Sunday morning farm report

I know what you mean about having Bill along while shopping. I like it when I can cajole Chas to coming along; he always picks up different and interesting things. What brand of vegetarian hot dogs? Were they any good? We had something called "Good Dogs" a few weeks ago, and they were misnamed. And what are the buns? Wish I'd make menu plans. I always have some vague idea of what's next, but things go more smoothly when I do a written plan for the week. I did stock up on meat last week (the meat freezer was almost completely empty), so at least I am equipped to do things impromptu when needed. Still in the interests of not eating meat every single day, some planning is needed.

We slog along here. The floor continues at a snail's pace. If Charlie had done the wood part, it would have been done in a couple of days. Instead, it took a couple of weeks, but Charlie's knees were spared. Luckily we bid the job, not time and materials. Ditto the tile, which is going faster (the guy is really a tiler by trade), but still, the fellow works at his own pace. And it's impossible to be in the house while he's working, because he likes to chat, and when he chats he doesn't work. I am eager for this to be done! No photos until it's finished. It's going to be absolutely beautiful.

This the garden a week ago, just showing that things are beginning to do nicely. (I need to take some more, close, photos -- sorry about this one.) Now everything is planted, and most things are up and growing. The bean-sprouting experiment was a qualified success. Canellini, pintos, and reds responded nicely. Another red (Lowe's Champion) failed, and the Kentucky Blue pole beans responded poorly. The edamames were worst of all. Everything is replanted, only in the last day or two. We'll see. The small chicken-wire enclosures, tried two years in a row, yielded badly. We've moved to extra tomato cages, which are much bigger, giving the beans more room to develop. Even though all the dry beans are bush beans, they need support. Since they stay in the garden all summer and into the fall, they rot if allowed to trail on the ground. This we had to discover for ourselves. Dry beans are something of a pain to grow and to shuck, but well worth it. One must simply avoid the thought that each hard-won pound of dry beans is worth about 65 cents. They're a lot better, though.

Cucumbers are up (I don't get EdF any more; I think Mom still does, and maybe Marty -- I'm always looking for cuke recipes), squash is up. We've planted cantaloupe again, a success last summer, at least those we could rescue from the mice, and for a change, some butternut squash, which I like a lot and Charlie doesn't. The cows will eat what we don't, if we cut them up. Peas are swelling in the pods. They'll be early.

Should be able to scrabble out a few small potatoes next week. 25 pepper plants, 22 grown by us from seed, are in. Anchos, anaheims, jalapeños, mulatos (another ancho), Fresnos, plus 1 each of purchased Thai hot, green bell, and kung pao (this last to be frozen for next year's pickles -- this has to be done a year in advance, since they're not red yet when it's time to make pickles). Corn is up and doing nicely. I need to get down and transplant a few, where the seeder left a couple of blank spots. The wild arugula/cilantro/dill bed has gone to seed. By the end of the summer and into the fall it will produce nicely, particularly the arugula. Garlic huge; the hardneck is making scapes, and I need to use them. Good in mashed potatoes, also a nice pesto base.

Broccoli, which we grew indoors from seed, is getting huge and should broccle soon. A dozen purchased cabbages (6 early, 6 late) are doing well. We also purchased 6 cauliflower plants; we'll see. For some reason it's hard to grow. We have some dark-green Kale that's doing well. Only 14 tomato plants this year. 22 was way too many. Hope this is enough. Only 4 romas, the rest fantastics.

I planted more dill the same day as the cukes. We'll see if that works. There are so many dill volunteers all over the garden that it's hard to make myself plant any. But the volunteers are always spent before it's time to make pickles, and I often have to buy dill, which is ridiculous. We'll see if the timing is right planting dill and cukes the same day. Fennel is coming along beautifully. Turns out that it's quite easy to grow. I seasoned some salmon with the thinnings last week, but we are really waiting for the bulbs, which are wonderful either cooked or raw, as you all know. Onions, leeks, shallots are all also doing nicely.

It's been so hot and we've been working in RF so much that it's hard to get down to the garden enough. Today would have been good, but we went to a wedding reception last night, then repaired to the Woods' and sat around until late. They just got back from Italy and were full of travel news. Charlie is still asleep (amazing, but he was awake from 5 to 7, reading the paper and a book).

I'm making a kale, potato and bacon stew for lunch today. It's from Slow Food, and has the catchy title "Yum, yum, pig's bum." I want to try some of the new kale, and we've got some nice-looking local bacon. Good thing we're air conditioned, since it's not really a hot-weather dish. My hopes that the recent rain would break the hot spell were unfounded.

