Teleidoscope

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Teleidoscope, Reflections of the World. A WebLog for Data-Raptors.com (Computers and Technology) and Astral Trading Company (Divination and Science Fiction).

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Elyse M. Grasso

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31

<-2008->
Months
Jan	Feb	Mar
Apr	May	Jun
Jul	Aug	Sep
Oct	Nov	Dec

Copyright

Copyright © 2006-2007 Elyse M. Grasso
Comments are the Property of the Commenters
Clipart © RT Computer Graphics, Inc. NM

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Mon, Aug 25, 2008

Chard

Posted at 3:51 pm MDT to Miscellaneous

It's weird to be relieved at having a fever, but that is where I am at the moment. From Saturday evening through this morning I have felt horrible, and I was wondering if I need to have them test for allergy to Swiss chard when I go back to the allergist. Most of the symptoms I was having yesterday might possibly be allergic responses. But I don't think my current fever (especially after most of the other symptoms have faded) is an allergic reaction.

This is weird: I don't know where I caught whatever it is. I have had minimal contact with the outside world for the past couple of weeks because the county guys are repaving the paved road and getting in and out is a hassle.

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Sat, Aug 23, 2008

Jigsaw

Posted at 6:43 pm MDT to Miscellaneous

I need to let my brain recharge. Since I got home from Denvention I have been totally immersed in getting this computer set up -- I haven't even read more than a few chapters of the many books I have acquired recently.

Nanette has been out of town, so I haven't been working at the farmers' market. I was glad to skip last week because the weather was cold and rainy, but the last time I worked was 3 weeks ago and I needed to restock, so I went down to market this morning to shop.

Peaches are now in season. And eggplant. And peppers are starting to come in. I also stocked up on goat cheese, mushrooms, chicken breasts, and buffalo and elk steaks. This was a good week to buy expensive meat, since I was leaving the market right away, and would be going home before the meat had time to defrost.

I just had chard (sauteed in bacon grease with garlic) for supper, and tomorrow I will do something with the eggplant and peppers and cucumbers. (Cucumber yogurt sauce for the felafels I have in the freezer. Yum.)

After I got home I got out a jigsaw puzzle I bought last year and have never assembled and spent several hours working on it: I needed to do something non-verbal for a while.

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Thu, Aug 14, 2008

Shoes

Posted at 10:05 pm MDT to Miscellaneous

I realized last week that the heel of my right shoe was totally worn down and starting to self-destruct. I didn't shop for shoes then because I knew that we would be doing a lot of walking at the convention, and wearing shoes that my feet were used to was a better idea than wearing new shoes.

Today I went shopping for shoes at the Flatirons Crossing Mall and the surrounding big-box stores. My pair of brown shoes died 6 months ago and the black ones I've been wearing are not really fit for customer meetings, and wouldn't be even if I got them professionallly polished. I do have a pair of dressier shoes in the closet, but they have higher heels than I really prefer.

The store that used to be a DSW is now a Famous Footwear and has no inventory to speak of, and what it has is hdeous. That whole block of big-box buildings is almost empty, and Linens 'n Things, the largest remaining store in the block is having a store-closing sale. I saw for sale and for lease signs in some of the neighboring blocks, too.

The Flatirons Village outdoor adjunct to the main mall is empty. There is Borders and one other store and the cinema at the end away from the mall, and a few big resaturants at each end of the Village, but everything else is empty. I think I heard somewhere that they had discovered some structural problems in the buildings, and needed to reconstruct things. If that's true, the lawsuits must be mindboggling.

The shoes in the main mall were as hideous as the Famous Footwear ones.

There were a couple of stores that were empty or being reconstructed, but not many. But I noticed that some of the existing stores had a lot more empty floor space and a lot few display racks than one would expect. That can't be a good sign. Radio Shack was so empty that I asked if they were planning to close, And Eddie Bauer was surprisingly sparse.

