11 October 2007 I've missed a lot of entries. Monday I finally got around to making an appointment to have the spot on my nose looked at; appointment was Tuesday; went back Wednesday to have blood drawn; Thursday got a call that I'd flunked the blood test & got put on Zocor. I haven't picked it up yet. He also said that my prescription for Nexium is permanent, and that I should take fish-oil capsules. The rest of the week is looking brighter: Oueni roast on Sunday. I was supposed to get a call to set up an appointment with a dermatologist, but that hasn't happened yet. I think I'll call them on Monday. (It would help if I could remember which dermatologist he said he was setting me up with. All I remember is that the office is in the same building, and he comes here from Fort Wayne two days a week.) [Notice came in a letter, with medical-history forms etc.] The new house appeared to be being ignored for quite a while after getting black paper on its roofs. That's roofs plural -- the house has enough roof-seams to make The Castle look sensible. But the obligatory row of three pointy dormers is on the side that doesn't show much; we can hope that that part of the fad is petering out. Wish I knew what terms to feed into Google to find out what the current fad in construction is called. It's pervasive -- my new shoes have two points on each heel! Reminds me of a sketch of a gentleman's overcoat that was drawn during the bell-skirt era. I think "greek revival" was the fad in architecture at the time -- but the following fad in clothing was the columnar look. Anyhow, I heard noises from the construction site Monday and Tuesday, but didn't get around to walking down there until Wednesday. It looked the same as before, save that there didn't used to be blacker streaks down the creases. Got closer: a layer of less-black roofing paper had been added. And on the way back, I noticed two wheelbarrow ramps leading into the interior. No change in the two "artworks" started on the part of the Heritage Trail that cuts through the mountain-bike trails. The foundation nearer the entrance is hollow, as if they meant to make a wishing well. The one inside the curve I thought had been intended to make room for a picnic table is a square concrete pillar -- lined up with the middle of the road on both sides of the curve, but not dangerously so on the way back. Serves nicely to remind bike riders that the Greenway is not a bikeway, it's a walkway on which bikes are permitted. Now if someone would tell the reporters who write it up in the newspaper to stop calling it a bikeway . . . 17 October 2007 Googled flaxseed after putting a cupful on to soak for tomorrow's bread. Learned that eating flaxseed will decrease recovery time from strenuous exercise, relieve arthritic and inflammatory pain, and make my hoofs strong. A quarter cup once or twice a week is a hefty dose for a full-grown horse: I *thought*, when I saw the seed in the mixing bowl, that maybe putting a whole cup in the bread was overdoing it. The pint of water I put on it is already gelled. Dave said that the pumpernickel bun I was eating looked like a chocolate cookie. Now I'm getting naughty thoughts involving cocoa, molasses, and sunflower seed in cinnamon- raisin bread. The new house was wrapped in Tyvek Monday. I'd been hearing noises like a machine nail gun, and suppose it was a stapler. Hammering goes "Rat tat tat tat!", a nail gun just goes "tat!"; the noises I heard were "tatatatat!" Heard hammering yesterday, but walked to the church for handwork circle instead of going to look, and today it was raining at walk time. Tomorrow is supposed to be stormy. My old pill-counter wouldn't hold more than one fish-oil capsule, so I bought a new one with morning and evening compartments when I picked up my prescriptions. Dave liked it so much that he bought one for himself the next time he went past Owen's -- then I discovered that my fish oil capsules would go into the pill counter, but they wouldn't come out. So now I've got my Nexium and fish oil in the pill counter that Dave discarded when he bought the morning/evening one. And the Zocor in my old pill counter, which is next to my toothbrush. I was aghast at first that it's supposed to be taken in the evening, since "when I get out of bed" is the only time I can remember consistently to take a pill, but finally remembered that I brush my teeth at night, so I put the pills where I'd see them when I reach for my toothbrush. Why evening, nobody says. A site in Britain says that you make cholesterol at night, therefore evening is the best time to take anti-cholesterol