Soup I want to try and a bit of fun

Today was dark, blustery and it kept trying to snow, but mostly it was throwing slush at us and it kept melting. So it was a good day to pull out one of my mom's recipe books, "Saved by Soup". This book has over 100 soup recipes, and I have decided to make an effort to cook some of them. The soup base is chicken broth, so that's what I'm doing now, boiling some chicken, onion and celery. Anyway, we are planning on having toasted cheese sandwiches (home baked bread of course) with a homemade tomato-based soup sometime this week. I haven't decided which one.

When we were in Bedford I decided to bring home a bottle of tap water. Dad tests the water because of the fish and I test because of my violets, so I thought it might be interesting. I was interested in the difference in pH. I don't know if you will be able to see the details. Lake Michigan water is on the left and Bedford water on the right, all photos. Here is the pH test:

Lake Michigan pH about 7.2, Bedford about 7.6, which shows I would need to adjust the pH of the water more for my African Violets, which like more acidic water.

Next I did an Ammonia test:

I was surprised to see a level of 0.25 ppm in the Lake Michigan water. Bedford is zero.

The next test was for Nitrite:

As you can see, Lake Michigan has a level of less than 0.25 ppm but more than zero. Bedford has zero.

Both Lake Michigan and Bedford had zero Nitrates. Now I am wondering what is going on with the Lake water.

Dinner and a movie

Actually two movies. It's the end of the month, and we want to return the NetFlix rentals tomorrow, so two movies it was. "Get Smart" and "Iron Man"---both excellent! "Get Smart" was way better than the TV series, thoroughly enjoyable. "Iron Man" was fabulous. The special effects just blew me away. So, just how long before we can do 3D holographic modeling that you can actually try on for size and manipulate with your hands? Dad is guessing ten years, so I cut it in half and said five.

Reflecting on our trip

First of all, we had a good trip home. We took Hwy 46 west from Bloomington to Spencer. Then we took Hwy 231 north through Greencastle. From there we took Hwy 36 west to Rockville and the Hwy 41 north all the way home. It was a nice scenic drive and it didn't take much longer than taking I-65 to I-465 to Hwy 37 on the way down. Hwy 41 used to be bumpy but it's been repaved so it's nice and smooth. It was good to be home. The kitties missed us.

If anyone wants to know, the Super 8 in Bedford is clean, very clean, and has smoking fast DSL. If you like Mexican food, you should eat at the Casa Brava.

We drove around a lot, with the intent of covering as much area as possible. We drove around Bedford, Mitchell, Orleans and Paoli. The weather was cold. Very cold. Walking around town will have to wait till spring.

Bedford has the most in the way of services, but Paoli, population about 4,000, is the one that caught our eye. It is right on the edge of the Hoosier National Forest. I have health coverage there, but I have no idea about high speed internet and package service (UPS or FedEx). I just subscribed to their online newspaper. Paoli has a hospital, CVS, Walmart, along with quite a few other businesses. It looks like a clean, yet affordable area.

So, that's where we're at right now, thinking about Paoli, trying to learn more.

Going Home

Up early and ready to go. Wouldn't you know, it's going to be a beautiful, sunny, warm day---just like when you go fishing! I feel fine this morning, so what I ate last night didn't affect me.

Bummer start to an OK day

We came this >< close to leaving this morning. I woke up at 4 AM, couldn't get back to sleep for hours, got up finally, had vertigo and looked like death warmed over with a headache. We decided to stay, figuring the trip might make it worse and we should wait it out, or I might get better. I was about 90% better by noon. That is why we rarely go out to eat. (see bottom of previous post)

We took a drive around Bedford, came back to the hotel for a snack, and then drove to Mitchell, population 4,500+. We didn't care too much for the huge concrete plant. Some neighborhoods are very nice and some are run down. In all fairness, Mitchell is proud of the fact that it is the home of astronaut Virgil "Gus" Grissom, one of the seven original NASA astronauts. It is also located near the beautiful Spring Mill State Park. Bedford, population about 14,000, has just about everything we would need in the way of shopping, at least the way dad and I shop. After some looking, dad and I decided to eat at the Casa Brava. It was a good choice. I even had a Margarita.

On the way home we plan to drive the scenic route, from Bloomington, Hwy 46 to 231, then north to Greencastle, then to Crawfordsville, then 74 west, then over to 63 and then 41 north to home. We're leaving early, so we'll probably be home early afternoon.

