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A View From the Field |
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August, 2012 August 31 Well, it was a good day to end the month.
I got to bed around 10:00 last night. I was tired, and I didn't feel like reading, so I got to bed early. Of course, I was up several times. I was awake at 7:30, but I was groggy, so I went back to bed and got up at 8:30. I knitted and Grayson got a tummy rub. It was such a beautiful morning that the guys were full of ginger.
The task of the day was trash. I knew I had at least two bags - it ended up three big and one small - and I really wanted to get the fridge cleaned out. Something died in the veggie drawer again and it was annoying me. Besides, I'm going to have to shop on Sunday and I wanted as much room as possible in the fridge. I got all that done, although the bag with the fridge stuff in it got pretty heavy and leaked.
The people who are helping the assessor with the reassessment came by around 1:00 and curiously enough, they spent a lot of time on the deck - heh, heh. It was so beautiful, I can understand why they did. The camera did capture a picture of Bill, which I won't publish.
Anyway, after they left, I loaded up the car and went off to the post office, where there were a lot of magazines and catalogs. Ron offered to help me with the trash, so I waited until he closed the office and he got everything into the compactor for me, even though only that one bag was really heavy. Then I stopped at the fish market and got a nice piece of whitefish, and at the store for various things.
I felt a real sense of accomplishment that I got the trash out of here. I hope I can continue to do that. I guess, when I looked at it, I don't really make that much trash after all, it just piles up if I don't take it to the compactor. So now when the bag in the breezeway gets full - or overfull, like it was this time - I will try to gather everything up and cart it off. I must also try not to so overbuy like I did this time. If I am going to get cole slaw, I shouldn't buy lettuce, and I must be more careful about which pasta salads I get. Maybe someday I'll learn, but that's one problem with shopping only every three or four weeks. I have no idea what will appeal to me to eat. Sometimes I eat a lot of salads and sometimes I don't.
The weather was glorious. There's no other way to describe it. It was clear and blue all day long, and while It did get up to 78º a while ago, for most of the afternoon it was around 74º, There was a rather strong north wind, in the 15-20 mph range. It was so beautiful! I remember one summer when we were having a drought when we had weather like this for almost three months, but this year has been more variable, and it's a real treat to have such a perfect day.
The guys thought so, too. Louie had to go away and sleep for a while, but Grayson was around for most of the afternoon. He thought the people might come in and I think he was disappointed that they didn't. Lately they have been sitting in the windows watching the parade outside. Louie reached another milestone today. He came into the bathroom while I was there and got all the way to the north wall. He did it twice. The first time, he was timid, but the second time, he was quite at ease. Grayson was sitting on the tub surround when Louie came in, and he wasn't bothered. They did have a sort of altercation because Grayson was sitting in the south window, which is open, and Louie wanted to look out, but they didn't come to blows.
While Grayson was getting his tummy rub this morning, I got to looking at his front feet. They are rather large, and I always thought his toes were large, and now I know why: he only has four toes on his front feet. Strange. Most cats have five toes on their front feet, and I've known cats who had six or more. So he is rather unusual in several ways. His teeth and claws are very small - and very sharp - but he doesn't have a full complement. His hind feet are normal - four toes. Anyway, he is an amazingly sweet kitty and he can apparently take care of himself.
So now I will read for a while, since I don't have to bathe tonight, and I will try to get to bed early again. It's good weather for sleeping and I want to take advantage. I sure does feel good to have done something that needed doing!
Now it's a lovely clear evening in the field, and the wind is dying down. The moon is full tonight - the second one this month - and that should keep it bright outside.
August 30 I got to bed around 11:00 and I went right to sleep - before I finished my prayers, in fact. About 1:30 I had to get up, and for about three hours I couldn't get back to sleep. Part of the problem was that it was very windy and since the windows and doors were open, I guess the noise bothered me. Also, my left ear and right shoulder were sore, which made it hard to find a place to lie. Eventually I did get back to sleep, and I didn't get up until 10:00. I may have been in bed for 11 hours, but I didn't sleep nearly that long.
Grayson spent the night in the bathroom on the towels at the end of the tub. I think it was because it was out of the wind. He got up with me and got petted for a while, and when he went away I knitted three repeats on the edging. I put on a camisole and shorts, because by the time I got dressed, it was getting very warm.
About all I did was to try to make some sense of the desk in the studio. I'm still looking for my #7 needles. They have to be around here somewhere, because I knitted a hat (which turned out too small) on them. I didn't find them. It was so windy, I had to close the patio door.
I guess the weather was the story today. It was quite windy all night. The NWS station only reported gusts up to 25 mph, but believe me, they were stronger out here. The wind overnight was from the west, and the NWS station is sheltered on that side. Or maybe the winds pick up over the harbor. Anyway, the temperature never got below 72º all night, and by the time I got to the studio it was 85º. Then all of a sudden, the wind dropped to nothing, switched to the north and picked up again, and the temperature dropped to 77º. Aah! it recovered to 81º, but now it's dropping again. There was a little sunshine until around 10:30, but the rest of the day has been cloudy, and there were some light rain showers around the area, but not here. It is so great when the wind shifts to the north! I never have any fears for our temperatures when that happens.
I didn't see much of Grayson and Louie today. Grayson got a tummy rub besides his love-in this morning, but after breakfast, I think they both went away someplace where the wind wasn't blowing. It would never occur to Grayson to hide in the basement, but Louie does.
Tonight is bath time, so I hope to only read for a while, but we'll see. I will have to close up the house a bit before I go to bed, because the temperature is supposed to get down to around 64º overnight, and it's supposed to be better tomorrow, in the 70s and less humid.
It's a mostly cloudy, warm, breezy evening in the field.
August 29 I think I got to bed around midnight. I had to set up the dishwasher, and I decided it was time I attended to the ice maker in the fridge. That turned into something else. Ice tends to melt slightly and clump up on the right side of the bin, where the works for the ice maker are (I know - I really despair for the consumer products division of GE, and I can see why they might want to get rid of it). It had been so long since i dumped the bin that the ice was frozen to the side and had frozen the bin into the freezer. I even tried to pour a little hot water on the clump, but then I discovered that that it all drains out of the bottom of the bin where the ice comes out into the door - and all over the floor and the bottom of the freezer. So I got out my big plumbing screwdriver and my handy dandy rubber mallet and whaled away until I freed the thing up. I will have to try not to wait so long the next time. I don't know what kind of an engineer you have to be to design consumer products, but I have several that I could have done a better job on.
Anyway, then I went up to the north end, and I had to take a bath, but I read for a little while and spent some time staring at the floor before I did. I don't know exactly when I got to bed, because I discovered later that Grayson had been standing on the buttons again and had added about 12 minutes to the time on the clock in the bedroom. Once I got to bed, I slept well, and I got up around 10:00.
I was late getting dressed, because I knitted four repeats of the edging. I got to the corner and I wanted to do the corner repeat and one more. Now I am going up the first side, and that means something like 35 repeats. I'm not quite sure. I think there may be a couple more rows than i calculated, which could be interesting at the other end, but we'll see. At any rate, I have a lot of knitting to do before I turn the next corner.
I also had to stop in the middle and give Grayson a very long tummy rub. He didn't want to sit on my lap, but he came in and got petted and got his head rubbed, then he turned over, and he didn't fight when I touched his tummy, so I rubbed and rubbed and he purred and purred.
Otherwise, I didn't do anything. I had something I wanted to do, but I got dressed so late that I didn't have time. I wouldn't have anyway, because some friends came to visit, and that took most of the afternoon. Nice people. They are only here for a week, but I hope they'll be back next year.
The weather was perfect. The temperature got up to 78º, which was quite a bit less than was predicted, and there was a nice southwest breeze. It was quite humid overnight, but the humidity went way down this afternoon, and it was nice. It was clear, except that there are all those aerosols in the atmosphere so it was rather hazy. This is my kind of weather. It's supposed to be very warm tomorrow, but I hope that maybe the temperature won't get as high as it's supposed to and the humidity will stay low. It's supposed to be rather warm tonight, and I hope so, because I have the whole house opened up and I don't want to close anything more than the patio doors.
Grayson was a very gracious host when my friends came to visit. He had to say hello to everybody and he sat on one person's lap for a long time, until I sat down and he had to come and tell me he loves me, too. He wandered around us all the time they were here. Louie, of course, was nowhere to be seen, but I think he had gone downstairs to sleep sometime before and he didn't come up, looking very sleepy, until after they left. It's fun to see how they'll feel today. While the talking was on, Louie started walking around and around on the desk until he finally bugged me and I set him firmly on the floor. I don't know what his problem was. He did sit on my lap and paw at his brush, so he got a good brushing. I have gotten an incredible amount of fur out of him, and he's still shedding.
I notice that the sun is now setting over the end of Lighthouse Point or maybe at the very end of Porter Island. Sigh. We have only 13½ hours of daylight now and we're losing it at more than three minutes a day. So it's coming. I guess all we can do is enjoy what there is while we have it.
Now I think I will read a bit and try to get to bed relatively early tonight. Ha. It's a lovely, relatively warm evening in the field.
August 28 Well, I'll do this early and decide what to read later.
I read last night anyway, so it was around midnight when I got to bed. I slept well, for the most part. I got up around 9:00. Grayson came for a pet - Louie was nowhere to be found - and I got three repeats done on the edging.
That's just about all I have to report. The dishwasher is about ready to run tonight. I have to run it more often now that I'm using two cat dishes a day, but that's not all bad. I was overloading it for a while there and there's always the possibility that things might not get clean.
I did have blueberry pancakes and sausages for breakfast, along with coffee. Yum. I don't do that very often, but I sure do enjoy it when I do.
The weather was a bit cool. The high temperature was around 71º, but it was around 69º for most of the day. There wasn't any wind. The skies were clear but full of aerosols, so it wasn't very blue.