medicine. Why couldn't the vast sheet that came with the pills mention that? 18 October 2007 When I mixed up the dough, it became apparent that one tablespoon of flaxseed in a two-loaf recipe would have been *worlds*. I don't have enough cookie sheets to make that many flax-seed crackers, but eventually it came to me that I could freeze part of the dough and make it up later. So now I have a tiny dab of flaxseed dough rising in my twelve-quart bowl, and a double recipe of plain red-wheat sponge rising in my four-quart bowl. When I add flour just before naptime, I'll switch them. The flax-seed "batter" is stiff enough to tip out onto the cutting board while I dump the red-wheat batter into the larger bowl. They are still predicting thunderstorms for today, but it looks as though it will be some time before they get here. Perhaps I should take a walk before naptime, as yesterday's walk got rained out. 19 October 2007 Did, heard the noise again, but couldn't quite see what the guy attaching Tyvek had in his hand. We both slept until after ten this morning. The first thing I heard on the scanner after we got up was someone saying "There's nothing there." That would have had an entirely different meaning to me if I hadn't known that a tornado had touched down last night. Dave got on line and found that they've counted three million dollars of damage so far, just in this county -- mostly farm buildings. There were a lot of sticks on the lawn yesterday morning, but don't appear to be more today, so it must not have been much of a storm here. I didn't hear any wind, but I didn't hear any the night the sticks came down. And the leaves are thick enough that I can't swear there aren't more sticks. 21 October 2007 Had to wear my old shoes to church today, as I wanted to wear a dress, and my new shoes don't fit when I wear hose. Old ones look better anyway, when newly polished -- but at their age, "newly polished" lasts about long enough to put them on. Reflected that I've been going downhill, appearance-wise. My really-old shoes, that I keep in case I need to walk in mud, look like grandmother shoes. The old shoes look like a man's shoes. The new ones look like jogging shoes. Slept until ten Saturday, but there were a few booths still open when I got there and I bought six "lemon peppers": small, wrinkled hot peppers the color of lemons, and, perhaps, a faint scent of lemon. I put one in Dave's salad tonight, and I still haven't got the capsaicin off my fingers. No sign of the vaporware market, of course. I mentioned it while buying "Everyday Clothing of Rural America" at the bookstore across the street from where it's supposed to be, and the proprietor said he'd never seen any activity there. Bought a pint jar of Mayonesa at a Mexican grocery on the way out, and on the way back stopped at Warsaw Health foods for liquid lecithin, granulated lecithin, and a product now forgotten. Checked for ascorbic acid, but didn't see a form of it I could use in bread. On my last trip to Owen's, I learned that Fruit Fresh has a New! Improved! formula that substitutes citric acid for an unspecified portion of the ascorbic acid. Even if I knew what proportion of the product was ascorbic acid, I'm not sure I want citric acid in my bread. Also window shopped at Sherman and Lin's, and the pawn shop and the new thrift shop in Lakeside Plaza. The thrift shop has little of interest yet. I had a more interesting time at Goodwill the previous Wednesday, but all I got was rid of some old clothes. 22 October 2007 I'm going to have a busy Halloween. Mrs. Near asked me to help supervise the craft tables at Trunk or Treat, and I said yes before I realized that I was going to miss my nap to see the dermatologist that day. Guess I'll be careful not to overdo the day before, and drink lots of tea. 25 October 2005 Finally made some soup in my cast-iron dutch oven last Monday. Harder than I expected because I couldn't use the grill to suspend the kettle over the fire. Dave later took the empty, cold kettle out and showed me how the legs would slip neatly between the bars of the grate, but a hot, heavy kettle that I'm afraid of spilling -- and did spill several times -- is a whole 'nother story. The kettle had a tendency to pick up the grate, and the grate was never balanced, so the kettle would tip. It wasn't until after I'd browned the soup that I thought of keeping it warm with coals on the lid. I'd better put "great northerns" on my shopping list, because I want to try again. And I'll need more ham hocks. Monday 29 October 2007 For ten or twenty years, I've had just barely enough suit