This is one of those weeks in which I actually believe I accomplished a few things. In no particular order, I accomplished the following:
Canned some pickled beets (with onions) and whipped up some taco spice, shipping them off to Bogie before the jars of beets had even cooled. I actually shipped two boxes of stuff, one of which contained a quilt that I had (nearly three years ago) promised to send her. The only other things in that box were some magazines and miscellaneous papers that had been in the box for so long that I no longer recalled what they were - nor did I take the time to check. I just stuffed an old pillow (to take up room) on top in the box and taped the box closed and added the address label. With the beets and spices, I inserted a couple of packs of seeds off of this year's crop of dill weed, a flash drive that Bogie had given me (nearly one year ago) with her Wonderful Spouse's family tree file on it, and a flash drive to which I had copied a bunch of family tree and family photo files - some scanned, some digital. Again, a pillow (I grabbed the wrong one, so it wasn't an old one; but, I wasn't going to take the time to change it out!) was stuffed in the top of the box to take up space. Wow! I no longer have to beat myself up for procrastinating.
The reason that I was in such a hurry with packing/mailing the boxes was that, while canning, I discovered that there was a physics seminar being held (as is done most Wednesdays during the Fall and Spring semesters) at 2:00pm at the largest of the local universities (Wichita State University, from which my degrees were rewarded). Thus, after mailing the boxes, I headed up to WSU to hear/see Professor Nicholas Solomey's presentation The Higgs discovery, what does it mean? Basically, the message was that it will probably be 25-50-100 years before we know the applications of the findings. After all, it took ages for the solid state diode to be developed following development of quantum theory (People started scratching their heads over cathode rays 100 years before I was born, but "quantum mechanics" was first used just 14 years before I was born!) and longer than that to develop processor chips - and - quantum computer design is in its infancy, now. Heck! At this point we don't even know whether to address "a" Higgs particle or whether there may be a multitude. Quantum numbers are TBD.
Early in the summer, I had told Hunky Husband that I wanted to rehabilitate one of the heavy comforters that he uses on his bed. It needed a new protector (at the end toward HH's face - whiskers do a number on protectors, which is why they are there!) and the blanket-stitched edges were fraying. I decided to put a binding around the edge, then to put on a new protector at what had been the foot-end of the comforter - to even out the wear. As much as I love to sew (not!), and as much as it bothers my hand to do hand sewing, I had told HH that I would have the comforter back to him in time for winter. This week, I finished sewing on the binding - and - I have started on the protector. An interesting finding was that, rather than batting, my mother had used an old quilt to fill the comforter. I could not see much of the quilt because Mom had knotted the comforter. I was not/am not about to take out all of the knots and sew more in!!
I finished three of the four books that I checked out of the library one week ago. The books were:
Charley's Choice: The Life and Times of Charley Parkhurst by Fern J Hill - Although I did not find this novel to be a great book, the story of Parkhurst (a real person who was born female but lived as a male for most of her life) is fascinating (see the Wikipedia entry for factual information on Parkhurst.) Parkhurst, born in 1812 in New Hampshire, made a living working with horses, establishing a reputation as one of the best stage coach drivers in California.
The Help: a novel by Kathryn Stockett - Of movie fame, this is a story concerning the relationships between "colored" help and their "white" employer's families. Written in dialect, the dialogues ring true. Set in Mississippi in 1962, the events in the book ring heartwrenchingly true. I highly recommend this book!
Shadow Command: A Novel by Dale Brown - I grabbed this off of the "Large Print" shelves on the basis of the author's being "New York Times Bestselling Author of Strike Force". How dumb of me. Had I noticed that the text was preceded by four pages delineating the "Cast of Characters" and three pages of "Weapons and Acronyms" I would probably (quite rightly) have concluded that this was a book not worth reading. If an author can't tell me who people are and what things mean within the text, he's not much of a writer. I did not bother reading those seven pages, nor did I waste my time reading the sexploitative parts of his tale. While on the subject: why bother listing acronyms if you are going to insult the reader's intelligent by using "heads up display" instead of HUD (just one example) in the story? Premise of the story is that the Russians took out America's bomber fleet (except for a few B-1s and B-52s that were off somewhere away from the home bases) in 2003. [Mr Brown, I know that didn't happen; but, that's what your book (copyrighted in 2008 and set in 2009) tells me without any rhyme or reason as to your revision to history!] Some of the war toys are interesting and Brown includes many more female characters, in a wider variety of professions, than is the usual case in a war story written by a man. But (and that's a big but), his female characters ring not at all true. He is obviously pandering to the supposed male preoccupation with sex, and to hawkish right-wingers. Bleah! Oh! I nearly failed to mention that IMHO Mr Brown doesn't even do a good job of telling a story, his writing being very cumbersome.
To be read: Langston Hughes: Short Stories
Five new mum plants and three new ice plants got put into the ground - and - three daisy plants and about 10 clumps of sedum got moved out of their way into appropriate venues. I bought the white mums to set between existing burgundy-colored mums and the house to provide a lighter background against which the burgundy would show up. As is, being in the shade for 99% of the time, the burgundy blends in with the holly and other bushes that are behind those plants.
That's all folks!
Next day addition:
I failed to mention that I took my annual physical. Despite not having studied, I passed! Unfortunately, Dr S alerted me that 10/25/2012 would be her last day at the facility to which she had moved about 14 months ago from Kansas University School of Medicine - Wichita. Now, instead of having a 40-mile drive to her office at the hospital in El Dorado, I'll have a 100-mile drive to her office at the hospital in Salina. Oh, wait! She is to be a "hospital physician", meaning that she won't see patients who are not hospitalized. Dr S has taken good care of me for 18 years, so I did not remind her of her promise to me 18 years ago that she would not go anywhere until after I died. She gave me the names of a few Internists in Wichita (there are none in Derby) whom she would recommend and who are still accepting Medicare patients.
Why is Dr S moving? Her husband is an aircraft maintenance instructor at Kansas State - Salina. They have decided to live together. I advised her that, "The honeymoon is over when you go to live with your husband." Dr S is about Bogie's age and has been married to this, her second husband, for several years. They have built a hangar at the Benton Airport, planning to add a home to which they will retire. (Currently, they own a Cessna 172.) I wish only the best to them.
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