But I bought a new purse at the luggage store (Eagle Creek makes purses and beltpacks, now, not just luggage. Yay!) and some zipper pouches to help me organize things in my Eagle Creek briefcase.

I also encountered some neat items that will be useful Christmas gifts. I don't think I've ever done this much of my Christmas shopping this early.

And I picked up the latest manga in some series I've been following at Borders on my way out of the mall.

I found the DSW: they are in a different clump of big-box stores on the other side of the mall now, and managed to find shoes that fit me and did'nt make me want to gag. I got two pairs of Naturalizer shoes -- the same plain style of flat in black and brown, so I have something presentable.

I also picked up a pair of Sketchers so I have something other than the good shoes to wear for working farmers' market and shopping, and around the house and yard. I will probably use them on the treadmill, too. I've been using the same old rubber-soled black loafers I've worn for everything because the official walking shoes are uncomfortable. I seem to have lower ankle bones than the designers expect: the sides of most sports shoes rub against places they shouldn't. The Skechers are cut lower on the sides, with sport-shoe style soles and decorative, not athletic, uppers.

The clerk at DSW asked if I had their preference card. I told her that since I only buy shoes about every three years, it wouldn't do either of us any good to put me on their list.

At least the massage and exercise has reduced the bloating in my left leg and foot so its back to being a reasonable 9 1/2 medium. Buying shoes 6 months ago would have been problematic.

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Thu, Aug 07, 2008

Denvention

Posted at 8:42 am MDT to Miscellaneous

In about an hour, Nanette will stop by to pick me up for our trip to Denvention, the World Science Fiction Convention.

The laptop is staying home. It will be Sunday or Monday before I post again.

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Sweet Potato

Posted at 8:42 am MDT to Miscellaneous

Oh. My. God.

I found this link on matociquala's (Elizabeth Bear's) live journal, and I was laughing so hard I had trouble seeing to read most of it.

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Mon, Aug 04, 2008

Swallowing Problem Again

Posted at 1:48 pm MDT to Miscellaneous

Drat. Lunch sort of ricocheted on me today.

Oh, well, at least it's been a couple of months since I had my esophagus lock up. I'm out of practice clearing the blockage. On the good side, it's been a couple of months since this happened, so the dietary changes have definitely made a difference.

I just wish I had some idea what set it off. I hadn't eaten anything in the past 12 hours that I haven't eaten since the food allergies were diagnosed. I'd be surprised if stuff I ate longer ago than that was still causing irritation.

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Mon, Jul 28, 2008

Blood Test Results

Posted at 11:49 am MDT to Miscellaneous

The results are coming in from the various medical tests I had last week.

From Wednesday's tests, I am immune to measles. This is good: the DTP injection site it still tender, and this means I don't need to have another shot. I'll see if they can test for mumps immunity the next time I get my thyroid levels checked.

From Friday's tests, my hormone levels are not yet post-menopausal. This means I stay on tamoxifen instead of switching to one of the alternative therapies. (Perhaps the tamoxifen is why my external symptoms of menopause are more advanced?) It also means my hormone levels will be staving off osteoporosis for a while yet, which is good.

Friday's tests also indicated I'm still testing as anemic, even though I take a multi-vitamin/mineral supplement with iron in it. Not sure what to do about that. Now that the swallowing problems seem to be mostly under control, I should probably try to switch more red meat back into my diet.

There is organic elk and bison, and grass-fed beef available at the farmers' market, besides the chicken and lamb. I should clean the ancient stuff out of my chest freezer that freezer-burned during the years I was mostly out of town, and restock with fresh food. (I was mostly coming to the end of the side of lamb and pork, and quarter of beef I had before I started travelling, and needing to think about restocking, so it isn't a huge waste.) If I had meat red meat in the house, I would probably eat it.

I should probably invest in one of those food vaccuum sealers, too, to prevent freezer-burn in the future.

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Thu, Jul 24, 2008

Choices

Posted at 2:34 pm MDT to Miscellaneous

Cool.

