be over. [I discovered, on Sunday, that I was looking in the wrong hallway.] I rode in circles in Goodwill's parking lot, observed that US30 was straighter and more level than the access road, started to turn, noticed that the shoulder was rumble strip the entire distance, and made another U-turn. Also stopped at Staples and learned that they do have paper thicker than letter paper, but not so stiff as cover stock. It's called resumé paper. (One big problem with computers is that you can't add diacritical marks with a pen.) Big R does have the wool socks I wanted, but only in size extra large. About a dozen pegs, and every last one the same size. I didn't succeed in locating the women's winter clothes -- when *will* big-box stores start posting *maps*? -- but someone had hung a pair of black sweat pants on a rack in the children's section, I tried it on, and it fit, so I bought it. I can't be too critical of the other customer for failing to put it back where she found it -- when I tried sweat pants on last year, I like to *never* found the display when I wanted to put the rejects back. For a perfectly-rectangular room, they sure manage to be confusing in there. Stuff round the edges is easy, but in the middle, rotsaruck. The debit for the sweat pants was on the bank site by the time I got home. All I wanted at Aldi was a bag of salad, but I managed to spend $17.08. I'm going to have to quit buying a jug of vegetable cocktail every time I go -- when I put it in the soda fridge, the door was nearly full of jugs of vegetable cocktail. 19 November 2011 Excitement getting to the restaurant-supply store. On 250E, I mistook a puddle of sand for dirty pavement, and it's a miracle (slightly aided by half a century of bike- handling experience) that I didn't crash and break a few bones. And then I got there to discover that they close at noon on Saturdays. I peeked in and saw that they do have aprons. I'd sworn not to go back to Aunt Millie until we've hunted every bag with one slice of bread in it out of the freezer, but I was there and we *are* definitely out of bagels, so I bought two bags. I should have looked for Slimwiches -- they don't often have Slimwiches -- but I didn't think of it. Then I slept until it was time to make soup of Fordhook limas and smoked drumstick. The turkey leg was much improved by being submerged in broth. Mostly submerged, that is. Still hard to get the meat off. 22 November 2011 Dave discovered a new Kindle feature this morning: he can control his IP cam with it. I can't, because the icons you touch are tiny, and icons that do weird unstoppable things are closely grouped around the icons that move it just a tad. Another selling point for the "special stylus", I guess. Dave had a hard time explaining the "accelerometer" to me; I thought accelerometers were part of an inertial navigation system, but it turns out that "accelerometer" just means that the Kindle knows which way is down. Which means that some displays are right-side up no matter how you hold the Kindle, and you can tip the surface the ball is rolling on when you play Angry Birds. I've also learned that the Kindle refuses to wrap lines of text, so when viewing my pages on a Kindle, you have your choice of letters one pixel high or lines you can only see a few words of. I don't think there is anything I can do on this end about that. Refusing to wrap text is a strange characteristic for something that is supposed to be primarily a reader. Perhaps I should have my ears checked. I couldn't understand the guest speaker at church at all; I heard words and whole sentences, but so many words were garble-garble that I couldn't make any sense out of the paragraphs. It was rather like listening to someone with a very thick accent. When I loaded my pill stick yesterday, I got fed up with the omaprazole bottles that open by random wrestling and went after one of the caps with an oyster knife -- I should have used Dave's instead of mine; I stuck myself -- a pair of diagonal cutters, and two pairs of pliers, and I got the child-poisoning cover off the cap. I was startled when I stood there holding it with a pair of pliers in each hand and the cap suddenly fell to the floor. And the naked cap works just fine! All the brands get their bottles the same place, so I'm set for the foreseeable. Now, of course, will be the time when the factory notices how badly-designed the caps are, and what a danger they pose to children, and switch to the standard cap. 23 November 2011 Finally got around to clicking on the link to Bethel in Sherry's letter this morning, and the pictures of Dan had been taken down for newer stories. I did some of my packing yesterday: I learned that Firefox will export my bookmarks as a Web page, so I did and posted it on my site so that I can read my funnies on the public computer in the Holiday Inn. Haven't fetched a suitcase down from the attic yet. 25 November 2011 It's certainly a good thing