There wasn't anything much interesting on the cat front. Louie got a petting this morning after breakfast. The FedEx truck scared him down to the basement and I didn't see him until late this afternoon. Grayson was a little leery, too, but he didn't bolt for the basement. Somebody pooped on the scratching post again. I'm going to have to dig up some of my Nature's Miracle and de-scent it.
My neighbor to the north is having his garage re-roofed, so it's good that I've been getting up a little earlier lately. After about 9:00 they start pounding on the roof and talking and sound carries around here. They aren't working really hard at it, so I think it will be at least another day before it's done, even though it isn't that big a garage. That's in addition to the trucks going up and down the road from the two construction jobs that are going on out along the lake. I'll be happy when it finally quiets down again.
I want to read a bit, but I'm not sure what to read next - or again. I finished the few pages of Trine 12 today. I don't feel like writing, and I don't feel like reading my nonfiction books, so I will have to decide what to reread.
Now it's a calm, clear evening in the field and the gibbous moon should be almost over the trees but it's behind the computer corner.
August 27 Wow, I really crashed last night. I was in bed by 8:30 and I didn't even finish my prayers before I was asleep. I was up several times, of course, but not for long. I got up around 7:30, both because I thought 11 hours was enough sleep and because I was afraid that if I went back to sleep, I wouldn't get to the meeting at 11:00. As it was, I apparently looked very groggy when I got there.
I knitted one repeat of the edging while Grayson and Louie had a wonderful romp, up and down the hall and up and down the porch and all over the place. I like seeing them get so much exercise.
I went to the meeting, which lasted an hour and a half, and when I came home, I didn't do much of anything, because it was 3:00 before i finished my surfing. There is a lot of reading on Mondays, especially when I forget to look at the PastyCam on Sunday.
Tonight was the last Vespers service, and it was a good one. I was disappointed that there weren't more people there, but things are sort of winding down in town.
It was a beautiful day. The temperature only got up to 72º and there was a north wind around 13 mph, but the sky was blue and it wasn't as humid as it was yesterday. Tonight when I came home, the gibbous moon was shining in the south, but there are a few clouds in the sky now. I was just looking at the pictures, and there was a little fog around 8:00, but it didn't last long.
Grayson and Louie played for over half an hour this morning, and then they were rather pooped, it seems, although they didn't sleep as much as they have sometimes. I think they are beginning to get things straight between them, although it will take a while. For a while this afternoon, Grayson was sleeping in his spot under the south windows, and Louie was curled up with his back to the patio door - a weird place to sleep. Louie has gotten very loving and Grayson is less so. I don't know why. I love anybody who asks.
When I got home from the meeting, I had an acute sinus headache, and I don't think it was from the meeting. It mostly went away later, but it was strange. I don't get those very often up here. it may be because the pollen count is very high. I was rather shaky this morning, I guess, but I was better this evening, and I could even get up when the service called for it.
Now I think I will go to bed, even though I'd really like to read some more. It's a partly cloudy evening in the field and it's supposed to be rather cool tonight - a good night to sleep.
August 26 I made it into bed shortly after 10:00 last night, but after about 2:30, I just dozed, so it was a bad night. And I don't have much to report today.
I got up at 7:00 accidentally. It seems that the last time I had to set the clock in the bedroom, I forgot about the AM/PM thing, so it said 7:00 PM when I woke up and the alarm was set for 7:00 AM. Oops. Anyway, I did get up on time and I got out of the house almost on time. Fortunately, there wasn't muxh traffic going south except for a couple of jerks on the covered road.
Church was good, with communion, but it was rather long. It was very warm in the sanctuary, although it was only in the low 70s outside, and it was extremely humid, so it wasn't very comfortable even sitting down. Oh, well, at least we only had one Sunday so far this summer when it was in the 80s.
On the way home, about halfway up the covered road, I got behind an idiot. Actually, I was the fourth car behind him. There were some curves and hills when he was only going about 25 mph. I know it's a very curvy, hilly road, but there aren't any 90º corners and even driving it for the first time anyone should be able to approach the speed limit (which is 45). Geez! And we all turned right at the blinker. The idiot did turn into Mariner's parking lot, although it looked like he wasn't sure where he was. I don't remember where the second guy went, but the one right in front of me pulled off at the brewery so that I could go by. I just don't know about some people. There is caution, and then there is timidity, and I keep feeling like the timid ones should just not drive on our roads. We did have a one-car serious accident a week or so ago, but that one was clearly going too fast and she lost control on a curve. There's a happy medium. Okay, that's the rant of the day.
The weather was yucky until about 4:00. For once, Environment Canada hit it spot on. We had a small shower around 6:00, which didn't help things. It was coolish, in the low to mid 70s, with no wind and horrible humidity. Around 4:00 it finally began to clear up. The temperature rose - it's now 80º - but the humidity dropped dramatically and the wind, which is still light, shifted to the north. Now it's really nice outside.
Grayson and Louie were full of energy this morning, romping around the porch and barreling up and down the hallway. For once, I saw Grayson chasing Louie, so it's not all one way. It's good to see them really running. It's good for them, and it may even mean Louie will lose some weight. I think he may have already, just from getting more exercise. I have uncovered one bad habit he has, though: he seems to want to eat plastic bags. That's definitely not good for him, so it will make me keep the bags off the floor. He seems to feel that since Grayson scratches on the navy blue chair in the great room, he can, too. I don't want either of them to do that, but I haven't attacked the problem of keeping them off it. If I wanted to get a scratching post for them, it would have to be at least 36" high, and they don't come like that. Cat furniture is so expensive that I haven't looked into it much. They don't seem to like the cardboard scratching pads that Buster and Jasmine liked.
I had some problems with my sore fingers during the night, but they were fine by this morning. I'm hoping that doubling the dose of my med will do the trick. The doctor told me that with the formulation they used to use, they kept increasing the dosage until you had diarrhea and vomiting, then you took one pill less. Not very scientific. The stuff I'm taking, which is very expensive, is supposed to be a time-release formula. I sure hope it works.
I have been so tired all day, because of my bad night, so I'm planning to get to bed very early tonight. There is an advertising committee meeting tomorrow that I should attend, so I need to get up at a reasonable hour. And the last Vespers service is tomorrow evening. There are some friends in the area that I hope will be there. So stuff keeps going on.
Now it's a clear, warm, calm evening in the field and it's nice to see the blue skies again. There's a quarter moon up there someplace, too.
August 25 I didn't get to bed until after 1:00, because I was so icky and sticky that I had to take a bath. I slept very well. Evidently, I was really tired. I finally got up sometime after 10:30, and I was so late that I only did one repeat on the edging.
I don't have anything to report. I didn't do anything except clear out the sink and put the dishes in the dishwasher.
The doctor warned me that if the increased dosage of my meds was working I might have a gout attack as the uric acid begins to be reabsorbed. I'm glad he said something, because I woke up this morning with an extremely sore and stiff index finger. It has been hard to work around, but I'll take it as an indication that the dosage may be working. Even though I have sore fingers, I have some hope that we may be able to get this thing under control. It will be a relief.
It was a hot day and quite humid. The high temperature, 86º. was around 2:00, but then it dropped back to 77º before it stabilized at around 80º. There was hardly any wind. It was partly cloudy early, but lately it has gotten cloudy, and there may be rain tonight.
Grayson kept cool by lying on the counter rather than on the fleece, and at one point I found Louie lying on the floor in the great room with his back against the cool stones of the hearth. Neither of them seem to realize they could cool off on the tile in the bathroom.
I read for most of the afternoon. Now it's a warm, cloudy evening in the field and I'll be off to take another bath rather soon.
August 24 So I read for far too long last night and I got up late this morning. I only got one repeat of the edging done before I got dressed. I spent most of the day either driving or in town, and I don't have much to report.
I will not be getting the calico cat, because the woman who is fostering her won't let me have her, because I already have two male cats. I think she's nuts, but she wasn't very nice about it and there wasn't anything Dawn could say to change her mind. Drat.
I saw the doctor and we have increased my meds, and we'll see what that does. Since my gout doesn't seem to be particularly food-related, it could be hard to get the uric acid levels down where they are supposed to be. We'll try. Oh, yes, and I got my pneumonia vaccine. The last one was 11 years ago, so it was time. I've had pneumonia at least once, maybe twice, and I really don't want it again.
While I was in town, I stopped at the eyeglass place and got my glasses adjusted again and now I think they're finally right. At least I am having no trouble reading tonight. Boy, I hope so. I was really having a hard time with them, but it seems like it was all because they weren't sitting right on my nose. They still slip a bit - less than before - but I can see. Whoopee!
The weather was hot. There was lightning off and on all night, and we had a couple of showers. It was horribly humid all day. The temperature here only got up to 79º, but it was in the 80s in town, and it was so humid that US-41 never dried off from the shower between 6:00 and 7:00. We apparently had another little shower during the past hour, although I didn't hear it. During the afternoon, it was mostly clear out. I had to use the A/C coming home. Yuck.
See? I knew the cool weather wouldn't last. This is a typical August - hot around the first, cool around the 15th and hot again at the end of the month. It seemed like that was the way it always was when I was a kid. Now if it will all lead to a normal winter, with lots of snow, I'll be happy...and so will a lot of other people.
It may not be autumn yet, but the signs are pointing to it. There are maples turning red and some of the smaller birch bushes are turning, too. The late summer wildflowers - swamp milkweed, goldenrod and black-eyed susans - are out. The asters aren't blooming yet, unless some of what I saw in the swamp were swamp asters. We apparently have had enough rain that the bracken isn't drying out yet, so the woods are still green, although the deep green leaves of summer are beginning to yellow a bit.
I didn't see much of Grayson and Louie. They were both in the hallway looking out the door when I got home. It's nice to be greeted, even though they weren't happy. Grayson got his morning love-in, although it wasn't a long one, and Louie has been sitting on my lap tonight.
So that's about all I know. I don't know why I think I want a third cat, but I do. We'll see what happens.
