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A View From the Field |
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June, 2009 June 30 The end of June. Amazing! I can hardly believe it.
Well, the stuff did get uploaded last night. The power came back up around 9:15, I think, and it seems to have stayed up since. Of course, by that time the wind was dying down.
I got to bed around 11:30, after knitting a bit and staring at the floor for quite a bit. I got up about 9:15, and I finished the knitting on the afghan, as well as petting a very purry cat for quite a while.
I had to undo my first attempt to bind off the afghan because it was too tight, but I've started a new way, and while it doesn't look as nice, it is extremely stretchy, which is good, since the sides (as they were knit) are supposed to be the ends. I will probably finish the binding off tonight, then it's a matter of working in a lot of little ends. I worked the ends in as I was knitting where I could, but it just wasn't possible where the next row was a purl row on the right side. Well...maybe I could have, but it was too much trouble to figure out how to do it. Besides, at the beginning, I used what I had ripped out of the original way I tried the afghan, and there were a lot of small pieces. As it turned out, I didn't need to do that since there is plenty of yarn, but I didn't know that when I started. So now I have to finish off all those little ends. It will keep me busy for a while. I figured out how to combine the yarns for the fringe, although I'm not quite sure how it will all come out.
Otherwise, I worked on the bracelet and I have about 5" done. I cleaned out the sink in the kitchen and began filling the dishwasher...and that was about it.
I put out the bird feeders in the rain, and it looks like I will take them in in the rain, too.
The weather was...well, yucky. It was cool - around 50º, plus or minus a degree or so - and cloudy, and there was a little wind, in the 15-25 mph range, from the north. Around noon, it started dribbling rain, and it has rained lightly off and on all afternoon. Yuck.
This evening, I signed up for Amazon Associates. I will put their ads on the website, and anybody who clicks through one of the ads and buys something will give me a few dollars. So expect a few more book reviews, with names and authors, as well as some of the other things I buy from Amazon. I'm sorry to clutter up my site like that, from one point of view, but I really need the money. So if you want to buy something from Amazon, I would appreciate it if you would access them through this site. I won't get the ads up until tomorrow, because it will mean reloading almost the entire site. I will put them on the left hand side, so they will turn up on any page that has a navigation bar. Note that random clicking doesn't count - you actually have to spend money. I will understand if you don't.
So that was my day, and I will bead a while longer before I go up to the north end. This weather makes us all sleepy. It's a dark, dank, rainy evening in the field, and June is history.
June 29 This probably won't get uploaded until tomorrow, but I'll write it anyway.
I got to bed just after 11:00, after knitting a while and staring at the floor for a while. I crashed, and sometime later I woke up for the usual reason, and it seemed rather dark down the harbor. Then I realized that the clock was flashing. I had been thinking of trying to get the battery backup working on that clock, but it is actually more useful as it is. When the power goes out and the generator comes on, I know something happened. It was actually about 3:30, and the power had been off over an hour. I had to come down the hallway to hear the generator, but it was humming away. So I called UPPCO and went back to bed.
I didn't sleep very well after that, but the reason was that the humidity was close to 100%, and it was raining. I was asleep when the power came back on - Clyde said it was around 6:30 this morning.
I got up around 9:00 and I knitted a lot more, and I now only have about three more rows to go on the afghan. That's too bad, but I have to work in all the ends and do the fringe, so I'm not completely done with it yet. It is a really pretty thing.
Buster spent the night with me after the first time I woke up, and he wanted to sit on my lap this morning. I think the sound of the generator upset him - something different was going on.
It took me a while to get the broadband receiver and the camera in sync this morning, but eventually we began to get pictures again. However, we kept having little power glitches all day long.
In the meantime, the plumber came a bit before noon, and he fixed the leak and put $240 worth of antifreeze in my system. Yikes! That environmentally friendly antifreeze is now $16 a gallon! However, things are back to normal again, I think. He also had some suggestions about how I might cut down on my use of propane, which I will try. I was in the middle of trying to print out a mailing label (for which I had just paid!) when the computer went down, not long enough for the generator to come on, but I had to reboot and play with the broadband. I had to call PayPal about the mailing label, but it turns out they emailed me and there were instructions for how to reprint the label. That is a cool reason to use PayPal. They have a facility to print a pre-paid shipping label, complete with the right postage. The only thing is, you have to know the weight of the package. So I weighed it on my kitchen scale, although it was light enough that I guess I could have weighed it on my mini scale.
Then it was off to the post office, where I had a nice conversation with Clyde, since he wasn't at all busy before the mail came in. When I left there, I decided I hadn't seen George and Brenda yet this summer, and I deserved an ice cream cone, so I went off to the ice cream shop, and they weren't busy either...not surprising on a nasty Monday, so we had a nice conversation, and I met their grandson, who loves classical music. That was a nice way to spend an afternoon.
When I got home, I worked on the current bracelet some more, and I am making progress on that.
I was working away on the bracelet when the power went again, and this time it is for good, so there is no broadband, and it's not important enough to fool around with the dialup. Sorry. Probably no pictures and no journal tonight, because the only estimate of restore time was 10:30, and I don't plan to be here then.
I called and complained, but I didn't get anywhere, since the person I talked to didn't know even who to send the complaint to. That is the reason my dream is to have solar panels and a windmill and make my own power. Those people are hopeless.
Oh - the weather. I almost forgot. It was better not talked about. It rained hard most of last night, I think, and the temperature was in the high 40s for most of the day, with 100% humidity - no wonder I am achy! There was a moderate wind out of the north, and the lake is singing its song. I have to be vague, because of course, I can't access the internet. It was very foggy for most of the day, even when it wasn't raining, and it was rather nasty outside. And this is the end of June! Well, this isn't the first time it's been cold and rainy on the 4th of July. I think it may be a little better by the weekend. We'll hope.
So that was my day, and I think I'm getting the hang of this e-comerce thing. It's a cold and damp night in the field, and I will be going up to the north end soon.
June 28 I dropped into bed around 9:30 last night and really crashed. I was up a few times in the night, and I saw stars when I was. I was awake about 6:45, and I could have gotten up, but there was no reason to, so I went back to sleep and got up at 9:30. That should have caught me up on my sleep!
I knitted and petted a cat, but he didn't stay long. When I am working on something as big as the afghan, even though I wasn't hitting him, he gets disgusted and goes away. So I knitted, and I now have about 12 rows left to do. Too bad, but all good things must come to an end.
When I got to the office and logged into my email, I was so excited! I sold my first order on etsy, and it was for two bracelets! Wow! The lady who bought them will never know how she has renewed my faith in myself (unless she reads this, of course). So I spent part of the day going back and forth between etsy and PayPal and seeing what they all said. I guess I could even print a pre-paid mailing label on PayPal, but I would have to know how much the package weighs, and I don't yet.
And speaking of that, the package is a problem. I have hardly any boxes of any size left, and I have almost no small ones. Dumb me, I discarded one small one I got last month...that was before the etsy thing. Darn. So I will be scrambling for a while until I can figure out how to get some small boxes. I have plenty of bubble wrap and tape, but oh, those boxes... I did find one, that held something from the move which I took out. I will try to get the package in the mail tomorrow, but I don't know if it will be before the guy comes to pick up. I'll try.
I spent the rest of the afternoon getting an order together for more beads. I guess everybody else was, too, because the website was working very, very slowly, and besides, I had to figure out how they link their shopping cart and their wish lists...I'm still not too sure about the details, but I finally managed to get an order placed. Of course, it was for far more than what I sold today, but I got my cobalt transparent beads, so in a few days, I should be over the worry that I will run out.
I started an order at the other place, too, but their website was acting even slower, so I gave up fairly soon. That is where I get the Swarovski crystals for the spiky necklaces and all my findings, so one of these days I will have to hit them, too. Maybe not for a couple of weeks, to not get more than one big hit on the credit card for a month.
Then I put away my pretty pink beads and got out the cobalt, copper and silver ones and started a bracelet to replace the one I sold. Maybe I will make two, but I would really like to make a snowflake bracelet or two. I just realized I have a pretty good picture of that one, so I can list it without having one...so long as I make one pretty quick.
I guess selling these things is going to get me working steadily, which is a good thing. I have begun to realize that I just don't feel like really working at anything...which will make it hard to make any money. So having to keep the inventory up to date will be a good thing.
The weather was so-so. When I got up this morning, it was beautiful, sunny and clear, but the wind was blowing hard. When the wind blows out of the west or northwest, the window onto the screened porch sounds like an organ pipe, which can be very annoying, although it doesn't seem to keep me awake. Eventually, it clouded up and we had several light rain showers, none of them enough to even wet the deck, although the windows got wet. The temperature varied between 60º and 65º, up and down all day, and the wind was in the 15-32 mph range, mostly from the northwest, although it is shifting northerly now. The afternoon wasn't very nice. My back is bothering me.
The wind was strong enough that I didn't put out the bird feeders. I was sorry to disappoint the squirrels, but I doubt any birds would have come anyway. When even the empty hangers are blowing sideways, it's too windy.
So that was my day, and I can attack the jewelry with renewed vigor, although I wonder about the porch cushions. It's a cloudy, windy night in the field, and there won't be any stars tonight, for sure.
June 27 Bad me. I finished the book, so it was 3:00 before I got to bed. Sigh. I got up at 10:30, but I have been very tired all day long, so nothing much got done. Bad me.
I did knit for a while. Buster stayed a while, but he doesn't like that big afghan thing, so he went away. I am getting done with it, and it is going to come out a nice size, not really large, but the stripes will be able to be vertical, because it stretches a lot. It is such a pretty thing! Besides, I love the smell of pure wool, especially mohair. So I can bury my nose in it and just sniff.
I did get most of the dishwasher unloaded, finally. There are still a few things in it, but not a lot.
