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A View From the Field |
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December 2012 December 31 - New Year's Eve Happy New Year's Eve. I can hardly believe another year has gone already. It's one of the consequences of getting old and living in a place where times slides by.
I got to bed by 10:30 last night, and I slept a little better than I have lately, but I still didn't feel very good when I got up this morning. I got up around 9:00, but even though I didn't knit, it took me a while to get going. Then I called Johanna's house and found out that she is still in Florida, which I sort of expected, so I could have kept right on sleeping.
I felt a little better as the day went on, but I still don't feel good and I didn't do anything except get the dishwasher almost ready to run tonight. I read for most of the afternoon - I mean I really didn't do anything!
It was a good day to stay in and look out. When I went toward the north end last night, the gibbous moon was shining, and I just realized I was probably seeing a reflection of it in the windows, because it couldn't possibly have been where I saw it. It clouded up right away, though, and it was cloudy all day. The temperature peaked at 4:00 AM, and then it plunged, and it was around 16º all day, with strong north winds, in the 20-25 mph range and gusts up to 38 mph, which put the wind chill down below 0º. It snowed lightly for most of the day, too. I was glad to hibernate.
So were the guys, although Louie wanted to hibernate on my lap and I had to remove him at least three times when I had to stand up to do something. I didn't see Grayson until late, and he just finished sitting on my lap for a long time, too. I think they are both grateful to have a good home, and they think I'm fine.
Tonight is the night when I usually look back on the year just gone and reflect a bit, but I don't have much to talk about. I lost another cat and gained two more. It was an expensive year, with car repairs and furnace repairs. You, my loyal readers, came through most generously when I asked for help to keep the website going. The weather was OK, except that we haven't had enough precipitation. At least here in the Harbor, the summer wasn't too hot, but it was warm enough that I could have the house opened up. My health was pretty good, although I'm struggling with the gout and my usual aches and pains. I rediscovered lace knitting in a big way, and that's been fun. My attempts to sell jewelry are clearly going nowhere. I'm still living where I want to be and I have two loving companions. So overall, I can't complain.
I still think I'm fighting some bug, which isn't surprising, since about everybody in the Harbor has something. So I will put myself to bed early tonight and see if maybe I can sleep better - and longer - tonight.
Now it's a dark, cold night in the field, and I wish everybody a Happy New Year!
December 30 I made it into bed by 9:30 last night, but I didn't sleep very well, at least until after 3 AM. I still don't know what all the problem is, but I ate the wrong thing for dinner last night and I had such bad indigestion I had to take Rolaids twice. After the second time, I slept better, but I still was not ready to get up at 7:00 when the alarm went off, even though I was coming to when it did. Ugh. And in the dark, too.
I made it out the door and down to church more or less on time. It was a slow drive. We had a little more snow overnight, and while they had sanded some, it was still nasty looking, and I didn't want to test how slippery it was by spinning out. Besides, around Mohawk, I got behind a salt truck. They only salted from Mohawk south to the county line, but I do hate to be behind those things. I was able to pass him eventually, and by the time I came home, the salt had worked, which was surprising, considering the temperature.
Church was nice, but there weren't very many people there. Pastor's message was based upon Jesus in the temple, and he chided the people who weren't there. We used the version of the old service that is in the new hymnal, and it was nice, even though I think Pastor was sight-reading the chanted parts.
I had to stop and get gas, and it turned out to be a good thing I didn't go go church on Christmas Eve, because I don't know if I would have had enough gas to get home and back down to Calumet. I have been very creaky and I wasn't walking very well, so the process of getting gas was slow, but now I'll do for another two or three weeks. It was a slow drive home, too, although the salt had worked up to Mohawk. From there north, though, it was iffy. I went the last four or so miles in 4WD, just to help me get up the hills and give me a little more control.
The weather was cold. The temperature dropped all night, and it was around 19º all afternoon, although now it has risen a couple of degrees again. There wasn't a whole lot of wind. For most of the day the skies were cloudy and dull and there were some little snow flurries off and on. Evidently there were some showers overnight, too, because all the tire tracks on Woodland were covered this morning. Along about 4:30, there were a couple of rays of sunshine, and the camera caught such an interesting picture that I took a special one at 5:51, although the 5;40 one was better. I don't recall ever seeing the ice so straight across the harbor like that, and the wind was calm.
The guys were sorry to see me leave and glad to see me come back. Louie wanted to sit on me all afternoon, but I kept having to discourage him for one reason or another. He was a bit puzzled when i partly closed the door to the studio because it was so cold in here. Grayson wandered around me for a while and then sat down and got scratched, too. Like all my cats, they like it best when I stay home and don't go out anywhere.
I still haven't looked for my car key. It's cold and dark in the garage. I'll have to see if I can find it sometime, though. I don't want to be down to one key.
Now I still don't feel very good, so I think I will go up to the north end and go to bed early again. I'm pretty sure I'm fighting something, what with my drippy nose, indigestion and trouble sleeping. What it is, I don't know, and I wish it would either come and get over or go away. Sleep will help, if I can get enough of it.
I don't know if I'm going to get a massage or not tomorrow, because I don't know where Johanna is. I could use it - I've been awfully creaky lately - but I think she may still be in Florida. We'll see.
Now it's a cold, dark night in the field again.
December 29 I think it was around 10:30 when I got to bed last night. I was up around 12:30, and when I looked out, it was snowing rather hard. The next time I woke up, it had stopped, but we had at least one squall, and the ice on the harbor is covered with snow today.
I got up around 8;45 and I knitted two rows on the Faroese shawl. I really want to cast on the Icelandic shawl, but I didn't get a chance today. Maybe tomorrow.
One reason I didn't get a chance to do a lot today was that around 1:00 or so the repairman called to ask if his boss had called to say he was coming. No, he didn't, but I had no plans to go anywhere. So i busied myself and got the trash out of the kitchen and into the breezeway, and I got the baskets of clean wash out of the laundry room, since he was going to replace the bulb in the dryer, too. The kitchen didn't look great, but at least there wasn't a lot of trash lying around. When I moved the washbasket out of the way, there was a dead shrew behind it. I don't know what's with these shrews, but maybe their little brains are too small to realize coming in here is a no-win situation.
So the repairman came and he replaced the main water valve, with difficulty. The more I see of that fridge, the more I think the people who designed it were idiots. Now I have cold water, which is a rare treat I haven't had in quite a while, but the last time I checked there was no hint that I might be making ice. I'll have to check it periodically over the weekend and see how it goes. Anyway, the valve was expensive enough that I had a rather large bill to pay, but oh, well. That's the way it is with the happy householder.
One of my e-friends sent me another donation, and I really appreciate it. What you all did for me this year helped enormously, but next year is another year, and I haven't won the lottery yet. I wasn't going to mention it for a while, but...
The weather was blah again. There were a few rays of wan sunshine, but not much, and mostly it was dark and cloudy. The temperature was steady around 25º and there wasn't any wind. As I mentioned, the snow squall last night gave us some snow on the ice, but the ice had broken up a bit today. Unless it gets colder overnight, we won't make a lot of new ice. And the snow is coming in dribs and drabs.
The guys were sleepy again. Louie wanted to sit on me all afternoon, except that when the repairman showed up, he beat it downstairs and only after the guy left did he stick his head out the cat hole and look around. Grayson was very interested in what the guy was doing, as usual, but he seemed mostly interested that there was another person in the house. After the guy left, he sat down on my lap and got rubbed for a while before I had to get up. Unscheduled events do worry both guys, although Louie reacts by running away and Grayson appears to roll with the punches, only I know he really doesn't. He was happy when we were alone again.
So that was a quiet day, and maybe, just maybe, I have a fully functioning fridge again. I hope so. It's a dark, possibly snowy, night in the field.
December 28 So I took the Faroese shawl up to the north end with me last night and it was 11:30 before I got to bed. It's actually rather boring to knit, but I started it and I want to finish it. It will be a while, and I may put it aside for more interesting things (like the Icelandic shawl, which I want to do because I don't understand the directions).
I didn't have that good a night. I had to revisit the bathroom three times before I could go to bed, and I was up several times during the night. I got up around 9:30 and I knitted two rows. This is the project that started out by casting on 541 stitches, and even though I've decreased about 30 stitches, there are still a whole lot of stitches in a row.
I didn't do anything much. The kitchen is a disaster again, but evidently Rich has the week off, so I'm afraid to try to take anything to the compactor, and besides, I have a bunch of stuff to get out of the car before I can put anything large into it. I went to the post office and the store.
I guess I hadn't been to the post office since last Friday, and there were lots of Christmas cards. I thank all of you for them, and I'm sorry I didn't send any out. I will have a few notes to send (and I really must do that this year), but no cards. Sorry. Special thanks to Arthur. You know I appreciate your thinking about me.
The weather was cold and calm with nearly steady temperatures around 22º. When I got to the kitchen this morning, I noticed that there is a film of ice on this end of the harbor. It isn't very thick and it has breaks in it, but it's definitely ice. Yeah! If the wind picks up I'm sure it will go away. I don't think it snowed at all. It was cloudy and dark all day long.
The guys were sleepy again and I didn't see a lot of them. Louie sat on me for quite a while before I went out and he wanted to get on me again after the talking started, but I was tired of that. When I turned around to go and get my dinner, Grayson was on the floor behind me. They do seem to want to be close to me.
Now I'm tired again, so I think I will try to get to bed early once more. It's a dark, cold night in the field but tonight is the full moon, so it should be bright in spite of the clouds.
December 27 I went up to the north end early last night and I knitted half the toes of the socks before I took my bath, so it was 11:15 before I got to bed. I slept pretty well, I think, with several wakeups. I woke up hot around 8:45 and just dozed for 45 minutes or so before I got up.