Now it's a warm, moist night in the field and maybe I can get to bed before midnight? Ha.
August 23 Well, it was after midnight again, but it was earlier than the night before. I slept fairly well, except in the morning, when I was having trouble with my legs for some reason. I got up around 9;00. Grayson came and got brushed and petted, then I knitted three repeats. The way I figure it, I have a total of about 92 repeats to go all the way around the scarf, and I've done 11, I think, so I have a way to go. I'm sure I'm going to be very bored by the whole thing before I'm done, but that's the trouble with big projects like this. I had no trouble with the pattern.
I didn't do a lot. I went to the post office, where there weren't any bills, for once. Late this afternoon I cleaned up the poop. I think it was all old, so maybe it's been there a while and I just didn't see it.
One reason that I did that was because Dawn emailed me with the picture of a very beautiful calico cat, and oh, I am so tempted! I am only not sure about bringing in another cat before Grayson and Louie are settled with each other. But she is sooo pretty...Well, I have the night to think about it. Stay tuned.
The weather turned out to be rather yucky. The temperature was 75º by the time I got to the studio, but that was the high, and it dropped back, and around 3:00, it started to rain very lightly. In Three hours, we only had 0.10", but it cooled down into the upper 60s and it got very humid. Yuck.
Well, things are progressing on the cat front. Right now, Grayson is sound asleep on his back under the south windows and Louie is sound asleep, curled up with his paw over his nose, under the east windows. That was the way it was for most of the afternoon, although there were several times when they were both at the east windows, either looking out or trying to get the other guy out of the way. Both of them spent most of the afternoon with me. That enabled me to get a pretty good picture of Louie's face, and you can see his lovely green eyes. His facial markings are remarkably symmetrical. What I didn't get in that picture and I did see, was him with a smile on his face. It was there for a while. He sat on my lap and got brushed, and I got an incredible amount of fur out of him. He doesn't really like it very well, so after a while, he started biting the brush, then he put his paw on it so I couldn't use it. Well, he'll have to get used to it. I do not want him to eat all that stuff. He must be swallowing a lot, though, because he keeps himself very clean. Dawn was mentioning that so many white cats have that soft, fluffy fur that just sheds all over the place all the time. I know DC did, and so does Louie. Only DC liked to be brushed.
Dawn and her partner in KSNAG, Elaine, have rescued 29 cats so far this August. Poor Dawn. She is wearing herself out caring for them - she has 14 right now. That's one reason I would love to get the calico. She isn't at Dawn's, but they'll appreciate any help they can get.
Well, now it's a moist, cloudy night in the field, and I will read a bit before I totter up to the north end.
August 22 Well, it was 1:30 before I got to bed last night, for various reasons. The first time I woke up was around 5:30, so I slept fairly well. I had to turn over, and I slept until about 8:30 on my right side. That didn't seem do do any harm, so I guess I'm getting over my back problem, even though I still feel it when I get out of a chair. I can bend over just fine, which is a help, and I can load and unload the dishwasher without any pain. Whew! That was a bad one.
I got up around 9:30, I think, although I only dozed for the last hour. Grayson came for a short love-in, and I knitted, without too much problem The edging is going much better now. I don't like it very well, but it does go with the rest of the pattern, which the alternate one doesn't.
Let's see. I unloaded the dishwasher, which was a good deed. I was so late getting dressed that that was about all I did. I had a slight accident, which resulted in my having to change my underwear. I was going to go to the post office, but since I picked up my mail on Monday, I decided not to go. That was about it.
In the middle of the afternoon, I got a call from the eye doctor saying they were going to have to reschedule my appointment. Geez. So I scheduled it for the 16th, and then I had to change my oncologist appointment. I was glad I haven't made my motel reservations yet. The eye doctor is going to a seminar, and I really think that the people who schedule those things never even think what it may do to patients when they wait until two months before the event to schedule it.
The weather was lovely. It was nearly clear all day long. The temperature got up to 78º briefly around noon, then it settled down in the middle 70s. There was quite a wind. We had sustained winds of up to 25 mph and gusts to 31 mph, all pretty much from the north. The wind has died down now, and the temperature has dropped, too, but not below 70º. The humidity was very low until lately, and it was lovely. Lovely, lovely!
Grayson and Louie are still trying to get their dynamic straight, and there has been some fighting, I'm afraid. Louie has a scratch on his nose and a scab behind his ear. But he bugs Grayson...and I think Grayson bugs him. This evening, Louie got on my lap to be petted, and then he discovered the open window, so he immediately went over and sat looking out. I grabbed the camera, so here are the first pictures of Louie. You can't see his pretty light green eyes, but he is a rather handsome - and rather fat - cat. He was sitting there when Grayson discovered him, and then we had a confrontation, which ended with Grayson sitting crosswise in the window, so that Louie couldn't look out of it. Louie was not pleased. He tried to bite Grayson's neck, and I intervened. Well, they'll work it out somehow.
Now I will read for a while more. I'm reading part 5, which I think is a long one, and I hope I can find a nice stopping point so that I don't read all night. It's a warm, clear evening in the field.
August 21 I made it into bed by 11:30 last night. I didn't use the heating pad, and I was much more comfortable, but I was stiff this morning. Sleeping on my right side is still a problem. I got up around 9:00, I think, and since Grayson didn't want to sit on my lap, I knitted. Things are going better with the knitting now, and I am finally got back to where I was when I realized there were holes that shouldn't be there. It looks better now. I did my exercises, and Grayson came and sat on the bed with me.
I didn't do much but my surfing for most of the day, but before dinner I finally got the trash bagged up and out of the kitchen. There was more than the orange bag in the breezeway could hold, so tomorrow I will try to get the rest of the stuff together and to the compactor. I really don't want a garage full of orange bags again.
The weather was quite nice. It was partly cloudy all day. The temperature got up to 78º briefly, and it was in the mid 70s for most of the afternoon. There was some north wind, too, with gusts up to 20 mph or so. It's cooling off a bit now, but it isn't supposed to get cold. And it's not supposed to be quite as warm tomorrow as they were predicting a couple of days ago. Good. This weather is lovely. It doesn't need to get any warmer.
i didn't see much of either cat today. I was walking through the great room when I happened to look at the scratching post that is by the front windows - and there is cat poop all around it! Oh, no! I have to clean it up, but my back is still not up to it. Then I have to check the trays in the basement. They may need changing, or at least cleaning out. I had hoped not to have elimination problems with my cats. I don't think it's Grayson, because this didn't happen until Louie. Oh, no.
Otherwise, there isn't much to report. I am still stiff, but it's slowly getting better. Now my back isn't any sorer than my knees, which is a step forward, and I am having a little easier time standing up from seats. While the talking was going on, I knitted a bit, and I looked around a bit, and I've misplaced all my #7 needles. Well, it's actually not surprising, given the mess in here.
Now it's a warmish, partly cloudy evening in the field, and I will read a bit before I get the dishwasher ready and take my bath.
August 20 Well, it was way late when I finally stopped reading and went to bed. I started reading Trine part 3 and forgot about the time. I finally made it out of bed around 10:45 maybe - I forget. I was awake around 8:30 and that just wasn't enough sleep. When I went back to bed, Grayson came and cuddled up behind my knees and went to sleep. When I woke up again, I petted him a little and he purred, then he went into the bathroom to wait for me, and we had a nice long love-in. I don't know how long he might have stayed, but I think I rubbed his head for about 20 minutes. What a lover-cat!
After he got off my lap, I got the edging straightened around and finished the third repeat all over again with no holes, so now I can move forward. All this redoing has gotten me really familiar with the pattern, and that means I should be able to knit a little faster. I'm using a pair of nickel-plated double points, which are very slippery, and that doesn't help much, but I don't have any wooden needles that have sharp enough points. The wooden needles have spoiled me; I used to prefer metal needles. Well, there's a use for all of them. I use the metal ones for socks, especially after one end of a wooden circular got broken in my bag.
That was about all I did, because I was so late getting to the studio. I didn't finish my surfing until after the talking started.
There was church tonight, and we didn't have very many people, but it was a good service. I will miss these Monday nights.
The weather was coolish again. The temperature was around 69º all afternoon and there was a north wind in the 15-20 mph range. It was mostly cloudy in the morning, but it cleared up quite a bit in the afternoon, although there were still clouds.
I didn't see much of Louie today. I guess he was in the basement again. He was upstairs when I got home, and I left him lying in front of the basement door. I don't know why. Grayson spent the afternoon in his favorite spot, of course, although when I got home, it was so hot in here, I opened the porch window and he went out.
Now I will read for a while again - hopefully not quite as long - and try to get to bed a little earlier tonight. It's a partly cloudy, coolish evening in the field.
August 19 I made it into bed shortly after 10:00, because I picked up the knitting and started ripping, and it got tangled up. The yarn is alpaca and it's a bit fuzzy, and the fuzz gets matted sometimes. I think I'm back to the place where the holes are, but now I have to figure out where I am in the pattern. That's for tomorrow.
Again I got behind some slow drivers going south, but I was only a few minutes later than usual getting to church. It was a bit worse coming back, because I ran across a whole bunch of people going Art In the Park. Church let out early, but I had to get gas and mail a letter. If I'd been able to go straight home it might have been better. When I came through town, it looked like there were already a lot of people here. I went straight home. Not only was I rather rocky today, if I had stopped, I might easily have bought something I don't have money for.
The weather was cool and mostly cloudy. The temperature did get up to 64º but that was all. There was a little breeze from the north. It's supposed to be a little warmer this week.
Several things happened on the cat front today. While I was getting dressed, Grayson and Louie got into a wrestling match on the porch, with Grayson on the bottom. I don't like to see that. Louie is bigger than Grayson, and Grayson is such a lover cat I don't think he likes to fight. He did get a couple of good love-ins today, but then, so did Louie. Louie jumped up on my lap once this afternoon and he finally jumped up on the counter under the east windows and checked out what's on the desk very thoroughly. So he's finally beginning to relax and explore a bit, but mostly after dark. When he does it during the day, I'll know he's at home here. He did spend afternoon siesta time in the navy blue chair, and it was good to see him upstairs. He's coming along.
