Ah, it’s a beautiful morning here at Lake Loramie. judiang and I just went for a short walk around the cottages here. Judi’s even regretting that she has no shorts to wear. (elsaf, can you believe that?!?) So we’ve put the three ceiling fans on and are now relaxing in the three season room.

Yesterday continued to be a lovely day for us. We took the liquidy Bailey’s Irish Cream Ice Cream along in a plastic container and headed on back to the Lake. On our way there, we stopped at Wagner’s grocery in Minster (the one in Fort Loramie didn’t have what we needed) and bought a bag of ice and a box of rock salt. And once at the Lake, I began to freeze the ice cream in the “old fashioned” way. Mom has an ice cream maker that’s electric, but uses the salt & ice treatment. It froze this time!

My parental units showed up shortly after we returned to the Lake. Mom decided that she wanted to make deviled eggs and a Miracle Whip cake to go along with our meal.

Miracle Whip Cake

2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
4 Tbsp cocoa
2 tsp soda
1 cup Miracle Whip
1 cup hot water

Sift dry ingredients into a mound. Make a hole in center and put Miracle Whip into hole. Add water in small amounts and stir until smooth. Pour into greased and floured 9×13″ pan and bake at 300°F for 30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

We had the Miracle Whip, but she was out of flour and cocoa. So for the second time that day, I went to Wagner’s grocery. Before we left, though, I got on Judi’s rinky dinky laptop and looked up how to make an Amaretto Sour. When I discovered that it took Sweet & Sour mix, I thought “wait a minute, I saw that at Wagner’s when I was there earlier!” Sure enough, they had it. (Wagner’s has a very impressive collection of booze – even the smaller one in Fort Loramie does too. And in case you are wondering, Ohio allows alcohol to be sold in groceries with the right license – there are very few liquor stores in the state.)

Mom and I returned back to the cottage to see that my aunt Becky and Granny were already there. Since I’d completely forgotten to set up a card game for Judi’s last trip to the Lake, we made sure to get one set up for this weekend! Judi had already started a fire (she did it completely on her own! I expected her to brag about it in her journal entry last night, but she didn’t!) This is such a change from the citygurl who wouldn’t get within 6 feet of the fire when she first joined us at the Lake six years ago.

I grilled burgers and dogs for everyone and did a good job, according to those eating said burgers and dogs. Then dad took Judi and I on a motor boat ride around our section of the Lake while mom put dishes in the kitchen (ooops! sorry mom!) It was a lovely ride and we saw around 8 tutles on the trip. (Mostly they’d jump off the log they were sunning themselves on as we passed by.)

Boat trip done, it was time to PLAY CARDS! The family game of choice is Shanghai Rum.

Shanghai Rum

Hand requirements consecutively:
2 sets of 3
1 set of 3, run of 4
2 runs of 4
3 sets of 3
1 set of 3, run of 5
3 runs of 4
1 set of 3, run of 10
3 sets of 3, run of 5
3 runs of 5

Deal out 11 cards each hand. Each player is allowed 3 buys each hand. (You’ll need all three for the last hand in particular – you MUST have a discard.) Start each turn by drawing a card from the stack or from the discard pile. Lay down your required cards if you can and then discard. After laying down, the following hand you may play any cards in your hand on your oponents laid cards. Hand ends when one player plays all cards and has a discard.

Deuces are wild in all hands. Any run or set must have more natural cards than deuces. Scoring – each player with cards remaining in hand must score as follows: number cards are worth 5 points, face cards are 10, aces are 15 and deuces are 20. The person with the lowest score at the end of the game wins.

It’s so popular, I included the rules in the family cookbook when I made it. (It’s under the Drinks section.) The whole time we’re playing it, we’re swearing up and down a storm and think “why the hell are we playing this game!” But when it’s over with, we think “my, that was fun!” Judi’s announced intention was to come to Ohio for Becky’s annual asskicking. And when we were done with the game, Judi had the second highest score after Granny! (Oh, in case you didn’t read the rules under the LJ cut, that means she came second to last.) Becky, of course, won the game. 🙂 (My excuse for not placing first was that I’d made myself an amaretto sour and was somewhat drunk.)

