E:\LETTERS\OctBan09.txt This file is posted at http://davebeeson.home.comcast.net/LETTERS/OCTBAN09.TXT 3 October 2009 Weird, man -- I turned off my clock program by mistake & decided not to bother re-starting it because it is instantiated automatically when I re-set the computer. It's been several days now, and the clock still isn't running. I run Windows 98: going even *one* day without resetting just doesn't happen! I didn't cut the hemp-and-cotton jersey yesterday, but I did finally plant the garlic -- the garlic I missed when I pulled it up is already a foot high. I buried a potato that sprouted in the cupboard and two giant garlics that I bought at the farmers market at the beginning of the row, and filled out the end with multipliers. Still have no undiluted vinegar, but it's time to get on with pickling garlic. I figure that putting in as much salt as will dissolve makes up for the weak vinegar, but salt- curing limits the amount of garlic I can put into a dish. Yesterday's cold night ended the tomato season. I bought one under-ripe tomato at the farmers market, a quart of fingerling potatoes, some peppers, half a dozen ears of corn, two frozen pork chops, and a frozen slice of ham. It's probably just as well that I forgot to go back and buy green tomatoes to fry. It's time to take a spading fork out to see whether the potatoes managed to do something despite being deer-chewed. Since they'll keep better buried than dug up, I plan to wait until we've eaten the fingerlings. 4 October 2009 I've been to church on so many weekdays that when I turned into the walkway between Sunday Lane and Chestnut Street, I was startled to see the parking lot full of cars. I may have mentioned that I have some nerve damage in my left leg that doesn't show unless I stand still for a long time -- something that only happens when singing in church. Every Sunday for weeks, I've been saying to myself "Have they cut the number of hymns, or has my leg gotten a lot better?" Today I learned that it's neither -- today has been the first day that it was cold enough that I wore shoes instead of sandals! I hope that I remember to take off my shoes before the services start next Sunday. I walked downtown to see what was going on at the festival after my nap yesterday, and forgot to take my watch. So when I saw that all that was going on was that people were folding up tents and loading stuff into cars and trucks, I figured that I'd taken longer to get dressed than I thought -- but when I got home it was only a quarter past four, so it must have been pretty close to four (the official closing time) when I left the festival. I suppose the rain made people close up early. (Theory supported by the spinner's spouse arriving to pick her up just as I got up to go home.) Doud Orchards had a produce stand -- which didn't interest me because I'd bought a jug of cider at the farmers market. Otherwise, the only food vendor was a kettle-corn stand. 5 October 2009: washday Forgot the last load was in the washer umpty-bump times, and ended up hanging it on a rack after midnight. I do hope it was *rinsed*! And I got pink stains on three of the four white bras I washed, and on the sleeve of my best T-shirt. I don't know whether it's Facebook or Firefox that's being really, really stubborn about letting me bookmark Martha's Facebook page, but at least the latest iteration takes me to a page only one click away from the page I bookmarked. The first two times I bookmarked Martha's page, I got a connection to Dave's page! Dave said that I could keep up with Martha by looking at my own page -- but I wasn't forethoughty enough to create separate identities for family and fen. There is so much stuff on my "wall" that I don't bother to look at it at all. When I put my sandals on for Saturday's after-supper walk, I discovered that I could see sock through the sole. So I cut the buckles off, dropped them into my button jar, and dropped the sandals into the wastebasket. So now I have to wear shoes for walking, and that means putting moleskin on the spots where I got corns last winter. Which means about five minutes of scrubbing before I can put my socks on even when I haven't been wading in muck. We were completely out of milk, so I drove to Owen's after my second after-supper walk. There was a big empty space where the gallons of 1% belonged. So I bought two half gallons, and will have to go back sooner than expected. Spent $57. And I don't recall getting any meat. I'm going to cook the pork chops I bought at the farmers market for supper tomorrow. In gravy, with baked fingerlings, I think, even