Found via a link on matociquala's LiveJournal. An article from Scientific American about how the decision-making part of the brain can get worn out.

No wonder programming and writing stories are both tiring: they both involve a constant choosing of details.

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Wed, Jul 23, 2008

Graham Cracker Packaging

Posted at 1:13 pm MDT to Miscellaneous

It seems that the marketing guys have been playing games with the HoneyMaid Graham Cracker packages.

The boxes are still the traditional size, and there are still three packages of crackers per box, and the crackers are still the same size. But the 3 packages no longer fill the box completely as they once did.

Judging by the amount of empty air space in the box, I suspect the packages used to hold 12 crackers each. Now they only hold 9 each.

I'm glad to have any graham crackers -- most other crackers seem to have one or more ingredients I can no longer eat -- but if they are going to skimp on the package contents, they should reduce the amount of packaging. Or fill the box and raise the price. Just be honest about it.

Insert ritual comments about the good old days here....

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Sun, Jul 20, 2008

Tue, Jul 15, 2008

Chirp

Posted at 10:34 pm MDT to Miscellaneous

Years ago when I had my back porch built and the back door installed on my house, the inspector refused to sign off on the permit unless I had smoke detectors on each level (which I had) and in each bedroom, which I didn't at that time.

So I have 5 smoke detectors in the house. Two of them are new last fall: the original upstairs and downstairs ones finally bit the dust. And I replaced all the batteries this past winter.

So it is doubly annoying that one of them is chirping at intervals. Its battery is apparently dying. Or it is. And the chirps are far enough apart that it is difficult to tell which one is complaining. They never seem to chirp when I am standing near one.

I suspect it is the one in the basement which is one of the next ones. I'll try changing that battery in the morning. I will be very annoyed if the problem turns out to be with the detector.

At least it isn't the one in my bedroom, so it won't drive me completely crazy over night.

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Sun, Jul 13, 2008

Annoyances

Posted at 5:03 pm MDT to Miscellaneous

I received a letter from my internist, who is my primary care physician. He's leaving his practice. This is the third or fourth internist I've outlasted, the second or third at this clinic, depending on whether you count the temp who covered between when my first doctor there left and the current one took over my care.

Now I need to decide whether to stick with this same clinic (which at least has years and years of my records: I started seeing my first doctor at Internal Medicine Associates in 1999) or go looking for another internist. If I knew anyone who was happy with their doctors I might be inclined to make a change.

Another annoyance:

The Readerware software I use to catalog my books, CDs and DVDs has stopped working. It may be a problem with using Java on a 64 bit Linux system.

I've been holding out on the migration to the new laptop (which is 32 bit) because some of the files and apps I need for my current contract are configured on this one in 64bit. But since the contract is up in a week I should start migrating things over. It may not be worth it to fuss about getting Readerware working again on this box.

But I really don't understand Sun. They claimed to want Java to be a cross-platform system, but even though 64 bit machines have been around long enough for me to wear out a 64bit laptop, they still don't have official support for Java on 64bit.

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Thu, Jul 10, 2008

Long Day, Short Night

Posted at 8:34 pm MDT to Miscellaneous

Next week is my last week on this contract, so we are rolling out script changes to production, which needs to be done after hours, Boston time.

I worked 10:30 AM my time to 8 PM to day, with a meal break. That made up the time from the doctor's appointment yesterday.

And I need to be available at 8am Boston time (6 am Colorado time) in case there are problems in the rollout aftermath. Sometimes it's really handy to have a commute that runs from the bedroom to the living room.

We'll do some more rollouts early next week, probaly Tuesday/Wednesday so my schedule will be strange again. But by Friday evening this contract will be done.

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Thu, Jul 03, 2008

Cool Stuff

Posted at 12:41 pm MDT to Miscellaneous

I've gotten some deliveries of cool stuff. (It's a good thing the driveway is usable.)