We finished the evening with Bailey’s Irish Cream Ice Cream and Miracle Whip Cake. Yummy! Becky & Granny left after that, followed by the folks. And then Judi and I cleaned up the dishes and goofed off online for a bit before retiring to bed. And we slept in today – mmm! A nice sleep in, if you ask me. Today’s goals are to have steaks for lunch and pork kebabs for supper. And that’s it. 🙂

Well, we’re taking a bit of a breather at my house while some Bailey’s Irish Cream Ice Cream is being made. Judi’s asleep on the sofa and Leo and I are here in my den. We got up early this morning (7am) in order to leave the cottage by 8am. Well, we got moving a little later than anticipated, but no matter, our timing was perfect. We arrived at Walmart just in time for a shuttle to the levy. (The festival is held on top of the levy by the Miami (can’t recall if it’s Great or Little Miami) River.) As soon as we got to Hobart Arena, we walked to the main street and waited for the parade.

The parade got to us just shortly after 9am. We were at the end of the parade route. And Judi got to experience her first “Small Town” Parade as she called it. Troy isn’t a small town, in my book. Pleasant Hill (where I live) is. Troy is a City. We eventually compromised and called it a “Small City” or “Big Town.” 🙂 Of course compared to Chicago, Dayton’s considered a “Small City.” (We did have another parade alternative. Today is Dayton’s Gay Pride March. I’ve been to the previous ones, but this is the first one that I’ve missed.)

We stayed watching the parade for over an hour and finally the Newton High School Marching Band arrived. We walked behind the library after they were past and sat on a bench to get our backs in shape. I dunno when it happened, but since Judi and I first met, we have become Old Women(TM). How the hell that happened, neither of us know…

We moved on to the levy again to browse the festival. The crowd wasn’t too bad yet and we got some food items. Snow cone for Judi, fresh tater chips (the type that’s all one coil of potato) for Treen. Strawberry shortcake for Judi, lemonade shakeup for Treen. Hot dog for Judi, Texas Tenderloin for Treen (and Judi – that thing was HUGE!) We got a dozen strawberry donuts and a jar of strawberry salsa (don’t laugh – it was good!) And as we walked out of the festival, we topped it off with strawberry lemonade shakeups.

At Hobart Arena, we just missed the bus back to Walmart (they were using Troy City School buses) and stood in line and chatted with the fellow in charge of the bus stop. He was very pleasant and talked with us about Troy and Chicago. Eventually, our bus arrived and we headed back to Walmart.

We bought a few essentials at Walmart and then moved onward to Trina’s house. And here we are – I’m typing, Judi and Leo are sleeping. And the ice cream isn’t freezing, dammit! (I think I put too much Bailey’s in this time. I’m thinking of maybe getting some vanilla ice cream, taking my drink mixer, and making Bailey’s Shakes for everyone if the ice cream doesn’t freeze before we leave. Ah well!)

I received an e-mail from Peter Royle of Chivers.co.uk today regarding my Quest to Purchase Big George. He said not to worry about Mrs Harmon – they will send her another set. And I can keep the Great Expectations for myself. (I might do as he suggested and donate it to a local library. I’ll know better once I read who is in the cast.) So Mean Trina didn’t have to fight with Nice Trina over whether to send the package on. YAY! Royle also said that he would inform the head of logistics about the postage problem. Perhaps they’ll get it sorted out some day. And should I ever need to order something from them again (like, for example, Sylv reading another audio book) they’ll send it to me with free postage. That’s nice. 🙂

So, apart from a rather loud and obnoxious burp, Chivers is doing what they can for their customers. (You know, there may well be another copy of Big George floating around in postal limbo – if it ever arrives here, I’ll have to auction it off to the highest bidder! Heh.)

Every year at the end of school, my seniors get out long before anyone else. So I think “cool, I’ve got more time to get shit done before the end of the school year.” Only what happens is that I’ve more stuff to do than time to do it in. And I’m scrambling to get everything done before the teacher’s last day. Requisitions, room inventory, chemical inventory, book inventory, student fee requisitions, grades, lab cleaning, etc. Heck, I often have whole days with no students in which to get stuff done thanks to exams. But again, I usually scramble (and sometimes don’t get done in time).

