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A View From the Field |
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November, 2005
November 30 Well, November is history. I think I try to hang on to every moment because they are going by so fast. Sometimes I wonder if I got up earlier, the days would seem to last longer, but I doubt it, because I still need at least 10 hours' sleep, so if I got up at 7:00, I'd have to be in bed by 9:00 anyway, and that would cut the evenings.
When I got to the office this morning, there was a hourglass on the screen, and the entire machine was hung. This time it was a part of Norton, and what caused it to hang is totally beyond me. Everything was OK when I left last night. Weird.
So anyway, the first picture was around 10:30. You didn't miss anything much, though. The view was the same all day - cloudy, dark, and with intermittent light snow squalls. The LES (lake effect snow) machine is working, but not in high gear, partly because it's so cold. The temperature has slowly fallen from 25º at midnight to around 20º now, but there isn't much wind. While there has been some snow for most of the day, there has been hardly any accumulation, except for a nice drift right in front of the office slider. Figures.
I actually like this weather, not that I was out in it much. Somehow, the clean air makes it much more comfortable here than in Detroit. One reason is probably that in Detroit, any wind at all gets magnified by the buildings and when it whips around a corner and hits you in the face, it can be brutal. It would have to be a lot more windy (which I'm sure it will be) here to feel like that...or maybe I'm getting used to it, if you leave out my hands and feet.
I guess I accomplished most of what I intended today. It was hard...sweeping floors is hard work, at least for me, and my back was acting up. I got most of the flies swept up, most of the trash out (although as usual, I forgot the fridge), and most of the kitchen counters cleaned. I have a bit more to do there, the sink counter and the floor, but I think it's under control, more or less.
I did spend some time (finally) putting together my log holder, and now I have a call in to Williams-Sonoma, because there was no picture of the final thing, I had thrown out the catalog, and it just doesn't seem right. The instructions were, to say the least, brief, and some parts of it don't seem to fit just right. However, it will do. I wanted to do that, because I wanted to get the box out of the great room. It's still there, but it will go tomorrow.
I rushed some and exhausted myself, because I wanted to get to the compactor before it got dark. It is unlocked all the time now, which is good, because it was about 5:15 before I got there, and I had six bags to toss in. Some were huge and light and some were small and heavy (the catalogs). So even though everything I wanted to pitch didn't get in, most of the trash is now gone. A good job. I have to go to the post office one last time tomorrow, and I may just put the rest of the stuff in a bag and take it then. Hmm...Not a bad thought.
So now I am taking a dinner break while one of Buster's fleece throws and one of my tops are washing, then I will do the dishes so that the dishwasher isn't packed full when I get back (I hate that). I guess we'll make it.
There is supposed to be snow on Friday, but then, there is snow every day, so I guess I will plan to leave then, unless I simply can't get myself together tomorrow. It may be a slow trip, but oh, well.
My goodness, how I hate to go! Part of it is just that long drive, with the cat howling in the back, but the longer I am here the less I want to leave, and that's how it is.
So it is another dark and snowy night in the field, and I don't want to leave it.
November 29 It sure was nice not to have to fight FrontPage very much to get this uploaded last night, even though I had to start it twice. Now if I could only discover why it does what it does, and how to get around it.
Anyway, I got to bed at a reasonable hour, but I am beginning to think about the leaving, so it took me a while to get to sleep. Once I decided what to do today, though, it was all right. It was warm in the bedroom, but that was all right, too.
My goodness, my fingers aren't coordinating very well tonight!
Anyway, I didn't get up early, and I didn't start early, but I did accomplish something. I got to the post office early and turned in my package, my bills, my change-of-address and Miranda's bill and had a conversation with Clyde before I came back.
I had decided that the task of the day was the breezeway. There was so much stuff that needed to be put someplace, including a lot of empty bags. It is all pretty much sorted out, except for the stuff I brought back in August (and some stuff I brought in June!) and never brought inside. That is now in the hallway and will be put someplace tomorrow. Trouble is, I brought all my flannel up here, and I think I will take a couple of pieces back, along with the patterns, and see if maybe, just maybe, I can get a couple of nightgowns cut out. Now all of my flannel nightgowns have rips in the right sleeve, so it is high time for some new ones. If I can get some cut out, I can sew them here when I get back, maybe.
Anyway, tomorrow is cleaning, including a trip to the dumpster, and Thursday is packing. I think it might work.
It was a good day to turn inward, I must say. The temperature started out at around 45º at midnight and it has been dropping all day, slowly through the night (it was still 39º when I got to the office), then quicker through the afternoon, and it's now in the mid 20s. It started out raining more or less heavily, and around noon the rain began to turn to snow. Even though there hasn't been enough precip to register at the NWS station, it's been snowing lightly all afternoon, and I suppose it still is. The only fortunate thing is, the blizzard that hit the far midwest seems to have fizzled, and we are apparently not going to get dumped on.
My attempts to do anything were hampered both by my back, which was sore, and by Buster, who wanted to sit on my lap all the time. I think he thinks, in his fuzzy little mind, that if he keeps me from doing anything, we won't go. Sorry, Buster.
So it's now later than I thought it was, and it's time to trundle off to the north end again. It's a snowy, blowy night in the field tonight.
November 28 Wow, what a night, and what a lost day! I was on dial backup when I uploaded the journal, and for whatever reason, the upload of all the image files went just like clockwork...very slow clockwork, like three and a half hour's worth! Since I knew that if I left it and went to bed, it would crap out (Murphy's laws and all that), I stayed and watched it...until about 2:20 this morning! So I jumped into bed and slept until nearly 11:00 this morning, which essentially shot the day.
I did make a few phone calls and got some address changes squared around, I think. And that was about it.
I went to the post office, and forgot the bills I paid last night, but that's all right, because my new boots were there and they are too small too (gad, what's happening to my feet?!), so they will have to be sent back. There were a lot more catalogs to throw out (any women's clothing catalog that calls a size 16 an "XL" gets pitched without a further glance), so it was just as well that I didn't get the trash collected.
The main reason I didn't try to get all the trash together is that it was raining, sometimes only a drizzle, and sometimes quite hard, all day long. There was a lot of fog and the temperature started out around 40º and rose for most of the day until now it's officially around 46º. It was a good day to look in the other direction, although I should have filled the bird feeders. Tomorrow.
Now I hope to get a very early start at the sleep thing, and maybe an earlier morning than before, and while I eat, decide what has to be done and what doesn't over the next three days.
As usual, I'm trying to ignore what I don't want to do, but it has to be done after all. Even knowing I'll be back in a month doesn't help at this point, it only makes it a bit easier to get ready. But it's always hard, and I always don't want to do it.
It's dark and drizzly tonight in the field.
November 27 The reason I didn't sleep very well last night was obvious - I was hot. In fact, I was so hot that in the middle of the night, I got up and put on my cotton nightie. That helped, but it was still warm...or I was.