I spent the afternoon reading. I finished Erlon and I've started Trine, which is the series I've been working on since the first of the year. I read the prolog (part 0) and I'm now on part 2. I rewrote parts 1 and 2, and every so often I read a passage and think, "I wrote that?" It's pretty good stuff.
Now It's late on a cool, apparently clear night in the field.
August 18 Well, my back is still sore, but slowly I think it's getting better. I had a gout attack in my fingers last night, but that's over, too.
It was a bit after midnight that I finally got to bed, I think, but I didn't sleep all that well. I was creaky and sore all over, and I can't blame it on the humidity, so I don't know what the problem was. I was up around 8:30 and that just didn't seem like enough sleep, so I went back to bed and didn't get up until around 10:00.
Grayson came into the bathroom and I lifted him onto my lap - why is it that even though they want petting, cats won't jump on you? We had a good love-in, and I discovered, finally, that he just loves to have his head rubbed, even more than having his chin rubbed. So I guess we're friends again.
Then I knitted two more repeats on the scarf edging, but I'm going to have to rip out about three, because I messed up the join and not only did it leave holes, it won't come out right if I don't. Geez. Well, that's for Monday. I guess I'm picky, but if I do one of these things, I want to do it right.
The weather started out cloudy, and there may even have been a few drops of rain, although it wasn't enough to register at the NWS station. After that, it started to clear up, and the afternoon was lovely, clear and sunny. The temperature was between 60º and 64º all day and there was hardly any wind. Nice. In the middle of the afternoon, both Grayson and Louie asked to go out, so I opened the window to the porch.
Things were quiet on the cat front today. I didn't see a lot of Louie. Grayson slept in the studio all the time I was here, as usual. Every day they get a little more comfortable with each other, and I think maybe Louie is getting a little more comfortable living here, but it will take time.
I got the towels out of the dryer and washed the jeans and other stuff, including what I messed this morning. They are all in the dryer now. Otherwise, nothing. I really need to do something about the kitchen counters, but standing didn't feel very good today, so I didn't.
Now it's a nearly clear, cool evening in the field, and I will be trying to get to bed relatively early tonight so I can get up early tomorrow and go to church.
August 17 Today was a holding day. I slept for about three hours on my right side, and I was creaky all day long, but at least I can function again, and bend over and things like that, but standing was hard.
I read for far too long last night and it was after 1:00 when I got to bed. It was nice - it was cool enough that i could cover up, and the lake was singing. It was soprano, so it wasn't that much riled up, but it was nice to hear the lake again. It was also blowing, and every so often a gust would bang on the house.
I got up around 9:30, and I managed to get two repeats of the border knitted. but toward the end, I was having a hard time concentrating. I hope I can do it quicker as I get more used to the pattern.
That was about all I did, although I did wash up the towels that I've had soaking for a number of days. So I had to unload the dryer, although I didn't fold any clothes. I wanted to do that because I had another accident this morning and I now have four pairs of jeans that need to be washed, not to mention underpants and some socks. That will be tomorrow. I went to the post office, where there was less junk than I thought there would be, and to the store for eggs. People around here are so nice when they see you struggling with steps or carrying!
The weather was cool but beautiful. The temperature finally did get up to 66º for a couple of hours, but it was in the lower 60s for most of the day. The wind peaked yesterday with 44 mph gusts, but the highest sustained winds, 34 mph, came at around 1:00 this morning. Since it was all from the north, I only felt and heard the gusts. It cleared up during the night, and at least once when I was up, I saw stars. It was beautifully clear all day. Not only was the lake acting up, the harbor had whitecaps on it for most of the day. The wind has finally dropped down below 10 mph, but it was strong all day long. Love it. One side effect I noticed is that there were hardly any ships out on the lake. There were a bunch anchored or docked In the St. Mary's River above the Soo Locks. I don't blame them. I didn't check, but with 34-44 mph winds here, I'm sure it was worse out in the middle of the lake. Ever since the Edmond Fitzgerald debacle, lakers have been very cautious about storms.
We seem to usually have a blow like this in the middle of August, just to remind us that autumn is on its way, even though there may be some more hot weather.
The cats were more subdued today, and I don't have much to report on that front. It's clear that Grayson and Louie are still working out their relationship, which isn't surprising at all. I expect it will take some time. Grayson has spent less time with me, although he still sleeps with me during the day. Last night when I started up to the north end, Louie was on the couch, so he can get up on things, he just doesn't. I don't know where Grayson spent the night, but it wasn't in the bedroom. He is now lying on his back under the east windows, but he's wiggling around a bit, so he's not deeply asleep.
By the way, someone asked about pictures of Louie. That will have to wait until he spends more daylight hours upstairs and I am over my back problem, so you'll just have to be patient. He's a nice looking cat, and he has very pretty light green eyes.
I finished reading Osara just now, and I've started on Erlon, which is the fantasy. I think it's in pretty good shape, except for a detail or two, but I want to reread it again.
Now it's a cool, clear night in the field and the storm is over.
August 16 Well, I think I'm getting over it. I still hurt, but not as much, and sitting down and getting up are easier and not as painful. It's slow, but it's coming. Like I've said, it takes a week or so.
I got to bed around 11:00 last night, I think, and I slept well. I even slept on my right side for a while without any bad consequences. I am still sleeping so hard that I wake up having to pee really bad, but that's all right. I was glad I wore my undies, though.
I got up about 9:15. Grayson and Louie had been rather rambunctious around 7:00, so they were off sleeping when I got up, so I knitted. Well, sort of. I had done almost another repeat of the border when I realized I was attaching it to the body wrong, so I ripped out the whole thing and started over. I got two repeats done, so I ended up where I was when I started this morning. I'm much happier with the results, though. I am beginning to get used to the pattern. I'll never memorize it, even though i have around 100 repeats to go, but I think I know where all the gotchas are now, so it should go faster.
I was able to make a real breakfast today, and I was able to fill the dry food bowls. I still haven't done anything about the trash on the counters, but that will just have to wait until I can stand for a longer period. I did a full set of exercises this morning, and I think that helped, too.
The weather was quite autumnal. It rained from about 2:00 until 7:00 this morning, then the wind picked up. In the middle of the afternoon, we had some sunshine, with lovely puffy clouds scudding across the sky. The wind wasn't as strong as they said it might be until just now, when, between 7:00 and 8:00, we had sustained winds of 31 mph and gusts up to 43 mph from the north. We had a short shower a while ago that didn't register at the NWS station - or maybe it didn't rain there. The temperature was between 66º and 70º all afternoon, but it has now dropped to 63º, on its way down. There were nice whitecaps on the harbor all day, and it was mostly cloudy. It seems to me that we usually have some kind of blow in the middle of August, and then it may get hot again.
Grayson and Louie were quite rambunctious early this morning and again while I was getting dressed, but I'm a little disturbed that it seems that it's always Louie chasing Grayson. I don't like that. Grayson should chase Louie, too. And I think there is a problem with Louie's hind legs. I mentioned that he doesn't jump up on anything, although he can get out onto the porch through the window, because there are boxes there to serve as a step. This evening, he came and he really wanted to get up on the desk to look out the east window, which was open, but he couldn't. There is a pile of magazines there, but it's not stable enough for him to use. It might be because he's fat, but I doubt that's the whole problem. I will have to watch him. He does seem to be able to run all right. Grayson spent most of the day sleeping under the south windows, although when I get up to do something, he has to get up, too. He isn't an acrobat, but he can jump pretty well.
So that was my day. I got a new book, by Geoff Nunberg, the linguist who is one of my favorite authors. This one is called The Ascent of the A-word (the A-word being asshole). I'm anxious to read it. He is erudite and funny at the same time. and I think that word grew up with me. Just from the jacket blurb, I think he applies it to some of the same people I do. It's not a long book, so it will be a fun read.
However, tonight I think I will just read my story some more, take my bath and get to bed early. It's a cool, cloudy, very windy night in the field.
August 15 And I still hurt. I thought it was going to be better today, but not much. Sigh.
I didn't get to bed until 1:30 or so this morning. Part of it was that I'm moving so slowly, but part of it was that I spent a lot of time staring at the floor again. I accidentally spent several hours on my right side, which may be part of the problem today. I'll try to do better tonight. I got up around 9:30.
Grayson was nowhere to be seen, so I knitted, and in 2½ hours or so, I got exactly 24 rows done. The first repeat was horrible, but by the time I was through with it, I had figured out how it goes together - since the stitch count is variable, from 16 to 23 stitches, it isn't obvious from the chart - and the second repeat went faster, but since I was figuring out how to go around a corner, it was still slow. After the first repeat, I realized that the model didn't use the border I'm doing, it used an alternate (also in the pattern) that is much easier. I guess I'm a glutton for punishment; I want to use the original border, even though I don't like it very well. It's wider than the alternate, and I want the scarf to be as big as possible.
One problem I have is that sitting in the bathroom for that length of time is not good for my back in the best of circumstances. I was really sore when I got up, so I did some exercises, at least some of the back and leg ones. I thought that helped, but it didn't very much.
I was late getting to the studio and besides my surfing, I didn't do much at all. I read for a while and while the talking was on, I knitted on the Faroese shawl, which, despite the number of stitches, is much, much easier. It will be another long project.
The weather was too nice to be inside, although I didn't go out. The temperature got up to 76º, with nearly clear skies and only light winds from the southwest. It was lovely. Since all that is supposed to change overnight, I didn't want to reopen the great room windows, so it got quite warm in there. Now there are a few clouds, which often happens around sunset, and it's supposed to cloud up, cool off and maybe rain tomorrow.