though we had chicken and noodles over mashed potatoes tonight. That was the third meal out of the can of chicken I bought when out with Alice and Sara Lee. I was disappointed to find that it was all white meat, so it's just as well I can't buy more. The first meal was chicken soup, with a can of chicken broth and fingerling potatoes, the second was an "asian" noodle-and-sauce kit with added meat and vegetables, the third was noodles boiled in another can of chicken broth, with an envelope of gelatin and a little cornstarch added. And there's enough chicken for another meal left. 6 October 2009 When I dressed this morning, I selected one of the stained bras to be sure it got into next week's wash -- and I had to look close to see which bras are stained. Unfortunately, I can't say the same of my T-shirt. I hung it on one of the dark-sky lights to get a little sunshine. Even if it doesn't fade, I'll wait to bleach it until I've got a load; short-sleeve season is over. I'm cutting out two more pairs of hemp & cotton briefs. That uses up the two yards. That makes four, so it takes half a yard to make a pair. Which datum isn't terribly useful because I don't like the fabric very much. The only carrot-free vegetable mixes I could find at Owen's were useless combinations such as peppers and onions. If there are only two vegetables in the mix, I'll buy them separately. Might have bought the pepper-and-onion one for the pepper, but I nearly always have fresh pepper in the fridge. Or raw pepper, rather -- produce you buy isn't fresh. 7 October 2009 Just caught Al E. Cat relaxing on the kitchen counter. I have to shoo him off the eating table all the time, but he's never interested in the counter unless the window over the sink is open. I've been resetting the computer at a normal rate ever since I commented on how long it's been -- and today I had to do a *hard* reboot. We've got themes for banners through March! And we get a month off, since banners aren't needed when the church is decorated for Christmas. Martha suggested that we do the January banner in November, so that we can have December off. A very good idea! She has a good design for next month's theme, "Grace". 8 October 2009 I think we are getting tired of corn on the cob. Good timing, as last Saturday was probably my last chance to buy it. I forgot to announce the September mailing of the Banner on Facebook. Bit embarrassing to post now. Too wet to take our after-supper walk, but this morning I came back from Owen's East to find Dave just leaving on a point seven and went with him. While we walked, my Ripstop wind pants pulled out of my gaiters. I'm going to have to do something about that before going on any long rides. I was thinking of putting elastic in the hems of the pants to hold them down, but the gaiters collapsed down around my ankles -- something they don't do when they are over wool instead of slickery Ripstop. So I think a better plan is to make gaiters that are supported by the notch under the knee. I rejected that the first time it came to mind because it would take ages to knit a knee-length gaiter -- but gaiters can be cut and sewn! I'd probably have to put in a lot of elastic casings. The scraps from the windpants would be the best fabric, but it's slick and ravels. At least it doesn't stretch. Can't be any harder than making the windpants in the first place. (I must remember to measure my ankle over tights & wool gaiters.) I've got my new hemp underpants in the drawer now. Took longer than I scheduled for it: the knots in the elastics just *wouldn't* go into the casings even though the openings were ample; they seemed to be clutching the edges of the openings like cartoon characters. Puts me in mind of the picket signs of the sixties: "**** no, we won't go!". I meant to mend the pocket of my old striped T-shirt while I had the knit needle in the machine, but I think I'll do that tomorrow. 