Tofu Revulsion
Thursday, February 5

Just disgusted a co-worker. She asked what I was heating in the microwave that smelled so good and when I told her it was a tofu patty she eeeewed and made a face.

I was somewhat offended and figure next time she asks, I'll tell her it's haunch of baby and offer her some.

The office amaryllis is blooming like mad. One of us usually brings one in, and this year it was Amy in bindery. This thing has 7 huge blossoms of a deep, deep red-orange. She set the plastic pot in a child's sand pail to catch the drips. It's the old-fashioned tin sort with pictures of kids playing in the sand and the effect is just delightful.

I'm stealing that idea for indoors and out.

We are still getting very mild temps for this time of year. There's plenty of snow on the ground, so we've been getting fog at night, which settles as hoarfrost in the morning and looks lovely till the sun burns if off. Most big storms are falling south of us.

However, the SF Bay Area is being mercilessly hit by rainstorm after rainstorm, and eventually, those storms will start socking us. A weather person in the Bay Area was quoted as saying that there are storms backed up all the way to Siberia.

I hope all my friends in the Bay area are ok, especially Paula, who is perched on the top of a rather unstable sandstone cliff. I used to live across the street and the last time El Niño hit, walked out one morning to find that the end of the street had fallen into the ocean.

So hang on and keep your heads above water out there! Stay safe!

Much sympathy to Loren on the loss of his beloved companion, Sasha the cat. She was a good cat and did her job very well.

Compendium of Lettuce Diseases
Saturday, February 21

Sorry I haven't sent out a message recently. I've had a strange virus which mostly makes one a little tired and short of breath, but also affects the inner ear and makes one dizzy. So when I walk or move suddenly, I get woozy. The doc said it's been "going around." Rather like my head.

It took me a while to figure out I ought to go to the clinic and find out what was going on. She offered me a medication which would help the dizziness but would make me sleepy. "Oh great," I thought, "Seven Dwarf Time —Dizzy, Sleepy, Woozy, Barfy, and all the gang," and decided to skip it. After a while, apparently, the virus will just go away.

New excitement is a brand new computer which arrived on the doorstep, courtesy of my Dad. Dr. Mimeo (a.k.a. Erik) came over with the lovely Paula, helped set it up, and persuaded it to talk to my account at the U, so now I have email at home. I am seriously thinking about setting up a shrine to people like Steve, Erik, and Karen, who understand not only the computer/ human interface, but the more difficult Terry/computer interface.

Other good news is that Little Nell, The Creature From Hell, has a liver with a clean bill of health. In addition to the kidneys of a two-year-old, she must have gotten the poor critter's liver, as well. The vet has no explanation other than possibly she ingested something toxic. I still think it was the massive hair ball from a few days before the exam. As a reward, on Monday she gets to go to the vet and have a tooth extracted. Oh joy.

So there you have it. Weird viruses, cat livers, new computer, hardly any snow, pussy willows coming out of their shells. . . and since I'm at work making up time I had better get back to ordering the Compendium of Lettuce Diseases for Plant Pathology.

Hope all is well out there— much love to poor soggy California and hang on to that cliff, Paula!