Doll Babies (R)

Gainesville

Short one. I let it get late again. Mea culpa.

Work started with a soul-draining meeting, then continued with my being pelted mercilessly by a non-stop barrage of trouble tickets that were all over the map. This did have the small upside of making me realize how many things I do that only I know how to do-- and the much bigger downside of making me realize that I need to figure out how to document all this to train the various people who will inherit said things. I know they plan to turn my position into something else and divide up my current job functions, as well they should. It hasn't made any sense as a single position description for a long time.

Bill's cold is worse again. I wish he'd stay home a day or two, but he figures he had his ONE day off with this thing (now in its third week) and that's plenty. I scrapped the planned Athenian Chicken thing I was planning and pulled out the batch of ham bean soup (still with the Christmas ham bone in it) from the freezer and we had that with a spinach egg salad. The weather has turned cold again, so I was up for some comfort food as well.

Let the record show that I spent 1.5 hours on the project today, coding a Smilin' Jack strip. Very difficult, which of course makes for good examples of what XML can and can't do.

I do apologize, Mom, for not getting your icon on the server today. I just plain forgot. I felt so bad about it that I spent too much time tonight trying to remember how to post stuff to my atlantic.net website (without success, alas). Will try to get to it tomorrow for sure.

And tomorrow for the Diry too. Yes, I too was fascinated by the 8th grader into her dolls. No, it wasn't Betsy Wetsy -- the Toni dolls were 1949, so we were well beyond that. "Blessed Event" was probably the ugliest doll ever created-- it actually looked like a REAL newborn, hardly even cleaned up. I think (I hope!) I thought better of it when the time came.

But dear Toni-- she was a sweetheart, and that perm kit she came with! As the website where I found the image pointed out, the permanent stuff was just sugar water, and when it ran out, the instructions told the real grown-up mom she could just make some more. If Toni were released today in this greed-and-grab culture, you'd have to BUY more perm solution when you ran out!

Meanwhile, Marty asked for "Unstuffed Cabbage," and here it is. It's from my favorite low carb cookbook, for reasons that are obvious from its title: 15 minutes! The friendly wordiness is all the author's, not mine. This isn't a very elegant recipe, to be sure, but it tastes great and is very easy, despite its verbal length. I'll bet it would work with tofu crumbles too, for our resident vegetarian.

Unstuffed Cabbage

Stuffed cabbage is a perennial favorite, but there's no way to stuff all those leaves and get 'em cooked in 15 minutes! Here's a recipe that gives you all the flavor of stuffed cabbage at breakneck speed. Do use very lean ground beef for this recipe-- it saves you the time needed to drain off the grease.

1-1/2 pounds ground round or other very lean ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 head cabbage coarsely chopped [I use bagged pre-chopped stuff]
8-ounce can tomato sauce
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt

Start the ground beef cooking in a heavy skillet over high heat; spread it out to cover the bottom of the pan so it cooks quicker.

While the ground beef is browning, chop the onion and crush the garlic. Plunk them in the pan with the ground beef, and stir it up, using a spatula to turn it over and break it up so that it cooks evenly. Cover the pan and let it continue cooking.

Meanwhile, chop he cabbage coarsely [if not using bagged] Stir this into the beef mixture a bit at a time-- it will come close to overwhelming your skillet, unless yours is bigger than mine. Again, take care to turn everything over to keep it cooking evenly. Re-cover the pan.

Continue to stir the meat mixture to keep it cooking evenly, covering in between stirrings. When the cabbage is starting to wilt, stir in the tomato sauce, lemon juice, pepper, nutmeg, cinnamon, and salt. Re-cover, let the whole thing simmer for 5 minutes, then server.

Yield: 5 servings, each with 7 grams of carbohydrates and 2 grams of fiber, for a total of 5 grams of usable carbs and 25 grams of protein.

from Dana Carpenter, 15-Minute Low-Carb Recipes

History Lessons (D)

Gainesville

Sorry I didn't get the picture online today-- I got up late this morning, and rather than make the mad dash on less than 5 hours of sleep, I decided to use one of the numerous vacation days I need to burn before October 1. I need to be in the office to get access to the web server.

I moved the mountains using PhotoShop. I'll show you how I did it when you're here, but I'm no PS wizard. I struggled with it recently to paste my comics scans together. This trick was just a spin-off of that, and no big deal.

Spent most of the day working on the project-- I finished the Harold Teen strip today, and did some research on it. Fascinating. I'm giving myself a crash course in the history of newspaper strips as a by-product of this, which is great.

Oops, the towels are dinging. Back after I get them folded and put away.

[Musical interlude: "The towels are dinging / for me and my gal"]

There, done. I also got the floors swiffered and the sheets changed today, so I'm pretty current Blessing-wise. Managed to keep my reading of Tab Hunter Confidential limited to meals and timed breaks. It's leaving my mind in a most muddled state-- part of me lives in 1948 where the comics I'm studying are, part in 1958, where we've now reached in the book. It's also confusing to hear E.J.'s distinctive voice coming out of Tab Hunter's mouth. Most of the time I can tell which is which, but they do tend to blur. It is a masterful bit of co-writing.

Got a fun Blast from yet another part of the Past (1982) in the mail today: a nice-looking DVD from Craig. Someone took the old Beta format footage we shot for the ill-fated Flintstones video and edited it into what the finished music video might have looked like. Unfortunately, whoever did the transfer was unable to correct the tracking errors from the tape, so it's just barely watchable. (I'll bet it's possible to digitally correct that these days.) And it is sooo hokey-- which is what makes it so cute. Craig is the best part of it-- he looks amazingly like Bruce, even though he wasn't the one who did the singing on the record. (That was Tom Chalkley, who now gets his cartoons published in New Yorker.) Most of it is just plain silly, and if you blink, you'll miss me-- my 2.5 seconds of potential MTV fame. But you can hear my playing through most of it, which is nice. Bill thinks it's a "pretty good sendup" for a bunch of amateurs on a shoostring, and he's right.

And now a word from Dobby, the house elf:

Thursday, August 28, 1952
241st Day-- 125 Days to Follow

Dear Diary
This morning Mom went to get her hair fixed while we took care of Chris & Did our work. We were talking today about Christmas presents. I can't decide between a "Blessed Event" doll or something for the newspaper (ours). The roof is on most of the House now. They are starting to put up the walls. It's really Coming!! Suzy

Friday, August 19th, 1052
242nd Day--124 Days to Follow

Dear Diary
This morning we got up early while Mom took dad to the train. I had the Kitchen this morning. We made hot cakes. I didn't get off to a good start. I was still working on that Kitchen I never did finish it too good. We made up the Dromedary gingerbread mix. Today was Frank Warrlick's birthday so chris sang Happy Birthday over the phone to him. Suzy

Moving Mountains

Gainesville

Here is, I hope, a reworked image of Mom that may work as an icon for her. See what you think, Mom. I moved the snowiest mountains so they'd be behind you in a square picture. If you approve, I'll put it on the server tomorrow.

We were both up til 3:00 last night. I slept til noon. Bill got up earlier, and so is napping now. We had a wonderful birthday dinner at a chain that has just opened up here this past week, the Macroni Grill. We were both quite impressed.

I spent way way too much time today reading the Tab Hunter autobiog. It is very engrossing and fascinating. Managed to get the dusting and carpet-sweeping done, and one load of wash. If I can get the floors swiffered tomorrow, I'll be in reasonably good shape FL-wise.

Just put in an hour on the project, and now it's bedtime. Will pick up on the Diry again tomorrow.

Young Love (D)

Gainesville

I was thinking about The Project even before I got out of bed this morning, and after a quick look at my online funnies while drinking coffee, I started working on it again. Bad craziness.

This made for a late start for everything else, and I didn't get out to do the shopping til after 2:00. Needed to do some plan B shopping for Bill's birthday, as the gods of mail order are not being kind. While at Best Buy I pounced on season one of Hill Street Blues (FINALLY!) and also season one of The Muppets Show, another all-time fave.

In B&N I picked two fabulous autobiographies: Bob Dylan's Chronicles, Volume One, and Tab Hunter Confidential, co-authored by my friend E.J. Both sucked me right in, but strangely, it is the Tab book I can't put down. It is so fascinating-- I know both Mom and Sandy will love it too. It'll be here when you visit, and you can decide who gets to read it first. Probably Mom, as Sandy will be in pre-presentation mode. I just realized that the last three books I've read and loved have been by E.J.! What luck to meet him when he was a kid standing in line for Bruce (Winterland, SF, 1978). As E.J. told his friends when we went for out sushi in Oakland last month, "I've known Suzy longer than I've known my wife." And they've been married 20 years.

Not much time to read though-- had to get dinner started. Made an old favorite, Unstuffed Cabbage, an easy and delicious low-carb glotch. After dinner, I headed back to the computer and put in another hour on the project (am now finished with the Gumps page from 1948) and then a bit more reading on Tab before arriving at last here in Bloggerville.

I know just how you feel about the backsliding, Mom. When I chide you (and I almost deleted this last one, as I know I sound like a broken record) I'm really chiding myself too-- I remember when I had 3/4 of the big room cleared out. It's down to just a half now, and that half is currently littered with Christmas detrius. The tree still up-- I've asked Bill once or twice, but don't want to nag. And besides, I should put the boxes of decorations out in the store room first, and then we can find room for the tree. Since it's so depressing to go in there, I avoid it, except to toss boxes from new mail orders. By the time you get here, we may not even be able step into it! This is the downside to having more space than you really need, and having a passionate interest that absorbs every bit of spare time.