First, on Tuesday, I received a package from an order I made to Crate and Barrel. I've been wanting a free-standing pot-rack since I started acquiring good cookware, and their summer catalog had a bamboo and steel one on sale for under $200. I received the second box of the shipment today, and just finished putting the rack together. I need to reorganize things in the kitchen a little to make room for it, but I think it will be very useful, and look nice, too.

The wood-tone of the bamboo is a pretty good match for my light oak kitchen. And 6 shelves of storage space will be great to have. The bottom shelf space is tall enough for the catfood canister, which I had been a little worried about.

Yesterday I received a Shadow Unit lined windbreaker I had ordered. A similar jacket can be seen here, modeled by author Emma Bull.

Those were both expected deliveries.

The surprise was a delivery from Amazon: my company sent me three allergy cookbooks. Probably in lieu of a birthday lunch, which is just as well: I had a hard time finding something to eat at the nice restaurant Nanette took me to last night. The meal I finally selected was very nice, though the dessert menu was hopeless.

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Mon, Jun 30, 2008

Powerlines, Final Chapter

Posted at 9:07 pm MDT to Miscellaneous

The recycled asphalt gravel was delivered today and spread out. I have an all-weather driveway again. Mind you, my idea of a one lane wide driveway os a lot narrower than the backhoe operators. And they got careless about the property lines at the end of my driveway. I made them scrape the asphalt back onto my side of the boundary.

The power company trucks came back today to take down the last of the old power lines, which were left dangling from the pole like copper, lightning-attracting, maypole ribbons.
They drove across my neighbor's property to do it.

This evening I walked over to apologize to my neighbors for the power company trucks and the bozos with the backhoe. When I get my demolished front yard reconstructed, I'll have the landscapers put some topsoil and grass seed on the scraped place.

Once the backhoe goes away, I am almost done with Mr. Sparky. They are going to hire a roofer to patch the hole in my porch roof where the overhead lines used to go through, to keep out the weather and the critters.

And by way of apology for some of the hassle, Lori at the power company offered to have them take down the naked pole by my driveway for no charge. So that will be gone soon. (I have a suspicion that they want the pole for something, though one reason for putting the power lines underground was that the pole if too short for code, and cutting it off at ground level will make it even shorter.

I have a Mr. Tran of Green Mountain Landscaping stopping by tomorrow to look things over and give some estimates. I need to find a couple of other possible sources. I want multiple bids this time.

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Fri, Jun 27, 2008

Electric Contractor

Posted at 7:06 am MDT to Miscellaneous

I couldn't sleep last night, I was so upset about what they did to my yard, after all this delay and hassle.

I got up at 2:30 and wrote the note below, which I posted on both the 'Contact us' page on Mr. Sparky's web site, and also on the Tom Martino, Troubleshooter website. I am fed to the back teeth with listening to commercials where Mr. Martino (a consumer advocate) praises Mr. Sparky and its associated companies. I have heard them a lot because Mr. Sparky runs them on a loop instead of playing "On Hold" music.

I have had a horrible time with Mr. Sparky /Candlelight Electric. A major project that was supposed to take a week at the beginning of October 2007 remains an ongoing nightmare in the last week of June 2008, although it appears to be finally reaching a (fairly unsatisfactory) conclusion.

The original project was moderately complex. It involved moving my breaker box outside and bringing it up to code, as recommended by a Mr. Sparky inspector, as well as moving my power lines underground, which was also recommended, because the inspector said that the overhead lines were too low to meet code, and the pole in the driveay was too short to raise them high enough. Subsidiary projects included rebuilding part of my front porch to provide access to the new breaker box and grading and spreading roadbase on my driveway once the powerline trench was filled in.

I was assured that Mr. Sparky would coordinate everything with the power company (Excel) and the county building inspectors. That turned out not to be the case. The only reason the county ever inspected the new breaker box and closed the permit was because I kept calling both the Mr. Sparky office and the county for weeks several times a week, trying to find out what was going on. Mr. Sparky showed no interest or capacity for following through on the status of the project to bring it to completion.

