16 November 1998
We had shepherd's pie at Christine's yesterday; Dave
said it wasn't as good as the first batch; the proprietor
said that the cook tries to make it a little different
each time so that people won't get tired of it.
There was corn in it. Reminded me of a tamale pie,
with brown gravy instead of tomatoes, and mashed potatoes
instead of mush. (Potatoes only on top.)
Which makes me wish I could buy yellow-corn grits. I
should ask at Paradise again, as it has been several
years & things may have changed.
I don't know what I'm going to do with it but I have
it:
When last at Alfred's, I saw a set of four "upholstery
needles" and just had to buy them. They are darning
needles twelve, ten, eight, and six inches long. The
longer two are the diameter of a #1 knitting needle, a
shade more than 2<&3/4;>mm. The two shorter needles are
the diameter of a #0 knitting needle, a shade over 2mm.
According to my needle gauges. The metric gauge is
plastic, and might be a bit off. And nobody is making
the sizes on the aluminum gauge any more; they tweak
"American" sizes to the nearest metric size, and don't
always agree as to which size is nearest.
Got to Alfred's by an indirect route. Last Saturday,
I noted that I had an hour before naptime, and decided to
dash out to the Christmas Bazaar at the Voorheesville
Methodist Church. Did so without re-consulting the
Enterprise, which would have told me that I'd highlighted
it on next week's calendar. Didn't have the
Enterprise with me, but vaguely recalled a craft show off
Dr. Shaw Road -- that's next week too -- & I've been
living here more than thirty years without ever touching
wheel to Dr. Shaw-Veeder/Animal Hospital Road even though
I've passed both ends of it thousands of times. I was
astonished to find Dr. Shaw wider and better-kept than
155, with a bike-lane on both sides -- even at rush hour,
there would never be so much traffic that you couldn't
overtake in the oncoming lane.
I was even more astonished when the road ran into a
hillside and stopped. Looked as though someone had piled
dirt on the pavement to block the road, but there were
trees on it at least ten years old & the pavement hasn't
been there anywhere near that long. As near as I could
tell without getting out of the car and climbing the bank
-- which would have been somewhere between unseemly and
illegal for anyone over ten years old -- the hill was
entirely natural except for being carved off where the
road ended. I'd passed the other end of the road many
times, so I sat there boggling for a while.
No turn-around -- and all the other dead-end roads
have them -- but it is so wide that it was easy to make a
U turn even though I'd stopped close to the center line.
On the way out, I noticed that one of the courts had
yellow lines down the center, and it appeared to go, so I
made another U-turn -- actually had to wait a moment
before the road was entirely deserted -- and found that
the side road's name is Animal Hospital/Veeder. This was
very narrow and twisting, with no paved shoulder and
often no shoulder, and though there was fresh blacktop on
both edges, it was plain that they hadn't spent a nickel
extra. Quite a contrast. There must be some reason they
wanted an Interstate-class driveway in a housing
development, but I can't imagine what it might be.
Perhaps the developer paid for it and someone who hated
him wrote the specs.
At any rate, the other end comes out on the Johnston
end of Normanskill-Johnston, near Church Road, and I'd
come to shop, so I went to Stuyvesant Plaza.
Found the right turn off Church onto Western almost as
hard in a car as in a bike; you just don't have time to
line up for the intersection with the Northway.
So now I know why I never turn off on Church when I
drive to Western by way of Johnston.
Got out of the Book House without a book yet again.
Might be time to start looking into funeral arrangements.
"Touched by the Gods" by Watt-Evans looked interesting,
but I haven't yet become reconciled to the $7 paperback,
even though this one was three or four times the
thickness of a 25<¢s;> paperback.
I haven't fully come to peace with the $6 paperback.
Never mind that I paid $30 for a paperback copy of
The Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns, and was
grateful to have the chance. I don't throw a Treasury
out after two hours.
While at Alfred's, I also bought some black cotton
double-knit floral print to test my jersey pattern with
when the time comes, and a yard of black-on-maroon print
to make a pair of reversible furoshikis to carry my
socks-in-progress. I'm giving serious consideration to
hemming them by hand; depends on how good the fabric
looks after being washed.
And two plastic tatting shuttles for no good reason.