Glad to hear your fish guy came and you have a new batch of finny friends. I hope this service works out, as it is such a neat idea. One of these days I will write about our fish tanks when Lee and I lived in NW Gainesville. Assuming I haven't done so already-- the blog has gotten so lenghty I can't remember which anecdotes I've already related.

Tuesday, August 26, 1952
239th Day--127 Days to Follow

Dear Diary
This morning I had to clean up the kitchen while Sandy did the front room. Joyce came down & stayed until noon. Then mom took Sandy to the eye doctor & I did my room (a little) Then Brenda called saying she had moved into the den. Then she came down & we made blanched Almonds. Mom bought me sheet music to 'Blue Tango' [which I still have] One of the carpenters fell off the roof today. Suzy

Wednesday, August 27, 1952
240th Day--126 Days to Follow

Dear Diary
This morning Mom told us what to do then she and Jeannette went in to San Mateo to have the new seat covers put on the car. I did the front room & Bath. The seat covers look 'real cool'. There is a roof on the den now. Pa & Dan came down tonite. Dan is fine. [She was very sick when we returned from the Iowa trip.] They brought us some grapes and Chris some puzzles & us maps. Suzy

On Our Own (D)

Gainesville

I completely forgot my resolution to do the main Blessings on Friday night until it was way too late. I came home and immediately continued working on The Project. It's in the obsession stage right now, and hard to tear away from. I'm still reading everything in the books I own or have checked out on Terry/Caniff/Wunder.

Most of the day had to be spent on the struggle to get my new work computer fully installed (good progress there). Managed to spend a couple of hours in Special Collections, and think I'm now through with the happy phase of diving into the primary sources. Good in terms of progress toward the first presentation, but sad because it is so gosh darn much fun! Once the UF Conf is done, I plan to go back and do something similar for 1952, and be able to do some comparisons for the April/Atlanta gig.

Enough. In other news, we were able to pick up Babe from the shop today (way across town) so we are a two-car family again. We are "expecting," though. Bill is still ruminating over what his next car will be.

And I am wondering what to do about his birthday Sunday. He doesn't even want to think about where he'd like to go out, or even IF he'd like to go out. Makes it very difficult to plan the weeks meals. I'd be more than happy to fix whatever he'd like at home, if only he'd tell me what he'd like.

Let us not talk falsely now, the hour is getting late.

Indeed it is. We had to be in by 8:30 this morning, and because of all the road construction, the fastest way to get to campus from here these days is to go downtown, the back up SW 2nd Ave. Which is crazy. If nothing else, the whole logistical nightmare of getting us both to work for our various obligations is enough to make me long for October 1.

I got a load of wash done, folded and put away (that's one load every day this week). The bed is made. The bathrooms are both nice (clean towels last night). This study is looking half decent. The desk is usable, bills are all paid. I'm trying to think about these things, instead of the things I didn't do.

Here's some Diry. I vividly remember timing the bike ride to Covington. Finally Sandy, Brenda, Joyce, Tricia and I were all going to the same school, and able to get there and back ON OUR OWN!

Saturday, August 23, 1952
236th Day--130 Days to Follow

Dear Diary
This morning we got up about 9:15. We went to the store for tea cakes for breakfast. We did our work.
[rest of page blank]

Sunday, August 24, 1952
237th Day--129 Days to Follow

Dear Diary
This morning we got up and did our work then we tried to have a club meeting but not enough could come. We had lunch with Joyce and went to see "Jumping Jacks" with Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis & Mona Freeman with "Outcast of the Islands" with Trevor Howard & 'Kerima'. When we came home the Bob Colgats were there. They went home late. Suzy

Monday, August 25th, 1952
236th Day--128 Days to Follow

Dear Diary
This morning Helen came over with her Kids. They just got back from their trip. They had breakfast here. We managed to get out of our work to go down to Joyces for a wennie roast. We went to the Animal Shelter with 'em & There had Lemonades. Then we rode to Covington to time the ride!! 10 min. from Joyce's. I still am absolutely bats about Dale Robertson.
Suzy

Terry-Day (D)

Gainesville

HAPPY BIRTHDAY THEA!

Worked at home after all -- Bill suspected that his van would not be ready from the shop today, and he was right. In the cold light of morning, those meetings today did not seem all that important. I was up early, though, and got a lot done on the project-- coded the first of the 1948 strips: a Terry and the Pirates from January 18, 1948. The fun thing about the detailed coding is I have to do research to find out more about the strips, the characters etc., so today I had a crash course in Terry-lore. Wish I had time to do more of that part, but the cold reality is the presentation is a month from yesterday, and I will need to save some time to do the actual writing and PowerPoint. It is good to know that I'll have more time to work on it for the re-run at the PCA in April.

A tree-guy came to the house today. He was doing some work for Jerry and Maggie, and had done work for another of our neighbors. I walked around the yard and showed him our problem trees, and he gave me an estimate. I will check with Maggie, and if she speaks well of him, we may go ahead with this.

Drinks and dinner at Outback. Everyone loves us there, which is fun.

Enjoyed the rest of the letter to Dan-- nice to have all those details of your first impressions of living in the DC metro area.

Wednesday, August 20, 1952
233rd Day--133 Days to Follow

Dear Diary
This morning we got our lists & went to work I cleaned up the whole Kitchen while Sandy did the front room. Later Brenda came down and we played first here and then at Brendas house. Later we went to the store with Pat & Then Donnie came to dinner & we had some concoction of his [illegible] & egg & [illegible] Suzy

Thursday, August 21, 1952
234th Day--132 Days to Follow

Dear Diary
This morning I got my list as usual & Did my work. Pa came over and brought back the stuff that we left in Berkeley. At about 12:30 the man brought back our T.V. set. I watched it all afternoon from Fay Stewert go "The Unexpected" tonite. We were going to the show but it starts tomorrow so we will go then. Chris too. Suzy

At Last

Gainesville

They finally published my article in the online journal. I was merely relieved at first, and of course I cringe at the formatting, my writing, etc. But tonight I took a look at their "cover" graphic and nearly fainted with pleasure-- they'd worked some of my FBoFW examples into it. This is just so, so cool! I was also happy to see that I'd managed to get the biographical thing to them-- I had a hard time finding it, and couldn't remember if I'd ever actually done it or not.

Anyway, check it out, folks: http://www.english.ufl.edu/imagetext/archives/v2_2/

Another day of working insanely hard. In addition to all the other stuff going on, suddenly a project that had been dead for 7 months (the library's bulletin board-- server got hacked, we had to rebuild, never could get the backups to reload) came back to life. I truly never thought I'd see the day, and have just about forgotten how it works-- I'm the functional admin of the thing. Spent hours trying to get myself back up to speed on how to manage it. Plus there was another of the endless parties just outside my cube door (a goodby party for a guy who'd only been here about three months!) that I had to put in an appearence at.

Still managed to get down to Spec Coll for an hour to continue my 1948 index. Another hour should do it, although it will take another hour or two to add another set of data points I've decided are important-- the little "topper" strips that accompanied the big Sunday strips back in that era. Sometimes they have them, sometimes not, but by this time they're always printed at the bottom of the main strip, and are semi-independent. I can show these on my data chart with colors, I realized today. This is not making sense to anyone except me, is it?

Meanwhile, down from my hobby horse, the crockpot's Shrimp Jambalaya was waiting for us when we got home. Very early as it turned out-- the brakes on Bill's van nearly failed on a campus hill yesterday, so we had a trip to shop to fit in. My plan to work at home was foiled by this event, since the van is not fixed yet, and we have to share Blue. I will have to work in the office. Was hoping to get started on the XML for the 1948 page, but probably won't happen.

Oops, there's that hobby horse again! I'd better just quit for now. Enjoying a Tanq Ten on the rocks with one of Sandy's heavenly olives. I'm about halfway through bottle two of them-- thanks!

Comment on Comments

Gainesville

Too much to do, too little time. I have been flat-out running every minute since I was dragged awake this morning. Got a lot done, but seems like for every task confronted, another 4 or 5 sprang up demanding immediate attention, and very few got actually accomplished. At least we are fed, the kitchen clean, and everything ready to start a crock pot in the morning.

Other than that, I will have to beg off for tonight, and just post comments. I wish I'd enabled comments from the beginning, as they are a great way to duck in and post briefly without going through the whole nine yards. I want to encourage our Silent partners in this enterprise to post a few comments now and then...

More tomorrow. Keep on smilin', Jack!

dolce far niente -- not quite

Actually, it's dolce far troppo, right now, as I am doing many things at once. I'm emptying the dishwasher and washing last night's glassware, I'm starting the laundry and some cookie dough that has to sit in the fridge for several hours before baking (those little round brown-and-white cookies you've been planning to make, Mom), I've begun writing The Paper, and I'm thinking about Smilin' Jack.

The paper will go well. I'm running to the computer every couple of minutes to add something to the introduction as I do these other tasks. I found a gold mine in The Emerald City of Oz, where Baum describes Oz in absolutely perfect utopian terms. It's what I'm beginning the paper with. I'm still debating about the final organization, but I think I've decided to not go with chronological organization. If I do it chronologically, Barks will just be the last thing. If I do it by topics (getting there, getting away, money in utopia, work in utopia, etc.) I can have comics all through it and it will be a little less boring.

Anyway. In Smilin' Jack there's a guy who always has buttons popping off his shirt. Was he in any of the comix you got, Suze? If not, do you want me to scan and email you a few panels of it? Let me know. It would be an interesting thing to code.

