Hi Michael,

 ML> >  ML> higher than there) - so a sufficiently cold
 ML> >  ML> snap here in my lifetime is kind of unlikely.
 ML> > It appears that you would rather it stayed warm-ish, not hot, tho,
 ML> > rather than cold.

 ML> Generally, but I'm not exactly looking
 ML> forward to weeks on end over the century
 ML> mark next season.

Mid 70s is my comfort zone. Much cooler and I'm grabbing a jacket, much
warmer and I'll want air conditioning--usually because the humidity is
high then also.

 ML> >  ML> recorded in this county, so far as I can
 ML> >  ML> tell, is -4F, -20 to you outlanders, I
 ML> >  ML> think, on Mount Palomar about 25 mi
 ML> >  ML> straight north of here (mostly uphill).
 ML> > We were at my parents for Christmas 40 years ago; woke up to -25F.
 ML> I've > been in colder, from time to time but this was Steve's first
 ML> experience

 ML> Me too, but very seldom. In New Hampshire
 ML> it got down into the -30 range (close to
 ML> equality) and also a few times into the
 ML> -20s in Maine, where it was humid so felt

I don't miss it. (G) Those are the times I stay inside as much as
possible.


 ML> worse (especially as we had an old VW bug
 ML> whose heater didn't work even when not
 ML> overstressed).

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrr. A friend of mine from college had a car that when the
heater was turned on, fog rolled into the passenger compartment until
the car warmed up. He also used a screwdriver for an ignition key.

 ML> > with temps that low. Good weather to stay inside, but not by a fire
 ML> > place in their house. When they built the house, Mom and Dad had the
 ML> > thermostat put on the wall opposite the fire place. Whenever they
 ML> built > a fire, the thermostat would read the ambient room temp as
 ML> warm enough > not to kick on the furnace--resulting in rooms away from
 ML> the fire place > being much colder.

 ML> Ooh, it might have been worth it to
 ML> rewire the whole apparatus and put
 ML> it in a different room.

Dad broke ground for the house in spring of 1955; we moved in, in
January of 1957. The last room wasn't finished off until about 1970.
Yes, the thermostat should have been moved, but I'm not sure he wanted
to after we'd moved into the house. Dad built most of the house himself;
he had a bit of help from other people but probably 95% of the work on
it was his doing. The chimney was built from stones lying around the
ground where it was built.

 ML> >  ML> > I tend to think of a tuna noodle casserole as "hot dish" and
 ML> some >  ML> sort > of red jello with fruit cocktail in it for the
 ML> jello salad. >  ML> Well, those are a worst-case scenario. Okay, maybe
 ML> a
 ML> >  ML> Spam dish could be even worse.
 ML> > They would be fine dining to some people. (G)

 ML> >  ML> I wouldn't think about any of that, because I'm a
 ML> >  ML> musician. Ormandy used to tell a story of conducting
 ML> > IOW, something you do as a matter of routine, without a lot of
 ML> thought > to it. Same as me, getting a piece of fabric ready to be
 ML> made into, say > a shirt. The steps I take are ingrained in my mind so
 ML> I don't need to > stop and think of what has to be done.

 ML> So today: opened the case, got the shoulder
 ML> thingy, cursed at it, made sure that the
 ML> strings were within delta, tightened up the
 ML> bow (haven't rosined in a long time), and
 ML> started to play. No conscious thought except
 ML> making sure the latch didn't hit my finger,
 ML> which would sting, and the cursing part.

Did the fingers have muscle memory enough to do a decent job of playing?

 ML> >  ML> Kreisler assured him, oh, no, I just wanted to make
 ML> >  ML> sure there were still four strings on the instrument.
 ML> > A rather laid back attitude there.

 ML> And at the same time Heifetz was about as
 ML> laid forward as possible - it is said that
 ML> when Kreisler looked out at the audience
 ML> he saw a thousand friends, and when Heifetz
 ML> did the same, he saw a thousand critics.

Interesting how the 2 differed in their outlook.


 ML> >  ML> It's in the timing: you want to cook the
 ML> >  ML> stuff for at least 45 minutes, as I recall,
 ML> >  ML> so it should get started as one set up
 ML> >  ML> camp, not after.
 ML> > I know, but he had this routine to setting things up and getting the
 ML> > kitchen set up was always one of the last things to be done. Mom
 ML> > couldn't work on getting a meal ready if she didn't have her kitchen
 ML> > area set up. (G)

 ML> So that meal should have been off the
 ML> rotation to begin with.

In reality, yes but this was our first extended trip as a family and Dad
was relying a lot on what he'd done with Boy Scout troops. I don't know
if he did this meal the first night out on week end camp outs with the
scouts or if it was a second night meal. By the time we did the second
extended trip as a family, meals like that for supper or pancakes for
breakfast were no longer on the menu. On the second trip he and Mom
tried using the Carnation Instant Breakfast for a lunch meal for the
family; that was another meal that never made a second appearance.

 ML> >  ML> You don't think of them as Chinese
 ML> >  ML> because they're likely not found on
 ML> >  ML> restaurant menus, but believe me, they
 ML> >  ML> are mainstays in real life.
 ML> > I'll take your word for it; you've been around Chinese kitchens a
 ML> lot > more than I have. (G)

 ML> You think?

Quite possibly.


---
Catch you later,
Ruth
rchaffly{at}earthlink{dot}net  FIDO 1:396/45.28


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