The reason was that the temperature outside was around 35º all night long, with southwest winds that started out brisk but soon fell off to nothing. The temperature continued rising all day long, and is now (officially) 41º, it is nearly calm and very foggy and rainy. I think I'd rather have a blizzard.
I did manage to accomplish a little today. My desk is (or was) as clean as it's been in some time. The filing is done except for the financial stuff, and that will be done before I go to bed. Mostly there is a lot of stuff to throw out, but I have to look at it all, of course, before I throw. Those were the two things that were bugging me. There is a lot more to do, but that chore (which I really hate) is done.
I was working on the desk when I got a call from Peggy inviting me to a birthday dinner for Shirley, so of course I went. It wasn't all the kids, but she did invite the Twarziks, too, so we had a nice time, although I confess I was late. I am going to have to get back into lets-be-on-time mode before I get to the big city, believe me.
As I mentioned, it was a misty-moisty, warm, rainy day today, and when it got dark, it began to get really foggy. Slipping and sliding up the hill in the dark and the fog was interesting, I have to say!
I did manage to get a couple of addresses changed - the few that really need it - just before the broadband went down, so I am now on dial backup again. After I upload this, I will try the broadband again. On average, though, I don't think I have as much trouble with the broadband as I used to with the phone line, so I really can't complain. When I think of all the links it takes to get from Calumet to me, it isn't surprising that it hiccups every so often. Sometimes it's just a transient thing - it went down last night, but rebooting fixed it - and sometimes it's something somebody has to work on. We'll see this time.
So that is all I know, and I will get this uploaded and start on the basket of stuff that needs to be sorted...wouldn't it be nice to be disciplined enough that I did it every month? Fat chance. There are some new tricks you can teach an old cat, and some tricks you can't.
It's warm and quiet in the field tonight.
November 26 For some reason I didn't sleep very well last night, so I'll try it again tonight and see. I did get up at a fairly reasonable hour, but I didn't do much...unloaded the dishwasher and put away all the pots and pans and shoveled the front porch.
I shoveled the porch because around 2:30 this afternoon, Donny and Tom arrived and in about 10 minutes had the tree and all the rest of the larger debris off the deck. When I went out to say hello, it was so nice out that I thought I might as well shovel. The snow is light and fluffy, and it was a lot easier to shovel than the last time I did.
There was actually a lot of sunshine today, and the temperature got up to around 28º with not much wind, so it was nice outside, and it got nice and warm inside. If there is any sunshine, this house has pretty good passive solar heat...
This has been a year without many good sunsets, so I thought I would share two pictures from tonight. They're not spectacular, but they're nice. I'm sorry I had my back to the door at about the time of the 4:55 shot, since it looks like there were some nice crepuscular rays as well as some color. Oddly enough, the next two pictures were blah, then came the 5:40 shot, which I did see. Actually, it looks better in the camera than it did in person. So who can tell? Anyway, here they are.
It always frustrates me when it looks like there are clear skies just over the horizon. I can remember many a day when I was vacationing here that the clouds would be thick over the land, and we could see the clear skies and sunshine over the lake.
So time's a-wastin' and I really must do something tomorrow. It doesn't help that the Thursday holiday got my sense of time completely messed up, and I keep forgetting that this is only Saturday, and I can't do any telephoning until the day after tomorrow. So maybe I can get the filing done tomorrow. At least I will aim for that. I won't be distracted by going out for dinner, either, although it was nice to eat with Shirley one last time...for a month.
And that is all there is. it's another quiet night in the field.
November 25 Since I keep getting a tic in the corner of my eyelid, I think I will get this done and trundle off to bed.
In case anybody wondered that there weren't very many updates to the camera during the middle of the day today, I'm sorry. I had to recover a good version of Outlook Express - again - and between moving the files and numerous reboots because of the buggy software, then trying to recover my email files, which was successful, I think, I had the camera down for about 2é hours. I did manage to rebuild everything, and I learned how to recover the email files individually, so I guess it was all a success. Quite a pain, though, and since I didn't want to leave it by itself, it was 1:30 before I ate my first meal of the day.
Not that there was a lot to see outside. The wind has died down, and the temperature has gone up to a high of about 23º, but all day long little snow squalls kept moving across the harbor. There wasn't much accumulation, because it was that fine sandy snow that packs down, but it was pretty steady.
I did get the dishes, including the pots and pans, washed, but they aren't put away yet, but that was about the extent of my exertions.
Tonight I ate with Shirley, Donny and Peggy, which was nice, Shirley tells me I really missed something by not driving down M-26 yesterday, and I was sure I had. The roads weren't bad at all, but evidently the waves were truly impressive, and there was enough spray that all the trees were frosted. Oh, well...
While I was recovering the system, I went through a few of my pile of new catalogs, but I need to sort out the old ones and downsize the pile a lot. I'm sure there will be another 12" pile when I get back. Unfortunately, I saw the dining table I really want for the great room...$1600. A little beyond my budget right now, darn it. And that's without the chairs. Oh, well. It is the first glass-topped dining table I've seen for sale since 1993 or so. However, now I've decided just to use the one from the other house. It was a nice thought..,
And that is about all I have to report. Its' a quiet, cold night in the field. It felt so good when I came out of Mariner tonight and took a breath of that clean, cold air. Since there wasn't any wind, it didn't even feel all that cold. How I love this place!
November 24 - Thanksgiving Day I do hope everyone has had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day, doing what you love most.
I did...nothing much.
It was a wild and hairy night in the field, and it was a wild and hairy day as well. The sustained winds have been gale force since yesterday, with a peak at about 43 mph at 11:00 this morning. The temperature, fortunately, has been rising, from a low of 9º at 5:00 to a high of 25º now. The lake is still roaring away, and even now the winds are 33-40 mph. WE didn't get nearly as much snow as I think they did further south, but it's hard to tell, because it's all that fine, sandy stuff that comes down when it's really cold, and it was blowing so hard that surfaces that would normally be covered are scoured nearly bare. I do know that there were waves of LES snow squalls, one after another, all day long. One minute you could see the mountain, or at least the town, and the next it was all white.
I didn't sleep very well last night, and I think part of the problem was the noise of the new humidifier. It's not noisy, per se, but I'm just not used to any noise at all inside the house. As a result, I could only hear the lake when I went into the bathroom, which I did more than usual. I could hear the wind, especially when a gust slammed into the north side of the house. True north is off the corner of the bathroom. but it was hitting pretty hard through the night. The other neat thing, which I love about these storms, is when a rogue wave would hit the rocks with a loud thunk! amid the general roar.
I think I have the temperature situation under more control, although I could have used some auxiliary heat in the great room during the day. If I keep the office door practically closed, it does get warmer in here, and if I eat before I'm ravenous, I stay warmer too.
The humidifier, other than its noise, is a real success. I had been having trouble with my nose, which yesterday meant that all day long I smelled something that smelled like hot rubber. Sometimes it's tobacco smoke, or some other unpleasant smell. That is gone now, and I think just sleeping in a well-humidified room will solve my problem. When I get back here, I will try to get another, smaller humidifier for the office, and that will solve my humidity problems for this year.
