j1106

A View From the Field

June, 2011

June 30

I can't believe June is over. It seems like just a few days ago, it was the end of May. Where does the time go? No wonder I can't get anything done.

Today was another one of those. I didn't get to bed until midnight last night - too much reading again - and while I slept well, I got up at about 8:45, because I had to, and I just stayed up. So I didn't get enough sleep, and I am tired tonight. I can always tell when I haven't slept well (besides feeling tired) by the way I'm seeing, and I'm not seeing well tonight.

I did the morning stuff before I got dressed. When I came out of the bathroom in my underwear, I opened the door just to see how it was outside, and it was warm, so I left the door open and I put on a short sleeved tee. I opened the patio door in the great room before I made breakfast, and I opened the door in the studio before I ate. It was lovely.

The thing I love about having the doors open at this time of year is the smells. Every time the wind blew in, it smelled sweet. So nice.

The weather was lovely. It was partly cloudy all day, and a couple of times it looked like the clouds might head up, but they didn't. It was 70º when opened the doors, and the high was 75º, around 1:00. The temperature dropped off a bit after that, because the wind picked up, from the south in the 15-30 mph range. Oh, I could take a lot of this! It's supposed to get quite warm tomorrow, but only for a day. I hope so. I have always hated hot weather, and as I've lived here, where it seldom gets hot, and I've gotten older, my tolerance for heat has gone down a lot.

I didn't do anything more on the new hardware, except to talk to a few more of my e-friends. I really appreciate all your input, everybody. Of course, I'm terminally stubborn, and I think I know what I want, but I enjoy reading your comments and experiences. Stay tuned. I am going to do this thing.

Other than that, I didn't do anything, sad to say. I just don't feel very robust.

I had another winner from Schwan's tonight, another penne dish, and both Buster and I thought it was great, but I had to shoo him off the counter, where he was trying to lick the sauce off the half that I had left there to cool. Hey, that's my dinner for tomorrow!

I even saw Jasmine a couple of times. She was interested in Buster's breakfast, and I hope she got some, although she wouldn't eat when I was in the kitchen, as usual. And later she spent some time on the kitty condo, which looks out the back windows. She is scooting when she sees me again, and I swear I didn't do anything! She is a funny little cat.

Now I am yawning, so I will read for a bit, hopefully a sort bit, and then after I bring in the bird feeders, I will be off to the north end.

The ravens had made a mess on the deck yesterday, and there was a lot of seed left when I took up the feeder. This morning it looked like it had been washed, and we didn't have any wind last night, so there is a critter out there, probably a coon. I guess that's all right, but I don't want him getting into the feeders.

So it's a partly cloudy, breezy and fairly warm evening in the field.

June 29

For some reason, I managed not to get to bed until around 11:15, but I slept pretty well. We still have only about two hours of true darkness at night, although it's pretty dark for the half hour before the end of astronomical twilight and after the beginning. My summer star has appeared - if I lean forward in the bed, Arcturus is gleaming brightly in the sky. And last night, at least the first time I was up, the Big Dipper was descending in the northwest and I could see the end two stars of the Little Dipper. So it was clear at least for a while. The next time I was up, it was getting light. It's sort of a shock to see gray skies at 3:30 or 4:00 in the morning. We're slowly beginning to lose daylight, but it isn't a minute a day yet.

I got up around 8:30, but I finished the nineteenth repeat on the shawl, besides brushing and petting the cat, so it was fairly late when I got dressed.

I had some plans for the day, but they didn't happen. Instead I called the credit card company and got the financing for my computers straight (or I hope so - it has to be approved by somebody), and then I spent some time talking to Amazon about computers. They don't know why I can't get what I want, either. It does seem strange. I was looking at HP printers when there was a failure in the broadband - downstream, it wasn't me - so I gave up on that. Evidently, you can spend anything from $100 to $500 on a multifunction device, and I need to research what the differences in them is. I need a flat-bed scanner, and it doesn't seem easy to discover which ones have that, unless they all do now. When I got the one I have now, that wasn't the case.

I had a short conversation with Jon about computers and software, and he suggested an alternative to Open Office, but it only runs under XP or later, so I will have to wait to get it. I'm still hung up on the Publisher stuff, but evidently this version of Open Office (LibreOffice) can work with Publisher files. Geez, I'll be working on this thing for the rest of the year!

The weather was nice. The temperature got up to 67º briefly, although it was in the low 60s for most of the day. It was very clear this morning, but there are some high clouds now. There wasn't much wind at all.

I've been forgetting to mention the state of the flowers. The vetch is out, and the daisies are coming, as well as the buttercups and the hawkweeds. I have several patches of lupine in my field, although they aren't as tall this year as they have been. Every time I have the doors open, I can smell the wild roses and some other sweet smells. I have coral poppies and the bronze iris is blooming this year, although the bed is full of knapweed again. The peonies aren't out yet, but I think I will have some.

So that was my day. I put out the bird feeders, and I discovered that a lot of the seed on the deck has been going down the gullets of the ravens, darn them. At this time of year, there should be other things for them to eat, but like everyone else, they take the easy route. At least they can see into the studio, and when I move or flap something, they fly off.

i actually saw Jasmine this morning. She was in a good mood, diving under the robe which is still lying over the edge of the bathtub and going around talking. Buster wasn't talking so much today, but he was purring, and he barfed a couple of times, just water, I think, so he does have a hairball. He was hungry, and he wanted dinner. I think that when he comes up onto my lap around 5:00 or so, it's not because he wants me to eat, but he wants more to eat. Oh. So I will have to plan accordingly. I certainly want to give him enough to eat.

I got an email from one of the friends who vacations here, and they will be in on the 10th (of course!) but they are going to hold off on their dinner at Harbor Haus until I can go, which is awfully nice of them. Unfortunately, one of the couples won't be here, and I will miss them, but they are going to Africa instead. I'm looking forward to seeing them.

Now I will read a little bit, bring in the feeders, and totter up to the north end. I'm tired tonight, even though I didn't do very much. It's a partly cloudy, warmish evening in the field.

June 28

I read far too long last night, but I was reading one of the parts of one of the stories I like best, and I just kept on. I think it was around midnight when I turned out the light, but I'm not sure. It could have been earlier. I slept well, although I was up any number of times.

When I went to bed it was so foggy I could hardly see the lighthouse light. I was up around 3:30, and right after I went back to bed, we had a period of amazingly strong winds that really battered the side of the house, making it creak loudly. It was windy later, but not like that.

I was awakened about 9:30 by a wrong number. I don't get a lot of those, and besides, I couldn't understand the person - it sounded like she (or he?) had a mouthful of stones or something. I think she dialed 289 instead of 298. I had that kind of trouble all the time I lived in Grosse Pointe. I really appreciate my cordless phone, which displays the number I'm dialing.

Anyway, that woke me up rather abruptly, and I was apparently still a little hazy when I got to the bathroom and picked up my knitting, because the first thing I did was drop something. I wasn't sure I had fixed it properly, so I had to unknit two whole rows, only to find I had fixed it. Oh, well. Anyway, I was determined to finish that repeat, so I did and I started the next one - the 19th. I'm almost two-thirds done!

Buster got his brushing, but then he kept going out onto the porch and yowling, then he would come back and sit on me and warm up, except for one time when he missed most of my lap and ended up on the floor. And this is the cat who used to dance on the loft railing. He's getting old. I think he was complaining about the temperature outside, because it was cold enough that I should have closed the window, but they like it out there so much, I left it open. It made sleeping really comfy.

Anyway, I was sitting with him on my lap and knitting when I began to here some strange sounds to my left, and when I finally looked outside, I realized it was raining, and the drops were hitting the siding.

I didn't do much today. I went to the post office, where there were some more bills - I'm still paying off last year's PT. It seems to me that health care costs would be much lower if it was possible to get the billing done faster. I stopped at the store and got a few things I needed and a few things I didn't - like some lovely soft cheese which is more like camembert than brie, but oh, is it good.

While I was doing my dinner tonight - drunken noodles - I cleaned up some of the dirty pans, so except for the floor and the underlying mess, the kitchen doesn't look too bad right now.

The weather was cold again. The temperature made it up to 56º a little while ago, briefly, but for most of the day it was somewhere around 50º, plus or minus a few degrees. The wind was strong, from the north, in the 20 mph range, and sometime between 2:00 and 3:00, we had gusts up to 33 mph. It was cloudy until fairly late this afternoon, but it has now cleared up completely.

When I got to the studio this morning, I discovered that a critter was here last night and pulled the bottom off the hummingbird feeder. I hope he got drenched in that sticky stuff! Anyway, that is my sign that the feeders have to come in from now on. I wanted to wait as long as possible, because the birds do tend to come earlier in the morning than I'll be up to put them out, but I don't want critters wreaking havoc with my feeders, either. This must have been a coon.

I didn't do more on the computers today except have some conversation with some of my readers. I really appreciate your input, guys. I've been out of the active market for so long that I'm really behind the times.

So that was my quiet day, and maybe I can get to bed a bit earlier tonight, although I'll want to wait to bring in the feeders. Now it's a lovely, clear, cool evening in the field. The wind is dying down, and it's very pretty.

