(2) Sun May 02 2004 12:53 Weekend: Leonard and Sumana came to visit and to see the grandparents. Grandpa isn't doing too well, IMHO. I spent Friday and then yesterday over there helping pack to move them to Columbus Estates. The move happens Wednesday. Grandpa doesn't want to go. It's hard and exhausting to see them getting older.

I spent half the night last night doing the ward newsletter and waiting for the Bishop to send his column, and then the rest of the night throwing up. Leonard and Sumana brought me some peppermint ice cream from Dewar's, which I thought would taste good, but it was like cod liver oil to me. Also I guess it's been forever and a day since I had any amount of any dessert kind of thing, so maybe my body was rejecting the fat and sugar. Bleah.

Going back to bed now.

Sun May 02 2004 18:13 Please Don't Leave Me Your Junk!: I finally made it through the box that Aunt Jeuney left with my name on it. It did contain Marton Ackerman's genealogy and a copy of her patriarchial blessing, which are maybe good things for me to have. It also contained letters written between Uncle Carl and Aunt Jeuney. I don't understand how two people who can write each other such mushy letters and love each other so much can get a divorce. I am going to mail these letters to Whit and Suzi.

The rest of the box was full of letters to and from various people, with variations on the theme of "Hi, I know I'm late writing back, we are fine." I put them through the paper shredder, and also all the sales receipts and newspaper clippings. Why me? Oh, I know why me. It's because AJ always thought I cared about family history--and I do-- but bleah. People should go through their own stuff before they die.

Mon May 03 2004 07:54 Woe Is I:: This has to be some kind of record. I have the Q -- and no U or blank-- in every game I am playing. The scrabble trolls are out to get me today.

(3) Tue May 04 2004 18:47 Long Day:: I spent most of the day working on my syllabus for summer school. I still have more to do. I broke out all the paragraph editing into separate assignments. I am going to read turned in editing assignments until I find the first mistake, and then back it goes to the student and the grade goes down. If I have to return it a second and third time, I will, and the grade will go down some more. I am sick and tired of them slopping through things.

Sadie has been to the groomer and she is NAKED! I bet she feels better in this heat. I also made it downtown to get her dog tag. I think if those people who work for the City could work any more slowly and inefficiently, they would qualify for a job with the County! In the Welfare Department or the Health Department.

I was going to get my syllabus for fall done today too, but it's not going to happen.

Wed May 05 2004 20:56 End of Semester: Today was my last class meeting with my English 60 class. I'm going to miss the little stinkers. One boy made a decision to fail the class rather than give an oral report, and he didn't come today. He really needed those points. They all take their departmental writing exam on Saturday.

Everyone who showed up to take the writing exam in my ACDV 68 class passed it, except for one girl who borderlined. I had to call her to tell her that I wasn't going to send her on and she would have to repeat the class. It made both of us sad.

In other news, one of my students had planned her baby's birth for June, when school is out. She had to have an emergency C-Section on Monday because the cord was around his neck, and she's still in the hospital. I excused her from her oral report--I figure she's been through enough. I don't know if she'll be up to taking the exam on Saturday or not.

These kids live lives of one emergency after another.

Thu May 06 2004 09:22 Spam Schmam: I got a spam from someone claiming to collect "Judicial Judgments." Is there, perhaps, an alternative kind of judgment of which I was unaware?

Later: Oh,yeah. There are "snap judgments", "faulty judgments" and "pre-judgments" . Any others?

Thu May 06 2004 21:15 Genealogy, I am Doing It My Genealogy:: I am still at it. I have waded through approximately a gazillion people and made it through the German royalty--that is, the ones whose last names are Germany. That doesn't count such folks as are named Swabia, Regensberg, Schweinfurt, and so on. Bavaria, however, is done because it is a B.

(2) Fri May 07 2004 10:21 Mexican Cuisine: I am making chile verde the way a little Mexican grandma I met at the meat counter in Young's yesterday told me to. So far, it looks like what you get in a restaurant; I take that as a good sign.

She said to peel the tomatillos, but tomatillos apparently have both a husk and a skin, so I didn't know what to do. I ended up just taking of the husk and leaving the skins, figuring it's going though the blender anyhow. The one thing I did differently from what she said is I used Ortega chiles instead of jalapenos. I didn't think I was interested in the jalapeno roasting and peeling scene, and also I wanted to make it a little milder in case John might not like spicy food, and also out of deference to my finicky tummy.

Sat May 08 2004 20:31 Your Weevily Wheat's Not Fit to Eat:: We spent most of the day going through stuff and organizing things in the garage. Rachel found a container of wheat that had a crack in the lid. It was full of weevels and their maggots and their cast of exoskeletons. The wheat was about half gone. I guess that's pretty good odds, considering how long I've had the wheat. I hope this project is going to help the chaos in the garage. Rosalie is giving me Grandma Jessie's old refrigerator, which will go out there as well. I can keep the cases of juice that I buy at Smart & Final in it.