I don't know where Grayson was this morning. He didn't show up until I started washing my face. I suspect he may have been someplace with Louie. Louie came around and talked a bit - he's very talkative, so now I have two talkers - and he and Grayson were around for a while this morning. Then Louie went away and Grayson went to sleep on the desk until the talking started. Evidently, that bothered him. Louie has found the shallow cardboard tray I bought a couple of years ago for Buster and Jasmine that didn't go over very well. It's a great place to sleep, and he seems to like it. He has been telling me he really wants some tastier dry food to eat, but with my back, I'm not sure how I can fill the dishes. I must try tomorrow. I am quite pleased by how well Louie is coming along. He's still jittery, but then, even Grayson was like that for a while.
I am not going to see the doctor tomorrow. They called and canceled my appointment and rescheduled it for a week from Friday. That won't be a problem for the gout, and I certainly hope my back is better by then! If it's not, believe me, he's going to hear about it. He may anyway. However, at least I can stay home and baby my back for another day, and I won't have to get gas until Sunday.
Now it's a lovely, warm, late summer evening in the field and I am going to read a bit before I totter up to the north end and crash.
August 14 Well, I still hurt, but it might be getting a little better.
I didn't get to bed until around 11:30 last night. I read for a while and I am moving very slowly. I was careful about how I slept, particularly that I didn't sleep for too long on my right side, and that seems to have helped. However, I leaked all over the floor again, so I will have to wear panties again tonight. What a pain. However, I seem to be very tired - probably from the pain - and I don't wake up until i really have to pee, so probably that's part of the problem. Or I hope so.
i didn't get up until around 9:30 this morning. I grafted the two pieces of the scarf together, and then I decided to try to start the border. Bad decision. I ended up having to rip out everything I did (only about 4 rows) and start over. I don't know why it's so difficult, since it's only about 18 or 20 (variable) stitches wide, but I couldn't keep it right. I don't think it was the pattern, since the chart seems to be all right. So we'll see tomorrow. I finally got two rows done and put it away.
Obviously, I didn't do anything. I have to wash dishes tonight, so I will have to load the dishwasher, which will be hard, but I'm out of cat dishes. I also have to take a bath. So I will be exhausted by the time I get to bed.
The weather was nice again. It was sort of clear overnight, or at least I could see some stars, including Vega setting in the northwest around 4:00. Oh, my, is that a sign summer is drawing to a close! Today, it was clear this morning and partly cloudy this afternoon. The high temperature was 70º, which is just fine with me. There was only a light wind from the north and the humidity was rather low. Nice. I guess it's going to be warmer tomorrow, then it's going to get cool. Well, that's August. It could go up to 90º, too. before the end of the month, although typically, when I was a kid, it was horrible on my birthday and really nice on my mother's.
Louie came into the studio while I was reading last night and twined around my feet and the chair and got petted a lot. He loves to have his neck scratched. And he really, really needs to be brushed. Every time I stroked his back, white fur went in all directions. In that way, he reminds me of DC, who seemed to walk around in a cloud of fur all the time. After I went to bed, the two of them played for a while, and they were playing this morning again, so Louie is getting acclimated. Of course, some of the playing is waving claws at each other, but they were playing hide and seek in the cat door to the basement while I was in the powder room, and it was cute to watch them. Louie is shy with me, but he isn't going to take anything from Grayson. While I was trying to knit this morning, Grayson came and went to sleep on the rug, which I had under my feet to mop up some of the pee. And he didn't even try to play with my feet, which he sometimes will.
I was so late getting to the studio this morning that the talking was starting before I was through, so that means I didn't do anything much else. Not that I could have.
Now I think I will read a bit more and then do my chores before I go to bed. It's a partly cloudy, warmish, calm evening in the field.
August 13 Today would have been my mothers 95th birthday. It's still hard to believe she's been gone for 19 years.
I still hurt. Tonight I am going to try not to lie on my right side and see if that helps at all. It will be hard, because I can't lie on the same side all night, but I'll have to hope I can sleep at least partly on my back. I got to bed around 10:30, and I was pretty good until I turned over onto my right side. Then the pain started again.
I got up around 8:30, I think, and since my massage had been rescheduled for noon, I finished the end of the scarf. Now all I have to do is graft the two pieces together and I can start the border. I knitted for quite a while, and by the time I got up to get dressed, my back was really bad.
So I went off to my massage, and Johanna really worked on me. I felt much better when I left her, but by then I just sat for the rest of the afternoon and I hurt again.
The doctor's office called and my uric acid levels are still very high, but I can't take any more of the med that I'm on, so I am going to see him on Thursday to talk about what I might do. I guess the answer is diet, and I really don't want to do that. If my back is still bad, I will talk to him about that, too.
Church was nice, and we had a nice group. I was the last one in, because I am moving so slow, but that was all right.
The weather was lovely, even though it was cloudy overnight. The temperature went up to 72º briefly, and there was a light breeze. It was mostly clear for most of the day. There were clouds in the northwest at sunset, and I think it was a pretty spectacular one. I just caught a glimpse of it on my way home.
There isn't much to report on the cat front. Louie is still spending most of the day in the basement, although he comes out at night. Grayson is trying to be patient with him.
So that is all I have to report, and I'm tired. Massages always do that to me, and Johanna really worked me over. So I will go and crash and hope things are better tomorrow. It's a warmish, calm, partly cloudy evening in the field.
August 12 I still hurt, but maybe not quite as much as yesterday. I made it into bed around 10:00, and I slept on the heating pad all night. I was up about every two hours to pee, and one side effect of the pain in my back seems to be that I can't hold my water at all. I guess tonight I'll have to wear undies, which I hate, but the alternative is messy. I actually woke up around 6:30, so I only dozed until the alarm went off.
I made it to church, and I was glad I went. However, it was obvious after the first time I had to stand up that I wouldn't be doing that again, so I had to sit through everything. I'm sure God understands. I did manage to go to communion, but while I was drinking my wine, I nearly overbalanced backward. Geez!
It was good to get home, although I ran into a lot of slow drivers in both directions. A lot of them while I was coming home were going to the Eagle Harbor Art Fair, but I got behind a real turkey on the covered road.
I spent the afternoon reading. There are things I need to do, but I just couldn't. I am still having a hard time getting out of chairs and off the toilet, so mostly I just sat.
It was a nice day. It was cool this morning - under 60º when I got up - but between 7:00 and 9:00 the temperature went up to 68º and it stayed right around there - plus or minus a couple of degrees - all afternoon. There was hardly any wind. It has clouded up a bit, but there was still a lot of sunshine until lately. Of course it will be cloudy tonight, since the Perseid meteors should peak.
I am not sure what is going on between Grayson and Louie. There was a lot of scuffling around in the hallway and on the porch after I went to bed. Louie did come to me with his tail high late this afternoon and let me pat his head just a little bit, but now he has gone off again. He won't eat when I'm in the kitchen. I think he's reverting to how he must have been when he was first captured. I know he wants to trust me but he just can't yet. Grayson got petted - while I was trying to get ready for church - and he has spent the afternoon asleep on the desk. It's another case where I will just have to have patience with them. Grayson wasn't like that at all, but he's the unusual one. Most cats are more timid. I keep remembering DC. It will work out, but it will take a while.
I have to note that my threats to the spammers seem to have worked. While I still get spam, I haven't gotten any from the source that was driving me crazy since I threatened to report them to the FCC. Now it's mostly the Nigerians, like it always used to be. If I asked, PastyNet would set me up with Google's spam filters, but in a way, I prefer to see all this junk. At least I've prevented between 40 and 80 messages from going out every day.
The other thing I have to note is that the days are getting shorter at about 3 minutes a day. We are down to 14h 23m of daylight. Sigh. I really love the long hours of daylight in the early part of the summer. On the other hand, September is about my favorite month, so that will be nice. Then when I get back from Detroit, it will be nearly winter.
So that was my day. I think I will read a bit more and then go and sleep on the heating pad again. I have a massage scheduled for tomorrow, and that will help, too. I don't know of anything that annoys me more than these back spasms, especially when I have no clue how it happened. If I knew, I could not do that again. It may have had something to do with sleeping so long on that side (which I can't do anything about), but I don't think so. Now i will just have to be patient until it goes away.
It's a mostly cloudy, warmish night in the field.
August 11 Oh, I hurt. I made it into bed by 10:30 last night, and I slept on the heating pad until about 2:30, when I woke up drenched in sweat, so I turned it off. Probably that was a mistake, because I've been having a terrible time today. I'm even having trouble getting out of a chair, and bending over to feed the cats is excruciating. So I guess I will try the heating pad again tonight and hope for the best. Every time I was up last night, Grayson was singing to Louie.
I got up around 8:30 and Grayson got his loving, then I knitted ten rows, and I only have about eight left. Of course, I won't have time to do them until Monday. The rows I just finished are really easy, and the next ones aren't too much harder, so they should go relatively fast. Then I have to do the edging, and I'm beginning to think about how to do that.
I didn't do anything today. I couldn't. And there are some things I really need to do, but standing hurts and getting into and out of chairs hurts, so I mostly sat and read.
I was in the bathroom this morning when all of a sudden two fire trucks came by, the first one with its siren going. I wondered who had the fire. Then in the middle of the afternoon, Ron called and told me the fire was at his house. Oh, dear. Evidently his well pump caught fire, and for various reasons it scorched a good part of his kitchen before they got it under control. Since there was no way to get water out of his well, the pumper truck had to go back to Lake Lily to fill up before they got everything taken care of. So he and Trevor are staying at Jean's (she's a relative and right next door besides) and all we can hope is that the damage can be repaired as soon as possible. Fortunately, Ron and Trevor are fine and the entire house wasn't consumed, but it's scary. The fire department did respond rather quickly, which is nice to know.