Dinner last night was stuffed portabella mushrooms (spinach, rice, poblanos, cheddar), quite good. It was meant to be a vegetarian main dish. I served it with cubed steaks and, for Charlie, some leftover mashed potatoes. Quite good, actually. From this month's Food and Wine. (sorry about lack of italics - due to lack of time)

Must get back to the business at hand. At least I've begun, and this scatteredness is part of my thinking process. I think the paper will go pretty quickly. "If the thought is clear, the words will come." My grad school mantra, courtesy of Montaigne (and others) via Frieda Brown.

Oh. Do the words "dolce far niente" mean anything to most people, or should I translate in the paper?

Hope Springs (D)

Gainesville

Monday, Mondy. Had to truly drag my protesting body through the morning routines by saying "just do this one, then see how you feel," the idea being to go back to bed if it wasn't better. Somehow it kept being better, and here I am, at nearly midnight, in the middle of a million things. (Is this what it means to be a SHE?) I have towels in the dryer. I have the Smithsonian Collection of Newspaper Comics open on my bed. I am playing bartender. I am downloading the scans I did this afternoon in Special Collection from my keychain drive to my hard drive. My computer has just started making SOS-noises-- one reboot over the line tonight, I guess.

AArrgghh!

Dinner was a Plan B. Like some Library managers who tend to encumber the same funds for multiple purposes, I sometimes plan menus around a hunk of stuff in the freezer that I used last week. Tonight I didn't realize til we got home around 7:00 that there was no pork tenderloin in the freezer. Luckily there was some spiral-sliced ham from Christmas, which did us fine. Some sauteed summer squash with grape tomatoes, and a spinach salad with hard boiled egg and a new find, Marie's Spinach Salad Dressing, likewise.

Seems both Mom and San remember more about Smilin' Jack than I do, I intend to pick both your brains for details about it and Terry. There's just way too much stuff here for a 15 minute presentation, so those two might make a good focus.

Mom, I rejoice to think of you hearing the wheels of your brain go round going through the Crusades-- what could be better entertainment, let alone the best thing you can do for your continued well-being? As Oprah would say, you go girl!

Sandy, it's wonderful to have your voice on the blog and have this window into what your days are like. I miss you fiercely, especially when transcribing my Diry entries. I love it that I called you "San" -- You are indeed Sandy-San. And yes, I heart jpeg. Bring 'em on!

Truly, the noise the computer is making is a broken tone (something close to Concert A, I think) is doing a very complicated dot-dash pattern that puts our ancestor Morse's code to shame. And since it is driving me batshit, I will bring this rambling to a close. I will probably comment on myself to amplify and clarify, as needed. I hope.

And so, to bed. I hope.

Monday, August 18, 1952
231st Day--135 Days to Follow

Dear Diary
This morning I got up pretty late. Brenda called inviting us to a "bike washing party" We packed our lunch, said goodby to Grandma & Went to Brens. First we ate lunch then we washed or bikes and played for a while. When we went home, we rode at the school with Patricial and Ricky. Later Donnie came down & stayed for dinner. Went home fairly early. Suzy

Tuesday, August 19, 1952
232nd Day-- 134 Days to Follow

Dear Diary
This morning mom woke up & gave us our lists. We did most of the stuff on them & then we took Chris to the doctor for the sore on his back and to see about an eye apt. for Sandy. Then we came home & Mom took some stuff down to the Freezer in Sy.vale. We looked for disines for our rooms [These would be wallpaper designs.] I chose green & white. Suzy

matitudinal musings

Thought of Chris on his birthday, too, forgot to mention it in my blog. Happy day-after-your-birthday, Chris!

Hey, Suze, I have some old Popular Comics books (most have the Terry and the Pirates cut out) that are all Sunday reprints, and some have Smilin' Jack in them. Maybe I'll scan some and send them on a disc. I don't dare mail comics after losing a bunch of Scrooges once. Do you like jpeg? That seems (on my system) to automatically take my scans to a reasonable size.

I'm glad we're both on the beam for our AV, too. I keep getting more ideas for the paper (now I'm thinking a lot about the ways Dorothy gets to Oz), which means I need to start writing.

This week and next I have nine brief visits to schools (just to introduce myself to the teacher and scope the place out), and then I don't have to do anything for three or four weeks, when I start observing. There are only a couple of students (on quarter-long placements) that I'll need to observe before Florida, so I'll have more time to work on this project. When I go for an introductory visit I'm there for twenty to thirty minutes. An observation visit can take three hours or more, and never takes less than two.

We, too, were delighted about the football outcomes. Looking forward to the Super Bowl, for a change. We favor Pittsburgh (slightly), but I suspect Seattle may win. We'll see.

I remember some of those strips, but Smilin' Jack (and Smokey Stover, of course) is what I remember most. And the ads! I think it would be very interesting to work on them. I remember the Postum ones, but can't seem to remember any others.

O.K., my Fosamax half hour is up. I've watered the plants and done some other puttering, and now I can have coffee!

Double YAY

Gainesville

Happy Birthday, Chris! Hope you had a good one.

What a great day of football! I couldn't believe it-- both teams I supported not only won, but won decisively right out of the gate, and nice little subplots too-- the Bettis story especially. We are both happy football campers here.

I spent every spare moment dashing back to my computer to continue processing the scans. I got them all done! This is a big load off my mind, to have images from the collection (which is, after all, the point of the paper) accessible, and it was so much easier than I expected. Sandy, looks like you and I had similar breakthroughs on the AV front.

Did turkey cutlets in a piccata sort of thing for dinner (two thumbs up, one claw down) along with cauli-rice (enough processed for meals for the rest of the week) and a salad.

It's already very late, after midnight even by your time. Gotta get some shut-eye. The post-Iowa dirys will continue tomorrow, I hope.

Thanks for the comics comments, Mom. I wondered if you'd remember any of them. I may pick your brain later about Smilin' Jack-- all I remember is the name. It's too bad we didn't keep any of those comic pages from the Chronicle Lala saved for us. They'd be priceless now. Such thoughts are very anti-FL, I know-- and that is part of the problem I have with decluttering/flinging. Add 50 years, and at least some part of the junk is gold. The probem alway is, which part??

We can do it! Cha! Cha! Cha!

How nice that my first scanning effort should be that one. I've moved the iMac downstairs and hooked it up to the printer (HP750) that recently I've only used for copying recipes. This meant a whole day of paper sorting, desk clearing, etc., but now it's done, and it works. I have to move files from the iMac to the laptop (iMac won't burn CDs), but this I can do on zip discs. Can't find the jump drive; I think I gave it to Marty. But this works just fine. The most wonderful part of it is that I can slide the image right out of the folder into PowerPoint with no messing around. I do my major editing in PhotoShop on the iMac, then I can move the finished image to the laptop. I'd email them, but the iMac is not online. No trouble, anyway, and it works! That's the main thing.

I have a huge stack of note slips (quarter sheets of paper) ready to organize and write up. I think I'm going to be able to pull this off.

Fun times yesterday. We went to the woods (a bright, sunny, cold day) and Charlie cut down three trees, which we will cut up and move into the woodshed at a later date. I hate tree-cutting-down, but it's exciting anyway. I'm always scared. Charlie moves very fast when a tree is coming down, just in case it's going to fall the wrong way. This doesn't happen often, and it didn't happen yesterday. I stay at an extremely respectful distance, but I love the visceral CRRAACK-CRASH-BOOM! of a big falling tree. What was nice yesterday is that it was beautiful in the woods, good snow, and I used my snowshoes for the first time this year. We left the truck at the gate and walked in, Charlie dragging the chain saw and cant hook and stuff on a toboggan. I've always wanted to snowshoe in the woods, but it's so far that I've always gotten tired before I got there. Charlie points out that if I did it regularly it would be no trouble, and he's right. It's the first hill to the south that's so tiring. While he was loading the truck I snowshoed most of the way back, and it was easy. Anyway, it was great to get fresh air.

Dinner last night, for the record, was the very last of the cabbage rolls we made a year and a half ago. Still very good, a nice fallback. Lunch today my favorite chicken recipe, done in herbs and butter (in the oven) with many cloves of garlic. I've put this very easy and wonderful recipe in these pages before. With that, mashed potatoes. I happened on that weird looking potato masher in the latest FC; it was on sale, so I bought it, and it works great. Also carrots, of which we still have a ton in the freezer. I bought a potato to bake the other day, since we no longer have any big russets, but otherwise, we are still pretty much living on our own vegetables.

Anyway, I must get back to football. Looks like the Steelers will win, which pleases me (uh oh, they've just given up a touchdown). Now if Seattle can win, I'll be most pleased.

Terry & Smokey (D)

Gainesville

Yesterday I finally stopped procrastinating and made myself go down and spend a couple of hours in Special Collections. I'd never used any of their stuff before. I had to fill out a form, and was issued a pair of white cotton gloves. They brought out a huge flat box that held two years worth of Sunday comics pages from the New York Sun News, 1947-48. I had settled on 1948 as the year to sample-- I wanted post-war 40's, a time I have some memory of, and since I'd just finished E.J.'s books, both set in 1948, I picked that one. They are of course very fragile and brittle, so I had to be really careful.

They were fascinating! So different from today's newspaper comics. There were nearly as many advertisements as comics, and the ads were a complete hoot-- many of them short comic strips in themselves. I could make a paper just about them. Also interesting is there were never more than two strips per page, sometimes one strip plus an ad, sometimes one strip taking up an entire page, sometimes an ad or two taking the whole page.

