Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

Gainesville

Glad to hear about your resolve to get back into playing the organ for fun. I occasionally get the urge to play my keyboard again, and remember how much I enjoyed playing easy arrangements of things during my first sabbatical, the 8-month one when I didn't have a real project driving me. I want to get back to playing some after I retire.

Which reminds me, a strange coincidence. Last night I had Chanson Triste going through my head, and for some reason, realized I could remember all the fingerings for playing it on the violin (it's pretty easy)-- and next thing I knew, I was playing "air fiddle" -- placing my fingers very precisely on the invisible violin I was holding. I have not given one though to playing the violin, other than how much I hated it, for 50 years! I did enjoy playing in orchestra, but just couldn't stand hearing myself practice. I always envied how beautifully you could play, Mom. You made it seem so easy.

Another hot day, no rain. Parts of I-95 (on the east coast) are closed because of the smoke from fires.

It is very very strange at work these days. The Great Exodus of management continues. Today the chair of Special Collections announced he is leaving. I'm unhappy about this because he was very GOOD in supporting the growing comics collection (his predecessor was not). Who knows what the next guy will do? My fingers are crossed that the collection itself has now reached a critical mass, and would be hard to abandon as long as there is academic interest in it at UF. I think that even after Donald Ault retires, the interest will remain, since I hear John Ronan is returning to UF next year.

Today the Great Move of staff back into the new building officially began. Right up to the very last minute, various local regulatory bureacrats were still threatening to delay things by making silly demands. Somehow Bill managed to get everything taken care of in time to keep the schedule that had been set up. He deserves a medal, if I do say so myself!

Good thing it's Wednesday; even after just two days at work this week, I'm already horribly sleep deprived-- less then 6 hours each the past two. Bill read some new findings that people who fall asleep quickly need less sleep than those who don't. That would make sense of why I seem to need 8-9 hours minimum to feel human.

Tonight I was so exhausted I had to have a 15 minute nap when we got home, even though it was late. Truly a desperation dinner-- I forgot to buy the pork chops I'd planned to cook! However, with chicken breasts in the freezer and sliced mushrooms in the fridge, Google found me a splendid recipe I was able to adapt and turn out something quite wonderful. It called for onion soup mix, but since I'm trying to use up onions, I chopped up the real thing and used chicken broth. We all liked it, and I now have the makings of a very fine home-made chicken mushroom soup with the leftovers.

I agree about preferring to have drinks before dinner, but I've learned that when one has to cook, night caps are the way to go. I'm glad you're doing this, Mom, as it is obviously helping you eat more sensibly. We still drink before dinner when eating out, as you know.

It's about half past crash time. Sink is shiny, all is well. G'night.

Short and Longer

Gainesville

Short version: Went back to work: Bummer. Came home: My favorite!

Slightly longer: Even though the meal was just reruns of yesterday's soup/salad, it still tasted fine, and I blanched some broccoli and put some other assorted leftovers out. Joe Cool appreciates the decluttering, and we ate well.

Yet another early morning tomorrow. I say: just pound on my head, put a cup of hot coffee next to me, and I'll launch into Morning Routines any time required.

Watched another ep of Battleship Galactica (#5) on my laptop-- a bit onorous dealing with the software and the headphones, but hey, it works. Next time I do this, I'll be sure I have a box of kleenex handy-- Starbuck escaping the moon crash landing after figuring out the bio-alien ship and being recovered... priceless. I'm hooked. And not doing any kind of justice to it for now.

I forgot my new resolve to eat breakfast early, and it rippled negatively all day long. Tomorrow I'll do better. On the plus side, I got one Blessing done tonight: swiffered the floors

We had four trees taken down today-- this has been a long time coming. Three of them were dead/dying, one of them dangerously so.

The other was a sweet gum right up against the north side of the house, leaning over the roof. It has been the main cause of our chronic plumbing woes, as it happily tapped into the septic tank drainage, plus this tree propogates by dropping nasty, prickly golf ball sized "gum balls" that are twisted ankles and worse waiting to happen. Now that it's gone, I see how much of the morning sun it blocked over my little plot of garden. Maybe this year I can get something growing there.

Morning Routines and Nordic today, Mom-- plus getting some planting done. Plus decent food. And still you found time to transcribe Aunt Dotty's travails. I'd say this was a day for you to be proud of.

Bed calls.

Simple Fare

Gainesville

Hot weather, so just a nice simple soup and salad combo would be perfect. Right-- provided you don't make the Soup from Heck and the Salad from Hell-- six hours worth of prep (can't really call it cooking). Actually, I don't mind spending a long time fixing food, as long as I actually have enough time-- I hate feeling rushed. And today I DID start early enough that I got it all done, and the kitchen cleaned up as I went, so that when it was time to eat, I just put it on. I even had time to open a bottle of wine and give our beautiful wine glasses from Sandy their inaugural voyage. (Let the record show it was a Rosemont Cab, from Australia.) The glasses are truly magical. Thanks again!

The White Gazpach was wonderful as always, although I forgot that one of the three cukes is supposed to be held back and added with the other chopped stuff-- all three got pureed in this version. The FC Chopped Shrimp Salad was very tasty, although I do not want to dwell on what it's like to cut two cups of grapes in half-- especially when those particular grapes were positively beensy-weensy. Between the two recipes, I'm chopped out. Tomorrow will be reruns.

Didn't get the house Blessed today, what with all the kitchen duty. Changed towels and they are in the washer, waiting for Bills Big Whites to finish drying. The plan is to get both folded and put away before bed. An early morning tomorrow, as he wants to get in early to make sure the move back into the new Library West can begin as scheduled. Much Sturm und Drang there.

Ah yes, quite right-- there was a fiddlin' contest at the end of that record/story-- and our little hero Ody (Opy? Ory? some such name) didn't actually win it, but he got a Special Prize. Or something. As for "Puss and Boots," I can still hear the background music to that one, and I'm often heard spouting strange things like, "'I have brought you, Sire, a rabbit, compliments of my master, the Marquis of Carabass.'" "And the King was much impressed!" I'd forgotten "And he was only an ogre again." Hilarious! Yes, that was Harold Peary, the original Gildersleeve, reading it. What great stories we had on records. Another thing TV killed. I also loved "The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins," (only found out it was by Seuss much later) and of course, dear "Gossamer Wump."

Nice job with the flowers, Sandy. Are they real? If so, does that mean you actually planted them all and got them to bloom like that? Next time I'm up there I'd like to visit.

Mom, I'm sorry, but any day when you get your routines done, PLUS that incredible Nordic stuff, hardly counts as a wasted day. I'm very proud of you. Keep up the good work.

Memorial Day

We went to the cemetery on Friday morning to put up these pots. I'm quite proud of them, since I composed them myself about three weeks ago.

After lunch now, very hot. I've picked a bunch of spinach (all the rest of it), and will freeze it this afternoon. I also worked in the strawberries for three hours. Awful work, and I'm not half done. Good only in the morning hours. If I don't get the weeds out of them, they'll rot, and they are now beginning to set fruit. Hope they're good.

Thanks for the recipe, Suzy. Marty, why don't you post the one you emailed to me?

one string fiddle

One String Fiddle was a record that told a story. All I remember about it is that a hillbilly kid gets a cigar box and makes a one string fiddle out of it and learns to play "Turkey in the Straw." I remember what the cover looked like, too. Can anyone add anything?

Remember The Great Guildersleeve reading fairy tales? My favorite moment was in "Puss in Boots:" "Then he was only an ogre again."

Looks like it's going to be hot again today. I have to get to the garden soon to pick the rest of the spinach. Not very big, but all of the next leaves coming are what I call bolt leaves. Spinach growers will know what I mean.

I'm still cooking my way through the new FC; Saturday night I made the salmon with citrus vinaigrette. It was quite good, and very easy (except for skinning the salmon; the salmon we like best, Alaskan wild sockeye, comes from Kowalski's, and they don't skin it). Cleaned out the fryer and made french fries. Think today I'll have steak/frites for dinner, but don't know if I'll do it at noon or at night. Reminds me of seeing signs in Paris "Moules Frites," which for a long time I thought was fried mussels. When I learned that it was, of course, steamed mussels and french fries, it became one of my favorite café foods. Wish I had some now.

I have to go, though I have much more to say. Appreciated the Indy 500 yesterday, since it meant we had to spend several hours in the house in the AC!

Heat Waves, Past and Present

Gainesville

You guys win on the Misery Index-- I've lived in Lovely Wisconsin, and know what it's like to endure a heat wave there-- the houses are built with the opposite extreme in mind, and even with the best AC are stifling. I never had AC when I lived there-- my upstairs flat pumped up cool air from the basement in summer, but that was it. Still, I survived there. I was once actually driven out of my west-facing-bay-windowed flat in Baltimore to a nearby Holiday Inn after several sleepless sweaty nights, just so I could draw a few breaths of cool air. We do handle extreme heat better down here in the semi-tropics.

And in Publix today, as usual, it was good I'd brought along a corduroy jacket. Most of my shopping happens around the edges of the store, where the fresh stuff lives, and they keep it icy-cold throughout. Quite a shock to the system to between.

I did the Grape Salsa thing with turkey cutlets, thinking it would be a change, and I wouldn't have to pound them. Probably a mistake, as they were quite thick, and I was doing them on a grill pan instead of a real grill. Took forever, the outsides were tough and the insides a bit pinker than I like for poultry. Good flavors, though, and we loved the grape stuff.

Was going to have turnip fries with this, but the turnips turned out to be way past it-- one brownish in spots, the other filled with unpleasant holes. I dumped them and just sliced up a couple of tomatoes instead. Corn on the cob was a last minute addition-- this is the weekend of the annual Corn Festival, so of course there is excellent, fresh local corn in abundance. Too bad it required a big pot of boiling water to add to the grill pan's heat.