Then I finished the socks. I'm not completely satisfied with them, although they may look better after they're washed. The problem is one I've had before: when I've been knitting patterns for a while, it takes me some time to get my plain stockinette stitch back to being nice and even. Add to that, I haven't done much with two socks on one needle in a while, and they don't look quite as nice as I'd like them. Oh, well. They'll do, and I doubt Johanna will notice what I do. Gee, now I can get at the Faroese shawl again! Good, because my ball winding has given me ideas for at least half a dozen other projects.
When I got to the studio, the Internet was down. Evidently there were some power failures further down the peninsula that resulted in no connections out of the Keweenaw. So I couldn't do my morning surfing. I could read some of my emails - like my devotions - that had plain text. Evidently the way it works is, text is downloaded with the message but html isn't. Or at least Windows Live Mail works like that. Other email clients may work differently.
So I hauled out the last nine hanks of lace yarn and wound them all into balls. Then I sorted through the bags and discovered that I only had four hanks of sock-weight yarn to wind. I did that during the talking. Now I have the other stuff out and ready to go. I got a lot of summer yarn for tops or sweaters last summer, and all but one kind is in hanks. There's one pretty one, two shades of pale green and gray, that is worsted weight wool - perfect for my first sweater pattern - but the rest is cotton or cotton blend yarn. Two of them I have enough to make into cardigans or long-sleeve sweaters, but there are three others that will be short sleeve tops to wear with white or stone colored pants. Oh, as usual, I have enough yarn to keep me knitting for the next fifty years...Anyway, things are more or less sorted out now, and I can wind yarn to my heart's content for several more days. There's one bag of a very light-weight denim colored yarn that I inadvertently bought twice, so I have enough for a twin set if I want. I have to think about that. It might be interesting. It's a slightly lumpy yarn, but it needs some kind of texture in it, maybe lace panels. Hmm... I do knit from printed patterns, especially the lace things, but for years I have preferred to go my own way with my own patterns, partly because I have to alter almost any printed pattern I get, so why not just make my own? Now I think I have the resource books to do a few things I haven't been able to do before, like top-down set-in sleeves and yokes. it still requires a whole lot of head-scratching and calculating, but then I have something unique. Stay tuned...if I ever get over the lace thing.
The Internet came back up around 3:30, so I did my surfing while the talking was going on, but there wasn't much to see. Even the number of spam messages has gone way down, although I keep getting phishing messages.
Please, everyone, be very careful not to click on any attachments or links from any messages that seem to be from a bank saying that your account has been restricted, or anything like that! Don't ever open an attachment, and just mouse-over any links, look down at the bottom of your email program, and if the link doesn't point directly to your bank, don't click on it!! If you have any question about the message, and it's from a bank you have an account with (or PayPal) go to it directly in your browser and check things out. You'll find everything is fine. Then, if you're a nice guy, you will forward the message to the address your bank has set up to receive phishing emails. I've gotten a ton of them lately. Sometimes it's clear from the verbiage that it couldn't possibly be a legitimate message (like the one I got the other day with a single sentence that was five lines long and made no sense). Debbie got one of those and dodged a bullet, and I had to give her the same sermon I'm giving you. It's a big, nasty Internet out there, and they're out to get you.
The weather was dull and gray as usual, and I didn't go out. The temperature was nearly steady at 22º and the winds were light from the northeast. As far as I know, there was no snow.
The guys were sleepy today and I didn't see much of them. Louie only asked to sit once, and I was busy, and I didn't see Grayson until after the talking started. This is good weather to sleep.
So I will probably do that, maybe a little earlier tonight? Now it's a cloudy night in the field, but the nearly-full moon is keeping things bright enough that I can see the cats.
December 26 I went up to the north end early and I knitted for a little while before I went to bed at about 9:30, but I had a hard time getting to sleep. In fact, I didn't sleep all that well all night. I had to get up a lot and I had some indigestion. I suspect I am fighting something and that frequently results in night sweats and indigestion. I didn't get up until after 9:30 this morning. Then I knitted a lot, and I've started the toes of the socks. In the meantime, I had to unravel one stitch about 4" because I had knit one stitch in the row below and I could see it. I think I've made just about every mistake possible on these socks. I hope Johanna likes them.
I was so late getting to the studio that I didn't do very much at all. I did wind the yarn for a shawl kit while the talking was going on. This one goes from green to blue to shades of brown and ends up beige. It's one of the ones that use two strands held together. It's on the list, since I've had it for over a year and just never would the balls. Now I have nine more balls of lace-weight yarn in three colors to do and I can go on to the sock yarn. Then it's all the yarn I got for summer tops, and one batch of sweater yarn and I'm done for a while, maybe. I must really clamp down on my yarn buying next year.
I also paid a couple of bills, since this was Social Security day.
The weather was dull and cold and I didn't go out. The high temperature was 24º, so it's warming up a bit. Just a bit. There wasn't any wind. It was cloudy and dull and there were a few snow flurries.
The guys were sleepy today. Grayson slept for a while with me last night, and a couple of times when I was up, he was sleeping on the tub platform and Louie was on the rug - a whiter blob against the white floor. This morning, i didn't see Louie at all until I left the bathroom. Grayson slept all the time I was knitting. Then he went to sleep again and Louie wanted to sit on me. I let him do it for a while, but after that, I was busy, so he couldn't sleep on me. I felt like sleeping, too.
So it was another nothing day, and I think I will take a bath tonight, if only because I cracked a fingernail so I need to cut all the other ones. I don't expect to be up long, although I will read for a little while. It's a cold, calm night in the field, but since the moon is getting near full, it's not as dark out.
December 25 - Christmas Day
Merry Christmas
I hope you had a lovely day with those you love most. I had a good one, with good food and good conversation and some people I like a lot.
I ended up not getting to bed last night until 11:30. I was listening to the music and winding balls of yarn, and time just went by. I slept well, and I didn't get up until around 9:45. I knitted and the socks are now both back on the same needle, so now I can do the last inch or so and the toes. I guess I have time, since it doesn't sound like Johanna will be back until sometime later next week, but I want to get them done.
That took quite a while, and I had just gotten to the kitchen and fed the cats when Debbie called, and we talked until 1:00. That just left me time to have a piece of cheese and my OJ, take my pills and read my morning devotions before I had to get dressed.
Dinner was very nice. The specials were prime rib or turkey and we all had half of both. IT was good, and I brought half home with me. I had some more tonight and there is still some left for tomorrow. They serve big portions at Mariner. After dinner everybody left except Peggy and me, and Cindy came in and we had a nice conversation. Peggy was intrigued by the lace, so I now have the push I need to get at least a couple of things blocked.
The weather was cold again. The high temperature, for the second day in a row, happened at midnight. During the day it was about 19º. Today, though, there was almost no wind. It snowed very lightly almost all afternoon. I don't think there was much accumulation again. Of course it was dark and cloudy.
The guys were happy to see me when I got home. I did my surfing while I was listening to the talking on the radio and Louie immediately got on my lap and went to sleep. I had to shoo them both away so I could eat. They were full of energy while I was talking to Debbie, wrestling and chasing each other around the house. Louie cornered Grayson on one of the dining room chairs and got a little rough, which made Grayson yell, and I thought I was going to have to go after them, but they worked it out between them. That tired them out, so they have been sleepy ever since.
One nice thing about being out late this afternoon is that I got to see the decorations in the park. Donny does a nicer job every year, I think. It's really lovely. Of course, it will be May before the decorations are down again, but hey, it's a really nice display now. There is even a big star up in one of the cedars.
So that was my nice day, and I think I'm going up to the north end shortly and go to bed. Maybe I will knit on the socks a bit before I do, but I'm not going to wind any more yarn or do any other things that might keep me up late again.
Now it's a dark, snowy Christmas Night in the field, and I leave you with my Christmas Prayer:
Ah, dearest Jesus, Holy Child Make Thee a bed, soft, undefiled Within my heart that it may be A quiet chamber kept for Thee.
December 24 - Christmas Eve Well, I didn't make it to church. When I got into the car, I brushed the key and it went down between the passenger side seat and the console (I think), and by the time I realized I should just have come back into the house and gotten the backup key, it was too late. I'm disappointed, even though I didn't really feel up to that drive. Maybe God was trying to tell me something. Sigh. So I poured myself another JD and I will listen to the radio for a while before I crash.
It was around 11:00 when I got to bed last night, I think. I slept fairly well, although I was up several times. I finally got up around 9:30, maybe, and I knitted a lot on the sock, but not enough to get back to where the other one is. Since Jo is still in Florida, I guess I'll have time to finish them.
Otherwise, I didn't do very much except get the dishwasher ready to run and start it. I also made balls out of over 1000 yards of lace weight yarn. I think I will end up making lots of scarves, and maybe I can sell a couple of them. I got some really nice yarn from Craftsy (my downfall) and when I looked at it, I discovered I had gotten three hanks in three different dye lots of two colorways and one different dye lot of the other one. It's lovely yarn, alpaca and silk, and the colors are pretty, it's just that every hank is different enough that I'm not sure even knitting them two rows by two rows would work - and besides, how do you do that with three skeins? Debbie's scarf showed me I can make a very nice scarf out of one skein, so i guess it will be lots of scarves. I'm working on the one with two skeins the same now.
I had to stop and do some rewiring, though. When I plugged in the winder the other day, I pulled out a plug I couldn't identify, and tonight I discovered that I had disconnected the answering machine. Oops. So not only would the answering machine and the handsets not work, the handset had discharged completely. Oops. It's plugged in now, and I think it's all right, but I have the winder plugged into the surge suppresser under the east windows, which means I have to unplug it every time I want to get up. I'm not sure I can reach the other plug under the south windows, and I'm not sure the plug will fit. I am getting very tired of all these plugs that have the transformer in the end. Why in the world can't they just put it in the device - or at the other end? Geez!