June 27

I crashed last night. I was in bed by 9:00, and I slept so hard that I had a morph of the potty dream - I dreamed about the other thing, which varied between really having to go and being able to hold it. When I woke up, I really had to go. It interests me that I would have such a dream. For some time, mostly I have awakened when I had to pee, and sometimes I wake up because my bod hurts and then discover that I have to pee. Anyway, I was certainly in dreamland.

Part of the reason, I think, is that I left the porch door open all night, and it was cool and pleasant in the bedroom. With the wind from the south, there wasn't much coolness coming in, but it got the temperature down to where the sheet and the sheet blanket were enough covers.

I got up around 8:00. I was beginning to get stiff enough that getting back to sleep was hard, and besides, 11 hours' sleep is enough even for me when I'm not sick.

I didn't do much with all my time. I finished unloading the dishwasher and started reloading it. I spent some time this afternoon looking at computers. That was very frustrating. I identified what I want on the Gateway site, but then I discovered that NO retail outlet, online or in stores, is carrying them yet. All I can guess is that the new models have just come out (I guess, since they were all different from what I saw the last time I looked), and everybody is trying to get rid of the old ones first. I don't know quite what to do. I need the new hardware, and I am prepared to get it, but now I can't get what I want. Amazon has a tech support-type function for computers, and I may try calling that and see if I can find out how soon I can expect to find them.

Thing is, they aren't discounting the old ones that much, and they have Intel Core i5 processors, whereas the one I want has a Core i7 processor for about the same price. Laptops are a bit fuzzier, and I'm not quite sure what I will do about that. Gateway doesn't seem to make what I want, but I don't know enough about other makers. The HPs they advertise seem quite expensive, and I don't know how reliable they are.

I did determine that monitor switches are quite common so I won't have to worry about that. And I need Microsoft Office Professional, although I didn't price that out. Sorry, but I need Publisher and Access, and the home version doesn't have those. I looked into Open Office, but it doesn't have Publisher, and I have a ton of stuff I've done with that, including my note cards, my recipes, my prayer book and my thread lists. I just don't want to have to do those over, with questionable results.

The last time I was looking around, I discovered that one can get Ethernet cables for $0.01 - with $5 shipping. That makes me laugh. Why don't they just price them at $5 with free shipping? I learned to check the shipping charges a long time ago. I don't care what you call it - it's the total cost that concerns me. Of course, it would be a good deal if the shipping on two was the same as for one, especially since I think I'll need two.

I haven't looked at webcams yet. Maybe the current one will work on the new hardware, or if it won't, I can run the old computer until I can decide what new one I want. I like that old camera - it's been as solid as a rock for 10 years. It doesn't have the resolution of some of the new ones, but it's pretty good, and the pictures upload (and download) fast.

So I have gotten a bit farther on that task.

The weather was good for doing stuff like that. It was cloudy all day. The temperature got up to 70º briefly, but for most of the day it was in the upper 60s. The wind was from the southwest, and for a while it was in the 20-30 mph range, although it has died down a bit. We had one growl of thunder a bit ago and a short rain squall. They are promising more, but that line of showers is passing on to the east. It was interesting. The line was nearly north-south, and it went from down in Lake Michigan all the way into Superior. That's why it's so much fun to watch the weather.

Now I will read for a little bit and then I will crash again. Oddly enough, I'm tired. I think I will forgo the bath and see how that works again. Trouble is, washing my hair every other day is hard when I always have to do it on Saturday. so I've been skipping Monday. I probably won't be able to do that if it gets hot, but then I'll probably have to shower every day anyway. Last night, I left my hair in a pony tail (down by the nape of my neck) and that worked pretty well; it kept the hair out of my face. Not that it would have mattered anyway.

This morning, I hauled out one of the larger pairs of my old jeans, and they went right on and zipped right up with no problem. Boy, I hope I can keep my weight where it is! It's so nice. Now I'm down close to where I was right after the stem cell transplant, and I'd really like to keep it going down...although getting sick every so often isn't my idea of fun. We'll see.

Now it's a rather stormy, cloudy evening in the field.

June 26

Summer is icummin in. No, I've never studied Middle English, but that line has always stuck with me (Chaucer, maybe?).

I made it into bed a bit after 10:00 last night, but I didn't sleep very well until I finally realized I was cool. Once I pulled up the comforter, I was fine, but I didn't get enough sleep, and I didn't want to get up when the alarm went off.

When I was up around 3:00, I discovered that the clock in the bathroom was blinking, and the microwave time needed setting this morning. The computer had evidently rebooted itself and gotten all tangled up, so there were no pictures until I reset everything at around 7:30. I still haven't figured out why some appliances see these little glitches and some don't. The clock in my bedroom, the fridge and the ovens were all just fine. Really weird. I have no idea what caused the glitch, either, since i was sound asleep at that point.

I got up, and I did some of my surfing before I got dressed and went off to church. It was nice, and there was communion, which was very nice. Pastor has been picking some of the old hymns we love lately, and I like that, although in one case, the hymn editors really trashed the words. I like the tune, though.

When I read the weather forecast at 7:30, they were saying it might get warm in the interior, but it would be in the lower 60s at the shore. Well. Maybe it was over in Sedar Bay, but by the time I got home, it was 74º here, and it stayed that way all afternoon. The high was 75º. There were very light south breezes. It was sunny and clear until late this afternoon, and then it began to cloud up, and they think it may rain tonight. It's so nice - my favorite temperature, especially when the humidity is low. I could take a whole summer of this.

Anyway, it was warm enough that not only did I put on my cargo shorts (they fit a lot better than last year), I opened both sliders, and later in the afternoon, I opened up the porch. I didn't pick up the glass, I just moved the part of the sectional back over it and put the cushions back. Then I went back to the studio, and when I went out to the kitchen to get some dinner, Buster was sound asleep on the footstool. He woke up and watched me while I nuked a TV dinner (not very good), but he didn't move. At the same time, Jasmine was standing on the fernery in the corner by my bedroom and it looked like she was trying to climb the wall. I suspect there might have been a spider or something over there. She ran away when I spoke to her, but she soon went back out on the porch. She loves it even more than Buster does.

He is in bad odor. Around 5:00, he wanted to sit on me or something, but he jumped up from the right side of the chair and dug his very sharp claws into my arm, drawing blood in two or three places. That made me mad, and I set him firmly on the floor and told him to get lost. I don't like to do that, but he had gotten into the habit of running up (he doesn't walk anymore, he runs) and jumping onto me without much care for what's underneath his feet. Now I have a bunch of nice scratches on my arm.

I also have an insect bite on my left wrist. Right now, it looks like another mosquito bite, but we'll see in a day or two. The ones I got a week or so ago on my finger were both mosquitoes, and they stopped itching in two or three days. I haven't been outside enough to know how bad the black flies are, but with all the rain, the mosquitoes are horrible.

It was so nice to have the doors open, at least until the caretakers of the house next door decided that 7:00 on Sunday night was a good time to cut the lawn. Having not lived in a city in a very long time, they forget that the neighbors may be eating dinner or entertaining their friends, and might just not appreciate the sound of a lawn tractor at that time of evening. They've always done that, and I don't know quite how to tell them it's not an appropriate time.

Anyway, when they weren't around, there were the sounds of greedy squirrels, some chipmunks, I think, and some chickadees calling. I haven't had many visitors to the feeders yet, but they will come.

Otherwise, it was completely quiet, which is one of the wonderful things about living here. Maybe if I was outside, there would be some soft sighing of the breeze in the white pine, but from here, it's totally silent. I only wish I had heard that when I could still hear well.

So that was my day. Fortunately, nobody sees me when I have on my shorts, my sandals and my compression hose. It's not a pretty picture, but it works for me.

So now I will read for a while longer, then I will totter up to the north end and crash. It's a lovely, warm evening in the field, even if it's a bit cloudy.

June 25

I got to bed around 10;30, and I slept quite well for most of the night. At one point, around 1:00, I woke up and thought I needed to pee, so I turned over and stuck my legs out over the side of the bed - and fell back to sleep. When I woke up an hour later, my legs were a bit sore from lying on the edge of the bed, but oh, well. I got up about 8:30. I didn't want to, but I had to pee again.

I petted the cat and knitted a while before I got dressed.

I had a number of thoughts about the day, but what I ended up doing was to fill the bird feeders. The cedar feeder and the mesh feeder are so big that I wanted to fill them in the breezeway from the bag of seed, so I did that. I filled the round thistle feeder, but when I filled one of the socks, I discovered that it had several tears in it. They don't last long, but I don't know who was trying to get into it. The goldfinches won't do that. Anyway, I got everything out, including the hummingbird feeder. I will leave everything out tonight and hope they all find it tomorrow before the critters do.

Actually, right after I hung up the cedar feeder and the mesh feeder, there was a teensy chipmunk on the porch. Apparently a seed or two fell out as I was taking the feeders out. So I filled the deck feeder, and he was in his glory until I had to go out and hang the other feeders. I think he had a full pouch before he skedaddled. He was so cute! I like chipmunks.

Tonight I tried to make up an order at Lands' End, who are having a sale, and I ran into m y usual problems with modern websites. I may have to call them, because there are a couple of things I really need. I'm just not going to be able to do it online. I had thought about starting my research for my new computer today, but there was a lot of stuff to read, and I just didn't get to it.

The weather was rather nice but not very warm. It was partly sunny all day, with high hazy clouds. The temperature has just gotten up to 59º, but for most of the day it was in the low 50s. That's not so bad, because there was no wind at all for most of the afternoon. I wasn't out much, but I had both patio doors open all afternoon, and it didn't get nearly as warm in here, which was good.

