Jabberwocky for 2004 September

I have my very own hurricane!

This is late in the posting but I wanted to note James Doohan's passing. Wil Wheaton has a nice synopsis of his memorial service on his blog.

I got home from work today and discovered that my cleaning lady had taken the Oriental rugs out onto the patio and hosed them off and left them to dry in the sun. She must think they are something you buy at Wal-Mart or something. The smaller ones have now dried, and I brought them back in the house. They are all crunchy and I am unhappy. The big giant one from the family room is still dripping. I dragged it the best I could and draped it over some patio chairs, but it's heavy and will take a looong time to dry, and it got dirty again where I dragged it across the patio. Bleah. I don't know HOW I will ever get it put back because that involves moving table and couch and I'm just not strong enough anymore.

Then, apparently, while the back door was open while she was hosing, Gretel got in and peed on my bed. She does that to get even when I've been out of town. So the bedroom door has to stay closed (and the cleaning lady always leaves it open.) So I'm having to wash my down comforter, my duvet cover, sheets, mattress pads--and I already washed the sheets this morning!!!

Thank heaven she did not take the Really Valuable rug --the one under the dining room table--outside. Now I am left to think how I will defend it if she gets a wild hair next time. Next time is two weeks off because next week she is taking the day off to go for her final interview for her green card.

I think she washed the rugs with laundry soap because the laundry soap is all used up.

I didn't get a nap today, so I am exhausted and going to bed early. I stayed after class and then I had to go see Dr. Amin. He wants me to start some new medicine that has come out. I hope it doesn't make me sick. While I was waiting for time for my appointment, I hung around and worked. I got all my papers graded, so I can just relax all weekend.

I'm going to do Christmas sewing and work in the garden. Also, Ruth Davis wants to go to lunch tomorrow. It should be a nice quiet weekend except I have to get the church newsletter out.

My hurricane is gaining speed and power, and I have several efriends in Florida who are hunkered down. I feel bad for them, since it is my hurricane.

Instead of working in the yard I spent most of the day in bed. I guess I was wiped from no nap yesterday. I was somewhat disappointed in myself. How is all this stuff going to get done?

The big Oriental rug has dried and looks terrible. I think maybe if I spread it out again and scrub with rug shampoo and then vacuum it might improve?

I did meet Ruth Davis and her friend Leah for lunch. Ruth made tuna sandwiches and we played Scrabble. I won. Leah is pretty good at the game, but she was hampered this time around because the tile fairies weren't being good to her. She wants a rematch.

I finished reading Angels and Demons, the prequel to The DaVinci Code. I found myself getting really irriatated at the character about halfway through because I had figured out the mystery and he was still bumbling along. Lo and behold, I was wrong and had NOT figured out the mystery, so I was sort of unhappy with myself for a while. However, at the end, the surprise bad guy turned out to be the one I suspected quietly all along, so I felt happier.

This story is all about the Illuminati, which made it that more interesting. It's a real page turner.

I've tried for years off and on to replicate the lentil dish my mother and my Aunt Margaret used to make--sooooo good. Have never found a recipe for it. I decided one of the problems in the recipes I have tried is that they all call for a can of tomatoes, so the lentils turn out red. The stuff Mom and Aunt Margaret made looked like mud. I tried some today with no recipe. I simmered half a bag of lentils in a can of beef broth and a can of water. Added half a pound of hamburger (I used ground sirloin to avoid the fat), lots of garlic, onion and celery sauteed in olive oil. At first taste, it was a little bland, so I added some crushed dried red pepper flakes and that perked it up.

It's pretty good. Next time I won't put so much celery, though. It's the right color and pretty near tastewise as far as I can remember. I don't remember whether this lentil dish contained chopped carrots or other common lentil ingredients, but what I made is pretty good. Gretel likes it too, but that may be a function of the beef broth/ground sirloin.

I wish today had been a better day, but it wasn't. My father-in-law has died, and though he was very sick and miserable and not going to get better, I still feel sad.

I've been having dizzy spells that started yesterday afternoon. I wanted to get up early and work in the yard, but was too dizzy, so went back to bed and slept until 2 p.m. Don't know what I would have done if today weren't a holiday. Hope it's better by tomorrow.

I bought a balloon boquet at Albertson's to take to Helen Henton, who is in the hospital and it is her birthday. There was no clerk in the floral department so the manager himself filled my balloons. I think he filled them too full because three of them popped, just randomly, when I got them outside. I had bought five latex balloons of various colors and a huge Mylar one shaped like a tree frog. At least the frog balloon was okay.

Too sick to work in the yard this afternoon, so I sat and did a little genealogy. Tomorrow is going to be a long, hard, day.