The weather was just lovely. When I was up around 12:30, the sky was as clear as I've seen it this summer. I could even see the star that attaches the bowl of the Big Dipper to the handle, by averted vision, and Arcturus was so bright in the west1 By the time I got up again, the little moon had risen and that sort of washed everything out. We have just hit the high temperature for the day - 68º - but for most of the afternoon it was about 65º. There was a light breeze from the east, which has now shifted north. There wasn't a cloud in the sky all day. Beautiful!
Well, Grayson and Louie are still working on their dynamic, and Louie is still sort of afraid of me, but he's spending more daylight time upstairs. I got to pat the top of Louie's head today - and I pulled out a little tuft of fur, so Grayson has used his claws. I'm sure it will take time for them to work it out. Louie will come toward me when I call him, but then he thinks better of it and runs away, and if he has to pass me, like in the kitchen or the hallway, he looks up at me like I might hit him. He did that especially this morning when I had a frying pan in my hand. I'm sure his old owner was good to him, but heaven knows what happened to him before he was adopted, and cats never forget the bad things. Well. he's only been here five days, so I think he's doing well. When I went into the closet to get dressed this morning, he was out on the porch and he seemed very happy about it.
By the way, his eyes are pale green, very pretty in his face, which is mostly white, with butterscotch ears. He is a nice looking cat, but he sure is fat.
So that was my really nothing day, and I think I will read a bit more, while I finish my JD, and try to get to bed early. I will take a bath, with the idea of going to church tomorrow, but we'll see how that goes. There is communion tomorrow, so I really want to go.
Now it's a clear, lovely evening in the field.
August 10 I made it into bed around 11:00, and oh, my did I sleep! I was up around 2:30, and the next time I woke up was after 7:00. Wow, almost five hours! I went back to sleep and didn't get up until about 10:00. Whew! Then why do I feel so tired? Well, there are reasons...
I
knitted eight rows on the scarf, and I'm beyond the hardest part. One reason
it's so hard is that it's mostly yarn-overs, and there isn't much of a point of
reference, so I ended up having to count every 20 rows after I knitted them. I
also had to stop in the middle because Grayson came in and while I had to lift
him onto my lap, we had a good love-in. So it was 1:00 before I got to the
studio. Wow! I had a book that needed to be returned (I wanted it so badly that I ordered it twice), and I had a couple of bills to pay online. In the middle of all that, I had one of the worst accidents I've had in a long time and had to change everything from the waist down, but I did make it to the post office before it closed. I also went around to the fish house and got a lovely piece of whitefish, which I've just finished eating. Yum!
I also peed my pants late in the afternoon. The reason for that is that when I got up this morning, or at least when I finished knitting, that muscle in my right back had gone into spasms again and getting up and walking are extremely difficult, so I waited too long to pee. Sigh. Two pairs of pants and jeans in one day. And I can't wash them because the washer is full of towels.
At least it's cool enough that I can use the heating pad tonight, and that will help.
It was a beautiful day, almost clear and sunny, but not warm. The high temperature so far today is 65º. There was a little wind, more this morning, all from the east. I had to open the window in the studio because it got so warm in here, but since it's blowing cold air on my left arm (I don't think it's the cause of my back problem, but who knows?) I may have to close it again. There were a few clouds but not many, and it was the kind of weather I like.
Louie came up from the basement about the time I went down the hallway last night, but when he saw me, he ducked down there again. Grayson is acting more normally, but at intervals he sings to Louie. I know Louie was upstairs during the night, because somebody ate a whole lot of cat food, both canned and dry. There's one variety neither of them like very well, so I'm leaving the other bowls empty so they will eat it. I know it will take Louie quite a while to settle down and get used to us, but I'm sure he will. After all, not only is he in a strange place with another cat, he is still mourning the loss of his dad. He'll come around, I'm sure. Poor Louie.
Now I am going to read for a while and try to get to bed earlier tonight - with the heating pad. It's a lovely clear evening in the field.
August 9 It turned into a very late night last night. I was reading, and I updated my medical file while I was thinking about it, when all of a sudden I started getting messages saying that there were too many grammar and spelling errors (in the story) for them to be displayed - Word managed to lose all the stuff I spent so much time a year or so ago getting rid of! Geez! So I started rechecking, but with almost 400,000 words, that's a long process. I didn't finish it until just now.
Anyway, sometime after it got dark, while I was busily clicking "Ignore" or "Ignore All", suddenly I felt soft paws on my leg, and there was Louie. I petted him for a long time, but he wouldn't get on my lap. However, he did come out from under the sewing machine, so I was glad about that. I think he's going to be a very sweet kitty.
I didn't get to bed until around 1:00. I slept well, but I didn't want to get up when I did - around 10:30, maybe? I don't remember. Grayson was going to come into the bathroom with me, but when I went across the hallway, there was Louie, craning his neck around the corner and looking at me down the hallway, so Grayson had to go to him. I think Grayson wants to be friends, but he's a bit aggressive, and Louie is a bit timid. I think Louie ducked down the basement, and from what Grayson was telling me, he spent the day there. Oh, dear. Another cat in the basement. However, I keep reminding myself that DC spent the first 5 weeks or so that I had him in the basement and I never saw him at all. If the food dishes hadn't gotten cleaned up, I never would have known he was there. Eventually he came upstairs and was fine, and Louie will be, too.
I only knitted six rows. The next ten or so rows are the hardest in the whole project, and it's slow going. Even with markers every 20 stitches, I still lose my place and have to start counting from the last marker. The stitches from 61 to about 90 are the hardest, because I don't have them specifically charted, so I can't rely on the chart to tell me where I am. The center of these diamonds (actually, the way they're knitted, they call them shells) is a series of interlocking daisies, and it's very hard to keep track of where I am. Well, it won't be that many rows.
Anyway, I was so late that I didn't do much of my surfing before I gathered up my stuff and went off toward town. I stopped at the bank and deposited my big bill, and I got to the hospital a little after 2:00. I will have to remember that Thursday afternoon is rather quiet there. I didn't have to wait at all to get my blood drawn. Faye wasn't there, which was a disappointment, but she's entitled to her time off.
Then I was off to Pat's, where I was really rather modest, considering. I needed OJ, and I wanted some more deli salads. They had summer cole slaw today, so I got a big container of it. I got a chicken, but then I discovered that they had a sort of special on small packages of big shrimp, so I had deli salads when I got home and jumbo shrimp for dinner. Oh, how I love shrimp! Always have, always will. If it wasn't for the JD, I would have been surprisingly modest. But then, I didn't need any more frozen dinners or rice.
I got home around 4;30, I think, and I unloaded the car and packed away the stuff. The fridge is bulging again, but there is a lot of stuff in there that needs to go out, so maybe I can get it out of there and take another bag to the compactor tomorrow. I really hope to be able to keep up with the trash this year. I think the secret is that I will just have to go more often.
The weather was cool. It was only around 63º all the time I was out, and it never got over 66º here. It was threatening rain, and I did get sprinkled on, so I wore my slicker. When I got home, the wind had settled down from the east, and it was cold. It never ceases to amaze me how warm 65º feels when we first get it in the spring and how cold it feels by this time of year. So before I ate dinner, I closed all the east windows. Sigh. I hate to do that, but neither do I want to try to heat the great outdoors. I still have a problem, since the top pane of the studio window I had open has dropped down enough that I can't lock it. I need to get the broom in here to push the top pane back up where it belongs, since I can't reach it. It was cloudy all day. I don't think it rained here, but it did further down the peninsula.
I didn't see much of Grayson today. I think he was looking for Louie. He did come when I got home and got petted. He wants to be friends with Louie, I'm sure, but Louie has been an only cat for at least four years, so it will take him a while to adjust. He is a nice cat. We had a good love-in last night, even though he wouldn't get on my lap. I figured he'd come out after dark, and I was right. I suppose he will tonight, too, but I don't think I'm going to be up that long. I expect to take my bath and go to bed early.
One thing I did this morning was to take all the towels out of the bathroom and set them to soak in Oxy-Clean. If I'd known how brown my water was going to be, I would have gotten ecru towels instead of white. However, I don't change the towels very often, and I've noticed lately that they were getting very yellow in the centers where they get wet. Soaking them for several days does bleach them out, and it was time to do that. I just let them sit for a long time. Oxy-Clean has these little packages of bleach that make it really easy to soak.
So that was my day. After the talking was over, I finished the grammar and spelling check of Osara, and now I'm back to reading again. I think I complained that I never could get some of the longer stories to report no errors, but it turns out I was doing it wrong. Now I know how to get rid of the red x at the bottom of the page, so I'll be doing that. I have been toying with the idea of splitting Osara into three or four pieces, but I'm afraid they won't split logically. There are some reasonable splits, but they aren't at places that will work very well. That's the problem with the way I write - I just write and write and write, and when I go back to make chapters or volumes, it doesn't work very well. For one thing, I don't know exactly what a "chapter" should be.
Now it's a cloudy, cool and rather breezy evening in the field and I'll be off to the north end shortly.
August 8 I didn't get to bed until a little after 11:00 again, but I slept very well. It was 4:00 before I woke up. I was awake around 8:00, too, but I decided that was too early. I might as well have gotten up, since I didn't really sleep after that, and I finally got up a little before 9:30.
I tried to knit, but I ended up ripping out the last two rows I did yesterday, before I realized that what had actually happened was that I tried to skip a row, so I only got two new rows done. Well, I'm not on a schedule. It would have been nice to finish this end this week, but it won't matter.
Grayson didn't get up with me, and in fact, I had finished my breakfast before he appeared. When I went down the hall to the kitchen, he was curled up in the window seat with his paw over his eyes.
Louie was still under the sewing machine and he stayed there all day, although a couple of times just a while ago, he tried to come out. Both times, Grayson appeared and spooked him. They hissed at each other, but not angry, about-to-attack hisses. Louie has a very pretty face. His ears are butterscotch, but his muzzle is white and his eyes are green. Unlike Grayson, who is slightly cross-eyed, Louie is slightly wall-eyed. When he looks at me from an angle, it looks really weird. Grayson is really interested in him, and Louie is beginning to think he wants to come out of hiding during the day, so we're making progress. For his health's sake, I hope he came out last night and found the water, the food and the litter. Oh, yes, and a couple of times when we met eye-to-eye, Louie blinked at me, which is a good sign he thinks I might be all right. I expect it will take some time for things to settle down around here.