I remember how you loved the occasional hot weather we got in Los Altos, Mom. It didn't happen often enough to be onorous, the humidity was always low, and it always cooled off at night. Quite a different beast than what we all deal with now.

Does anyone remember a book or record with a story called "One String Fiddle?" Google tells me such a thing exists, but haven't been able to track down anything about it. Just one of those idle threads that popped out of an after-dinner conversation that has stuck in my memory.

Will be interested to hear if the Martys braved the heat to sleep in their tent in the back yard. One of the fun things about that Diry of mine was noting how many times we kids slept outside, and how much we enjoyed it. I hope Ben gets to have lots of that kind of fun.

Northern Spring

Gainesville

There. Finished with those two books at last. Arduous reading, to say the least: the second one was a novel length disaster story, and I feel like I went through the thing myself. I hope I'm past this compulsive reading phase for awhile. Headaches, eyestrain and general disorientation are the results of too much book-reading.

I'm breaking in a new hard drive tonight. The one that seemed so humongous just 3-4 years ago when I bought this computer, has now revealed itself to be a measly 20 GB. (Measly!) I replaced it with one ten times that size-- 200 GB. Bill installed for me, and thanks to the cloning he did, it looks and acts just like the old one, all the same programs and settings-- except it's much quieter, much faster, and instead of being stuffed to gills, it is only 1/10 full. I will need a new computer eventually (this one will not take any more RAM, and the clock speed is plodding by current standards) but I'm hoping to make this one last another year until the Macs that run Windows come out. Bill is convinced that is the way to go.

We also got a big drive for our local network that we can both use for backups. Bill hasn't gotten it working yet, though.

I don't know what I'm going to do for holiday cooking. It's just too bloody hot to think about grilling or smoking anything. I want to try the chicken with the grape salsa that Sandy mentioned from the newest FC. Some other things in there look good too-- I'm intrigued by the various chopped salads, and may try the shrimp one and have it with White Gazpacho, a holiday favorite of ours. Will finalize all this before heading out to shop tomorrow.

I'm delighted that there are some vegetables planted in that lovely little plot of your, Mom, and that you're getting your greenhouse/porch going too. I have made February my target for getting back into gardening. By October, it's already too late to get the winter garden going here, especially if we head off to California fairly soon. Makes more sense to work on getting the soil prepared for an early spring effort.

I made a dish I've had on the schedule for several weeks but never got around to: Basil Burgers. Quite good, as it turned out-- the usual burger/ chopped onion/ garlic patties served over salad greens and sliced tomato and topped with a mayo/ Dijon/ basil mixture. We ate the whole thing, and the cat was pissed because she didn't get enough.

Pretty grim business for Aunt Dotty and the lawyers. Let this be a lesson to us all: Find the friendly and honest lawyer BEFORE you need one, and get things set up so they go the way you want them to go, and everyone is clued in.

And Sandy, I agree with you about the spelling of "Pah." However, we should cut her some slack-- after all, it really WAS her father, and maybe that's the way she always thought of him. Mom, what did you call him before I dubbed them "Pa and Dan?" Father? Dad? Papa? I still find it bizarre that both you and Dot adopted "Dan" and it got passed down through the generations. All I can figure is it was some combination of Iowa and Scorpio stubbornness that made me refuse to call her "GRANDma" and instead settled on the dyslexic nickname.

Before I forget, I have been relishing the olives, Sandy. As with the first trio of bottles, there is a point after opening the first that I lose all control and just eat a bunch of them-- after all I have THREE bottles! However, I then come to my senses, and have one per night after that, and that one gets moved to the second drink. The stainless steel olive pick is glorious, especially in this hot weather-- it channels a little bit of icy cold up to it's olive-shaped tip, which is lovely to the touch.

I hope all of you in the North enjoy your spring. We down here in the tropics are hunkering down for our bad season-- not just the predictable heat/humidty combo, but also the promise of more hurricanes. The joke around here is that Gainesville property values are skyrocketing because speculators assume they will one day soon be beach-front. Ha ha. (Laugh, I thought I'd die.)

The sun is shining into the house from the north windows in the late afternoons-- only happens about this time of year, and it's always startling to see objects that never see the sun any other time suddenly gleaming. Typically thunderstorms obscure this effect, but not this year-- we remain onimously dry. Another reason to not even think about lighting fires to cook outside.

Time to eat the ceremonial olive and think about an orderly shutdown.

Sunstorm (R)

Gainesville

Swallowed by a book, once again. This time it is Sunstorm by Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter, the second volume of what I presumed was a trilogy, but am relieved to report is only a duplex (or something). I'm not finished yet, but must get some sleep.

Meanwhile, I will post the recipe Sandy asked for. After some sleep, I will finish the book and come back into the blogosphere. I hope.

Country-Style Pork Ribs

Prep: 15 minutes
Cook: Low 10 to 12 hours
High 5 to 6 hours
plus 10 minutes
Makes: 6 servings
Slow Cooker: 3-1/2 or 4-quart

1 large onion, sliced and separated into rings
2-1/2 to 3 pounds country-style pork ribs
1-1/2 cups vegetable juice
1/2 of a 6-ounce can (1/3 cup) tomato paste
1/4 cup Splenda [you carby types can use same amount of sugar]
3 tablespoons vinegar
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/8 teaspoon dried thyme
1/8 dried rosemary, crushed

1 Place onion rings slow cooker. Trim fat from ribs. Place over onions in cooker. In a medium bowl combine the vegetable juice, tomato paste, Splenda, vinegar, dry mustard, salt, pepper, thyme and rosemary. Reserve 1 cup of the mixture for the sauce; cover and shill. Pour remaining mixture over ribs in cooker.

2 Cover and cook on low-heat setting for 10-12 hours or on high-heat setting for 5 to 6 hours.

3 For sauce, in a small saucepan heat reserved mixture to boiling; reduce heat and simmer, uncovered for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove ribs [and onions] from cooker to a serving dish; discard cooking liquid. Serve sauce with ribs.

From: Better Homes and Gardens Low-Carb Slow Cooker Recipes.

Annuals

Gainesville

Well. Made it through a second day in the tank. That's the good news. The further good news is that I don't have to go back again until next Tuesday! Tomorrow is Thursday, when I work at home. Friday will be a vacation day, then the weekend, then Memorial Day.

The day's big events happened simultaneously-- I got myself to Special Collections with appropriate disks, passwords, etc., and finished scanning the "Roger Wilco" strips (by Dik Browne) and also got all the "Peter Pain" strips. This leaves just the "Mr. Coffee Nerves" strips and I'll have my Heroes and Villains paper in the bag. Right, the one, I'm NOT going to write/present in San Diego. But of course it will find a venue somewhere. I now need to take the bold step of asking the Spec Coll staff to get me a DIFFERENT BOX -- I have been obsessing over the 1947-48 box for so long they think I own it. I need to look at the 1946 box and the 1949 box to see what happened with those ad campaigns before and after.

Loved hearing about all the annuals you bought today, Mom. Today as we drove to work, I commented to Bill about how beautiful the annuals at the entrance sign were-- Zinias! All different colors, all thriving-- dazzling. Usually they do marigolds or salvias. He was unfamiliar with the whole concept of "annuals" -- and appalled that you have to plant them again EVERY YEAR! Um, yeah-- hence the name. Quick and Dirty colorful spots amid the perenials (another alien concept) "Don't they reseed themselves? It's that what plants are all about?" Well, yes, but-- then the whole thing about cultivars, hybrids, and all the other stuff I just take for granted. I do look forward to getting my gloved hands in the soil again when I actually have time to give them some decent care.

Let the Record show that for the second time in recorded history, I ate breakfast before work. So far so good. It is a very small statistical sample, but the results are positive.

Sandy, thanks for the post! Always fun to hear news from the farm. I did fix the carrots tonight for the first time, and they were lovely-- will use less sugar next time though-- rather too big of a pinch. Will know better next time. Discovered at the last minute that the skirt steak I was already thawing was supposed to be marinated overnight (D'oh!) but decided to go ahead with it anyway. It was predictably tough, after only an hour in the marinade, but tasty nonetheless. This was a fajitas sort of thing wrapped in Romaine leaves with salsa and sour cream.

It's already Thursday and then some. G'nite.

carrots & co.

This was started yesterday. My being "on call" for work with Charlie turned into a full day of hard work in blazing sun, much of it up on scaffolding. I went up and down the scaffolding a million times, and since we were working on the upper deck, I went up and down the stairs a million times, too, fetching stuff from here and there. Sunburned arms. But anyway, we got the chimney ready for the stucco man, who comes today.

Now yesterday's blog:

Peel and cut up carrots in whatever size and shape chunks you wish. For this I generally cut them slant-wise a little less than an inch long. Alternating the direction of the slants gives you nice pieces. They will never be uniform, since carrots insist on tapering. 4 good-sized carrots are enough for two people. Put them in your little braising pan with a walnut-sized knob of butter, a pinch of sugar, a sprinkle of salt, and about 3/4 inch of water. Cover and bring to a boil. Turn down and cook five or ten minutes, until they are fairly tender when pierced with a fork or skewer. Remove lid, turn heat to high, and cook away all of the liquid. Watch carefully and shake or stir from time to time. In a few minutes they will begin to brown a bit, and they're ready. You can control how brown they get, and if you want them more caramelized, use a bit more sugar the next time.

Alternate: do the same thing, but melt the butter first and put in some finely chopped onion, cook until it's tender, then proceed. These you don't want to brown, lest you burn the onion, but it's a good idea to boil away the liquid anyway. (I used to do this a lot, and it's a way to use up part of an onion!)

Speaking of which, you can, if you wish, use the sprouty parts as scallions. You can cook up some sliced onions slowly to caramelize them and eat them with almost anything. You can slice one up, separate it into rings, shake it in some salted flour, and fry it in batches in about two inches of oil. Check oil by dropping a piece in; if it sizzles the oil is ready. Make potato salad with a lot of onion. Slice one thick, put a thin skewer (the kind used to truss a turkey) sideways through each slice, brush them with oil, and put them on the grill.