15 October 2009 I like the hemp-and-cotton jersey now that I've tweaked my briefs pattern to include 1/8" elastic around the leg holes. The coarse fabric takes an unreasonable amount of time to dry when washed, but the briefs are quite comfortable. If I still like them after they've been washed a few times. I'll buy another two yards and make four more pair. No hurry, as the shabby briefs will take ages to finish wearing out. We had a productive evening at banner making, and Martha came up with the idea of pinning the paper to the bulletin board instead of taping it to the wall when we enlarge designs with her opaque projector, which made us all say "why didn't I think of that sooner!" We also finalized the plans for the plywood ironing board: buy a sheet of quarter-inch plywood, have eight inches trimmed off one side. I meant to do that this morning, but (a) Dave drove the pickup to Fort Wayne (b) it's raining and I don't want the plywood to get wet (c) I don't feel like it. Must get it done before next Wednesday, however, as we will start laying out and ironing down then. And I'll have to work it over with the orbital sander before taking it to the church. I'm thinking of borrowing Dave's soldering iron to write "banner board WLFMC" on the back. Went to a skeet shoot at Darryl's last Sunday. First time Alice and I hung around to watch them shoot; it was more fun and less noise than we expected. Picking up my knitting didn't do much to keep my hands out of the food. After winding the wool and casting on, I chickened out of dividing it onto four needles. Just as well, as when I went to finish the job at Handwork Circle last Tuesday, I calculated that 104 was too many stitches. Recalculating gave me 88, which is too few, but I found the error and 100 passed all checks, so I divided up the stitches -- then it was time to come home. Now I really, really need to find the black socks I once started knitting, because five of my #00 needles are in them, and I can't get very far working with three. After my nap: no sign of my 00 needles, nor of the black persian I need to darn my winter tights, but I've found some stuff that I'd forgotten that I lost, and things are getting a tad neater in the sewing room. 16 October 2009 Drove the Tacoma to Carter Lumber, where it was greatly admired, a very nice guy helped me select 3/16" cabinet- grade birch plywood, and another nice guy cut eight inches off one edge of my plywood, loaded both pieces into the Taco, expressed appreciation that I hadn't come in a sedan, and tied it down firmly. Then Dave helped me carry it into the shop and found two sponge sanding blocks while I found a piece of coarse sandpaper. I used the coarse paper to smooth the edges and round the corners, then scrubbed the edges with coarse and fine sanding blocks. When I got the upper edge done, I had to carry the board out of the shop to turn it over. I was reminded that the food Calorie is a thousand times the size of the physics calorie. When I used my hand as soft backing for the sandpaper, it got hot enough to hurt in only a few strokes! Now I believe that boy scouts really can start a fire by rubbing sticks together. Then I went to the church and discovered that I'd measured the space where I meant to put the banner board, but hadn't measured the door to the kitchen-in-a-closet. The doorway is a touch narrower than the board, and quite a lot shorter. But by turning the board this way and that way, I got it in. And I learned that it's necessary to take *everything* else out of the slot first; not just the ironing board and the two tables, but also the small stuff. 20 October 2009 The following Saturday I went to the Farmers' Market, planning to buy milk and lettuce afterward. Black cord elastic and black 1/8" elastic were on my shopping list, so on the way to Marsh I zigged through a parking lot to Lowery's, and found a spool of black 1/4" elastic as soon as I turned to the black side of the elastic display, but the only packet of 1/8" elastic I could find was white. I looked right at a packet of black cord elastic, and rejected it as not a reasonable substitute for 1/8" soft-stretch. So I bought ten yards of quarter-inch elastic and never realized what I'd done until I looked at my shopping list in Marsh. Today I got around to coiling up the quarter-inch elastic and putting it into the sandwich bag with at least five yards of black quarter-inch elastic. Elastic doesn't go bad in storage the way it used to, but I don't use black very often. Also don't use quarter-inch very often. I was tired when I left Marsh, so I went straight back on Smith instead of zigging across the railroad to buy dried cranberries and sesame oil. Must have been really tired, because it wasn't until I decided not to stop at Sherman & Lin's that I thought about my panniers being so full that I couldn't buy anything that didn't fit into my pockets. I did stop at the pawn shop, but couldn't look at the pocket knives under glass because a small group was considering the purchase of one of the things that the proprietor keeps out of reach on the wall behind the knife case, and I didn't want to shove them aside. Nothing new in the fishbowl of bargain knives. The level was lower, though. I think it clever of them to use a see-through container, so