A bloodless soup
Monthly recap: I got back from spending Thanksgiving in Maine Sunday night. I made the trip north in what's become my average time, 8.5 hours driveway to driveway. Heading out after work on Tuesday it was snowing in Rochester and raining in Norway, so I planned on slushy/sleety driving somewhere along the way. Instead, I had clear (albeit dark) skies except for 20 minutes of rain in eastern NY. Coming back to Rochester, I ran into a 20 mph traffic jam in western MA, but somehow made record time - just under 8 hours for the entire trip. I didn't get the impression that there was that much less traffic overall on the return trip, but I must have spent a lot more time at 77-78 (my preferred "not quite fast enough to warrant a ticket" speed) than I usually manage.

At my folks place I managed to do a bit of cooking, which was nice, since I haven't been doing much of it at home in Rochester. I was in charge of the turkey, and while it wasn't brined, it came out nice and juicy. I made gravy from scratch and was really pleased with the results. With the gravy-making experience I gleaned from turkey day, I think I'll try to do a sausage gravy and biscuits breakfast for Pat and Marisa this weekend.

Ice is starting to cover the places on the lake with less current, which means the folks were past due for getting the dock out of the water. Pops and I dragged it ashore; Pat and I will probably put it on top of the ice during X-mas, which is easier than dragging it into the water in mud season.

Two weeks ago I was feeling a little under the weather, so I decided to have a bowl of chicken soup for dinner. I unwrapped the six-pack of progresso we bought at BJ's the day before, and was surprised to find that the cans inside were pop-tops. The top of the can instructed me to pull up slowly on the ring, and I did as directed. Pulling gently with my index finger, I opened the can half-way until the lid stuck a little. I then pulled considerably harder and the lid came free of the can, leaving an inch-long gash along the inside of my ring finger. I've always thought that I had poor circulation in my extremities, as my fingers and toes get cold quickly and stay that way, while the rest of me is pretty resilient to cold. This theory has been thrown into serious doubt, as it is evident that my extremities are, in fact, chock-full of blood. I managed to keep all of the red stuff out of my dinner, and some gauze and medtape stopped the bleeding. The wound would have healed cleaner if I had cut myself with a knife, but the dull edge of the lid tore the flesh rather than slicing through it. The deepest part of the cut didn't really close up on its own, I had to hold the edges together with super glue. Aside from making me feel just about as stupid as Dubya (nearly undone by a pretzel), this whole incident wouldn't really be worth mentioning except that it's left my finger a little girthier where the cut was deepest - just before the first knuckle - and this is a finger I need for bowling.

I went bowling tonight for the first time since cutting my finger, and managed to be pretty consistent: 160, 162, 155, 167. Not my best stuff, but consistency has to come before improvement, right? My ring finger didn't fit all the way into the grip, but I was able to jam it most of the way in. I also got reproducable results, which is what really matters. I might change the grip out for a wider one if the swelling hasn't gone down in a few weeks, but it's not a big problem.

I'll be in DC starting this Friday, circa 5:30pm, and I'll be leaving sometime late Sunday. I'll be at the Caps game Saturday night with a whole pile of other CSH alums, and Saturday morning is going to be tourist-y stuff with Pat and Marisa (the Air & Space addition where they keep the big stuff, Natural History, the new WWII memorial, etc.). I'm not sure what Saturday evening and Sunday will be spent doing, but I'm sure it will be fun. Drop me a line if you're in town and down for shenanigans (I finally fixed my voicemail, so I can actually return your calls!).