I should be doing all of these things as we speak. You're worried about using up a dozen onions; I have a hundred.

I wanted to go on and on with this, but I have to get up to the upper deck. Charlie is getting our chimney ready for the stucco man, and I need to help. I am almost done with my students (one visit left), but I still have to write a bunch of letters of recommendation. Summer vacation has taken on meaning again.

(Now I'm sitting in the upstairs sunporch, on call.) Actually, I've really enjoyed being in elementary schools this semester. I'm getting out just in time, though, since I'm starting to develop relationships with some of the children. Yesterday a third-grade girl and I were looking for images of amethysts on Google, and she threw her arm around my shoulder as we looked. Later another little girl came up to me because she'd heard I was interested in rocks. We discussed birthstones a bit, and she was sad that hers was a sapphire, while her brother had the beautiful opal. She was much comforted when I showed her Google images of star sapphires; she didn't know what a wonderful birthstone she had, and she won't ever forget it. This is also the class to which I brought a bloodroot and a trillium in a pot and a jar of cowslips, all flowers that were mentioned in a book they were reading. Anyway, little kids are a lot of fun, though they can be devils, too.

Gotta go.

--end of yesterday's blog--

Now let me add a thing or two. I think it is a good idea to let us post our own letters, though it means that Mom has to type all that stuff without having anything to post herself. Could old letters be mailed to the writer in exchange for promises to post? Anyway, I'm eager for Mom to get into the Europe stuff. Let's all give this some careful thought.

Suzy, I want the recipe for country-style ribs, if you're willing to pass it along. It sounds good, and it uses onions!

Congratulations on eating breakfast before work. I certainly understand what a struggle that is, though I sometimes can force myself to do it. Normally I have a granola bar in the car on my way to a school. Before golf is a real problem; usually I have slim-fast (no chewing!). It's hard to play 18 holes of golf (starting, say, at 6:30 a.m.) without anything to eat. I'm never hungry until nine or ten in the morning.

Well, Charlie started up the lawn mower about fifteen minutes ago (yes, at quarter to seven). Busy day coming up, so I'd best get started, too.

The Record

Gainesville

It was predictably awful to return to work-- in other words, no worse than I expected, so not shockingly awful. It was broken up by Barbara wanting to go out to lunch, and by an author lecture late in the afternoon-- one of the side benefits of working in academe is this sort of thing just happening a floor away from your office. This guy has written a book, Losing it All to Sprawl, How Progress Ate My Cracker Landscape. Very sad state of affairs, for one who remembers Florida before the Disney/Development explosion, and it's good to know that someone besides me noticed it.

I did a crock pot prep last night, got up early enough to get it started with no problems, and lo, it was wonderful. (Country Pork Ribs over sliced onions and a cup of home made BBQ sauce-- another cup reserved and thickened on the stove just before serving.) I made a simple cole slaw and had some leftover cauli-rice. That's two successes in a row, ending my long losing streak.

Hottern' hooties here once again.

Thanks again for posting the Aunt Dottie letters, Mom. It's great to have that family history. To keep things in synch with the present, I have a suggestion: for those of us bloggers still living, maybe it would be best to send (via email) any you transcribe to us respectively and let us post them ourselves. Of course, I'm dying to read Chris' letter that Aunt Dottie raved about, but feel that Chris should be the one to post it. Same with letters from Sandy, Marty, and me. Can we all agree not to post letters from each other without agreement from each other?

Aunt Dottie is a special case. She's not a blogger, and while she is still with us, she seems to occupy a twilight zone at present. Her reports on the immediate aftermath of Dan's death are priceless, at least to those of us who knew and loved Dan. I'm very glad she wrote those letters, and that you have saved them and are taking the trouble to transcribe and share them.

I wore my new jacket (with strange 3/4 length sleeves) to work today, and felt good in it. I can no more imagine actually sewing my own clothes than starting my own fire with a couple of pieces of flint-- I'd have to be mighty cold to attempt either one. I marvel that I actually made clothes that I was glad to wear to high school-- and I know there were quite a few things I actually loved. And at least as many that I hated the second they were finished. Somehow I never felt like a sewing machine was an extension of me, a tool I thoroughly understood. It was always a struggle, and I marvel that you seemed to be able to create entire outfits, entire wardrobes for yourself throughout your life, with ease. I wonder if computerized patterns and such have made it any easier. I know you can now buy software that includes patterns printed on the materials you just cut out, with sewing instructions right on them. This is for doll clothes, but the same thing could work for people clothes. I was born too soon.

Let the record show that I did a full complement of morning and evening routines, including the shiny sink and the swept kitchen floor. It would be Very Good if I now went to bed and got something close to 7 hours of sleep.

OH! And let the record further show that for the first time in my recorded memory, I ATE BREAKFAST BEFORE WORK. Those are four words not seen in my personal annals since the late 50's. It was just instant cheese grits, but hey! It counts!

Brutopia

Gainesville

My last day of freedom. For now. Got quite a lot done, and it makes me realize that whenever I have time off, I have to actually kick back for a few days and relax (vacation!) before I can settle into a groove of doing things. And about then, the week off is just about over. I truly look forward to the time when I won't have to think, "Right, I'll get that done tomorrow... D'oh! I have to WORK tomorrow!" like I did numerous times today. Just a little over 120 days from now, and I will kiss that mindset goodbye.

Got all the Blessings done. Went out on an errand/shopping trip, and made every stop on my list. I even made myself do some clothes shopping-- I have been listening to Leanne's sister, Mrs. Smarty Pants, and trying to get myself into some better clothes. Bill is delighted by this development. Just a couple of summer tops that actually fit, and a black summer jacket (ditto). I eispise clothes shopping, but I'm trying to think about it in a more positive manner. And use it as a springboard to just dump most of what I have in the closets now that I never wear. You were right, Sandy: I have WAY too many clothes. Problem is, when I go to all the effort to shop for them, why should I ever throw them away? Besides, they're history, blah blah. Most of my stuff is 20+ years old, some 30. Insane.

At B&N I belatedly discovered the Pullman section-- in science fiction. They had every book in every format of HDM-- but no criticism. I have let my Amazon shopping cart languish while I decide which to buy first. Meanwhile, I see Anne Tyler has a new one out, and the 5th volume of the complete Peanuts has hit the shelves too. Just what I need, more fookin' boooooks!

For dinner, decided at the last minute tonight to scrap the Plan A and do a Salad Nicoise-- I had some lovely leftover haricots verts, some hard boiled eggs, and half a baked potato. And of course, canned tuna is a mainstay of my two roommates. I tossed together quite a nice one, if I do say so myself. Had some steamed artichokes that, unlike recent efforts, actually came out RIGHT. I'd consulted the Net and found the California Artichoke Advisory Board site (!) and recalibrated my racial memories.

Thanks for more of Aunt Dottie's letters, Mom. Quite a fascinating insight into Dan's life during her last days. And can't believe you are getting freezes up there-- hideously hot and dry here.

Bill had a brutal day at an IT (information technology) "retreat" for the UF campus. And no coffee in the afternoon! (The Happy People of UF IT-topia do not NEED post-prandial caffeine.) He wonders why I am still sitting here typing when it's nearly 1:00 AM tomorrow. So do I.

Swell Foops

Gainesville

Crazy weather, indeed. I forgot to mention that Gainesville had a record low temp for the day this past week: 47 on Wednesday morning. Only two days later, the 90's, and hotter each day since. And no rain.

I'm on a losing streak with cooking. Haven't made anything impressive in about a week-- even my standbys have been letting me down. I need to spend more time reading my cooking mags and looking at cookbooks. I've been operating in crisis mode, just taking the Menu Mailer stuff and picking out what looks easiest, or what uses stuff I have in the freezer. This only works for so long. What's really discouraging is that this was during a week I had off! Thanks for the pointers to new FC recipes, Sandy. Have not explored that issue yet.

Loved hearing about your egg concoction, Mom. Yes, almost a fritatta, only with those, you don't have to turn them over-- you just run them briefly under the broiler to cook the top. I had egg cravings this morning also, and the eggs expiration date was today. I had two of them my favorite way-- taught to me by Dad: sunny side up, in butter, in a small skillet. Whites done, yokes runny. Period. Quick and dirty, indeed. And soooo good. Hard boiled the rest of them.

Thanks for more of Aunt Dottie's letters. I had no idea Dan was so down on Dad, even at such a late date. I know she had some sort of thing about men monopolizing decisions-- she freaked before my wedding when Lee and I agreed to compromise on dishes-- she thought that decision should be solely MINE. I didn't really care that much, and I knew Lee had much better taste in such things than did I. She never forgave him for that. I suspect the thing with Dad was over a similarly trivial issue, or a series of them.

I took the first steps today to consolidate my comics library. As Sandy and Mom undoubtedly noticed, books are scattered and stacked willy-nilly all over the house. I barely know what I have anymore. If this space is to become the office of a comics scholar, I must get the tools assembled. I now have four stacks of about 2 feet each of strictly comics-related books on the cedar chest in here. Next will be to clear out enough space in here to shelve them all-- and decide what to do with those books that have to move... the eternal domino problem. I have a whole shelf of cookbooks I haven't looked at for at least 10 years, for whatever reason. A few of them I value, but most should just go to the Friends of the Library, if not the dumpster. But it is SO HARD! Books are the very worst of my clutter problems.

Speaking of which, after reading the Pullman part of Sandy's post, I hopped onto amazon and immediately filled my shopping cart with $100+ worth of books about HIS DARK MATERIALS, plus Lyra's London and Pullman's edition of Paradise Lost. Luckily, I came to my senses before buying them all, but now I face the agonizing problem of deciding which to buy first. I will get them all eventually, of course (a little voice inside tells me), so why not just go ahead and get them in one swell foop? Therein lies the root of my bibliomania-- that little voice! We'll see how well I do fighting this demon. However, I MUST have Lyra's London-- didn't know it existed. Must. Have. Now. (And so must you, Sandy.)