The weather was different, at least. It was cloudy and rather windy all day. The temperature was in the middle 60s all day, with a south wind that has now begun gusting to 28 mph. There was a lot of rain south of us and a bit north of us, but it never got here. If it's going to cloud up, it needs to rain! Of course it was humid, but the warmer temperatures meant it didn't bother my back quite so much.
Now I am going back up to the north end and get to bed early and sleep hard. Maybe tomorrow I can do something. It's a cloudy, windy night in the field, and they keep promising rain.
June 26 I read for a little while last night. That book is interesting but annoying, and I will have to remember not to get anything else by the same author. I was in bed a little after 11:00. I slept fairly well, although I was up several times, and I got up just before 8:00. Buster wasn't ready for me, so I knitted on the afghan until he finally appeared and got his morning petting.
When I was up around 3:00, I looked out the north window and there was the Big Dipper almost parallel to the horizon. Soon it will be behind the tall pines and I won't see it until next spring.
Adam didn't get here until after 10:00, which I figured, but I was done with my morning stuff by the time he got here and I could give him what attention he needed. Thank goodness, the board on the side of the doorframe didn't need to be replaced! They just glued the pieces back in and replaced the door closer, anchoring it with some bigger screws. They also reset the strike plate so that the storm door now closes and latches. I would say that that door has been having problems for several years, even before the closer got broken (probably because of the problems with the door). Now the pump from the lake is all set up and the pond is drained and refilled and the screens are on the storm doors, so I am all set for the summer, if it ever comes.
In the meantime, I took some pictures of the pink helix bracelet and posted it on etsy. Here is my picture. I think it turned out pretty good. I had a hard time getting the camera to focus, and I think it was because I decided to use a dark background. I do think it looks better that way, though.
When I got to the office this morning, I kept hearing something I thought was the power supply fan of the computer, sort of grinding. I looked at the back of the CPU and cleaned off the dust around the air intake, but it didn't seem to be making the noise. Then it began to dawn on me that the noise was probably coming from the mechanical room, so I hauled myself downstairs, and sure enough. There was almost no pressure in the water lines (again!!), and besides, there was a lot of fluid on the top of the boiler cabinet. I opened the water line, and a lot of water immediately ran in, the pressure came up, and I could see that there is a leak in the funny looking thingie on top of the boiler. Oh, my. I immediately called the plumber, but he is out of town until Sunday, so I guess it will just leak until next week. Oh, my. So besides the bill for the maintenance today (for two people), there will be another plumber's bill. Sigh. The joys of the happy householder.
Otherwise, I didn't do anything and my eyes are tired from staring at the computer screen.
The weather was pretty but cool. It was in the middle 50s for most of the day, and it was very humid again. The day started out clear and lovely, but about 11:00 the fog started to move in. It moved out again around 2:00, but it is still humid, although the temperature has gone up above 60º for the time being. There was almost no wind, but just enough from the north that I couldn't keep the doors open. The sky was, and still is, almost completely clear. It is an interesting phenomenon when the sky is perfectly clear and the fog is rolling into the harbor.
This evening my neighbor Jean called, and we had a nice conversation. She is here for the summer and is very glad of it.
So that was a mostly unproductive day, and I will be off to the north end soon, where there should be some stars tonight.
June 25 I read for a while again last night, and I think it was about 11:30 when I got to bed, but I don't really remember. There wasn't any fog overnight, and in fact, it was a very quiet night. I think I got up around 8:30, and I knitted on the afghan for quite a while. While I was knitting, the wind picked up and it was rather windy for a while.
I finished the pink helix bracelet, but I just put the clasp on it now, so I haven't taken a picture yet. It is a pretty thing, but I made it a bit small, so it will only fit a 6½" wrist. I think I may make another one somewhat longer. The bracelet measures about 8" long, with the clasp, when it is stretched out straight, but when it curves around into a circle, the inside circumference isn't nearly that long. I will have to remember that. Anyway, I like it, and I like doing that stitch.
I cooked tonight - chicken with broccoli cheese soup and rice - and I got the dishwasher ready to run. The dishwasher is over-full for some reason, so I suppose some things won't get clean. Oh, well.
The weather was lovely, if a bit cool. The high temperature, 69º, happened at 9:00 this morning, and then the wind picked up from the north, at between 15 an 20 mph, and the temperature went down to about 63º, where it has stayed ever since, even though the wind died down by mid afternoon. The skies were mostly clear, I think, although there have been some little puffy clouds off and on, and there are some now. It is still very humid, over 75%, so it isn't completely comfortable.
Last night, I discovered that I had acquired a number of black fly bites when I was outside talking to Aaron yesterday. One is on the top edge of one ear, which is a part of my anatomy they love, and which is very annoying. It doesn't itch much, but my hair was stuck to it last night, and it weeps a bit every now and then. The other two are on the back of my neck, one above my hairline, and they itch like crazy. One of them also left bloodspots on my tee. The wind was from the front side of the house yesterday, so the bugs were swarming around the backside, in the sun. I should have known that.
Adam is coming tomorrow to do the spring thing, and he is bringing a carpenter to fix the front storm door, which tore its closer out of the doorframe along with some pieces of wood. I will have to remember to dope myself up before I get dressed tomorrow. I hate DEET, but it does work.
So that was a quiet day, and I will be off to the north end shortly. It's a totally quiet, calm night in the field - one of my favorite kinds.
June 24 I was late getting to the north end and I read for a little while, so it was about 2:00 when I went to bed. Sigh. I didn't get up until nearly 10:00, but that still didn't seem like enough sleep.
I didn't get to read or even pet a cat very much because Aaron called to come over and look at the trees that need to be taken out, so I hurried up and got dressed and ate a quick breakfast before he got here. He will do the trees, and I guess he will split up the huge pieces of birch that are still out in the garden, too. I don't know when, because he is doing two or three other things, but in a few weeks my trees should be down and out of here.
I didn't do much else, because I didn't feel like it. I did get the zigzag bracelet posted on etsy, and I worked on the pink helix bracelet for a while. I spent quite a bit of time this afternoon looking through all my bead stuff. I know I have a pair of pierced earring hooks, but I can't find them. That just proves to me that things are still out of control in the office, but oh, well. I know I saw them a month or two ago, so where they went, I don't know.
I found my rope and post bracelet - somehow it had gotten dropped onto the floor and kicked to the back of the kneehole in the desk. So that lost is found.
I was also looking for some pink beads to use as the clasp for the helix bracelet, but pale pink large beads seem to be hard to come by, and none of my mixtures have any. So I guess I will be using a rose quartz pebble and charging a bit more for it. Whenever I put in my orders to the bead companies, maybe I can get some pink beads. Actually the place I get most of my seed beads is having a 10% off sale for the next four days, so I may just drop everything else and work on that. It will be good - I can get some more cobalt beads, so I won't have to worry about running out.
Well...that's if I sell some of my stuff.
The weather was about the same. It was very foggy and cool until about 11:30, when the fog went away and the wind picked up. It was no more than 60º until just a couple of hours ago, and it has now risen (officially) to 77º, although according to my thermometer, it's only 69º here. The wind has been from the north, and it got into the 15-20 mph range for a while. Now the wind is dying down, and thankfully, the dew point has gone way down. It was horribly humid for most of the day. It was cool enough and windy enough that I had to close the doors on the front side, although I've opened some of them again. It was cloudy for part of the afternoon, and it is still partly cloudy.
So that was my day, and I'm tired. I don't think I will be up very late tonight. It's a warmish, partly cloudy night in the field, and maybe it won't be quite so humid!
June 23 I took a couple of books to the north end last night, so it was 12:30 before I got to bed. I read part of one of the books before I decided I didn't like it, and that took a while. The other one should be more interesting. I got up around 8:00 anyway, and I knitted and petted a cat for quite a while.
On the knitting scene, it is quite clear that the sweater isn't going to turn out right. It is going to be much too big around (the neck isn't the only problem) and I'm not going to have enough yarn to finish it. So now I have to decide what to do about it. I will probably just start a new one, smaller, and unknit the old one as I knit the new one, but I have to think about it. In the meantime, I do have a pair of socks started, or I can carry the afghan around and work on that. At least that is coming out nice.
I finally got the stuff out of the kitchen sink and loaded into the dishwasher or washed, so that is done again. And I took pictures of the other two bracelets and listed them in my etsy store. In case you are interested, here is the link:
http://RainbowsEndNeedlewks.etsy.com
There are only three items listed so far. I finished the zigzag bracelet this evening and put away the copper beads. I'm tired of them, and I'm tired of peyote stitch for a while, so I started a helix bracelet in pale pink and pearl. It's sort of like this one, except that it will have a clasp. I made one for Debbie last year, and I didn't have time to take a picture of it before I went to Detroit and gave it to her.
The weather was interesting again, or at least it was fun to watch. It was more or less foggy all day long, with the fog coming and going in and out of the harbor and sometimes sending long streamers into the hills. At sunset, there was a big fog bank right over the mountain, but it seems to have gone away for the time being. The temperature was around 60º until 9:00 when it suddenly went up to 71º when the wind shifted around to the southwest, but then it dropped right back. I might mention that the dew point was only about 3º less than the temperature all day, which meant that the humidity was over 90%...yuck! At 10:00, the dew point was the same as the temperature - 100% humidity. Double yuck!
The reason I am writing this so late is that Debbie called about 9:45, and we had our usual long conversation. She is still living out her soap opera and she wanted to tell me the latest episodes, so we had a nice conversation.
So now it is time to haul in the bird feeders and toddle up to the north end. It's a damp, cool night in the field, and if it isn't raining it feels like it ought to be.
June 22 I didn't have anything to read, so I knitted a bit last night, and I was in bed by 10:30. Sometime in the early hours of the morning when I awoke, I could tell that there was rather thick fog down the harbor, but it was gone by the time I got up at 8:45. I knitted and petted a cat for a while before I went down to the office.