Should have looked closer, as one of them isn't properly
glued. Both need to have the sprue marks filed off, but
that's normal in a cheap shuttle.
Was startled to see the trash truck just now, since
it's a Monday. They loaded up a row of sacks of leaves
that I'd like to have had for my garden, if I'd been
quite certain that they were leaves.
Can't operate the leaf-grinder by myself anyway, said
the fox.
19 November 1998
Dave didn't shave this morning. Voorheesville is
having a centennial, and the beard-judging is next May.
Today is probably the last hanging-out of the season;
I'd have hung the wash in the cellar if the load hadn't
been half dish towels. Gone be precious little sun on
them anyway.
Dave bought a pocket telephone a few days ago. 459-
4407, should you want to call. He says that now the only
toy he wants and doesn't have is a Global Positioning
System. And no, I won't get him one for Christmas --
though I did mark a GPS thread in Rec.Bicycles.tech in
case he wants to read it.
He forgets that he also wants a pick-up truck. But
technically, that's going to be mine. I want
one as small as the Toyota Tercel was, but we've decided
that four-wheel drive is a waste of money.
Might want a winch on it, just in case. (I think we
have a come-along I could stash in the trunk.)
BRR! It might not be too late in the year to hang
clothes out, but it's sho 'nuf too late in the year to
take them down.
20 November 1998
A Knitlister was in the yarn shop when a woman came in
to buy a Christmas-stocking kit. The proprietor helped
her find a pattern and select the yarns, and then the
customer said "Now I want it knitted"!
The Knitlister took the job -- $35 for "only" two days
work.
9:20 -- the septic tank guys have just started
digging, and they got here soon after Dave left. The
fellow who made the appointment said that
finding the tank was the hardest part.
They have a metal detector, and an "orange detector",
which appears to consist of a transmitter that uses the
sewer line for an antenna, and a receiver that whines
when it detects radiation. Also poked a lot with a thin
steel rod, but in our rock-rich soil that isn't much use.
I wonder whether it would be silly to have them set
the bird bath in the hole before they fill it in?
Folks would forget what it meant before it was time to
dig the tank up again.
10:40: one guy is filling the hole, the other one is
writing the bill.
29 November 1998
Dave's beard is beginning to look as though he stopped
shaving on purpose, but only the white hairs show. Seem
to be plenty of red ones in there, but they match his
face.
I mowed part of the front yard with the walk-behind
today. My foot still gives me a twinge if I put it down
wrong, but it doesn't mind rough ground any more. The
walk-behind doesn't hold many leaves; emptying the bag
every forth and back got old really fast, and I had to
take narrow swaths to make it back on one bagful. Got
tired after a couple of hours, & left a big triangle for
tomorrow, if the weather holds.
Still haven't asked George for permission to harvest
his pine needles. They've been down for so long that
they might not mow up; those on the bald patch north of
the house pretty much stayed put.
The final episode of Babylon Five would have been much
better if we hadn't been waiting five years for an
episode the proposal for which had made jaded network
executives look at the author "as though I'd sprouted
three heads and feathers".
Perhaps he said off-handedly, "Oh, nothing much
happens. Sheridan dies and the space station is de-
commissioned." That would turn a backer's hair.
His excuse for blowing up the space station was almost
as feeble as his grasp of biology. It's less of
a hazard to navigation in millions of bits, some of them
blocks long?
It did make a lovely special effects shot. Wouldn't
have been near as dramatic to have them just walk out and
turn out the lights.
Later on I hunted up a B5 newsgroup to see whether I'd
blinked and missed something. Much speculation as to why
the fifth season wasn't as much fun as the first four,
but none mentioned that it came at you in a torrent, a
re-run every night, two shows on the night a new episode
ran, and assorted "movies" piled on top. After a week or
two I gave up and stopped watching entirely, tuning back
in only when it was almost time for the "three heads and
feathers" episode.
There really should be an alien of that description
somewhere among the extras. They had aliener aliens
early in the series, when the budget was lower. Though
to be sure, they were in foggy atmospheres, or leaning
against posts paying no attention to the characters.
Don't recall anybody trundling through the hallways in a
pressure suit, and that would have been comparatively
cheap.
29 November 1998
With only one month in the year left, I've run out of
memory. Will be a rather short Banner3.98.