Here are this year's herb pots. I need to take a photo of the beautiful one I made for Mom.

These are our ladyslippers, the wild orchid of the upper midwest. They are pretty rare. Curtis transplanted them into one of our flower beds. This is their third year. I'm sure I sent a picture of them last year, too.

Enough! Hope it rains, but not too violently.

Really felt like summer!

21.IV.07 - MoM

I don't think I am going to want to sleep in one of my flannel nightgowns tonight. My new outdoor thermometer is in place and I love it. It is mostly a transparent square with large black numbers. The slightest breeze changes the 10th of a degree. I asked Charlie to mount it in one of the north windows in the "expanded living room." It was mostly 75-ish°. It also has a high and low that resets twice during the 24 hours. I have an outdoor thermom with the rain gauge on the deck on my bedside table but I have to get close to read it.

While they were here, Sandy cut me some forsythia. I have been waiting for it for a year as I want to develop a note using it in the design. There are so many little bulbs popping up (many with obscure names) that I can keep busy for a while for the same purpose.

I hadn't realized that Ted had planted a lot of jonquils in the front yard on the bank near the street. I am on the wrong side in the car when we return home. Sandy picked them and brought them up today. They had very short stems (due to the strange temps this spring) so I added them close to the rim of the vase I had the pussy willows In for some color. I don't know if you got the pictures twice that I e-mailed today as they ended up in the trash instead of sent mail, so I rescued them and tried again.

We finally cut off all of the herbs, today, as they were so overgrown and scraggly looking. I am now in the process of cleaning out that planter and tomorrow I will replant it with a salad greens mixture. The tomatoes are something else. They are "cherry-type with the strongest, thick stalks I have ever seen. Soon, it will be time to trim the top of them to stunt their height and keep a thick stalk to support the "fruit." The company has certainly put a lot of time and development effort into doing this growing system. No wonder they aren't "inexpensive."

The expensive veal chop from Kowalskis was okay, but I have lost my touch when cooking. I breaded it with flour, egg and seasoned crumbs. Part of the problem is my fading taste buds. Also, lack of practice figures into it. But what the heck, it's food and there is plenty left for a day or two.

Enjoyed your letter, Suzy. I remember the culture shock when we first moved here. My first thought in Europe each morning was to wonder what kind of language problems I was going to have that day. Actually, I missed it when we moved here. I really could have used what I learned here during the 3 years of German when we moved there. The 4 years of French did help some during the 5 years we rented houses each fall in France. And to think I wasn't very enthusiastic when DoD first mentioned going to Europe and perhaps spending some time there. I was really enjoying our life in Shannondale too much. Al and Marian Fleigner had put their 2 teen daughters in school in Switzerland while they lived and traveled there.

* * * * *

A continuation of a letter from Suzy to us in Saalfelden, dated 11.Nov 1985.

I've been pretty euphoric since I got back. The glasses is part of it, but also, it's so easy to do everything, like shopping -- store clerks understand me (I find I chatter with them much more, just because I can) and I can tell just what something costs. My apartment seemed spacious seems spacious and luxurious. I can hear music anytime. All these things you take for granted become special when you go without them. Also, being completely removed from work and its problems was helpful -- being faced with a completely different set of problems puts things in perspective.

It was good to get back to work. My people gave me a great welcome -- they'd re-done my desk area, giving me an additional work surface and bulletin board, which they'd decorated with "Happy Birthday" things. They'd sorted my mail logically. And they kept a day-by-day log of what went on while I was gone (two typed pages) that was very helpful in reorienting myself. Also, sales of the program were at 33 when I got back but shot up to 40 in several days. Our original break-even was 41, but we never placed any advertising, so we are actually in the black now. I should have some or all of the bonus money sometime after the first of the year. Money will then start to accumulate to buy equipment and help to do more. I hope. The bad news is, our network, who was supposed to help us promote it, wants to wait until version 2.0 is out; they think those enhancements are critical. There is one serious glitch in version 2.0. Terry visited while I was gone and told Sally he'd work on it, but I've not been able to contact him.