Sat May 08 2004 20:32 Eliminating the duplicate entry: bleah.

(3) Sun May 09 2004 17:25 Some Days You Just Can't Win: Today has been an interesting day. Susie and John left in the early a.m., and Rachel and I got ready for church. My IV container sprang a leak and soaked my clothes, and Gretel opened the door and got back in and we couldn't get her out, so we were late for church. We sat in the back with Gwen and Don Hare, who said they had also been late. Church wasn't too bad. I didn't cry this year from missing my mother too much. The Relief Society had made pineapple strawberry frappe for all the sisters but I didn't get any because I had to leave early to go home throwing up.

Then Rachel went back to Los Angeles and I went to bed. Barely got to sleep and my TPN pump decided to act up, with big loud alarms. I turned it off, tried to reboot, tried new batteries, checked the tubing, tried everything. It doesn't work still, and I am starting to feel faint. I called the nurse and she said they would send another one out, but they haven't come yet.

Meanwhile, Sadie is in desperate John withdrawal mode and just craving attention every second.

Tue May 11 2004 09:50 Hicktown:: So. The President of Chechnya was assassinated, and what does the Bakersfield Californian have for a lead story? Legal technicalities for the retrial of a ten-year-old local murder.

Tue May 11 2004 13:09 Winding Down: Today was last class meeting, and I have all the papers graded. There will be more papers coming in tomorrow. Tomorrow is the big deadline. I have to spend tomorrow and maybe the next day reading departmental writing exams. I am REALLY looking forward to a short break before summer school. I think I might go to San Francisco.

(2) Wed May 12 2004 08:54 No Nap Today: This afternoon, Don's field crew is going to drop the old refrigerator by. I will need to shuffle the piles in the garage. It's funny, but it doesn't seem all that long ago that we had a big garage sale and ALMOST cleaned it out! I don't know where all the stuff comes from. If you want to be shocked at the extent our consumer society has taken over our lives, just look in your garage.

I sure hope someone buys John and Susie's clock.

(3) Wed May 12 2004 14:30 Round and Round in Podunk-Town: After waiting fruitlessly for the local paper to publish news of Chechnya, I gave up and looked for an update on Lexis-Nexus. Thank heavens I am a college professor and have that alternative available. I've been complaining about the situation there for days and almost everyone says "Who?" "What?"

Hello, folks! The days when we could huddle up in our little American cocoon and ignore the rest of the world are O-V-E-R! Since technology is what it is, the probability is that if one of those little countries goes down, they will take us with them, like a big stack of dominoes.

World War I (the war that ruined the world) started with an assassination in just that area of the earth.

Thu May 13 2004 10:20 Finally!: All finished with this semester except for turning in grades. I do have to meet with class members on Wednesday morning to go over their exams, and one of them says she is going to bring late work. We shall see. She had a baby, and some complications, and wasn't feeling so hot when I talked to her last. She's going to get an incomplete and take the test with my summer school class.

I have three who tried and tried--and this is their third time through Eng. 60-- and they failed. They need to be in ESL, but will they listen to me? noooo. Even if they did take ESL, there are so few sections it's almost impossible to get a class. I sent two of my boys to Susan McQuerrey, however.

Sigh. I think I will go back home and return to bed.

(3) Thu May 13 2004 18:49 Yoooohooo! Universe to George W. Bush:: Lookie here at today's headline from CNN. CIA: Top Bin Laden Ally Beheaded Berg in Iraq See? See? Al Quaida did it, not the Iraquis. Al Quaida attacked New York City, not the Iraquis. Let's get focused on the goal here! You've got a job left unfinished.

(3) Sat May 15 2004 20:09 Apricot Day:: What a day! Rachel and I picked all the apricots that were ripe and picked up the ones that had fallen. We made apricot jam. Apricot pineapple jam. Apricot plum jam. And six quarts of cobbler filling AND a huge huge cobbler to take to the ward party. It was good, but Sadie got up on the table and helped herself to some of it.

After that, I went over to the Welsh's to make shisk kebabs and cut up fruit. The social was well attended, and it looked like people had fun. I started getting nauseated toward the end, but what do I expect, eating so late? Brock Hare had brought a "fruit" salad (his sly little dig) that looked incredible, and most people ate that and not my cobbler, so there is a lot left over. Rachel will take some of it with her back to LA.

Brock is a bad boy. I should spend more time with him, being bad.