When I went back to Dr. Shaw the following week, to
decide not to go in at the "craft shop", having been to
two craft fairs and two thrift shops already, I found
that I hadn't boggled enough. The full length of the
unused road is dug out of the hill! This hadn't
registered before, partly because rest of the road is
lined with anti-noise berms.
Maybe the hill is where they got the dirt to build the
berms.
THE MAILING LIST: The circulation of the Banner is
limited to twenty, and has dropped to nineteen. This
makes it a good time to check whether I've overlooked
someone. The current list is:
Beesons: Joe Beeson, Kathlyn Gales, Sherry Klemme,
David Beeson, Steve Beeson, Linda Francis.
Lovelesses: Doris Batten, Nancy Rundell, Alice
Lecklitner, Mary Love, Kathy Brown, Janet Gagneur, Ann
Musser, Donald A. Lecklitner, Darryl Lecklitner, David
Lecklitner, Sara Lee.
Non-relatives: Chuck Sarles, Rick Brooks.
30 November 1998
Eh? While I was sitting on the bed combing my hair,
my eye fell upon my missing sock -- lying on the floor in
plain sight. I tried to tell myself I'd dropped it when
I emptied the laundry bag, but that explanation calls for
even more gremlins than a sock on the floor.
Monday is turning into laundry day. I emptied the bag
because Dave was running short of shorts and shirts.
While sorting that load, I found enough blacks and reds
to make a load & those are in now. I'm down to one pair
of clean socks, so it's time to wash hand-knits, the two
pieces of fabric I bought at Alfred's haven't been shrunk
yet, and there's a sheet and enough pillowcases to make a
load of whites.
4 December 1998
The weather continues warm. I dug the last of the
potatoes today, and hung a sheet and a flannel blanket
out to dry.
Thereby lies a tale, or two tails in the doghouse.
The cats threw up on the king-sized blanket and the
black half blanket. That required two loads of wash, but
I ran a patiently-waiting length of red wool through with
the half blanket. No sooner had I got that on the line
in the basement than someone threw up on the top sheet
and the flannel blanket. While those were still soaking
in the washer, I found vomit on a pillowcase and the
bottom sheet -- those are in the washer now.
And there's a suspect brown streak on the yellow half-
blanket, but I plan to ignore that for a day or two. Hmm
-- must run upstairs and put the yellow blanket on top of
the black one -- if it's not too late.
Later: hung the second load in the basement, as it
was windy and I wanted to take a nap.
After Dave went up, I heard him say "They did it
again?"
GAAACK! I dashed up the stairs -- he was only
remarking that the bed was freshly made.
13 December 1998
While dressing this morning, I saw the toes of my
dancing boots poking out from under the bed -- in the
precise spot where I looked for them before emptying
every shoebox in the closet and searching the whole
house, with frequent inspections under the bed. So I
wore my newer pair of Red Wings to the NSVFD Christmas
party Friday night, and they didn't fit at all well over
the socks I'd selected for the boots, but by the time I
noticed, I was halfway to the car and already late.
Hardly ever get to wear those boots, since they are
strictly indoor wear.
We won't be going to the R&P party, since that was on
Friday too. There's an Auxiliary party next Thursday,
and a birthday party the day after Christmas.
Still haven't bought a game hen. I'll end up with
another baked chicken if I don't get with it.
Threatened Dave with left-over spaghetti sauce, and he
took me to the Chinese buffet in the Grand Union plaza.
I still don't know how they can serve such good food
so cheap. Dave pigged out on crab legs; I thoroughly
broke my diet.
I'm up five pounds.
17 December 1998
Our first snow today. Thank goodness! It should put
a pause in Dave's new hobby of "pruning". His ambition
is a flat, featureless lot. His first victims were the
barberry bush and a poor little french lilac that hadn't
grown an inch since we moved in thirty years ago. I
sicced him onto the grapes, which desperately needed to
be cut back, but that took him only two days. The whole
first day was spent on one vine -- the seedless concord
had climbed clear to the ridge of the roof!
The snow didn't start accumulating on pavement until
about time to leave for the auxiliary party.
I was wondering why there was so much time between the
time I got ready and time to go when I went to the fridge
for a drink of milk, and missed the three bottles I had
intended to fetch from Indian Ladder.
There's enough milk to get through breakfast, but that
puts a dent in tomorrow morning.