When we got back to Chris' (around dusk -- right on time) it was cold enough to have a fire (the cats were both very pissed off at him, though, and refused to join us). It went down to 28° that night. I got off the plane in Gainesville the next day, wearing a turtleneck, blouse, two sweatshirts, down jacket, scarf, wool socks (which I love -- thanks, Ma) -- and it was 82°!! You never saw such a quick strip tease act. It seems I missed a horribly hot and humid October, and got in on the rain from yet another hurricane. Since then, it's been beautiful, mostly clear and warm, though today is a little hot.

Newsbriefs: Billy & his wife Alice (they live in Texas) had a baby boy Oct. 14. I had a letter from Andy Cassatt, written before I'd mailed my card from Paris. He may be in Florida later this month to visit his daughter and ex- so I will maybe see him.

Take care. Continue to enjoy life there and forget about
Crackerbarrel cheese!

Love, Suzy

lunch for 10, etc.

Well, first of all, lunch for ten. This was seven student teachers, Ruth (who is on sabbatical this semester but is still involved, since four of my teachers are her students), and the principal of Spring Valley High/Middle School.

I got up at five to start cooking. Made a carrot cake (with cream cheese frosting), spinach lasagne, and the greek salad from FC #79. Also got things set up to feed that many, this time in the dining room. The kitchen, in serious transition mode (more on this later), is a little crowded at the moment. Anyway, I got everything ready with only moments to spare.

This school principal is very nice. She is young and very accessible. She actually listened to the questions the students asked and answered them lucidly and completely. I liked her a lot. What a great resource, only a mile from here.

I did face a dishes crisis, though. In recent years we've had these festivals at Ruth's house, but last spring I had the kids here for one of them. Served taco twist, and went to the SV drugstore at the last minute and found, amazingly, really nice pasta-sized bowls for $1 each. Bought a dozen. I used them again for the first meeting this spring (I guess Ruth and I met our students on campus fall semester), taco twist again, but I couldn't think of something for this meeting that I could serve in bowls. The dish crisis is ongoing, but has been exacerbated by the breaking of one and chipping of another of our Dansk dinner plates, getting us down to four decent ones. We do have two sets of nice china (12 of everything), but that has to be hand washed, and so it is used only for special holiday meals. What to do. On Monday I went to the drugstore again, and in their tiny housewares department they had a set of dishes with blue bands around the outside. Not at all bad. And what I liked was that they had mugs and no saucers. How terrible it is to buy dishes and be stuck with saucers. Anyway, the set was $14.99. Hard to beat that. So I had enough plates by using the four new ones, the four good ones, and Ruth ate from the chipped one and I ate from an odd white one. I wish I could find two more sets of the ones I bought in SV, but they had just the one. I'll keep my eyes open in cheap places, though. It'd be nice to have a big set of dishwashable dishes. Isn't this interesting?

Anyway, everyone left at 1:30, and Ruth and I teed off at 2, playing a quick nine holes. I was exhausted after that. Seven hours of cooking and two hours of walking on the golf course had my feet and legs ultra tired, I can tell you.

Monday was a particularly good day. Nice weather. I helped Charlie work on cabinets, but I also got the lettuce bed weeded out and spaded, ready to plant. It was too windy for the teeny lettuce seeds, but I should be able to plant today. I did a whole bunch of other wonderful stuff, some outside and inside, none of which I remember, since that was Monday, and it's Thursday already.

Anyway, the great thing is that the island in the middle of the kitchen is being built! About half of it is installed, and the next big piece is in the garage and will be ready to come inside within the hour. These are cabinet shells so far. A few shelves, but since most things will be big and little drawers, they will not be fully functional for a week or so, until the drawer pulls are shipped here and the drawers are made. Anyway, this is incredibly wonderful progress. Finished cherry drawer fronts and doors are a long way off (have to save up again, since we've now depleted the entire building fund with this project and the floor -- to be put in in just a few weeks now), but once the drawers themselves are in, I can begin figuring out where things will go. And I will have a huge new surface to work on. I'm already using the temporary countertop on the north end. The very north end of the island is a little lower than the rest and will be a huge maple breadboard (not cutting board) baking area. With a view, of course. I am wildly excited about all of this. The bottom part of the pantry (north wall) and the broom closet (ditto) went in a couple of weeks ago. The top part of the pantry is next. Here are some photos, but it's hard to get the idea of it all from them.

But first: Caution! These images are too big, so don't click on them.

What's left of the Easter eggs Ben and I made. This is what I see when I open the fridge. Kind of hard to eat the little fellows (only two left), but I'll have to do it soon.