Thanks for the garden update. Year to year overlap is of course the golden grail of gardenting (GGG). How satisfying that must be! I can't imagine-- the best gardens I was ever involved with were at Chris' -- and our mini-grail was to keep the lettuce going long enough to have with the tomatoes in the same salad. I think we maybe managed it occasionally, though it never lasted longer than a few days. A couple of my Sandy-onions are growing vigorously-- I really should use or toss them before they give the other ones ideas. I'm on the lookout for onion-intensive ideas.

And Sandy, if you have time, please remind me of the details of the carrots you made for us on the spur of the moment while you were here. I always have carrots around, and those were so wonderful.

We've decided not to go to San Diego this year. The timing is just plain wrong. The new building will be just about ready to open to the public, my boss will be leaving, I will be trying to tie up my various loose ends pre-retirement. I don't have the time or inclination to hunker down and do the scut work required for a paper, let alone the creative juice to actually write it. The complication of combining it with a trip to the Bay Area is just too daunting. It is much more sensible to plan a Bay Area trip in October or early November, when my time is truly my own, and Bill's position in the Library has been clarified. Now that Thea's situation has stabilized, there is not quite the same urgency to go out there and check on things. If that changes, I will be out there in a heartbeat, of course. There are other factors that suggest that a pass on this year's Comic-Con is a good idea. This decision has lowered my stress level considerably!

One more day of vacation before I go back to Cubeville. Naturally, I have grandiose plans for what I hope to get done: an entire week's worth stuff I put off til now. If I even get a few of them done, I'll be happy. Today, besides getting the comics reorg started, I changed the sheets, and got the full-boat morning and evening routines done, and folded a load of big white undies. If I were doing the star stickers, I'd award myself a few. I didn't drag out the Nordic, though I did think about it. That's a start, right?

Bill took Moonbeam out for a cruise around the Gainesville perimeter this afternoon and is very pleased with the experience. I'm glad they got a chance to bond. A new car really is a great toy, and this particular geekmobile has got to be the ultimate toy!

Look at the time. After 1:00 AM local. I should be asleep by now. Will be soon, I hope.

deep freeze

Well, you may be getting the first days of 90 in Fla, but we here are having what we hope is our last freeze. Very late for it, and most unexpected. We just went down to the garden to move the hose to start the day's watering, and, to our surprise, crunched our way through frost-covered pasture grass. The spinach is nipped, but it's supposed to not mind (same for peas, onions, leeks, broccoli, cabbage, potatoes, all up and growing). We'll see.

Last night we went down to move the water (we need rain!) and picked our first spinach. Put it into a salad and had it with pinto beans (finally the very end of the ham!) and cornbread. Interesting to think how much of this meal was homegrown, even at this time of year: dry beans, garlic, onions, spinach, more onion, and some corn in the cornbread. Not bad. I like it when the new crops overlap with the old.

I threw out about half of the onions last week, so we only have about a hundred left. They're going fast, but the new ones are growing fast. Last year we had to buy onions starting in April, so we're doing well. We may get by with not having to buy any this year.

On the cooking front, I've done two things from the newest FC, both good. Made the Mediterranean rub/salsa combo, page 40. Used boneless pork chops, and followed both recipes exactly (cut both in half, though). Very good. Didn't use the special green olives, obviously. Charlie is dubious about grapes in the recipe on page 41, but it's in his future anyway.

I also made the Steak/Edamame combo on page 90c. Not rocket science, but the garlic was really good. That's a lot of edamame for two people (I still have some left over), but I served it with a baked potato. I had a 12-oz piece of top sirloin that I used for the steak. I fried it just the amount of time they suggested (what a mess!), and it was perfect.

Plan to wade into the chopped salads soon, but I'll have to make the Waldorf for myself. Charlie won't stand for it.

Phillip Pullman: There's an article in The New Yorker Dec 26 & Jan 2 entitled "Far from Narnia." I read this because I was working on the utopia paper, and that's how I discovered Pullman. It's an interesting article and worth looking for.

Anyway, here's a paragraph from the article:

Pullman and his wife moved outside town [Oxford] a few years ago, when the admirers who kept turning up at their door, asking for autographs and taking photos, became a nuisance. Other Oxford sites hate attracted "His Dark Materials" pilgrims, too, particularly the Botanic Garden, where the story's final, wrenching scene is set. Pullman and I stopped there during a walk around the city. "Once, I saw something on one of the benches," Pullman said. "It turned out to be a little wooden heart with 'For Will and Lyra' written on it. Isn't that nice?"

**********

I think it's nice! Let me know what you find written about it that's interesting. Pullman, as I'm sure you know, has written a little book called Lyra's Oxford, but I haven't bought it yet.

Anyway, to the work of the day. Some cooking (chicken legs & thighs with parmesan breading from an old FC), laundry to hang out, weeding in the onions.

It's going to be a gorgeous day (everything is green and flowering!) once it gets warmer. So far it's still in the 30s.

Enjoying the Aunt Dotty letters! Dan used to pull that kind of thing all the time. I'll try to think of some examples.

Super Mom

Gainesville

Up to 550 each!! Amazing. You shame me-- the little voice inside says, "If your 80-something mother can do this, what's wrong with you?" I just need to turn this shame into inspiration. I have a perfectly good Nordic Track in the library closet, and it's not THAT hard to set up and take down... It is time for me to move my butt before Moving in May is over.

It's really good you're keeping up with your other routines too. I know I couldn't do without mine-- no matter how bad or discouraged I feel (especially about work), I still know what to do next, how to get a day started, how to do an orderly shut-down at night. It keeps me sane, and it always makes me feel better to be doing something.

I'm glad that something is being done about the uneven spots on your lawn-- the last thing you need is another broken leg! Please, always do take a crutch or cane or something when you venture out, and be very careful.

It's hot here at last-- in the 90's for the first time today. Bill took Blue in to get the muffler replaced and do another errand (mailing that Sony AV Box back a second time) and I took Moonbeam out solo for the first time, to shop. It is wonderful to drive! I love it. Still a lot to learn (I mastered the moon roof today) but I think I have the basics now. What a fun toy. It is awesome to have the driver's seat move automatically, and be able to adjust the outside mirrors from inside. Little things like this delight me.

I finished the His Dark Materials trilogy Friday morning. I didn't want it to end. I wish he would write some more books set in this world, but I know it would be a hard act to follow. Now I'm anxious to get some of the books about it, to extend and deepen the experience. Most excellent find, Sandy!

Now I need something else absorbing and escapist to read. I've started a sci fi trilogy by Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter that is very promising: A Time Odyssey. Intriguing premise, and easy to read. Of course, I have stacks and stacks of stuff on the To Read pile, but it's important to find the right book at the right time.

I loved Aunt Dottie's story about Dan pulling her leg about the license renewal. Who knew she had such a warped sense of humor? Actually, I don't remember her having much of a sense of humor at all. And interesting about the "hush money" -- ah the things we do for a little peace of mind.

Going to go watch an episode of Battleship Galactica on my laptop now. Can't believe that I haven't found time to watch a single minute of TV or video the whole time I've been home.

Moon Fever

Gainesville

It feels so good and so right to just be home, doing what needs to be done, that it's very tempting to just retire right now with just a few months left to go. There is so much turmoil and strife at work, and somehow, despite my best efforts to keep aloof, I seem to be right in the middle of it. Who needs this? The extra few months of retirement pay hardly seem worth it.

Maybe I'll feel differently in the morning.

Another couple of beautiful days here. Yesterday the cat and I sat outside for while, reading and (in her case) hunting lizards and napping on the concrete in the sun. I got all the Blessings caught up, and and many loads of laundry done.

Heard from Nan yesterday. She and husband #3 (Charlie) have moved to coastal Washington state after living a couple of years in Marin County. They couldn't get a building permit in Marin (they're both architects) so are trying it up there. She seems happy.

We continue to enjoy the new car. It seems its name will be Moon-something -- Moon Unit? Moonbeam? Moon Roof? Half Moon? Full Moon? New Moon? The possibilities seem endless. And the gender has yet to be determined-- maybe it's a switch hitter. The latest marvel we've discovered-- the stereo adjusts the volume according to the background noise. Brilliant!

I'm glad you're transcribing some of Aunt Dottie's letters-- it's good to hear her "voice" again after so long, even if it is on a sad occasion. I had never thought about all the groups that would have been affected by Dan's sudden death, and what a bummer it must have been to have to tell them all.

Vacation?

Gainesville

The Muffler Man venture was unsuccessful-- despite being the owners of TWO nav systems, we relied on Map Quest and then didn't even closely read the detailed map it gave us. We set off early, doing a tag team maneuver, so two vehicles were lost in morning traffic, their drivers very embarassed. Bill had to get to work, so we gave up. Realized later that both of us missed the detail that Midas was actually on Archer Road west of 34th Street, not east, as we'd presumed.

Now that I know where it is, I'll probably just take it in myself and wait around. It's right in the neighborhood of Barnes & Noble, Target, Best Buy and even a Starbucks. I'm sure I can keep entertained.

But at least my vacation week finally got started. I concentrated on Blessings, and am just about back on track-- only the bathrooms to do tomorrow. Then I can start some long overdue decluttering. One Blessing I did was the magazine tower on my end of the coffee table. It's once again a reasonable height, with just the latest issue of each rag. The new books covering other surfaces have been moved to the table in the big room (the functional attic), and I wrestled the box awaiting re-shipment to Sony out of the center of the room. All of which makes the room look almost normal again, and very much more... peaceful.