The actual construction work was adequately done. They broke and repaired one of the pillars that support my porch roof, and cut th egas line while digging the trench for th epower lines, but I was happy with my newly expanded porch and the re-surfaced driveway, and the digging had carefully minimized the damage done by the trench to areas of my yard other than the driveway. The driveway itself had grown a bit larger than I expected, and there was some churned dirt running from the driveway to the house, but most of the places that had been grassy still were.

The only problem seemed to be that XCel had not yet switched the power from the overhead to the underground lines. I spent 3 months occasionally calling Mr Sparky to find out what the status of the changeover was, and getting the run-around from various departments at XCel. I eventually got in touch with the correct department at Xcel, or they got in touch with me.

At the beginning of March a representative from XCel informed me that the powerline project had not followed standard procedures and the trench would need to be re-done. They also were not happy with the location of the new breaker box.

I put XCel in touch with Mr. Sparky (which I should not have needed to do: Mr. Sparky should have been the ones dealing with XCel, not me) and the two companies spent several weeks arguing about what needed to be done. And then several more weeks trying to schedule the work.

I was assured that my yard and driveway would only remain dug up and unusable for a few days, when digging started on Thursday, June 13th. In fact, it was a week before the trench satisfied XCel and another week before XCel actually did the changeover, on Wednesday June 25.

A crew from Mr. Sparky arrived on the morning of June 26 to fill in the trench. I was working from home and available to answer questions, but they did not consult me. By the time they stopped for lunch, the trench was filled in, and they said they just needed to finish a few things. Those few things appear to include destroying my yard.

Before they left, they showed me the state of my yard, and I was too shocked to say much. Later, after my own workday ended, I pulled my truck into the place where my driveway is supposed to be and noticed a number of additions problems that had not been initially apparent.

Outstanding and problem items:

The backhoe crossed the property line onto my neighbor's property and the boundary is obscured at the end of the driveway.

A large drain pipe that was removed from under my driveway when the trench was being dug is still out of the ground and laying in my neighbor's yard.

Areas that were grassy even two days ago (while the trench and its dirt piles still existed) have been scraped down to bare soil, and probably to bare subsoil.

A 'berm' of subsoil (which I did NOT ask for) has been dumped on top of the topsoil directly in front of my house. Or possibly the topsoil was buried in the trench first. It is hard to tell. The visible soil is clearly not able to support life.

A ten to fifteen foot long section of an existing berm, which had been covered with grass and wild flowers, is just gone. There is a vertical cut in the berm as if someone had used a knife, showing clay and gravel under the grass. The berm was parallel to the driveway and several feet from the trench, and should not have been affected by the work.

The support post for the new section of porch built by the Mr. Sparky crew in October has been undermined, so that corner of the porch is no longer suported.

The holes through the porch roof where the overhead power cables came through are still open (and possibly inhabited by birds, which would not have happened if the changeover had occured last fall as previously scheduled).

I have ordered more roadbase to re-resurface the driveway. Mr. Sparky has promised to reimburse me. They said they would spread it on Monday (when it is due to be delivered), but considering the current state of my property after their most recent work, I am hesitant to let them do it.

I am very unlikely to renew my support contract with Candlelight, despite its convenience. And I will seek alternative electrical contractors for the interior electrical projects I have been postponing until the external project was done. I wish I knew whether Ross Munro was still in the area. He did an excellent job in October on the actual construction.

Two miles on the treadmill this morning even on basically no sleep. I guess being angry can be useful. 390 miles to Rivendell

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Thu, Jun 26, 2008

Powerlines, penultimate episode, I hope.

Posted at 6:17 pm MDT to Miscellaneous

The trench is filled in and my truck is parked in the barren expanse of dirt that used to be my driveway and front yard. I have ordered three more truckloads of recycled asphalt, for Monday delivery, to resurface the driveway. The electrical contractor has promised to reimburse me.