When we get home I'll look into subscribing to a paper from Paoli. Next spring we hope to drive down and zero in on an area, take some time to meet and talk to the locals. Friendships are important, even more than rocks and hills.

Friday

Today is a sunny but cold day. Hardly a cloud in the sky, unlike yesterday, which was dark and gloomy the wold drive down. Here is a picture taken this morning from our room.

Note the blue sky---no brown haze on the horizon!!

We took a drive on a Lawrence County scenic route and came to this pretty spot on the East Fork White River, which is in Williams, a tiny town west southwest of Bedford on highway 450.

Williams Dam

East Fork White River just downstream of Williams Dam

Before we drove the scenic rout we drove down to Paoli, so we went from Bedford south through Mitchell (near Spring Mill State Park), then on down through Orleans and then to Paoli.

Paoli is very hilly. It has a quaint, attractive little town square that is like a mini version of the square in Crown Point (northwest Indiana). We like Paoli, although some of those hills are a bit intimidating to a flat-lander like me. We do like the fact that Paoli is right next to the Hoosier National Forest and too hilly for farm fields. The thing about farm fields---allergies when they plow or spray.

We saw a lot of nice country around all of the towns, nice hills and woods, and only a couple yards full of junk. I mean it was rare to see any junk.

This evening we will drive around downtown Bedford.

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6:30 PM---Note to self----do not eat at Bob Evans.

We are here

We just arrived in Bedford. Going out to eat soon.

Bedford instead

We have decided to drive down to Bedford, already reserved a room at the Super 8. Most of the areas we are interested in checking out are nearby.

And...I was kindly reminded that #6 should be "a place with high speed Internet and UPS pickup and drop off" (so I can do my job). Thanks, Karen!

Thursday!

Finally...I'm caught up enough in my work! We're planning to start our short little trip around Indiana on Thursday. The weather looks like it will hold out, not all that cold and most of all no rain or snow. We plan to drive down I-65 and stop somewhere south of Indianapolis, could be Seymour. Not sure at this point where we will spend time looking around before driving to the Bedford area. From there we can look at Mitchell (Spring Mill State Park area) and I don't know where else at this time. Hopefully I'll have Internet access every night and can let you know what's up and maybe upload some pictures. Our choices of places to look are based on:
1. Do I have health insurance coverage there?
2. Hills and rocks---gotta have some.
3. Affordable housing.
4. Decent place to shop without driving a bazillion miles.
5. Excuse me but I just can't handle motorcycles roaring past my house (like here), so it has to be a quiet side of town.
6....I'm sure there are more, just can't think of any tonight.

Checklist---clipped the dog, tomorrow she gets a bath. Watered my violets. Lined up pet sitters (thank you daughter and neighbor). Went shopping. Not much else to do but pack---plan to travel light. Not sure what day we'll be home, Saturday, Sunday, Monday? Who knows.

Maybe next week!!!!

I am so excited!! We might be taking our drive around Indiana next week. We've missed the fall colors, I'm pretty certain, but the weather looks good. I think I've caught up enough on my work, plus I'll have a laptop with me and as long as I have an Internet connection at the hotel I can do everything except shipping. I'll try to put up an itinerary in the next couple days. Not sure what day we leave, maybe mid-week.

Mom's got faster wheels

Ha! What do you do in a home office when you're really bored? You have Office Chair races. Mom's sleek chair from Staples runs circles around Dad's slow, old jalopy. I offered to switch, but Dad said no. Hey, it's really, really good leg exercise!

Dinner tonight nothing special---Chicago style hot dogs. Weather has been mild. Did some house cleaning, washed the car windows on the inside. We're supposed to get some rain again. Still have no idea when we might be able to take our drive. Maybe next week.

Veteran's Day

Today is Veteran's Day, and I wanted to honor my dad, Frank, who was a bombardier and navigator in WWII, flying in a B17 named El Diablo, shown in the picture behind him. He was in the 347th and flew bombing missions over Hungary, Germany and Italy.

And my grandfather (pictured below), my dad's dad, Frank senior, who served at the Mexican border in 1916 as a member of the U.S. Infantry. He also served in WWI and as a member of Company B 327th Battalion, 311th tank corps. He was gassed with Phosgene (mustard) gas in the Argonne Forest in 1918. He died from lingering effects in 1932, when my dad was only 9.

I have his bugle!

And hugs to Dad, who served in the Navy on the U.S.S. Porterfield in Viet Nam.