I cooked an ill-advised "Barbequed Lamb in a Minty Sauce" (Leanne) which was a whole lot more trouble than it was worth-- a messy jelly-based marinade for six hours, then had to break out the Gadget for the first time in ages. Bill didn't get home until 7:30, which is our target dinner time-- and I didn't want to start grilling til he was home. Took 45 minutes to get it to the table. Part of the problem was probably the quality of the lamb-- two lamb leg slices about a pound each. And of couse, the Gadget was a bear to clean, all that burned on jelly-stuff-- took me til after 11:00 to restore the kitchen so some kind of order.

Last night's rather simple-minded "Amber's Grilled Chicken" (grilled on the grill pan, topped with two kinds of cheese, chopped tomatoes and crumbled bacon) was way more successful.

No work on comics at all. No work plowing through email, nearly 200 messages AFTER spam disposal. This is too crazy.

Mom, your Nordic progress is astounding! And congratulations on discovering the joys of low cut sox, not so dorky after all, and sticking with your lace-up shoes. Great that you already have a summer pair. I'm very proud of you, and so is FlyLady!

Fun reading about Lizzie Knorsa voting at 80 and proud to have voted for Woodrow Wilson! But the other stuff is confusint: "Da Soares"? And who was "Mrs. Burt Julian"? One of Lizzie's daughters, and therefore Cordie's aunt, apparently. Again, thanks for taking the time to transcribe all this.

The Muffler Man

Gainesville

Olives, beautiful Morea Olives! As I type, I am enjoying a Tanq with a couple of them pronged on one of those beautiful olive picks you gave me, Sandy. Thank you! This time I will hold on to the packing slip and order refills myself.

Finally my week off will start tomorrow. Today seemed to take an eternity, as I wasn't able to get any scanning done. The first time I tried, someone was using the only public scanner. The second, I realized I'd misplaced the CD I needed for taking the scans out of the room-- the machine is not hooked into the local network. Drat! Now it will be a week before I get back to it. I'll have to concentrate on Fireball Twigg, Captain Tootsie and the few Roger Wilco's I have already. I'm convinced the latter "superhero" is gay-- he always dumps (sometimes literally) the damsel he rescues, breaking her heart, in favor of a Power House candy bar and the adulation of a gang of kids.

We had to take the (still unchristened) new car back to the dealership today to get the finishing they insisted on done. And tomorrow we will drop Blue off at Midas to finally get his muffler replaced! It will be nice to drive a car that doesn't sound like an old tin can (..."take it to the Muffler Man / Oh do you know the Muffler Man / Gene Lockhart is his name!") Ahem.

Interesting clippings about the wanderings of J.S. Soares, Engineer of Fortune. I wonder if Cordie was saving these? I thought she and Jack were separated by this time?

Towels just dinged, got to go fold them. Back in a bit.
**********
Done. And now it's way past time for sleep.

Sunday Driving

Gainesville

Hope you enjoyed your low-key day, Mom. I know I could use one about now... I had planned to call you this afternoon, but Bill decided he wanted to come with me grocery shopping and run some other errands at the same time, which shot the rest of the day. I'm guessing that a chance to tool around in the new chariot had something to do with it. It's great fun to drive. And did I mention it has a moon roof?!

By the time we got back and got things put away, it was past time to get dinner started, and I'm STILL not finished with the kitchen clean-up. A Fridge Purge filled up the dishwasher, so there wasn't room for everything from dinner. (Faux-Tay-Toes are very dish-intensive, as they require both the steamer and the Cuisinart.)

The house is a wreck. I keep telling myself it's not so bad, that I can get things back under control with a few 15 minute stints, but it's hard to believe. Some serious decluttering has to happen in conjunction with this, or we will continue sinking into the mire of our own devise. One of the errands was picking up a week's worth of mail at the P.O., so that just adds to the mess.

Aforementioned meal also included a classic Salisbury Steak featuring one of Sandy's marvelous onions, and some steamed asparagus, the first US-grown stuff of the season.

Work day tomorrow. Besides the meeting with my erstwhile boss, I plan to spend as much of it as possible scanning comic strip ads. If I'm going to do this paper, I have to get cracking on it NOW.

Mom Rulz

Gainesville

We have a new car!! It's a Ford Escape Hybrid, fully loaded. And what a trip it is. Today was the first day we'd actually been able to drive it. There is a lot to learn. I don't even know where to begin describing all the things it knows how to do and its geeky-cool features. And how strange it is to drive a car that the engine only kicks in occasionally-- most the time it is running silently. Plus, it doesn't shft gears-- just smoothly accelerates. When driving, you keep waiting for that little jerk, but it never comes.

Lessee: Complete built in Nav system, the whole nine yards. CD's for maps of all US, Canada and Caribbean. A bazillion different animated color displays of what is going on with every aspect of the car's systems. Collision detection in back. Amazing stereo, 6-CD changer, radio that displays whatever info the station broadcasts, and is all ready to plug in one of our satellite radio systems. It looks like a baby sports-ute, but is amazingly spacious and light inside with great visibility. Back seats fold flat, loads of carrying capacity. All the luxo-stuff that's out there these days-- lighted-this and heated-that. We are still in the getting acquainted phase, so a detailed account of its wonders will have to come as we have adventures with them.

Okay, 'nuff car talk. Buying the thing (as yet unnamed and still unisexed) absorbed most of the day, as these transactions always include a considerable bit of psycho-drama. And wouldn't you know, the money guy turned out to be a West Virginian-- so he and Bill had to try of out-shit each other, which was actually great fun to watch.

Another drop-dead gorgous day, the kind that convinces you can't possibly be in Florida in May. I've probably said this before, but it is worthy of continual celebration as long as it lasts.

We had whatever I could find in the fridge for dinner-- leftover Thai food from earlier in the week. Shopping tomorrow. God, I hope I can find time during the next week to watch some vid. And finish Dark Materials. And. And...

Forgot to mention that my high school friend, Carolyn, called last night to say she wasn't going to be able to make it to Florida this year after all. Her father-in-law had just died this last week. He lived in California, she and her husband live in Colorado, so the logistics will just not work. One of her sons and his family live in Panama City, so it was part of a trip to see them and take her grandkids on a trip to D.C. that was to be the occasion of her visit to Gainesville. It was nice to hear her voice again after so long, and too bad this particular meeting won't work out, but I feel confident it will happen eventually.

This removes the main focus of the up-coming week off (getting caught up with hot spots and perhaps some additional decluttering) -- not a bad thing, by any means. We still have some car logistics to take care of, including getting Blue's muffler fixed finally. We left Bill's GMC van, Babe, as a trade in, so we remain a two-vehicle family. And I have many items stacked up in other areas needing attention.

And it's not even a full week: I have to go in Monday to give my departing boss a chance to meet with me one last time to go over one last annual evaluation... it's important to her to dot all these t's, so I'll humor her on this one. She's off to Italy the week after til the end of May. It may well be our last one-on-one meeting. Yet another day off I'll have to fit in somewhere-- oh, the agony! :-)

Nelda's baby book-- what a hoot! I love all the silly little details of teeth, first words, pratfalls and minor outrages, and it makes the perfect counterpoint to reading Walt & Skeezix. Both are such dead-on faithful depictions of a baby growing up, transcending the differences in historical eras and cultures. I was struck to read, a few days ago, that Dad was originally called "John Jr." I'm guessing that John Sr.'s decision to leave for Portugal not too long after might have occasioned the change of heart about the name. And where did the name "Glenn" come from? Anybody know?

Good to hear that Thea is happy these days. It's also lovely to hear about her interactions with Nelda ("Come, Sissy" becoming a catch-phrase in the family, etc.) I hope she'll let us transcribe her baby book too. This is all great primary source material in many areas.

I know this needs editing, but I can't-- who knew how exhausting hours of doing nothing but waiting around in a Ford dealership coud be?

Mom, it will be Mother's Day in about four minutes here. I haven't managed to get you a card or anything else on time, but I sure am thinking about you. This blog would not exist without your sharing of FlyLady with me, and while that little purple person has provided a spark of value beyond measure, it's been your dedication and persistance that has held it together. There are many gems buried in this horseblanket of words (thanks for that metaphor, Dad!) I hope that the bits and bytes they're stored in prove as resilient as that baby book.

Midnight. Happy Mothers Day! Mom, You RULE!

Packed Days

Gainesville

Ah good, the "Draft" posted in its proper sequence. Blogger takes the date/time from when the post was started, not when it's sent. It can be overridden, but in this case it works as intended.

I am drained from putting in five overlong days at the tank. Between cooking and trying to keep up with minimal routines, there's been no time for reading, blogging, or napping. Very sleep deprived. After getting home from Outback last night and getting the evening routines started, I crashed bigtime. Probably a good thing, as we needed to be at work very early this morning, and I never would have made it through the day without that extra couple of hours down time.

The staff picnic was today-- the one that infamous poster was for. That same image was printed (in black and white) on all the tickets to the event! It will live long in library lore. People were expecting Bill to be behind one of the grills doing his Samurai Chef act, but he chose to be low key. I, on the other hand, wore a t-shirt with a yellow triangle sign reading: "CAUTION: HOT LIBRARIAN" (which Bill bought me at ALA one year). A bit less low key.

There has never been a more perfect day in the history of the world for a picnic than today-- sparkling clear blue skies, a slight breeze, temps in the low 70's. Unbelievable! Obviously whatever voodoo John, the Director in charge of this thing, was doing all week worked like a charm. Plus, it's term break, so all the kiddies are gone, and we had the whole Plaza space to ourselves. By far the best one of these I've ever been to. No flies or other crawlies! Good food too-- they've got that part down by now.

Good news on the auto front: it seems the Ford dealership has found us a car in a nearby state that has everything we want except the color-- always the LEAST of my worries. Instead of our first choice (Titanium Green) it is our second choice (Silver). It should be here tomorrow or Monday at the latest. Okay, NOW I've got my hopes up! I will be disappointed and let down if it falls through. But it looks promising, indeed.