The weather was cold. The temperature varied between 19º and 21º all day. There was a wind in the 20 mph range from the north all day. It was cloudy, and about the time I got to the studio, it started to snow, and it snowed for a couple of hours. It wasn't heavy enough to register at the NWS station, and It didn't accumulate much, but it was definitely snow.
Grayson and Louie felt really good this morning, but maybe that was because all their dishes were empty. Louie slept on my lap for quite a while and at least today he figured out a way to sleep with his head up against my arm but not on it. Grayson spent most of the day on the floor not far from me. They were most interested when I started to get ready to go out, and they seemed happy when I came right back in and got undressed.
So that wasn't quite the Christmas Eve I planned on, but oh, well. I listened to choral music on the Internet for most of the afternoon and there is nice music on now, so I guess I'll just have to cope.
It's a cold, dark night in the field and I'll be in bed fairly soon.
December 23 I was in bed by 9:30 last night, but it was a night of weird dreams and several wakeups, and I didn't really sleep well. I got up when the alarm went off, although I certainly could have kept right on sleeping.
I thought I would be early leaving the house, but I keep forgetting what a chore it is to get ready to go outside in the winter, so I was late leaving and late getting to church. The covered road was ice and snow covered and probably slippery, so I had to take it very slowly, and it wasn't much better between Delaware and Phoenix. I haven't figured out why the southbound lanes were worse than the northbound ones. I made it in time to stop in the bathroom, though, and I was glad I went. There was communion, and the service revolved around the angels and "Glory to God." It was a long service, though, with communion, so we didn't get out until just about noon. The trip home was maybe even longer than the one south, and I didn't get here until 1:00.
So I put on my sweats and sat down and didn't do much of anything except wind a few more balls of yarn.
The weather was really cold. It has finally gotten up to 26º, but for most of the morning it was around 19º here, and more like 15º in Laurium, with a strong north wind with gusts up to 34 mph. I felt those gusts while I was driving. It was mostly cloudy, but while we were in church, every so often a beam of sunshine would light up the south windows. After noon, though, it was all cloudy. No nice sunset tonight.
I'm wondering if maybe it was around this time of year last year that Grayson was kicked out of his happy home. He has been extremely loving for the past few days. However, tonight he wanted to chew on the aglets on the string on my sweatshirt, and when I tried to take it away from him, he lashed out and caught my left index finger and gave me a good gash. He has been hiding ever since, because I screeched. Poor Grayson. He does forget himself every so often. Louie got his loving today, too, but he wanted to sleep on my lap, and he is just too big for that, especially when I'm trying to do my crosswords.
Now I think I will go up to the north end. I need to wash my hair again, since I won't want to do it tomorrow night when I get home (I'm planning to go to church) and I want to look nice on Christmas. Peggy has invited me to dinner again, so that's a nice thing to look forward to. Besides, I'm tired. I just didn't get enough sleep last night.
It's a dark, cold, windy night in the field.
December 22 I guess it was around 11:00 or so when I got to bed - I don't remember. I slept well, with only a couple of wakeups, and I got up around 9:30, i think.
I knitted - oh, well, I sort of knitted. Mostly I ripped. I noticed that there seemed to be a rather obvious ladder on one side of the first sock, and when I started trying to work on the fabric to eliminate it, I discovered that I had managed to add one stitch not long after the end of the heel. Ick! If it had been my socks, I probably would just have decreased one and gone on, but these are for someone else and I want them to be right. So I had to rip out over 40 rows on the one sock, and now I will be knitting on one sock until I get back to where the other one is. Drat! I was so close to the end of the foot! After I got the stitches all on another needle, I quit. It was late anyway.
The task of the day was wash, and the last load is in the dryer now. After last month's huge wash, this month's was tiny, mostly underwear. Oh - that was partly because I forgot a few things, I guess, but I won't need them anyway, so it's not a problem. I did my year-end charity thing, the earliest I've done it in years, and I went to the post office to mail everything. I got ice, and the bag was so chunked together that when I went to pour it into the ice bin, I got ice all over the floor. Cleaned up the floor a bit, though. Now I have enough to last for a few more days. I really like the bag ice better than my own. It's clear, for one thing, and it comes in smaller chunks (usually). But it's a pain to have to go and get it and put it in the bin. I'll be glad when my ice maker is fixed.
The weather was sort of nondescript. The temperature got up to 30º for a while, but it was mostly colder. There wasn't any wind. It was cloudy, but it wasn't dark, and in the morning I could see a few patches of blue for a while. We had a sunset, too - nice rosy red clouds against the gray - but I was winding yarn, so I didn't try to take a picture. It wasn't that amazing. All the slush we got the other day has frozen and it's slippery out, especially in parking lots. I imagine it will be a slow drive to town tomorrow.
Even though we have passed the equinox, we still have a couple more shortest days - 8h27m. That lasts from the 17th through the 24th, so on Christmas Day, the days start getting longer. Slowly, but longer. The moon is getting toward full, too, so maybe it will be light tonight. The clouds have been so thick lately that the moon couldn't make a dent in them.
Now I have to fill the rest of the pill containers (I did the ones in the studio a while ago), and then I have to take my bath and try to get to bed early so I can get up in the morning. It's a calm, cold, cloudy night in the field.
December 21 - Winter Solstice I was in bed by 10:45 last night, but I had some problems getting to sleep. For some reason I don't know, my nighttime pills gave me indigestion, and that didn't go away until I got up and took some Rolaids. Weird. That hasn't happened before, as far as I can remember. Eventually I got to sleep, although I was up several times. I finally got up around 9:30 or so, I think, and I knitted. I'm making good progress on the socks.
I didn't get to do anything about the kitchen because the guy never called to tell me when he was coming. So he saw it just as it was. Unfortunately, the problem with the ice and water is the relay that controls everything, and of course he didn't have one. I think he has ordered it, but I'll be buying ice for at least a week, probably longer. Sigh.
So after he left, I finished my surfing and got out the new ball winder. Well, it works for me, unlike some of the reviews I read. I found that I can't use my umbrella swift with it, because the swift has too much inertia and the motor in the winder isn't strong enough. So I got out the good old Quaker-style swift and that works quite well. I did have some problems with a couple of hanks of yarn that weren't wound very neatly, and when I was winding the last one, I thought it had failed, but all of a sudden it started working again. I have lots and lots of yarn to wind, so we'll see how robust it is. I've had my old hand-crank winder since the middle '60s and I've wound a whole lot of yarn on it and it's still going strong. I hope this one is as good. It sure is nice not to have my arms fall off when I'm winding yarn. All I had to do is watch it and untangle some strands that got messy. For a while I was turning the swift by hand, but eventually the winder started working right again. I don't know what its problem was for a little while. So that seems to have worked out all right so far. The winder is too expensive, even at half-price, but I guess it will be worth it if it continues to work.
The lake was roaring all night long, as we had gale force winds out of the north. The gusts peaked at 42 mph. The wind is still gusting into the low 30 mph range, but it's dying down slowly. We only had 2" or 3" of snow, just enough to frost the trees. The temperature today was around 25º all day, with that wind out of the north-northeast. I didn't go out, even though I need ice. Tomorrow.
Of course, Grayson was interested in the man and his tool case, and naturally he had to go behind the fridge when it was pulled out. I was rather surprised not to find any dead and desiccated mice or shrews back there, but there wasn't much of anything. It was even relatively clean considering how long it's been since it's been moved. Louie was no where to be found while the man was here or for quite a while afterwards. He is a timid sort. Grayson was interested in what I was doing when I was winding yarn, but he was smart enough to know not to jump on the desk. Today was Grayson day. He slept on my lap while I was doing my surfing, and later he got back up and got petted with that cute little smile on his face. I wish I could get a picture of that smile. Louie wanted to get on my lap when Grayson was there, but I can only hold one at a time. Maybe tomorrow will be Louie day.
So now it's late - I didn't realize how long I spent winding yarn - and I'm tired. It's a dark, cold, windy night in the field but the lake will sing me to sleep again.
December 20 I crashed last night. I was in bed by 9:30 and I slept very well. The second time I was up, around 3:30, I forgot to look up - I mean, why look up when you're never going to see anything? - and when I got back to bed, Jupiter was shining in the front windows. It wasn't very bright and it kept fading out, but it was there. I was up at around 8:00 and I could have gotten out, but it didn't feel quite right, so I went back to sleep and didn't get up until 10:00. I guess that should be enough sleep, and I didn't feel too bad today.
I knitted and I'm making good progress on the socks. That's a good thing. My Christmas presents came, one last night and one today. One is an electric ball winder. From the reviews of it, I'm not sure I'll be keeping it, but I have so much yarn to wind into balls, I just didn't think my arms and wrists would stand using the manual winder. I haven't gotten to try it yet, but I will over the next few days. The other present is the yarn to make an Icelandic shawl. This one is interesting, in that it is in white, shades of gray and shades of brown. The lace patterns aren't hard, but they're different. The yarn is actually fingering weight and it works on #4 needles. Now the question is whether to go back to the Faroese shawl after the socks or to start the Icelandic shawl...oh, decisions, decisions. My "to do" list is getting longer and longer. I don't feel any urge to stop knitting lace, though.
I didn't do very much today, unfortunately. The kitchen is a mess, but I didn't feel all that robust. I went to the post office, where there were some Christmas cards, enough to make me feel guilty for not sending any. I paid my taxes and some other bills. I stopped at the store, because it was clear I wasn't going to make it until Sunday on my stock of JD, and I gave a small box of Lake Champlain chocolates to Kelly and Jeff, who have been very nice to me.