we changed our minds about staying the night! As I was crossing the bedroom on my way to the closet to put the stuff in my pockets into my other pants, I stepped into a foot-size puddle. Kneeled, sniffed, the cat was exonerated. I could have spilled that much when changing Al's water dish, but surely it would have soaked in by now. I threw a bathmat on it so we wouldn't track it around. About the time I saturated the fourth bath mat, Dave remembered that his shop vacuum is a wet-and-dry vac. We vacuumed up gallons of water. So we turned the water off before going to bed -- or at least we tried to; the shut-off valve needs to be replaced whatever else we have done. And this morning Dave called Billy deRossi and he came out and established that it's a leak in the hot water line under the vanity. So we've shut the water off to the heater, and the wet spot has stopped getting bigger and appears to be getting a little less wet. We've been debating whether it's time to have the carpets cleaned; I'll be delighted if that's all we have to have done. It was, by the way, a wonderful party and a delicious meal. We over-ate, and brought stuff home. The orange wedges seem to have been improved by lying on top of the cranberry jello all night. And it wasn't *too* dark when we got home. 26 November 2011 I didn't get enough water when I vacuumed this morning to be sure I'd sucked up any, and the carpet seemed dry at bedtime. We've had the air cleaner and a squirrel-cage fan blowing on it, and an infra-red lamp from the attic is still glowing. Al showed an unhealthful interest in the squirrel cage, so Dave put a wire basket over the inlet, and is thinking of using some hardware cloth to make a permanent shield. Since we are going to have to have the vanity taken apart, Dave is planning to buy a new faucet. I hate the knobs on the one we have, because you can't work them with soapy hands. I bought some canned whole-kernel corn this morning, so I can make bean-pot cornbread for the Christmas dinner at church. I plan to make it in a rice cooker, but I overheard someone refer to it as a "bean pot" at the last pitch-in, and it sounds like a good name for the dish. 3/4 c. yellow-corn flour 3/4 c. hard white-wheat flour 1 tsp. salt 1/2 tablespoon b.p. one can corn two eggs 3/4 c. milk. grease pot with 1/2 stick butter Stir after rice cooker turns itself off, then turn it back on. 27 November 2011 I got so distracted with disposing of my hat, scarf, and umbrella in the basement that I forgot to take off my overshoes before going up to church. Walking up Sunday Lane would have been easier if the drainage could make up its mind which side of the road to flow down. Eventually I cut over to Chestnut. The carpet appears to be dry. I'm accustomed to washing in cold water -- but I'm also accustomed to drawing it from the hot-water tap so that it doesn't get colder. 28 November 2011 Found my shopping list! After searching every pocket in the closet -- and finding a shopping list that was at least six months out of date -- I finally thought of looking in the pockets on the coat hook. Were you ever disappointed to find money in your pocket? I kept reaching into my pants pocket, feeling paper, and saying "aha! I put it into my pocket after all!", then remembering that I emptied my wallet into my jeans pockets after leaving it behind at the Great Wall. So now my wallet is only for bike rides, but I carry it around in my Tuesday Night Bag anyhow -- I didn't move the scissors and pliers into my pockets. Billy is in our shower room, presumably taking the vanity apart. Dave decided that as long as it had to be taken apart, we might as well change the faucet -- it's corroded, and I never did like the knobs, which won't turn if your hands are soapy -- and he liked the new faucet so well that he went back and got another for the other sink. Billy was packing up when I got back from the mammogram and Owen's, and now we have hot water! The cleaned-up vanity and the new faucets look great. We moved the marble-topped dresser back into the bedroom this afternoon, and a minute later, Al was lying on it. Then I took the suitcase back up to the attic. There's a pile of Christmas decorations by the hole; I should have the kids sort through them; we don't use anything but the wrapping paper -- when we had the door painted, the painters pulled out the nail, so I don't even hang the wreath up. 29 November 2011 Not too long after writing yesterday's entry, I noticed a wet spot on the carpet at the threshold of the shower room. (I'm reserving "bathroom" for the room with a bathtub in it.) We're hoping that it's just stuff that got sogged up draining, but Dave has left a message for Billy. Meanwhile, the wet vac has moved back into the house and we've left the heat lamp and the air filter working on it. Billy's due here Thursday, I think it is, to install the new faucet Dave bought for the bathroom vanity. He said that while he was