I have been working on my genealogy, checking on the people whose surnames start with H, just forever, and I'm nowhere near done. I have 13 more pages of H surnames to go. Sometimes I feel like I will never get through them.

H is a real biggie. Both my grandmothers had H surnames, Henderson and Hansen, so that makes a big dent right there. Also there is the royalty of HOLLAND, and the kings of the HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE and HUNGARY. Lots of the Viking names begin with H, as do many Welsh.

I found and corrected several big booboos today.

Tonight I went to visit my mother in law so she wouldn't have to be alone. She told me many tales about her family and the past and gave me another trove of pictures for the kids to go through. I moved a bed for her, and now I'm exhausted, but at least she doesn't have to worry about getting it moved anymore.

It was a good visit and I had a nice evening.

I bought a walker today. I hesitated for a couple of months because I didn't want to admit that I need a walker, but the drugstore in Dr. Manu's building was closing them out--cheap--. Sigh. It is just getting so hard to get from the parking lot into the building where I work. A small consolation is that this walker is purple.

Yesterday was my father-in-law's funeral. I was so sad I was numb. Arvin Cemetary. You know the drill--heat. Highly decorated graves of other people. Rickety folding canvas bench/chair things. There were lots of flowers and lots of people. Pat had the sense to rent a tent for overflow. The people in the tent sat on regular folding chairs--better seats than the family. Leonard read the obit and Susanna told a story about Grandpa.

Poor Shannon was sobbing by the casket. I hugged her and told her that a girl has a special bond with her grandpa, one that will never be repeated. She is sad that her daughter will never know him, and that reminded me of my grandfather Whitney, who died when I was two. I have tried and tried to remember him--I'm told we were crazy about each other--but I can't capture even a wisp. I can't wait to meet him in the next life.

After laying my carnation on Dalton's casket I walked over to visit Larry and Helen. Sad sad sad. The fact that we all know we will see each other again in heaven does not make up for the emptiness we feel when someone leaves earth, somehow.

After the services, we met in Lamont at El Pueblo for lunch. (Used to be Jacalito's.) Dave and Cindy Anson were there, and Mandy, and other old family friends. Garry sat at the table with me and the kids for a while and talked with us. I could only eat a few bites, when when we got home I was sick, sick, sick.

I had been planning on sitting in the spa with the kids last night, but I forgot. Maybe tonight.

Well, after a weekend with the house full of kids, they are all gone and I am left with my lonely genealogy. Back to work and normal routine tomorrow.

Today was the maiden voyage of my new walker. Actually, it's not a walker, it's a roller. A walk-n-roll. I think it helped in making the trek in from the parking lot, and it folded up under the bulletin board upstairs so wasn't too big a hassle.

I came home and tried to take a nap but was interrupted by Robert Gomez once and then by the home health nurse whom I wasn't expecting until next week. Robert is going to bring his crew to prune all the trees and shrubs (shrubbery!) again this year. I talked him down to $900. Ouch. Ouch. Ouch.

I took my class on a field trip to the tables set up by the different universities for Transfer Day. I was going to get a felt UC Merced pennant to hang in Rachel's room, but decided to leave them for the students. Aren't I nice?

I remember when Leonard was in high school, I pulled him out for a day and took him to Transfer Day, where he spoke with the rep from UCLA. We had a lot of our questions answered that day and it was really good. I told my students that the decisions and choices they make in the next five years will make or break the rest of their lives, so please take Transfer Day seriously. I think a lot of them ditched out, however.

The news today says that Martha Stewart is asking to serve her jail sentence ASAP to get it over with. I don't blame her a bit. She will probably serve at a minimum security facility, where she will be allowed to work in the kitchen.

I can't wait to see the results of that work assignment.

I did yard work this morning, and then I did sorting in the garage. I hung up clothes until I ran out of hangers. I'm also about to run out of hanging space. Maybe this evening I'll go back out there and do some pricing. Pat is coming over next week with all of Lillian's stuff to sell, so I have to make room! I looked on ebay and priced a lot of crystal and the antique treadle sewing machine.

It's really hard to believe how much stuff accumulates. I want it to stop!

I have FINALLY made it through checking the H surnames in my genealogy. Whew! What a big job that was. The I surnames shouldn't be a tedious. There are only four pages of them, and a lot of them don't belong there since someone typed the Roman numerals in front of the surnames on a lit of names. That will have to be fixed.

Today church was all about politics--high council speakers and Relief Society lesson. Even in Sunday School, there is one fella who tries to hijack the lesson to talk about politics every week. The speakers actually did pretty well, considering what they had to work with and the constraints on what they could say. It was just boring. I don't think politics is interesting if it's watered down without any controversy. I entertained myself by making origami puppets from the program to give to the little boys in the row in front of me and playing Snake on my cell phone.