I was in the office yesterday solely because of the comics that were to be delivered by Randy, the librarian at Michigan State. Surprise! He showed up right on schedule, and instead of 10 boxes, he brought 15-- and they were large boxes exactly configured to hold a couple hundred comics standing on end. Wow! As it turned out, I was the one to meet/greet him, as I'd given him my cell phone number. Our loading dock was inaccessible, since they had a backhoe there to repair a pipe that had been obviously leaking for weeks-- (why THAT day??) so it was a bit of logistical challenge to get them unloaded and into the building, but we managed.

When Randy called, he told me he was the guy who looks like Santa Claus, and he did-- and of course as far as our comics collection, he IS Santa. He told us he could have brought 60-80 boxes, if he'd had room--!! There is already talk of renting a van and driving up there to pick stuff up. MSU has a policy of keeping two copies of each comic, and giving the rest away. They apparently get tons of stuff because they're the premier comics library. He said he hadn't gone through it looking for "value," so there are probably rare gems hidden in there. I feel so happy to have been a part of this transaction. It all happened because in the course of writing that "Springsteen in Comics" paper, I chanced on a reference to "Bruce Springchicken" in a comic parody, "Peter Porker, the Incredible Spiderham," and found that MSU had a copy. I wrote to Randy, he sent me the image, learned of UF's growing comics program, and...

Well, enough of my hobby horse. (Speaking of which, I have on order what looks to be a very delightful comic adaptation of Tristram Shandy, Sandy...) And let the record show I posted a comment to Charles Hatfield's blog, going on record as interested in working on a genre study of funny animals. You can see that the last few days have been packed.

I didn't get a chance to post your Thursday blog til now, Mom. I will give it a try when I'm done here, and try to get it sequenced properly. I continue to marvel at all the neat stuff in that baby book. It must have been Cordie's mom doing most of it. The entries are so random-- it's very blog-like in that respect, especially the kind of time-surfing blog we have here.

11.V.06 - MoM

A long baby book entry, today. Not bad timing as there isn't much to write about today. Did manage to get up a little earlier this morning than lately but don't have all that much to show for it. Did all my routines including the 400 NT. Didn't eat as much at breakfast so got a little earlier start on my routines. I hard boiled a couple of eggs and made them into some interesting deviled eggs at about 1 p.m., and had them with a few tired Emeril tomatoes and some Butter Pecan ice cream. (I was wrong, Sandy, it is just plain butter pecan. The texture of the nuts is so different from the stuff I buy at the store.) Tonight, I started my drinks at 5:30 and plan to have dinner at a reasonable hour. I think it will be the other half of the thick filet, some more picnic shoestrings and some kind of a green veggie as well as more ice cream. The Marsala sauce I created is outstanding.

I have started printing the blogs daily to send to Thea after I catch up with the rest of those for April. I got some more of the those printed for mailing Monday. Tomorrow is my "Mother's Day Treat," and I have a pretty good list of stuff as Sandy is devoting the day to this.

I haven't seen hummingbirds at the feeder this yet, but did see one in the patio in back. It was a kick. It evidently thought that the "gel" tulips stuck on the patio door were real flowers. Chris and Kay had brought them back from Argentina and Chris carefully affixed them for me. Ben loves them and likes to lick them.

* * * * *

A continuation of page 84, it is on one of the blank page and it began on Jan 1911.

July 3 spent my second 4th in Chico, with my great aunt Sidonie. Saw the baloon ascension and talked about it a long time. Beginning to talk a great deal and sing, afraid of frogs and chirnan [?? Can't figure out the squiggles] (she calls for chinaman [?]. I'm very fond of dolls only had about eighteen around, all kind, two Teddy bears, two buggies, wheel barrow, wagon, rocking horse, sand pile, hammock, black board, table, desk, bench, chairs, doll swing, stove, trunk, dolls house, a large yard for us two to play in. I love Mattie and Frank Lipp spent many hours there and had many meals allso, called a a - pauk at first. Mattie put us both to bed many times, and out walking. I know my Great Grandma's house now and love to go there, as we get cookies, and she has a play box for us, there is allways something new in it.

Aug 17th Mama took Thea, Mildred and myself to visit Grandma Soares, was just fourteen in the family. I made my first trip to San Francisco, to the Park, Cliff House, allso Idora in Oakland. Mama - Papoo left Thea and I with Grandma Niesen and took a trip to Vancouver, Cousin Jua was along to, then Papoo went to Salmon City and Mama came home. Gramma built our bathroom had house fixed.

Page 88 the drawing of the little one again (no curls) but in the long dress, with the horn and scroll, entitled "IMPORTANT EVENTS"

At the age of 2 years I could sing through the song of Every little Movement has a meaning of its own, and several other songs. Used to call my Mama (Cordie).

My mother took me up to see President Taft on Oct 13th Friday morning 1911. I can talk very plain now and run away to the neighbors, am 27 months old.

Nov 18th had my first Automobile ride with Mr - Mrs Mahle - Mama - Thea. I call myself Ledda for Nelda. And leppa for pillow.

On January 25th 1912 Thea had her fourth birthday so Mama made a cake had four candles on it, and the candelabras with four candles lit for supper. On January 28th - 1912 Sunday morning brother John Jr arrived and we were all delighted over it. Children love him so. When he was four weeks old, Grandma Niesen took Thea up to Honcut to see Aunt Hortense staid three days, the next day, Inya - Nana took Nelda out to Sutter City and Uncle Billy's could not go in as Cousin Philip had the measles. March 3rd Inya, Nana, Thea - Nelda went to Hammounton [?], was at Thunen's. On April 25th Nelda, Thea, Cordie went to Albert Andross and Jeannette Powell's wedding.

1914 Sept 15th Cordie took Nelda went to Sac Fair. Nov 17, Mattie Lipp took Nelda to Marysville, Cordie and Glenn went to spend Thanksgiving at Lipps

Draft

Gainesville

You go, girl! Attaway to keep at the Nordic. Sounds like this is a good plateau for you-- no need to keep always pushing it.

The tour of the new Library West was fabulous. I was blown away with how beautiful it is, and how much loving attention to detail went into it. A fine compromise between the functional and the spectacular, and balance between making an old building feel new again and adding a "book box" to it.
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Suddenly it got so much later. Going to save this as a draft, and hope to get back to it tomorrow morning. At work. Or something
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And now it's Friday. Time to post this puppy and start a proper one. Blog-gods willing.

Dream Baby Dream

Gainesville

Instead of two days out of the office this week, turns out I will have NONE. Bill's tour of the new building will be tomorrow, so I need to go in for that. Then got email this morning that the Comics Librarian at Michigan State I've corresponded with off and on this past year is going to be dropping off "a zillion comics" for the Library, an outcome of our exchange (though I don't think the UF people realize that) on Thursday afternoon. I just have to be there to meet him and see the stuff he brings. He literally wrote the book on comics librarianship. Looking forward to both of these happenings, but was also looking forward to some down time at home. Friday is that freaking picnic, which I am NOT looking forward to. Oh well, next week.

And as I feared, there is delay in getting our new car. None of the local dealers are willing to part with any Escapes they have on their lot-- apparently they are suddenly a hot seller. So we have one ordered from the factory. The good news is, we'll get exactly the one we want. The bad news, it will be 4-6 weeks until we get it. I am so looking forward to it... it doesn't have the rear camera, but it does have a collision detection system, and has very good visibility.

We didn't leave the office until after 7:00, so stopped at Bahn Thai on the way home. Fridge is now packed to the gills with leftover Thai food. I will stick some chicken thighs in the crock tomorrow morning so we have something to eat tomorrow night. Remembered that I can use bottled ginger in a pinch. Good idea about freezing a piece, Mom. Never thought of that.

And what a great day you had! Spring in your remodeled surroundings must agree with you. Or more likely, that Nordic stuff has got your batteries charged up. I'm very proud of you! Bill has taken an interest in Yoga, thanks to a book he recently acquired. I'd be willing to get into that again. I certainly need to do SOMETHING to get moving. May is passing me by.

Oh bother, just remembered that this Saturday is when the postal per's pick up canned food. Was going to spend some time on my day off clearing out the pantry. I don't think I can find the energy to do it in the next three evenings.

I appreciate the enthusiasm for the England trip from both you and Sandy. It's the kind of fantasy that looks really magical and doable about this time of night, after a see-through or two, but in the cold light of morning... well, not so. Dreams are good, though. And funny thing, if you dream them persistently enough, they can surprise you by coming true.

Warwickshire Dreamin'

Gainesville

Monday, Monday. Very quiet on campus, which in general is nice-- however, the flipside is that a lot of the usual things are not open or are minimally functional. The small store near Little Hall that usually has some decent food (as opposed to snacks) was in snack-only mode, so no lunch. I've made sure to get one all ready to pack for tomorrow.

I will definitely take Wednesday off, since I need to go in next Wednesday-- there will be tours of the new building over the next few weeks, but I want Bill to be my guide, and that's his day. Will take the rest of that week off as part of my week per month pre-retirement vacation drain. Since I cashed out vacation before entering DROP, I can't do it again, so it's use it or lose it time.

We didn't get home until nearly 7:00 again, so dinner was a not very interesting Plan B. I do like the way I did the pre-sliced zuchini/yellow squash, though: browned some chopped onion (one of Sandy's) a bit first, then added the squash slices, with the heat fairly high. The onions were dark and flavorful, and the squash partly browned but not mushy.

Good going on the Nordic, Mom! I hope you can keep this up-- it's probably the best thing you can do for yourself. And I'll bet that's why your appetite has improved too, and the fact that even peas taste good to you... :-)

And thanks again for the diligence on the Baby Book-- that genealogy stuff is priceless. I hope Chris is paying attention and can chart it all out for us.

Towels just came out of the dryer, and I folded and put them away. Got both bathrooms and their floors scrubbed tonight also. Always good to have that out of the way for the week.

No word from the Ford dealership today-- we were expecting a call from them about what is available from other dealers. Not a good sign.