in there, he'd replace all the stuff that was worn out under the shower-room vanity, since they are the same age. All the wash is on racks and hangers, one load of blacks and reds, one load of whites and light colors. I hope that I notice when a dry day is predicted and put the hot whites in to soak; more than a load has accumulated, and we're working on the bottom half of the dishtowel drawer. After many days of just sitting around, I've started darning the hole in the knee of the slacks I wore on Thanksgiving. I noticed it after getting into the car, so didn't change. I happen to have some black spun silk just right for replacing the black threads, but I must have used up the brown reeled silk. I may have to dye some with onion skin. Or perhaps I could use olive green, or just leave it as a black speck. After my nap, I stepped in a definite puddle, so I turned on the wet vac. After Dave came in to see what I was doing and I told him why, he turned off the hot water. It's still a *small* puddle. When I got my eyes open, I saw that it has not only begun to snow, it's sticking. I'm glad that I don't have anywhere to go this week! Well, I need to go to Indiana Restaurant Supply before Sunday, but we are bound to have a nice day before then. I went and told Cora that I'm bringing aprons, so now I *have* to go. Either that or make three; I wonder whether I have enough checked damask to do so? The snow is heavy and wet. The clumps falling on the roof sounded like people walking around up there, which caused us a bit of puzzlement until we figured out what was going on. Now (22:26) it sounds like large limbs falling on the roof. I wonder what we'll see when we go out in the morning. Tomorrow's prediction is sunny, so I put a load of pillowcases and dish towels in to soak. I hope that wasn't rash. There was a report that power was out in downtown Warsaw, but I see the usual number of lights around the lake. Checks: toward Warsaw, the usual number. It's dark all along the western shore. 30 November 2011 When I reported that to Dave, he said "As long as it's not the East side of the lake." The UPS came on in the night, but the carbon-monoxide detector didn't. (The CO detector shrieks when the power goes out, the UPS comes on for glitches.) No wind to speak of, but there are sticks all over the lawn, and I see the end of a limb sticking out over the roof. 10:04 -- I heard another stick falling onto the roof. And another. It's above freezing, so we can wait for the snow to drain off before going out with the fishing pole with the hook on the end. Prediction is mostly sunny, and I think the clouds are farther apart than they were when we got up. 10:18 -- I took the push-broom out and cleaned the snow off the windows of the Versa so it would clean itself faster; when I was finished, I opened the door and stuck my arm in. It had gotten at least as warm as the house before I cleaned the windows. Dave went for his shot in the truck, which he'd parked inside when the snow started. 1 December 2011 When I saw the clouds reflected in the lake, I thought it was frozen over and snowed on. Then I noticed streaks of ripples -- not to mention swimming birds. I can't send HTML files with webmail, either, because Comcast has replaced the bypass around the "download latest bleeding-edge browser" page with a loop back to the "download latest bleeding-edge browser" page. Billy is here, re-repairing the leak and switching the faucets in the other vanity. I keep hearing an electric saw. The Kress book was disappointing. Good story, engaging characters, polished style, but my WSOD (Willing Suspension of Disbelief) took a heavy hit from the absolute equality between the sexes -- to the point of having "sister warriors" in a muscle-powered military -- in an otherwise caste-ridden society. And another hit, which I might not have noticed if my WSOD hadn't been sore from the first one, when it was implied that Delysians have very small families, stated outright that the Sister Warriors wait until they are at least thirty to start breeding *and* that the warriors don't recruit from other castes, shown that it takes a Nobel-class healer to set a broken leg -- and yet it is necessary to have periodic wars between the warriors and the Delysians to keep the population down! _An Alien Light_ was published in 1988, when people were running around shaking from the shocking discovery that OMG WOMEN ARE HUMAN!!!!!!!!, so that could account for some of it. I run into a lot of people on Usenet who are *still* obsessed with the idea, and the webcomic Sinfest has embarked on a long ark in which its characters make that discovery. It's rather patronizing. When I brought the clothes in yesterday, one of the pillowcases had been dripped on, so I left it out there -- carefully checking what was above that section of line -- and forgot about it. When I brought it in this morning, it was sparkling with frost. But it's nice and white.