customers can see what-all is piled up without pawing the merchandise. Sunday I decided that the laundry could wait & I'd take the Chinworth Bridge loop on Monday, and come into Warsaw from the other side. But on Monday I slept late, and had to do this and that before I could start; don't recall what, except for replacing a damaged #3 hook on the jeans I wore. So it was pushing noon when I set off, and I hugged the lake instead of ranging out into the country. I did put in an extra mile first, going to the teller machine and back before I pumped up my tires. The tires had been down to forty pounds, so it was high time. And Dave had to repair my pump. I had to poke it with a chopstick to make it switch from Schraeder to Presta, so he put in some silicon spray. I suppose I'd better see what the Trailhouse has in the way of pumps -- though the rubber parts might still be available. Looks as though all you have to do is to unscrew a cap, pull out the old rubber, and drop the new rubber in. It's been a good pump, and has held out for at least twenty years, so if I do get a new one, I'm hoping that Topeak still makes the Joe Blow. I bought the last packet of black cord elastic, and the packet of white 1/8" elastic was gone -- causes me to hope that there will be a new shipment soon. Bought dried fruit, nuts, and toothpaste at Warsaw Health. Got fennel flavor Tea Tree Oil toothpaste this time. Too much fennel flavor, as usual, but at least it doesn't sting the way excess mint oil does. Package claims that there is no sweetner, but it tastes sweet. Flavors don't entirely rinse out, but the aftertaste wears off in a few minutes. Thence to Kroger for milk, saltines, and breakfast burritos. Struck out on burritos for the third time -- so *where* did I buy those we had before? Might have been one of those fleeting specials at Aldi. Dave said the breakfast hot pockets and scrambled-egg toaster pastries I bought will do. I looked and looked in the cracker aisle: no whole- wheat saltines. I *know* I got them here, they are Kroger Brand Saltines! Finally read the label on a gaping hole. They were having a special on Michelina entrees, so I filled up my panniers. Rather piled up, with the entrees, two gallons of milk, and some other stuff. Not to mention forty dollars of fruit and nuts! 22 October 2009 Facebook seems to be down or stressed out or something this morning; I tried three times to post before giving up, and no matter what I click on, I get a different page or a page with no data on it. I wonder why I was allowed to bookmark Dave Beeson's page and Catharine Asaro's page, but I can't bookmark Martha Beeson's Facebook page? And why, today, there's no content on her page but there is content on Dave's? Maybe I should have tried bookmarking it again while Facebook was off guard. While cleaning off the "giant hook" where I keep pending repair jobs, I decided to do my charcoal mock-wool pants next, since it's the season to wear them. I can't find out why they were on the hook: No holes in the fabric, all the pockets are sound, all hooks and eyes present and working properly. After typing that, I realized that I hadn't checked the stitching on the back pockets -- looked, it hasn't got any back pockets. Aha! I'm leaving it in the closet, and plan to add an eye to my red skirt and press it next, because I want to wear it next Sunday. Finally potted the rosemary yesterday. I set it off center, and when I couldn't find any basil seed in the can, planted stale radish seeds all over. I don't think they'll sprout. The soil was pre-dampened, which made it easier to use. It was also sold by the pound instead of the cubic foot. I sense a connection. We used the banner board for the first time yesterday. It worked, but had warped from being right next to a sink. So when we knocked off, we put it behind a bookcase and set a dried flower arrangement on top of the bookcase to make it look like a backdrop. This was also a *lot* easier than buttoning it through the little door and around the corner of the sink. I polished off the last of the canned chicken as gravy on toast for lunch. We had gotten yet another meal of chicken-and-potato soup out of it. Dave's pontoon boat is cleaned up and ready to put away for the winter. I wanted to go for one last cruise to look at the trees around the lake, but Monday he looked out and noticed that it was listing to starboard, so he called Joe and they got it out before it could take on any more water, A clamp on one of the pier posts, I think, had been turned the wrong way and poked a hole in one of the tubes. On Tuesday, he started out for the welder's place after I started a load of clothes, and got back with a mended boat before the final spin. I was impressed. Still had to drain the tube. I suggested taking it for a slow ride up Ninth Street Hill, but he settled for jacking up the tongue of the trailer. 