they'd all died from cold two months ago

144 / 350

(Through 140 was written yesterday, in the interest of full disclosure.)

Mean things: manipulative people who won't take no for an answer; people who are too nice to tell them off. Combine in a large bowl; stir...

That is not huge amounts of progress--it looks like more than it is 'cause I started a new chapter--but I did other things today. We went out to help on the farm we get a share from; I helped weed potatoes in the rain and got my hands exceedingly muddy in the process.

On the way back, we stopped in Stillwater, where I attempted to find some place in that town that would sell me a cup of tea (and eventually resorted to the co-op, which would sell me some very passable green tea). Stillwater is composed mainly of antique stores and riverfront, as far as I can tell. The riverfront is pretty, though, and the antique stores may be lovely--I did not venture inside.

They also have a few bookstores. In one of them, I contemplated the sad phenomenon that is the physics section in used bookstores, particularly popular-science books. Things that were cutting-edge in 1988 are, by and large, not so cutting-edge now, and 1988 is recent for some used bookstores.

Also, I took apart the tiny laser--well, mostly--and then put it back together, and now it doesn't work quite right. When it's on and I shake it too quickly it stops lasing. But I'll work on fixing that some other time.