The weather was - eh. The temperature went down to 54º overnight, but as soon as the sun got really up, it jumped to 64º and it varied between 64º and 68º all afternoon. There wasn't any wind. It was mostly cloudy all day, although all the rain was south of us.
I just discovered that the camera hung up around 8:00 this morning, so there is no record of the changes in clouds all day. Oh, well. I need to check the connections between the camera and the computer.
I actually did something today. I was running out of canned cat food in the house, so I got out into the breezeway. While I was there, I rearranged the bags of canned goods that are out there and swept up a lot of the dead flies that were on the windows. I unpacked all the cat food and piled up the cases neatly under the windows. When I went through the bags, I found some salad dressing I didn't remember I had, which is good, as well as some other stuff. I had to throw away a small can of tomatoes, because there was a dark stain on the label and in the corner of the bag. I don't know if the can leaked or there was another cause for the stains, but I wasn't going to take any chances. Now things look much better out in the breezeway. And I put the cans in the pantry right away. I really need some more shelving in the breezeway, for the overflow from the pantry, but I'm not sure whether I can find what I need. The window sills are only a couple of feet off the floor out there.
Oh, yes, and I washed dishes last night, and I partly unloaded the dishwasher this morning.
I called the doctor to ask about testing my uric acid levels, and they called back this afternoon. So either tomorrow or Friday, I have to go down to Laurium and get that done. Actually, it's probably a good thing. I still have that big bill to deposit and maybe I can shop while I'm there and not have to do it on Sunday. So maybe I can make a trip down tomorrow and get all that done. I don't need a lot of food, but I'm running out of OJ again and I've been eating enough blueberry pancakes that I need pancake mix and syrup, so it's time to shop again.
I also read for a while this afternoon and I finished the third row of the body of the Faroese shawl, so I can purl for a while. There are some confusing things about the instructions in this pattern, but basically, it's not very hard. I only have to remember when to do the decreases and when to put in the buttercups. I have a big piece of paper where I'm marking each row of each section as I complete it. The trick is to start with 541 stitches and end up with 51. It will be a while.
Now it's a cloudy, coolish evening in the field and it might possibly rain overnight.
August 7 It was 11:00 again when I got to bed. I slept well - with a really weird dream - but apparently not long enough, because I'm really tired now. I got up around 9:00. Grayson got a short loving, then I knitted ten more rows on the shawl. If I can keep up this pace, by Saturday, I should be able to graft the ends together. We'll see what happens.
Louie arrived around 12:30. The poor fellow was so scared that he cried the whole way from Mohawk and he peed in his carrier. Since he didn't want to come out of it, by the time I got him out, he was all wet. Grayson was really good. He looked in the carrier and meowed, and Louie meowed, and they met noses. When Louie got out and started to move toward Grayson, he hissed a bit, but not a lot. After wandering around in the studio for a while, Louie went under the sewing machine in the corner and curled up, and that's where he's been for the afternoon. Grayson has been acting normally, except that every so often he will go over and peer at Louie, but he hasn't tried to get close. Poor Louie. I hope tonight he will be brave enough to come out and start exploring.
He is a large cat, as I suspected, and he's fat. I guess he must weigh around 15 pounds, which is much too much. However, it will be very hard, if not impossible, to put him on a diet. I hope that romping around with Grayson will cause him to lose some pounds. But first he has to get used to the house.
I had to go out, because today was primary election day and I try to vote in all those things. It wasn't hard, except that one can't split one's ticket in the primary, so there were a couple of local people I couldn't vote for. There were three millages, two of which are renewals, and while I hate to vote for taxes, they are all needed. I got a couple of packages, too. sp I have something new to play with.
The weather was lovely and much cooler than yesterday. The temperature was between 66º and 69º all day. The wind was very light from the north. There were almost no clouds all day long, and it was lovely.
When I woke up this morning, Grayson was nestled in the pile of comforters at the end of the bed and he looked very comfortable. The queen sized bed is big enough for all of us. I hope Louie will sleep with me, too, eventually. Right now he is too traumatized to do anything but hide. I think Grayson is so used to other cats that he won't have much problem accepting Louie. I hope Louie can do the same.
I read and knitted for most of the afternoon, and I finished the dark brown band at the bottom of the Faroese shawl. Now I've started the body pattern, and with the next row I will start decreasing, so pretty soon I won't have nearly as many stitches, and that will be nice. I still have all kinds of markers in it, to mark off where the patterns change and where the repeats are. I think I've found a way to keep the vertical repeats straight, but we'll see. The pattern is rather confusing.
So that was my day, and the way my head feels, it's time to crash, after I take a bath. It's a clear, lovely evening in the field, and now there are three of us.
August 6 I made it into bed by 11;00 last night and I slept all right, with the usual wakeups. I got up around 9:00 and Grayson got his loving, then I knitted another ten rows. I'm about half done already. I had a little trouble with the first rows but the rest went all right.
I guess I didn't do anything much. I should run the dishwasher tonight, but we'll see.
I am going to get my new cat tomorrow afternoon. I'm still a little nervous about how he will get along with Grayson, but I guess it will work out. If they are both laid back cats, they ought to be able to work everything out.
The weather was nice but warm. it was beautifully clear this morning, but around 1:00 it started to clear up and it was windy. The temperature got up to 82º, but with the wind it was tolerable. Then around 8:30, while I was talking to Mary Ann, it got very dark and started to lightning and thunder. We didn't get much rain out if that, but I guess there may be more storm cells t come. I got dampish on my way home.
I don't have much to report about Grayson. He was his usual sweet self.
In fact, I don't have much to say at all, so this is going to be short. It's a rather stormy, warm night in the field.
August 5 I was a good girl and I got to bed around 9:45 last night, but it didn't do much good. I was wakeful and I was up any number of times. It was clear, or I thought it was, when I went to bed, but it soon clouded over and around 4;00 the wind began to blow and the temperature dropped. I got up when the alarm went off, and I think I have the clock set nearly right now. Grayson wanted to be loved, so we did that and then i ate and did my surfing.
I remembered that even though I got my license plate tab a couple of weeks ago, I never put it on the car, and I decided I'd better not take any more chances, so I got dressed and did that before I left. I was early leaving and it was just as well, because I got behind a guy who refused to go over 40 mph (if that) and refused to pull over. While it isn't good for my gas mileage, when I go into overdrive to pass something, the car makes a satisfactory roar - and it will go from 40 to 80 in a couple of seconds - so I think possibly he knew I wasn't pleased. I got behind another one at Ahmeek, where you can't pass, so I wasn't more than a couple of minutes earlier than usual when I got to church.
That was nice, but since there was no communion, it let out fairly early. There were a few slow guys on the way home, too, but not many and I made good time coming home.
I was sitting and reading when Sandi called and she came over and we had a nice, if long, conversation. She is here by herself right now, since Bill is teaching and the family that was supposed to come today didn't. So that was nice. I wish I could have had her stay for dinner, but I just don't have stuff like that in my house.
The weather started out cold. It was 59º when I got up this morning. I think that's the first time it's been under 60º in a long time. It took its good old time about warming up, but it eventually got to 71º briefly. The reason was the wind. It picked up after 3:00 am, from the northwest, and it blew hard all day long. Around 10:00 this morning, we had 41 mph gusts, and the gusts were in the upper 30s until around 5:00. The wind blew all the clouds away and it was a gloriously clear afternoon. The humidity went way down, too, so it was actually rather nice, although shorts and tank tops were not quite the garb of the day.
Grayson immediately came to investigate Sandi. I'm sure no person has ever been mean to him. He was around us all the time she was here, although he was mischievous for a while when he wanted attention. I think he wanted food, too. Sandi agreed that he is a really nice, really handsome cat. And she remarked on how soft his fur is. It really is - sort of like silk velvet.
I think I will be getting Louie in the next couple of days. I'm still not sure it's right, but the poor fellow has been alone in a house for several weeks, and in the pictures I saw of him, he looks so sad. I hope he will be happy here and he and Grayson will get along. He is a big cat, I think, and he has that loose skin under his belly that flops when he runs. He looks a bit pudgy, too, and I hope playing with Grayson will slim him down some. He is white with butterscotch spots, and a mostly butterscotch head and tail. Not my favorite color, but I feel so sorry for him, I'll just have to cope. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will work out.
Now it's getting late and I want to read a little more. I finished Voyages a little while ago and I'm going on to read Osara. That's the long one that originally was in the white binder. I like that one, too, but it's a long read, almost 400,000 words. I guess I'm long-winded, and when I get into a story it just keeps going on and on and on. I think I could split Osara into two pieces, and sometime I may do that, just to make it less cumbersome and so Word can admit I fixed all the "errors".
It's a nice, clear evening in the field and the wind has now dropped to almost nothing. It will be a good night to sleep.
August 4 I forget just when I got to bed last night, but it was after midnight. I slept well. I was up the first time around 4:30 and Grayson got his petting then. I was awake around 6:30 and we had a short shower - about 0.05" of rain - and I finally got up around 9:00. I could have slept longer except that I had to walk, so I got up. I knitted ten more rows on the scarf, with a little difficulty, but as I'd hoped, my sanity markers helped a whole lot and I didn't have to do very much ripping.
Today was washday, and the last loads are in the dryer now. I'm not sure if it's that I use fewer clothes in the summer or just that the winter clothes are more bulky, but it wasn't a big wash except for the underwear. I also got all the dirty dishes out of the sink and into the dishwasher.
