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A View From the Field |
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September 1 Well, it's September. Sigh.
I got to bed around midnight last night, and I slept pretty well until around 7:00 this morning. I think I was probably cold, and I just didn't pull up the comforter. I finally got up around 8:45.
I knitted a couple of rows on the shawl, but I wanted to get a fairly early start. As it was, I didn't get to do all my morning surfing, and I quite forgot to put out the bird feeders.
I did get out of the house by 11:30, with everything I wanted to take with me. It didn't take long to leave off my sample at the hospital, then I was off for Houghton.
Well. They are doing something in the intersection of Sharon Avenue and Military Road, which I thought they would be done with by last Friday. They weren't. They still have to pave over the hole. So Military Road is closed, and I had to go cross-country to get back to M-26, then go around that way to Sharon, and Sharon is down to one lane for several blocks around Military. Traffic was amazing. I don't think I've ever seen so many cars around.
I got my birdseed, then I had to make a left turn back onto Sharon Avenue. Fortunately, I was behind a semi, and when they held up traffic so it could turn, I snuck in behind it, but there was quite a wait.
Then it was the dentist. He is a very nice man, although he thinks my crown will be more of a big deal than the other ones were. I don't, but we'll see. The big problem is, they can't do it until November. So I will go to Detroit and my appointment with the other dentist with a cracked tooth. We will have to talk about that, but I'm sure it's too late to get an appointment with that dentist while I'm there, and besides, I don't want to have to go back two weeks later, which would be the end of October, and besides just about doubles the cost of a crown. So I made an appointment with the dentist here to have it done, and we'll see what happens. I was a bit disappointed, but evidently he is a good, popular and very successful dentist. He has quite an installation.
My next stop was Wal-Mart, and I did a lot of damage. I needed cat food, and they had a couple of new varieties, so I got a lot. I walked by some houseplants and came away with two, as well as the curling iron of my dreams (a 1½" barrel), and they had the school supplies out, although they were running out of some things. Sooo...
By that time, I was too exhausted to do Econo, and besides, I had forgotten that I had all my watches with me to get the batteries changed. So I went up to the jeweler at the mall, who is moving in a couple of weeks, by the way. The mall is almost dead. Besides Penny's, there probably aren't more than three or four other stores there anymore. It's a really sad place, and there were hardly any cars around it. So I sat and knitted (on the sock) while they changed my batteries.
By that time, it was 4:00, and traffic to get into the bridge interchange was backed up a couple of blocks, so I went around and down on Shelden Avenue. I don't know where all those people were going, because traffic on the other side wasn't bad at all, and I got home before 5:00. Most of the stuff, especially the birdseed, is still in the truck, although I took out the interesting stuff.
I was captivated by the plants I bought. They call them "Angel Wings", but that made me chuckle. They are mother-in-law's tongue - sansevieria - which is a houseplant my great grandmother had. It will suit my lifestyle, since it doesn't need much water. I had one for years, until my house sitter watered it too much and it rotted out. That was the one that bloomed. There are two varieties of leaves in one pot, and one that grows more like an upright rosette in the other. I think they are too potbound, but I will try to watch them. There is a small plant of a very nice looking leaf, that I don't want to die. The only thing they say is that it is a low-light plant, and I don't have any low light locations. In fact, I had to hide my aloe because I had it on the kitchen windowsill and it sunburned. I'm not sure where I will put the new ones yet.
I was also amused that they have renamed them. I admit mother-in-law's tongue isn't a very romantic name, but angel wings? Geez. What I've always liked about them is that they are tough. The only thing I know of that will kill them is watering them too much, and I don't seem to have much of a problem with that these days.
I used to have quite a houseplant collection, including a lot of African violets, which I enjoyed, but they require a lot of care, and it was many years ago that I got tired of it. My mother watered the plants for me while she was still alive, and after she died, so did most of the plants. I have even had a hard time keeping the Christmas cactuses, which I love, alive.
One plant they had, that I didn't even consider, was an enormous crown-of-thorns, with stems as big as my little finger. I have two little ones that don't grow much, but they have ferocious thorns, that are small enough that they get into your skin really easily and they're extremely hard to get out. I used to have a big one of those, too, as well as another kind of cactus with a huge stem. When I lived on Hillcrest, I kept them in front of a first-floor window, because they would be a big deterrent to anybody trying to get in. They also had some other interesting succulents.
I was just so happy to find sansevieria. I'd been thinking about trying to find one, just because they are so easy to grow. Now I have two (well - really three, although only two pots).
I also picked up a calculator for $1. Unfortunately, I didn't try it before I bought it, and the "1" key doesn't work very well, but maybe it will do for the kitchen. My microwave is a 1500 watt one, and the directions for most frozen stuff are written for 1100 watt ovens. So it would be helpful if I had a calculator to find out what 0.733333... of the times is. Even 0.75 of the times would be helpful. I hope this thing works. It doesn't seem to have a replaceable battery, so when it dies, I guess you just throw it out. Gosh, I remember when calculators cost what you can get a fairly powerful PC for these days.
The weather was nice. The temperature got up to 72º here about the time I got home, although it was probably that in town. The wind was around 15 mph from the north. It was fairly humid, but with temperatures in the mid 60s, it wasn't too uncomfortable. The sky was mostly clear, with just some interesting cirrus clouds up in the sky occasionally.
I caught Venus up in the sky shortly after sunset (8:31 tonight - sob!), and the camera saw it right over the Mountain Lodge when it was nearly dark. So pretty, but it will be gone soon. One night this week, when I went out to bring in the bird feeders, I caught Jupiter shining through the trees in the southeast, even brighter than Venus is now. Mars should be someplace up there near Venus right now, but it is dim enough that I haven't seen it for sure.
So that was my day, and my legs feel like they've been walked on. Now it is time to totter up to the north end, wash off the sweat, and crash. It is supposed to be a cool night tonight, so I will be able to pull up the comforter and sleep well. It's a clear, coolish and nearly calm night in the field and it's September. Sigh.
Last updated 09/01/10 10:51 PM
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