Groundhog Day
5:35 p.m. - 2008-02-04


They say the groundhog saw his shadow, so that means more winter. The spouse and I went on a long walk on the canal yesterday, and we saw no blossoms or any sign of same. Spring will be much later this year. In spite of this gloomy prediction, this week is fair and fine. I had a lot to do today like iron some shirts the spouse will need this week, do lots of laundry, change the sheets, which depends on the laundry, and bake a cake for the spouse. Unfortunately, I was working in my room when the lights flickered and then came back on. I reset the clocks and continued my work. The lights flickered again. This is annoying because the phone company has done away with the number for calling time, so you have to boot up the computer and go to the time website. This takes forever when you have to do it over and over. All in all, I had to reset the clocks about 4 times before there was a big sizzle/crackle sound and the electricity went out for good.

It was about 11 in the morning.I called the power company to determine that they knew about the outage, then I decided to take my walk. Everything I needed to do at home required electricity. I walked for about 40 minutes, but when I came home the power was still out, so I went shopping. I could tell from the traffic lights that the outage was just in my neighborhood because we are just so special. I stayed away for about 2 hours and when I returned, the power was on! Now I have spent the rest of the day doing laundry, changing the bed, and now am ironing shirts.

I am still reading the entire works of D. E. Stevenson, or rather, all that I could get from the library. I love these stories, and I have now started the Mrs. Tim series which I read too long ago to remember anything about.

I tried making Chinese food for dinner yesterday with mixed results. One thing I have discovered is that egg fu yung makes a good sandwich the next day, and even egg fu yung made with fako eggo tastes good. I also bought a ham hock and made some ham stock which I was going to use to make a long simmered bean soup today until there was no power. Maybe tomorrow.

I have started a new sock and am redoing the neckband on the V-neck sweater. In dieting news, I am walking a lot and the weight is coming off slowly. So far this year I have lost over 8 pounds. That's about right for 4 weeks, and it is interesting how not having any cholesterol slims down your diet without much thought or effort on your part. I did a Walk Away The Pounds tape the other day and made it to the 2-Mile mark without much trouble. The one thing I have the most trouble with is drinking the 8 cups of water a day. I don't get thirsty much so remembering this is hard.

Time to go finish ironing the shirts. Oh, and may I just say that Mr. McCain and Mr. Romney are driving me mad with all the stupid phone calls!!! The McCain campaign phone call is especially annoying because there is a big gap before the talking starts, so you just don't know if anyone is there or not. I have to answer the phone because it might be my dad calling, but I am sooo annoyed I can't see myself voting for either of those two clowns. And that goes for McCain's wife too, who also has an annoying phone message. I hope you both lose.