I washed the towels and folded the wash, although I haven't put it away yet, and that was about the extent of my chores. I spent the day (again) working on etsy and PayPal, and just this evening, I listed my first item on etsy - the rope and post bracelet, which is the only one I have a picture of without anything else in it.
In between, I finally finished the folded ribbon bracelet (whew!) and started a zigzag with the same colors. I am running out of cobalt transparent beads, so I will have to go on to something else, and one of these days I will have to order some more. Lots more, I think, since I seem to be using a lot of that color. I actually like the dark sapphire better, but the cobalt goes better as a background.
Tomorrow, if the lighting is right, I will take pictures of the other two bracelets I have finished and then I will have three things for sale. I wish I had pictures of some of the other things, but as it is, I will have to make one of each and take pictures as I finish them. It's probably safer not to list anything I don't have at least one of anyway.
I also knitted a bit on the afghan and started the final repeat, which is only 44 rows instead of 50. It is going to be a pretty thing, although it looks to me like it isn't going to come out the shape the pattern thinks it is. We'll see when I get it off the needles. The question is whether to fringe the ends or the sides (or to fringe at all). There are a lot of ends to weave in, even though I did my best to prevent that. It's been fun to work on and I will miss it. I love to work with pretty yarn (or pretty anything else, for that matter).
The weather was interesting. The temperature was in the lower 70s for most of the afternoon, except around 2:00, when it dropped to 63º for some strange reason. It was probably the wind, which shifted to the southeast for a short while before shifting back to the south. Sometime in there, there were a few drops of rain, but it didn't even wet the deck. Needless to say, it's very humid. My washcloth didn't dry out from yesterday morning, and all the towels were damp when I used them. Yuck. Fortunately, this kind of weather usually goes away by July. It was partly to mostly cloudy, although there was a little sunshine here and there.
So that was my day, and I guess I can say I accomplished something. At least I have taken a step into e-commerce, and that's good. Now I must remember that a bracelet a day keeps the bill collector away and hope somebody else likes my things as well as I do.
It's a breezy night in the field with an unsettled sky.
June 21 - Summer Solstice & Father's Day Happy Father's Day to all you fathers and grandfathers out there, and happy Summer Solstice to everybody.
I didn't read and I didn't knit, but I did spend some time staring at the floor, and I took a bath, so it was 11:30 or so before I got to bed. I didn't get up until 10:00, so my day was rather truncated. I knitted on the sweater - I finished the corner triangle and started the first square in the last row, so it was late when I got to the office.
The task of the day was to wash, and the last two loads are in the dryer. I still have to do the towels, but that's for tomorrow.
I actually spent most of the afternoon out on etsy.com. Yesterday I looked at odesk.com and elance.com. I decided I probably couldn't get into elance.com (providers have to bid on jobs) and I never did get through all the odesk stuff, because their website was terminally slow. It didn't make me feel comfortable when I saw that there were over 275,000 providers and just over 10,000 jobs. It's a bad market out there.
I set up an account on etsy, and I have been working on a store, but I don't have any items for sale yet. People who have been interested in my jewelry may be able to buy it there, although it appears that there are way more things for sale than people buying, and some of the things are very strange. I do like their rules and regulations a lot better than ebay's, though, so we'll see what happens. I have to resize the pictures I have and I have to take some more pictures before I can put any items out to sell...and I have to get straight just how PayPal works, which is not entirely obvious. I will tell you when there's something there.
The thing about etsy is that if I start making boxes and totebags, I can sell them through my store, too, although I'm not sure exactly what category the boxes would fall under. I have not much hope that I'll be able to make a lot of money, but any little bit will help.
The weather was better than they were forecasting. It was beautifully clear before I got up and when I got up. When I was putting out the bird feeders, I didn't even look down the harbor, so there was a beautiful picture of my butt and a very foggy harbor. I didn't realize it had fogged up until I started hearing the fog horns out on the lake. The fog went away by 2:30, but then the sky started to get partly cloudy. It's still mostly sunny, but not as pristine as it was earlier. The temperature officially got up to 71º briefly, around 5:00, but it was one of those days that the actual temperature depended upon which side of the house you were on. There wasn't much wind, but what there was came mostly from the east, so it was cool on the backside of the house, and there was a cool breeze coming in the window. On the front side and inside the house, it was hot. How hot I don't know, because the thermometer was in the sun and it registered 100º for a while, and it wasn't that hot.
Jasmine spent most of the afternoon on the porch, sitting behind one of the pillars so that her back, which is mostly black and red, was in the shade and her head was in the sun. Smartypants. Buster, I think, slept in the window seat. He likes it warm, and he gets some sun there, but the east window is open so he can get some fresh air and it doesn't get too hot. He got to sit on my lap a lot, too, which he liked, although he jumped down with a grunt when I started typing.
I was eating my dinner with Buster staring at it when he sat up and looked outside, and there was one of the deer walking through the garden again. I almost thought she was going to eat my poppies, which have popped today. She didn't, but you never know. I bet there is deer poop in the garden now.
That poppy is coral, with fringed edges, and while it is very pretty, I am still disappointed that I don't have a really red, red poppy. I would also like a pink one with a black center, but I don't know quite where to go to get them. If, and only if, I ever get the garden cleaned out again.
So that was my day, and I will be off to the north end early, I think. Everything was late yesterday, which is why I got to bed so late. I'm hoping it will be earlier tonight.
I just heard the loon, but from far down the harbor.
It's a coolish, partly cloudy evening in the field.
June 20 Last night, I did not do any reading. I may have knitted for a little while, although I don't remember. I was in bed before 11:00, and I slept well in my nice clean bedclothes. In fact, I slept so well that I got up at 8:00. Unfortunately, I didn't do anything remarkable with my long day.
I could tell that it was very foggy all night, and it was extremely foggy when I got up. The fog began to lift around 10:00, but it didn't go away until after noon, and it was cloudy until 2:00. Between 2:00 and 2:15 it very abruptly cleared up and the late afternoon was lovely, sunny and warm. It was under 50º this morning, and the temperature rose slowly to around 60º, where it stood until 5:00 or so, then it rose abruptly to 75º for a couple of hours before it dropped back. It was nice to have the doors open if only for a little while. There was a moderate wind from the north, which got cold when the temperature dropped from 75º to 57º in a few minutes before it calmed down. Interesting weather we're having. If you don't like it, just wait a minute.
I beaded a bit and knitted a bit and petted a cat a lot, and that was about it. I read one of the short books I found in the bookcase, and it was a nice one, about nature.
Buster was someplace else when I got up, so he didn't get his morning petting until I was sitting at the computer doing my morning surfing. Then he sat on my lap for a long time. When the temperature dropped back this evening, all of a sudden both kitties got quite rambunctious. It was good to see Buster dancing around. He doesn't do that very much anymore. Now, however, he is sound asleep on the sewing machine chair. He tired himself out.
So that was a quiet and mostly useless day. The septic alarm went off this morning again, darn it. I have to wash tomorrow, though, so maybe that will fix it. I did run water for quite a while today, and so far it hasn't gone off again. It still seems to me that the lower float should be a whole lot lower than it is, because it doesn't make any sense that I should have to pour 800 gallons of water into the tank every time I have it pumped.
There is an empty box on its side in the powder room, and when I went in there after breakfast, Buster immediately went into the box...then the alarm went off, and wow, did he erupt, on full alert. So did I, actually, and I immediately went downstairs and turned it off. Stupid thing.
Now it is getting dark and it is time to toddle up to the north end. I think I will skip the bath tonight. It's a nearly clear, cool night in the field, and maybe there will be stars.
June 19 I took my books to the north end again, so of course, it was 2:00 before I got to bed. I finished one, and I finished the other one this afternoon. Actually, they are both great books to dip into, because they are both a series of essays, none more than about 4 pages. The problem, I found, is that the title for the next essay is always so provocative that I just wanted to keep on reading...and I did.
I had a hard time getting to sleep, partly because it was so late, and partly because I couldn't get the temperature right, but eventually I did, and I slept until 5:30 or so, when we got very rambunctious, in spite of the thunder that was going on outside and the rain that started to come down. The rain put me back to sleep for a while, and when I woke up again to turn over, Buster got up on the bed, squatted down beside me...and peed all over the bed, the sheets, the body pillow and almost on me. For heaven's sake, guy, the sink isn't covered!
He was upset - and I think he still is - because the alarm went off sometime after I went to sleep, and I didn't feel like getting up and going downstairs to turn it off.
I finally got up around 9:00, but I certainly didn't get enough sleep! Before I even went into the bathroom, I stripped the bed and started washing the sheepskin pad I sleep on, since I knew that would take longest to dry.
And before I fed them, I went down and turned off the alarm. I have done four loads of wash today (I had to rewash a sheet that got some dirt spots on it from somewhere), and I think that has taken care of the alarm, as it usually does.
Needless to say, I didn't feel like doing a whole lot, but I did a lot of walking back and forth to the laundry room. Then tonight after dinner, I put the bed back together. Boy, is that ever a job! I used to think changing the double bed was a pain, but the queen is ever so much worse. That fancy mattress weighs a ton. It didn't help that I had to start from scratch, with the mattress pad, which had to be stretched and stretched to fit, then the bottom sheet, which really doesn't have a deep enough gusset for this mattress, then the sheepskin, which is held on by elastic in the corners that I have a terrible time getting to stay under the mattress. A couple of things got wadded up and didn't get completely dry, too. Getting the cover on the body pillow (thankfully, the pillow itself didn't get wet) was easier this time than when I got it, but it's hard. I took the occasion to wash the pillowcases, so I had to put them back on, too - the cotton one to protect the pillow and the satin one. Whew! I was hot and dripping and tired when I got done. I am still dripping.
