4 October 2006 While I was parking the car after coming back from grocery shopping about noon, a truck went by hauling a couple of pieces of earth-moving equipment. By which I deduced that whatever they were doing with the contents of all the dump trucks that went by yesterday and this morning, they were done doing it. Yesterday I also saw a couple of loads of big logs leaving Boys City, which puzzled me considerably -- they'd finished clearing out the right-of way some time ago. I wasn't quite alone during Sewing Circle yesterday. The fellow who is repairing the heating system passed through the ramp room now and again. I left a few minutes early, having finished darning my socks. 5 October 2006 The dump trucks are passing by again. Looks to be dry enough to go out that way after they quit work this evening -- but "no trespassing" signs have gone up on the bike trails. 8 October 2006 Aster moved out yesterday. "No Trespassing" signs still up. In the evening, I got to level 21 at Crystallize before I got bored and quit. Well, not before I got bored, but before I quit. I'm not going to set it for "easy" any more! (All levels above four are the same level over again, so I suppose there is no upper limit on the levels.) There's the seed of a very good game here; I wish someone would finish writing it. Forgot to come home from church the usual way, and missed meeting Dave. Washed my hair before my nap, and sifted a little sand afterward; one of the two rubbermaid tubs is about full. Steamed tamales for supper. 11 October 2006 Another Tuesday, another pair of socks. But this is only holding even, because when I hung up the socks I had worn on Monday, I found a weak spot just above the reinforcing on the heel. It's small enough that I could have repaired that Tuesday night too, but it was still damp when it was time to leave. In addition to darning a sock, I tucked in ends and plucked out markers on one of a pair of brand-new socks. I don't know where all those ends came from -- the sock is all the same yarn, and if I run out of yarn, I splice, I don't leave ends. Tonight, we're having poached pork chops. The last time I did this, I liked the gravy so much that tonight I'm cooking them in the iron saucepan instead of the one-egg skillet. Rained all day. We're both getting a little grumpy from being locked in all day, but I finally printed out the June Writers' Exchange Bulletin. And I heard Dave chuckle while trying out Opera Voice Command. 12 October 2006 Looked out the patio window, saw some flakes of snow, dashed out to bring in the compact marjoram -- probably away too late. Went in to tell Dave it was snowing just before a dense flurry came down; someone on his scanner said "All units look out the window: it's snowing!" Doesn't seem to be any accumulation -- save for wet spots on west-facing windows -- and now the sun is out and the lake is steaming. 17 October 2006 The radar shows a dense clot of weather that has just pulled off us and is now all along the east coast. I'm still drying the clothes on racks in the parlor -- according to the wind sock, it's a mite windy. 18 October 2006 Candy Wolkins brought a problem to Sewing Circle, and we knitted together for a while. I've got to go through the contents of my knitting bag item by item -- there's black Medici in there *somewhere*! And I need to start a new pair of socks so I can have some mindless knitting for general occasions. Darning and working toes takes too much concentration. And there aren't a lot of places where I can haul out a pair of slacks and start sewing hooks and eyes on the waistbands. Indeed, I chickened out of taking them to Sewing Circle. We have to turn the fluorescent lights on in the ramp room now. But we decided to leave our chairs there; they really aren't in the way. Not much progress on sorting the books in the parlor. Part of the problem is that I haven't anywhere to put them. I did come across a couple that belong on the hall shelf with my antique children's books. Instead of the piles getting more orderly, the books destined to go to Alice next Sunday are getting mixed in with the rest. (A certain furry critter jumping onto the cedar chest where I'd piled some of them didn't help.) 19 October 2006 Dave spotted a truck carrying a roller turning onto Boy's City Drive. Don't know whether they're pounding down the roadbed or paving; if paving, we should see other signs Real Soon Now. 20 October 2006 Just spotted another dump truck headed up Boys City Drive. Looked like crushed stone. When I went to Aldi's I caught a glimpse of people smoothing concrete near the entrance. What the? That sidewalk was in *pristine* condition! Dave took a walk during my nap that day, and reported that the new walk is wider than the old one, presumably part of the Greenway. I cut a new T-shirt out yesterday. At least I thought I did. While putting the scraps away, I realized that I'd forgotten the pockets -- finding my pockets where I expect to is my main reason for making my own T-shirts! And then in the middle of the night, I realized that I'd cut the neckband on the lengthwise grain. It would look nicer with the stripes running up and down, but it just won't stretch in that orientation. ------------- One in the morning tomorrow: Finished cutting out the shirt, and marked the notches and darts. Nary a stitch therein. The deviled eggs came out a tad off. We said too much horseradish, too little horseradish, and too much cream cheese, but when I had one for a bedtime snack, I realized that I had left out the black pepper. I boiled a few extra and dropped them into a jar of pickle juice. 26 October 2006 More cement trucks going into Boy's City! Whatever are they doing in there? We didn't see anything new on yesterday's walk, but I think they have been running the roller back and forth on the proposed roadway. Certainly some of the tracks it leaves had been made after the rain. (It's raining again, by the way.) Dave says that they've taken a grinder to the sidewalk at the entrance, to make the old and new concrete match. They are still building forms -- probably have reached the gazebo site by now. 28 October 2006 Got on my bike in time to reach the Farmer's Market twenty minutes before closing time, but there was no sign they had ever been there. Nothing left to buy anyway, since I don't want pumpkins or flowers. I got some chocolate at the Mexican grocery -- made some pudding tonight -- and a bunch of stuff while picking up pistachio nuts at the health-food store. Considered and rejected a side trip to the library. Got home after one -- to be reminded that flu shots had been available at Dr. Snyder's from 9 to 12 today. Dave remembered in time to get his. It will happen again next Saturday; hope I don't forget. On the way home, I rode on the sidewalk they are making into a "bike path" so as to observe the construction. Hope they don't try to make me use it after it's finished. We took a walk around the island after supper. Dave and done the point seven earlier, and also a two-mile walk around the hotel. There were no unlocked doors at the church last Tuesday, so I left as soon as I'd tried them all. 30 October 2006 The patio is covered with enormous leaves. The sycamores have been dropping leaves all summer, but today one of them has gotten serious about it. It doesn't seem to have many left, but the other still has a full set. 31 October 2006 Dave ran over the sycamore leaves with the mower a couple of times, and they went away. There aren't a lot more down this morning. Still no students at sewing circle, but because there were so many people around for Trunk or Treat, I had a few visitors, one of them a clown who burst out laughing at the sight of me. It's surprising how good a halloween costume you can come up with just using stuff found around the house. I wore my "wizard" gown over my long black T-shirt slip, and the matching hat. Since the neck of the slip didn't look as good as I'd hoped sticking up through the too-low neck of the wizard suit, I pinned a black bandanna that happened to be on my dresser around my neck. This looked rather classy. I couldn't find an appropriate pin in my jewel box and resorted to a safety pin -- quite by accident, it was completely concealed by a fold of the cloth. One of these years I'm going to have to make a better hat -- though this one does have the advantage that I can fold it into a watch cap for the walk home. The stripes of green eyeshadow washed right off, much to my surprise. I'd had to scrub and scrub when I tested it a few days ago. -- Joy Beeson http://joybeeson.home.comcast.net/ http://www.timeswrsw.com/craig/cam/ (local weather) west of Fort Wayne, Indiana, U.S.A.