Last Monday, I went to Colonie Center to look at the
new Boscov's and buy some door mats. Boscov's is a
standard anchor store, and Sears doesn't sell door mats.
Found mats the exact material, length, width, and
thickness I had in mind -- at "The Christmas Tree". (red
& green paint)
You wouldn't think a coir mat would be so hard to
find.
Well, if the party is at 7:00 the way the newsletter
says, it's time to leave. If it's at 7:30 as was
announced at the meeting, it isn't.
19 December 1998
Snow was less trouble than I expected -- I didn't even
have to sweep off the car when it was time to come home.
The snow was thicker in Voorheesville than in
Guilderland, where the party was.
I was much surprised to find everyone driving slowly
and cautiously. Perhaps the long wait for the first snow
made them more aware of it.
20 December 1998
That's more like it! Winter having stopped Dave's
gardening activities, he has announced that he's going to
take over responsibility for mopping the kitchen floor.
First he has to buy some new tools, of course.
23 December 1998
I missed the beginning of the furor on Lace Chat
because I'd formed the habit of deleting the offender's
posts after a cursory glance, but I didn't kill-filter
him until he began a post by daring the reader to be
offended, and saying "So those that consider that it will
be too much for them quite now." (He no doubt meant
"quit now".) I might still have refrained, if the post
hadn't been 18 Kb long and devoid of new thoughts.
He does spell pretty well; the typo in the quote is
unusual.
24 December 1998
So I went out to the mailbox on Christmas Eve, and it
was full of seed catalogs!
I was drooling over a sweet-pit apricot, & Dave said I
should have it sent to Tim and Linda.
The scraggly little tree in the front lot might be a
sweet-pit apricot. All I remember now is that it looked
dead when it arrived, took weeks to leaf out, and hasn't
grown very fast. It was bare-root stock, supposedly
treated with some miracle stuff to make it survive
prolonged exposure.
Maybe if I give it another coat of used cat litter . .
.
Tried to talk Dave into raising the potatoes next
summer; he said I do a
wonderful job.
We've already cut the pecan pie I bought for
Christmas; according to the sticker, it was baked today.
I had forgotten how much I like pecan pie.
I should have looked harder to find a small one,
though -- a ten-inch pie is a lot of pecan pie!
Never did find a game hen, so I bought a duck.
28 December 1998
I got to delete something from my list of things to
do! Pounding the nails back into the staircase treads
won't have to be done again at any predictable time.
I just came back from Voorheesville, having gone by
bike for the first time since the fall. My ankle doesn't
mind pedalling at all, though it still complains about
walking when I listen to it.
Took a trial lap around the parking lot yesterday, and
the first thing I did was fall over and catch myself with
the bad foot, which didn't complain, so I guess I'm not
likely to re-injure it on the New Year's Day Ride.
Went to mail a package, drop off a book at the
library, and buy milk. All went well until I got to
Indian Ladder & found nothing in the dairy case but four
half-gallons of egg nog. I asked; they are expecting a
delivery from Meadowbrook tomorrow.
Didn't ask them what time, though.
31 December 1998
I went to the grocery for a bottle of milk and a loaf
of bread.
Needed a gallon of whole milk and a loaf of sliced
whole wheat bread for the party tomorrow. Then I thought
that I would come pretty close to using up the cocoa, and
put that on my list; while getting that, I remembered
that I'd used up the chocolate chips over Christmas, and
noticed a couple of new carob products I wanted to try.
Managed to spend $16.70 even though I went only to the
departments on my list.
Hot carob is pretty good, as long as you don't let the
color fool you into expecting it to taste like cocoa.
Haven't opened the carob chips.
Learned right quick that it's better not to put the
honey in until after the milk is hot enough to wash it
off the spoon.
I thought I'd used up all the obsolete envelopes, but
Dave found more while he was sorting out the treasurer
stuff. He met the new treasurer at the firehouse today,
but I suspect that things will be crawling out of the
woodwork for a while.
I can't find either stapler -- I'm sure that at least
one of those was ours. Luckily, there was another in the
secretary upstairs. It's an Arrow, though, and the
staples with it are for a Swingline.
Sigh. Just gathered up all the stuff I had sorted off
the printer onto the piano and piled it back on the
printer.