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Dinner was interesting. The flavors were interesting. Dad said it was good. I think I'd change it a lot. For one, the ginger sauce had a great flavor, and I liked it on the couscous and veggies better than on the salmon. But it had a lot of oil in it, so I'm hitting the bottle of tums. I'm in no mood to copy the recipe tonight, but see if this link works, then you can go right to it:

Roast Salmon With Ancho Chili-Ginger Sauce and Saffron Roast Vegetable Couscous

I didn't use the saffron, too expensive, and unless you really love cilantro, you might want to omit that as well. I bought a bunch, it was only 50 cents. Wasn't crazy about it.

The two times I had really great salmon was years ago at Red Lobster (mesquite smoked sockeye), and Maple glazed, that was in Ohio a couple years ago.

The Wall

Today I shipped "the Wall", and hopefully it won't be back. The Wall is the big, black case that Dad calls the monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey, the cats call a cool perch, and the boss calls the wall.

The Wall and other boxes shipped out today

Actually it's a trade show display in a case. When it is assembled it's something like 8 feet tall and 10 feet wide, and is the backdrop for a trade show booth. On it hangs about $2,000 of custom graphics. How the wall got here is a long story.

Back in July the wall was shipped from Ohio to a trade show in Texas. It arrived with the lid torn off. The boss called me up and asked me to make a damage report. After the trade show it was picked up for inspection. Then it was lost. So the claim had to be escalated. I had to gather a paper trail of receipts and explain over and over again why 69 pounds of poles, fasteners, lights, stands, panels and graphics were't removed from the case and carried on the plane so only the empty case could be turned in (DUH!!!). As the days wore on, the wall obviously wasn't turning up, and since the shipping company lost it after they picked it up for inspection, any bird-brain should know they were responsible and better pay up!! (they kept denying the claim).

Finally the boss had to order another $1,000 wall and $2,000 worth of custom graphics for the trade show in October. THEN the old wall was found. So again the shipping company didn't want to pay up. Finally after two more weeks of phone calls, faxes and letters, the claim was approved and paid (and yes, I got paid to hassle the shipping company). Now that the company owned two walls, the old one was getting a new home. So that's how it ended up here, so Dad and I could figure out how to securely attach the lid so it could be shipped to North Carolina.

In other news, I was real happy to receive my replacement AVSA magazine (the Sep/Oct issue never turned up). Lots of good articles and pretty pictures. I also went shopping and picked up ingredients for tomorrow's dinner. I'm cooking and I'll tell you tomorrow how it turns out.

It works!!!

We tried our Crofton food sealer today and it works!! I am so happy! It comes with two sized bags and you can buy more bags from any manufacturer. We sealed 2 pork roasts and two bags of pork chops, plus one beef roast. All the meat was frozen, although the pork roasts had been in the refrigerator for a couple hours.


The first pork roast we sealed leaked a very tiny bit of juice, but not enough to affect the sealing. The directions say to use a paper towel to absorb it. The second roast, pictured on the left, has a paper towel added as a barrier between the meat and the opening. I might add that if the frozen food has frost on it that starts to melt you should be careful of that as well. The machine exerts quite a bit of force when extracting the air, so you don't want it sucking up moisture. Here is a picture.

First roast on the right, second on the left.

Now those roasts should last a very long time with no freezer burn. I am very happy with this unit. Only $35 at Aldi.

Oh, forgot to mention, I got my Nov/Dec AVSA magazine last week. Should get the missing Sep/Oct one soon because I called them last Monday.

Be thankful for water

Did you know that Australia is the driest inhabited continent on earth? It is, and not only that, some parts of the country have endured extreme drought for ten years. Yes, that long. People there practice water conservation in many different ways, mostly because they have to to keep from running out of water. My younger daughter and her husband have a rainwater collection system that channels rain from the roof into a large tank. They use that water on the gardens. They also have a "gray water" system that diverts used water from the washer to the lawn, and I think the orange tree, which is producing much better with that added moisture. We can certainly have too much water here in the US in the form of rain or snow. If only we could spread it around a bit!

Tonight for dinner we had Dad's still experimental tamale pie. It was a tad dry this time. Is that why I thought of the drought? Oh my, I hope Dad doesn't read this!!! But it was still yummy. Tonight's movie was "Martian Child" with Joan and John Cusack. It was good, touching.