No time for any reading tonight. A new issue of the semi-annual scholarly journal IJOCA hit the library shelves today, so of course I commandeered it. Read a great article about the death of Raven in Terry and the Pirates. It was part of a whole section on the treatment of death in comics, and was the only article not obsessed with super heroes.

Also, I saw a CFP for a conference on movie advertising that sounds like something I could do a paper on-- those movie ads in the 40's comics pages I find so fascinating. And the conference is in... England! Next February 25. I immediately checked with our local kids to see if would conflict with the UF comics conf-- it won't! Next year's will be March 3-4, plenty of time to get back, and probably deliver the same paper. It's at the University of Warwick, just outside Coventry and a stone's throw from Stratford-Upon-Avon... oh be still my heart! Bill is not thrilled by the idea of the long transatlantic flight, nor the thought of sailing the North Atlantic (the QE2 is his idea of how to get to Europe) in February. It probably won't work out, but it's a swell dream. I've been dying to visit England ever since my Sandman studies got me so involved in English history. I've not been to the UK except for a touchdown at Heathrow on the way back from Italy one time, and that doesn't count. This chance email will give me many happy hours of fantasy travel both online and in my books.

Walt & Skeezix

Gainesville

Congrats on scaling Mount Washmore, Mom. But even more admirable is that you're keeping up with your Nordic. Very impressive! I've been making some small efforts much like that testimonial from the woman in Texas (who also works in a university library) and trying to walk someplace outside at least once each day. Usually I don't take breaks (even at lunch) but that's pretty dumb at this point. I always feel better and more alert when I get back from one of those.

Turns out that the Sony Black Box that was repaired was actually damaged in the process-- case is dinged up and doesn't fit together properly, plus the door on the front no longer opens. Bummer! Bill did get the cord holes drilled in the furniture today, and was all ready to hook it back up. Now the room has to stay torn up for awhile longer. More bummer. I find the chaos very depressing after having the room in decent shape for so long.

I got out (late) to shop, but forgot to take my list with me. I winged it as best I could, but of course I missed a few things. Nothing too critical except for ginger root-- I'll not be able to do the crock thing I had planned for Wednesday. I did pick up a Plan B, so if an occasion for a supplemental shop doesn't arise, I'll just do that. The store and the town are pretty deserted. They didn't have any turnips (!) but there was the first of the spring corn on the cob, so I had that instead. Main dish was the Publix flank steak pinwheel things (good, but very salty) and asparagus tips. I tried to remember how Sandy fixed them when here, but couldn't quite. I sauteed them in part olive oil part butter, in the LeCr pan. Covered it now and then to get them decently tender. Sprinkled some parmesan over them after taking them off the heat. Worked well, I thought.

I'm about 1/3 through The Amber Spyglass, but in no hurry, as I don't want it to end. Been also reading the Walt and Skeezix book, and it is SO wonderful-- never realized the early Gasoline Alley's were so utterly charming; no wonder they were so popular. Today I read the trip to Yellowstone, obviously based on a real trip King must have taken. Neat to have the locations notated at the bottom of the last panel of each strip, very much like a trip diary.

Pardon me, but my sheets are dinging. I changed them today instead of waiting until tomorrow morning. It makes more sense than rushing around to do it Monday before work. Didn't get any other blessings done, though. Thinking about taking another day off this week, either Tuesday or Wednesday, just to get things back on a somewhat more even keel.

Escape the Ordinary

Gainesville

We went car-shopping this afternoon. More like car-buying, actually-- Bill had done all his homework and then some, knew exactly what we wanted. And of course, he knew much more about the car the the available options than the poor salesman did...

We are getting a Ford Escape Hybrid. They didn't have one on the lot, so we drove a regular Escape to see what the size and shape felt like. We've put some money down and they will look around at the other nearby dealers to see if any of them have something close to what we want. We could have it within a few days, or it could take longer if they have to factory order it. I never get excited when things are left that loose, as I would just go nuts with impatience and frustration if it doesn't arrive as expected. So now we wait. More details when we see what actually shows up.

Speaking of showing up, TWO huge boxes waiting by the back door this morning-- one our Sony AV control box, supposedly fixed. (Total cost of parts, less than a buck. Total cost to us, over $2oo.) The other a big box of beautiful ONIONS from Sandy! Plus some other neat goodies, including an apron from Mom that suits Bill to a tee: "I Only Cook for the Cat." He laughed long and hard when he saw it. How very perfect.

I cooked with one of the onions tonight-- a rather strange, but strangely good Scallops Gratin. To my way of thinking, the scallops were cooked WAY too long, but they didn't seem to suffer over much for all that. I also made that famous Cukes in Sour Cream recipe, which I've made a million times, but somehow this time forgot you were supposed to rinse the things after they'd soaked with salt-- so the dish was extremely salty. I compensated for this by adding a whole lot more sour cream to dilute it out, which at least made it edible.

The scallops were from the freezer, as I did not get out to shop today. Didn't get the menus planned last night, and could not conjure up the proper frame of mind to do it today, either. If I had any sense, I'd do it tonight, but I don't. Instead, I wrote bills-- and set myself a new record: five bills paid in 15 minutes-- that's writing the checks-type bills, and getting them all ready to drop in the mail. And sipping a drink the whole time. The timer is my friend!

The TV room looks like a bomb went off in it, though-- Bill needs to do some carpentry work on the big media center cabinet before reinstalling the Big Black Box-- need some bigger holes in the back to make plugging/unplugging things more managable. So not only is the mailing box, the packing stuff, and the box itself in the middle of the room, we also have Bill's favorite tool box open and ready to go. Assuming I get to the Blessings tomorrow, I'll probably have to skip the TV room.

Can't say I miss the TV and all its minions all that much, except for baseball. I like to have it on while I cook, fold clothes, and perform other semi-brainless tasks. I don't much care who's playing-- just like the rhythm and pace of baseball space. Must have inherited this in the genes from both sides of the family.

Speaking of which, good job with the Nelda baby book, Mom. All kinds of interesting little tidbits and gems keep slipping in. So it was Nana who was keeping this-- fascinating! I'd assumed it was Cordie, but it does seem a bit out of character. You should be able to click on the picture of the poster to open it in a larger window-- then print that. If not, I'm sure either Marty or Sandy can easily make a print of it.

As for Lee and LoTR, (see Sandy's comment on my previous blog) yes, he was ahead of his time. Just for the record (I've probably related this before) it was the second book, The Two Towers, that he picked up at Mike's Bookstore, because he fancied the picture on the cover; despite the well-known homily, he DOES judge books that way. Of course, this meant he also read a lot of very forgettable stuff (we called it "word wooze" back then). He read quite a ways into TT before realizing it was a volume 2 of something, and then went ahead and finished it before going back to pick up book one, three, and The Hobbit. To my shame, I admit I didn't take it seriously until Norman read it and was impressed-- at which point I deigned to give it a try. Same thing with Bob Dylan-- both Lee and I were disdainful until Norman sat us down and made us listen to Blonde on Blonde. Thank you, Lee. Thank you, Norman.

Picnic

Gainesville

Here's a charming image:

This illustrious group is the Libraries' top management: The one in the middle, holding the basketball, is the Director, the woman on the right is my boss and Bill's former boss, the one who is leaving. And of course you recognize the maniac... see how svelt he looks! We are not big enthusiasts of the picnic event, but this year it's kind of a command performance for both.

Nice diary-type entries in the Baby Book. (Snow in Oakland!) And as long as we're into images, I found this nice poster from the world fair mentioned there. This is the one that gave us the still-existing Palace of Fine Arts. I wonder how many times "quite" often meant? Maybe Thea remembers going to it. It lasted for 10 months, and featured an exhibit of glass incubators with premature babies in them-- a new invention.

Had a nice lunch with Lee yesterday at Dinner. (The period is part of the name), a place in Thornebrook Village. We ate outside, which was pleasant, if a little on the warm side by the end of it. It was fun getting caught up. You might not recognize him: he's very thin, has completely shaved his head, three earrings in one ear. He was wearing a Hawaiian shirt and women's style cropped slacks. As eccentric as ever! Enjoying retirement, doing some architecture, but mostly making pots and traveling.

It's graduation weekend here in Gatorville, and the start of the two week period when we get our town back. Of course, that's also about the time we get our default weather pattern back too. So far, only the heat and sweat have returned-- we're still waiting on the daily thunder-boomers to cool things off. The poor plants in our yard continue to droop.

The new Library rennovation/addition is ALMOST finished-- so close we can almost taste it. It looks fabulous-- it is going to be one of the most spectacular spaces on campus. All the last minute details and headaches are giving Bill fits, but he continues to hold things together, and the end is definitely in sight.

I should be writing a few bills instead of sitting her prattling. I did get the towels changed/laundered yesterday, but didn't get the bathrooms & their floors cleaned, and it didn't happen tonight either. I'm planning to take the week after next off, and the week after that, an extra day to make Memorial Day a four day weekend. Looking forward to both of these, needless to say. It's less than five months to go now.

I'm into the third book of His Dark Materials now; it's longer than the others, so I probably won't be able to finish it over the weekend. I told Lee about it, and he is interested in reading it.

Block

Gainesville

I seem to have Blogger's Block-- staring at the screen, realizing that I have a multitude of the usual things to say, though nothing stands out. What does stand out is so arcane I can't possibly explain. But of course, I'll have to try.

The Library World was shaken to its core this afternoon. OCLC has eaten RLG for lunch. This is roughly the equivalent to the US and Iraq jointly announcing that they've decided to join forces, and that Iraq will be the 51st state. The economies of scale for both parties will be substantial, and everyone will benefit.

Well, it's not really like that, but it's the closest I can come. The OCLC/RLG contretemps is the reason I had to leave Hopkins and come back to UF-- I'd backed the right horse, but at the wrong time, just 25 years too soon, and in a brash and politically clueless manner. Since then, RLG dogged my footsteps and became ensconced here, existing side-by-side in an expensive and ludicrous duplication of effort.