23 October 2009 Things are a tad neater in the closet -- I tore two of my dirty-work shirts up for rags, and the shirt I'm wearing will go the same way before the end of the day even though it's made of real blue chambray, which I'll never see again. Heard a couple of people talking on the scanner -- "she just Facebooked me that . . . " "Well, Facebook her back . . . " for all the world as though Facebook were a way to communicate! I only tried twice to post a message on Facebook today. But I happened to notice a photo that Facebook refused to allow me to delete a few months ago, and deleted it without any backtalk. I wish programs still came with *manuals*. Yeah, I know, I know, they are obsoleted (usually by removing features I need) long before anyone could compose a manual. But at least someone could tell you what they are *supposed* to do; that would be *such* a big help in trying to guess how to make them do it. Later: that Facebook post about how I'm missing trunk or treat is getting so tattered and worn that I'm not sure I still want to post it. On the other hand, I clicked the back button on two separate occasions, and both times I actually went back to the page I'd been on before! I wonder whether there's a trade-off between being able to use the back button and being allowed to write on your own wall? (But I couldn't write on Dave's wall either.) 26 October 2009 Also, clicking on "confirm Friend request" has no effect. I think it's time to give up on Facebook. But I'm going to try using Dave's computer after he goes to bed tonight, if I remember. Brought nothing back from Saturday's ride except a "fast fifty" I picked up at the ATM on the way back. Slept late, then waited out a rain shower, and got to the fairgrounds just in time to see the last vendor leave the farmers market, pulling a trailer of pumpkins. It was only five minutes after the official closing time when I got to a place where I could unzip my windbreaker and look at my watch, so I think they got rained out. Watch check was at Chimps, but I was afraid to stay anywhere for fear the rain would come back, so I looked at only three or four comix, and when none of them were comics, went on to a quick tour around the consignment boutique. Good news and bad news at Lowery's: the packets of elastic had been re-stocked, but none of them were black 1/8". Found a half-sold spool of white 1/8", and figured that that was what I had seen on my first visit, and that I didn't see it at the second visit because I'd remembered it as a packet. If they wanted a spool of black 1/8", they'd have one, so I'd best get on with the project using white. It won't show, it's underwear, and it's a repair job on stuff that is almost worn out, so color doesn't matter all that much. Got close to the Singer treadle at Pretty Pillow, thanks to the neatening that accompanied their move to new quarters. Price tag of $98, the finish is pretty beat up (though in better condition than my White), old-style presser foot (like the White), turning the handwheel suggests that it needs a good cleaning. Seems to have everything that was in the drawers when the previous owner died, but none of the remaining attachments looked taken care of. Didn't see a manual, but you can download one. It needed a belt, of course. They also have a Singer 401 that appeared to be in good condition even though someone had painted the cabinet pink. (Good job of painting.) I didn't turn the handwheel; price was in the same neighborhood as the treadle. Sherman & Lin didn't have any dark chocolate. I didn't go into their other store. Still no sharp little knives at the pawn shop, though there were some oddball knives I enjoyed looking at. This time other customers blocked me off from the fishbowl of bargain knives, but I could see from a distance that they hadn't added any since the last time. I've got to get around to having blood drawn before the end of the month. Perhaps I'll go tomorrow, if it's a good day to eat chicken salad and a bagel at the picnic table behind the emergency room. And I can buy a jar of peanut butter at Owen's. Brilliant idea while dressing to go to Aunt Millie's this morning: I can quite easily retrofit pencil pockets into all my old jerseys. Aunt Millie had no whole-grain bagels, so I decided to give Dave a treat and buy plain