And the first island piece to go in. This photo gives an idea of the footprint of the island; it doesn't look big in this picture, but it is indeed big:


Note garlic-growing book in the foreground (which reminds me, I need to go take the winter mulch off the garlic).

Of course Puss has to explore every new space.


Here's the second piece in. Charlie put a slab of melamine board over this yesterday and I was able to use it while I was cooking. You can see that the north end is lower, for baking.

This is the proto-pantry and broom closet. The rest of the pantry will go where the hanging pans are. I'll lose all that nice hanging stuff, but I'll have room for food. The hanging stuff has always been temporary. My goal is to have everything in cabinets, and the absolute minimum on countertops. The microwave will go inside a cabinet, too, as will the bag sealer.


Charlie has just gone across the road to get our neighbor, Jim French, to help move in the big piece that is now finished. I helped move in the other two island pieces (Jim helped get in the pantry and broom closet), and believe me, it was not a bit fun.

As soon as this next thing happens (in a few minutes, I believe), I'll post a couple of more photos.

One more note: the Martys' cat, Kako, is no more. He got sick, then sicker, and by the time it was discovered what was wrong with him (blockage), he was so weak he was likely not to survive the (very expensive) surgery. He left his body (with the aid of the vet) yesterday early evening. Bye, Kako.

ancestor madness

Well, let's see if I can do a little of this. It's been hard to get to the computer for the last week. We got a letter from someone in Alaska asking about Charlie's grandmother and relatives, and this has kicked off a mad frenzy of sorting through stuff (unimaginable piles, of which we have only scratched the surface), scanning (we now know how to scan and email -- even Charlie does it -- with the HP 750 that Marty hooked up for us, so I can give Mom instructions when I'm there with a little time next week) photos, documents, etc. and emailing them to this woman. And receiving what she has, putting it together with things here . . . . And then began the online geneaology frenzy, combing Norwegian archives from the mid 19th century. Charlie has been spending lots and lots of time on the computer doing this. We've found some great stuff, but God, is it time consuming!

Anyway, there are a lot of little things I want to say. The letter Mom quoted from yesterday was in the middle of the summer (say, late June or early July) of 1984. I can tell because I was preparing for a trip, but we were in the new house. And I was still planning to camp, which I did some in '84 but decided not to do in '86. Also M & D didn't have a computer yet; we bought it in the fall of '84. Internal evidence.

I'm delighted that Lee liked Pullman, and particularly that he listened to it. I'm not surprised that he liked it. We mocked him so when he was reading The Lord of the Rings. Little did we know.

Which JA is the third? Please mention titles, since I didn't read them in order. I haven't read any of her letters (though it would be a nice way to follow along). Yesterday when I was at Ruth's I looked again at the JA biography I'd borrowed and read. Memorized the author so I could tell you, but now I can't remember. I'll look it up and send it on. I really enjoyed reading it. I think that Stephanie B. has done an extraordinary job of mixing fact with fiction. Don't we wish that there had really been a Lord Trowbridge in her life.

We've discussed this tiller thing before. I still haven't found a tiller that works well to really till up a small garden. I guess if you have it thoroughly tilled by a real tiller (to start it) and get that person back every year to do it again (there really are people who are willing to bring a tiller over and do a small plot), you could weed and cultivate with a mantis. We have M&D's electric mantis here at the moment and, with 300 feet of extension cord, we were able to do light weeding and cultivation with it on ground that was already pretty well broken up. I'll get Charlie to add some opinions about this in an email. He is busy varnishing at the moment (but is probably eager to get back on the computer). Unless you love pulling the cords to start small gas engines, you'd prefer an electric mantis. But you'll have to use it often.

Beets?

I'm probably too late for the rib roast (though I believe it'll last another day). It's a very tricky business. I slice it fairly thick, put some oil/butter in a skillet, heat it up hot, and slap the slices in for about half a minute or so per side. It's doesn't get very hot, but almost anything else ends up wrecking it. Microwaving is out.

I am currently listening to a novel about Henry James by Colm Tóbín. It is wonderfully Jamesian, meticulous, dull, fascinating. It's really, really good. I'm almost done with it. Now I'll have to read a James biography (borrowed one from Ruth and Dave's amazing library) and some of his books that I've missed. I'm happy that I've recently reread The Wings of the Dove, as it is prominently featured in the book. This book makes me want to go back to Rome and Venice.

