Coming back up to speed...
I managed to finish the second PowerPoint file due yesterday before losing my mind (though after Natalie arrived for her visit).
Galina and I had stopped by a local estate sale earlier in the morning, and though they had nothing that we could use in terms of furniture, I found several software packages, including a never-licensed version 6 of Adobe Acrobat, and .NET versions of C#, J#, and Visual Basic for developers that don't look as if they've ever been cracked open (though there is no shrink wrap on the packages). I also bought some books, an alarm clock, some kitchen stuff, and a Lexmark "All-In-One" printer/scanner/copier/fax. Galina made her own purchases, and when all was said and done, we had spent about what it would've cost for us to go see a first-run movie.
I was able to find the interface software for the Lexmark at the company's web site, but buying new ink cartridges (carried by Wal-Mart, but not at Fry's... go figure) would cost over $70, if I were inclined to replace the old, dried-out cartridges. (I still intend to run "paperless" while in Texas, without getting obsessive about it.) I plan to use the device as a scanner, though I haven't yet checked to see if the scanning mechanism or the document feeder works. It would be nice if they did.
Yesterday's late lunch and dinner were small marvels, accompanied by marinated mushrooms and salted pickles from the Russian store that lies between Natalie's domicile and ours. The dinner menu was simple: steamed salmon with garlic and lime (a limb of our neighbor's lime tree hangs over our property out in back of the garage, and it is heavy with plump green fruit), boiled potatoes with parsley, and steamed broccoli. While we waited for everything to cook, we sliced up the last of the most recent loaf of baked bread into smallish wafers and used them as a means of stuffing bruschetta into our mouths in a socially acceptable manner.
We made a new batch of "artisan" dough and let it rise before putting it away in the fridge for the night. This morning, I experimented with making three loaves at one time, which worked (though one of the loaves got a little scorched at one end, for reasons I do not understand).
By the way, the previous loaf - the one that ended its service life as a vehicle for bruschetta - had been left in the oven after the designated cooking time, and thus underwent some additional baking as the oven cooled down. When we returned from our visits to local garage and estate sales yesterday, Galina warily peeked into the oven and pronounced the loaf to be "a rock," though in the end it turned out to be quite edible, though with a thicker crust than we have become accustomed to. With a little more experimentation, this error could actually be harnessed into a technique for baking, say, overnight.
The kombucha came out after a week of brewing and it was excellent! More "raw material" is cooling down to room temperature in anticipation of joining it to the "mother" for a batch to be harvested next week.
It's been raining most of the day, at a slow, languid pace that seems almost not worth opening an umbrella for, but which will do its best to soak you if you are out in it for any length of time over, say, a minute. I notice, looking out my window, that there are shadows outside right now, so it's a good bet that the rain has stopped.
Cheers...
Galina and I had stopped by a local estate sale earlier in the morning, and though they had nothing that we could use in terms of furniture, I found several software packages, including a never-licensed version 6 of Adobe Acrobat, and .NET versions of C#, J#, and Visual Basic for developers that don't look as if they've ever been cracked open (though there is no shrink wrap on the packages). I also bought some books, an alarm clock, some kitchen stuff, and a Lexmark "All-In-One" printer/scanner/copier/fax. Galina made her own purchases, and when all was said and done, we had spent about what it would've cost for us to go see a first-run movie.
I was able to find the interface software for the Lexmark at the company's web site, but buying new ink cartridges (carried by Wal-Mart, but not at Fry's... go figure) would cost over $70, if I were inclined to replace the old, dried-out cartridges. (I still intend to run "paperless" while in Texas, without getting obsessive about it.) I plan to use the device as a scanner, though I haven't yet checked to see if the scanning mechanism or the document feeder works. It would be nice if they did.
Yesterday's late lunch and dinner were small marvels, accompanied by marinated mushrooms and salted pickles from the Russian store that lies between Natalie's domicile and ours. The dinner menu was simple: steamed salmon with garlic and lime (a limb of our neighbor's lime tree hangs over our property out in back of the garage, and it is heavy with plump green fruit), boiled potatoes with parsley, and steamed broccoli. While we waited for everything to cook, we sliced up the last of the most recent loaf of baked bread into smallish wafers and used them as a means of stuffing bruschetta into our mouths in a socially acceptable manner.
We made a new batch of "artisan" dough and let it rise before putting it away in the fridge for the night. This morning, I experimented with making three loaves at one time, which worked (though one of the loaves got a little scorched at one end, for reasons I do not understand).
By the way, the previous loaf - the one that ended its service life as a vehicle for bruschetta - had been left in the oven after the designated cooking time, and thus underwent some additional baking as the oven cooled down. When we returned from our visits to local garage and estate sales yesterday, Galina warily peeked into the oven and pronounced the loaf to be "a rock," though in the end it turned out to be quite edible, though with a thicker crust than we have become accustomed to. With a little more experimentation, this error could actually be harnessed into a technique for baking, say, overnight.
The kombucha came out after a week of brewing and it was excellent! More "raw material" is cooling down to room temperature in anticipation of joining it to the "mother" for a batch to be harvested next week.
It's been raining most of the day, at a slow, languid pace that seems almost not worth opening an umbrella for, but which will do its best to soak you if you are out in it for any length of time over, say, a minute. I notice, looking out my window, that there are shadows outside right now, so it's a good bet that the rain has stopped.
Cheers...