The archive is not complete-- it looks as if someone was collecting Terry and the Pirates separately, as it is missing from many of them. In addition to Terry (post-Caniff), the date I picked (January 18) has The Gumps, Harold Teen, Smilin' Jack, Moon Mullins, Winnie Winkle, Tiny Tim, The Teenie Weenies, Sweeney and Son, The Ripples, and Smitty. I know nothing about any of them, except Terry, but luckily I've already assembled reference books at home which I studied avidly last night and they gave me a general sense of this little stable. It will take some more digging to get useful details, which will be fun. I stayed up way too late doing this, which is why I didn't blog last night.

I went back yesterday afternoon to do the scanning. It took over two hours to get scans of the 12 pages. My chosen date did not include a Smokey Stover, although others close date-wise did. I'm particularly anxious to include a Smokey, not just because I always loved him, but also because I want to see how my XML handles all the background details and text. I picked another day, March 25, that has one, and scanned the Smokey and that date's Terry. If I have time, I want to go back and scan the rest of March 25, so I'll have two examples of most strips.

This morning as soon as I rolled out of bed (late, of course) I was at the computer, making sure the CD I burned with scans worked right and patching together a page to see how that went. The originals are smaller than contemporary pages, so it took only two scans per page. My test page looks great, and was easy to do with PhotoShop. All the work I've put in on the modern pages is really paying off now, because I know how to do it efficiently.

Can you tell I'm psyched?

We did the weekly mail pickup at the P.O. yesterday, so I spent more time than I should have today getting caught up with a few magazines. Put together a quick menu plan and got out to do the shopping. Having that new Publix so close is saving me a lot of money as well as time-- there is nothing else near it, so I'm not tempted to go into Barnes & Noble or Best Buy like I was at the Butler Plaza store.

Last night I Blessed the house in short stints-- I liked the feeling I had last weekend (preparing for the guest that didn't see the house afterall) of having that out of the way that I decided to try it again. It really does make the weekend more of a relaxed time to have the place decently cleaned.

I'm really happy to hear how much you like your lecture series, Mom. Much more convenient that having to schlep down to the campus on THEIR schedule. Plus, I'm sure it's a welcome change from TV as background noise. I've been thinking about getting some of these after I retire, and your experience so far is certainly encouraging.

I keep forgetting to tell you how splendid and beautiful your thank-you note, "Herb Bouquet" was. Both Bill and I just marvelled at it-- so incredibly realistic. The herbal scents you included did not survive the USPS, but the sage, rosemary and thyme (is the other one oregano?) don't really need them to be convincing. I hope you put some on card stock, because I'd love to have a few. I'm positive you could sell them, but not sure you'd like the hassle involved-- remember what the candle biz was like...

Here's some Diry, the last of the fragmented trip entries. The next entry is after our return. Diry fans everywhere will rejoice to hear that I seriously underestimated how many entries are left-- there are actually about 70 more!

Sunday, August 3, 1952
216th Day--150 Days to Follow

Dear Diary
This morning we did not go to Sunday school. Later in the morning it started to rain. Sandy and I took Lillie's & Dan's umberellas & ran out in our bare feet. Later we went to Keosaqua for lunch. Then we went to see Elizabeth & George & Marylyn. We rode their pony, Nancy. Then we came home. Dan is in bed. She was tired. Suzy

[nothing for August 4-9]

[Cartoon of Nebraska labeled "NEB" at upper right]

Sunday, August 10, 1952
223rd Day--143 Days to Follow

Dear Diary
Left Early this morning did not like the joint too well any way. (Thunder & Lighting Last night) Had Breakfast here Went on To Grand Island and North Platte for lunch. Then on to Ogallala & Then we stopped at Chimney Rocks to take pictures. Went on To Scotts Bluff and are spending the night here. Had dinner here too. Suzy

Faster and Faster (D)

Gainesville

'Rrrrrgghh... how did it get so late again? And yet another morning where we have to ge there at the ungodly hour of 8:30. After getting home after 7:00 tonight. Doesn't seem right that nearly 12 out of 24 hours should be devoted to The Job, and that isn't even counting the time spent working and talking and worrying about it. I can't wait to put that part of it behind me.

Incredibly nice to come home and have dinner ready to go in the new midsized crock-- we were actually able to eat at 7:30 for a change. And it was wonderful! True, the pork didn't exactly slice, more like shattered (what do you expect, when the recipe says 6 hours and you give it 10?) but they call this kind of thing "pulled pork" these days, and this version was tender, juicy, flavorful and very entertaining heat-wise. I pronounce it, and mamma-crock, a success.

Folded a huge heap of Bill's big whites, plus the semi-weekly towel wash. Also getting back into the routine of doing a swish/swipe of his bathroom twice a week. Actually, now that I think on it, I've been doing very well with my basic daily and weekly routines thus far this month (knock knock). Let's hear it for Routines-- they are easier to do with each iteration, and not just the habit part-- the job itself is easier when it was done the day before. The sink is the perfect example of this. There is true genius in this FL system. Nice to be reminded.

Spent the whole day at work trying to get my new comupter up and running. Much crawling around on the floor, plugging and unplugging, installing and reinstalling. Everyone assumes I'm some sort of uber-geek and can do it all myself. Hah! UNlike FL, each iteration of this song-and-dance becomes more complicated and excruciating. True, the individual pieces (CPU, monitor, etc.) become smaller and lighter to heft around. But maybe that is not such a good thing-- I have no excuse to beg for help from larger, mightier people. And so I am quite literally bone-tired. And muscle-tired.

Ah well, enough whining. I think I have the stuff I need for Da Project working on the new machine. But there was no time to visit Special Collections. I am starting to panic. Just over 30 days. If I put in 2 hours per day, that's 60 hours... is that enough?? It will have to be. Right.

Glad to hear Ben is feeling better today. (Thanks, Marty. And take care of yourself, too, please.) Alas, Bill is feeling worse again. He sounded terrible this morning, and I could hear him sneezing from the other end of the house. He is quite cranky about this development, and took himself to bed early tonight. Everyone in the library who has had this "cold" complains about how it just refuses to let go. The most recent cold snap is probably what's triggering this recent relapse, so that dampens my usual enthusiasm for wintery weather.

Look forward to hearing about tomorrow's shopping adventures, Mom. I had forgotten about the "Don't go any faster than old Bessie can trot" part of the story. Imagine if people had stuck to that! Probably be a kinder and gentler world in some respects. It all seems to be going faster at exponential rates.

It's always fun for me to read my blog entry the next day, because I'll have no memory of what my fingers said.

Meanwhile, we'll pick up 1952 again. Warning: like some comic strips, the next few entries are re-runs from the Iowa Trip Diary-- apparently I copied one from another, but not sure which. There are some more original entries once we got back. Eighth Grade. Julia's age. Can anyone doubt that kids grow up much faster these days?

Friday, July 25, 1952
207th Day--159 Days to Follow

Dear Diary
This morning we left Doc's place at about 5:00 A.M. We ate Breakfast in Lexington. We went on into Mo. and went thru the Mark Twain. It was very nice. We had lunch in Keokuk, Ia. We arrived in Birmingham at about 4. Lillie was surprised to see us. We had supper. We are sleeping in the basement with Dan. We saw fireflys.

[nothing for July 26-28]

Tuesday, July 29, 1952
211th Day-- 155 Days to Follow

Dear Diary
This morning we slept in laate cause Dan didn't wake us up. When we got up no one was around. We had to fix our own breakfast. I fixed up a pair of stilts for my doll. I walk on the ones Pa fixed up. We read in the paper about some flying saucers over Iowa. Went over to the cemetary & saw our ansestors graves. Suzy

Submerged in Sundays

Gainesville

Just a quick one. Bill has an early morning meeting, so I'm forced to be in early too. Got a lot done on my project today-- just wish I had about two solid weeks to work on it. I'm now half finished coding the test (recent) Sunday section. It's enough, really, tho I'm hoping to finish all six pages.

Tomorrow I must venture into Special Collection and start looking for an old section. Now that I have the technique pretty much down, it shouldn't take as long to do. I hope. I only have two weeks to work on it-- need to save the last two for writing.

After we got back from dinner out, I did the prep work for the crock pot dish for tomorrow night-- a pork in salsa verde. It will the the first trial of the new 3-quart crock. It doesn't have a timer, but at least it has a high setting as well as low and warm, an improvement over that baby one.

It's turned very cold here again-- supposed to dip into the 20's tonight.

Good work with improving your space, Mom. And I'm glad to hear you're enjoying your DVD lectures. What a great thing to be doing.

How is Ben?

Huzzah! (D)

Gainesville

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEN!

Poor little tyke-- how sad to be sick just as you turn 4. I can tell he's not himself, since he isn't smiling with winning charm into the camera. Will certainly send good thoughts his way. I never got his card mailed, but I guess late will be okay in this case.

Back to the tank today. They brought me a new computer, but didn't even take it out of the box. I had to decant and set it up myself. Never did get it on the network, since I have only one net drop in my cubicle. I will have to unplug and move my current monster to even test the sleek tiny new one.

Made something quite interesting for dinner tonight: Low Carb Spinach Salad Pizzas, a Leanne concoction that wasn't pizza at all, but was very good: a mixture of cream cheese, shredded cheddar, sour cream and a bit of bottled salad dressing spread on broiled portabella mushroom caps and topped with chopped spinach, minced onion, sliced hard-boiled eggs and crumpled bacon. We both loved it.

Forgot to mention what I cooked last night: a rather nice beef teriyaki stir-fry with green peppers and sliced carrots. Had this with yet another variation on cauli-rice-- simmered the stuff in chicken broth for about ten minutes, then added finely chopped pecans for a pilaf of sorts-- worked very well.

