Leaping From The Box

Well, Mr. Algae-Eater is not looking very well. Sunday he has what appeared to be open sores on his skin. I bought some stuff to put in the water that is supposed to help. Maybe it is; I don’t know. The sores do not look as red, but today his tail does not stick out behind him like normal. It curls and definitely looks shorter, like he has lost some of it. But this afternoon he did scoot around quickly into the weeds when I turned the light on, which was the fastest I had seen him move in several days. Maybe there’s hope?

Kat says that Miss Munchkin walked across the kitchen on her own this afternoon and then stood there longer squealing about it. I need to take some more pictures. I haven’t taken any since early November and they are still on the camera. Tomorrow she will be 9 months! I’ll have to remember to take the camera with us dancing Friday night and get some pictures of Miss Munchkin and I doing Cotton-Eyed Joe.

I talked with David for a short bit today. Today was a “reading / studying” day in preparations for exams, which begin tomorrow. Next Wednesday he will be ready to come home for semester break.

I continue to declutter, cleaning out more books and videos. Some I am selling; many more are just being given away to the public library or being Freecycled (new verb there, like Googling!). I do not want to have to box all these up and move them with me! The more I get rid of now, the less I have to move.

Speaking of moving, it sounds likely that we will have to soon take a trip to Tallahassee, scout the area. Kat & Shawn announced Sunday that it is 90% likely they will be moving to Pensacola by the first of March and that Shawn will be manager of a store there. We had already been looking in that direction, in addition to the Nashville area, but now being further south takes on new meaning. Plus, after the cold weather this week, Bill and I are both looking at each other and saying “and we want to move to Nashville? Further north?”

Charles and I have been reading “On Food and Cooking, The Science and Lore of The Kitchen” by Harold McGee. Yesterday we finished the section on cheese. A painful section to read, as at the end of almost every paragraph Charles would groan and say, “I want cheese!”

So, I guess we are going to explore cheeses, if we can find some! The local Kroger’s had nothing new and exciting to offer, other than a solid block of Parmesan, a solid (small) block of Mozzarella, and a French Gournay cheese. Gourney is a soft cheese, this particular one blended with garlic, salt, pepper, parsley and chives, so I’m not sure that Charles will care much for it, since he’s not a big garlic fan. I will have to make the drive to the Publix in Decatur and see what they offer. We’d like to try a new cheese or two every week, maybe make some new dishes with them, and track which cheeses we like and which we don’t. Sounds like a yummy study!

Gosh, it’s cold and damp today. Where’s our sixty-degree sunshine-filled October? October is supposed to be a dry month! This week has been anything but dry!

Wednesday I finished reading “Meriwether” by David Nevin and began reading “Dream West, which is the last of Nevin’s “The American Story” series that I have yet to read. The whole series has been very interesting. I love reading about Jefferson and Madison and Burr and Lewis and Clark as real people, rather than historical figures. Nevin’s books bring them to life, puts conversations and thoughts and feelings to them. And it has been doubly interesting reading about the early exploration and settlement of areas west of the Appalachians. With all our recent trips to Evansville, it’s been cool to pass through areas that I had just read about and picture them as they were 200 years ago.

Well, time for some lunch, laundry, bill paying and then off to dancing tonight!