No one had any idea this was in the works. The sad part is that there's almost no one left either here or from the past who can appreciate all the delicious ironies of what this means. And I guess I have to say that the whole mess did get me back to Gainesville, where apparently was just where I needed to be to put my life on this very interesting course it's taken since then.

Meanwhile, back on the daily grind level, food was prepared and consumed: "Three Pepper Pork Salsa Verde" which was quite wonderful, and a better than usual salad of leftover beautiful Romaine and arugula with chopped cukes and tomatoes and a blue cheese dressing.

And let me say again how wonderful that Orange/Fennel salad turned out to be. Last night we got home at 7:15, so I hauled out all the leftovers, and it was my favorite part. There was enough left for me to have it for lunch at work today. A winner.

Very much off schedule because we forgot to start the dishwasher before leaving this am. All the kitchen routines are done, except there is a pile of stuff to load in now that the previous load is ready to put away. Sigh.

Tomorrow is THURSDAY. I have things scheduled, though: Lunch with Lee at a place of his choosing in Millhopper Square, then a stop at the Ford dealership to pick up a sticker of some kind where they certify they accidentally changed my odometer from 30,000 miles to 50,000. They've broken the law by doing this, so they are VERY anxious for me to have this magic sticker so I don't sue their pants off. Okay...

Mom, I can attest that the Omaha Steaks really are wonderful-- they sell the kind of cuts that usually only go to restaurants. We absolutely loved everything we got from the one time we did it. The problem is, as you note, freezer space. All I have is on the left side of the fridge, and I do not use it efficiently. It might be a nice thing for you, though.

I too am looking forward to reading Julia (Child)'s book. I loved the brief look I got at the early video when you were here ("Omeletes! We flip it over just so... ooops, if it lands on the floor, make sure no one is looking, then just toss it back into the pan...") Dear Julia!

It's now after midnight, and I haven't read a single word of that LAST CHAPTER. Maybe I won't get it read before sleep claims me after all.

Tech Problems

Gainesville (at work)

Just a note to say I'm still here. Could not get to the Blogger page at all last night-- it kept timing out. I also spent a long frustrating time trying to get Bruce's new album into my iPod. Finally succeeded, but it ate into my time for reading and blogging. I still have one chapter to go in Book 2...

Lovely weather here-- it's cooled off again (in the 50's last night!) and clear dry air. Of course that also means bad hair days, but I'll take the trade-off any day!

More tonight, when such time as I have is actually my own.

quick note

Finally followed your link, Chris. I had been very confused, since I've so recently visited for the first time where Grandpa Soares is interred, Chapel of the Chimes. Then I found out you meant interned. Very interesting. Thanks for getting that!

cow fence

We rent the pasture to the neighboring cowman; they can move freely from his place to ours, but they're not supposed to get out of our place in any other direction. It's our responsibility to maintain some of the fence, and two other neighbors maintain other parts of it. These arrangements are ancient and very complicated. Anyway, our part is a lot of fence, and Ted was never a great fence builder, mainly because he used so many salvaged materials, particularly old wire. Many of the old fence posts are wood and are rotting off. We've been replacing them as they go for the last ten years, but we're not done yet. Metal posts are relatively expensive (when you need so many), and the fence really is huge. So we do what is needed, but we didn't realize that this most recent piece was needed so badly.

We, too, sympathize with the death of the Kris & Kay Kat. We, too, love our cat and understand how sad it is to lose one.

Sorry to lead you astray with the salad, Suze. I'm glad you liked it, though! I guess I would have sliced tangelos . . . .

And speaking of leading astray -- glad you like the dear books!

North Country Cowgirl

Gainesville [Sunday Night]

Yes, DEAR indeed-- guess you'd better just consider me to be on vacation until I finish this. I'm 2/3 way through the second book. Completely enthralled. Reading much too fast because I need to find out what happens next, and know I'll have to go back and pick up at least some of the things I've missed. Oh my.

Meanwhile, back in this reality,

****
[Monday Night]
... it seems to be suddenly the next night. Obviously I hit a bubble in the space/time continuum. Or something.

Rough day-- woke up feeling awful, went to work anyway, felt awful all day. Good thing I had stuff to do just sitting at my desk and not having to move around much, so it was bearable. Only one meeting, and it's a good thing I went; things discussed there I needed to know.

Been cooking out of Leanne and doing pretty well, except for last night, when I decided to add Sandy's orange/fennel salad to an already prep-intensive stir fry over spaghetti squash. Three hours! I'd bought both arugula and watercress, only to realize the recipe said OR, so I used some of both. The cress needed washing/drying, etc. I had tangelos instead of oranges. It took forever. By the time I sat down to eat it I was thinking, all that for just THIS? But the more I ate of it, the more I liked it. So, turns out it was worth it after all. I happened to score some truly outstanding fresh mint, so that helped too.

Got the blessings done yesterday, and despite how wretched I still feel, got the sheets changed, towels changed and washed, and a decent meal (cheeseburger cassarole and broccoli slaw with tomatoes) on the table on time. This left only a few short stints to read/dear. Almost done with book 2.

Chris, so sorry to hear about Beren. I think Mom mentioned it some time back, but it didn't really register until I saw your comment. We are so attached to our cat that I can truly feel the pain of losing one. You have Bill's and my sincere sympathy.

Sandy, what a swell set piece about the cows-- I loved it! It sounds like a short story. I do marvel that although it is the other guy who has the cows, they have the right to go wherever they want, and YOU have to maintain a fence to keep them out? Hardly seems fair... But I guess Wisconsin cowboys and -girls have this stuff all figured out.

Good to hear about your energetic start to May, Mom. Don't try to do it all at once, though, and burn out. Routines first, the other stuff as time permits. I'm glad you are thinking about taking care of yourself WRT what you are eating. And so cool that you are getting on the Nordic-- you are an inspiration, and I need one-- I don't move enough.

More stacked up to say, but there is a book screaming my name from the other room. With any luck, I should return to what passes for normal in a few days. Sandy, this is all your fault!

rain delay

Well, Friday was an interesting day. I was just getting out of the shower when the phone rang. Charlie answered, and it was a neighbor up on the hill (west of us) saying that there were some cows in his yard, and weren't they some of the ones that belonged in our pasture. Charlie called up the cow owner, I dressed, and we set out in the blue truck. As we were leaving, we saw the cow owner (henceforth referred to as Williams, since that's his name) speed by on his way up the hill. Sure enough, when we got up to our field (a 20-acre open plot on the north-south road at the top of the hill, and on the west side of our woods), Williams was chasing about eight of his heifers (young dummies) with his truck. We headed them off with our truck (this is how we cowboys function these days), and they plunged into our woods. There was also a dry cow there, and she did not go with the rest, but stayed up in the field. We got out of our trucks and ran down into the woods (very steep hill) to see where the heifers had gone, since there are no fences in the woods, and though we have only nine acres of woods, the neighbor's woods are enormous. The silly girls had gone right back over the failed gate they'd stepped across in the first place, and were back in the pasture. We propped up the gate. Luckily Williams is a nice enough guy to simply say "Gee, you have an awful lot of fence to maintain" rather than yelling at us for neglecting that part of the fence. We'd been aware that it was bad, but we didn't know it was that bad.

Anyway, we went back up to the field, and while Williams and Charlie and the original neighbor who called jawed for about 45 minutes, I wandered around looking for the cow, who had wandered off. No one seemed too concerned, though I worried that it would head for the highway and cause trouble. When the long conversation was over and we were caught up on the neighborhood gossip (men are quite the gossips here in the country, though they may see each other only every few years -- in fact Charlie had not laid eyes on neighbor #2 since high school graduation, and he's about my age), we headed back home. Williams went into our pasture from the road (29) to look for the cow. She'd jumped the fence somewhere else (cows get lonely) and was back in the pasture with the herd.

So we got into the truck again and headed to the local farm supply place for fenceposts and other fencing stuff. Spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon on fence repair, very hard work, particularly because a lot of it was on quite a steep hill. Lots of going up and down, carrying heavy stuff. Lots of brush cutting. And Charlie cut down a very large cherry tree that was going to fall on the fence one of these days. In fact that's one of the reasons we'd put off repairing this part of the fence, since we'd have to take the tree down first. More firewood, very nice.

I left at 2:30 to go pick up Ben (no lunch). He and Mom and I shopped, then played at Florence's, and then went back to Marty's to play a little more.

When I got home Charlie was nowhere to be seen. I walked out to the upper end of the pasture, since I could hear him driving fence posts. We worked some more and came into the house at about six-thirty. He'd taken a bite of lunch, but otherwise he'd worked all afternoon. Emergency dinner: steak (quickly thawed), baked potatoes, green beans.

Since Friday it has rained constantly, putting off further fencing. Also delaying gardening, which is bad, since we have sprouted 600 peas, and they need to be planted.

On Saturday, after we rested in the morning (tired!!), I attacked a Gourmet recipe for lasagne, Mario Batali's. Three hours, Mario said. We started at three, ate a little before eight. It was very complicated, including making the noodles, these with a little spinach. I'll spare you the details and contretemps . It was excellent, though we were nearly too tired to eat!

On the other news front, my distraction that arrived late Saturday afternoon (FedEx) is the complete New Yorker on DVD. I've been wanting it for a long time, finally ordered it last week. It cost $49, a tremendous bargain. I didn't look at until yesterday, but that was the end of any useful activity for the rest of the day. It's a marvel. I found some recent articles that one or the other of us had missed (printed out a long interesting article on Condi Rice that I'd read in 2002, for example, though most reading should be done on the screen), then sailed into the original version of In Cold Blood . Actually used the laptop on my lap for a change! Got about 3/4 done by the time we went to bed at the beastly late hour of ten.

So anyway, I hope the GC is going well for you, Suze. Have you gone on to the next book?

Enough!