The Family Search website is down, so I can't check any names tonight. I was planning to finish the I surnames today, but no luck.

I finished the I surnames and did all the way through the Jacksons. There are seven pages of J surnames-- that's not too bad. I also sorted and sorted and priced and priced in the garage. I'm going to have all T-shirts be 10 cents, and all clothes be a quarter, no matter what it's marked. There was a clay mask in Sumana's stuff she donated, which I guess she made in an art class. Sue, the neighbor, took it to hang by her back door. It will look pretty cool there.

Last night I remarked that I have nothing to write in my weblog, and Rachel said, "Yes you do. We went out to dinner." So. We went out to dinner. At Hungry Hunter. I ate three bits of prime rib. I have the rest for my lunch today, and Gretel had the rib.

Pat is coming over today to bring things to sell at the yard sale, and to bring plants from the funeral. Everyone is going to end up with lots of plants.

Does anyone besides me think that Viagra Softabs are not a good idea?

I don't think I wrote about Israel Leon, who was stabbed Sunday night. He was my student when I taught at East. I'm really down about this, but I did see it coming. He was always into trouble, but he could charm his way into your heart faster than anything. He would always ditch class, but then he would come visit me on my prep period (while he was ditching another class.) I was very fond of Israel.

I also grew fond of his mother, who I got to know because I had to make so many calls home. Now the boy is dead at age 20, and I can only imagine his mother's grief and agony. I didn't go to the funeral.

I also didn't go to the funeral of Tennant Brooks, a member of our ward choir, who also died on Sunday of heart medicine complications. I had to work this morning. Tennant was a delightful, funny man, and everyone will miss him bunches and bunches, and not only that, he sang bass!

Pat brought over a box of green and black plums, so I made a little box of plums with an eggplant from my garden. It looked so pretty! I took it over to Ernestine Boonstoppel. Ernestine was just back from the doctor and not feeling well, so I hope my visit cheered her up.

I have started a new drug cocktail, which is awful. If it turns out I can take it, I will live longer. Last night was my second night spent with a fire bomb in my stomach, and it was dreadful. I did try to calm it down by taking a Pepto Bismol, but it didn't help much. And I don't know how a medicine can do you any good if you just throw it up. Tonight I am going to try drinking a glass of milk, and Pepto Bismol ahead of time, to maybe coat my stomach lining. Maybe that will help. I also tried some biofeedback methods, to imagine the Pepto coating the stomach and protecting from the pills, but it only worked as long as I was awake and thinking about that. Once I fell asleep for a minute, the pills went back to excavating a giant canyon. Chip, chip. chip.

Speaking of giant canyons, I read in the paper that a man fell into the Grand Canyon and died. My worst fears, confirmed!

Well, I found out that milk doesn't coat your stomach and protect it. Milk goes down the pipe and congeals into a hard little clot. Bleah.

Such beautiful weather! I just love it. Gretel and I went to the park this morning to take pictures of our ward playing Fifth Ward for stake softball. We had a really nice time. I came home and napped because I was done in from walking through the park. Then I made dinner and worked in the yard. My Irises came from Park's yesterday, so I planted them in the front--I hope correctly this time! Then I pulled weeds until I found the other ant's nest. The hard way.

If only I could work in the garden an hour a day, it would get to looking like something.

Rachel and I should be out in the garage pricing yard sale stuff, but she is working and I'm too tired. I guess I'll do a few lines of genealogy.

Last night the medicines stayed down for the first time, but what that means is they ate a hole through my midsection all night. By morning I was exhausted. I went to work, but the campus was closed because of a broken water main, and nobody was there. Whee! I went to Albertson's and got a few groceries for me and Rachel and a Booda Bone for Sadie, and now I'm going to go back to bed.

I didn't feel the earthquake today, *sobs*. I was sitting at my desk doing--probably nothing-- but I am on the third floor and the building moves a little bit all the time.

The garage sale sorting is going mighty slowly. It's hard to get anything done when you have to sleep as much as I do.

Rachel and I went out to Peking Palace for dinner because yesterday was "Eat Dinner With Your Family Day", but yesterday she couldn't go because she had rehearsal for the improv team. Why does that sound like a contradiction in terms? We couldn't eat it all, so there is plenty of lunch.

We had a 5.0 earthquake here this afternoon, in Keene, and I did feel this one. Meanwhile, Mt. St. Helens is getting ready to blow. I love Mother Nature!

I repotted all the plants-- broke up the funeral baskets and also repotted everyone else that needed it, including all the African violets. The baskets are going in the garage sale and all extra flowerpots. Yikes! Only a couple of days left to sort stuff, but Sherrie Lewis wants some of the crystal. And Tyson Smith is coming over to get $55 worth of kitchen stuff for his new apartment, part of a barter deal I made with his dad.