white. Didn't get to make him say "poor me", as the Toyota was gone when I got back. I got two packages of whole-wheat mini-sub rolls, two different brands. I toured the restaurant-supply store before loading up on bread, and found out what a quarter-sheet pan is. They also have nice sturdy half-sheet pans, but I didn't see any whole-sheet pans. Or an oven big enough to take one. Did see a freezer big enough to hold a couple of deer. There were some neat bargains on the second-hand shelf, but everything I wanted, I've already got. 27 October 2009 Did go to the doctor's office, but slept late, fiddle- faddled around getting ready, and got there after the lab staff had gone to lunch. So I bought peanut butter at Owen's and stashed my sack lunch in the fridge for tomorrow. 28 October 2009 Sig file of the week: "Resistance is NOT futile, it's voltage divided by current" Got my blood drawn today. Seemed to tire me out; I didn't get anything else done. 'Course, the morning was nearly over before it was my turn to go into the lab; that might have had something to do with getting nothing done! I did stop by the emergency room with three magazines on the way home, and ride to the first bench on the boardwalk to eat my mini-sub roll and canned chicken salad. I was upset that the potato salad I made for the skeet shoot was so poor, and I had three potatoes left, so yesterday or the day before I made a batch just for us and put a quarter of the last of Darryl's peppers into it. This one came out good even though I forgot the mustard and you can't taste the thyme and oregano. I think the difference was that I put in as much celery as I put into the larger batch. We've already eaten nearly half. The November banners were finished just under the wire. (My part's finished; Martha still has to do some chalk work.) The banners we're starting next Wednesday aren't due until January, but we both want to do other things in December. I am *so* glad I thought of buying the banner board -- it made a couple of impossible arrangements quite easy. Persuading the banner board to go back behind the bookcase was another matter! Didn't help that neither of us was seeing straight by then. Whenever I write about our Wednesday night activities, I want to capitalize "banner". Overheard outside the doctor's office: "What's she doing, Mommy?" "She's parking her bicycle." "*Why* is she parking her bicycle?" They went through the door at that point, so I don't know what Mommy's theory was. Frankly, my dear, I couldn't think up a good answer myself! 29 October 2009 Oh, cool. The library's new and improved on-line catalog won't sort search results unless the number of results is small enough that it would be feasible to page through it by hand. I'm finally doing the Monday wash. Which means that there won't be enough dirty clothes to wash next Monday. I think my schedule has shifted. Just decided that while I'm waiting for the washer, I should finish the repair job that occasioned three trips to Lowery's. So I got down my box of elastic -- and discovered that I had had a whole new packet of black 1/8" all along. Upon poking around the library catalog, I've discovered that if you can manage to find the page for a book by an author who has the same last name as the author you are looking for, and then click on the author's name, instead of getting a list of books by that author (as in the old system), you get a list of authors who have the same last name! And if you then click on one of the entries, you'll get a list of books by that author. Remember when you learned how to use resources instead of learning how to trick them? 31 October 2009 It must be getting on toward bedtime -- I'm starting to wake up. Dave noted that we have to remember to get up later tomorrow. I said that we had that down pat. Great party at Alice's house. As we were getting ready to leave, a minor accident while attempting to put a water bottle in the front seat through the back door caused me to end up with my head in the passenger-seat footwell. Which in turn caused me to find a Michelina entree (stir-fry rice with vegetables) under the seat. After we got back, I freshened my makeup, put on a yellow shawl, and walked to the church to get in my mdr of exercise and see how the trunk-or-treat party was going. It was getting on fine without me. I passed a lot of folks sitting on their steps waiting for trick-or-treaters & saw the lights of some emergency vehicle said to be firefighters handing out candy. 