Part of the reason for that is the weather. We had 0.45" of rain between 5:00 and 8:00, and it was excruciatingly humid, although the temperature did get up to 71º around noon. Then between 2:00 and 4:00 we had another 0.14", and the temperature dropped a bit, but it went right back up to 72º when the rain stopped. Now it has dropped precipitously to 50º, and the humidity is over 90%...like ugly. It was nice to get almost 0.6" of rain, though. We needed that, and we could get some more tonight, which would be good. However, it wasn't a nice day.
In between all the washing, I did a little beading, but I didn't get far. I discovered that the twisted rope bracelet that I made fits me, which is nice, except that now I have to make another one. I also discovered that I seem to have mislaid my rope and post bracelet, which is a little bigger than the ones I make to sell. I thought it was in the office, but I sure can't find it. I knitted a little tonight, but not much, and as I said, I finished the second new book.
I went to put the new books on a shelf and found half a dozen others that I bought a year or more ago and never read, so I have those out now, and I guess I will be reading for a while.
So that was my day. Buster has been excessively clingy and vocal, and I hope it's just that he didn't like the alarm. I think now there is enough water in the tank that it won't go off again, but it takes him a little while to believe that. I couldn't believe he would pee in the bed deliberately, which is clearly what he did, but as I've said before, he has his little ways to let me know he doesn't like the way things are. He is certainly a character.
Now it's a cool, cloudy and very damp night in the field, and I need to go to bed!
June 18 I took my new books with me to the north end, and I guess that was a mistake. I read one for a while, and I stopped at what I think was a more or less reasonable hour, but then I started looking at the other one, and it was 2:00 before I got to bed. Oops. I woke up at 8:00 and decided that was too early, but I couldn't get back to sleep so I got up around 9:00.
It was actually just as well that I was up so late, because I had to go down and turn off the septic alarm. It seems to be on a 2:00 pm and 2:00 am schedule. I ran some water this morning and I'm running some more tonight. I hate to waste all that well water and run my well pump so much, but it does make the water nice and clear for a while. I will have to talk to Adam again, because I think that low water float is not nearly low enough and I think he should be able to adjust it.
I knitted a while and petted a cat for a while before I got up, and I didn't do much again. I didn't get enough sleep last night, so I was tired today. I had to turn off the alarm at 2:00 this afternoon, though, and I brought up one of the orange bags, so that was something. And I cooked tonight. There were some pretty old beef country ribs in the freezer, so after defrosting them for two days, I finally cooked them tonight, and they were good. I guess you're supposed to be able to grill them, but I wouldn't without precooking them, because they are some cut like chuck, and they aren't too tender, although these were pretty good. This time I didn't overcook them.
I did have to contend with a cat who insisted he wanted some, and beef is not good for him. Since I think he is having a hairball again and he doesn't feel very good, I didn't want to compound his problem. So he is now sitting under the east window, all hunched up with his back to me.
I knitted on the afghan some more, and I am making good progress. It is going to be a pretty thing.
The weather started out beautiful. It was 68º already when I got to the office, and it was sunny with only a light wind, although every so often there would be a gust or two. It got up to 73º for a couple of hours this afternoon, but around 2:00 it started to cloud up, and the temperature dropped off a bit. The wind is still from the southwest and it is beginning to rise into the 10-20 mph range. There seems to be some rain on the way. A few minutes ago, I heard one far-away "boom", which is guess is from a storm cell out over the lake. It's about time, if we do get some rain. They've been pushing it back for the past couple of days.
So that was a quiet day, and it's off to the north end, maybe without the books. It's a cloudy and possibly rainy night in the field.
June 17 I read for a while last night, but I was still in bed by 10:30. However, I didn't sleep very well. I think it was the temperature. It was very warm at the north end, and I had a hard time getting the covers right. It cooled down outside, but there wasn't any wind. Finally, around 7:00, I did go to sleep, and it was 10:15 before I got up! Apparently the septic alarm went off and I never heard it until after I was awake...or maybe it didn't go off until 10:00? The sound is quite close to my tinnitus, so when it is far away, I have a hard time hearing it. Buster hung around for a while, but the sweater is getting rather large, and I guess I didn't pay enough attention to him.
It was a beautiful day, and I didn't want to do anything, but since I had to go down to the basement anyway to turn off the audible alarm, I changed the cat pans while I was there, and there are now four very heavy orange bags down there. I'm not sure what to do about them, since they feel almost too heavy for me to lift.
Then I went to the post office, where there was lots of new reading material including two new books that aren't craft books. For the rest of the afternoon, I either played with the computer or knitted on the afghan. I didn't do anything on the Maizy sock because I can't quite decide what to do with it.
I quite forgot to start the dishwasher last night - or take my pills - so I ran it today, since I was out of cat dishes and it was full. Now I need to unload it. I didn't cook tonight because what I wanted to cook wasn't defrosted when I wanted to start cooking. Tomorrow.
Oh, yes, and sometime yesterday, I got a nice black fly bite in my right eyebrow, which is itching like mad, and I think I got one on my arm under my sleeve, too. They are really nasty this year!
The weather was a lot nicer than they were predicting last night. There were even some stars overnight, and it was quite clear when I got up this morning. It only got down to 57º last night, which is why I was hot. It got up to 76º briefly around 4:00 this afternoon, and for the whole afternoon it was in the low 70s, with almost no wind from the south. It is down below 70º now, but it is still calm. It was nearly clear all day, too, although there was that high haze in the sky that makes it light blue instead of dark blue. That didn't interfere with the water, though.
So that was my quiet day, and I'll soon be off to the north end again, probably with my new books. It's a lovely, clear, calm night in the field, even though they are still promising rain.
June 16 When I go up to the north end lately, I've been leaving the lights off, which limits the length of time I can read, so I was in bed by 10:30 last night. I didn't get up until 9:15, so I guess I got enough sleep. I knitted a while, and I was annoyed to find that I had started a new square with just enough yarn to do one row, so I immediately had to tie in a new ball. I should have checked, I guess.
I didn't do much today again. I did fill my pail with sunflower seeds and I filled the bird feeders, although I am letting the pretty feeder empty out before I replace it with the other one. The hummingbirds emptied their feeder last night, so I had to fill that, too, and I notice it hasn't gone down all that much today, so I guess yesterday was a special one for them, too.
I finally called Adam about the spring stuff, and I finally called the septic tank cleaner, and that was interesting. He happened to be working at the Mountain Lodge, so when he was finished there, he came here, about 6:30, and I now have a clean septic tank and the alarm is going off. He suggested I turn off the circuit breaker for a few days, and I would, if I could figure out which one to turn off. We do not like that noise. I am running water into it, and I will until I go up to the north end, but it will still take a few days to fill it up above the low water level.
It's nice to know that is done now, and it didn't cost nearly as much as I was anticipating. It needed to be done, though, and I guess I will have to have it done every two to three years as long as I'm living here fulltime.
The weather was nice again, although there were more clouds than yesterday and it wasn't so warm - or in spots it wasn't so warm. The official temperature got up to 75º, around 5:00, and it was officially in the lower 70s for most of the afternoon. However, for part of that time there was a very cool breeze coming in the east window that prompted me to close it, and I had to close it again when the septic tank truck was here, because it was blowing diesel fumes into the house. On the lake side, where the wind wasn't coming from, it was around 75º all afternoon. There was very little wind, from the south. It started out almost clear, but it has clouded up now, and I guess the night will be cloudy.
Other than my phone calls, I knitted and played with the computer. I did make a trip into the basement, and I found a few things to bring up, including my big cutting mat and a bunch of pencils and pencil cups. I also brought up some things to eat. I am calling my forays into the basement my "shopping trips", and it's nice not to have to spend any money to shop.
I was looking at the sock I had started, and I decided I just don't like the yarn well enough to put that much work into it, so I tore it out, and I am starting a Maizy sock. This is a new color combination, too - tan, yellow and gray - that I don't know how well I will like, but I do occasionally have things to wear that will go with them. I like Maizy. That is the yarn that is mostly corn fiber. It is very comfortable to wear, and this will be my third pair of socks out of it.
So that was my quiet day, and now I have to move some money to cover the check I wrote, and then I can go up to the north end again. It's a warmish, cloudy night in the field.
June 15 What a fantastic day!
I got to bed around 11:00 last night, after reading for a short while, and I slept with only two wakeups until about 7:15. Since I knew I wanted to get up around 8:00 or 8:30, I didn't really go back to sleep, and Buster knew it, so he came and sat down in my face until I got up about 8:00. I did knit for a while and started a new square on the sweater, and I petted a cat, of course.
I got to Harbor Haus about 9:15 or so, and I had to wait - standing up - for 15 or 20 minutes, but the two people in front of me and the two people behind me all got together, and we ate together. This was a new combination, and they are all nice ladies, too, so we had a good time, and a very good breakfast. We all wish they would do this more often, so we could all go once a month or so.
I will say that their breakfast prices have gone up alarmingly, but it's been at least 9 years since I've been there for breakfast, so I suppose it makes sense.
I had time to come home, use the bathroom and get my planner, before it was off to my massage, and I feel much better for that, too. Johanna has some new kind of cream that she used on my sore fingers that have made them feel much better. Of course, she worked on my back, and that feels good, too.
When I got home, it was just too nice to do anything but sit and enjoy the weather, so that is what I did. I finished the second repeat of the pattern in the afghan and started the third repeat, and I sat in the ugly chair with a very happy cat on my lap and watched the birds go by. I did discover that I managed to drop two stitches on one edge, but I can recover from that without ripping, I'm sure. I just increased back to the right number, and when I am working in the ends, I will tie the two dropped stitches back into the body. It makes me mad to do something like that, but I was probably knitting in the dark, and the edges are sometimes a problem.
The weather...oh, the weather! It was perfectly clear when I got up, and when I got to the office just after 9:00, the temperature was already 63º. By the time we got out of breakfast, it was over 70º, and it went up to 72º and stayed there for the whole afternoon, with light breezes from the south. Oh, it was wonderful! It is cooling off a bit now, and there are some high clouds in the sky, but it's still about the warmest day we've had here at the shore in about two months.