It was horrible out. Since the temperature was around 33º all afternoon, the snow was mixed with and sometimes all rain, and it was nasty and sloppy. There wasn't any wind to speak of until after I got home, but now it's beginning to rise, with 28 mph gusts from the east. Of course it was dark and gloomy. Really nasty.
The guys thought so, too. They were active this morning, but they soon went to sleep. Today was Louie's day, and he would like to have sat on my lap all day. Sorry, Louie. He is so huge he laps over onto the keyboard or sleeps with his head on my arm, which makes it go to sleep. Yesterday, I got a small bag of low calorie dry food, but chances are, they won't like it. I'm thinking seriously about mixing the food they like with the food they don't like as well and see if I can get them to eat it all. However, the weight problem may be as hard to solve for them as it is for me.
Now I guess I will read for a while. I should take a bath tonight, and I feel like I'd like to get to bed early again. It's a nasty, windy night in the field with sloppy snow coming down. Yuck. It's a good night to sleep.
December 19 Ooh, I'm tired! I think it was around 11:00 when I got to bed, but I had a hard time getting to sleep, for some reason. I finally did, and i was up around 7:30, but that was just not enough sleep, so I went back to sleep and didn't get up until 10:00 or so. That meant I had to rush, but I made it out the door in time.
The covered road was ugly. The snow we had the night before last was still there and had turned a bit icy. Not many people drive to or from Copper Harbor at this time of year. Once I got to Delaware, though, it was clear and dry, and I made pretty good time after that. I guess 50 miles in 60 minutes on 2-lane roads in the winter isn't bad time.
My teeth are all nice and clean and there aren't any problems. That was nice.
Then I was off to the Verizon store, where it turns out that my problem with my cell phone was that the battery was shot. I suspected that, but I wasn't sure it was replaceable. It is. Expensive, but replaceable. So I don't have to worry about a new phone until we get our tower (whenever that is).
My next stop was Wal-Mart. Sigh. That store is just tooo big! However, I had made a list of things I needed, and I got them - and forgot the one thing that wasn't on the list, of course. I was a pretty good girl about toys, too. If the total bill was high, it was partly because I got some eye drops that are very expensive, but they seem to be helping, as well as 80 lbs. of kitty litter. I am disappointed to see that they haven't done much about keeping their shelves stocked.
Then I got to go to Bambu for an early - and yummy - dinner, of which I brought half home, so I'll get to eat it again tomorrow. If their lo mein isn't quite as good as Canton Express, it's nearly as good and they chop their chicken and beef into such long thin strips they're almost as thin as the noodles. Oh, yes, there were shrimp in it, too, as well as bean sprouts and green onions. Yum.
The weather was good for a 100 mile trip. The temperature here got up to 34º, so I suppose it did there, too, and there wasn't any wind. What was most unexpected, and very nice, was that there was some sunshine! In fact, quite a bit of sunshine for this time of year. It was rather nice out.
Of course, since I didn't get home until 5:30 or so, it was still dark by the time I got to the covered road, but I took it slowly and there wasn't much traffic. There was one guy who went about 25 mph down the hill from the Mountain Lodge, much to the annoyance of the big truck behind him, but it seemed like he had a load of pallets or something that was over the sides of his pickup, so I suppose he was afraid it would slide. And there was a lot of traffic at the bridge approach, but at this time of year they are all locals going home, so it wasn't a problem. I still say that one of these days they're going to have to put some stoplights on the Houghton side of the bridge, just to keep the traffic straight. I suppose it will take a couple of serious accidents before they see that. That's always the way. Just as long as I or any of my friends aren't the ones involved.
I was most surprised to get a UPS delivery around 7:30...both that he was so late and that he actually came to the house. I don't know what it is yet. My feet are too sore, and he put it in the breezeway for me. Or maybe it was FedEx...hmm. I guess I'll have to go and see, at that. If it was FedEx, it's my Christmas present to me, and I want that.
Now even though it's not very late, I think I am going to go up to the north end and crash. My legs and feet are sore again and I'm tired. Maybe I can catch up on my sleep tonight so I can do something about the kitchen tomorrow before the fridge repairman comes.
Now it's a dark calm night in the field, but there is supposed to be snow tomorrow and Friday. We'll see.
December 18 Well, I did it. I kept right on reading and it was extremely late when I finally got to bed. The guys were getting anxious, like I was never going to bed. So I finished the stories in that binder and put it away. Sigh.
I got up around 10:15, which was not nearly enough sleep, and I'm really tired now. I hope I'll be in bed early tonight, but I have to wash my hair so that I'm decent for the dentist.
I didn't do anything. I was too tired.
The weather was blah today. The temperature got up to 31º for quite a while. There wasn't any wind at all. It was dark and cloudy. Blah.
The guys were acting like the barometer was low, so I didn't see them much today. They had a wrestling match this morning and another one this afternoon, but nobody was too interested in sitting on my lap, although Grayson did for a while this morning and he got brushed a bit. He is not a clean cat. He doesn't clean all the grease out of the fur on his back, so petting him is always a bit yucky. And his left foot, the one with just white toes, is usually a bit grimy. On the other hand, while Louie's feet sometimes get a bit gray, the rest of him is always pristinely white. I don't know when he washes himself, since I never see it, but it's probably in the middle of the night.
Now I will read for just a little bit and then I will be off to the north end. I'm really tired. It's a dark, cold, calm night in the field.
December 17 I decided it was time to do my software updates last night. That wasn't hard on the desktop - although I had to restart twice - but it was a pain on the laptop. I've used that so infrequently lately that I had to update Norton and do a scan before I could do the Windows stuff. It took a while, and the trouble with the laptop is that i have to watch it like a hawk or it will shut itself off. They haven't changed their definition of "usage," and the wireless plus the CPU and disk don't apparently count as "usage." Then I read for a while - the story I'm reading is really, really boring at the end - and I got to bed by about 11:00. I slept very well, and I didn't get up until 10:30 or so. I guess I got enough sleep. When I got up, i noticed that the bushes and the garage roof were all frosted, so we had some snow last night. I knitted for a while before I got dressed. I stood up so long yesterday morning that my legs and feet have been nearly impossible to stand on today. These days my worst arthritis problem seems to be in my feet and ankles. I was really hobbling around - still am.
The first task of the day was to call for service on the fridge. I can't get anybody here until Friday, so I may have to get more ice, but at least maybe I can get some of the stuff out of the way and clean up the kitchen a bit.
The next task was to get Debbie's present packed up and off to her. I managed that, although it won't go out until tomorrow. Oh, well. It will either get to her before or after Christmas. I hope it will be before, but one never knows. I did take a couple of pictures before I took it off the blocking board, but they're still in the camera. I'm quite happy with the way it came out. When these things on the very fine yarn are blocked out, they get so delicate and airy. Add to that the alpaca yarn, and it almost seems lighter than air.
I want to make myself at least one scarf, but the one I want to do is in shades of brown to go with my suede jacket, and I will be having to create it from scratch, so it will be a while before I do that. It's something I've been wanting to do for quite a few years - the yarn has been discontinued - and I just never got around to it. Ah, my round tuit! This one is on my short list, even though my short list gets longer all the time. I know what I want to do for the body of the scarf, and now it's just a matter of the borders, so I'm making progress on the design. I'm not sure the yarn is alpaca, but it is lace weight, so it should be nice and airy.
Anyway, I went off to the post office and turned in the package. There wasn't any new mail except for one bill, but since I was there Saturday, I wasn't surprised.
The weather was gloomy and cold. The high during the day was about 32º, briefly, and there wasn't any wind. There was just enough snow overnight, between midnight and 6:00 am, to make Woodland Road even more slippery, and there was some junk on US-41 into town. There may have been an inch of snow. It was so dark and dreary again all day that I didn't do much of anything after I got back from the post office.
The cats felt like the weather, too. Louie wanted to sleep on my lap when I got back, but he wants to sleep with his head on my right arm while I'm using the mouse, but that makes my hand go to sleep and it hurts, so I had to move him. He stayed, though, until I had to get up to make some dinner. Then Grayson sat on me for a while. Now they are both off somewhere sleeping again. Sounds like a plan to me.
Johanna's socks are coming along, I am doing the feet now, and I don't think that will take too long since they're shorter than mine. I have some ideas of how I'd like to make my pair in the same yarn, with a lace pattern (I'm really hooked on lace), but that will be on the to-do list, too. I think, though, that in the future I'll be making my socks two at a time when I have two balls of yarn to work from. I have the hang of it now, and it certainly is nice to know that when I'm through, both socks will be done.
So now I will try to read through all the boring talk in the story and get to the few interesting things that are left.
It's a dark, cold, quiet night in the field, and a good one to sleep some more.
December 16 Oh, my goodness! I almost forgot that today is Beethoven's birthday! Happy Beethoven's Birthday. everyone!
I made it into bed by 9:30 or so last night, and I slept well, but I really didn't want to get up when the alarm went off. i need more sleep than that these days. Besides, it was pitch dark, and I hate to get up when it's dark.
I did, and I got myself off to church. It was sort of drizzling when I left, and it was foggy all the way to town. Church was nice - all about the Nunc dimittis - and I had a nice long chat with pastor afterwards.
By the time I left church, my legs were so cramped up that i could hardly move, and I had to get gas. I didn't do that last weekend because I couldn't remember when my dentist appointment was and if it had been last week, I could have gotten gas at Wal-Mart, which is cheaper. However, it's gone down to $3.40 a gallon, which is as low as it's been since last spring. It's a relief not to have to pay $80 to fill my tank.