I will need to keep an eye on where they put it: the guys today used their backhoe to scrape bare a section adjacent to the driveway that I did not expect them to touch. They might have asked, instead of flattening stuff and wiping out one of the few patches of fertile dirt I had.

At least I'm no longer trapped behind the trench.

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Wed, Jun 25, 2008

Power Lines episode 14

Posted at 4:19 pm MDT to Miscellaneous

I no longer have a long empty trench running the length of where my driveway should be.

Now I have a long trench with a live electric cable running down it. And the birds don't have a power line to sit on any more.

The electrical contractor is supposed to come tomorrow to fill things in. I assume they will also haul away the old overhead cable that still sitting in my yard.

I'm glad it stays light until late this week: I have a massage appointment this evening, and getting back to the house may be a bit of a challenge. I desperately need to do some grocery shopping, but I think that will wait until tomorrow, when the driveway should be usable.

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Tue, Jun 24, 2008

Powerlines 13

Posted at 5:45 pm MDT to Miscellaneous

According to the contractor (when I called them yesterday) the power company was supposed to make the powerline switch today.

When they hadn't shown up by midafternoon, I called the contractor (who did not get back to me) and the power company rep (who did). I really was on the schedule for today, but they had a transformer blow up this morning, so they may not get to me until tomorrow.

I'm glad I canceled the cleaning ladies for tomorrow: they wouldn't be able to get to the house with the driveway still dug up. I'm amazed the water delivery guy put two 5 gallon jugs on my porch... and I'm glad he didn't kill himself doing it

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Wed, Jun 18, 2008

Powerlines 12

Posted at 10:47 pm MDT to Miscellaneous

Long day.

My DSL went out at 8 am so I went in to the office to work, after an hour and a half getting through to FRII and Qwest. The electrical contractors were working on the trench when I left.

It didn't look much different when I got home at 6:30 pm, but I assume they made progress. It would be nice to know what is supposed to happen next.

The office staff went out to lunch. I didn't go because i was on the clock and busy with a project for my client. Just as well: finding something to eat at the restaurant would have been annoying. My lunch was chips from the break room: it turns out Fritos, Ruffles and Lays Potato chips are pure products -- corn or potato, salt, corn oil.

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Tue, Jun 17, 2008

Power Lines

Posted at 4:49 pm MDT to Miscellaneous

Early yesterday morning I thought I saw a power company truck driving away. Apparently I was right.

The power company doesn't like the trench the contractor dug. Among other things, they want it two feet deep, no more, no less, and the backhoe dug some parts of the trench deeper.

So tomorrow the guys from the contractor are coming back to work on it some more.

My birthday is two weeks from tomorrow. I am not taking bets on whether this will be done by then.

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Mon, Jun 16, 2008

Apricot stuffing

Posted at 11:11 pm MDT to Miscellaneous

Yesterday I had a whole chicken breast to cook (both sides stll attached, and decided to try oven-roasting it. America's Test Kitchen has a recipe where they butterfly a chicken and roast it over a bed of stuffing, and I thought that would be adaptable to an articulated breast.

When I checked their website for oven temperature, etc. I found a recipe for stuffing that used ingredients I mostly had on hand. Tweakable to work around my new diet restrictions.

My version:

Dissolve 1/2 cup salt in two cups water, 
brine chicken for one hour

Preheat oven to 450 degrees

2 Tbs olive oil heated in skillet
1 cup fennel, chopped, cooked until softening

Add
1 clove garlic, pressed
1/3 cup chopped dried apricots
1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper
2 cups chicken broth
and bring to boiling

Stir in
1.5 cups wholewheat couscous
1/8 cup dried parsley
take of heat, and cover, allow couscous to absorb liquid

Take chicken out of brine, 
pat dry and spread skin with oil and pepper

Make an aluminum foil boat, spray with Pam, fill with stuffing  
Place in roasting pan, arrange chicken on top

Roast until 160+ degrees in thickest part of breast
check occasionally and add broth if couscous is drying out too much
Let chicken rest 10 minutes before serving

The original recipe called for 1/4 cup chopped unsalted toasted cashews, stirred in after the couscous is hydrated. I usually have cashews in the house, but I haven't been to Costco since I finished the last jar. Cashews would be good. I've noticed they have organic ones now at Costco.