This year, however, I dunno what happened, but I’m checked out already! And checkout day is Friday. Woohoo! I got the requisitions done and my grades (always a hassle for me) and inventories and checked out shortly after lunch. Woohoo! So then I spent the remainder of the day working on my gray cabinets (where small samples of oft used chemicals are stored for student use). I have to relabel them and refill all the bottles and get some chemicals added and others removed. I got 2 of the cabinets relabeled today, but have the other two to finish. And when I finish there, I have some physics shelves that I want to reorganize. And of course, I have computer things awaiting.

So I’m excited – only a day and a half to go and I’m now doing the extra stuff I always wished I could get to. I finished listening to Arrangements for War (a 6th Doctor/Eveline Big Fish story) and Big George today. So tomorrow I can bring in some other audio adventures.

In other news – I’m bringing vanilla ice cream to the carry-in on Friday (and No Pudge brownies) and made the custard tonight. Mmmmm – damn fine! I used a real vanilla bean, too. Also, judiang‘s going to be visiting again this weekend! Woohoo! I pick her up after I finish at the carry-in and we’ll go see Harry Potter. And we’ve just decided to go to the Troy Strawberry Festival this weekend. YAY! And Aunt Becky, Granny, and the folks will be coming up to the Lake on Saturday so we can play cards. YAY!

You know, I should go to bed….

If you read about my quest to purchase Big George as read by Sylvester McCoy, you may be happy to know that it finally arrived! It turns out that the phone call that I got from the University of Michigan Law Library was indeed about this audio tape. Hooray!

There was a message in the box from one of the Law Library workers which read:

It is my sincere hope that you FINALLY receive this audiotape! I can’t explain the misdelivery, but I can do my part to see that it gets to you.

Thanks, Elizabeth! I need to write her a thank you note. 🙂

Now, to get the 6-volume audio tape set to Mrs A Harmon. There’s a part of me that says “send it to her, as Elizabeth from the Law Library did for you.” But there’s the cheap bastard part of me that says “Chivers and their incompetent distributor, WorldNet Shipping, f*cked it up, let *them* pay for it!” I might let you know which side of me eventually wins through. I might not, too… 😉

And, in the completely bizarre question category, as I was walking home from the gas station where I just bought a (very expensive) gallon of skim milk, a young man of my acquaintance asked me if I knew what “binomial nomenclature” was. I did, and defined it for him. And he was satisfied with that and continued on. OK…

For the Memorial Day Weekend in 1998, I invited elsaf, judiang, araymond424, two others from the Columbus area, and a couple of others who were interested in meeting in person since they got on so well on IRC. This would be a safe place for the young woman and young man to meet up. When the weekend finally arrived, the LJers I mentioned above and the two for Columbus were able to make it. The couple who’d hoped to meet in person bottled out at the last minute. Still, the six of us had a blast at mom & dad’s cottage at Lake Loramie.

So, the next year comes around. The couple are still interested in meeting and they figure, this time for sure. So, the girls and I meet up again, but the other three from the first year can’t make it. And once again, the young couple opts out. Still, the girls and I now had the makings of a TRADITION. And you just don’t mess with TRADITION. 🙂

Since 1998, the girls and I have gathered each Memorial Day weekend at my folks’ cottage. The cottage itself has changed from a “fisherman’s cottage” to a “froufrou cottage” and now a “froufrou cottage with three-season room.” Elsa brings down lovely meals that she prepares, I grill stuff over an open fire, and Judi does dishes. It’s a perfect match for a perfect weekend. And this year, thanks to Elsa’s weather mojo, we had perfect weather to go with it. OK, so last night’s drenching while Elsa & I were grilling lamb chops was a bit of a downer, but we finished cooking the chops in the oven and they were wonderful.

Last night, we were buffeted by a storm that lasted hours. It was cool sitting in the three-season room and listening to the rain pounding down and seeing the lightning and hearing the thunder. We had two windows open to get a cross breeze, but it didn’t rain in. I got the flashlight and lantern ready, but the power never went out. (It did go out in my town, however, so my poor little computer got shut off and all my clocks are off again.)

Around midnight, we got ready for bed, but then the girls decided they weren’t actually sleepy. So we put The Second Coming on so they could see who this Chris Eccelston was (the next Doctor Who, you know) and after awhile, we all petered out and actually slept.