Sun May 16 2004 21:19 Changes:: Today I was settling comfortably into my pew, and the entire Stake Presidency walked into the meeting. Oh-oh, I thought. They released Brad Davis from the Bishopric and replaced him with Michael Bean. I have the idea to interview him for the June newsletter, questions like where were you born and what is your favorite food, etc.

I worked on genealogy all afternoon, and I am in the middle of the Greys. The Greys are a very large and tangled family and it is going to take me a while. They tie us in to "Hotspur" Lord Percy, which might lend some excitement to our lives. At the very least, we can dream of Shakespeare while we complete our more mundane pedigree charts.

(7) Tue May 18 2004 11:27 Flubbaththth:: I feel like I'm really struggling. Getting sicker. I think I probably won't go to San Francisco over break, but stay home and try to rebuild my strength. I hate this; it really cramps my style.

Wed May 19 2004 09:47 I've Said It Before; I'll Say It Again:: It's a sad year to be a Giants fan. However, it's looking a little brighter since they won last night. Now, if we can just keep Bonds off the disability list....

(4) Thu May 20 2004 16:33 A Hole In the Middle For The Juice to Come Out:: Gretel and I went to White Forest Nursery this morning and bought more blueberry bushes. I realized I would never have enough blueberries to make a pie unless I grow more bushes. I also bought one to give to Jill Langley for her birthday. She was thrilled, so I was glad I thought of it. Tomorrow I will plant our new bushes in the morning.

Sherrie Lewis and I took Jill to lunch at La Mina for her birthday. We also took Gwen Lewis, so our visiting teaching is done for the month. (Sherrie stopped by Sister Boonestoppel's, and I spent time with her last week.) I had the enchilada suiza and the other ladies had the buffet. So far it has stayed down--sorta, barely.

I am making pate a choux filled with tuna salad to take to Guilt and Lies Meeting tonight.

Fri May 21 2004 17:43 Beep. Beep. Beep.: My TPN pump went bonkers in the night, so I had to disconnect my IV. By morning I was too weak to go work in the yard, and it was early afternoon (and naptime) by the time they brought me a new one. So for tomorrow, the plan is plant blueberries.

I went to Target and bought a gift for Laura and Michael Rasmussen's baby, (another!) wastebasket, and some little dishes for Jellybean to drink Arrowhead water from. I forgot to buy the two gift cards that I intended to pick up. I did remember to get my reprint of photos from Easter. Then I went to the grocery store and now I am done for.

(1) Fri May 21 2004 21:32 Later On:: I forgot to mention that while I was at Target I saw Jimmy and Robin Carlisle there. They have always been good friends to me. Valerie was with them, with a little girl and half a baby in her tummy. They asked about everybody.

Jimmy told me he doesn't think I'm looking that good. I could always count on him to tell it straight.

I have waded through almost all of the "G" names in my list. I'm down to the GUs, and there are five more pages of G to go before I start H. Today I checked and got biographical dates for a lot of Welsh ancestors, but don't expect me to say their names.

(4) Sat May 22 2004 17:00 Busy Saturday: I worked in the garden all morning, and I picked the remaining apricots. There are only a few greenish ones left on shady lower branches. Tomorrow I will make apricot nectar out of them. Then I made another attempt at Chicken Marsala, and once again it did not turn out like the one at Benji's Basque restaurant. It's good, but it's not what I was aiming for.

Now I am up from my nap, but still in my nightgown because my entire wardrobe is in the wash. Between now and the time tonight when I go to the shower for Laura and Michael Rasmussen's baby, I am going to do something (I don't know what) about the organization of the binders full of 12X12 scrapbook paper. Perhaps Roy G. Biv will help.

(4) Sun May 23 2004 12:08 Walking Wounded: I accidentally stabbed myself in the thigh with my little sharp scrapbooking scissors. I must have hit a vein, or there is not much left of my leg, or something, because it spurted great loads of purple [oxygenated] arterial blood. Oh no! Shall I panic? Shall I call 911? No. I shall apply pressure to the wound and discourage the dogs from investigating. I made it to the bathroom and butterflied it shut with a band-aid. As swelling has started in, the bleeding has quieted down, and now it hurtz.

Yes, my tetanus shot is up to date. Is YOURS, faithful reader?

Sun May 23 2004 12:25 Burnt: Last weekend, Rachel and I made apricot cobbler filling. We took a mongo cobbler to the ward potlluck and then canned the rest in quarts. However, I burnt a bunch of it in the bottom of my big pot. Ugh. After applying elbow grease all week and getting nowhere, I looked for tips on the net.

On one of them, the person who posted it said they tried it because it was such a crazy idea it might work and it did. It was swish a dryer sheet around the pot, and the carbon will magically leave the pot and adhere to the dryersheet. Right. The carbon in my pot laughed at my dryer sheet.