I talked so long that it was 2:00 when I got home, so I didn't do much but finish my surfing. It was too dark to do anything else anyway.
The weather was nasty again. It was drizzly and rainy and foggy and the temperature was between 36º and 38º all day. There was no wind. it was so dark, I really couldn't do much without turning on the lights, which is a disadvantage of having the camera in the studio. Now the precip is to our east, even though they are saying it might snow overnight. At least the temperature is heading down, and what comes down tomorrow should be snow. I hope so. It was ugly out there today, even though the roads were only wet.
Well, all the roads were only wet except for our road, which was a sheet of ice. Jack had been out sanding the hills, which was very helpful. I was glad to get home.
The guys were like the weather, and I didn't see much of them, except that Louie sat on my lap for a long time and he'd like to do the same now, but I'm typing so he can't. Grayson apparently decided this was Louie's day, so I didn't see much of him.
I forgot that I was supposed to run the dishwasher last night. Fortunately, I have backup cat dishes. I must run it tonight, because it's full, and it will be even more full when I get everything else into it. But I'm not under the time constraints I was last night.
So now it's a dark, dank night in the field and I feel the need for some serious sleep.
December 15 I was late getting to bed last night. The story I was reading has much too much talking, but I just kept on reading. I was up around 8:00, but that seemed too early to me. It did not seem too early to Louie, and I finally had to kick both cats out of the bedroom and close the door. Apparently all his food dishes were empty, and he was hungry. Not that he needs to eat. He is a real fatso. And he seems to expect that anytime his dishes are empty, I will jump and feed him. Ha.
I finally got up around 10:30, and I did the heel on the second sock, so now I am ready to start the feet of both socks. I had to endure the two guys wrestling for most of the time I was knitting, but that happens and I could ignore them. They only got canned food for breakfast, but late this afternoon, I filled all the dishes, so they are happy and full now.
I had several small tasks for the day. I went to the post office, where my new pills had come, as well as more lace yarn. I think I have enough lace yarn to cover Copper Harbor with lace. Then I went to the store, where I got ice. I need ice, and with the ice maker not working, I was in bad shape. I actually like their ice better than mine, since it's clear, but oh, well. Anyway, I poured the bag of ice into the ice maker bin, and it all comes out nicely crushed. It was great for my JD tonight.
The weather was nasty. It was 37º all afternoon, which means a lot of the snow melted and Jack had to sand the hills so Janna could get out. About the time I got back from the store, it started drizzling, and there has been measurable rain since 3:00. There was a little wind, in the 10-20 mph range from the south. Nasty.
The guys took advantage by sleeping, especially since their food dishes have been filled. They are very different in so many ways. Louie ate his canned food, which is a variety neither of them like very well, but I don't think Grayson did, at least not in front of me. He waited until I put down the kinds of dry food he likes and then he ate. He is a little snow.
Oh, yes, the other task of the day was to block the scarf, and I got that done late in the day. Using the blocking wires wasn't too hard, or it wouldn't have been except that a little gray friend of mine kept wanting to play with the other end while I was feeding the scarf onto the wires. He finally jumped up on the counter - I'm doing it in the laundry room - to see what was going on. Then he decided it wasn't all that interesting after all. I haven't had such a curious cat for a long time. It's a wonder he doesn't get into more trouble. Anyway, the scarf blocked out to 10" x 60", which is wider than they said. I could have stretched it more in both directions, but it looks pretty good the way it is, so I left it. I will try to take a picture tomorrow before I take it off the blocking wires. It's a pretty thing, and I hope Debbie likes it.
I had hoped to block my two shawls in the laundry room, but seeing how much the scarf stretched, I guess I'm going to have to do it on the dining table, like I originally thought, which means they might not get done until spring. It's so dark in the great room that I can't really see what I'm doing. Maybe I will try it in the laundry and see how it works. If 8½" goes to 10", then 20" should go to at least 24", and that means I'd be pinning into the outside edges of the blocking pads.
The more I do these things, the more I think a lot of people must knit awfully tightly. The scarf and stole were supposed to be done on #6 needles, and I didn't because after doing a few rows, it was clear that it would be so loose that one couldn't see the pattern. So I did it on #3s, which is what the white stole and the Shetland stole were supposed to be done on (although the Shetland stole is very likely to come out more like 24" x 60" or bigger, rather than 20" by 44" like the pattern said). And it still came out bigger than the suggested size. It really makes me wonder. One of the lace yarns I got recently says it should be done on #6 needles, too. Since it's about the thickness of #30 crochet cotton, I don't think so. On those big needles, you could just knit garter stitch and it would be so loose it would look lacy. Any pattern you knit in would just disappear. I like the fine yarns, but I like the pattern I'm knitting to show, too - after all, else why bother with a pattern at all? Daily rant.
So now it's time to totter up to the north end and wash my hair. It's a warmish, wet, dark night in the field.
December 14 Well, I didn't take a bath, and I was in bed a bit before 11:00. I slept well - very well, indeed, although I was up several times. I got up around 9:30 or a little later, I think. I finished the legs on the socks and did one heel, so I was very late getting dressed, much to the chagrin of the guys.
I did get some of the dishes out of the sink and into the dishwasher, but there is still a lot of stuff that needs to be washed up. Since it was so late (and I had 48 email messages in my box), I didn't finish my surfing until after the talking started.
The weather was more blah than usual. It was dark and gloomy and cold. The temperature was around 25º until noon, when it started to rise slowly, and it is now 32º. I guess it's supposed to be over freezing tomorrow. There wasn't much wind and there wasn't any snow. John thinks that will be over soon, and I hope so. This is very boring weather, and it's so dark.
The guys didn't do anything much to report. Louie slept, or tried to, on my lap for part of the afternoon, and after I had to get up, Grayson came and he slept on my lap until I was hungry enough to have to get my dinner. The barometer is dropping again, but I could have told that without the Weather Underground.
I did work on the Frilly scarf for a while and it seems to be turning out the way it's supposed to, despite my fears. The yarn is some of that stuff that is actually a wide crochet ribbon, and you sort of "knit" it by pulling loops through holes in the ribbon. Frilly is polyester, and it is quite slippery, and besides, I wasn't getting ruffles at first. I think it's going to be all right. I don't like the color very well - black, navy, teal, and a nasty dark poison green - but it cost me less than $4, and I wanted to see what this yarn was all about. They tell me Wal-Mart has some, so when I go there next week, I'll check it out. When these new and different things come out, I like to see them. When the furry yarns first came out, I found a couple of wonderful ones and made two lovely scarves that I still wear. Since this is for me, I will work on the socks mostly and try to get Debbie's scarf blocked tomorrow. Can you tell I don't like to block?
Now it's another dark, cold night in the field and I will read a bit before I try to get to bed early.
December 13 I forgot, when I wrote last night's entry, to note that it was 12/12/12. I missed the more interesting part - a little after noon, it was 12/12/12 12:12:12! I was sorry I missed that. It's the last date of that kind this century. There will be a few other numerology days, but not like that.
Anyway, I read too long again last night and it was 1:30 before I got to bed. I slept well and I got up around 10:00. I knitted, and I only have five or six rows left until I can start the heels. I can knit the legs and feet together, but the heels have to be knitted one at a time. I'm using the short-row heels, so they won't take all that long. Perhaps I will be done with them before Johanna gets home.
I really want to fiddle with the Frilly yarn I got yesterday, but I am trying to keep my mind on the task at hand. I have to block Debbie's scarf, too, but I was just too late today. Thursday is a day when I have too much to read online, so I didn't do anything except that and wash my sweat pants. I had what seemed to be a minor accident, but while I was sitting down in the powder room, my sweats got all nasty. Grr.
I have been thinking that I should start a crafts blog. I know that a lot of my readers of this site aren't interested in the details of my crafts, but some people are, and some other people might be interested in it, too. I'm still thinking about how and where to put it out there, but it will probably come. Frankly, from what I read elsewhere, I have some insights into knitting particularly that nobody else apparently has had, and I'd like to get it out there. Something new to think about.
The weather was blah again. It got quite warm overnight - up to 37º - and the temperature has dropped all day, until now it's 27º. There wasn't a lot of wind and it was dark and cloudy all day, as usual. I had just gotten to the studio when I looked out and there were snowflakes coming down. I don't think very much fell, but it did cover up the deck and the tire prints on the driveway. Winter may not officially get here for another week, but it's certainly here in the Keweenaw. That snow we had a couple of days ago laid down 6" at Delaware, so we're slowly making progress on our totals.
The guys were sleepy again today, no doubt because the barometer was dropping. Louie came and sat on me, but Grayson was content to sit between the toilet and the wall in the bathroom and take whatever rubbing he got. Grayson has been very interested in my pork chops this week, but I'm afraid what really interests him is the onions, which smell quite sentimental. Onions aren't good for cats. He has fished the bones out of my dish twice this week, but he doesn't really know what to do with a bone. I ate the last of it tonight, though, so there won't be anything more to tempt him. They're down to the dishes of stuff they don't like very well, too. Louie tried to get up on the bed several times after I was up at 7:00, and I tossed him out. His performance of the other morning, when he was hungry, did not make me happy.
So now I will read for a while - another long story from the same old binder - and then I will take a bath, I think. It's a dark, cold night in the field.
December 12 Oh, sigh. I hauled out some of the oldest binders last night and since i had to take a bath, it was 1:30 before I got to bed. I slept well, but I got up around 9:30, so I didn't get enough sleep. I did my knitting, and I'm getting near the end of the legs of the socks.