This morning, Elsa was up at 7am, me at 8am, and Judi at 9am. So, our usual… I made sour dough pancakes with mom’s sour dough (and her recipe, too). Mmmmm! My favorite – so good you don’t even need syrup! I think I’ve convinced Judi that sour dough recipes are a good thing. 🙂 (She was turned off sour dough by some potent sour dough bread, apparently. The coffee cake & pancakes have convinced her otherwise.)

We went on a morning walk and even went to the point across from our cottage (so Elsa could take pictures). Lots of goose poopies on the point! I think we managed to avoid most of ’em. After the walk, it was time for more goofing off and playing on the computers. It wasn’t long before lunch came around and I attempted to make a fire. The wood was wet and the lighter sucked and the wind was blowing very strongly, so I cheated by pouring some lighter fluid on the wood before lighting it. I got enough of a fire so that Judi and I could each roast a hot dog. And we followed those with leftovers. I went for tuna & sushi rice. We also finished up the flank steak. There was still a bit more tuna, potato salad, and 3-bean salad left, which I suppose the folks can have when they return to the cottage this week.

After lunch, Judi cleaned the dishes and I cleaned the cottage. Elsa, meanwhile, was packing up to go. Awwwww! When it was 3pm, she headed up north. She should have gotten up to where Floyd is being watched an hour ago. (Judi, meanwhile, had better be in the air on her way to Chicago by now.) Judi and I had an hour and a half to snooze or whatever and I spent a good deal of it sitting outside enjoying the breeze. Judi started out that way (even without having 3 layers of clothes and a blanket on!) but her laptop called to her after 15 minutes or so, and when I returned to the cottage, she was typing away at something or other.

At 4:30, it was time for us to go as well. Alas! So we packed up the car and drove to Troy where we’d arranged to meet the ‘rents at Friendly’s for supper. Since Judi and I were dressed alike that day, we ended up eating alike too. 😉 We both got fried clams and fries. She had a strawberry shake, so I tried the Reese’s Cup “Friend-Z” (which is their version of a Blizzard, for those of you who know DairyQueen). Dad paid for supper – how sweet! and then we headed off to the airport while the ‘rents went to the new Super Walmart.

Judi’s check in went smoothly and there wasn’t a huge line at security either. I love Dayton International. Her flight was at 7:50pm, so as I said earlier, she ought to be in the air as I type this.

So, the weekend was wonderful. I had a great time with my two best friends! And we’ll next meet in Chicago for the Taste of Chicago and fireworks at Grant Park. (Judi, meanwhile, is pondering another visit to Lake Loramie, so I meet see her even sooner.) Thanks for the great weekend, girls!

See judiang‘s journal entry for today to see what we’ve been up to since this morning. Notice how I’ve converted her to my own foot fetish and she’s now wearing Chacos!

Yesterday was a wonderful day. Judi and I got up late and had peaches, apples & cashews for breakfast. We went on a walk down the residential drive and back again. Then we goofed off until noon. At noon, I started the rice and then the fire and we awaited the rest of our party. By 12:30, Elsa pulled up in the car and another 10 minutes saw mom & dad drive up too.

Alas, Elsa had left the mango required for the shrimp & mango spring rolls at home, so we postponed that until later. But when everyone was here, I vinegared & sugared the rice, made the wasabi paste, and grilled the tuna steaks. Mom chopped up some veggies (onions, zucchini, butter squash, green pepper, and grape tomatoes (not chopped)) and we grilled those as well. We sat outside at the picnic table and had the tuna, rice, wasabi, ginger, and some German potato salad that Elsa had brought. Folks enjoyed my tuna & rice, so I was happy. And the wasabi just took our breath away! Every so often, someone would say “wheee!” or similar as they were hit by the heat.

After we cleared away the lunch plates, we got out the piece de resistance – Elsa’s pineapple upside down cake! Oh yeah, and the homemade pineapple ice cream that I had made. (Judi and I sampled it the night before and she approved.) Judi took a number of photos of the cake, which will be on elsaf‘s LJ later today.

After lunch, our scullery maid (judiang) cleaned the dishes. And we all vegged. The ‘rents sat & read (and napped), the girls worked on their laptops. I read more from Ivanhoe and tried to nap. And we just had a nice lazy day at the lake.