The other problem with the humidifier is that while the package says it holds enough water for 24 hours (2 gallons), it was nearly empty by the time I got up this morning. I don't know if that will continue to be the case, but if so, I will have to fill it twice a day. I've tried the sink in the bathroom, and I tried the hand shower in the tub and neither worked very well, so I guess I will have to fill it in the laundry room. Live and learn. So long as it keeps me comfortable, I will cope.
Since I didn't sleep very well during the night, I got up late and didn't do much...so much for my desire to do a chore a day. However, this is a hollday, right?
I did cook, and I ended up with a real feast. The turkey breast is very tasty but tough, and it made a small amount of very tasty gravy. So there were mashed Yukon Gold potatoes, buttered beets, and delicata squash...and i forgot my salad. Tomorrow. I had quite enough to eat. And Buster put his lick of approval on everything by licking the plate and even eating some of the turkey. We do like turkey.
I'm glad that I didn't invite anyone for dinner, because my timing was terrible. The squash and the beets took much longer to cook than I thought, so the turkey was cool and the potatoes only warm by the time I ate. I should know better: squash and beets can be warmed up, but some things have to be hot.
I also have a huge number of dirty dishes and dishes full of stuff, and a stove that is even dirtier than it was, because everything boiled over. Well, now I can get it all cleaned up, since I doubt there will be much more serious cooking for the next week. I also indulged in using both ovens...the first time I've done that...so that I could bake the squash at a higher temperature than the turkey. It's a good kitchen to cook in, and it would be even better if it was cleaned up before I started.
I usually save my rumination on how blessed I am for New Year's Eve, but I must say, I am so blessed and so thankful. I have my Savior, I have my health again, and I am really going to get to live in the place I love most. There may be more glitches on the way, but it will all work out the way it's supposed to. I have a very great deal to be thankful for.
I spent some time this afternoon sitting in the ugly chair, knitting and watching the snow squalls come through. So this is a blizzard in the Keweenaw. I think I can handle this. I am just going to have to see that both Buster and I have enough food ahead that I can hibernate for two or three days if necessary. I'm sure it will get more interesting as the snow gets deeper, but nobody up here clears snow until it's stopped anyway.
I still love to hear the lake. The higher the waves, the lower the pitch of the roaring, and it has been a really deep, bass roar since yesterday afternoon. I do wish I could have gotten out to take some pictures, but with the wind and conditions that were near white-outs happening every little while, I decided it would be better just to stay here.
As usual, the NWS started out with incredible predictions of wave heights (and I mean that literally), but they have now scaled back to 15 feet max, and I doubt they got that high at the shore. Twelve feet, yes, I can certainly believe, and the pitch of the roar indicates that. I'm sorry the humidifier drowns out that wonderful lullaby.
I do hope any lakers out on the lake took shelter yesterday morning. There were a few out there on November 9, and all I can say is, they should have known better. You do not play around with Mother Superior when she is in that mood. Jeff Coltas said yesterday that somebody went up on top of Brockway (I hope he stayed in his car!) and during that storm on the 9th, there was one small laker who was trying to go north to Thunder Bay, and he was having a really rough time. Idiot. The Edmund Fitzgerald might have been a fluke, but these days everybody should know better.
The blizzard is supposed to last through noon tomorrow or so, but now the temperature is rising and the winds are abating a bit, apparently enough to let the temperature inside the house get up into the comfortable-to-warm range.
So it was a quiet Thanksgiving Day, with good food, and not much else, and since I didn't sleep very well last night, I think I will try to get started early again tonight...after I put all the food away and put the pots and pans to soak...and wash the dishes.
It's still wild and wooly in the field tonight.
November 23 For various reasons I don't remember, I was very late getting to bed last night, so I was late getting up, and not as much got accomplished as I dreamed about. About as usual.
When I could see outside, I noticed that I couldn't see the lights on the public dock, and I couldn't for most of the night, so I knew it was snowing, although the wind was very light and the temperature gradually rose to about 30º, where it stayed until around noon today.
Then the temperature rose and the wind went nuts, and here we are in a true November gale. The temperature briefly rose to about 36º before it dropped off, and now it's 24º and the wind is steady at 34 mph with gusts to 47 mph from the north. Wow!
A "storm" is even stronger than a "gale" and the forecast is for storm warnings overnight, so we haven't felt the full force of it yet. It is snowing lightly, because I can't see the lights, but mostly it's the wind.
I got the car unloaded, but the stuff is still in the hallway, and I didn't have a chance to get the trash together, although I got a start on it. I have been drinking a couple of kinds of wine that come in beautiful cobalt blue glass bottles, and I had accumulated quite a number of them. I finally decided that, pretty or not, they have to go, since I don't have a bottle cutter, and besides, I don't have a clue what I might do with them. I can always get more. So the kitchen counter is somewhat cleared off, and I have a bag that is only about half full but very heavy because it's full of glass.
After I went to the post office, for another ton of catalogs, and to the Gaslight for milk and some new salad dressing, I did get outside and pulled down the shutters over the porch screens. I should have done that yesterday, but there wasn't much snow to clear out, so it didn't take me long. The temperature was still in the middle 30s, but the wind was nearly 30 mph from the north, so it was an interesting time to be outside. My worst problem was that the gusts kept trying to push the snow shovel down the porch, so long as it wasn't right on the deck. I am sure I'm not getting the full force of the winds, because of the trees between me and the big lake, but it's strong enough, and I can hear the lake roaring already. It will be a good night to sleep.
So the hatches are battened down as much as they can be...and I discovered that the slider didn't get closed completely the last time it was opened, so I took care of that. I really hate having the shutters closed. The porch doors are full light doors, and there is a window in the hallway that opens on to the porch, and when the shutters are down, it is really dark in the kitchen and hallway. However, since I eventually expect to have some rather nice, if old, porch furniture out there, I am just as glad to have them, because otherwise I would have to remove the furniture every fall and replace it every spring, and that stuff is heavy.
Buster does not like this weather. He keeps coming up to me and complaining and all he wants to do is sleep on my lap, and he looks unhappy. Too bad about him. I don't want to be mean to him, but he is just going to have to get used to it, since this is going to be our permanent home. I do think that part of his problem is that he is anticipating that we will be leaving, and that worries him, too. I wish there was something I could do to make him more comfortable, but I don't know what it would be except to stay permanently in Detroit, and that would make me miserable. I'm willing to do some things for my pets, but not that.
I forgot some comments on the trip to town yesterday. There is still a lot more snow from the Mountain Lodge to Quincy Hill, especially in the woods, and one thing that i noticed that made me happy is that while it was pretty dirty in Hancock, up in Keweenaw County, even right alongside the road, the snow was still nearly white. They use more sand and salt further south, and there are more big trucks going down Quincy Hill than there are here, so the snow stays nice and white. There were some very respectable piles in Calumet, where some people evidently cleaned up their entire front yards. So they got a lot more snow than we did, and it didn't melt like ours did.