This is the kind of weather I wish we would have all summer. I have the house at least partly opened up - all the doors on the lake side are open, and one window on the east side of the great room as well as the window in the office. Buster and I were very happy in the ugly chair until the sun began to move over to the west. He had moved to the footstool and was sound asleep, but finally the sun got too hot on his black coat and he went away. I was so comfortable that I just sat there until it was time to rustle up some dinner, and besides, my fingers were getting stiff from knitting.
When I got home and went to open up the house, Jasmine was taking her ease in the sun on the porch, and she looked sooo happy and sooo sleepy. I think she spent most of the day out there. Buster spent a good deal of time late this afternoon stalking the squirrels and chipmunks and birds on the deck. He isn't too interested in the ones in the feeders, but when they get onto the deck, and especially when they get close to the doors, he is fascinated.
So was I. There were fewer squirrels and more chipmunks today. I was glad to see that the teensy chipmunk had groomed its tail and it looks fine now. I wonder if maybe it got into some pine sap yesterday. The goldfinches are still coming in flocks, as are the hummingbirds. The hummingbirds are beginning to mate. At one point, there must have been a female sitting up in the tree, because there was a male going around and around in circles about 8" in diameter, and at least twice I saw one doing his U-dance, one about 4' across, and another about 1' across. And I must say that the females didn't seem particularly interested...not yet anyway.
Last night when I went out to get the feeders in, there was one male hummer who flew into the tree, and as he did, his ruby-red throat caught the setting sun and it glowed like a real iridescent ruby. It was so beautiful! I like hummingbirds (as if you didn't know). They are so small, but they are still feisty little things and when they hover, they look like little ballet dancers.
When I was coming home the first time, I almost ran into the propane guy, but he didn't stop at my house again, thank goodness! When I was coming home the second time, I startled the littlest fawn who was on the road by himself. He wasn't much larger than Duce, who is a young lab. He galloped ahead of me and went into the bushes on the harbor side. I hope his mama was there. He was entirely too young to be alone like that, and I've had my fill of orphans.
So that was a lovely summer day, and except for the bugs (I now have a black fly bite on my forehead), it was perfect - perfect temperature, perfect sky, perfect activities, perfect everything. Soon I will be off to the north end. It's a warm, partly cloudy night in the field.
June 14 I finished the story I was reading (it isn't done), and I think I was in bed by 11:00. I got up around 8:30, I think, and did the usual morning stuff.
I discovered, when I scratched my head last night, that I had gotten a black fly bite on my head, and this morning, one started developing on the middle finger of my right hand. I must have gotten them last night when I brought in the bird feeders. The one on my head isn't too annoying, but the one on my finger is horribly itchy, even though I treated it with Adolph's before it had really developed.
Unfortunately, I had an accident this afternoon, so I ended up having to wash my hands a couple of times. I hope this was just me ignoring the signals, and not a sign that all my fancy antibiotics didn't work. We shall see. I didn't have any more episodes, so I still have some hope.
I filled the pill dispensers this morning, and I worked on the bracelet for a little while, and I knitted for a while. I put dishes in the dishwasher, I put away some clean pots and pans and I washed some dirty ones. I had French toast for breakfast, so there were more pans to wash. So I guess I did something.
The more I work on that afghan, the better I like it. but then, I've had a thing for mohair yarn since I was a teenager, and this is mostly mohair, and hand painted mohair at that. Yum.
When I shopped on Tuesday, I bought a rather expensive container of cut up melons and fresh pineapple, and when I tasted it, the cantaloupe tasted like mold. Tonight, when I tasted it, the watermelon and the honeydew were going bad. So I took off the sticker, attached it to my bill, and when I next go shopping, I will complain. I've never had that happen before, and it was very disappointing. Also a waste of money. I got two containers of those big strawberries, though, and I will be eating those. They are good, and the cream cheese dip that came with the melon will be good with them.
The weather was nice, if cool. It was cloudy in the early morning, but it cleared up by the time I got up, and it was clear for the rest of the day. The temperature was in the lower 50s for most of the day, until late this afternoon, when it went up to 61º briefly before it dropped back. There was hardly any wind for most of the day. These late, calm evenings are so pretty! The only thing I miss is not being able to have the house opened up, although I do have the east window open, because it is 79º in here, and that is a bit warm.
I got to watch the feeders for a while today. The hummingbirds weren't quite as combative today, which I suppose means they are pairing up. I had a flock of goldfinches for most of the day, as well as a flock of hummingbirds. The squirrels came, but they went away in the afternoon, and it seems I have at least four chipmunks, three big ones and a teensy little one, about a third the size of the big guys. The big guys are almost as big as the squirrels, and they look like they've been eating very well. The little guy has a strange tuft sticking out of the side of his tail, and I wish I could get him to sit still long enough to take a good look at it.
Speaking of tails, I forgot to mention that last evening when I went into the kitchen to get my dinner, I looked out in the garden and there was a deer standing there, almost on top of the poppies, and it was licking and biting at its tail for the longest time. I don't have any idea what it's problem was, but it wouldn't surprise me if the black flies were biting. I'm sure they have fleas, too, and perhaps ticks, if they sit down in the wrong spot.
I guess that is all there is for today. I would like to get up early tomorrow, because Harbor Haus is going to be open for breakfast just for the Harborites, and I would like to go. It's been ages since I've had breakfast there, and their breakfasts are just as good as their lunches and dinners. We'll see.
I was about to write that there should be stars, but with the days now at 15h 56m, there are only a couple of hours of complete darkness at night. Of course, you can see a lot at the end of nautical twilight, but it's beginning to get light at 4:00 and it doesn't begin to get reasonably dark until 11:30. Still, from about 8:30 until 10:00, when it is nearly calm, it is so beautiful in the harbor! I can wait until August to see the stars again.
It's a cool, clear night in the field.
June 13 Oh, well, I read until after midnight, so it was 1:00 before I got to bed. I got up around 8:45, which wasn't enough sleep, but it worked out all right.
The task of the day was to get all the boxes to the community trash collection. I threw all the boxes in the house (with the exception of three useful ones, which I kept for future use) over the front porch railing, then I went out to the garage and began loading china barrels into the car. Thankfully, they fit three across, and left me with quite a bit of room. I broke down as many boxes as I could, but a lot of them had stuff inside so they couldn't be flattened. I sat in the garage on a chair and flattened boxes for almost 45 minutes. Ron came over and packed his car full of stuff (he has a Toyota SUV, which is small and doesn't hold a lot), and he helped me get most of the rest of the stuff in my car. Then we went off to the dumpsters, where I think it was Art Davis who was attending the dumpsters and who helped us get the stuff out. I came back and put the rest of it, including two bags of paper bags and the box with my citrus fruit in it. I was really sorry about the fruit, but last winter I just couldn't eat very much of it. Maybe this year?
Anyway, while I was throwing boxes around the garage, I experienced a little tight feeling in my chest, which I did not like to see. It went away quickly, and I was fine afterwards, but I will have to watch myself. When I got home after the second load, I had a cookie and a glass of limeade and I didn't do anything much for the rest of the afternoon.
I shifted to the ugly chair with the afghan, and I knitted and watched the birds for a long time. I was happy to see lots of hummingbirds. They are very feisty for such little things, and they spent a lot of time chasing each other. There was one episode where two of them went head over heels while falling down toward the deck. The other birds and the chipmunks were put off by the three squirrels. One of the squirrels, who has a very dark coat, seems to be at the top of the heap, and he kept chasing everybody else away and chattering at everybody. Even the jays are shy of him. However, I did see a good flock of goldfinches and the nuthatches came any number of times.
The weather was nice. It was mostly sunny, although every so often a few clouds would come over and it would get gray. The temperature was around 55º for most of the afternoon, with north winds in the 15-20 mph range. It did get up to 61º around 7:00 this evening, and there was a wind gust up to 29 mph around 7:30 that caused the weather station to send a report off-hour. It was a nice day to be outside. Everything is relative. Fifty-five seemed like a very comfortable temperature to be working, after the cold temps we have had lately.
It was buggy. I sprayed the edges with Off! and I wore my bucket hat (I don't like baseball caps), and I don't think I got bitten, but there were certainly enough little black things flying around. I'm sure the tourists wondered why all the locals were going around in long-sleeved shirts buttoned up to the neck or they had their bug shirts on. Bug shirts are wonderful.
I also stopped back at the post office and got my form filled out properly (it is some kind of address verification thing that I don't understand).
So that was my day, and I'm tired. I had a nice rib eye steak (not very tender) and a lovely Yukon Rose potato (yellow flesh and red skin) and a nice brownie for dessert, so I am satisfactorily full.
One of these days I will have to buckle down and make a batch of cookies of my own and freeze them so that when the sweets bug bites me I will have something to eat. What I learned over the winter is that candy and cookies aren't necessarily bad - it's how much you eat at one time and what else you eat. I also know that the older one gets the more one craves sweets.
Now it's time to crawl up to the north end, probably read the end of the story (which was never finished) and crash. It's a lovely, partly cloudy night in the field and not nearly as cold as it's been lately.
June 12 I started reading when I got up to the north end last night, so it was 12:30 or so before I got to bed. I got up around 9:30, but I didn't feel very robust today, so the things I thought I might do didn't get done. Sigh.
I fiddled around for most of the day, too. I did a little knitting and a little reading and a lot of playing with the computer.
I went to the post office, to find out that they decided not to extend the hours for the summer, and it is only open until 3:00. Oh, well. I will have to go back tomorrow, because I need to talk to Clyde.