Now it's nearly time to totter up to the north end and take a bath and get to bed early. Tomorrow is an early morning. Now it's a nearly clear, calm evening in the field.

June 24

I guess it was around 11:00 when I went to bed last night, and I slept pretty well. I opened the window a bit more, and that helped a lot. I got up around 9:00, and I petted the cat and knitted a while. I finally did some exercises, because it was very cool and humid and I was very creaky. It helped my back, but it didn't do anything for my other joints, and I still have a stiff neck. Oh, well.

Except to tidy up the kitchen a bit, I didn't do much at all. I had a big Schwan's order coming today, so I had to stick around. Now I have some interesting things to eat again. The freezer was getting a bit bare, at least the one in the basement.

The sun finally came out! It took most of the day. It wasn't until about 4:30 that the clouds finally rolled away and the sky cleared. The humidity finally went down a bit, too, which is good. The temperature got up to 61º briefly, and there was a wind from the north in the 15-25 mph range until just recently. Now it is nearly calm, as frequently happens on summer evenings.

It was so nice to see the sun, and it was so nice to have the humidity go down! I was beginning to feel moldy.

However, I was sitting and listening to the talking on the radio when I had an accident. That's a very unusual time of day for me to have one, but I had had a snack (some of my new Schwan's stuff) a while before. My, but that's getting old!

So I have nothing much more to report, except that I am tired and I won't be up for very long tonight. I don't know why, since I slept all right, but evidently not long enough or something. I can tell, too, by how well I can see up close in the morning. For the past couple of days, I've been able to do my knitting with my glasses on and see just fine, but I certainly couldn't this morning. We'll see about tomorrow.

Now it's a nice, nearly clear, cool evening in the field.

June 23

It was nice to have a more normal night for a change. I think it was around 10:30 when I got to bed, and while I didn't sleep well, I slept. Part of the problem was the horrible humidity, and part was because I closed the window almost all the way, and I was hot. I was up any number of times, with incredible gas, but there were no problems other than that.

I got up around 9:30, and I petted the cat and did six or eight rows on the stole. Now that I'm into it again, I find it's fun to knit, as long as I'm not distracted.

Thursday is the day when there are more than enough things to read, so I was tardy in doing my surfing - and in fact, I haven't looked at all my sites yet. I went to the post office, where there was a surprisingly small amount of mail (just wait, Ron - Christmas is coming!). I met Becky who mans the Visitor Center from Wednesday through Saturday, and she is a nice person, but hung up on some strange diet. She does roses, and I would love to see her garden.

I was terminally creaky all day, especially after I stood around and talked to people for a while, but that was because of the weather. What a mess! We've only had a quarter inch of rain today, but it was foggy and misty all day long. The temperature hung right around 47º all day, and there wasn't much wind until lately, when it's gotten into the 15 mph range from the north. I hope that north wind will blow this stuff someplace else!

The total rainfall for yesterday, officially, was 2.29", so it did rain after I went to bed. That is the most rain we've had in any 24 hour period in a very, very long time. I hope it's broken the drought.

Otherwise, I did nothing except pay a bill and put in an order to Schwan's. The way I've been feeling, it's good to have their stuff to throw in the microwave. I did stop and get a green pepper at the store, because I ran across about a pound of shrimp in the freezer, and that got me thinking about jambalaya again. It's a pretty easy recipe, or I could make the one with mushroom soup, which is even easier. Or I might go to the fish market tomorrow...hmm.

Anyway, I didn't feel very robust today, from the weather, no doubt, and I don't think I'll be long out of bed tonight. I do have to shower, but that only takes half an hour or so. And I will open the window a bit more.

So it's another cool, damp, yucky night in the field. The only redeeming feature is how wonderful it smells when I'm outdoors.

June 22

It was around midnight when I got to bed, and I slept pretty well. I had an incredible amount of gas again, which I would have attributed to the beans, if it hadn't happened before. I got up around 9:30, and I finished the fifteenth repeat on the stole - half done! I have enough yarn that I may well make it a little longer. We'll see.

Anyway, that took up enough time that I didn't have enough time to do my surfing before I had to put my returns in the car and go off to town. I was almost afraid I would be late, because I came up behind a guy going up the hill to the Mountain Lodge who was going 30 mph, and besides, he was speeding up and slowing down and generally driving very weirdly. Fortunately, he was kind enough to pull over before we got to Lake Medora. Geez! It was raining, but it wasn't glare ice!

Anyway, the rain made it a rather slow drive, and then I had to wait a while because they had to figure out how to bill for my shingles vaccine. I guess I and the other lady there were the first people who had it. If I'd never had the shingles, I probably wouldn't have bothered - shingles isn't common, after all - but having had it and knowing what a terrible thing it can be, I decided it would be better to be safe. So I got my shot, and I said hi to Fay, who mans the main desk in the clinic, then I was off to Houghton.

I must add that it was raining all that time.

There were a number of people who were driving like it was glare ice. I wonder how they drive in the winter - or maybe they just put their cars up on blocks.

Wal-Mart was a zoo. Not only were there lots of people there, evidently it was the day when the residents of a nursing home got their outing, and I ran across any number of ladies in wheelchairs being shepherded around by young women. Which size Polident do you want...? Oh, aren't those travel size things cute? Aagh!

Anyway, I did my exchanges (I had gotten a huge package of one of the laxatives I need for my colonoscopy prep, and that's the last thing I need!) and got the right laxative and the right toilet seat, and I splurged on a few skeins of yarn, for baby things and washcloths. I've thought about knitting washcloths for a long time, and they had some very pretty new colors of cotton knitting yarn. Not a very big bill.

I stopped at the gas station, and gas had gone down to $3.569, amazingly enough. Makes me even angrier that it was so expensive there for a while. I didn't need a lot, but I decided to fill up just in case it goes up again.

I managed to get out of Wal-Mart without getting rained on, but it rained all the way home, too. I got home and situated at just about 4:00. So I did my surfing while the talking was on, which probably means I didn't really register either the news or the stuff on my screen, but oh. well.

The weather was perfectly miserable. It started raining around 3:00 this morning, and it has been raining ever since. So far, we've had 2.18". Evidently it rained harder in Calumet than it did here, but it was steady and sometimes quite hard. The temperature was almost steady at 46º, and there was a southeast wind in the 10-20 mph range. It was a really lousy day to be out, and I was sorry I couldn't just stay home.

It was compounded by it being so hot in Wal-Mart that I was sweating profusely inside my rain jacket, so when I went outside, I was really chilled. Yuck.

Some of my problems with my last trips to Wal-Mart were explained today, though. Evidently tomorrow is inventory day, so they are not restocking anything until that is done. So no wonder the shelves were bare in spots. When I was there last week, it wasn't any worse than normal, though, so if it happens again, I will have to send them a complaining email. At least this time, I could get most of what I wanted...or what I remembered. I had wanted to check the cat food again, but under the circumstances, I don't suppose it would have mattered.

The weather was so bad that I am a mass of aches and pains, and I have not had such a problem walking for over six months. I even have a stiff neck, probably because I have had the window open too far in the bedroom. I will close it tonight. Anyway, my legs feel like they are cast in concrete, and my back wasn't any too good either.

On the other hand, it's good to have all the rain. We have been enduring a drought for the past two or three years, and I hope that this is breaking that cycle. We need the moisture, both for the woods and to begin to bring the lake up to its average level. Only I would far rather it had happened over the winter, as snow.

I had to laugh at the NWS again. Monday and yesterday, they would have had us believe we were in for a flood, with rain coming down at the rate of 2" per hour. Well, they canceled the flash flood watch sometime yesterday, and all the rest of it by morning. I still think they overstate when they see bad weather coming, just so anything that does happen will seem better, and if the worst should happen, they can't be accused of missing the forecast. Now, 2" of rain in 18 hours is a lot, but it's not like the heavens opened. I think they could be a little more moderate in their forecasts.

So that was my day. Between my exertions and the weather, I am tired and achy, so I think I will not be out of bed for very long tonight. Now it's a cold, wet. windy night in the field, a good one to sleep long and hard.

June 21 - Summer Solstice

What lousy weather for the longest day!

And what a lousy night. I read far too long, and it was 1:45 before I turned out the light. I went more or less right to sleep, of course, but I woke up around 4:30 to pee. I hadn't been back in bed for five minutes when I had to jump up - and I messed all over the bedroom floor and the throw rug. After I got myself cleaned up, I had to clean up the floor, of course, so it was 5:00 before I got back to bed, and it took me a while to go back to sleep. I woke up a around 8:30, and after I got back in bed, it became clear that I wasn't going back to sleep, so I got up around 9:45.

The first thing I did was to put the rug in the washer. I have three rugs, but the one I was using was the biggest of the three, and I like it the best. It's beside the bed, just so I don't step out of my warm bed onto a floor that might be cold.

Anyway, I didn't feel all that great, but as sometimes happens, I actually got some things done. I began loading the dishwasher, so there aren't dishes lying around very much. And I changed cat pans. Buster has been peeing someplace in the basement - I can tell because he comes back with cobwebs all over him - and I had just finished the pans when he started scratching on something over where the crafts stuff is piled. So I grabbed him and dropped him in a pan, which he did not like. He is getting snottier and snottier the older he gets. When we got upstairs again, of course he wanted to sit on me, and I just had to push him off my lap twice so that I could type. I hope he starts using the trays. At least Jasmine will be happy they are clean.