Congrats on getting your Christmas stuff finally off the decks, Mom. I'm nowhere close. There just aren't enough hours in the day when ten of them are sucked up by the job. But don't even THINK about trying to be Dan and do it all yourself-- you are older than she ever was, remember, and it makes no sense to over-exert when you are there alone.

As for "huzzah!" -- what a great word! It has many comic book associations for me, but most recently it reminds me of the antipenultimate Sandman story, "Sunday Mourning," and the twit at the Renaissance Faire booth who shouts "HUZZAH! Twenty pounds for the King!" whenever she makes a sale. Sandy will know the story.

Got some wonderful comics related books in the mail today: Masters Of American Comics, a huge coffee table sized behemoth, and Modern Arf, a wonderful compendium of the border where comics and art collide. But best of all is an out-of-print jewel by Mort Walker, The Lexicon of Comicana. He classifies and suggests fanciful names for the kind of comics visual conventions that interest me most right now. No one took him seriously at the time, but I think he and I are on the same wavelength.

I'll probably blather on about this more in the future, but for now, time to hang it up.Looks like I will work from home tomorrow. But first, a word from our sponsor: Lil' Suzy, as a kid.


Tuesday, July 22, 1952
204th Day--162 Days to Follow

Dear Diary
This morning we ate breakfast in Craig. Then we went to Steam boat Springs & over Rabbit Ear Pass. We were listening to the convention (Dem.) There is a terrific boom for Govenor Adali Stevenson of Ill. Kefauver is still strong. We went over Barthold Pass & into Denver. went on to Colorado Springs. Are sleeping at the Ace Motel. Going to Pike's Peak tom. Suzy

Sad to say, we now have reached the first break in the entries-- 204 days straight! Not bad for a 12-year old. Don't think I've done that well with any journal I've done since. A standing O for Da Kid!

Marty Here...

Marty here - thought I'd share a few Benjamin 4th birthday comments and pictures. Poor Ben is sick today. He started last week with the icky cold that's always circulating the daycare center this time of year. He seemed to be fine for the most part, until Sunday, when he started to run a bit of a fever and cough a lot. I thought he was okay enough to go to daycare yesterday, even though he felt a little warm to me. He was acting fine, and was happy to get dressed and go. Well, I got halfway to work, and I got a call that I needed to turn around and pick him up because his temp was 101. So I spent the day at home with him yesterday. He was already scheduled for a check-up, so we took him in and the doctor thought his lungs sounded crackly. So she prescibed antibiotics and said otherwise he's a normal, healthy 4 year-old. He was happy to get in bed last night, but when I checked on him at about 10:30, as I was going to bed, he felt VERY hot to me. I checked his temp - 104.9! He was very hard to wake up and seemed to be feeling really lousy - breathing fast and eyes rolling around. I knew I had to get his temp down fairly fast or I would have to take him to the ER. We gave him some ibuprofen and I started sponging him. Finally after about an hour or so, he was down to 101. I went to bed but got up every hour to check on him. Nate stayed home with him today, while I went to work in zombie mode, having had very little sleep. Poor kid - he was supposed to have a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese tonight, but his temp never went below 100 today. It has been back up as high as 104 a couple of times. he has barely eaten since noon Sunday, but is getting some fluids. If the fever does not break by tomorrow morning I will call the doctor and probably take him in again.

Nate tried to tempt him with McDonald's Chicken Nuggets for dinner tonight (usually a fave) but even that did not make him eat. He did blow out the candles on the sorry grocery store cake slice Nate brought home, but of course Ben could not be convinced to eat any. (He really doesn't eat cake, even on a good day.)

Here are the pictures of Ben's sad little 4th birthday "celebration."






I will be working from home tomorrow - luckily I have a project I can do from home right now. Keep ypur fingers crossed for Ben to be better soon so we can celebrate his birthday for real.

Dobby Reporting, Live, from... (D)

Gainesville

Worked like a house slave-- uh, I mean a Fly Baby-- most of the day. Got the sheets changed and laundered. Towels, ditto. Bill's bathroom properly cleaned after too long. And the long-delayed Fridge Purdge-- not as bad a expected, but still required a supplemental dishwasher load: dealt with THREE loads today. Great to have some breathing room in Joe Cool. Still have the Wilter bin to go, though. Also decluttered the room temp fruit/veg bins.

Managed to find 1.5 hours to finish up the scanning for the recent Sunday comics supplement. It's a daunting chore, as my scanner is small-- not quite wide enough for the width of the comics page, and requiring three length-wise scans that then have to be pieced together. Finally they're done. The scans from the library collection should be easier, once I pick out a date; they have heavy-duty large scanners.

Also finished Shadow Boxer, the sequel to E.J.'s novel, The Distance. I did not want it to end! It has been such good company over the past few weeks. It's going to be hard getting into anything else. The same problem in the car: I finished Ladder of Years, and have nothing else on tape for listening. I ended up replaying the last tape again. And, I must say, enjoying it just as much. I don't doubt I could play ALL of my books on tapes again and make driving anywhere a non-stop joyous clambake . I just love being read to-- anything halfway decent will do.

My tree remains standing, empty. My boxes (ratty old cardboard boxes all, but each with its own memory of time and place) remain unstowed. Let's hope this happens before Mom and Sandy visit.

In the alternate timeline, The Kid heads east-- and some of this sounds strangely familiar...

[Vacation symbol]
[Away from home symbol]
[Iowa vacation symbol]
[Cartoon outlines of "Nev" and "Utah," latter with approx location of Grantsville shown as shining point]
Sunday, July 20, 1952
202nd Day--164 Days to Follow

Dear Diary
We got up at 4:00 and drove on to Reno. Had Toast. When we hit Lovelock we had break. at the Sun Cafe. We then went on to Winnamucka and Elko where we had our own lunch (The dessert sure is hot.) Then we went over the line to Utah and crossed the Salt Lake desert. We had dinner at Grantsville & are staying at a Motel here. "Little Reno" Suzy

[Vacation symbol]
[Away from home symbol]
[Iowa vacation symbol]
[Cartoon outline of "Utah"]
Monday, July 21, 1952
203rd Day--163 Days to Follow

Dear Diary
We left the Motel about six and had break. at Salt Lake City. We went to Temple sqr. & had a tour thru it. We then went to a museum & the State house. We had lunch there. After lunch we set out on 40 & hit Vernal at about six. We are staying at the "Antlers" Motel. Had dinner at Vernal Hotel. Having fun. Suzy

Da Bears-- Doink* (D)

Gainesville

A football day. Glad to see the Steelers advance, but very unhappy to watch the hated Panthers advance at the expense of Da Bears. Good grief-- what if the Super Bown turns out to be Denver vs Carolina? Maybe we won't even watch, since there's no way they both can lose!

Fixed a dreadful dinner-- the main dish (chicken with a mustard/apricot glaze) was tolerable, but I totally blew it with the sides-- over-roasted the asparagus at too high a heat, and turned the kale into crunch dust by not adding water to the braise-- d'oh!) Strangely, Bill ate and like all of it. He must have been really hungry.

Must purge the fridge tomorrow-- it's amazing how much stuff accumulates in it when you cook five nights a week and let it for for weeks at a time. I expect some grim discoveries.

I slept really late, but after going to bed really late, it only amounted to 9 hours, a bit of catch-up for the week-day deficit, but not nearly enough.

So glad tomorrow is a holiday for us. I've made up my mind to take at least one 3-day weekend per month until I retire. Of course, I'll need to take more than that, but that's the minimum.

We've finally arrived at the Iowa departure in the Diry. In some cases, I seem to have copied the entry from the separate, illustrated Trip Diary, or maybe it was vice versa. Anyway, missing pages start soon. There are at least 20 or so more entries scattered through the rest of the year.

[Vacation symbol]
Friday, July 18, 1952
200th Day--166 Days to Follow

Dear Diary
This morning I woke up at 6:15 & Sandy & Pat weren't awake yet. I got up and dressed & built a fire. When they got up we cooked breakfast. I cleaned up the kitchen real good. We had our permenents & they came out pretty good. I got some new shoes & a hat with sun glasses. We are having our barbeque at Pat's.Brainy almost came but didn't (Thank goodness) Suzy

[Vacation symbol]
[Away from home symbol: dark bars on either side of date heading]
[Iowa vacation symbol: dark shining star above date heading]
Saturday, July 19, 1952
201st Day--156 Days to Follow

Dear Diary
This morning we woke up at Pat's, read a while & then Dad came to get us we paked & went up to Pa & Dan's with P. Dan bought us nighties & neat swag bags. We started out at about 4:00 PM. We went thru Walnut Creek & had dinner in Lodei Then up to Sacramento and up past Loomis and Auburn. We finally pulled up in some kind of clearing to spend the night in the car. It is somewhere near Truckee.
Suzy

Visitor from Inner Space (D)

Gainesville

Got up at a decent hour for a change and did the last bit of getting the house in respectable shape-- some work on the bathroom and just a bit of stash-and-dash to get some boxes of paper junk I'm in process of sorting off the study floor. Nice having all that out of the way at the beginning of a three day weekend.

As it turned out, Ken didn't come here-- we picked him up at his (Tibetan Budhist) workshop and we went out to lunch at Mildred's one of the few unique (non-chain) places in town open for lunch. Excellent food, especially an outstanding parsnip and leek soup. It was a beautiful clear cold and windy day, so we drove around Gainesville some, showing Ken some of the new things on campus and in town. We stopped at the beautiful meditation center that's right on Lake Alice, definitely the highpoint of our sightseeing.