Tonight was the annual Firemen's dinner at Mariner. I went early, before 5:30, but already there were lots of people there. It was only $8 for adults, and I think, as I've said before, that there are a lot of people in the Copper Country who make a hobby of driving around and going to all the fund raising dinners. This one was spaghetti, and they had good coleslaw, good potato salad and a nice pasta salad as well. Yum. There was also a bake sale, so I had a nice piece of carrot cake for dessert and I brought home some other goodies, including some bilberry muffins. Yum, yum!
The weather was cool and pretty. It was mostly clear for most of the day, with a temperature that was in the low 50s for most of the day before it rose abruptly to 61º for a brief time around 7:00. There was almost no wind for most of the day. Now there are a few clouds in the sky, and a little breeze.
It is still remarkably cold for this time of year, but I'm sorry to say that it isn't keeping the bugs down. We are in the middle of black fly season, and the only reason I haven't gotten bit is that I haven't been out very much. Well, maybe we'll be lucky and it will be over soon. I'm about ready for some warmer weather, too, when I can open up the house completely.
Tomorrow Ron is going to try to help me get some of the boxes to the dump. It is the annual collection, and I guess we'd better do what we can. I hope I feel better.
I took my last pills today. While my elimination isn't what I used to consider "normal", it's a whole lot better than it was, but now that I'm off the antibiotics, we'll see what happens. It will take at least a week before I feel like I'm really cured, but I have hope. I suppose my innards are still irritated, and that's why I have more than one episode a day, and that may take a while to get over. It's so much more normal - no diarrhea - that I certainly hope this is the end of it.
So that was a rather lost day, and I'm off to the north end and I will really try to get to bed earlier tonight. It's a cool, partly cloudy night in the field.
June 11 I think I got to bed about 10:30 last night, which was good. I was up a couple of times. The first time, the moon was bright, but I did manage to see Polaris. The second time was about 4:00, and it was quite clear that we were totally fogged in. We were when I got up, about 8:00, but it seems like between 6:00 and 7:00 there was a little sunlight, and the camera caught this shot, which I thought this was worth saving. I'm sorry I didn't see it. I knitted, and I started a new square in the sweater, and I petted a cat for a while before I got dressed.
I put out the new bird feeder, and it seems like the birds can't tell the difference between it and the old one. There were a few birds around today. I think I saw a white-breasted nuthatch, although it moved so fast I'm not sure, and there was a female rose-breasted grosbeak around. I wish he'd come, too.
However, the bird story of the day was something else. I decided to do some sewing, and I was sitting at the machine when I heard loons. This was just their warble, but it seemed to be quite close, so I got up and got the binoculars, and there, out in the harbor in the fog, were three or maybe four loons! I think there were four at first, then one of them left. They were fishing, but at least once, one of them stood up on top of the water with its breast all puffed out. It didn't run, but it just stood there for a second or two. That is the neatest thing. I think it's part of their mating display, but the other two seemed more interested in fish.
I decided that today was the day to make the other tote bag kit. This one was easier than the first one, but the directions were terrible, so I ended up making it my way. It is rather pretty, prints in dark blue, magenta and aqua with gold highlights. It is bigger than the first one, and I think it may be more useful. I still have to tack some things down on the inside, but otherwise, it is finished, and it didn't take long.
Besides being foggy (read: humid), it was cold. Despite all the weather predictions, it never got over 46º all day, and for most of the day it was in the low 40s. There was hardly any wind, but I had to close the window for most of the afternoon because it was from the east and it was frigid. The fog finally lifted around 3:00, and it has turned into a lovely, clear evening. I believe the temperature got at least 20º warmer down in Houghton, but there was all that fog here.
I love that fog. Even with the window closed, I could hear the fog horns out on the lake, and even though they aren't the deep bass ones I remember from my childhood, it's still fun to hear them and know there are ships passing by out there, even if we can't see them.
However, it is cold and damp, and my hands were really aching today, and my back was bad enough that it was a good thing I hadn't planned anything really strenuous. It's bad when I have to sit on my rolling stool while I make my breakfast.
Speaking of breakfast, after some experimentation, I have learned how to cook cereal in the microwave, and I like most of it that way, but I have decided I don't like microwaved oatmeal. It gets a sort of creamy, gluey consistency I don't like. So I did my oatmeal in a pot. It doesn't take any longer, although I have to watch it so it doesn't boil over, and I like it much better. However, the other kinds are going in the microwave.
All afternoon, while I was sewing, Buster was asleep in the desk chair, except for a while after the sun came out, when he shifted to the ugly chair until he got too hot. When I went back into the ugly chair, he curled up on the task chair. I have to keep towels or fleece throws or both on the chairs, because he doesn't like to sit on the leather. Neither do I, when I'm wearing shorts. I have two towels and a throw on the desk chair, because it lifts me up just enough more that it is easier to work at the desk.
So that was another quiet day, and I didn't realize how late it had gotten. It's time to totter up to the north end.
It's a cold, calm and clear night in the field.
June 10 Well, tonight better be an early one. I started reading when I got up to the north end, and it was interesting, so it was 1:00 before I got to bed, and I didn't get up until after 10:00 this morning. Just the cycle I don't want to get back into. I petted a cat and knitted on the sweater for a while, but it was after noon before the bird feeders got out.
Otherwise, I didn't do much. I finished the first repeat on the afghan, and I like the way it's coming out (not that it would have mattered, but I will keep at it). The colors will go with the great room furniture, which none of my other afghans do. I'm sure the kitties will like it, since it has a lot of mohair in it, and most cats seem to think mohair feels like their mommies.
I went to the post office, where there wasn't much mail, but I did get two packages. I don't guess I mentioned that I bought a new three-tube feeder. One of the online places had one like the one that got broken at about 40% off regular price, and I just couldn't resist. It does have green ends and silver perches, but I'm sure the birds won't care. I figured, if this one lasts me 7 years or so like the last one did, it's not a bad deal. I will put it out tomorrow. I like it because it holds a lot of seed, and the birds seem to like it a lot better than the pretty feeder.
This time, I opened the boxes in the garage and only brought in the contents. I also got the rest of the groceries and the coolers out of the car, so that is done.
I finally finished reading the book on the Middle Ages that I started a long time ago. It's another one that was organized in a strange way, and besides, the author had a very odd and idiosyncratic writing style that I sometimes found annoying. He would list things without "and" between the final two items, sometimes he would use semicolons instead of commas, and several other things. However, there was a lot of good information, only it took me so long to read it that I've undoubtedly forgotten things from the beginning of the book that made the end a bit confusing.
The weather was so-so again. It was very cloudy for most of the day, and about the time I went to the post office, there were a few spits of rain, and just a little while ago, we had a few minutes of dense fog. The temperature got up to 56º about 11:00, then it dropped back into the low 50s and it is now below 50º again. There was a light breeze, from the southwest until just a while ago when it switched around to the north. That has cleared it up a bit, and it's a nice evening, if cool.
There has been a female something bird hanging around the deck this afternoon. I have no idea what it might be. It is about the size of a cowbird, but it's no cowbird; it's a different shape, with a longer neck. It has a finch-type beak, a buff head and breast and a dark brown back, no streaking or striping. A mystery bird. It seems hungry, but it is too timid to go to the feeders.
So that was another quiet day, and it's bedtime again. It's a partly sunny, cool night in the field.
June 9 I knitted and read for a while last night and I got to bed just after 10:30. However, I was wakeful for over an hour between 3:00 and 4:00, so I didn't get as much sleep as it sounds like. I got up around 8:30. I knitted some more this morning and petted a very clingy cat. How in the world does he know when I'm going out for the afternoon? I was able to move at a slow pace, do all my surfing, and get the birdseed out of the car before I left for town.
I am now well-photographed, and the ultrasound technician found three or four little dark spots. The only question now is, were they there before, or is this something new? Stay tuned.
It was about 2:30 when I left the hospital. My next stop was the Ming Bistro, where I had a nice lunch, although they didn't have their usual assortment of real Chinese dishes. I took my time about eating, and it was 3:30 before I got to Econo, where I did the usual damage, even though I left my list at home. I haven't checked it to see what I forgot. I did remember things like salt and potatoes.
The price of gas here is minimum $2.90, which is apparently (according to what I hear on the news) quite a bit higher than in the rest of the country. Of course - it's tourist season, and this is a tourist area. I was happy to hear that "they" think it won't go a whole lot higher.
I didn't start for home until about 4:30, and there was some traffic, but altogether not as much as I would have expected. They still have the weird detours around Houghton, where they are "streetscaping" Shelden Avenue. There was also a huge hole across the northbound lanes of US-41 about halfway up Quincy Hill, which was making quite a mess. Beware the weekend, when they are having some kind of art fair on Shelden, so there should be more people than usual. Or maybe they will have it fixed by then. Hancock has been dealing with numerous water main breaks all spring, and I suspect this was another one. It's an infrastructure problem, and you know government tends to ignore the infrastructure until something dire happens.
After I got north of Quincy, it was smooth sailing the rest of the way home. Going by way of Cliff Drive really does shave a few minutes off the trip.
The weather was - eh. There was apparently some more rain between 1:00 and 5:00 last night, but not a lot, and it was cool and humid all day - not good for my arthritis, for sure. The temperature here got up to 48º, and maybe to 52º or so in Houghton, with very light winds from the north. It was cloudy all day, although the clouds were beginning to break up a bit by the time I started north. Now I guess you'd say it's partly sunny. There wasn't any fog here, but when I got to Quincy Hill going south, the top of the mine hoist building was almost obscured by fog. It was a good day to do something like I did.
I must say that I was impressed by Portage View. Not only are all the people nice, they have the latest equipment, digital mammogram machines and very advanced digital ultrasound machines. The places I've been around Detroit (especially the one where they did my mammograms) don't have that kind of equipment. Now if the doctors were only competent. I have no fears for the technicians, like the radiologists, but I am deeply suspicious of the other doctors. I've heard too many horror stories.
So that was my day, and it's time to go up to the north end and take my pill. It's a cool, cloudy night in the field and a good one to sleep in.
