No place like home

Today I:

• had an onion bagel with salmon cream cheese for breakfast
• have already had two cups of coffee
• am really bored
• am trying to fill the time with Secret Pal 8 strategizing

I started on a Top Secret Secret Pal 8 Project last night. This whole Secret Pal Thing looks like it will be fun, esp. since I like giving presents. Lucky for my victim - eh, I mean, spoilee - I am frugal, which means she will get more mileage for my dime, so to speak: labor doesn't count. And I am crafty. Bwahahaha!

Anyway, rest assured: if any of you happen to see me during the weekend, you will not be able to escape from me showing you the Top Secret Secret Pal 8 Project. (Soon to be replaced by Top Secret Secret Pal Project 8 #2.)

More Fun Regionalisms
My home town is fairly unique: it has a great view and lots of nature. It is also a little idiosyncratic, like everywhere.

For instance:

1. It has a Paul Bunyan's Day Parade tradition. (I didn't realize this wasn't normal until I was 12 and moved to Petaluma, CA.)
2. It had a steam engine, openly called "the Skunk Train", for obvious reasons
3. Some people actually get to their houses via the Skunk Train because they live in the woods
4. a nearby (under 20 miles away) village was still teaching elementary school in Swedish until 1975, if I am not mistaken...
5. The phrase "we're going to make wood" is not a come on: it's about making firewood.
6. "Garage saling": that's right, "garage sale" as a verb.
7. "Going over the Hill" is not just a remark about aging/senility: it means you are going over the mountain - usually on The Willits Road (aka, Hwy 20, or, as it is known in Willits, The Fort Bragg Road). This "road" is about 20 miles long and takes about 40 minutes to drive. (Do the math on that one and think about it. Parallel parking wasn't on my driving test back home, but hairpin turns were.) My mother assures me the "road" is much better than it used to be: when she was a teenager, it wasn't as straight, and it wasn't paved. The other main route into town (HWY 1) was described my my boyfriend/ partner/ whatnot as "terrifyingly scenic."
8. The other roads into town? You don't want to know. I went on one of them once, just for the hell of it, and I turned back after about two hours.

Last night, I:

• had veggie soup and a salad for dinner
• ate things from the OKC but I have blanked out exactly what...
• knit