The couscous needed more liquid so I kept adding chicken broth both before and during the roasting. A full butterflied chicken would have covered more of the stuffing and helped keep it from drying out, but whole wheat couscous also needs more liquid than plain.

I need to make a smaller batch of stuffing next time. A good small roasting pan would be nice, too. I used a 9x9 inch baking dish but metal would be better. The Mario Batali lasagna pan is enameled castiron, 9x13 by 3 inches deep. I've been thinking of getting one to match my Dutch oven ... It might be useful for this.

I may try a whole butterflied chicken someday, but I'd be eating it forever: it looks like I'll get 4 meals out of just this double breast.

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Sat, Jun 14, 2008

Power Lines... the ongoing saga, episode 10

Posted at 3:47 pm MDT to Miscellaneous

I got home from Farmers' Market a little after 2pm to find some power company trucks and equipment here in addition to the contractor guys. This surprised me, since the power company is not supposed to do their thing until Monday.

It turned out that they broke the gas line again. It was lucky that I got home before the power company guys left: one of them came into the house and made sure the furnace and water heater were burning. So I won't run out of hot water early next week the way I did after the last time the line was cut.

I'm just as glad I wan't here when they broke the li.ne. Not knowing about it until it was fixed is a lot less stressful, and I have NO energy available for handling additional stess at the moment.

I will be so glad when this is over. If it ever is

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Thu, Jun 12, 2008

Power Lines Yet Again, a Little Progress

Posted at 8:02 pm MDT to Miscellaneous

Judson, from the electrical contractor, showed up this morning to start digging the trench needed for the power company bozos, who insist on redoing the work that was already done last fall.

He made very little progress, and stopped early because he was worried about breaking the trencher on my so-called soil and the rocks therein.

First thing tomorrow morning the equipment company is supposed to swap out the trencher in favor of a full-sized backhoe like the one Ross used last fall. Judson will come back with helpers and try to make some actual progress.

I've been assured that the trench will be ready to suit the power company's scheduled visit on Monday. I hope that is the case: Xcel seems to allow a very small window for availability for this project, and if we slip again it will probably be another month before we can get them back up here..

I assume they will hand-dig where they need to cross the gas line, so they don't break it again.

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Fri, Jun 06, 2008

They're Mocking Me

Posted at 7:34 pm MDT to Miscellaneous

Mocking me, I tell you. :-) Whenever I go to the refrigerator! 8 kinds of cheese, or more. Chicken-and-cheese sausages. Eggs. Butter. Yogurt. And all sorts of other stuff I'm not supposed to eat.

Even the salami has milk in it.

I think Nanette is going to get a cooler of dairy stuff this weekend (as well as the return of the dozen eggs I got from her last week). If only to make room in the fridge for stuff I can eat. Once I figure out what that is.

Non-perishables will go to Community Foodshare or something similar, but those are less urgent..

My red sauce tastes kind of flat without parmesan. Maybe I should add a tiny bit of hot sauce or red pepper flake.

I know I'm obsessing about food, but I'm in cheese withdrawal: going from an average of a few ounces a day to nothing I need to look up what other than dairy has calcium in it: I was in NO danger of calcium deficiency before now.

I asked for help on the Shadow Unit forum (where every discussion thread is about food eventually) and got some useful suggestions. Which help. And sympathy, which also helps.

I also asked inaurolilliumthe MadGastronomerthe Zombie Chef, who is a food industry professional and has a food advice column (the Ask Zombie Chef site).

(I think LiveJournal is paranoid about Zombies. They have Zombie Chef flagged for adult content for no reason that I can see.)

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