June 8 I knitted a bit last night, but I was in bed by 10:30, which was more reasonable. I didn't get up until 10:00, when I got a phone call, so I think I got caught up on my sleep. At least I felt like I had a bit more energy today. I knitted and petted a cat, although he was not happy that I was knitting on that big afghan, so he went away after a while.
I mostly knitted and surfed one of my favorite websites, but I did manage to do a thing or two. The fridge is cleaned out, mercifully. There were two really yucky shelves, including one I can't take out, and two of the drawers were also gross from the stuff that died in them. That is all gone, and everything is nicely cleaned up and out for my shopping trip tomorrow. That's nice. I rearranged things so that the small veggie drawer is now holding cheese and the big veggie drawer and the meat drawer are empty (well - I guess there is a bag of celery there). I also washed up all the pots and pans except for the ones I used tonight.
I cooked tonight, one of my easy chicken things, and it tasted good. Now there are more pans to wash, of course, and the stove is in even worse shape than it was. I just have to put away the rest of my chicken and I have two more meals. Maybe sometime this week I can get at the stove.
I worked a bit on the latest bracelet, because the knitting was making my hands sore. Not that the beading doesn't, too, but it is a few different motions. My fingers are still extremely sore and inflamed. It will be good to have a day off tomorrow.
Part of the reason for my hands (and my back) is the weather, which was yucky. it was cloudy and humid and cold. The temperature got up to 50º briefly - very briefly - before it dropped back to the middle 40s. There was a rather strong east wind until it started to rain after 3:00. So far we have had 0.17" of rain, and it looks to keep on. Just my least favorite kind of weather.
Tomorrow I get my mammogram and ultrasound, and since I'm down in that area and it's time, I will go food shopping. I have a list of stuff I'm running out of (including salt - it's only taken me 8 years to use a pound of salt!), and I'm also running out of steaks. I like to have a goodly number of them in the freezer for a quick, good dinner.
So that was another quiet day in the field, and it's time to totter up to the north end and try to get another good night's sleep. It's a cold, cloudy and rainy night in the field, and besides, there is a lot of fog or low hanging clouds over the harbor. Yuck. And this is June!
June 7 Well, I'll try not to do that again. I went up to the north end at a reasonable hour last night, but I took the afghan I was talking about. First, I cast on a new one and did about 10 rows, with which I wasn't very satisfied. Then I started ripping out the old one. Well, I finally got to bed just before 2:00, with no bath. Oops.
I got up around 10:00 (and Buster didn't understand why I didn't get up at 8:00!) and I finished the ripping and ripped out what I knitted last night. I cast on a new way, and that is it. The yarns in the kit are some of the most beautiful I have ever seen, including three hand-painted mohairs, and I finally realized that only the simplest pattern will show the yarns to their full advantage, so that is what I am doing now - straight knitting. I think it will come out nice.
When I got into bed, my hands, especially the first two fingers of my right hand, were so sore it took me some time to get to sleep. I guess it was the pulling, combined with knitting on slippery needles and the cool dampness of the weather. They are a little better today, but not a whole lot. The middle finger of my right hand is particularly sore, so sore that even typing hurts. I guess it will be back to the beading, since that puts a little less pressure on the fingers.
In fact, I may be doing some new beading things. Late this afternoon, Liz and her handyman-boarder stopped by. Len makes drums and rattles and other Indian-inspired things, and he asked me if I could do some small round or square beaded things to use to decorate his items. I have been thinking about trying some round medallions, and this is an ideal way to try them. So I said I'd see what I can do. I don't think he and I see eye-to-eye on colors, but we'll see what happens. He is interested in the copper, and I still have lots of copper beads.
Other than that and some knitting, I didn't do anything. I was going to work in the kitchen, but I just didn't feel like it. By the time Liz and Len left, it was too late to cook so I didn't do that, either.
The weather was cool, as usual. We had .07" of rain between 4:00 and 8:00 this morning, and it was humid all day long. It was cloudy until around 5:00, when it began to clear up a bit. The temperature was in the upper 40s all day long, but there was hardly any wind. What there was, was from the east, so I had to shut the window for a while, and then it got really hot in here once the sun came out.
So tonight I will try not to get too engaged in anything and get to bed early. It's a partly cloudy evening in the field.
June 6 I found something to read last night, so it was 11:00 before I got to bed. It was a clear night, and when I got up around 3:30, the setting moon was shining in the windows. I got up around 8:30, I think. I knitted a while and petted a cat for a while, as usual.
I was getting up to start getting dressed when I noticed some motion in the bushes beyond the lilacs, and when I looked carefully, there were two deer. I think it was mom and the kid. They were browsing in the serviceberries, and now I now why they don't ever seem to grow very high. Mom deer was chomping off the ends of every stem for the juicy young buds at the ends. The younger deer actually sat down for a while before mom moved off and it followed her. There wasn't much breeze, and both of them were being bothered by bugs. Since black flies bite men and dogs and cats, I presume they will also bite deer and bears and anything else they can sink their stingers into.
Speaking of that, I got an itch on my hip, and when I scratched it, there was a big welt. How a black fly got into the house, I don't know, and I didn't think I was uncovered enough for it to bite me. Or it could have just bit me through my jeans.
I didn't do much of anything today except to start a new orange bag with the stuff that was cluttering up the counter. I have to do something, both about the pots and pans and the stove, and I really, really need to clean out the fridge before I got to town on Tuesday. It is more gross than I can ever remember letting it get. I knitted a while this afternoon, and I looked at another afghan that I started years ago and I don't like how I was doing it. I may just restart it and rip out the old one as I run out of yarn.
The day started out beautifully, with sunshine and blue skies, but after about 3:00 it clouded up and it is now dark and dreary and there is a big area of rain southwest of us. The temperature made it up to 51º, but for most of the day it was in the high 40s. There wasn't very much wind, under 10 mph, and around noon it began to switch around to the east. If it's going to be cold, the least it could do is rain.
While I was knitting, I was watching the deck. My little dock-tail squirrel was there, and while I didn't have my binoculars, there is a deep scar on his right side just above his hind leg. He can climb all right, but comparing him to the others, he doesn't run as fast. However, he certainly is a fighter, or he never would have made it. He was chattering at the chipmunks as much as at the other squirrels. And he sat in the feeder for two or three minutes, just sitting there and doing nothing. I've never seen another squirrel do that. There were lots of goldfinches and the usual chickadees and nuthatches and a couple of hummingbirds. Several blue jays came by, too, but they were put off by the squirrels, since they prefer to eat off the ground. It seems like the squirrels are on top of the pecking order, although they did watch the jays very carefully. So would I - jays can be nasty.
So that was a very quiet day. I don't know why, but I don't feel extremely robust, and I am not really inspired by any of the craft projects I should be doing.
Now it's a cloudy, cool night in the field, and it's time to toddle up to the north end again.
June 5 I read off the end of the blue binder, so I didn't get to bed until a little before midnight. I woke up around 7:30, and that didn't seem like enough sleep, so I went back to sleep until around 9:00. I knitted, but I had to un-knit three rows when I forgot to do the decreases. My mind...
I didn't feel like doing anything much today, so I didn't. I finished the bracelet and started another folded ribbon one. I do like that pattern, and besides, it works easily. Late this afternoon, I moved over to the ugly chair to watch the sky and the harbor, and I picked up an afghan I started sometime last year and did several rows. It's on #11 needles and the yarn is very soft and slippery, so I don't find it the easiest knitting. It's one where I got a kit, didn't like all the colors, so I changed four of them (from browns to blues), then I decided the pattern was too boring just about the time I found a new one that I could adapt, so it's mostly my creation. If I ever finish it (it's large) it should be nice.
The bird feeders never got put out today. By the time I got to the office, the wind was in the 25-40 mph range from the north-northwest, and it blew all afternoon. The highest gusts at the NWS station were 38 mph around 1:00, but as usual, I think it was windier out here, and the feeders just would have blown around. A few birdies came around, as well as a couple of squirrels, but it wasn't worth it. The temperature was moderate. It got up to 59º around noon, and it was in the middle 50s all afternoon.
The day started out very cloudy, and there was a short rain shower between 10:00 and 11:00. After that, the skies began to clear, and there were puffy white clouds in a hazy pale blue sky all afternoon, until around 4:00 when most of them went away, leaving lovely blue skies. I guess it's supposed to get quite chilly tonight, with the clear skies, but that's all right.
So that was my day, and now I will be off to the north end, maybe to write a bit (since I don't have anything at hand that interests me to read) and get to bed early. Having to take a pill at 9:00 is a good incentive to be up at the north end by then, and that's a good incentive to get to bed early.
It's a clear, breezy night in the field, and the moon is almost full.
June 4 I read for a while, but I was still in bed by 10:30. I guess I'm getting better, because I forgot my middle-of-the-night pill, and I almost forgot my mid-afternoon pill today. I will try to do better. I got up just before 8:00 - so early that Buster wasn't up yet. I finished the first shoulder of the sweater (second side) and started from the bottom on the other side, and I petted a cat.
Otherwise, I didn't do a lot. I unloaded the dishwasher and began to reload it, and I am almost finished with the bracelet. After the trouble I had with the first end (including stabbing my thumb with the eye end of the needle - ow!), I decided to do the other side tomorrow.
The weather was amazingly nice. I looked up around noon to discover that the temperature was 71º! Amazing. It stayed right around there all afternoon and has only dropped back a little. There was a brisk wind for most of the afternoon, in the 15-25 mph range (at least) from the northwest, although that has died down completely now. It was lovely and clear until about 2:00, when it clouded up and it really looked like it would rain, although as far as I know we only got a couple of drops. There were a few showers out in the lake, I think.