I didn't feel like eating much, so I brought up a container of bean soup, and about half of that, with a salad was my dinner. I am sort of gurgling, but beans usually do that, so I'm not sure what's going on. I'm watching it. I'm getting very fed up with the whole situation.

It was a nasty day. It was dark and cloudy. The temperature graph looks like a saw blade. It was as low as 48º (at 9:00 am) and as high as 67º (at 4:00 pm), but it kept going up and down, although it seems to have settled in the upper 50s lately. There were some strong winds for a while this afternoon, with gusts up to 30 mph from the southeast, and there was a little rain between 6:00 and 8:00 this evening. Now it is very humid and the wind is gusting up to 20 mph.

They have a flash flood warning out for tomorrow, so wouldn't you know, I have to go to town. The hospital called this morning to say that the shingles vaccine is in, so without knowing the weather, I said I would be down tomorrow afternoon to get my shot. I have had the shingles twice (on my head), and anything that will give me more of a chance not to get them again is good, in my opinion.

Anyway, we could get heavy rains tomorrow and maybe even thunderstorms, but I will go, and I'll also go down to Houghton and exchange the toilet seat. And I'll hope we don't have any washouts and I can get home all right.

I finished reading the story tonight - the long one, from the white binder - so now I can totter up to the north end and try to get a better night's sleep tonight. It's a dark, dank, yucky night in the field.

June 20

Well, it was another lost day.

I got to bed around 10:30 last night, I think, and I slept pretty well, although I seem to have generated an incredible amount of gas. I didn't think Chinese did that usually, so I don't know what the problem was. I got up around 8:30, because I had to pee.

I brushed the cat, and he is still shedding. I knitted several rows on the stole, and I'm starting the last repeat of the first half - repeat 15. I did pretty well today, with only one small goof, and besides, I could see what I was doing with my glasses on, which doesn't happen often. Then I did some exercises, but they didn't help.

And that was why I didn't do much more. My bones were all achy today, from the weather, no doubt, so I didn't do much of anything. I brought in four jugs of cat litter and put them on the stairs and got together the bags for the used litter, but my back was so bad after I finished that, that I didn't do anything else. I forgot to get a loaf of bread yesterday, so I'll just have to eat whatever is in the fridge. Actually, I have quite a bit of Brownberry, and it's been a while since I've had that for breakfast. It makes a pretty good scrambled egg sandwich. Mmm...

Anyway, that was about it.

The reason was the weather. The temperature got up to 55º briefly, between 10:00 and 12:00 then it dropped off to 50º or so, where it stayed for the rest of the afternoon. The humidity was very high. There was almost no wind, and it was calm all afternoon. It was cloudy for most of the day. Yuck. My poor old bod just does not respond well to cool temps and high humidity - and the humidity is the worst of all.

So I sat.

Now it's a cool, calm evening in the field, and I will be tottering up to the north end in not too long.

June 19 - Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all you fathers out there. I lost mine in 1983, so it's been a while since I've celebrated today. Actually, I sometimes think I lost him in 1943, when he went into the Navy during World War II, but that's another story, and i never will know the truth in this life.

Anyway, getting the old toilet seat off was more of a chore than I thought, since the bolts were dirty and it was hard to get them unscrewed. It nearly broke my back, and I had to lie down for a few minutes to straighten it out. Getting the new one on was easier, and I will have to remember to clean the bolts after this. So now I have an intact toilet seat, and it's much more comfortable. The old one had a whole lot of scuff marks on it, for some reason I don't know, and the one from downstairs is much smoother. So that turned out all right. I still have to take the one back to Wal-Mart and get the right one, because I do occasionally use that toilet in the basement, but it's not critical. I don't know why it took me several days to realize that.

I got to bed a little after 10:00, and I slept well, at least until 5:00 or so. Then I just dozed, but I was asleep when the alarm went off. It seemed rather dark at 5:00, and it was still dark at 7:00. I got our breakfast and did some of my surfing before I got dressed and went off to church.

Today was Trinity Sunday, and we sang a lot of the good old hymns that we used to sing when I was young, and that was nice. I enjoy Pastor's sermons. There is a lot of teaching in them, but there is also a wonderful dose of Gospel, too, and I always need to hear that.

I got home around 12:30. Driving was interesting today, since it was raining, but when I was going south most of the traffic was going north, and when I was going north, all of the traffic was going south. There was a lot of traffic going south, and I don't know quite why, unless there was something going on at the Mountain Lodge. The cars didn't look like fishermen or anything like that - they were mostly city cars. Anyway, it was nice to have my side of the road to myself.

I didn't do anything after I got home. The weather left me creaky and achy, so I just sat.

The weather was yucky. It started raining around 7:30 this morning, and it is still raining. I can't remember the last time we had an all-day rain. The temperature hovered around 50º, and there wasn't any wind. It wasn't nice out.

Jasmine seems to have taken up residence in the basement. She was out and about last night when I went to bed, but I haven't seen her in the daytime for a week or more. I just don't know what has gotten into her fuzzy little head. Buster has a hairball, and he doesn't feel very good. When he is awake, he wants to sit on my lap. He did it this morning, and he's doing it now. He barfed a little while ago, but all that came up was mucus. That's a good sign that there's a hairball down there. The way he's shedding, it's not surprising.

It seems to have stopped raining for the time, but it's still nasty outside. So soon I will be toddling up to the north end and calling it a night. It's a calm, cool, very humid night in the field.

June 18

Well, it was 11:45 before I got to bed, but I did sleep well. I got up around 9:00, but then disaster struck. I was working on the next row of the stole when I dropped something, and before I realized it, it had unraveled down about 4 rows. Ugh! So I had to rip out a good part of six rows. One can't just rip back with lace. You have to un-knit one stitch at a time, and you have to be very careful not to drop anything else. I almost did that, but fortunately I recovered on the next row, and I got down to the last place where the pattern was right. Then I had to knit that row and the purl return. So I fiddled for nearly two hours and lost most of what I did yesterday. Yuck. I hate it when I do that.

I did brush the cat some, and I exercised some, but it was noon before I got to the studio.

And I actually did a few other things. I went down to the basement and stole the toilet seat off the toilet down there. While I was there, I spent considerable time looking for my story-writing paper. I'm nearly out, and I know there should be lots more. I didn't find it, and I have no clue where it could have gotten to. It's someplace in a box. Some of it may be in a box with my music scores, but I haven't found that yet. Darn.

Then I discovered that Buster had peed on two boxes, one of which had yarn in it, and the other had cross stitch books. His trays are bad again, and I promised him I will change them tomorrow. I couldn't today, because most of what I need to dump out the old litter is upstairs, and I didn't think I could survive another trip up and down stairs.

So I sat and looked at a small box of sock yarn, and I decided that it would be good if I put it in a tub, so I did that, and I found several kinds I would like to knit up, including a cotton one I brought upstairs that is shades of turquoise, blue and white. I know there is another box of yarn someplace, but it must be in a bigger box, and I can't find it. The story of my life here.

Anyway, I brought up some stuff for dinner tonight and tomorrow, as well as the toilet seat, which I will replace tonight. The one from the basement has hardly ever been sat upon, so it should last another ten years, right?

The weather would cause one to do something else. It was partly to mostly cloudy all day, with very light winds from the south. The temperature got up to 64º at 5:00, but then it plummeted, and at 7:00 it was 48º. The wind had gone calm, which means the lake was determining the temperature of the air, and the lake is cold.

So that was a quiet day, and I'll be off to the north end soon, since I have to do the toilet seat, take a bath, and get to bed as early as possible. It's a cloudy, calm and cool night in the field, and there may be some rain.

June 17

Well, thankfully, I did not have another accident last night, but it was 12:30 before i got to bed anyway. I slept fairly well, and I got up around 9:00, even though I didn't want to. I knitted 8 rows, brushed the cat, and finally did some exercises. I need to get back into that.

That was about all I did, though. I did get some more stuff into the dishwasher and I washed a pan. I went to the post office, were there was a little mail, mostly pleas for money, and my pills came. I stopped at the store for eggs. That was it.

The weather was all right. It was clear for most of the day, but until about 6:00, the temperature hung around 50º. There was a little north wind earlier, but then it went calm. The temperature got up to 61º briefly, around 8:00, and it is has now dropped back. I hope all the tourists who were wandering around town didn't expect it to be hot.

Jasmine came upstairs while I was in the bathroom this morning, and she meowed all over and went bombing down the hall, but I didn't see her, and I haven't seen her all day. In fact, it's been several days since I've laid eyes on her. I'm not sure what her problem is now. Buster is sitting on my lap, and he seemed a little put out that I had to move my hand off the "page down" key and he had to sit up. He was lying with his head on my arm. He doesn't mind if we never see Jasmine.

So that was a very quiet day, and it's time to totter up to the north end and try to get to bed at a reasonable hour tonight. It's a cool, calm, partly cloudy night in the field.

June 16

It was after midnight when I got to bed. Part of the reason was that I finally called Debbie, and we talked for 2½ hours or more, and it would have continued, except that my cordless phone battery died. Then, for the second night in a row, I had a bad accident on my way to the bathroom. The one the night before was in the closet, and it went mostly on my clothes. This one went all over the bathroom floor, and I had to clean it up, although I don't know how good a job I did on it. Yuck! Oh, how I hope we can find out what the problem is!