Ken is living in St. Augustine now after many years of living at Kripalu, an ashram in Massachusetts. He tried making a living teaching Yoga after the Ashram dissolved, but couldn't quite make a go of it, so he's practicing architecture again, with his own little practice out of the house he's renting near the beach. Sounds like a good life, but he thinks he may be ready to move on again in a year or so. Interesting guy.

Did a quick shop when we got back from that. I found a 3-quart crock pot at Publix-- my current Menu-Mailer tends to have recipes too large for the small one and too small for the 6-quart one. I hated bring yet another piece of stuff into the junked-up house, but think I need this one. The crock pot is a helpful, FL-approved device, after all. Actually, I haven't even brought it in the house yet-- still in the back of Blue.

Tonight wasn't one of my better efforts-- it was a baked salmon thing, but I forgot how the La Creuset dish takes so long to warm up. The fish wasn't nearly done in 10 minutes at 350, nor at 15-- in desperation I turned the oven to 400 for five minutes, and of course, over-cooked it. Messed up the fried cauli-rice too-- used too much oil, and olive oil instead of canola. Tasty but greasy. The pre-fab salad from Publix was good tho-- spring greens with chopped apples, blueberries, walnuts and raisins. I tossed in some feta and dressed with Marie's red wine dressing.

Watched most of the Seahawks/Skins game-- wanted both of them to win! Was happy for Seattle, though, as I don't think they've ever won in the post season. We gave up on the second game, though: just too depressing watching the Pats beat themselves and hand the game to the hated Broncos.

Fear not, Mom-- there's still quite a bit of Diary to go. It just gets a bit more sporadic once the Iowa trip began.

Not surprising you occasionally have a day when you need to catch up on your sleep, as little as you do at night.

[Vacation symbol]
Wednesday, July 16, 1952
198th Day--168 Days to Follow

Dear Diary
Chris slept pretty good in Sandy's bed. This morning I cleaned my room, the front room, the breakfast room & the kitchen. I loaded the dishwasher. We went swimming in our lil pool this afternoon. Tonite we had barbecue spare-ribs. We made a little place for a fire & tosted m.mellows. Pat & Rick came over & We baked some apples mine was good! theirs? Ugh! We had fun. TIME - 11:35 Suzy

[Vacation symbol]
Thursday, July 17, 1952
199th Day--167 Days to Follow

Dear Diary
This morning we got up and did our work. Bren came down and we had lunch here. After lunch we played Canasta. Brenda won. Bren went home & we went swimming in our pool. Tonite Pat & San & I are sleeping OUTSIDE! We have the same campfire. Pat had to sneak away from Rick. We all have sleeping bags. It sure is cold Suzy

Long Stormy Night (D)

Gainesville

How can it be after midnight already, again? Could it be the 11 hour day we put in at work today? Or maybe doing the complete Weekly Blessing tonight, including a completed load of towels? I always think that since I don't cook on Fridays, I should have tons of extra time, but somehow it doesn't work out that way.

Yesterday morning I put the last few mega-bucks into my million-dollar smile. Seriously, my teeth now look better than they ever have in my entire life. Dentistry has come a long way, and I'm lucky to be the beneficiary of it.

Worked the rest of the day at home, and we had an especially nice night at Outback. At the bar we talked with a black kindergarten teacher who has followed her daughter from Miami to Gainesville, to see her established as a music major at UF. She was delightful and inspiring, someone who obviously cares deeply about her pupils. We didn't even get her name, but maybe she'll come back again.

More progress on da Project yesterday and today. (I need to get a better name for it-- in file names I call it "Sundays.") It's very easy to shoot yourself it the foot with this kind of work, so I have to go slow and be deliberate and make many back-ups of each stage. So far so good. Knock knock.

Found out this afternoon I'm on "the list" for an upgraded computer. Oh joy. It will be better, faster, smaller and flatter, but also means I'll get to test how good my backups are. And there will we days and weeks as I have to reinstall the programs I actually use. This is the kind f slash-and-burn clean-up the FlyLady would love.

We are having a dark and stormy night here-- wind, rain, thunderstorms. Just a typical summer evening-- except that it's mid-winter! Guess that's the price we pay for having a week of the kind of winter weather that makes the snow-birds love us: clear warm days in the mid-70's, pleasant cool nights in the 50s. Spozed to get colder once this front passes through.

Plan for tomorrow is to have lunch with Ken Baxter, an old friend of mine from the '70s. He was through here about three years ago, when Bill and I both enjoyed his company, and we look forward to hearing about what he's up to now-- an architecture student turned seeker.

Got to get to bed. I have some blog comments (especially on that June '78 letter) but they will have o wait.

[Vacation symbol]
Monday, July 14, 1952
196th Day--170 Days to Follow

Dear Diary
This morning I got up and did my work. At noon Dad came home & Mom gave him lunch. Then she took me to Thelma's where I am now. We rode to the store and I got a soda. Tonite we (minus Vivian) went to the Monte Vista & saw "Flaming Feather" Forest Tucker & "Clash by Night" with Paul Douglas Barbara Stanwick Robert Ryan & Marilyn Monroe. Suzy.

[Vacation symbol]
Tuesday, July 15, 1952
179th Day--169 Days to Follow

Dear Diary
This morning Thelma & I slept in till 10:00. Thelma did her work & this afternoon we went swimming. It was just where we used to go when we were little. Thelma taught me to swim. We went home to here house had dinner & they took me home. Chris is sleeping in Sandy's bed tonite while she is at Harlows. Dad got some final figs. on House. Will start soon. Suzy

Slogging Blogger

Gainesville

Blogger is intolerably slow tonight, so I'm writing this off-line for a change-- hope I'm able to post it later.

Nice progress today Mom-- Baby Steps, just what we're all supposed to be doing.I'm proud of you, and I'm sure FlyLady is too. Especially that you got back to your routines with organ and NT. It was fun to read tonight's letter to Dan where Dad was into organ too. It's too bad he wasn't able to convince Lala to get one. I'll bet she would have lived longer with some music to occupy her shut-in life.

But I can't believe Dan ever used the word "sexier"! That is so out of character. The Dan I knew would have used something like "more becoming." Sex did not exist in her world, as far as I could tell.

Aha! I just got this message when attempting to post a comment to Mom's entry:

Blogger Problem
This server is currently experiencing a problem. An engineer has been notified and will investigate.
Status code: 1-500-11

Guess this may have to wait til tomorrow.

Pretty good day-- flailing away at email support problems most of the time, making a bit of progress on my project the rest of it. When Bill reminded my tonight of the upcoming three-day weekend, the first thing I thought of was, oh boy-- here's my chance to get the scanning done for the current comics pages. I am in Da Zone with this thing, as in, it is at the top of the memory stack.

We got home late again, but I had no choice but to do the delayed chicken dish, Leanne's "Lemon Chicken". It sounded strange and complicated, with both a brief dip in a sweet/sour marinade prior to sauteing and a dipping sauce, but to my surprise, it was wonderful. Also tried her suggestion of fried cauli-rice, which was a revelation. A bit of last minute multi-tasking, stir-frying the rice while monitoring the saute, but it worked out, and left the whole house smelling like a high-zoot pan-Asian bistro. This one is definitely a keeper. And who knew cauliflower could be such a perfect stand-in for both potatoes AND rice?

Dentist tomorrow morning, the last of this series, I hope. Then the rest of the day working at the home office. With any luck, this is a preview of life post-retirement: mundane stuff in the morning, work on the passion in the afternoon.

Okay, let's see if we can post.

Cashmere Intimidation

Gainesville

Happy Needya Feedya Birthday, Sandy! Although I'll never be able to feedya like you feed me... Nice descriptions of the food you had for lunch. And what fun to watch the Julia videos for the first time... I just always assumed you'd seen them, as you were my French Chef touchstone. I saw quite a few of them in the first run days, as Lee had an interest, and she was such a hoot. Enjoy!

My day was dominated by sweater angst. Doug & family gave Bill and me cashmere sweaters from Lands End for Christmas. Bill happily put his on and wore it out to dinner right away. Mine... more complicated. First, I'm completely intimidated by a sweater that comes with it's own muslin bag, complete with button, no zipper-- you know the thing has to be as fragile and snag-prone as a butterfly wing. Second, I can tell just by looking that it's too big, the sleeves way too long (never even tried it on, but I know a regular small won't work), so I'll have to go through the angst of returning it. Which I put off. And off. Finally last Anti-Procrastination Wednesday I made the call. The replacement arrived, a petite XS. I carefully tried it on: perfect. But what to wear with it? (What do I have that is worthy?) Do I dare to take a thermos of coffee to work? Do I dare to eat anything at all while wearing it? Bill has the right idea, of course: it's just a sweater, it's entirely replaceable, etc. This cashmere intimidation must be a carry-over emotion from high school. I can't remember if I actually ever owned one, but if I did, I'll bet I tied myself in the same kind of knots over it. At any rate, I wore it (it's wonderfully smooth, soft and lovely) and nothing awful happened. The only person I talked to the live long day was the Valic agent who came to discuss retirement options. I hope he was suitably impressed! (As if.)

In other news, I finally got the artificial tree denuded; as you say Mom, it's relatively stress-free. Will need Bill's help to wrestle the thing back into its box, but at least he doesn't have to worry about getting it out to the curb on the right day, and all that stuff.

I had to punt for dinner tonight-- too late to have the scheduled chicken dish, so I hauled some dogs out of the freezer and had them miked with kraut. Had some leftover melon/orange salad and broccoli on the side, along with bag salad. Exciting, huh?