I guess about the only things I did today were to get the dishwasher completely unloaded and go to the post office and the store. Now I need to start to reload the dishwasher. I put away some more of the stuff lying around, but it's still a mess out there. At the post office was some more yarn and at the store were my shipments of Christmas candy from See's and Lake Champlain. They are so nice to me at the store that I will be giving Kelly one of the little boxes of truffles. This year I think I got enough of them. It always makes me feel like I'm giving away a bar of gold when I give anybody those. They are soooo good!!!
The weather was blah again. This morning and when I got to the studio, there were a few rays of sunshine, but most of the day was cloudy and cold. The temperature was in the 20s for most of the day, although it has now risen to 32º, and I guess it's going to be around there for the next 24 hours or so before it cools off again. There wasn't much wind except between 5:00 and 7:00. Blah.
When I went to bed last night, for a moment I thought the lighthouse was out again, but then I began seeing a bit of light on the window seat. It was snowing so hard I couldn't see the light or the lights of town, and we probably had an inch or two of very light, powdery stuff. I don't think there was any more today.
The guys were sleepy today. After I got home from the store and I looked through all my packages and other mail, Grayson came and sat on me for a long time and got petted and scratched and he purred at me.
I got my yearly mailing from KSNAG, and there is a wonderful picture of Grayson in it, and we are mentioned a couple of times. They do such great work, and I'm so glad I can help them. I wish I could take more of their poor kitties, but the way the dynamics are around here right now, I think it's better if I just keep things the way they are. I hoard too many things; I don't want to start hoarding cats, too.
So now I will read a while before I got to bed. My eyes have been telling me all day that I didn't get enough sleep last night, so I hope I can finish this story and not be too late. It's a good one, from 1975. It never ceases to amaze how much better my writing got between 1972 and 1974. Of course, there are things I don't like too well, but with some not very serious editing, I could add it to the stuff on the computer. I may just do that, but right now, i feel more like reading than writing.
Now it's a dark night in the field, but it's not very cold (for this time of year) and tonight I should be able to see the lighthouse again.
December 11 Oh, well. I didn't get to bed until after midnight. I finished reading Osara and then I had to correct all the "errors" Word found - including a bunch that had been there all along that it never saw before. I don't understand that program. Anyway, then I had a hard time getting to sleep. The last time I looked at the clock, it said 2:19. So I was late getting up, and I only did it because I had to. I knitted for a while, and it was almost 1:00 when I ate my "breakfast". Then I had a bad accident. So nothing at all got done today, except that I did get a few pots and pans put away. Maybe tomorrow?
The weather was cold and cloudy, as usual. I guess it snowed some overnight. The temperature only got up to 27º, although for once it happened during the day. There wasn't much wind until lately. There was a ray or two of sunshine while I was knitting this morning, but otherwise it was cloudy. It's snowing in Houghton now, so it may be here, too, but I haven't checked.
When I turned out the light last night, all of a sudden a bright green light shone in my eyes - the lighthouse is in operation again! I guess I didn't mention it, but the light has been out for two or three weeks, and I was beginning to wonder if maybe it was down permanently. I guess not. What I noticed is that it is now much brighter than it was right before it went down, so my guess is that the light itself burned out, and it usually takes a while to get new parts. It was so nice to see that light shining in the windows all night! I get so that I expect to see it, and I missed it while it was off. Now all is well in the harbor again.
The kitties were rather rambunctious while I was knitting this morning, but then they went to sleep. Louie wanted to sleep on me a couple of times today, but I had to make him move both times. Grayson is Grayson. There was some thundering up and down the stairs to the loft that I don't quite understand, but evidently they were having a romp tonight, too.
So it was a quiet day altogether, and while I'd like to do some more reading, I'm not sure what I want to read next. I looked at part 12 of Trine last night, but I'm still not inspired to write that story, so I think maybe I'll haul out one or two of the old binders and reread some of that stuff.
It's a dark, cold, probably snowy night in the field.
December 10 It was after 11:00 when I got to bed last night. I read for a long time, I guess, and then I started fooling around looking at things online. I still haven't figured out why I just don't want to go to bed sometimes. I slept well, with only a couple of wakeups. I didn't get up until after 10:00, so I guess I got enough sleep.
I knitted. I'm a little disappointed that I don't seem to be doing a very good job of keeping the ladders out of the joins between the needles on this pair of socks, but maybe I can manipulate enough that it won't be obvious. I still don't like the way this yarn stripes. All the stripes are about five rows wide on the number of stitches I'm using, and that gets boring, even though it makes it easier to count. I guess I got spoiled by all the stripy socks I've knitted in years past, where the stripes are of varying widths and until you've done one, you never know how they're going to turn out.
That was about all I did. I really need to pay some attention to the kitchen. There are pots and pans and other things all over and the dishwasher needs unloading. I cooked tonight, for the first time in ages. I don't think I've had pork chops since before Grayson came to me, and I just got a hankering for them. Of course, I shouldn't be eating them at all, but I can ignore that every so often. They came out well and they tasted wonderful. The pan is a mess, of course, but soaking it will fix that. And I have something to eat for three more meals. Maybe I won't eat them on three consecutive nights, but we'll see about that.
The weather was just blah again. According to the Road Commission, we had 3" of new snow over the weekend, but that was at Delaware. I'd believe we had 2" on Saturday, from what I saw on the covered road. So the "big storm" was a big bust. It's things like that which get us laughing at the weathermen, and then they'll predict one that will outdo all their predictions. Anyway, the temperature dropped overnight, and it was around 25º or less all day. It was windy overnight, but it was nearly calm all day. It was cloudy and dull, but not quite as dark as the past few days. Blah.
The guys agreed. They had several wrestling matches this morning, but then they went to sleep. Grayson got on my lap while I was waiting for the chops to brown, and Louie got on my lap a couple of times late in the afternoon, but now I think they're both asleep again. At least, Louie is trying to go to sleep under the east window.
So that was another nothing day. My arthritis was bothering me today. I had to go out to the breezeway tonight to get a can of mushroom soup, and I could hardly make it down the steps. It's humid and the barometer is low. The way I feel, I doubt I'll be long out of bed tonight, but one never knows. I may get to reading and just stay up. I should have packages at the post office and the store tomorrow, so I guess I'll have to go out.
Now it's a dark, cloudy and cold night in the field and it will be a good one to sleep in.
December 9 I got to bed not long after 9:00 last night, but not surprisingly it took me a while to get to sleep. Once I started, though, I did pretty well. I was up around 4:00 (for the second time) and when I looked out there were stars. Not very bright ones, and there weren't any over in the west, but still. It was nice to see Polaris for a change.
By the time I got up at 7:00, it had clouded over, and oh, my was it dark! I did my morning thing and I was a little late, but fortunately, I had decided on a costume that didn't take long to get into, so I wasn't too late starting out. It was a good thing, too. The covered road was ugly - they had more snow from the Mountain Lodge to Delaware than we had in the Harbor. So I had to go slowly, and I think it was snowing lightly from Delaware south, so I had a slow trip. Or it seemed slow. I wasn't much later than usual.
Church was nice. We considered Zechariah's song today, and there was communion. I like the Advent hymns, and I like the new hymnal. I stopped to talk to Pastor and Marcy afterwards, so I was late leaving, and I didn't get home until nearly 1:00. There was more snow coming home and the road looked slick. It was snowing up on the mountain, although it wasn't in the Harbor.
It did snow a bit between 10:00 and 1:00, and it started again around 6:00. The lake is singing now, too, so the snow is finally here. The temperature rose overnight and it was around 31º all day. The wind is from the east, and it is beginning to rise. For most of the day, the snow was south of us, so I'm glad we're finally getting some. Of course it was very dark and dreary all day. Sunrise came late and sunset came early. In fact, I think the headlights were on in the car all the time I was out.
We're down to 8½ hours of daylight now, and that will go on until sometime in January. We are at the time of earliest sunset now - 5:00. We still have a way to go before we hit the latest sunrise, and in the meantime sunset will be slowly creeping later. I don't remember why it's skewed that way, but it is. Anyway, even when there is sunshine (ha - when's that?) The days are short and dark.
The kitties are spending most of their time asleep, although Louie wanted to sleep on me late this afternoon. They feel the short days as much as I do.
I ate dinner quite late this evening, for no real reason, and now I want to read for a while longer, so I won't be early to bed tonight. It's all right - Johanna is in Florida getting her parents settled there, so I don't have a massage tomorrow, and I can sleep as long as I want to.
Now it's a dark, snowy night in the field.
December 8 I crashed last night. I was in bed before 9:30, I think, and I slept hard and long. I had fish for dinner, so of course, I was up any number of times, but it didn't keep me awake for long. I woke up around 9:30 and just dozed for half an hour before I got up. Of course that's too much sleep, so I was a bit groggy all day. It was worth it.
I knitted on the socks for a while before I got dressed, and since my whole milk hadn't gone bad and I had an odd egg, I had French toast (my way) for breakfast. Yum. I had gotten some stuff they called lime curd at Pat's a long time ago, so I cracked that open, too. It tastes wonderful, but it has a consistency more like stiff jelly. Anyway, it made my French toast even better. Yum.
Other than that, I didn't do anything except continue to load the dishwasher and wash up some pots and pans. This was an occasion when waiting to wash dishes until I ran out of cat dishes wasn't the best idea. The dishwasher is packed. I will run it tonight.
It was another dull, cloudy day. The temperature was about steady at 26º all day and there wasn't much wind. Around noon or so, I looked outside, and there were lazy little snowflakes coming down, and it continued to snow very lightly (the NWS station didn't see it) for quite a while, long enough to coat the deck and leave a little dusting on the ground. Around sunset, there was a clear band of sky to the southwest, so we sort of saw a sunset, and it looked pretty nice for what they say we'll be getting tomorrow.