I took Cliff Drive going south, and that was a mistake. There was still some stuff on the roadway that looked half melted, and there were places that could have been wet or could have been icy, it was hard to tell with the sun angle so low. I felt much more comfortable coming back, when I went through Mohawk. There was some wet on the roads, but they were completely clear of snow or slush. At this time of year, Cliff Drive is not such a timesaver as it can be in the summer, and the road is kept in better condition. Note to self.
I think there was something else I forgot to say, but I can't remember it now, so that will be for another time.
My exertions of yesterday and my late night have left me tired, so I think I will call it an early night tonight. I'm sure I will sleep well to the roar of the lake and the howling of the wind.
It's a wild and hairy night in the field tonight.
November 22 Well, I slept long and hard, and I didn't get up early, so it was late when I started for town, but I decided I'd better go today. Tomorrow will be a zoo. It actually wasn't bad, either in Wal-Mart or in Econo Foods.
It was after 1:30 when I started for town, but oh, well. I'm not much good for any more shopping anyway. The only thing about going so late was that I decided not to stop for lunch, so i didn't get much rest time.
There was one thing I was thinking about getting at Wal-Mart that I didn't, and now I've forgotten what it was. Instead, I got enough yarn (black and white and black-and-white) to make another hat and a scarf to match. I like the hat I made last June so much that I want another one with a matching scarf (how I'm going to do that one, I don't quite know yet...just get out the needles and play around, I guess). Mostly, I got a humidifier for the bedroom and a couple more inside doormats. I need one at the door to the breezeway, and I know I will need one in the office when the deck gets snowy. I also picked up a boot mat, which I will probably put outside the breezeway door.
Then it was off to Econo, and I got everything I wanted except some fresh salad dressing. Yes, I plan to have a salad Thursday, all by myself, as well as a turkey breast, beets, squash, potatoes and gravy, and the whole thing. I did content myself with just a breast. The fresh turkeys were all Honeysuckle, which are now injected (how disappointing), and besides, Econo doesn't carry Pepperidge Farms stuffing mix, which is where I prefer to start my turkey stuffing. So it won't be quite the same, but it will be all right. Besides, I love turkey in practically any form.
I also got some meat to stock the freezer - some beef to braise, some nice meaty spare ribs, and lots of ground beef. While I will pack the ground beef as patties, I will be able to haul out a pound or so to make something like chili, as well as having a nice hamburger on an onion roll, which I also got. I laid in several loaves of my favorite bread, and lots of orange juice, although that will go to Detroit with me.
Then there was the JD...I wanted some for here, and I believe I was practically out at the other house, so I wanted some to take back with me, and after I got that, I ran across a gift pack with a fifth plus two very nice rocks glasses...sooo...
Anyway, the stuff I got at Wal-Mart is mostly still in the car, except for the humidifier, and the breezeway is even more full than it was before, but I will start taking care of that tomorrow. The breezeway has become an auxiliary ice box since it got cold, which is very handy. I don't think it's below freezing out there, although I must remember to put out my other thermometer just to see.
And I remember what I forgot to look for at Wal-Mart: the temperature in the breezeway is perfect for wine, so I wanted to get a wine rack to consolidate my wine out there...but I forgot. For the future, I guess. I may look around when I'm in Detroit, or in the catalogs. I want one that holds a dozen bottles of wine or so, but it doesn't need to be really fancy.
Anyway, the shopping chore is now done, and I can begin to work around here. I am hoping to do one chore a day, at least, which should mean everything will get done before a week from Friday. Knowing me, that will be hard to do, but we'll see.
So now it is late, and I do need to take a bath before I crash...
Oh, the weather! It was a rather interesting day. The temperature was between 20º and 25º all day long, again colder than it's ever been when I was here, and there were great puffy gray clouds in the sky most of the time, although in the middle of the afternoon, it was nearly clear for a while between 3:30 and 5:00, after which the dark snow clouds rolled in again. The wind wasn't bad, mostly from the north, although now it has swung around to the southwest. There is a winter storm warning out from tomorrow night through Friday morning, and now they have upgraded it to a blizzard warning from tomorrow night through Thursday night. Gee, if it pans out, it will be my first blizzard! Of course they are warning about power outages, so it could get cold in here, too.
How exciting! And how sad for the people who want to travel for the holiday. Well, that's winter in the northwoods, I guess.
Now, however, it's just cold and quiet in the field, the calm before the storm again.
November 21 I had some thought of going to town today, but last night I spent much too long sitting in the bathroom staring at the floor and thinking...a bad thing to do in any case. As a result, I got up late and didn't do much. I did get the bird feeders refilled, but that was about it.
It was a mostly cloudy day, with a few bright spots but no sun. The temperature hung in at around 40º until 3:00, and it's been falling off ever since, and is now 27º at the NWS station and 23º here. The discrepancy is probably that there is a north-northeast wind at 25 - 40 mph or higher...the NWS station is somewhat sheltered from that direction, too. Anyway, the lake has been singing loudly all afternoon.
It was still 40ish when I went out to the feeders, but that strong north wind made it pretty cold on my deck, and I didn't stay long.
I did wash a load of fleece, which is now drying on the drying rack (I don't put my fleece clothes in the dryer - a tip I got from Malden Mills, and which seems to help).
Buster wanted to sleep on my lap all day, but when he used my right arm as a pillow, it kept falling asleep, so I finally had to boot him out.
Last night, I had come back into the office for something and when I turned on the lights, one of them blew out. That is the third one in the office, but I haven't lost any anyplace else. Sort of weird, but if the pictures I got while the house was being built mean anything, this room was the one everybody was in all the time, and I suspect they left the lights on all the time they were here, and probably sometimes when they weren't. A friend had warned me that canister lights burn out quickly, so I am prepared, but so far that hasn't been the case, except hereee. Now I need to climb up on a stool and replace it. The last time I was on a stool (when I closed the window), I did OK, however, so I will have to remember to do that.
Otherwise, it was another late November day, and our little warm spell seems to be over, and there is supposed to be more snow on the way. We'll see. It's a good night to sleep to the big lake's lullaby, so I will.
November 20 A short one tonight. I was more or less awakened by the phone this morning, and it was Jackie, telling me that no one had raked the leaves in my front yard and it was a mess...at great length. Oh, dear.
I did fold clothes and put some of them away, and I washed towels, but that was about it.
It was a dark day, with thick clouds, but the temperature stayed around 35º all day, with light winds. Now, with the wind from the west, the temperature is slowly rising again. That is a strange thing - I've never lived anyplace where the temperature rose as the sun set. It's been doing it a lot lately, and I find it strange.
It was warm enough that most of the snow in my yard and on my deck is gone, so I guess this week we are supposed to start over. However, it will be over freezing for the next couple of days, so any snow that comes down will probably melt, at least here in the harbor. About the higher elevations, I can't say.