At 5:05, Judi and I did the transfer of gold from my Kings of Chaos account to hers. (In other words, she attacked the hell out of me once I sold all my weapons). She stole 62million gold from me and only had 17mil of that lost to vultures in wait. So now I am FREE of Kings of Chaos – woohoo!

Around 6pm, Elsa made up the shrimp & mango spring rolls and we sat at the picnic table again. They were wonderful! And I got to eat the leftover mango, too. Oh yeah, so where did the mango come from? No, Elsa didn’t drive all the way up and all the way back to get it, she just went to Wagner’s in Minster.

At 7pm, Judi and I started the fire. It’s just amazing to see how Judi has improved around campfires. Back in ’98 when we had our first gathering, she wouldn’t get within 6 feet of the fire. Now she helps me to make the fire and even reaches in to move twigs back into the flame. Our little city gurl is growing up!

Elsa, meanwhile, was rubbing a rub on the flank steaks that she brought. When the fire was ready, she grilled them and then cut the steaks thinly. This time, we sat in the three-season room (pictures of which can be found here at Elsa’s website). Flank steak with chipotle butter (that Elsa made) and three bean salad and potato salad (again, all Elsa made). Peaches or apples for anyone who wanted them. Tasty tasty eats! Elsa is a goddess in the kitchen or at the grill!

Alas, the girls just lost a photo op as a resident heron just flew off.

The folks left after it got dark and the three of us sat around and watched the penultimate episode of Angel intending to watch the last ep afterwards. Unfortunately, the VCD that Elsa brought didn’t work! So we’ll never know how it ends! 😉 Also, we finished off Elsa’s pineapple upside-down cake and my ice cream. Actually, there would have been one piece left, but Judi (the big pig) ate it after she finished her other piece.

Judi complained that we hadn’t communed with nature enough, so we started up the fire for the third time that day and sat outside enjoying the fire. The website that I posted earlier from Elsa’s site also has photos of us around the fire. Get a bunch of geeks together around a campfire and what do they do? Take photos of it with their digital cameras, of course. (I’d left my camera at home, alas!)

We went to bed after the fire died out and didn’t get up until around 8am. I made mom’s sour dough coffee cake and we’re munching on that now. Yum!

Today’s our day to go see Shrek 2. Should be fun! Will post about that later.

The fire is started, the rice is cooking, Judi is sleeping, and I’m online… Yup, sounds like an ideal Saturday morning.

Despite having no internet access here at the lake, we’re online. Judi’s laptop with its built in 802.11g wireless card is great at Wardriving. First it jumped on the network of some guy in her apartment complex. Now it’s connected to a wireless network from someone here at the Lake. I figure it’s the folks from a few houses down.

We’re still waiting on Elsa and my folks to arrive, but the fire will be ready for them. We’re grilling tuna steaks which have been marinating overnight in a soy sauce/garlic/honey marinade that I made. We’ll have sushi-style rice, wasabi, and pickled ginger, along with the appetizers that elsaf mentioned in her journal – the shrimp & mango spring rolls. Mmmmmm! Looking forward to it!

Anyhoo, I’d best go check on the fire. I’ll LJ later!

judiang‘s here next to me as I type this. Picked her up from the airport around 4:30 and then took her to BW3s to meet some of my co-workers. I had an Amaretto Sour (no surprise) and she had a Mudslide (no surprise – she added sugar to it too, again, no surprise). She had wings and I had a chicken tender wrap. And she finished it all with a strawberry margarita (frozen). Quite fun – and it was nice for my friends to finally meet this Judi that I’ve been talking about. Gary insists now that Judi must go to Charlie Trotters and report back to him. She says it’ll be months before she’ll be able to get in, however. 🙂

We’re going to head off to the Lake as soon as we update our LiveJournals. Time for a fun weekend with the girls! elsaf drives down tomorrow and we’ll grill out lots and sit out lots and go see Shrek 2 and all sorts of fun stuff. Homemade pineapple ice cream and pineapple upside down cake AND fresh pineapple. Gee, think maybe Judi’s with us?

BTW, Drake – we’ve had to reschedule the “money transfer” until later since You Know Who used up all her frickin’ attack turns!!!!