It IS going to snow tomorrow. Period. There is a winter storm warning out starting at 10:00 tomorrow morning and going through 7:00 AM Monday. Now all I have to do is see how things are when I get up and decide whether to go to church or not. I'm inclined to go. If I leave between 9:00 and 9:30, as usual, it shouldn't be bad for the trip down, and for the trip back, I can go as slowly as necessary. But we'll have to see how it goes. Everybody knows that at this time of year, all travel is contingent on the weather. I will plan on going and stay loose.
The guys were sleepy today, although Louie wanted to spend a lot more time on my lap than I was willing to let him. Grayson has appropriated the pink chair and he slept all afternoon. I can't blame him.
Now, because it's early, I'm going to read a bit, and then I will totter up to the north end and take my bath and plan on getting to bed early again. It's another dark, cloudy night in the field. The snow is coming...the snow is coming...
December 7 - Pearl Harbor Day I've said this before. I was only about four months old when Pearl Harbor happened, but it colored the first five years of my life and no doubt had a hand in making me what I am. My dad went into the navy in 1943 and was gone for three years, and I suspect he came back with PTSD. So for some of the defining years of my childhood, it was just my mom and me and her parents. There are things about those years I still remember in vivid Technicolor.
I made it into bed by 11:00 last night, and it was a horrible night. It turns out I had managed not to take my evening pills, and the Neurontin not only keeps my toes from being sore, it keeps me from having twitchy legs. So my legs were twitchy all night long, and I didn't get enough sleep. Finally, after 4:00 or so, I slept for a while, but I was awake every two hours or so. I also think I'm coming down with a cold, and my nose was running all night. So tonight I expect to get to bed early and sleep long and hard. I did take my pills tonight!
I got up around 9:30. I didn't have a lot of time to do much except my surfing before I was off to my doctor's appointment. Since it's going to be so long until I can see the rheumatologist (gee, I actually spelled it right the first time!), i am going to try one of the other meds they give for gout, and we'll keep our fingers crossed that it helps. He could tell without my saying so that the thing on my finger is bigger than it was in August. It's so big now that I keep hitting it on things and that makes it sore independent of any gout attacks. So we had a nice conversation and I forgot to mention one of the things I wanted to. I must remember, in the future, to write those things down. Usually I do, but I didn't have time today.
After that, I went off to Pat's and I was surprisingly modest. I was running out of OJ and JD, as usual, as well as some of my noodle dishes. I got home around 3:30, and everything was put away by 4:00. Then the Schwan's guy came and I had to go downstairs. Oh, just what I did not want to do! Now my legs are a mess and I'm really tired. However, I had a nice dinner and I don't think it will be long before I totter up to the north end.
The weather was blah. The temperature went below freezing about 4:00 this morning and stayed there all day, although it got up to about 31º around noon. It was a couple of degrees cooler in town. There was a north breeze in the 10-15 mph range, and it felt damp and chilly outside. It was dark and cloudy all day. Blah. If it's going to be like that, the least it could do is snow. I guess that's coming on Sunday.
Most of the snow is gone in Copper Harbor, but there is still quite a bit in the higher elevations, although it's mostly in the woods. The worst problem I encountered was where it had melted over the road and frozen again, and there wasn't much of that. Snow that is anywhere near the roads is black or brown and ugly. We need a new coat to make it clean again. South of Lake Medora, there was a road crew taking down a tree that came down, possibly partly over the road, but I missed most of the action. It isn't possible to use Cliff Drive anymore. Evidently it's closed about halfway down. I wasn't going to take a chance, even though it was clear and dry.
It's nice to drive around here when there aren't any other cars on the road.
The guys were glad to see me when I got home, and they were very interested in my bags of stuff, but I think I'm beginning to train them to stay away from the doors. At least I was able to lean out and bring in the bags without closing the door in between.
So that is about all I know, and I'm not going to be up very late tonight. I took my pills and I'm exhausted and the bed awaits. It's another dark, dank night in the field, but the wind doesn't seem to be too strong.
December 6 I read for a while and when I went up to the north end I knitted a couple of rows on the socks. I got to bed around 11:00, but I didn't sleep well at all. I had a hard time getting to sleep every time I was up, and after about 7:00 I just dozed. That was partly because Louie crawled all over me and finally settled down beside my head, purring. I know he was hungry, but I didn't want to get up that early. I finally did get up around 8:00, just because he started doing something on the nightstand (I don't know what) and it was clear I wasn't going to get back to sleep.
I wasn't going to jump right up and feed them, though, so I finshed the ribbing and started the legs on the socks. I like the colors - two colors of green and two of aqua - but the stripes are all of just about equal width, which isn't nearly as much fun as when they vary. They will be nice socks, though. The yarn is nice and soft. I'm slowly getting the hang of how to handle the needle and the two yarn ends, but everything still gets tangled up every so often. I've lost the bends in the needle once and I've slipped the stitches off a needle once already. I'll get it down, though. It's a much more efficient way to knit a pair of socks, provided that the yarn comes in two balls or it's a solid. It wouldn't work with one ball of striped yarn and I'm afraid to try it with other multicolors, because the color changes might not be the same from both ends of a ball.
Otherwise, it was a very quiet day, and I didn't do much of anything else.
The weather was dark and dank. I couldn't believe how dark it was when I got up, but of course that was before sunrise. It didn't get any lighter after the sun rose. When I finally got where I could see the west windows, I realized that it was pouring rain, as well as blowing hard. It was windy all night as well, but the wind was from the southwest, so all I could hear was it blowing in the trees. The rain ended around 11:00 and it was just dark and damp for the rest of the afternoon. There was a little more rain between 2:00 and 3:00. The temperature here got up to 39º, where it is now. It was much colder in town, and there was even some snow this morning, although it had all melted by afternoon. I didn't go out. I didn't want to. The wind has now switched around to the northwest, and I hope that lowers the temperature.
The guys had eaten everything in sight by this morning and they were hungry. Particularly Louie was hungry - very hungry. He is not the least bit shy about letting me know when something isn't quite right, especially with his food dishes. When I finally got to the kitchen, I fed them and he ate and ate, and I think he probably ate some more after I filled the dry food bowls later on. I guess Grayson was hungry, too, but he is more patient about things like that. Louie did come and sit on me later and let me know he forgave me.
So that was another quiet day. I have to take a bath tonight so I'm clean for the doctor tomorrow, and I have to get to bed at a reasonable hour so I can get up at a reasonable hour tomorrow and get to Laurium before 1:00. Now it's a dark, breezy night in the field and it should be a good one to sleep - and I hope I can sleep.
December 5 I went up to the north end early (or earlier) last night, but I knitted four rows on the new socks, then I took a bath, so it was about 11:00 when I got to bed. I didn't get up for the first time until nearly 4:00 this morning, so I slept well. I woke up around 9:30 or 10:00, but I didn't feel like getting up, so I actually went back to sleep, albeit fitfully, and I didn't get up until nearly 11:00. Then I knitted some more, so I was really late getting to the studio. I really want to get the ribbing done on the socks so I can get to the easy part.
The only task for the day was to go to the post office, where there was the usual junk, although my property taxes came through. Now i have to figure out how to pay them before the end of the year. I got the damask tablecloth I sent for, too, as well as more of the same (thankfully) dye lot of a yarn I want to make a summer top out of.
I have wanted a round damask tablecloth since I realized my mother never had one, but most of the ones I saw were very expensive. This one was cheap - about $25 - and while it doesn't have the pretty edge patterns the expensive ones do, it has a nice pattern of feathers, and it will do just fine. Every so often (not very often) I want to set a really nice table for just a few people, and I wanted a nice white tablecloth to use. This will do nicely without breaking the bank.
The weather was rather nice, actually. The wind died down overnight, and so did the lake. The temperature bottomed out at 25º between 8:00 and noon, and it has risen slowly ever since, so that now it's 32º. There was hardly any wind. It was actually partly cloudy for most of the day, and I must say it was nice to see sunshine again (what is that bright light hanging over the trees? I don't recognize it). It seems to have clouded up later in the afternoon, so I don't know if I'll see any stars or moon tonight. Evidently there was a little bit of snow overnight, because there was a bit behind the breezeway where the sun doesn't shine, and there was some on the road when I went out - just enough to make it a bit slick.
The guys felt pretty good today. They chased each other down the hallway, and then a couple of minutes later, they were back and Grayson had a shrew in his mouth. He dropped it by my feet, and of course it ran under the stuff beside the toilet, but he caught it, and then he threw it up into the air before it ran under the scale. I went after it, but of course I was too slow and it ran out of the bathroom. A while later, Grayson brought it back, and he wanted to play with it, but it was dead. So I picked it up and disposed of it. If I'd been able to catch it I'd have put it out on the deck, but it was much too fast for me, particularly not long after I got out of bed. I'm so glad they are mousers, but I wish they wouldn't bring them to me. I feel for the poor little critters, too. Anyway, I now know where they're getting in - in the hallway, about under the window onto the porch. It doesn't surprise me that that's the place. In my opinion, that should have been excavated, too, but I was busy being sick when that was going on. Anyway, the guys were rather sleepy after that. It was a lot of activity for them.
So that was another quiet day. I think I'll read for a little while longer, then I hope to get to bed a bit earlier tonight. I feel sort of sleepy right now, but we'll see when I get to bed. By Friday, I have to be getting up at a more reasonable time. Now it's a cloudy night in the field again.
December 4 Oh, I read too long again last night and it was midnight before I got to bed. I slept well, of course, but it was 11:00 before I got up. i sat and finished the scarf, except for weaving in the ends, so I was late getting to the studio.