Winter is around the corner

I guess the nice weather couldn't last forever. It was nice being able to open the windows nearly every day, and in November! I finished the concrete job under the front door, just in time before it started to rain.

I'll tell you how mild it's been---the tomato plants and Inpatients have yellow leaves. Normally they just turn black from frost. There are still a few peppers to be picked. The zucchini plants died, though.

As for our trip, I have no idea when it will be. We couldn't go during the nice weather. I have a doctor appointment on the 14th, a dental appointment on the 24th and then there's Thanksgiving. And I'm still swamped with work! Somewhere in between all that, if there are a few decent days with no ice or snow we might go.

Dinner tonight was spaghetti and meatballs. Dad baked the meatballs in the oven this time. They came out better than trying to roll them around in a frying pan. It was good :-)

November 4th

This was an exciting and historic election to follow. Daughter in Australia and I followed the results online via chat, using CNN online for live updates. It was decided by 10 pm! I thought McCain bowed out with a gracious speech. The whole world stood up and noticed this election. The last time I remember being this excited about an election was in 1961 between John F Kennedy and Richard Nixon. I was 11. My parents and I lived in the California desert. Kennedy was a great orator. People would listen, and be moved, inspired. I remember feeling that energy when I heard Obama speak a few years ago. While the rest of the nation did not know him, the Chicago area did, and I think many of us already knew he should run.

Dad and I voted early, then went shopping. I was happy to find a Crofton Vacuum Food Sealer for a good deal, only $35. At least I hope it is, haven't tried it yet. I've wanted one for some time. How many times have we cleaned out the freezer only to throw away freezer-dried food!! The best deals on meat are usually bulk purchase, but just the two of us eat very little meat. The instructions say you can freeze vacuum sealed beef for 2 years, ground beef for 1 year, fish 1 year, and pork chops 2 years. If it works out that well, I'll be happy :-) I'll let you know.

Today I helped Dad fix the porch. There is a space under the front door, outside, under that metal plate you step on when you enter. I think it's called a stoop. Anyway, Dad wanted to fill the space with cement, but he can't bend over very well, so I did it. I still have a bit more to do tomorrow, if it's not raining. I couldn't finish it until what's on there sets up. We still didn't buy a new storm door, but we need to because this one is falling apart.

Running On Empty

I love that song by Jackson Browne and I wish I was on the road in central and southern Indiana right now!!! This would be the perfect time to do it! Fall colors and nice weather. But we can't. I have a bunch of post-conference work and shipping to do first. By then it will be snowing or sleeting or something rotten. So then we have to wait for dry weather and go. I have my neighbor on standby for watching the kitties and daughter on standby for taking the dog. Dad keeps looking at the map and plotting out the itinerary while I pace the floor. In any case, we intend to move next summer, even if it's just to rent until this place sells.

Running On Empty ~ Jackson Browne

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Watched a movie tonight (on TV) "All The President's Men" (1976) with Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford. Was a good movie. Makes you wonder how much is going on now and nobody is getting caught.

Salmon tonight!

Oh, I don't believe it!! After all that writing there was an error and I lost my whole post!!! Ok, starting over. Sheesh.

I wanted to say that Dad made a good salmon dinner. He basted it with lemon, butter and dill, and made a sour cream sauce with the remaining lemon dill butter and put that over it near the end of cooking it was good. I would like to find a recipe for the maple glazed salmon I had in Ohio.

Today was kind of gloomy. Monday is supposed to be back near 70. I'll take all the nice weather I can get in November. I didn't do much today. Rested. Cuddled with Sophie. She hopped up in my chair and slept next to me while I was watching TV. She's gotten real lovey in the last couple years. She was half-wild when she was rescued in Indianapolis in 2000. Now that she is tame she comes bounding out to the kitchen every day and talks to Dad. "Meow-woo wow wuh woo!" She chatters until Dad gives her treats. She keeps one eye on Murry, though. If he wakes up and looks at her she's gone in a flash. Murry is such a putz!

Sophie in Indianapolis when she was still named Maggie

Sophie in 2002

Dad and I ordered movies today but I can't remember the titles. Did I tell you we rented the new Indiana Jones movie. It was horrible! Stupid, boring. We shut it off. What a shame. We loved the other Indiana Jones movies.

Oh! One more thing. Dad and I are planning to move next year pretty much for sure we just don't know where yet. We are still planning to drive around this fall to look for an area. Might have to rent while we wait for the house to sell.