hangers to dry my laundry on. So whenever I saw cheap suit hangers for sale, I'd buy a package of two or three, and come next laundry day, I'd once again be dashing around the house to assemble enough hangers to dry the wash. It's been at least two weeks since I bought two packages of five hangers at Owen's [pauses to check Quicken: I bought them Oct.10th.], and the rubber band is still around one of the bundles. I think I've finally got it! The new house had bundles of shingles balanced on its ridges a week ago today, but we haven't seen anything being done with them. Windows and doors appeared in most of the openings Friday and Saturday. (Or was that Thursday and Friday?) I was surprised by a hot-air balloon yesterday afternoon, when I looked to see why Dalton Foundary was making such a funny noise. (It was *louder* than the foundary; there goes my desire to sail in peaceful silence far above the Earth.) I thought it was in trouble from the lack of wind for a while, but they had been hovering low to look at the lake, rather than in danger of falling into it. Saw it high up sailing east later, and later still heard a lawman's status report mention a hot-air balloon. Don't know what status he was reporting, because the startling item was last & I hadn't been listening. The square-pillar artwork foundation on the hill has acquired a yellow lollipop made of crossed shapes of sheet steel. From a distance, I thought it was depicted cellophane wrapper and all, but on closer inspection the sparkle was an inset band of glass tablets, stacked with the flat sides horizontal. I'm beginning to think that the "wishing well" foundation *is* the artwork. Dave says there's another new artwork in the park, this one a large hand holding a small hand. Late last night, when I couldn't sleep and one of the hymns from the service was running through my head, it struck me that I don't remember seeing the praise team lately. Is it just that I haven't been paying attention? Evening: the rubber band came off when the last load came out of the washer. I came perilously close to doing everything I'd planned for today. Didn't sift dirt for cat litter, but I came closer to raking the beach clean than I'd intended. The cinnamon balls are still only piles of cinnamon and cocoa in the glass pie plate; may leave that for tomorrow. Also tomorrow: I must fill out the papers to take to the dermatologist on Wednesday, and get my backpack ready for Trunk or Treat. Not to mention that it's way past time to dump everything out of my Tuesday-night bag and sort it. Made bread, chocolate buns, and flaxseed crackers. Bread and crackers turned out well, but I forgot to put raisins in the chocolate buns. Since the whole idea was contrast between bitter chocolate bread and very-sweet raisins, the buns are somewhat lacking in point. I don't think one heaping tablespoon of cinnamon was enough -- though it smelled very nice while it was baking -- and I should have flattened the balls of dough more. All baked goods in the freezer now, but I must take the bread out and bag it in half an hour. I got tired of prying slices apart, so I'm freezing them on cookie sheets before bagging. 2 November 2007 Grump. We forgot to cover the peppers last night, and there is frost on everything this morning. I got through Wednesday just fine, but I was kinder dueless and dilatory yesterday. Did move some lakeweed and sift a shovelful of cat litter. I'm going to have to get with it if I'm going to fill the bin before hard freeze. And I haven't planted the garlic yet. Got a turn Tuesday: I'd been planning to go to the doctor Wednesday afternoon, but the calendar said eleven fifteen! So Wednesday morning I tied my jeans legs up for riding before I put my shirt on, and then went through my wallet to make sure my medicare card was on top. While doing that, I found an appointment card for one fifteen! Closer inspection of the calendar showed that the middle "1" was a colon. At which point I took my gaiter and garter off, and changed into newer shoes and older pants. I used part of the extra two hours to decide which gray yarn I made the socks I'm mending from, wind a hundred forearm wraps off the cone (could this be the original ell?), and plunge the skein into hot water. After a soak, I spun it in the washer, wrang it in a towel, and hung it on the handlebars. When it was time to go, I looped it through the wire pannier and by the time I was settled in the waiting room, it was dry enough to wind into a ball. Dr. Gilbert's receptionist not being back from lunch yet, I felt confident of having enough time to finish. I'd