It was so nice, when I went to the post office, to run outside without a jacket or anything. Unfortunately, it is supposed to cool right back down into the 50s again tomorrow, but I notice that every time we have one of these warm days, it's a little warmer than the last one. Just a teaser. I opened the porch window, and I expect that is where Jasmine spent the afternoon, even though it was breezy.
Tonight, I dug out a rather old container of turkey a la king. I've been looking at it for a long time, so I finally decided to use it. I eat it over patty shells, and I've always wanted to see them rise, so I baked them in the toaster oven. I got the temperature a little bit high, so they browned a bit too much, but it was neat to see them puff up as they cooked. They were good, too, nice and crisp. Buster thought the a la was just wonderful, and the plate looks almost like it doesn't need washing. He knows what's good. I liked it too, and I have another meal of it.
So now I'm off to the north end again, and we'll see if I can get in another early night and early morning...just so long as I don't start forgetting my pills! It's past time for the next one, but since I was late taking the last one, it isn't vital. In fact, it doesn't really matter much at all. I used to think that if you were supposed to take a pill every 6 hours, you should try to be on time...and then I spent time in various hospitals. Getting oral meds on time is apparently rather low on the to-do list, and it doesn't seem to bother anybody. So I won't get bent out of shape about it either, as long as I get in my four a day. The morning and evening ones aren't usually much problem, it's the other two that are hard to remember.
I really do think I'm making progress. I think I only had to visit the bathroom two or three times today, and there weren't any cramps at all. Now let's see if I can get to one normal trip a day? I still have another week of pills to go.
Now it's a cloudy, warm night in the field, and it's time for bed.
June 3 I fiddled for a while because there were a couple of things on the radio I wanted to hear (Beethoven's "Appassionata" Sonata and a Hovanness Symphony) and I read for a while when I got to the north end, so it was after midnight when I got to bed. It was more like 3 hours between wakeups, which is good, and I got up around 8:00. So I will be going to bed a lot earlier tonight. I petted a cat and knitted for quite a while this morning before I got dressed.
I have to say I think I am actually making progress against the C. diff. There weren't anything I could call cramps today, just some slight discomfort every so often, and things aren't quite do watery. So I'm hopeful.
The guy from the glass company was supposed to come today, and of course he was late, but that didn't bother me very much. I wasn't planning to go anywhere. I now have a nicely screened patio door with a new wheel on the bottom - he agreed there was clearly something wrong with the old one. He put a bead of silicone caulk over the spline, which I hope will keep things in place a bit better. And he sprayed both patio doors and their screen tracks with silicone spray, which is making everything move a lot easier. The screen in the office locks now. He looked at the windows in the breezeway, and he thinks they could just replace the glass with double panes. I don't think I can afford it, but I thought I would ask. The guy who came looks at my webcam.
Otherwise, I worked on the latest bracelet, and I got some done.
It was a lovely day, still cold, but sunny and pretty. The temperature got up to 54º finally, at 7:00, although it was in the 40s or low 50s for most of the day. There was a light north wind for most of the day, although it has now swung around to the east and will be from the southwest tomorrow. There weren't any clouds in the sky all day, and it was nice out, nice being relative, of course.
So I have not much else to report. I expect to be in bed a lot earlier tonight. It's a lovely clear night in the field.
June 2 It took me two tries to upload last night. A response got lost in cyberspace, and it timed out the first time, which is not unusual for FrontPage. As bad as the FTP Windows Explorer uses is, the one FrontPage uses is a whole lot worse. Only I prefer to use it when I make structural changes to the website (like adding a page), because it sort of keeps track of updates. Sort of.
Anyway, I read for a little while, I think, and I got to bed around 10:30. I was up every 2 hours again, but I slept fairly well in between, and it was close to 9:00 when I got up. As to my progress, I think I am seeing a little bit. I am not having as many bouts of cramps as before, although I've discovered that doing anything remotely strenuous brings them on. Things aren't quite so watery. After what happened after I stopped the flagyl, I wasn't expecting any fast improvement, and it isn't, but just maybe it's beginning. I can hope.
It was a fairly nice day. There were stars when I was up around 3:30 (pill time), but it was cloudy when I got up later, it was cloudy (short pause to reset the start and stop times - it's getting light before 5:00 and still light at almost 11:00). It cleared up a bit briefly, then got cloudy again around noon, cleared up, then got cloudy around 5:00, and it is now clear and pretty. There was a brisk wind, in the 15-25 mph range, that started out from the west and is now from the north. The temperature got up to 54º around 2:00, and it is now dropping off a bit. It wasn't a bad day to be out a bit.
I went to the post office, and I am getting the dishwasher ready to run tonight. I don't have too many of my dishes, but I'm running out of cat dishes.
I finally got the bird feeders filled and out, and that was fun. I put the finch feeders and the hummingbird feeder out before I filled the other ones, and there was a little squirrel trying to get into both of them. He actually scared away a hummingbird who wanted to eat right after I put the feeder out. When I got everything out, I discovered that the hungry guy is my little fellow with the docked tail. He still has a very scruffy coat, although he has grown enough long fur on the remnant of his tail that it doesn't look so short anymore. He has been around for a very long time - six or seven years. I wonder how long squirrels generally live, if they die of old age? It was clear from the beginning that he had a serious run-in with a predator, probably an owl or a hawk, and I've always thought it was remarkable that he survived at all. Now he seems just fine, very bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, and he doesn't have the problems running and climbing that he did that first year. He's tough. He has a very cute little face, and he sat on the end of a branch and looked at me while I talked to him. If I'd wanted to, I might have gotten him to eat out of my hand. These little red squirrels don't seem to like sweet things like the big gray and black ones do. They eat seeds - and boy, do they eat! When Dock-Tail got down beside the feeder on the deck, which was heaping, he didn't know quite where to start with all that yummy stuff around.
I went to the post office, where the bill for my house insurance still hadn't come, and I got eggs.
I did do a little writing, or editing, maybe. One of the stories I had put on the computer used a character that, when I started reading the blue binder and thinking about the chronology, didn't exist yet, so I had to write him out of the story. He will turn up later, most likely, but for the time being I will have to do without him. I think I fixed things up, but I am going to want to re-read the thing to make sure. There was dialog that I had to attribute to another character, and that was a bit difficult in places. It's another one that isn't finished. I know where it is going, but getting there isn't always easy.
And that was about it. Even though I had cramps, I do think I felt better today. At least I don't feel really sick like I did for part of last week and over the weekend.
So that was my day. It's supposed to be a cold, clear night in the field tonight (frost inland), and I hope to get to bed early again.
June 1 Oops. Late this afternoon, somebody pointed out to me that I never uploaded the journal last night. Sorry about that. If you really want to read last night's entry, it's at this link. Nothing important happened yesterday, but I do appreciate the people who inquired about my health when there was no journal.
I was in bed by 8:30, which is probably part of the reason I didn't do the upload. I seemed to sleep a little better, although I was up 3 times in 45 minutes around midnight, but after that, it was about 3 hours apart, which was better, although I'm still not sleeping very well in between, and I still don't feel very good.
I got up around 8:00, and petted a cat. I finished a square on the sweater, made the little triangle at the corner of the neckline, and started the shoulder square. In a couple of days the first half of the front will be done, then I will have to start hassling with necklines and sleeves.
I guess I did do something today, at that, although it doesn't seem like it. The bird feeders never got put out, because they were empty, and the pails were empty, too. It took me until the middle of the afternoon to get them filled and moved back to the office - they are still in the doorway - and then it was too late to put the feeders out.
I did do something in the kitchen, finally. I loaded all the stuff that was in the sink and on the counters into the dishwasher, and I washed up the pans that were in the sink. There are still a few things to go, and of course the counters, which are horrible, but it's better than it was.
The weather was about like it has been lately - cold. It did finally get up to 48º for a whle this evening, but for most of the day it was around 42º, and that's 15º below our normal highs for this time of year! There was a moderate north wind, and it was damp, so I imagine it wasn't so nice outside. It was cloudy until the middle of the afternoon, when there was some sunshine, and now it is getting cloudy again.
Around 9:00 last night, it started raining, and it continued until around 2:00. We had a moderate amount of rain, which we sorely need, but we need more. It rained hard for a while, and it was good to go to sleep with.
I am still taking my pills religiously, and I am still not seeing much progress, although there were fewer episodes of cramps today, and I made it to the bathroom. I keep reminding myself that I've only been taking them since Friday, and it takes a while for these things to take hold. I still just don't feel very good, in part, I'm sure, because I am no doubt dehydrated, but also in part because my sleep has been so disturbed. I keep hoping it will get better.
It appears that I am going to become a local broadband access point. There are three people who want broadband who can't see the Mountain Lodge, but they can see my house, so PastyNet wants to use my house for an access point. That has a couple of benefits to me: they will increase my speed at no cost to me, and I will have wi-fi in the house, which will be nice if I do get a boarder. It also may mean that I can at last take the laptop up to the north end and write there - although I'm still pondering the wisdom of a laptop in the bathroom. I'm sure there's more to it that I will eventually find out, but I told Charlie a long time ago that I would be willing to do it. Mike said he would be coming over to scope out the situation, but he didn't, so I'm sure something else came up.
For me, personally, it won't be quite as convenient as having my own local network, because I won't be able to share disks on the two computers, but it also means I won't have to invest in any networking equipment. Since I have been seeing little signs that this computer is beginning to fail, and when it does, I will need to get both a desktop and a laptop, as well as a new multifunction device and probably a new webcam, it's just as well that I don't have to get any more equipment. By the way, I know I could probably get rather inexpensive equipment that would do the job, but when I do make that investment, I want to get something that will last another 8 years (or in the case of the laptop, 9 years)...power, speed, lots of memory, lots of disk, lots of connections, the whole nine yards. That's just the way I am.
So that was another quiet day, and tonight I will upload, because I have to use FrontPage to do it.
It's a partly cloudy, cold, breezy night in the field.
Last updated 08/04/11 08:45 PM
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