I slept, although I had a little trouble getting to sleep. I didn't get up until 11:00 or later, so I did get my quota of sleep. Then I brushed the cat and knitted four rows on the stole before I got dressed.

i had some notion of taking the toilet seat back today, but it was so late that I gave up on it. The one on the toilet is still useable, and if it goes completely, I have one upstairs and one downstairs that I can swap out. I want to get a new seat, because I don't want any toilet without a seat.

It took me all afternoon to do my surfing. There was a lot of stuff to read in the email, and that always takes some time. So I didn't do anything else.

The weather was kind of weird. It was cloudy for most of the day. The temperature depended upon the wind. When the wind was blowing (from the south), it went up to 64º, but then it went calm and the temperature plummeted to below 50º, There was a little wind in the early afternoon, but it went calm about 4:00. It's nice out, and the clouds are a little lighter now.

I guess, after watching for a couple of days, that I actually have one mosquito bite and one black fly bite on my finger. The mosquito bite doesn't itch anymore, although there's a nice red lump. The other one must be a black fly bite, because it is still really itchy and there is a little blister forming. Well, if a mosquito could get in, certainly a black fly could. They are almost small enough to come through the screen. Sigh. Well, I never said it was paradise, just almost.

So that was a nothing day, and I'll be off to the north end soon, since it's bath night. It's a calm, cool, and partly cloudy evening in the field.

June 15

Geez, June is half over already!

I didn't get to bed until almost 11:00 last night, and I slept pretty well, except for a while early in the morning. It was rather cloudy all night, and there wasn't any moonshine. I got up around 10:00, and I petted the cat and knitted half of a repeat of the stole.

And I didn't do anything. I was still tired, and my feet hurt for a while, so I just sat.

I do have to report the first insect bites of the season. For the past couple of nights, there has been a mosquito in my bedroom, and I think (I hope) that was what bit me, twice or maybe three times, on the third finger of my right hand. So far it looks like that was what it was, but we'll see as they develop. They have been itching like crazy all day, and I forgot to put some Adolph's on them this morning, although I wash my hands enough that it won't do a lot of good.

The weather wasn't bad. I left both doors open a bit last night, since it was over 50º for most of the night. It got up to 70º this afternoon, with a rather brisk south wind (10 - 20 mph). It was partly cloudy all day, with a lot of sunshine. I can usually tell when it's really summer around here, because the wind drops to nothing around sunset.

So that was a very unproductive day, but I was tired, and now I'm really tired. So I will read a bit, then I'll totter up to the north end and get to bed early. It's a partly cloudy, warm evening in the field.

June 14

I didn't get to bed until around 11:00 last night, and I didn't sleep well. I don't know why, except that my sinuses were draining and I kept coughing. I was up any number of times during the night. I got up around 9:00 anyway, and Buster didn't come to see me for some reason, so I got to get dressed and do most of my morning surfing.

I felt much better for my massage. I have been letting the exercises slide lately, and my back was bothering me. It's not now. We got to look at Johanna's beautiful garden, in front of her house. She has done a lovely job of landscaping it.

When I got home, I dug out the packing materials and got the bracelets packed up and ready to go, and I stopped at the post office and mailed it. Ron wasn't there - apparently Tuesday is his day off, which I was happy to find out. Then it was off to the doctor.

We had a long conversation, and my colonoscopy is scheduled for July 12. I got all the instructions. I am happy to report that I only need to be on a liquid diet for one day, which will help a lot. However, I have to take a whole lot of laxatives and stay close to the bathroom from noon onward.

Oh, yes, and I apparently lost at least six pounds while I was sick. It's nice to know that if I don't eat I do lose weight (I didn't used to), but it's not my favorite way to do it.

Anyway, I had already decided to to on down to Wal-Mart, because I cracked the toilet seat in the bathroom this morning - and it turns out I bought the wrong shape, so now I will have to go back. Darn. So I went on down to Houghton, and of course I got several more things than a toilet seat, but only a few small things to play with. I got all the stuff I have to take, so the only other thing I will need to do is lay in enough clear liquids (and Jell-O, except not red or purple), but I will need to food shop before then anyway.

And then, because it was 5:30 or so, I went to Bambu. Aaahhh! Here comes the restaurant review.

First, the place has been remodeled, and it is extremely attractive. It doesn't have any kitschy ersatz-Chinese decorations at all, and it is quite elegant. There are fewer tables than the old place, I think, and they have a bar (which is nice for me). They did close off the windows at the far end of the room, but I can see why. And the menu is far more extensive (and expensive) than the old Ming Gardens' was. However, it's not overpriced, I don't think. I had something with chicken, shrimp, beef and Chinese vegetables in a spicy sauce. The wonton soup had the tastiest broth I have had since Detroit, the spring roll was very nice, and the entree was excellent. I noticed that while the dinner menu is much bigger than the old one, the lunch menu is quite a bit smaller. Most of the things that sold well seem to be on it, though. And no super-sized bowls of plum sauce. That was the one thing that blew my mind about the old Ming Gardens, and the Bistro, too: the people who ordered something (I don't know what) and got a huge bowl of plum sauce into which they dipped everything. Yuck. Getting through the dinner menu can be confusing, but that's true of most Chinese restaurants I know. You can even get Peking duck, although it's $35. I will have to splurge sometime.

While I was there, several groups with Chinese people came in, which is always a good sign, and there was a small wedding party as well. When is the last time you saw a wedding party at a Chinese restaurant? Anyway, it certainly is nice to have a good Chinese restaurant where you can sit down and be served - and have a cocktail if you want one.

So I got home around 7:30, and Buster is now sitting on my lap with his chin resting on my left wrist. I didn't unload the car, except for my toys, but there isn't anything there that I need right away except for my mail (which I forgot).

The weather was beautiful. It got up to 73º here, and it was 76º when i left the hospital in Laurium. I can't tell you the number of young things I saw sashaying around in short-shorts and flip-flops. The sky was nearly completely clear until just lately. There was a little wind, mostly in the 10-20 mph range from the south. It would have been nicer to have stayed here and enjoyed the weather.

The only trouble with going down to Houghton is that almost all the streets in Hancock are torn up and getting around there is a real pain. 'Tis the season, I guess, but wow! It seems to me that they might consider the tourists and try to go at it a little more slowly so as not to shut down all the main streets!

When I got home, I called Ron, and he is fine with the date, so that's taken care of.

I sweated enough that I think I will have to take a bath again tonight. I'm never really comfortable going to bed when I'm all sticky and icky. Now it's a partly cloudy, warmish evening in the field, and I'll be off to the north end shortly.

June 13

About the time I decided it was time to stop reading, the broadband client quit, so it was 10:30 before I got to bed. I slept well for most of the night. I had the lost car dream early in the morning, and it was a weird morph. I was looking for a pale green car, not a navy blue one. Oh, well, it woke me up at about 9:00, so I got up.

Buster got a good brushing, but the more I brush the more hair I get out of him. He is really shedding a lot. I imagine Jasmine is, too, but I haven't seen her in a couple of days.

I was about half dressed when Johanna called and could we do it tomorrow rather than today? Well, I guess. It will make it a busy day, but seeing her in the morning won't interfere with the doctor. They decided to take the ambulance to Marquette to get it inspected today, and I guess that's more important than my massage.

So I didn't have to hurry about anything, and I didn't. I did my surfing and eventually I went back to the bracelet. I think I made all the mistakes possible, but I finally got it done, and I found the packing material, or at least part of it. The little bags are in the studio, and I will just have to dig them out.

The weather was nice. It was mostly sunny all day, although there are a few clouds now. There was no wind all day long, and the temperature got up to 73º briefly before it dropped 10º. For most of the day, it was in the upper 50s. With the sun, it got up to 81º in here, and with no wind there wasn't any way to cool it down, so I just sweated.

This afternoon, I went up to the powder room, and I discovered that Jasmine had left me a present on the rug at the back door - a headless snake. I'm sure it was a garter snake, but I really wonder where those things are getting into the house. I guess it was nice of her to leave it where I would dispose of it, but I wish she wouldn't bite the head off first. Oh, well. My mother had five cats who were outdoor cats and who caught both mice and birds and only ate the heads - she would find headless critters in the garden beds all the time. I guess that's what Jasmine's mother taught her. At least she eats the whole mouse when she catches one. Yuck.

I finally did my pork chops tonight, and I don't know what the problem with them was. The chops were good, but the gravy didn't taste quite right to me. Buster thought it was fine, though. I tried some of my microwave rice, and it was pretty good, although the package only holds two servings.

After dinner, I started reading, and I will read to the end of the chapter before I go up to the north end and take a shower. It's partly cloudy, calm evening in the field.

June 12

I think I got to bed about 10:00, and I slept pretty well until around 4:30. After that, not do good. I did wait until the alarm went off at 7:00, and I got to do most of my surfing, except that the PastyCam hadn't updated.

Church was nice. One shy little fellow was confirmed, along with two others at the other church (St. John's in Hubbell) and there was communion. So it was a late service, and it was close to 1:00 when I got home.