So that is all I know. It was a nearly lost day, and it's time to put it behind me.
November 19 I knew the temperature was rising, but before I went to bed I went around and turned up the thermostats anyway. So of course, I was hot all night ling and I didn't sleep well, partly because of that and partly because my pressure points all hurt. I got up before I wanted to this morning when it became apparent that I was too uncomfortable to sleep. So I was sleepy all day long.
It didn't help that I had a sinus headache for most of the night and most of the day. I think that's because the humidity around here has gotten down below 30%, which is much too dry for me. When I was at Wal-Mart the last time, I investigated room humidifiers, and they had quite a selection, all most reasonably priced. So when I go to town this week, I will have to get a couple, one for the bedroom and one for the office. That ought to help.
The temperature here was over freezing all night long, so all our pretty frosted bushes had lost their white coats, and there was more melting than I would have thought. My driveway was an awful mess this morning, but as the melting continued, it got better.
I decided it was high time I washed, so I started that, and then I got brave and went out and shoveled off the front porch. About 6" of very wet, heavy snow had accumulated, but the ice was mostly gone, and I could get the door open enough to get out. It actually wasn't much of a job at all, I'm glad to say, and I didn't even work up a sweat, which is most unusual for me. The worst problem I had is that I was working mostly right under the drip edge of the roof, and since I'd forgotten about that, I got rather wet, enough that I had to change my fleece overshirt. I should have put on my slicker, but once I was out there, I just decided to do it. I don't say I did a perfect job, but it's a lot better than it was.
The last load of clothes is in the washer now, so most of that chore will be done.
When it was so cold in the house yesterday, I partially closed the door to the bedroom, and I had intended to leave it that way overnight. However, I discovered that my little furry friend hasn't forgotten that I've closed him in the bedroom when I was trying to trap him and stuff him in the cage, and he wouldn't come in either the bedroom or the bathroom all night long, even though I eventually opened the bedroom door and left it open all night long. What a long memory he has for bad things! We'll see what he does tonight.
I will have to reset the thermostat in the bedroom, because it was just too hot in there overnight, and when it cools off again, we'll see. The only trouble with having multiple set-back thermostats is that resetting them is a pain in the rear. However, it's supposed to be pretty warm for the next couple of days, and I do want to sleep.
It was a dreary day, but the temperature rose to around 40º before falling back a bit, and there wasn't much wind until late in the afternoon, when it shifted around to the north and is now 14-22 mph. However, everybody insists it's going to be even warmer tomorrow. We'll see.
There was a slight hiatus there while I rebooted the system. FrontPage never releases its memory, so after using it for a few days, it chews up all the memory there is, and nothing worked for a few minutes. Stupid program.
Anyway, I don't have much else to say. The snow on the deck is almost all melted away. I think that the wind probably is mostly responsible, but I'm not going to complain. I wasn't looking forward to shoveling that drift in front of the door. Our road must have been interesting to drive on earlier in the day, but by the time I went to dinner, it wasn't very slippery anymore and it was down to the pebbles in a lot of spots. I am glad to have that 4WD, though.
So now I have only about two weeks left before I have to go south, and I don't want to go in spite of the fact that I'll be coming back in a month. I just want to stay here. Too bad it's too far to commute.
It's rather warm and rather moist in the field tonight.
November 18 I finally left FrontPage updating something last night, and when I came into the office this morning, it was still updating...clearly in a loop. I am beginning to think I may have to find a new web design program...what a pain!
Anyway, it took me a little time to get to sleep last night, but once I started, I did good. Around 6:00 this morning, I woke up, and there was the moon, shining in my windows, looking very cold and blue.
It actually was warming up, and it was around 25º for most of the day, with not much wind, and it wasn't bad at all outside, although I wasn't out much. It's now up to 28º and seems to be rising, so maybe it will be a tad warmer tomorrow. I do wish it would thaw so I can do something about the ice on the porch.
However, it was cold in here, at least at the south end. So I pushed up the thermostat in the office and partially closed the door, and that has helped a lot. I will have to take the hold off soon, but I think closing the door helped.
Of course, you know that when you have a cat, you can never completely close a door. I've left it open enough that he can come and go. I also closed off the bedroom, because it was only 60º in the great room all day. I did reverse the fans, both in the office and in the great room. I don't think it did much good in the office - just made it drafty - and I can't tell about the great room. I may have to set the thermostats up a bit.
I always knew keeping it warm, especially in the great room, was going to be a problem, with all the windows, and it seems I was right, although the bedroom and bathroom seem to be all right. I will just have to fiddle around some...and get some wood.
I was sleepy, for some reason, today, but I did make a start at getting the office, which is a total disaster, back into shape. I kept getting sidetracked looking at some of the catalogs that came this week, but I do have a start on it. Time is passing, and while it won't be such a chore as when I'm leaving for five months, there are still some things I need to do to try to leave things in order. I really hate leaving a place in a mess, because it's so discouraging when I come back to it.
This evening, there was dinner with Shirley. It wasn't busy in Mariner, except that Lydia brought about 15 girls, on a basketball team she is helping to coach, back for a sleep-over. That could get interesting, and the regular bartender fled screaming, I think.
There was a little bit of sunshine early this morning, but it didn't last long. It was nice to see, I must say. And tonight, when I came out of Mariner, there were a few flakes of snow on the car. I keep hoping we'll have a little thaw, but it doesn't look too hopeful. We'll see.
And that is another cold night in the field.
November 17 It was a late night last night, and a late morning this morning, but that was all right. I did do a thing or two.
Early in the morning, there was a period of partly-clear skies, and the nearly-full moon was shining on my bed, so bright and blue. It was beautiful, but it didn't last long.
I am still enjoying the beautiful trees, and the whole area is just as lovely. I made it to the post office today - and returned the third pair of boots - and it was a lovely ride. There wasn't more than three or four inches of snow here, but it fell on top of rain or sleet or something which then froze, so one has to be a bit careful driving and walking. I put the car in automatic 4WD and just went. Probably I was in 4WD on our road, because of the hills, but it's hard to tell. Alll the trees and bushes are coated with white, and hardly any of it has fallen off, except right in front of the house, where the wind was strong.
It is cold! This is January weather, not November weather, for sure. The temperature at the NWS station was around 20º all day, but it was 14º here for most of the day, until it went up to 16º. For a while the wind was strong, but it has died down, and every so often there would be a little snow squall, nothing to leave much accumulation, and it is light and fluffy, as is usual when it's cold. It was mostly cloudy, but it was bright, and there was even a ray or two of sunshine a couple of times during the day.
So I got out the down parka and my new hat - which works really well - and my mittens, and I should have put on my longjohns, except that I didn't feel like getting completely undressed. My feet weren't too cold in wool socks, but it would be nice to have something that covers my ankles. One of the things I wanted to bring back when I went south in October was the boots I bought last year, but of course I didn't go. I now have a pair of snow boots on order from L.L.Bean, and maybe they will fit. I hope so. This has been a real pain.