All I can think that I did today was begin loading the dishwasher and I wove in the ends on the scarf. I cast on Johanna's socks while the talking was going on but I didn't get very far on them. I remember now why I decided not to do any more socks two at a time, but in this case it's worth the aggravation. I do like this colorway - two shades of green, aqua and turquoise. It's bright, but it's pretty.
Late this afternoon Elsebet stopped by with a poinsettia for me. i guess she's still feeling guilty for standing me up on Thanksgiving - not that it bothered me that much. Once it might have, but I've gotten over feeling bad about things like that. Anyway, I appreciate the plant, and it's very pretty. Poinsettias are plants that I have a love-hate relationship with, but they are nice during the holidays. I tend to want to keep them alive, but that's usually not possible, especially the way I take care of plants these days, so I will enjoy this one during the holidays then forget it.
I need to try to get the desk somewhat cleaned off so I can bring out the angels and maybe this year, the glass tree. It's time to "decorate" for Christmas.
The weather was remarkable. It was blowing hard before I got to bed last night, and it blew hard all night long, while the temperature dropped. The temperature dropped from 44º at midnight to 26º between 1:00 and 3:00 this afternoon. The wind was from the northwest, although it has now shifted north. The sustained winds got up to 31 mph late this afternoon, and a couple of times we had gusts up to 41 mph. It was really noisy up at the north end last night. Northwest wind are the ones that hit the corner of the house, and the pounding was so loud I could hardly hear the roaring of the lake. It didn't keep me awake, though - in fact, I sometimes think those kind of noises help me to sleep. of course, with the wind, it was cold around here today, but now the wind has shifted around to the north, so it should be warmer.
The guys were their usual selves. Louie was sleeping on the floor in the bedroom when I got up. It was too cold in the window seat, and apparently Grayson won't let him sleep on the bed, darn it. Grayson did sleep with me from the time I went to bed until the first time I got up in the night, but he sleeps on the other side of the body pillow, around my middle. I heard some spitting last night, and I think Louie is a spitter, although I can't prove who was doing it. Until I had Buster, I'd never heard a cat spit, and sometimes it's hard to tell between that and a sneeze, except for the circumstances. Grayson, of course, was really interested in Elsebet and even Louie came out where she could see him.
So now i think I will read for a little while, but i want to wash my hair tonight. It's a dark, windy night in the field.
December 3 Heh. I was all set to go to bed at a reasonable hour when I pulled out my bead catalog, the one that's over 1" thick. As a result, it was about midnight when I finally turned out the light. I slept well, I must say, with only a couple of wakeups. I got up a bit before 10:30 and I knitted two more repeats on the scarf, so I was late getting to the studio.
When I got here, I discovered that the computer had rebooted itself - successfully, it seems - and then I discovered that the other clocks were off, too. I don't know exactly when it happened, because the bedroom clock never saw it. It was off, but it was running fast, like the battery had kicked in, but the battery in it doesn't work. It was sometime between 7:00 and 10:30, and it didn't last too long. So this afternoon I had to go around and reset clocks. Wouldn't it be nice if every clock was an atomic clock!
The task of the day was the shutters. It was warmer today than it was yesterday, but it was very windy. It wasn't bad out on the deck, though, and the wind blew the dead flies away so they didn't drop on my head like they do sometimes. I took my locks and my little hammer and it didn't take more than 10 minutes. Now it's dark in the hallway again. Sigh. I had to take the hammer because the latches slide into position and since I only work them twice a year, they stick. WD-40 does work, but only for a little while. So I hammer the latches into position and then put the locks in place.
The weather was warm and windy. The temperature has just hit 50º, at 8:00 PM, but it rose all day. The wind has died down some, but this morning we had gusts up to 34 mph from the southwest. Now the wind has shifted to the northwest, but I don't know if it will stay there. There was some wan sunshine this morning that didn't show on the camera, but this afternoon it got dark and cloudy again, so dark that I thought it might rain. I guess it did between 12:00 and 1:00 (I didn't notice anything) and again between 5:00 and 6:00 this afternoon, but there wasn't much. The temperature is supposed to plunge overnight and it might snow tomorrow.
That will be good. All the snow is gone on my property, and I hope the road is in better condition. I doubt they lost everything up in the higher elevations, but I'm afraid it's mostly turned to ice, with the temperature as high as it is now. I guess it's supposed to be iffy for the rest of the week, but then we may get some significant snow.
The guys were sleepy again today. and if I remember correctly, they were both asleep in the window seat when I got up, so whatever was bugging Louie yesterday, he's over it. Louie didn't get to sit on me because I was knitting, so maybe I'll see him before I go to bed.
During the talking, I finished the center of the scarf and started on the border. I think I can finish it tomorrow. That's good. Then I can block it and go on to Johanna's socks. I'm going to do both socks at once, I think. It will take longer than doing one, but not as long as doing them separately, and at least when I'm through they will both be done. I haven't done that in a while, so it will be something to take away the boredom of just doing socks. I got a new shawl pattern the other day that I would love to start, but I think I will make myself work on the Faroese shawl instead and get that done. I have managed to neaten up the laundry room a lot, and I think I can clear off the counter across from the washer enough that I can block long thin things, like scarves and stoles, there. It will be an interesting exercise. I've only blocked round doilies, and I've never used blocking wires before. But I have so many things to block that it's time I started.
Now I think I will read a bit before I totter up to the north end. Its a dark, warm, windy night in the field.
December 2 I made it into bed not long after 9:00 last night - rather amazing, since I read the last section of Geoff Nunberg's book before I took my bath. It's a good book, but it's one that needs to be read as a whole, so I'll probably have to do it again. The interesting thing is, I've heard him enough on Fresh Air that frequently as I was reading, I could actually hear his voice speaking the words. It would be nice to be able to write like that.
I didn't have much trouble getting to sleep and I slept well, with the usual wakeups. I still have a problem with getting up at 7:00. I was up around 5:30, and I could have gotten into a deep sleep if the alarm hadn't gone off. Anyway, I got up and did my thing and got off to church nearly when I wanted to.
Woodland Road is a horrible mess, slushy and icy, but the roads from there to Laurium were fine, a little wet, but no snow and no ice. However, Tamarack Street was just as bad as Woodland, and I had to move my car out of the handicap slot in the church parking lot because when I opened the door, I would have had to get out into a patch of ice. I had to go through Mohawk, because Cliff Drive was ugly, too.
Church was lovely. The church is decorated for Christmas because there was a choral concert there this afternoon (I wish i lived closer!), and the tree is huge and lovely. They decorate it with white lights and Chrismons and it's very pretty. We used the new hymnal, although Pastor isn't quite used to it yet and a few things got left out. The whole service revolved around the Magnificat. Since there wasn't any communion today, we got out early.
I toyed with the idea of stopping at Pat's, but all I really need is booze, and I can get that locally. Besides, I will be in town to see the doctor on Friday, so I can stop then.
The weather was yucky again, although it didn't rain. The temperature got up to 40º here and a few degrees cooler in town. There wasn't any wind. It was very humid and there was a little fog on the way to town. It was very dark and cloudy except for a couple of wan rays of sunshine between noon and 2:00. Yuck.
We have lost quite a bit of our snow. While Woodland Road is a mess, my driveway is clear and dry. From the Mountain Lodge through Calumet, where they had a lot more snow than we did, there is still quite a bit on the ground, so maybe the base will last through this thaw.
The guys were sleepy all day, and Louie wanted to sit on me a lot. I had to boot him off when I went to make my dinner. Then they had some kind of altercation which made someone, Grayson, I think, yell as loudly as I've heard them. I'm afraid Louie is trying to assert himself, and Grayson just is not a fighter, or at least not most of the time. The sad fact is that multiple male cats (even altered males) in a household isn't the best idea in the world, especially when one is much larger than the other.
Now I will read a bit, then I will try to get to bed at a somewhat reasonable hour. I was so sleepy this afternoon that i almost went and laid down. It's a cloudy, dark, dank night in the field.
December 1 Wow, I can hardly believe that 2012 is almost over! Good thing I hadn't expected to accomplish anything, because I sure haven't.
I read for too long last night. I got to an interesting part of the story and I just kept on reading. I was only up twice, and I got up around 10:30, I think. Then I knitted two repeats on the scarf, so I was very late getting to the studio.
However, I only have four more repeats plus the border to do and I'll be done with this thing, except to block it. Then I can get at Johanna's socks. I'm toying with the idea of knitting both socks at once, just to try to get done with them as quickly as I can. It's not that I don't want to do them for her, it's just that they aren't lace, so they'll be boring. If I do both at once, maybe it won't be quite so boring. Hmm...
I was so late that I didn't do anything today. I do have to wash dishes tonight, so I'll be finishing the loading of the dishwasher before I go up to the north end to take my bath.
It was a dark, dreary day again. The temperature got up to 39º (so far), so a lot of the snow melted. Then sometime after 4:00 it started to rain, so even more snow is gone. Sigh. Actually, it's good - most everything is gone from the deck, so tomorrow I will have to get out there and pull down the shutters. It was quite windy, too, with gusts up to 33 mph from the southwest. Not a nice day, and a good one to hunker down inside.
That's what the guys did, although they were active this morning. I'm afraid that Grayson may have started something, and now Louie goes after him a lot. Grayson isn't a fighter, and most of the time he just goes someplace Louie won't, like on a counter or under my feet. I don't like to see this happening, but there isn't anything much I can do about it. They have to figure it out between them.
I hope to get to bed early, with the idea of going to church tomorrow. I think I can make it, but after the 15th of November, I always hedge my bets, because I never know what the weather and the roads will be like. Tomorrow is the first Sunday in Advent, and we will be using the new hymnal for the first time, so I really want to go! Now it's a dark, damp night in the field and it will be a good one to sleep. Last updated 01/01/13 08:22 PM
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