I must try to remember that I should leave a few minutes earlier now that it's summer. I encountered any number of cars dawdling down the road who made no effort to get out of my way. There was one camper with a huge trailer behind it that did pull over at Frimodig park, but the others just went on their merry way. I don't mind it so much coming home (although I should take a CD with me, since there's nothing on the radio I want to hear), but it bugs me when I'm on my way down and I have an appointment.

Two rather nice things happened to me today. When I opened my email this morning, there were messages from Etsy and PayPal saying that someone had bought two bracelets! Wow! That's the first one in almost two years! I did relist most of my stuff the other day, and that might have something to do with it. The only problem is, one of the ones she bought is the snowflake bracelet, and that's the one I stopped making in November of 2009, and it has sat on my bead board ever since. So I need to get to work. I did do some on it this afternoon, and I will try hard to finish it tomorrow. I also need to hunt up my little jewelry bags, my bubble wrap, and my shipping boxes, all of which are someplace in the house. And I need to remember how to print the postage. Yea! I sold something!

I was sitting at the computer (instead of beading) when I heard some strange noises around the patio door, and when I turned around, I startled a pileated woodpecker who was trying to peck at the edge of the stationary door. My, but he is a big bird, even though I only got a glimpse of him. I'm afraid he was disappointed, unless there were some bugs on the frame, because it is covered with black aluminum. That's not the first time I've had a clinging bird peck at the aluminum trim. I don't know what they're thinking. Anyway, that was exciting.

The weather was nice but cool. It finally did get up to 55º, but for most of the day it was in the lower 50s. There was quite a north wind for a while (up to15 mph), but it has died down now. It was completely clear all day, and it still is. So pretty!

So that was my day. If I'd gotten right at the bracelet, I would have finished it, but oh, well. I had to dig it out from under a bunch of stuff and get it organized. I was glad to see that my fingers coiled right around the bracelet and the needle, although I had a little trouble with the first two rows before I got in the groove. Now I need to make two more, just to keep up my inventory. I've been thinking about at least finishing the one, and this is a good excuse.

Now it's time to totter up to the north end. I see Johanna tomorrow, so I can't sleep all day. It's a clear, calm and beautiful evening in the field.

June 11

Third one in a row. Sigh.

I got to bed around 11:00 last night, I think - I forgot to check. I was up three times, I think, although once I had to get up twice. If it's going to go, I wish it would go when I'm in the bathroom rather than waiting until I'm back in bed. I'm not going to sit there for five or ten minutes just on the chance something will happen. Oh, I do hope there's something they can do about that! Anyway, I was up around 7:30, and that was just too early, so the next time I woke up, it was 10:30. So I got my sleep one way or another.

I brushed the cat, but he went away when I started to knit, so I did four rows on the stole with no interruptions. It takes me close to 15 minutes to do one row. I never was a fast knitter, and with the pattern and the very fine yarn, it goes very slowly - especially the return row with those nupps. I keep screwing up and having to do them over.

Then I remembered that I wanted to fold my underwear and I wanted to fill the pill dispensers, so I did that. And except to add a few things to the dishwasher, which I will run tonight, that was all I did.

The weather was so-so again. It was cloudy overnight and this morning, but it started to clear up a bit around 2:00, and the rest of the afternoon has been partly cloudy. There is a dark cloud overhead right now, but it doesn't mean anything, and it's supposed to clear up later. The temperature got up to 50º, but it was in the upper 40s for most of the day. There wasn't much wind, although it got up to around 13 mph from the north for a while. It's nearly calm again now.

I haven't remarked on the smells lately. With all the calm winds we've had, I have been smelling the lakers, even when I can't hear them. The smell of burned diesel or fusil oil really bothers my nose, and almost every night I can smell it sometime during the night, sometimes for several hours at a time. It's really obnoxious. I know they've been trying to put in place some laws to prevent ocean ships from polluting the atmosphere at the ports, but I don't know if they've done anything about the lakers. It annoys me a lot that they are polluting our pristine air.

I'm not sure if perhaps it was all the chemo that has made my nose so sensitive to that particular smell (and the smell of wood fires), since I have a really hard time smelling some other things, or maybe it's just that I've been out of the polluted city for long enough now that I notice it. Anyway, it gets into my nose and really bothers me.

So that was another lost day, and I won't be up very long tonight, since I want to go to church tomorrow. Now it's a partly cloudy, cool evening in the field.

June 10

It was another lost day. I just don't feel very good.

I was in bed a bit before 11:00, and I slept hard, with only a couple of wakeups, but I woke up at around 8:15 and decided that I might as well get up. Wrong. I brushed the cat, who is still shedding like crazy, and I knitted a few rows on the shawl.

I did get to the post office, where there wasn't much mail, most of it going in the trash. I also went to the store, where I either forgot every thing I was going to get or they didn't have it. I did get eggs.

However, I discovered that when I thought I was signing up for cheaper phone service, the guy I talked to sold me a plan that doesn't exist and increased my bill by a lot instead of decreasing it. So I spent the better part of an hour getting my old plans back, except for the long distance service, which was a grandfathered plan and can't be reinstated. They did give me a credit on my current bill, thank goodness, but the whole thing was very frustrating and annoying. AT&T is acting just like they did back before they were broken up in the 70s, and nobody seems to care about it now. If there was some other way I could get the service I need, I'd do it. And when we get our cell tower (they seem to think it will be this year), I may just drop my long distance service. I want to keep the land lines, just because they tend to be more reliable in an emergency, but I'm not going to pay for a lot of stuff I never use. So we'll see if that's taken care of.

And that was all I did. While I was waiting on hold, I did a little embroidery, but that was it.

The weather wasn't so good. It was cloudy with very little wind, and the temperature hung around 50º all day. Blah.

So that was my day. I felt all right when I got up this morning, but after having an accident and surfing for a while, I began to get tired around 2:00. I do have to take a shower tonight, but I don't think I'll be up very late.

Now it's a calm, cool, cloudy night in the field.

June 9

Well, it was a lost day. I got to bed a little before 11:00, and I slept until around 2:30, then I was up every hour until 6:30 or so. I don't know why, but I didn't really get to sleep. I got up around 9:30, and I brushed the cat an d knitted a couple of rows on the stole, but it was clear that all my good plans were just not going to happen.

It was partly clear. I didn't see the moon, but when I was up later, I could see some stars, not very bright. There was no glow in the north, as far as I could see. It was cloudy in the morning, but it cleared up as the day went along. The temperature finally hit 50º a little while ago, but for most of the day it was in the lower 40s. There was hardly any wind. It was quite humid, although I didn't notice it.

So I don't have anything much to report. I was going to go to the post office today, but I just didn't feel like it. I didn't feel like doing anything, and I think I will be in bed early tonight.

Now it's a clear, cool, nearly calm evening in the field.

June 8

it was about 10:00 when I got to bed last night, and I slept OK, not great. I was up several times, and I had a hard time getting back to sleep afterwards. The first time I was up, around midnight, the crescent moon was shining brightly in the windows, but there didn't seem to be many stars. When I was up around 3:30 or so, it was clearly very foggy, since I couldn't see any lights from town. I got up around 9:30.

It was foggy then, too, so I petted the cat and knitted four rows on the stole before I did some exercises and got dressed.

Buster ate well, and he wanted my egg yolk, too, so I guess he's feeling better. Jasmine isn't sure, and she follows him around a lot, but as far as I can tell, he's OK.

I had another piece of bread go bad. A year or more ago, I discovered Ecce Panis bread, and I've gotten hooked on it. I like the Semolina Batard, but I also like the olive batard - I eat it toasted for breakfast, if you'll believe that. The problem is, there are no preservatives in it, so I have to eat a loaf within a week or so, or freeze it. I had the end of a semolina loaf when I decided I wanted olive bread, and when I took out the semolina today, it was beginning to get moldy. Darn. I like that, too.

Anyway, I didn't (and don't) feel very good today. I had some ideas of things I want to do, including taking some trash to the compactor and visiting the post office, but I didn't do any of that. I did wash up the rest of the dirty pots and pans and I put away some of the clean ones, but that was the extent of it. Slowly but surely, I'm getting the kitchen into shape, but it's going to be a long trip. Right now, it's still a mess.

Otherwise, I did nothing. I wanted to get the bird feeders out, but when it got to be 2:30 and I hadn't finished my surfing, I gave up on that.

The weather wasn't very nice. It was foggy when this morning, and it didn't clear until around 8:30, then around 4:30, it fogged up again, and it has been off and on all afternoon. The temperature got up to 66º around 2:00 this morning, then it plummeted, and it was in the upper 40s and very humid all afternoon. There was a rather strong wind from the north, between 10 and 20 mph, but it didn't blow the fog away.

Curiously, a day or so ago, I smelled ship's diesel out in the lake all night long (I hate that - it gets in my nose and bothers me) but when I was awake this morning and all afternoon, I only heard one fog horn. I did hear the bell buoy chiming away this morning, and that was nice.

I also heard a mourning dove cooing away when I was in the bathroom. I haven't seen very many of them, even though they like the little seeds I put on the deck, but it was nice to hear one. Unlike the way things were at the house in Grosse Pointe, I don't hear the chorus of birds around sunrise, even though I seem to be awake around that time. I don't know why. I know there are birds in the woods, but they don't seem to greet the dawn here.

I finally got to talk to Adam this evening, and I will be getting my pump set up and the pond emptied and refilled. He is also going to get me a new closer for the front door, since the old one is broken (or at least partially broken). So that is good. I at least want to wash the car this year, even if I don't manage to do any gardening.