When I got back from the post office (with a barrel full of mail) I thought I should shovel off the front porch. Well! It seems anyone who wants to come into my house will have to come in through the garage. I knew there was a drift of snow across the porch in front of the door, but it seems that under the snow there is a drift of ice, and I can only open the door about 12". So I gave up on that. The breezeway door is drifted shut, too, and unless it thaws in the next two weeks, it will probably stay that way all winter long.
I was going through my mail when Chip Sestok called to invite me to dinner, so of course I went, and we had a very nice dinner and a very nice time. They are such nice people! Unfortunately, they missed the storm on the 10th, but they got here in the middle of the one on Sunday, and they were here for the one on Wednesday. Of course, it got dark as soon as I got there, and I was most surprised to see a line of lakers going up toward Duluth. I guess they are still picking up grain.
This is really early for it to be quite so cold, and I keep reminding myself that November (or even December) doesn't determine what the winter will be like, just like June doesn't determine what the summer will be like.
Coming home was interesting. Mine were the only tracks on the road all the way through town, although there were three cars at Zik's, and there were fluffy snowflakes coming down. It was so dark and the snow on the trees changed the way everything looked so much that I was nearly disoriented. However, I did find the road, and in the dark, in the light of the headlights, it is a real fairyland. We have packed the road down pretty well, and only in my driveway is it a bit deep. There is also a drift right in front of my garage door, which figures. The one place I need to get out of is the one place it will be deepest. The ice under the snow has already packed down a lot of the bushes around Lake Lilly, and already it looks completely different than it did a week ago.
Buster expressed his displeasure when I got here by yawning at me, but he is actually glad to see me back. He would be much happier if I never went anywhere. Now he is telling me it's time to go to bed, and I think he's right.
It's winter in the field tonight, for sure.
November 16 I actually did make it to bed around 11:30 last night, and while I could hear that the lake was kicking up a fuss, if there was any precip at all it was rain. The NWS says it started around 10:00, but if so, it was light drizzle. I was really thinking it might miss us, as so much rain did last summer.
I woke up around 12:30 to take a walk, and I noticed that it was very light outside, and when I looked out, there was a light layer of snow on the ground. So, I thought, we are going to get it anyway. I was up an unusual number of times during the night, and there did seem to be a lot of snow on the trees, and from the sounds around the house, I deduced that the wind had shifted to the north. There seemed to be a lot of stuff on the screens, too, and there was about 2" of snow on the deck railings. Around 3:00 we had a brief power failure, which didn't do any harm.
I was thinking of doing some things today, but when I woke up around 8:00, I decided that was too early, so I went back to sleep. When I woke up again, my bones were sore, so I decided to get up...and the power was off. Oh, here we go again...
There were so many power problems that UPPCO was making people call an alternate phone line, and the person I spoke to seemed to be saying that there were, as they say, "widespread power outages". Oh, dear. A few minutes later, neighbor Ron called to say that the culverts area was tull of bowed-down bushes, and he had discovered that they had canceled school in Calumet.
By that time, I'd had a chance to look around and my, goodness, what a storm we had! We hadn't gotten too much snow - 3" at most - but it seemed apparent that toward the end it had turned to rain again, and every tree and bush and twig was covered with a coat of white, like an ice storm but not clear. It was truly gorgeous! Still is, actually. There were dribbles of ice on every screen and window in the house, so evidently the wind had been really swirling around. Anyone who saw the morning picture (which lasted all day) knows that the branches of the pine were bowed down over the window. When I saw all that, I was not in the slightest surprised that we'd had a power failure. That stuff on the wires could have brought them down without anything falling on them.
The temperature, which had been above freezing for most of the night, had dropped down below by that time. I know there was a crust on top of the snow, because the squirrel was running around on it and not making a dent.
I did get to see some of the drifting problems I will have on the deck, and one drift is right in front of the office slider. Not surprising, when the wind was whistling right down the deck parallel to the house. So I will probably end up keeping my snow shovel in the office...
I sat in the ugly chair and read and knitted while I had my orange juice, and I actually managed a rather nice breakfast, although I had to scarf it down pretty fast to keep the eggs from getting cold. I even managed to toast my English muffin by buttering it and frying it butter-side down in a pan. Not bad at all.
Buster was not a happy camper. It wasn't particularly cold in here then, but it was quiet, and he knew even before I got up that something wasn't right, and he didn't like it at all. He sat between my legs on the footstool for a while, and then he went off. I think he hangs out in the closet when it's cold, although I haven't determined what shelf he's sitting on.
The temperature was dropping all day long, but slowly. Around 2:00, I decided that even if I couldn't do much else, I could do some telephoning, and I had just discovered I had called the wrong department when the phone went dead. Egad - no power, no phones! What next?
So I started sorting papers. At 2:45, the power came back on, and so did the phones. There are batteries in the switching station, but they have gone dead before now, and I suppose that is what happened this time. However, the batteries in my cordless phones (two of them!) both went dead, too. I can use them if they are in their cradles charging, so I called the people again, got a really helpful lady, and...Buster got tangled up in the headset cord and pulled the phone out of its cradle! And there went that call. The third time, I didn't get someone quite so helpful, but I did finally get my questions answered.
This is benefits signup time, and I was curious to know how they would handle it when I turn 65 next July. The nice lady Buster interrupted answered that one quite satisfactorily. I hope it's less confusing than this drug benefit thing, which I'm not sure anybody could figure out.
I'm happy to report that in spite of the low temperature and the wind, which was 24 mph sustained with gusts to 39 mph when the power came back on, the temperature in the house had only gone down to 64º. That was getting a mite chilly, which drove Buster back onto my lap, but I thought it was pretty good after 7 hours. It's now up to a comfy 70º in here again now, and the worst seems to be over.
Even though the NWS didn't report any precip, all day long about every half hour or so another lake-effect squall would come through and the mountain would fade out. That was all snow, of course, but they were light showers and didn't accumulate much. It is neat to watch the other end of the harbor fade out as the squall comes through, then reappear when it's over.
So winter has come to Keweenaw with a jolt, and I'm afraid this is all for autumn. The next few days at least are supposed to be cold and snowy, although I don't think there will be a huge fall in the harbor. There is another winter storm warning out for today and tomorrow, and there is snow in the forecast for every day for a week (as far as they've gone).
The "higher elevations" apparently got 8"-10" in Keweenaw, although there was a lot more south of us. Marquette set a new record amount of liquid that fell - 1.52" for the storm, although that only translated into about 13" of snow, since it was the wet and heavy variety. Heaven knows what it would have been if it had been the fluffy kind we get later in the season. They are predicting another 3"-6" overnight, so it ain't over yet.