knitted a couple of rounds before she got back, and had about half an inch of new toe made before time to leave. Since being on time is not an option for me, I arrive for appointments early and prepared to wait. And, often, I get taken in early and don't have to wait after all. But this time I saw the doctor about the appointed time. And it went better than I'd hoped; I expected weeks and weeks of hamburger cream; all he did was look at it, say it was cancer of a harmless kind, and scrape it off. I flinched a little from the novocaine -- I never noticed me wrinkling my nose under tension before! -- and he worried that the sound of scraping might bother me, but that was a teensy fraction of the sound of tooth-drilling. Of course there might be more news when the lab results come back. Felt queer to come back exactly the way I came; aside from being a Loveless, I usually go downtown by boardwalk after a trip to the KCH neighborhood. Got home in time to lie down for a while before going to Trunk or Treat. The "crafts" -- a necklace and a doorknob-hanger to glue together -- went very well, and the people who had been out in the parking lot seemed happy with the way it was going. I was a tad warm in my wizard suit. Didn't have an opportunity to claim that I was a bad witch and had had my nose-wart taken off! I took the embroidery stuff. I didn't open it except to get out the ornament I've been embroidering for years to work on picturesquely while waiting, but now the embroidery stuff is organized and in the backpack. Now that I have an extra sleeveboard -- I bought a better one, and the old one folds flat for transport -- I don't need to take anything out of the backpack except the pinking shears and the stuff that came out of my purse. And I may leave the pinking shears there; when I want to pink fabric, I dig Evelyn's silver- plated shears out of storage. [I forgot the magnifying glasses: spent Tuesday sorting magazines instead of sewing.] There's another new artwork along the canal. This one is three chrome-colored balls and four that were welded out of sheet iron. The chrome balls look like Christmas ornaments, some of the sheet-iron balls look as though they had dropped them when unloading the truck. Each has a solar light embedded in the top. The chrome balls have perforated words, the sheet iron has cut-out letters. At night (I came back from the Halloween party that way to verify that the funny-looking things were solar lights) the inner lights are just bright enough that you can read the chrome balls; what appeared to be a blob by daylight turned out to be an e with an acute accent. The one that slants forward anyway; I'm not at all clear on the difference between acute and grave. (Should there be an accent on the "e" in "grave", and is it acute or grave?) The lights in the sheet-iron balls don't show at all, except in leakage around where the solar cells are set into the top. 8 November 2007 Dave went home that way after walking me to church one day this week, and said that only one of the balls was lit at all. I suppose they will work during tourist season, when the days are longer. The scab peeled off my nose Monday night, and the scale peeled off this morning -- now the sore looks just as it did before the operation, except red instead of yellow. I brought a piece of fabric home to wash from yesterday's baby-blanket making meeting. I don't think I'll be doing too much for this. But other members have found uses for at least two surpluss items out of my stash; now that I know what sort of thing is wanted, I'm going to have to do some sorting before next week's meeting. I don't want to haul my sewing machine to meetings, but I think there will be enough. Still an ample supply of suit hangers when I washed clothes Monday. I made white-wheat hamburger buns and cinnamon-raisin- sunflower-seed chocolate buns between loads of wash. Hamburgers on crunchy buns hot from the oven are *good*. The sweet rolls are less successful, but I had two of them for breakfast this morning. Went to a board meeting Monday evening. Nobody showed, so I came home and re-read the e-mail: there's a date in the part of the subject line that Thunderbird doesn't show me. I should have remembered that board meetings are on the *second* Monday. But I sorted a couple of Science Newses and two Freedom Networks out of my pile of magazines. Will take the Science News with me on Black Friday & take Women's Freedom Network to the emergency room. -- Joy Beeson http://joybeeson.home.comcast.net/ http://roughsewing.home.comcast.net/ http://www.timeswrsw.com/craig/cam/ (local weather)