The hint I am trying right now is sprinkle the burned part with dishwasher soap and add water, then simmer. It's working okay, slowly, but ok. (When I say slowly, I mean it's been simmering all day, and still traces of burned stuff.) It still takes scraping and elbow grease, and I am an unhappy camper because I really needed to make apricot nectar this weekend, and I can't without the big pot.

Don Aslett says use oven cleaner, but I hesitate to do that to my good French cookware. Of course, I shouldn't burn stuff in my good French cookware either, but there you have it.

(3) Mon May 24 2004 21:32 Orange Bottles Like Liquid Sunshine:: Today I got the pot clean and made apricot nectar. The crop from the late bearing graft of the tree yielded 17 pints. I only sealed up two boilings, and I put the rest in the refrigerator. Yum! I was going to go see A Day Without a Mexican but finished the nectar too late. It took a lot longer than I thought it would.

Grandpa is in the hospital. I'm going to go visit him in the morning and see how he is doing.

(1) Mon May 24 2004 21:33 The Patter of Little Feet:: It's being noised abroad that Shannon is going to have another baby! The end of November.

(3) Tue May 25 2004 18:30 Where the Heart Is:: I spent most of the day at the Heart Hospital with my inlaws. They had taken Grandpa to Memorial yesterday, but they found some things wrong with him in the ER, so the doctor moved him to the Heart Hospital. They are running every test in the book--and apparently finding more things wrong that lead to more tests....

I don't think Grandpa has a very clear picture of how serious his situation could be. So far, that I have heard, he has blockage in his kidneys and an embolism in his lung.

Grandma is managing the best she can, but she can't hop up and find his glasses, straighten the pillows, run to the nurses station, and all those little things that need to be done when a loved one is in the hospital.

I made Grandma go to lunch--the hospital cafeteria is called a cafe. The Heart Rock Cafe. No lie. The food looked pretty good, but I only had jello. When we got back, Bones was in the room going over Grandpa with a tricorder. It was interesting to see the various internal organs as they appeared on the computer screen. Tomorrow Pat has to go to Madera, so I have extracted a promise that if Grandma needs a ride and company tomorrow, she is to call me.

Then I came home and was very sick (orange jello, yuck) and went to bed for the rest of the day. I am not accomplishing much.

(8) Wed May 26 2004 20:23 Bookworm:: I have finally finished reading The History of Private Life. It consists of 18205 pages and spands a thousand years. Whew! I sure learned a lot. I also read, mostly today, The Red Tent, which is a historical novel about Jacob's family from the point of view of his daughter, Dinah. The author opens a window into a fascinating world.

(1) Fri May 28 2004 12:34 Claudia:: I turned the page of the article about the evolution of the German family I was reading (in The History of Private Life) and there I was! Really me. Or what I looked like in 1972, when the photo was taken. Her name is Claudia, and she lived (lives, probably) in Germany, and she looks exactly like me. She is sitting on the beach having her photo taken on the occasion of her engagement. Spooky.

Fri May 28 2004 20:49 I Don't Feel All That Confident:: I bought a product for toenail fungus called "Clearly Confident." The package insert says to "Apply Clearly Confident with brush around and under nails and message into effected areas."

Do you suppose I can do it by email? And can I verb a noun?

(5) Sat May 29 2004 16:09 La Rosa By Any Other Name:: Young's Market has discontinued selling La Rosa bars. I went over there to buy one, and no dice. I communicated my disappointment to the manager on duty, and he said he was surprised this morning--nobody told him they were going, either. He will tell his big boss he has been getting customer complaints.

In the meantime, I guess I need to listen carefully for the jingle of the man with the cart.

(1) Sun May 30 2004 17:28 In Memoriam:: Today's paper carried an obituary for Vicki Tucker. She was a teacher and coach at Haven Drive when the kids went there, and a really outstanding woman. I'm sorry that she had cancer and had to suffer, and I'm sorry that the world has lost this beautiful soul. The children of America need more teachers like her.

(1) Mon May 31 2004 21:20 Long Weekend:: Leonard and Rachel and Sumana were here for the weekend, and they helped me in the yard, which was thrilling. We didn't do much really--visited Grandpa, and went to see A Day Without a Mexican . Rachel remarked that the people who really need to see that movie are the people who will refuse to go to it.

I've just about got my (contemporary) scrapbook caught up, and then I need to work on Leonard's before I can start on the life history book again. Will be nice to be finished.

Genealogy wise, I did all the Hansens today. It was odd coming across the names of aunts and uncles I knew when I was a girl, and not having to imagine what they were like. Remembering very fondly tonight Aunt Bessie, who was a professional seamstress and who encouraged me and taught me a lot.