Had some Big White Undies to fold, and watched an old episode of Commander in Chief while doing it. And this just in: TiVo LIVES! Bill hammered away at it early this morning, and after three straight weeks of failed calls to the mother ship, one finally got through. We now have program data through Januray 22, and the little darling remembers everything I programmed into it. Who knows what the problem was. I hope we can keep it alive so you can see it. I agree it would not interest you much, Mom, but I think Sandy will be fascinated.

Enough of this. Too late for Dear Diry tonight. One more day in the tank, then I get to work at home for a day. I worked on my project/presentation today, but with many interruptions-- need a long span of time to finish up the six page section I'm using as a test. It's almost there.

G'night.

quick update

64th birthday passed well. My birthday present from Charlie (and Ruth Wood -- they collaborated) is the French Chef Julia Child DVDs, just out. I watched two episodes first thing in the morning. It's just as wonderful as I'd imagined it would be. I've always regretted not watching more than a couple of episodes when it was on TV. Just couldn't seem to get the TV habit (I never have). A major life regret has been laid to rest today.

Then Charlie and I went to St. Paul, where I observed a student in the Spanish immersion elementary school while he ran some errands. Thence to downtown St. P., where we had lunch at A Rebours, a very nice restaurant we've always wanted to go to. Excellent mushroom soup with marscapone/truffle fried won ton (wow!), then Charlie had boeuf bourgignon (hey! I watched Julia make it just this morning!) and I had salmon with tapenade and white bean paste. All quite good. Dessert was a chocolate torte with blood oranges on top (for me) and Charlie had a crème renversée with "lavender foam" and pistachio brittle. Mine was good, but his was truly outstanding. Custard can be wonderful with that kind of aromatic in it. Must try it soon.

Back to RF, where we saw Mom, then home, where we took it easy for the rest of the afternoon. We weren't hungry, but after watching Julia Child make omelettes, we hastened to the kitchen, where Charlie produced a beautiful one, using Julia's amazingly quick technique.

Thanks for the check and card, Mom, and thanks for the card, Suzy (and Thea, if she reads this), and the phone call from Marty (which I missed).

A fine birthday!

Life Without TiVo

Gainesville

Manic Monday again, and not enough sleep; must do better tonight, so will keep this brief and skip the diary.

What a foul day of football yesterday. I am 0 for 4 with teams I was pulling for this weekend. Snort. But in the course of looking for the Hallmark Channel (in order to check out the Dick Van Dyke vehicle they were airing-- which was unwatchably bad) I discovered we DO indeed get the NFL channel. Oh dear. This will let me watch meta-football any time of the day or night! At least during the play-offs, that will probably be my background noise of choice while cooking.

And speaking of tubing, last night I was forced to watch new episodes of "The West Wing" and "The L-Word" LIVE! The horror! Life without TiVo is the pits. Actually, it's not so bad-- the fact that those two happened to air the same night was pretty weired, since they're about the only ones I care enough about to watch. We lost interest in "Desperate Housewives" (not sure why), and there's not much else.

Back to slogging through work. Next Monday is a holiday, the last before the dreaded Great Holiday Drought between MLK and Memorial days. The last such dry spell I'll have to endure, I'm happy to remember.

Bill is better, and never did completely lose his voice, but is having trouble making himself heard, and his cough is bad. He went to work today, of course, but at least we got home at a decent hour. I made something that by any reasonable standard should be called a failure-- Greek veggie-burgers that refused to coalesce into burger-form and got very dry when I cooked them too long. Topped with diced sauted onions, zucchini and tomatoes flavored with mint, it turned into a kind of dish that tasted pretty good, and Bill actually liked. Had leftover Tuscan soup with this.

Time to go fold the towels. I got the sheets changed tonight also (the cat had staked her claim to the unmade bed before work this morning). Spent many 15 minute sessions Sunday de-decorating the tree. Didn't quite finish, though-- the tree is empty and ready to be put away, but I still have a card table covered with the hard to wrap stuff that does not have individual boxes. No time to spend on it tonight.

I'm forgetting something. Oh well, will pick it up tomorrow.

Noisy Machine (D)

Gainesville

My main computer is making a horrible noise again (driving me nuts), and the laptop is being charged, so this will be short.

I did get up early (for me: 9:00) and out shopping. Back in time for ESPN meta-football, only to realize that the first game did not start until 4:30! This gave me some free time in the afternoon.

Saw in the paper that postage goes up tomorrow, so did a mad dash to finish up the last 14 Christmas cards so I wouldn't have to add stamps to them-- ended up with a canned letter of sorts, but it was the only thing I could do on short notice. Also wrote all the bills, then made a special trip to the P.O. to get them mailed. Glad to have that out of the way.

Both Florida teams lost today, but at least Tampa made it a good fight. The Jags were pretty awful. My plan is to take down the tree tomorrow while watching the games

Made a nice pan fried haddock with butter sauce for dinner-- baked acorn squash and blanched broccoli on the side. Bill is feeling worse again today; he stayed in this velour jammies all day and did a lot of sleeping. He shouldn't have gone to work yesterday, but it's impossible to stop him.

Enjoying your letters to Dan, Mom. More about that tomorrow.


Saturday, July 12, 1952
194th Days-- 172 Days to Follow

Dear Diary
Mom & Dad came home at 3:30 last night. They both had hangovers. Bren came down and we played with her all morning. We played with her this aft too. Later we played with Pat. We are leaving for Iowa on Friday (we hope) Today I found the funnies (Chron) from Oct '51 to May '52. There sure is a lot. Suzy

Sunday, July 13, 1952
195th Day--171 Days to Follow

Dear Diary
This morning we got up and worked. We cleaned up our room and then we did the front room. We polished the furnature and all! This afternoon Pa & Dan came over and stayed a while. We don't know when we're leaving yet. We forgot the show so tonite we went. We saw "When in Rome" with Van Jonson & Paul Douglas & "Skirts Ahoy" with Esther Williams, Joan Evans, Vivian Blane & Guest s Billy Extine Debbie Rynolds & the Demarco sisters. Suzy

Wildcard Thing

Gainesville

One night (last) it's mosquitos, the next, freezing p's (plants, pipes, pets, and another I can't remember just now). Spozed to drop into the 20's tonight.

Bill was much better today and went in to work. Which meant an incredibly long day for us-- nearly 10 hours. Bill wanted dinner out, so we went to Bahn Thai. It had been so long that they'd forgotten we like things hot.

I got alot done on my project today, then forgot to bring home my keychain drive where it all was saved. Maybe just as well, as there are lots of other things to do this weekend. Which is, of course.....

WILD CARD WEEKEND! And the Jags are in it for a change. I want to get the shopping done early tomorrow so I can see both games. Will be without the benefit of meta-football, though, as our TiVo download problems continue to the point where we have no program data-- once again have to pay some attention to the TV schedule. Not really a problem, as I haven't watched any TV other than football in weeks. A certain complacence sets in when you know TiVo is looking out for you, and you just keep putting off watching. But now that's gone, oh no! It still works to pause and rewind live TV (no small thing). Will try to have it up and working again by the time Mom and Sandy visit so you can see what it's all about in it's full glory.

Checked out a new show, The Book of Daniel, tonight and thought it was quite fine. Too good for network TV, so I don't hold much hope for it surviving, and will try not to get too attached. But it had wonderful complexity, was funny, a cast to die for, and the stained glass window freeze-frames were brilliant. It reminds me of Nothing Sacred, a show I loved, and was broken-hearted when it was prematurely cancelled. I'm reluctant to watch any new show because of that risk of heartbreak. But who can resist Jesus as an imaginary playmate? Especially when the role is played by an actor whose last role was a whorehouse murderer in Deadwood?

Did a loada laundry. Struggled mightily to convince my computer it should allow me to print a new batch of shopping lists. The usual nonsense.

And now it's time to

Jump in bed, cover up your head
And the wind blows through your nighties
The sun shines bright in the middle of the night...

(the rest is left for Sandy to complete)

SAD and Sick People (D)

Gainesville

Bill DID stay home today-- even he had to admit how sick he was. I waded out into the thick of it alone. He seems better tonight, but still no fun to be around. I hope he stays home again, but if he does go in, he has to be there at 8:30 (about 8 hours from now) and here I sit, typing and nowhere near ready for bed.

Naturally we did not go out for dinner tonight. It was a good thing that during a recent mining operation in the freezer I'd unearthed a package of "Beef Stuff", and so was able to transmute this into the "20-Minute Tuscan Soup" variation, which was perfect for the sick boy. He felt nurtured and fed, I felt great satisfaction at having pulled this off without much effort. Note to self: Time to make another batch of Beef Stuff.

Have now finished the puzzle except for the sky and the (impozzible) border. One piece is somewhere on the floor-- very hard to find on an oriental rug! But I'm sure it will turn up.

Hope you cabin-feverish S.A.D. victims get some sunshine soon. I chased a mosquito during dinner, so you see what it's like down here.

I should comment on the '52 Republican convention (Sandy, you do remember about "wing-dings," right?), but too tired now. Besides the Miracle of Dinner, I changed and laundered towels and got the kitchen in a shiny-sink state. I have earned my FL stars today.