I keep reminding myself that winter is coming to the Keweenaw late this year, and I shouldn't be surprised by it. I must say, though, that this is a bit nastier than the stuff we've had in past years. This snow is so wet and sloppy that it has just coated everything, and I imagine driving will be fun for the next few days.
And yet, it was so beautiful to see trees! The evergreens are so lovely when they get their white frosting, and the birches and all the bushes are just as pretty, with every twig having its own white coat. Maybe before it all goes away I can get a few pictures. It was nice to sit and just look out today and admire the lovely wintry scene. All the dried out weeds are bent over and almost covered, and it really looks nice in the backyard again. Tomorrow I really must go to the post office, and then we'll see how things are.
So winter has come to the field, and it's time to hunker down under the comforters again.
November 15 Last night it was reading. I'm reading out of the white binder again, and every time I do it amazes me. I wrote the parts I'm reading now in the late '80s, after I owned the property, but long before I was staying here for more than three weeks at a time. The location of the story is nearly in the wilderness, and there are so many times that what I wrote then about times of year I'd never been here have been exactly what I have experienced since I've been here. The accuracy of my imagination amazes me.
Anyway, that keeps me reading, sometimes far longer than I should, which I did, so I ended up sleeping for a long time and not doing anything at all today. Oh, well.
We are sitting on the edge of our first winter storm warning. They have been pushing back the time of arrival all day, but sometime overnight or tomorrow, we should begin to see an appreciable snow cover, the first of the year. I'm still a bit skeptical, as usual. For a while, it was raining around Duluth, but that has nearly stopped, and while it's raining south of us, and out in Iowa it's sleeting, it really doesn't look like it's going to get here. Of course, it could move north overnight, but we'll see.
The wind is up, but it's from the east, so while I can hear the lake, the wind (14-22 mph) isn't bothering me at all.
The broadband was down for a while this morning, while Charlie and Jonathan worked on the connection between the fish house and the Mountain Lodge, but it's been fine for the rest of the afternoon. I keep hoping one of these days I'll be able to copy all the image files to the server and be done with that pain. When it times out, it leaves one file empty and I have to copy it by hand, and of course, since the copy never completes, FrontPage thinks none of it has run and starts it over again the next night. A pain for sure.
I readjusted the hours of the camera again today. Daylight is only 9¼ hours long, and there really is no reason to upload all those black pictures.
Maybe I can get to bed early tonight. I've had the feeling I'm fighting a little cold all week, and it would be good to start my sleep earlier. We'll see. I am doing this early again, but once it's dark, not much more of interest usually happens.
We're waiting for the snow tonight in the field.
November 14 Wow, talk about getting screwed up! The journal and the webcam pictures uploaded just fine, but for some reason not known to me, the pictures of the tree didn't. They're out there now. Then FrontPage embarked upon copying all the image files...again...but somehow, I had a good connection and it looked like it might complete. I hung around until midnight before I left it and went to the north end. I was just about to turn off the lights when the power stuttered enough to reset the clocks, and I thought, oh, boy, there goes my upload. I was right. The computer had rebooted, losing everything! Arrggghhhh...
I didn't get to bed until around 1:00. It was still fairly noisy outside, but it got quieter and quieter all night long, and by morning everything was nearly calm. I rolled out of bed around 10:00, and just as I did, the propane truck pulled up to fill my tanks. I wanted to talk to the driver, so I hustled on my clothes and went hiking across the backyard before I even fed Buster or had my orange juice. I really didn't need to be so fast, but that was all right. I got to talk to Dennis while he filled both tanks. I just wanted to make sure he knows I'm staying, and he did. Apparently Ron told him last spring. But we had a nice conversation. It's been several years since I've seen him, and he is a very nice person. I think so many people are like that up here because for so much of the year everyone is so dependent upon everyone else.
So it was 11:30 before I made it to the office, only to discover that the camera was down and the website on the server was screwed up. I thank everyone who told me about the pictures - I appreciate it very much. So I tried the broadband again - it was still down - and prepared to do my morning surfing. However, when I called up the camera page, which is my home page, the screen was black! Egad! I had had to reboot several times, because something came up hosed when the power bounced, and everything was running like molasses. I had to kick it hard to get it together again.
After another re-boot, the software couldn't see the camera. So I scratched my head a bit and swapped out the new cable...and it came up and has worked just fine for the rest of the afternoon.
I did call PastyNet again, and found out that someone was on his way to work on the fish house, so just a while ago, I rebooted again, and the broadband is back. Talk about relief...I think it is still taking errors, but it's mostly up.
It turned out to be mostly a lost day, however. Once I disconnected the new cable, I didn't do anything more with it. I will have to fool around with it some more, but for the time being, I'm going to let be. Enough, already.
I did call the electrician, and he is going to try to get somebody out here. Of course, he is going hunting, but he may have an employee who isn't. It is just the thing to do around here to go to camp, even if you don't actually hunt deer. So you don't expect much service from practically everybody from at least the 15th to the 20th.
Since I got a rather late start, that was about all I did.
The weather was cool - stuck at around 37º - but there wasn't much wind, and late in the day, there were a few rays of sunshine. I guess we are in for our first real snowfall of the season over the next couple of days, but those things are so iffy, I will believe it when I see it. It actually wasn't too bad out this morning when I went to talk to the propane guy, because there wasn't any wind.
I am doing this very early tonight, because I don't trust it at all. However, it's a quiet night in the field, and I think I will probably fold very early, too.
November 13 It was a lovely, quiet night, although it was cloudy, and it was a lovely, quiet morning. In fact, the temperature was about 50º until 10:00 this morning, and the wind was light. Around 11:00 the wind dropped to almost nothing. And then...zowee! Between 12:00 and 12:20, the wind shifted around to the north and increased from 7 mph to 20 mph and building. The highest so far reported by the NWS station was at 6:00, with 45 mph sustained and 62 mph gusts. now that, folks, is a gale! I haven't felt the full force of it, because it is directly from the north, but I've certainly heard it! When those 60 mph gusts come, they slam into the house like a hammer. It seems to be abating a bit now, down to 29 - 36 mph, but it's a long night ahead.
So far, the house is intact, and the bird feeders are intact, although I did take the platform feeder in, because it looked like it might sail away at any moment. That was rather interesting, actually, because it was raining on the deck except right in the corner by the office, so I went out, grabbed the feeder, and went back in without getting a drop of rain on me.
However, we did have a 2 hour power failure, between 4:30 and 6:30, which is why the last update of the camera was at 4:30. I was suspicious of the power, so I didn't turn on the computer again until after 7:00, and by that time it was dark. In fact, it was dark by 6;00.
The lake is roaring like a freight train again. Unfortunately, with all the drops on the window, it wasn't possible to get a good picture of the harbor, but with the wind from the north, our end is fairly calm anyway. The gap between Porter Island and Lighthouse Point is solid white again, but there weren't the amazing whitecaps that there were on Wednesday.
I finally processed the pictures. Here are two I kept from Wednesday that show just how hairy the harbor was.