The weather was unsettled. After our morning shower, we had just a dribble more rain between 4:00 and 5:00, although it was dark and dismal all afternoon. Now it's cleared up a bit in the west, and the wind, which had been calm, has picked up. The temperature got to 77º around 2:00, but then it dropped off to 71º and it has only recovered a bit. Strangely, 71º felt awfully cool. Part of the reason is that it is very humid. So it wasn't a very nice day, but I was otherwise engaged, so it didn't bother me.
Grayson got his petting early, then he went away and I think he slept until almost when I was ready to get dressed. He has been sleepy all day, from the weather, I think. He certainly has calmed down a lot.
While the wash was washing, I read. Evidently, from the number of typos, I have never read through part 5 of Voyages since I transcribed it. It never ceases to amaze me the errors Word doesn't catch, but fortunately, I seem to be a good proofreader even when I'm just reading. I'm sure it will take several more readings to get it cleaned up, but when I decide to do some more writing on this episode, I'll have to read the whole thing again anyway. So far, the entire thing is running around 500,000 words - enough for several books. I think it's pretty good writing, but I don't know if anyone else would ever be interested in it.
Yesterday, I identified several places where all the spam may have been coming from and I wrote all of them and warned them that if it didn't stop - permanently - I am going to report them to the FTC. I also had some conversation with a site that was not the source, but whose abuse address was quoted on the unsubscribe pages. They helped me out a lot, by identifying a site I didn't know about. And strangely enough (heh-heh) I did not get even one of those emails today. However, they almost stopped a week or so ago, too, so I will be most interested to see if this was a permanent fix. I got something like 60 or 70 of them yesterday, and I was about fed up. Now we'll see what happens next, but evidently those people don't want to be reported. I cannot understand why they would flood any address with that stuff. A lot of it was duplicates, and it looked almost like somebody was trying to harass me personally. I have my fingers crossed, but evidently the idea that I am savvy enough to report them is enough to turn it off, at least temporarily. If other people are getting bombarded with this stuff like I am, I can understand why the Internet is getting overloaded. So we'll see what happens next week.
So now it's time to toddle up to the north end. I need to fill the pill dispensers tonight and get to bed early so I can get up tomorrow. It's a cloudy, breezy, warm evening in the field.
August 3 Well, it will be a late night. I finished reading the last completed part of Voyages and I'm on to the part that's in progress.
I read for a while last night, too, and it was about 11:30 when I got to bed. I think I may finally have solved the hair problem with some new shampoo and conditioner, but we'll see how it works as I use it more. The ends of my hair don't feel quite so much like straw anymore and it may not be quite as frizzy either. My hair has changed texture drastically since the last time I lost all of it, and I'm not very happy about it. But then, I'm beginning, finally, to get less oily, and that makes quite a difference, too.
I got up around 9:00 and Grayson got a short pet and brush, then I knitted about ten rows. I'm finding it much easier this time, but the part I just finished was the easiest part of the border anyway. The next diamonds are a little harder and the last ones are really hard.
The task of the day was to fill out a form and take it to the post office, then take the two full bags of trash to the compactor. I did both. The bag in the breezeway had some nasty stuff in it that was stinking up the place. It was overfull, and even when I took out the last bag, it was so heavy I could hardly lift it. I had to ask Rich to help me get it into the compactor. So that is done. Now if I can just keep it up, I'll be good. It's so nice not to have half the garage full of trash bags! There is trash out there, but it needs to be put in a bag. I'll have to see to that.
It was nice not to have any bills in the mail. What was there was an envelope with no return address, no note, and a very large bill (money) in it. It came from Traverse City. While I appreciate the sender's desire to remain anonymous, I do wish he (or she) had told me his name. Heaven knows I wouldn't publish it. Anyway, I am very grateful. You are all so generous that it amazes me.
The weather wasn't too bad, although it was partly to mostly cloudy for most of the day. The temperature got up to 72º, and there was hardly any wind. It was rather humid, and since it got dark, the humidity has gone very high. I could take a lot of weather like this.
Grayson was very sweet today. This evening, he came and sat on my lap for a long time and got petted. I think he was happy that I didn't go out very much today.
Ron has given me a line on an orphaned cat, but I'm not sure what will come to it. His owner died and he needs to be placed somewhere. He's about five years old, which could be a problem. So we'll see what comes of that. I'm still thinking about Cosmo, the long-haired black kitten, but three male cats isn't a good combination. We'll see what happens.
Now it's late, and much as I want to read some more, I'd better not. It's a warmish, cloudy and humid night in the field.
August 2 I only read a little while last night, and I was in bed by 11;30. I slept very well, I must say. I got up around 9:30, I think. Grayson got brushed and petted, and then I knitted eight rows. There are a few problems with my sanity markers but I think in the long run they will help me keep things straight.
I did most of my surfing before I packed up and went off to the car place. It was the motor on the windshield wiper, and they replaced the arm, too, because they said it was very rusty. So it was another big bill, because the parts are expensive. Oh, well. Sigh. I got home around 4:30, I think.
Around 5;30, Debbie called and we had a short conversation - for us - but she wanted to say hi and apologize that I hadn't gotten my birthday present. She moved very abruptly around the first of July, and everything is packed away. I was glad to hear from her, and very glad to get her new address, because I have to send it to the mortgage company.
When we started talking, Grayson started getting into everything he could find, for some reason. I don't know what it is about talking on the phone. Buster used to come and sit on my lap, and i wish Grayson would do that. As it was, I almost threw him out and closed the door.
The weather was - eh. The high temperature for the day - 79º = was at midnight, and it dropped off all day long. Right now it's 64º and quite humid. There is a cold east wind coming in the open windows. Of course it was warmer in Calumet. There was a little sunshine between noon and 3:00, and then it got very cloudy. Now there are some rays of sunshine off in the northwest, but most of the sky is dull and gray. At least it wasn't as hot as it was yesterday.
Grayson was glad to see me come home, and when I went outside the front door to bring in my packages, which were heavy, he almost got out. I shrieked at him and put a package in his way and he ran off, but still. I'm going to have to ask the UPS guy to leave my packages by the breezeway door. I was reading a while ago and he came and sat on my lap and got petted, so I guess everything is all right. And he actually scratched on the scratching post, for the first time that I know. Both Buster and Jasmine liked to scratch on things that are horizontal, so that's mostly the kind of scratchers I have, but I do have the kitty condo and the old scratching post with the seat on top, as well as the little one Jasmine kept tipping over. I will have to look for a good tall one for Grayson. Now he is watching the parade out the east windows.
We are beginning to lose our long days. We have less than 15 hours of daylight now. The sun is rising around 6:30 and setting around 9:30. And we are losing time at about 2¾ minutes a day. It will get worse. I am trying to enjoy the late evenings as much as I can...well, at least that's my excuse.
So that was my expensive day. I can use a few months with no more humungous bills. Now i will read for a while more, and then I will try my new shampoo that came today. It's a cloudy, cool and breezy evening in the field.
August 1 My goodness, July is gone. I can hardly believe it. When I was a kid in school, I always felt like my birthday was the effective end of the summer, even though there was about four weeks left in vacation. It feels that way here, too, because usually the fall weather comes in with September.
Last night I read too long, then I had to take a bath, so it was close to 2:00 before I got to bed. I slept, of course. The first time I got up was around 6:00. I was up again around 8:00 and Grayson thought it was time to get up, but I went back to bed, although I didn't sleep much. I think I got up around 9:30 or so. By that time he was back to sleep.
I cast on the end of the scarf and did the first four rows. I'm not sure if my new sanity markers are going to work right, but I'm more used to the pattern now so it seems to be going better. However, the part I'm doing is 86 rows long and every row is different, so we'll see how it goes. I think it took me about three weeks to knit the first end.
I was so tired that I didn't do anything much. Dawn called with the bad news that the cat I was interested in seems not to like other cats after all, so I aborted my tentative plan to meet her tomorrow. They have all kinds of cats and kittens, including two that sound interesting, except that they're both males. So we'll see what happens there.
It was a warm day. it was already 79º when I got up, and the temperature went up to 87º between 5:00 and 7:00 this evening. I knew it was warm, but there was a breeze and the humidity was low, so it didn't seem to be too bad. It's supposed to cool down overnight, and it probably won't hit 70º tomorrow. That's why we always tell you to be sure you bring a variety of clothes when you come to visit. Well...maybe not, because then you have to visit the shops to buy sweatshirts or tee shirts. Only I wouldn't want to come without at least one pair of long pants and some closed-toe shoes. Anyway, it was partly cloudy all day and there was a lot of sunshine and blue. The wind was from the west and for a little while around 4:00 there were 28 mph gusts. it sort of blew things around in the studio and the kitchen. Now it's cooling off nicely.
Grayson showed up after I started knitting this morning and crawled under the toilet. After I stopped knitting, he was sort of wandering around, so I picked him up and we had a nice love-in. As he gets to be more at home, he is getting less demanding, but I suppose that makes sense. He knows I love him and he has a good home here. As usual, he slept on the desk for most of the day, but he spent some time on the bookcase, too. I guess the fleece throw was a little too warm for him with the sun on it.
Late in the day, Ron came with three packages, so I had something to play with. I got a neat little book light that is the best one yet. It has six LEDs. It is great to light the keyboard when I'm typing and it will be just as great to light the binder when I ever get back to writing again. As for now, I'm still in reading mode.
For the first time in a long while, my Daily Devotion wasn't in my inbox this morning. When I finally got it, around 4:30 this afternoon, it turns out that the Lutheran Hour Ministries data base got hacked yesterday and was corrupted, and it took them a day to reconstruct it. It was apparently just sermons and devotions, though, so no personal information was compromised. It is beyond my understanding why anybody would do something like that, but all it says is that even the most innocent website has to see to its security. At least they had backups. Hmm...anyway things seem to be back to normal now, thankfully.
So that was a quiet day, and I think I will have to go to bed. I'm very tired and headachy, so I won't be able to read anymore. It's a warm, breezy night in the field, and the full moon should be up any time now. Last updated 09/01/12 08:02 PM
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