I just didn't feel all that great today, for some reason, even though I should have gotten enough sleep. Next week I get to talk to Dr. Mary about a colonoscopy, and I hope that may tell us why I feel so yucky most of the time.

Now I am reading a bit, with the cat on my lap, and after that, I will go up to the north end and take a bath. It's a cool, humid and sometimes foggy evening in the field.

June 7

I'm sorry, I forgot to post the journal last night, and thanks to Diana for pointing it out to me. I was tired, and sometimes I just forget. I did it this morning, as soon as I realized what had happened. I'll try to do better tonight.

I got to bed by 10:30 last night, but I didn't sleep well. I'm not sure why, but my mind was unsettled. I was up several times. There were stars for part of the night, but there was no glow in the north. I was up at just about sunrise (which is at 5:55 these days) and the eastern sky was all orange. I didn't see it until I was back in bed, and I wished I'd looked at it while I was in the bathroom. Anyway, then I went back to sleep and I didn't get up until nearly 10:30.

That was a bit late, but I brushed the cat and knitted a little bit before I got dressed. No time for exercises this morning. I was doing my surfing when the dealership called (how did they get my number?) and said, could I come at 1:30 instead of 1:00. Well, sure, that would help a lot. So I did my surfing, except for the crosswords, and I left about 12:45.

That was just when it started to rain. It was sort of cloudy and there was some thunder, and it rained all the way to Calumet, although it wasn't raining when I got there.

The bearing took just about the time they said it would to replace, and the cost was just what they said it would be. So I am $550 poorer, but I don't have any funny noises from my front end anymore.

The next task was to get gas. I wasn't looking forward to it, because the Allouez station had it for $4.099, but the Holiday in Calumet was $3.999, so I continued down to Houghton. I almost stopped at the Holiday in Hancock, because they had it for $3.879, but I'd decided to go to Wal-Mart, and I was glad I did. It was $3.779, and since I had to put nearly 22 gallons in the car, it made a big difference. I'm still not used to paying $82 for a tank of gas, but oh, well.

When I left Wal-Mart, I decided to check out what used to be Ming Gardens. I had a report that it is open again, now called "Bambu". Well, it is open, at least sometimes, but during the week, it closes between 2:30 and 4:30, and it was 3:30 when I went by. Maybe the next time I go down to Houghton, I can get there when it's open. I understand they still have the same menu they did before they closed, and that was the best Chinese I've had since my Detroit carryout.

I was a bit disappointed, but I had a plan B. So I came home, arriving around 4:30. The next plan was something frozen in a bag that I got a month or two ago - mushroom filled tortellini with beef, spinich and tomatoes in a nice sauce. Well, it's good, and I seem to have my appetite back - I ate the whole thing. I will have to get some more. Buster was disappointed that he couldn't have any, but he seems to understand. He ate well this morning, so he didn't need any.

The weather was, well, unsettled. It rained while I was going down to Calumet, and there were a few sprinkles on the way to Houghton before it cleared up. The temperature just got up to 62º at 6:00 this evening. It was only 45º when I left for town, but it went up and down all afternoon. It was 67º or maybe higher (I can't read the thermometer in the car when it's bright outside and I have my sunglasses on) in town, but it certainly didn't get as warm as they were predicting. It rained a bit between noon and 4:00, and apparently there was a thunderstorm, because there were gusts up to 39 mph between 2:00 and 3:00. It wasn't that windy where I was. Now it is partly cloudy and breezy but not very warm. There may be more storms overnight.

So that was my day, and at least the car seems to be fixed. Now it's a partly cloudy, coolish night in the field, and I will be tottering up to the north end soon.

June 6

I crashed last night. I made it into bed by 9:30, and while I was up several times during the night, I didn't get up until 10:00 this morning. I feel much better. The first time I got up, around midnight, there were stars, but no light in the north. However, around 2:30 or 3:00 when I was up, there was a glow in the north again. I know it wasn't dawn coming, because that was before astronomical twilight, and besides, the glow was in the north, not so much the northeast. Again, it was nothing spectacular, just a glow behind the trees. I'm sorry I couldn't see the northern horizon.

Anyway, it had clouded up by the time I got up. I knitted a bit, petted a cat a bit, and did almost all my exercises for the first time in a while. It only helped a bit - my back was sore all day.

I think Buster is getting over what ailed him. He did eat a bit of his breakfast this morning, and he wanted my egg yolk. Why he has gotten so interested in eggs, I don't know, but he loves them. This afternoon, he wanted the rest of his food (I only put down one can, just in case) and he ate a pretty good helping of chicken. I think it was probably a hairball compounded by my getting up and going off early. He is sitting on my lap now, making it hard to type.

Jasmine has been feeling good, although she is worried about Buster and was following him around this morning. While he was on my lap, she was diving under the robe I left draped over the bathtub, and then she ran up and down the hallway. She is very interested in the open doors, and I wish I could let her out on the porch, but I need to get the glass up first.

I had some ideas of things I wanted to do today, but most of it didn't happen. I did get another orange bag filled with stuff from the kitchen and I got most of the trash off the counter. I unloaded the dishwasher, which will help that, and I washed another few pans, although there are still a lot to go.

I made several phone calls, too. I will be taking the car down to get the wheel bearing replaced tomorrow, and I made my appointments for October in Detroit. I will be going down the 10th and I have both my appointments on the 11th. I won't start back that afternoon, though, because my eye appointment is in the afternoon, and I am not about to try to drive to Grayling with my eyes dilated. Besides, I like to do a little shopping for cat food while I'm there, and I can do that the next morning, then have a good lunch before I start north again. So that is all set up.

The weather was so-so. It was cloudy in the morning, and there was some rain and a little thunder between 11:00 and 1:00, so it was very humid. After that it sort of cleared up, slowly, and the temperature got up to 74º around 6:00 this evening. There was not much wind. Now it's nearly clear and calm, although the temperature has dropped back to 50º - all that cold water.

I embroidered a little bit while I was trying to listen to the radio - the signal kept cutting out - and when I've finished this, I will read a bit, but I expect to be in bed early tonight again.

So now it's a cool, calm evening in the field and it's time to totter up to the north end.

June 5

Well, I made it into bed by 10:00 last night, but I didn't sleep very well. When I was up in the night, there were stars, but not very bright ones, and there was a sort of glow off toward the north - nothing spectacular, but it was brighter in that direction than it should have been. I woke up around 6:30, and I had to pee so bad that I couldn't even doze until the alarm went off, so I got up much to early. I had time to do most of my surfing before I got dressed for church.

I was very glad I went. We celebrated Ascension, and pastor's sermon was a good one. He made a point that I noticed a long time ago - we don't celebrate Ascension the way we used to. I guess they had a service here on Thursday, but the churches I went to in Detroit and on the east coast didn't. There weren't very many people there this morning, but that's the summer thing - people are away, and the summer people don't make up for the regulars who aren't there.

And the organ is working again! After all the hand wringing and threats of a huge repair bill, they discovered that it was one wire that was causing the problem, and when they fixed that, it started working again. There was one key that I guess wasn't working right, but at least there weren't any ciphers. It is a very nice sounding organ, although it's small, and it was nice to have it to accompany us again. I do like organ music, and I want organ music in church.

It was a very pretty day, but how warm it was depended upon where you were. It was cool in the harbor, only in the low 50s until late this afternoon, when it finally got up to 59º. There was almost no wind and it was mostly clear, although there was that high cirrus haze we get so much of. Down in town, however, it got into the upper 60s, so our proximity to the cold, cold lake made a great difference.

I had some things I wanted to do this afternoon, but along about 3:30, I got so sleepy that I couldn't keep my eyes open, so I took about an hour's nap, and I felt much better afterwards, although I will be tottering up to the north end very soon and I expect to crash. I just didn't get nearly enough sleep last night.

Buster doesn't feel good. He didn't eat his breakfast, and he wouldn't even eat any chicken. I hope it's just a hairball - and probably it is, the way he's been shedding - but at his age one never knows. He wanted to sit on my lap all afternoon, and he is clearly dragging his tail behind him. Jasmine knows it, too, and she is hovering someplace nearby. It worries her when he doesn't feel good, just like it does me.

So now it's a mostly clear evening in the field, and I'm off to the north end to sleep long and hard, I hope.

June 4

I'm not quite sure when I got to bed last night, but I think it was around 10:00. Sometime later, I was awakened by thunder, and there was almost continuous lightning all around. It was neat. When I looked at the clock, I thought it said 2:45, but according to the NWS station, it was actually 12:45. Anyway, I went back to bed, and the heavens opened. Apparently between 12:51 and 1:05 we had 0.4" of rain, and between 12:51 and 1:51, we had 0.73" of rain. I mean to tell you, it poured. It also blew. Officially. the maximum gusts were 31 mph, but they were from the west, and the NWS station is sheltered on that side. It sure sounded like it was stronger than that out here.

The storm was closer than most have been lately, so there was some thunder, but there was a lot of lightning that didn't have thunder associated with it. I always find that eerie - there's all this light flashing all over the sky, and there's no sound at all. But I do love nighttime thunderstorms. It apparently rained until nearly 4:00.