There was more rain today, and at times it was clear that it was rain mixed with snow, or sleet, or something else pretty miserable. I suppose there will be show overnight, and somebody reported to the Pasty Cam that south of Houghton they had an inch on the ground. The big heat sink is still keeping us warm!
I also processed the pictures of the tree on the deck. They aren't the best pictures, but I think you can see my problem. The trunk at the lower end is at least 10" in diameter, and from top to bottom, it's about 20' long - from the bedroom wall to the great room wall. It needs to be cut into pieces before there's a prayer of removing it. You can also see that there are birch branches entwined in the pine, but those I will keep for kindling. If I can get somebody to get the tree out, I will have them cut the birch branches into 18" lengths, which will be easier to handle.
So it was a neat day, and I spent most of my time just watching and listening to it. It wasn't quite dark when the power went out, so I moved into the ugly chair and read and knitted until it came back up again. Instead of trying to read by flashlight, I put batteries in my Mighty Bright light (the one from last year, which has an incandescent bulb) and that worked very nicely, thank you. This year, I got one that has a daylight bulb in it, but while it shows colors better (I can tell the dye lots if my floss), it isn't as bright as the other one. So now I have one to use to embroider and one to use to read. Not so bad.
Buster had to come and tell me that he does not like all that noise! He was also happy because after the power returned, I checked the answering machine at the other house, and I had three good messages, two of which I had to call back, and he loves it when I am on the telephone, but now he as gone away again to whatever hole he hides in when it's stormy.
So it was an exciting day, and it will be another good night to sleep, with the lake roaring and the wind howling and me all safe and cozy in my bed.
November 12 In spite of the hour when I went to bed last night, I actually got up at a rather reasonable time, because I expected somebody to come. Of course, nobody did, so I had a quiet day altogether
It started out rather sunny this morning, but the clouds began to move in late in the morning, and there were a few sprinkles while I was at dinner. The temperature actually got up to 55º for a while this afternoon, and the wind was nearly calm for most of the day, making it really nice outside. Of course II i didn't take advantage.
I guess it was the calm before the storm. We are supposed to have another storm tomorrow, with snow, and gale-force winds overnight tomorrow night, but I don't think it will be quite as hairy as Wednesday was. George Hite has an interesting piece on the storm. You can read it at http://eagleharborweb.net/. I gather that it really was a very respectable November gale. The PastyCam had some wonderful pictures of the lake, which almost - almost - made me sorry I didn't go out and take some pictures myself, but when I remember that if I had, I would have had to park my car at Lake Lilly road and walk home, I guess I'm just as glad I stayed in.
Instead of processing pictures, I played with the computer again today, but I have put all that aside now, and I really am going to go to bed at a reasonable hour tonight and sleep for a long time.
Dinner was very nice tonight. Peggy and her daugter Lydia and Red Twarzik joined us, and they are all lovely ladies (Lydia is 16), so we had a really good time. Buster wasn't happy, because I was a little later than usual getting home, but that's just too bad. I don't really go out hunting for socialization, but I enjoy it when it happens.
So that is all there is. There might be a thunderstorm tonight, but the action isn't supposed to start until tomorrow morning. You will understand if there isn't a journal tomorrow night - it means we had another power failure. I do hope not, but you never can tell. At least I don't have to worry about a tree falling on the house...it's already down!
So it's a cloudy, quiet night in the field.
November 11 It's actually tomorrow morning, but I will try to get off a short entry. I got to playing with the computer (no, not games) and just didn't want to quit. Oh, well.
I didn't sleep exceptionally well last night, partly because I had slept so long the night before and partly because I seem to have had a slight attack of gout in my left bunion, which was so sore it kept me awake for some time. So I went out into the internet this morning and read that one suggestion for keeping it at bay is to drink lots of water, so I did that, and it seems to be somewhat better tonight.
It was a beautiful night and a very beautiful day, although it didn't get as warm as predicted. There were only a few little cirrus clouds in the sky for a while this afternoon, but late in the day it got completely clear again. When I went into the kitchen a while ago, though, the moon was shining through some high clouds. The temperature got up to just under 50º, where it still is, but there was hardly any wind at all and it was nice to be outside.
So I went and inspected the front of my house, and I'm happy to report there was no damage except a little to the screens on the porch (however, more had been done by some five-toed critter who tried to climb the screen... I wonder when that was?). There is an awful lot of debris on the deck, some of which I can collect for kindling. The pine will have to be sawn into pieces in order to move it. It seems to have been about 10" in diameter where it broke off, and there is at least 25' lying on the deck, so it's a bit too big to just haul away in one piece. I still can't believe my good fortune that it landed on the deck and not on the house! Somebody was looking after my interests, for sure!
It was nice to sit in the office and soak up the warmth of the sun - I surely do have solar heat in here! But the little birds were looking for something to eat, so I spent some time outside hanging bird feeders in the tree. I filled the remaining intact platform feeder with squirrel food, which is a mixture of lots of corn kernals, sunflower seeds, and a few unshelled peanuts. I had just hung it up when a little chickadee flew onto the feeder, grabbed a sunflower seed and flew off. Then the whole flock started calling, I guess to tell everybody that I was outside and the food was coming! They are such cute little birds.
I hung up the gazebo feeder where the other platform feeder used to be, and first thing, a nuthatch lit on the edge and grabbed a seed or two. So I guess everybody has his own favorite feeder. I don't know if the squirrels will eat the squirrel food, but I know the blue jays like all those things, and somebody else has been eating that combination...maybe my flying squirrel(s).
Shirley and I ate dinner at Mariner tonight, and I'm happy to say there were a few more people there than last Friday! Their special was linguine with meatballs and tomato sauce, and it was a good dish for a late autumn night. Peggy makes a good spaghetti sauce, and the meatballs were little, about the size of walnuts, and very tasty. It was a good dinner. I might also say that the menu at this time of year, including the specials, are very modestly priced, which is good.
So I came home and continued playing with the computer, and it is now later than I will admit and my eyes are about crossed, so I will wrap this up. I did take a few pictures of the tree today, but they are still in the camera. I also saved a couple of shots from the webcam on Wednesday. I will get all that published one of these days.
I may wait until I get my wireless back, though. It seems like the people who own the fish house changed the locks before they left this fall, and neglected to give a new key to the person who is supposed to go inside and reset the gear after a power failure...so any of us who get our signals from the fish house are S.O.L. until Charlie finds another place to put the gear. I could get my signal from Mariner, but I don't know how to change that. So I will be on dial backup for a while, I think. Fortunately, it has been behaving itself fairly well. I will have to change it to automatically reconnect, though. It didn't do that this morning, and that was the reason the camera was so late getting up. I don't think I'll be up very early tomorrow, either, and I know i'm not the only person who likes those early morning pictures.
So it's another quiet night in the field.
November 10 I will start this early, although after sleeping for about 13 hours, I really don't feel the need to go to back to bed really soon.
First, please excuse no journal last night. T |