[Vacation Symbol]
[at upper right:] *see end of book
Thursday, July 10, 1952
192nd Day--174 Days to Follow

Dear Diary
Today I got up at 8:58 or 2 minutes before 9. We had hot cakes for breakfast. Then we watched the convention. After lunch Lala taught us to Play Canasta. I came in 2nd (so far) Then had the nom. for nom tonite. Also the Wing ding* "Ike" had a good one but now McCarther is butting in to take Ike's votes. Boo to macarther. De Joirk. Suzy

[Vacation Symbol]
[across top:] I LIKE IKE
Friday, July 11, 1952
193rd Day--173 Days to Follow

Dear Diary
We got up at 9:00 this morning IKE IS NOMINATED!!!! He was within 9 votes of winning when Mininisota changed its votes for him. I had a bath & then Mom picked us up. At riding we just rode it was fun. I got Hank. Sandy got her hair cut (pro). My fatal hour is tomorrow (snip) Mom & Dad are up at Hellen's the time is ten till 2:00 A.M. Chris is asleep in Television Room. Suzy

Late for the Party (D)

Gainesville

Worked at home today. Got back into my Sunday funny papers project-- always so hard to pick up the pieces after putting it aside for more than a day or two-- and it had been two weeks. Time to make a push, as the panel is now above the Event Horizon.

It's gotten cold again, which is fine by me. Will slow down the musky-toes a bit.

Bill came home earlier than usual from work-- his boss sent him, because his cold is so bad-- he looks and sounds awful, and couldn't get warm tonight. He should stay home tomorrow, but I bet he won't.

I fixed a thing we both like (a saute of leftover ham strips, mushrooms and chopped onion, finished with some sour cream, served over leftover cauli-rice) which is also very easy. Still keeping up with the routines. So far so good. Still need to take down the tree and the kitchen table decorations. I will not make the FL Friday party, that's for sure.

[Vacation symbol]
Tuesday, July 8, 1962
190th Day--176 Days to Follow

Dear Diary
This morning we stayed in till about 10 again. These late hours. Don't they drive you batty? I think their fun. We had scrambled eggs for breakfast. The door bell didn't ring once today. Sandy & I are fixing up a play for the Activity Club to give. It's about Porky Pig. We want work it up big. It's 12:05 A.M. Suzy

[Vacation symbol]
Wednesday, July 9, 1952
191st Day--175 Days to Follow

Dear Diary
We stayed in again as usual. We had Fried bread for breakfast. Then we went into the front yard and Sandy & I cut one side of the lawn & I clipped it. Sallie Magnen was watching us. She took us over to see her pool boy is it neat. We watched The Rep convention. "Ike" made another Major victory. We wanted to play Canasta but didn't get time. Suzy

Well No Wonder

Gainesville

Somehow, I overlooked the obvious, all day long. Day started when I checked email and learned that one of our friends at work, Glenda, had died over the holidays. She'd retired in the fall, although she is a lot younger than I am. This is very unexpected, and very sad.

Once at work, news of another recently retired co-worker who died yesterday. And my boss's dad died on Christmas morning.

This was in the background all day long. Somehow I unconsciously banished it from my mind while blogging. Then I read Neil's blog tonight, where he said:

Will Eisner died a year ago today, and I have to type up the introduction to the Eisner New York stories book today. Sigh.

And then I remembered. One year ago today.

Puzzlin' (D)

Gainesville

It wasn't so bad going back to work. Maybe it was because getting only five hours of sleep dulled my senses. Maybe it was because the town is still deserted-- classes don't actually start until next week. Maybe it was because hardly anyone was in the office, so the new problems didn't come piling in on top of the old ones stacked up from two weeks off. Or some combination fo all three, most likely. In any case, I got through all the email, worked on all the open tickets, and even surprised myself by figuring out something I'd been putting off asking for help with-- as I composed the email with my questions about how to do it, I tried various things, and by the time I was finished, I'd actually done it myself. This is a very good feeling.

So far so good with the routines. Got all the morning ones done and was ready to go in plenty of time. (The novelty of pre-work routines will surely wear off soon, though.) Ditto tonight-- dishes all done, drainboards clean, sink shiny. Go Me! (I should put a gold star on the calendar). I also spent time working on a stopped up bathroom sink drain. Got it working well enough to put off a call to Pat the Plumber.

Bill is fighting yet another cold. We will put off taking Blue into the shop one more time. I'm going to do my day at home tomorrow, as I have some phone calls to make (no place to do this at work).

We got home late again, so dinner was late also. I made a recipe we love from 15 Minute Low Carb, "Seriously Spicy Chicken" and it was wonderful. Had it with cauli-rice, and on the side, last night's eggplant, zucchini and some broccoli from earlier served room temp with the wonderful yogurt/ feta sauce. Good grub.

Only spent 15 minutes on the puzzle tonight, but what a great 15 it was-- after being completely stuck yesterday, I sat down picked up the first piece and put it right in. This continued for the next 17 pieces I picked up, and after one miss, another 4! This is an incredible streak, and very satisfying. I'm sure it will be back to Frustration 'R Us next time, but it was great fun. (And anyone who is not a puzzler must think I'm completely daft.)

Watching Orange Bowl (sorta). Reading five books simultaneously, each one in a different room of the house. I had a QPBC "error" this month and got two books I did not want. They are both wonderful! One is The History of Love by Nicole Krauss, the other Zorro by Isabel Allende. The latter hooked me right away with a map of the California missions at the beginning, the former by being so easy to read and yet so unusual. The other three are ones I've been poking along with and enjoying: The System of the World (Neal Stephenson), Shadow Boxing (Eddie Muller) and To Sound Like Yourself by W.D. Snodgrass. And that's my book report. Thank you.

Back in 1952, the girls are up in Hillsdale, a subdivision newly carved into the windy foothills to the west of San Mateo, at Lala's house. She indulges them shamelessly. They dissipate enthusiastically-- as well they should! Soon they will under the stern eye of Pa and Dan for weeks on end.

[Vacation symbol]
Sunday, July 6, 1952
188th Day--178 Days to Follow

Dear Diary
This morning we met Sallie Magnan age 4. What a character. She & a girl named Nancey just love our Toni Dolls. We have been trying to duck her all day. We read comics for a good part of the day. Tonite we watched T.V. Movies. Pooie. "Silver Queen," George Brent also "Born to Gamble". Both crummy. Suzy

[Vacation symbol]
Monday, July 7, 1952
189th Day--177 Days to Follow

Dear Diary
We got up at about 10:00 this morning cause we went to bed so late last nite. We had hot cakes for breakfast. Peggy brought her baby over and we stayed with it /him while she shopped. We stayed up late again to watch "Gentleman Joe Palooka" It was real good. It is about 1:00 A.M. Suzy

Fresh Salt Ahead

Gainesville

I too worked on getting my FL routines back on track. Sheets and towels, swiffered the floors, put away the window decorations, the card display and the snow scene. (Sorry I never got a picture of the snow-- I remembered that after it was too late.) Got some of the trash from the big room tossed, gathered up the stocking food things to take to work. Spent some time with the calendar getting the month scoped out. Etc.

I made Leanne's Pork Diane, had grilled eggplant with yogurt sauce (from a recent FC Q&D-- made it before, and it was wonderful, as before) and cut some zucchini I needed to use into spears and broiled them, painted with olive oil and sprinkled with parmesan--pretty good.

I wasn't serious about you having a cat, Mom. But it's too bad they don't have services for cats and dogs the way they do for your fish-- now THAT would make pet ownership fun!

Thanks for filling in the rest of the story about that bad spell. It is truly amazing (and inspiring) how you both fought your way back and had such a long, good life together for all that time.

Watching the Sugar Bowl. It's raining like crazy, a big thunderstorm-- very warm, and mosquitos everywhere. Very annoying.

Back to the salt mines tomorrow. It could be worse, as I've checked in every day or so to deal with the spam on my work account, but it will be bad enough. My calendar shows a meeting at 10:00, but I wonder if anyone will show up.

My excitement at completing my first paper Sudoku was short-lived. I totally blew the second one-- and there is nothing for it except to erase it all and start over, which I haven't had the heart to do yet. I started another (easy) one, but I'm stuck. Looking forward to getting a nice, easy Tuesday crossword tomorrow to ease my sorrows and low puzzle self-esteem.

Speaking of which, I'm still struggling away with the jigsaw. It's gotten really hard-- I'd guess an average of three minutes between pieces.

Late Nights

Gainesville

I was suprised to see I'd actually managed to make a post last night-- I'd assumed I'd lost what I started earlier in the evening.

Lasagne was a multi-hour adventure (as the real thing always is) but was a great success. I even managed to get the kitchen cleaned up before it came out of the oven. The frozen lumps performed their miracle and turned into lovely soft rolls, and a nice salad of spinach and spring greens, walnuts and crutons with blue cheese dressing finished it off. Half of the leftover lasagne is in the freezer (after dumping a few things to make room), the rest in large single servings in the fridge. We'll see if any of it gets eaten.

Football, football and more football. Watched Bucs and Skins eek out wins, happily, but then they have to play each other next week! Oh well, at least a team I love will win that one. We are very unhappy about the changes to Sunday and Monday night football next year. But on the other hand, that's one fewer game each week to act as a time-sink.

Tomorrow will be the realy New Year start: a holiday for us. My plan is to get my own calendar in order, at least a few of the Christmas decorations stowed, and the house blessed. Wish me luck.

This blow-by-blow account of Dad's ordeal is arduous to read, but fascinating too. I did not know about the MacNamara thing. I would imagine the knowledge of what was going on at that level in Defense must have added to his burdens. Thanks for persisting with this, Mom.

Nice that La Puss slept with you last night! You might think about sharing your space with a cat-- they really are good company, and good conversationalists, too.

Nearly 3:00 AM here. Feels fine now, but I dread what it will be like Tuesday morning.