Unfortunately, it woke me up enough that I had a hard time getting back to sleep, even after the lightning moved out over the lake, but eventually I did. When I was up after it got light, it was extremely foggy down the harbor, but that had gone away by the time I got up.

I didn't get up until about 10:00, Then there was a cat to pet and I did half of the eleventh repeat on the stole, so it was noon before I got dressed.

The task of the day was wash, and I started the first load before I went to the kitchen. I wasn't hungry, so I had my juice and a while later I had some cereal I got the other day. It was instant Cream of Wheat, and it wasn't at all bad.

So I washed, and did my surfing, and around 5:00, I finally got out and pulled up the shutters, so it is now light in the kitchen and the hallway. It will be so nice in the morning! I moved the cushions away from the screens, just in case it rains, but I didn't do anything about the glass on the floor. It seems to be mostly big slabs on that side, and I need to find something to put them in. So the porch is a mess, but I'll get at it eventually.

Jasmine was looking longingly at the door, but I want to get the glass up and the furniture back where it belongs before I let her out there. I also need to go to the paint store and get the stuff I need to finish the window. It's too early to take it out of the frame, but that's coming. I think I have some stuff from the last refinishing, but I need to find it and see what I need to get. One of these days, I'll have to go down to Houghton, and I'll get it then.

The weather today was lovely - really lovely. It was nearly clear all day long, and the temperature has been 73º all afternoon. Aahh...my favorite temperature! There was quite a wind, with gusts up to 34 mph from the northwest, but that only made it more comfortable. I can imagine it would have gotten really hot without that wind. I had both patio doors open all afternoon.

Buster and I had chicken again tonight, and he ate a huge helping, but he really enjoyed it, so I don't mind. It means I can only get four meals out of a chicken, but that's all right. I keep remembering that he is 16 now, and he doesn't have all that much time left, so I might as well do what I can to make him happy. He spent quite a while sitting on my lap, but of course, I had to get up every so often, and that bothered him.

Tonight I have to wash dishes, but I have the dishwasher almost loaded, so that won't keep me up. I would really like to go to church tomorrow, but we'll see what happens. I'm feeling better, I think, and I'm not coughing and blowing quite so much, so I should be able to go.

Now it's a lovely, clear, warm evening in the field, and I will read a bit before I go up to the north end.

June 3

I think it was around 11:00 when I got to bed last night, and I slept very well. The first time I woke up was around 3:30. Sometime after 8:00, I was awakened by a crack of thunder, but I dozed for another hour or so. When I looked at the clock, it was blinking. Drat. Apparently it was only a glitch, because we weren't on generator power.

So I got up around 10:00 and brushed the cat and finished a pattern repeat of the shawl, which means I've completed a third of it. It's a fun project, although it gets old after a while, and I still have 20 repeats to go, at least. I will see how long it seems to be when I finish the 30 repeats, and I might make it longer. It's hard to say, since I'm using an entirely different needle size from the pattern.

I did exercise, because my back was stiff, and my feet were sore on the bottoms, so it was noon by the time i got to the studio. I surfed and I paid some bills and I went to the post office. I had some other ideas, but my musings when I'm lying down very seldom turn into deeds.

I am feeling better, I must say, although there is still a lot of glop in my head. However, I had a messy accident this morning, which depressed me. I should have moved sooner, I know, but lately I haven't had to worry about that.

The weather was very spring-like. There was that one thunder shower this morning, and it was partly cloudy all day. It only got down to 51º overnight, and the high was 69º. I should have opened the doors. It was in the upper 60s all afternoon, and it still is. It was rather windy, with southwest gusts up to 34 mph, although it has calmed down now, as it frequently does around sunset.

I should have done the shutters today, but there just wasn't enough time. There were bills I needed to pay, and I haven't been to the post office all week. It was partly to mostly cloudy, though.

So that was a very quiet, rather truncated day, and I'm tired again. I think I can forgo the bath tonight, so maybe I can get to bed early.

Buster and I had chicken for dinner tonight, and he ate a remarkable amount of it. It was good, and I enjoyed it, too. I'm glad to say he's eating very well lately, and so, I think, is Jasmine, although I have a very hard time checking on her. She was full of energy this morning, partly, I'm sure, because the bedroom window was open. I love to see her go bombing down the hallway as fast as she can run. She looks like a little multicolored bowling ball. She is not thin, but she is sort of square-shaped anyway. Without being able to touch her, it's hard for me to check how chubby she is. But she has the littlest feet I have ever seen on a full-grown cat. I always thought Buster had little feet, but hers are half the size of his.

Now it's a warmish, cloudy night in the field and I'm tired, so I will read a bit then totter up to the north end.

June 2

It was 12:30 or so before I got to bed last night, and I slept well, thank you. I was only up three times, and I got up around 10:30, I think. I had to pee, but Buster was complaining. I brushed him and knitted a while. I had been going to forgo the exercises, but my back was stiff, so I did some, and it felt much better.

I did most of my morning surfing and sort of diddled around for a while, but the task of the day was food shopping, so eventually I started for town. I think (or I hope) I got everything I wanted. I got cat food, even though Pat's prices are high. and I got a lot more frozen Chinese. I finally found some frozen brown rice, which will be nice with the things I cook myself, and it's much easier than boiling rice for 60 minutes (or however long it is). Of course I got my OJ and my JD and wine, too. They had short ribs on sale again, so I got some of those to put in the freezer, Now the fridge is bulging, but I think I will be able to eat for a month, especially if I get some Schwan's stuff next week. I also got a rotisserie chicken, but I didn't eat it, since I had Chinese left over from last night.

I got home around 4:45, and I sat for a while before I unloaded the car. it's getting warm enough that I'm going to have to use the cold packs and probably take two coolers from now on.

Buster was really bugging me. He has gotten the idea that when I go away and come back with food, there is always chicken. Well, he'll just have to wait until tomorrow. Now he is sitting on my lap with his jaw draped over my arm.

The weather was nice. It was clear for most of the day, and the temperature here got up to 62º briefly. It was in the low 60s in Calumet, which was nice. There wasn't any wind to speak of. Now it's clouding up, and I guess it's supposed to rain tonight, but it isn't supposed to get too cold. Tomorrow it's supposed to rain but get warm. So spring is really coming, at last.

It was so nice to drive to and from Calumet and see everything all green. The colors are light, yellow green, and the red maples are still reddish, since their chlorophyll hasn't completely taken over yet. It was neat to look up at the top of the cliffs and see them clothed in pale green. The juneberries and some of the fruit trees are in bloom, too, and that's pretty. I will say, all the marsh marigolds are gone already, which is sad. They are so cheerful, and in the early spring there are a lot of them along Cliff Drive.

There wasn't a lot of traffic, at least in the directions I was going. There seemed to be quite a few people going in the other direction - both ways. There were a couple of people with canoes on their roofs. So the tourons are beginning to come. I am always puzzled by the people in RVs who leave the Harbor late in the afternoon. I wonder where they go and where they stop for the night. There aren't very many roads in the UP that I would prefer to drive at night.

So that was my quiet day, and now I have things to eat and drink and the cats will eat, too. Now it's a partly cloudy, rather warm evening in the field, and I'm tired.

June 1

I don't know when I got to bed last night, but it was probably around 11:00, because I spent quite some time staring at the floor before I took my bath. It was really noisy. The wind was apparently from the west, and it was gusting up to 40 mph (according to the NWS station, which is sheltered on that side). The wind was so noisy I couldn't be sure I was hearing the lake, but it was wonderful to sleep by, and I slept quite well for a change. I had to close the window around 3:00, because it was getting cold, but I do sleep better when it's cool in the bedroom.

I got up around 8:30 and the clocks were blinking, so I reset them and went back to sleep until around 10:30. Buster was getting anxious by the time I got up. I brushed him and knitted on the sock for a bit before I did a few exercises. It was fun to look out at the harbor, which was a mass of whitecaps, and the wind was banging against the house. One reason he was anxious was that all the food dishes were empty, so I filled them all before I did anything else.

I can't report much about the weather, because the power went off about 6:00 this morning and it didn't come back until around 5:00 pm. The temperature dropped all night and apparently hung right around 50º all day. The peak winds came between 4:00 and 6:00 am, with gusts up to 42 mph (officially). The wind was still gusting up to 32 mph when the power came back on, but around 8:00 it began to die down and it shifted to the north. It was partly cloudy all day, although it cleared up around sunset.

Actually, the power failure was a trip. I think it came back up around 4:00 pm, then it went down again around 5:00. When it came back up the first time, I got a call from a person and confirmed that I had power, but when it went back down, the automated system claimed there was still an open ticket. So I called back and got a person and told them that their automated system was confused, and I had no power. A couple of minutes after I hung up with her, I got an automated call that said the power was back - and there was the generator humming away. So I called again and explained the problem. When the power came back, I was listening to the radio and I didn't even notice that the generator had stopped, until I got a call from another person and confirmed that yes, I seemed to be on line power again. Geez! I guess what happened is that there were so many power outage reports that the computer got overloaded.

The other curious thing was that the Mountain Lodge never went down. I have to believe they have a generator up there now. It was nice - as soon as the computer rebooted, I was back online. I like that. And you who weren't here got to look at the camera all day.

So that was my day, and now it's late, since I was reading again. Now it's a cold, clear night in the field, and the wind has died almost to nothing. And it's June. Almost half the year is gone.

Last updated 07/01/12 09:24 PM