I've also recently read Doctorow's March, a novel about Sherman's march through Georgia. I liked it a lot. And Woman Warrior (Maxine Hong Kingston) and A Thousand Cranes (forgot the author and already gave the book back). The first Chinese-American, the second Japanese. Both from Ruth, who is reading such things for her sabbatical. I can't remember what else I've read recently. Too bad I don't blog every day; then I'd have some idea of what I've been reading.

Eagerly anticipating warmer weather and golf. Today it's very beautiful but still a bit cold. Broccoli babies ready to transplant into peat pots today, and I'll start some Fresno pepper seeds under the lights. About time to plant some lettuce and the poppy bed. I'm very eager to start playing outside!!

Here's the package of corn we ate last night. It's not the last one in the freezer, but it's obviously the last one we froze last summer. Julia was the bag labeler, and I didn't know she'd done this on bag #60 until just a couple of days ago. Corn day is one of my favorites, and Marty enjoys it too. Charlie finds it boring, and though Julia always participates readily, she's clearly glad to get done with it.

Ben at the farm

Here's the artist at work. Ben doesn't use paper. His interest with paints is making "magic potion" by mixing colors. This time I gave him several vessels, and by the time he'd turned them all black, he'd painted enough. Normally I have to change his little jar every couple of minutes. He'll do this for quite a long time.

Ben enjoyed running in the yard last weekend. It was cold! He went out three or four times for quite a long run.

Ben on the run.
He went all the way out to fence, then down along by the woods and up around the copse. I was pleased at how far he went and how fast.

Posting photos is a lot easier in the new blogger. There are all kinds of format thingies here, too, like colors, italics, bold with no fooling around. It's very cool. I'm going to have to go into this a little more. I still don't have control over the type faces,

Anyway, no real time to blog, but thought y'all'd like to see some photos of Ben.

Boy Love

Gainesville

A nice day working with the comics in Special Collections. I am learning so much about them by doing this drudge work. My experience as a serials cataloger helps me make good choices on how to describe them in the inventory. Most interesting was two issues of Shojo-Beat ... a manga pub for girls-- big eyed soap operas, mostly about boys. It was in English, but reads from back to front, Japanese-style. Had a hard time with it til I figured that out! My ignorance of manga is vast, but fortunately we don't have much of it. Yet.

Lots of Batman and Green Arrow today. And many single issues and graphic novels-- even an early edition of one of the Sandman compilations. I especially loved coming across a single issue of Love and Rockets -- the first comic book of it I've ever seen; all I know are compilations. I hate the ads when I'm reading new comics, but they are really a hoot when looking at old ones.

Dinner was a blast from the past: Pasta a la Newman. The pasta was dried low-carb Dreamfield instead of the fresh regular stuff we used to get; I actually like it better.

Sandy, tonight I'm drinking your Blue Stuff (the bottle of Bombay we got when you were here). It's not half bad! I'm letting Bill have what's left of the Tanq. It's not desperate yet-- I have one more backup fifth, the travel kit fifth, and a desperation pint left. My number one mission for tomorrow is a liquor run!

Good baby step, Mom. The secret to holding on to cleared Hot Spots is simple: Pick up after yourself every day. When I do that, things go well. When I don't... not so much. It's really such a simple principle, but so hard to internalize.

I should confess that before Doug came I did a stash-and-dash of the stuff that had piled up on the desk in the library room. I tend to put paid bills, magazine subscription notices, things I might possibly want to support, or look into, or do, in a heap. Which shortly overwhelms the desk. Somewhere I have stashed a plastic shopping bag full of this stuff. Now if I could just remember where...

I got a huge book in the mail today-- The Smithsonian Book of Newspaper Comics, to replace the library copy I've had checked out for years. It cost $35 in 1977. I bought a truly "like new" copy from an Amazon seller for $13.50, including postage! It even has a beautiful, unmarred dust jacket. Sweet. My nice little comics collection needs to expand shelf space again, which means more books from in here will be shifted into the limbo of Overflow in the big room. This time it will be UNIX reference books. Haven't looked at any of them in a looooong time.

And now, for your viewing pleasure, THIS year's Library Spring Picnic Invitation. And who's the cutest Wild Thing of them all??

Cast your vote now! Operators are standing by!

Gator Nation Uber Alles

Gainesville

Ho hum-- another national championship. No, seriously, it's very exciting, amazing actually. For a school whose avowed goal is to become for something other than atheletics (say, scholarship, perhaps?), we have a strange way of going about it. For the record, I DID watch the entire second half, positive they were going to blow it, even though they were always ahead by at least 7 points. Round ball is just too nerve-wracking and boring at the same time.