7 November 2009 When I opened the entree a few days later, preparatory to dumping it into the garden, it was full of gray fuzz. I threw it out box and all instead of separating them. I've no idea how long it had been under the seat. Having gotten used to taking exercise on Saturday morning, I went to Marsh today. I've gotten bored with going around Lake Winona clockwise, but the only alternative long way into town is going around both Pike and Center counterclockwise, and I didn't want a ride *that* long. So I took a perfunctory lap that wasn't much longer than going straight. Noticed that Marsh's produce section is a lot smaller than it was; an enlarged wine section occupies the space. Came back by way of the library, Subway, boardwalk, and emergency room -- with a detour to Owen's; I'd parked and gotten to the door before I remembered that I had no intention of stopping here. I went in and looked at the cat food, but they didn't have anything I hadn't already bought at Marsh. Traded _Dragon Venom_ for _Vampires_ at the library. I'm still finding the New and Improved catalog very awkward to use. I think the terminal in the library is accessing the catalog by way of the Internet; pages don't load a speck faster than they do at home. Well, there's one point in the new program's favor: I twice went to the shelves to look for what I'd found in the catlog, and both times the search was exactly where I left it when I came back. The old program would erase everything while you were still sitting there reading it. About halfway from The Entrance to our driveway, making a new pants protector got moved to the top of my sewing list. Catching on the front derailer is Not Acceptable. It's true that one of the ties had loosened, but even then, it shouldn't sag that much. I want to finish some baby gowns soon. I washed the uncut fabric last washday -- the package included six gowns that had been cut out, enough flannel to make four more, some scraps of bias tape, and two packages of quilt binding. The two pieces of flannel started out as 47" squares and came out of the washer as 46" squares, so it's good that I washed it. I was thinking, when Evelyn asked whether I would finish the gowns, that I'd make the first Tuesday in each month Baby Gown Night at Handwork Circle, but I see that I'm going to have to make a few by myself before I can teach others. The gowns are cut with the neck-hole in front exactly like the neck-hole in back, so that no matter how you put it on the baby it's on backward. With the guidance of the baby-gown pattern in _Make it for Baby_, that will be easy enough to correct, but I'm going to have to consult with Evelyn as to which is front and which is back. The two pieces of flannel have good selvages; when cutting, I can take advantage of that to make the gowns easier to finish and require less bias tape. I picked two gowns that go with the quilt binding, and plan to bind the opening and hem all in one piece, bind the sleeves to match, then cut the remaining quilt binding in half to bind the neck and make the ties. (The neck binding extends to make ties. I'm going to have to make bias tape before too long -- you can't buy all-cotton tape, and it was pretty flimsy when you could buy it. Didn't see anything really suitable in my box of solid-color scraps; the scraps that were pretty colors were too heavy. I've got some gingham in my box of bias tape -- goodness, that must be left over from the house dress I made as my first venture in pattern drafting the first year I was married! I finally drove to Maple Leaf Farms yesterday. I'd have bought more of the fully-cooked cheesburger- stuffed chicken breasts had I realized that they were only a dollar a dozen. I thought the posted price was per bag, but judging by my reciept, it was per case. The stuffing has little flavor of any sort, which is just as well, as I don't think cheeseburger goes all that well with chicken breast. But they make a nice quick lunch if you add some onion or salsa. I also bought a box of raw chicken breasts stuffed with pepperoni pizza (I'd have liked broccoli or Kiev better, but I just had to try the pepperoni), a box of fully-cooked duck drummettes (about the size of a fryer leg), and a box of rosemary-lemon duck breasts. 19 November 2009 Still can't find the persian wool I need to darn my wool tights, and it's past time to start wearing them. I suppose I'd better buy more. Lot of fuss, since I can't quite remember the instructions for obtaining a "virtual number" to pay for mail-order with. I should check to see whether Needlework Corner has a "print and mail" option; I *can* write a check all by myself. Or at least look to see whether they still sell persian wool.