Books we made

This fall we're in a bookbinding class, part of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at UI. Technically it's called "Adventures in Book Conservation" but "adventure" may not be quite accurate ;^} . The class instructors are from the Iowa Book Works, and the lead instructor is a conservator with the University library.Last night our class made books, using an ancient Ethiopian sewn-book technique. It was quite interesting and not too difficult, but the class members who knit, crochet, or sew seemed to find it easier than the others. The photo shows the books we made -- Judy's is upright and mine is reclining. If you can download and zoom into the photo you may see the pattern of the lock stitches on the spine; they can be quite nice.

Drive and drop

Today we went out on a "Drive and Drop" for the Obama/Biden campaign. I mentioned this in a post yesterday, but let me explain what that is.

The Democratic party has developed a list of everyone in Iowa who is a registered Democrat or has registered his or her intention to vote for the Obama/Biden ticket. Each day the county auditor in each county makes available the names of all the registered voters whose votes have been received (by mail ballot or at an early voting place). These names are marked off the master list, and the next morning the precinct captain will get a list of those voters in our precinct with an Obama/Biden interest who have not yet voted. We will take some of these names and will drive around a neighborhood, putting out door hangers reminding them to vote. Simple. Our job will be simplified considerably by the fact that well over 50% of the registered Democrats in our precinct have already voted.

On election day we will be poll watchers, another get-out-the-vote volunteer job. We will note and report those people on the list who have voted (not HOW they have voted, of couse; we won't know that) so that as the day goes along, the precinct captain will know who has not yet voted so they can be contacted with more reminders. Some of these contacts will be by phone and some by door knockers.

World Series 08

It's a little hard for a Cardinals fan to root for the Phillies in the World Series. I grew up in the 1950s when the Cards and Phillies always seemed to be racing for fourth place in the National League (there were only eight teams in each league then), so the Phillies were hardly the Good Guys, but at least they're National League instead of the Designated Hitter League. The Phillies seemed to win in spite of themselves; it was terribly frustrating seeing all the runners stranded in scoring position, game after game. But it's over and we have to settle for sports with time limits for a few months until baseball comes around again...

Interesting few days ahead

We've been looking for ways to be involved in the elections this year, but some of the traditional election volunteer activities, such as door-to-door canvassing or phone bank staffing, just don't fit our personalities. We've found two that do work, though. We'll be putting out door hangers in our precinct for registered Democrats who have not yet voted, and we'll be working as poll watchers on election day. Each of these is a two-hour commitment and there is training for poll watching, so we'll be a bit busier than usual through Tuesday, but it feels good to be doing more for the election than just voting.

First hard freeze

We had our first hard freeze last night -- not just a frost, but a real freeze. Not a big deal here, but I can just hear some California teeth knocking at the thought! It's supposed to be pretty nice by Hallowe'en, and I imagine that I'll have the usual bunch of terrible visitors. Lots of kids in the neighborhood, which is a lot of fun.

Gas mileage

We've all (well, those of us who watch TV) seen lots and lots of ads about how fuel-efficient the new cars are. I'm not particularly impressed -- I have a 14-year-old Nissan Maxima that was the top of the line in its day: six cylinder, good power, lots of accessories (for its time). And when I filled up yesterday, I had gotten 21 mpg in town (that's actual, not estimated) and often get 30 mpg on the road, and that's with E10 ethanol content that should actually reduce mileage a bit. That's comparable with many new compact cars and better than any of the new six-cylinder midsize cars.

I sometimes rent cars and like to get the smallest car I can, and some of these just-like-a-car-but-smaller vehicles are OK, but I'm not sure I'd like them every day. The only car I've driven that impressed me more with its economy and driveability was a Volkswagen turbodiesel we drove in Scotland in 2006. I didn't figure the fuel "mileage" but even with the very high European fuel costs, the per-mile fuel cost was just about the same as our cost here. In the US, the Jetta and Jetta Sportwagen diesel (30/41 manual, 29/40 auto) are impressive, but I think the European version gets even better mileage.

Last Saturday farmers' market for the season

Fall is lovely in Iowa, with oaks turning rust-colored, maples bursting into flames, and sumacs becoming scarlet ranks along the roads. The weather breaks and long-sleeved shirts come up from the basement closet, but it's not yet cold enough to deal with icy roads. It's time for the year to come to closure, but the closure is tinged with sadness because it's the end of the farmers' markets. The stuff for sale is different now, with hard winter squash and late fruit predominating, but there are still fresh tomatos and even a few raspberries. We'll miss all the fresh food but it will be back in six months -- Iowa's own version of Orpheus and Euridice.