Mom, I hadn't heard that a cop got hit by a car. Of course, no papers were to be found today, and we don't look at TV news. For the most part, Gator fans are not really destructive-- they don't burn stuff down or anything. The Library was planning to close early last night, as we do get over-run with drunken revelers from the bars across the street who overwhelm the bathrooms and generally make a mess. But before we could close, the fire alarm went off. It was the real thing-- a steam pipe had burst. Bill was on the phone much of the evening dealing with the crisis. Eventually they let everyone back in to get their stuff, then closed even earlier than planned.

Sounds like a nice field trip out to see the construction progress today. I wanna see too! Glad Marty could come to the rescue with your TV problems. With Ben's able assistance, of course!

I didn't get out today for a supplemental shop, and we're almost out of gin (the horror!). Tomorrow I go into the Library, so it won't happen then either. Dunno what I'm going to fix for dinner-- the plan A was axed by my non-shopping too. I'll come up with something. Last night I made a very interesting thing-- a lamb and spinach skillet. Strips of lamb, onions, red peppers, a pound of spinach, some Basalmic vinegar. Good stuff. A big batch of Mexican Cole Slaw to go with.

As promised: Look at this pretty girl! (As always, click to see larger image.)

Hasn't she changed just a bit since the wedding?! These, of course of studio glamor shots, but there's no disguising how the camera loves her, and vice versa. And that smile... guess all those years of wearing braces paid off big time.

More to say, but I feel the call of the book and the second See-Thru.

Just a little reminder to myself: Today I saw a memorable Colbert Report (a rerun) where Willie Nelson was the guest. He sang "On the Road Again," and to everyone's astonishment, Stephen joined in the second verse, singing dazzlingly perfect harmony! Who knew he could sing so well, besides being hilarious and terminally cute?

La Tour Eiffel

These are the photos I wanted to post the other day. Occured to me that if I used Firefox instead of Safari it might work. Sure 'nuff.

Mom, I did this puzzle soon after Christmas. Was shopping with Ben for a toy and thought I needed one, too. It was hard and fun. As I told Suzy in an email, it was to give myself the illusion of leisure.

More later.

Me, Apparently

Gainesville

Couple of 15-minute stints yesterday and today, and I cleared an entire shelf in the small closet pantry. It was almost all carb stuff: every kind of grain known to man (various rices, bulgers, barleys, kashas, quinoas, etc) plus multiple boxes of every kind of cracker, quite a few never opened. I opened every single box, dumped the stuff into a giant garbage bag, then flattened all the boxes. Most of this stuff was from before I started dating things (about five years ago), but I found one thing Bill had written a date on: 4/92!! Can you imagine? That was before we were living together, so that thing got moved twice. I am resolved not to continue this kind of clutter -- a holdover from wartime hording behavior translated into disaster/ hurricane preparations. It's a very bad form of craziness.

I finished Sixty Days this afternoon. I can't wait to see what Robinson will tackle next. Whatever, it's bound to interesting and well written. Meanwhile, I got back to the first Jane Austen mystery. Almost done with that. Think I forgot to mention that during one of the breaks at the conference on Sunday, I checked out the books on tape at the downtown public library where it was held. I was happy to see that they had 3-4 of the series (lots of other stuff too) and was going to check one out, when I realized I didn't have my library card with me. Not surprising, since I haven't used it in about 15 years... Must look into that. It's the solution to my dilemma of buying tapes vs CD's: Borrow! (Duh.)

Mom, the ONLY way to set up computer-based record keeping is the extreme KISS principle: Keep It Simple, Stupid. Everyone gets caught in this trap of setting up something so elaborate that keeping up with it is self-defeating. I suggest three columns: What it is, how much (plus or minus) and a total. Then, when that gets established, see what other info is needed, and add it very. slowly. Baby steps. A system that you don't keep up with, no matter how elegant, is a total waste of time and effort. Worse than worthless. And how do I know this? Much bitter experience, Grasshopper. Don't go there.

Weather here is drop-deadly beautiful. Too bad it's so dry-- it should be green and bursting into life, but the blooming is set against a backdrop of brown instead of green. Until the rains come, it's a tinder box waiting to happen.

That self-interview I was pressured into doing last fall is finally going to be published and they wanted a picture. Bill got drafted into taking one. Here is what I looked like yesterday, apparently: