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A View From the Field |
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October, 2013 October 31 - Reformation Day It was ridiculously late when I got to bed this morning, so it was 11:00 or so before I got up. I knitted, so I was late getting to the studio.
I did manage to do one thing, though: I began to load the dishwasher, so the sink is empty for a change. Imagine that!
I was so late, and I ate so late, that I didn't eat before I left for choir. That was an interesting trip. If you looked at the camera today, you saw that it was very foggy. Then it began to rain. It was extremely foggy down to Delaware when I left, and when I came back, it was very foggy all the way until I got back to the Harbor. It's been a long time since I've driven at night in the fog, and it wasn't fun. I had to go quite slowly because of the curves, and I couldn't use my bright headlights at all. it took me an hour to get home.
So then I made some dinner and a nice JD, and I've been relaxing ever since. My rules for not going don't include fog, but I was glad that the bad trip was the return one. I don't care when I get home. I guess probably Grayson and Louie care, but I don't.
Like I said, it was foggy all day. The high temperature was 48º. but it was nearly steady overnight until 11:00 this morning. Then it began to fall off ever so slowly, until now it's 45º. There was no wind. We had about a quater inch of rain, altogether, The rain was as spotty as the fog was.
There were a lot of kids out when I went down, and one thing I noticed was that none of them had anything reflective on their costumes. I think that's a mistake, particularly in these parts. I also noticed that the parents are really lazy. Instead of going around with their kids, like they used to do, they sit in their cars and watch them. Humph. Of course, when I was a kid, after we moved to the better parts of town when I was 8, we went by ourselves. I'm sure they don't do that now, even there.
The guys were very sleepy today, not surprisingly. Louie got some lap time, and so did Grayson.
So that was another quiet day, and maybe I can get to bed a little earlier tonight. I didn't get my full quota of sleep last night, and I'm tired. but I want to finish my drink and I don't like to go to bed on a full stomach. So we'll see.
It's a warmish, dampish, nasty night in the field.
October 30 Well, of course I didn't. I read for entirely too long and it was very late when I got to bed. Sigh. I didn't get up until around 11:30, and I knitted, so I was late getting to the studio.
Surfing was very frustrating. I doubt I was getting dial-up speeds for most of the day, and then late in the afternoon, my internet connection went away altogether. It finally came back, and Jon was kind enough to call me and explain. Somebody ran into the tower at the Mountain Lodge (I think I may have mentioned that), and they decided that while they were waiting for somebody to fix it, they would replace the equipment there, so that when everything is in place, we will have a much stronger, faster signal. Well, of course, one piece of equipment had problems and it took them until this evening to get them resolved. I will probably lose my signal on Friday, too, because I'm connected through the last piece they are replacing. Oh, the joys of running a network! While on one hand, I wish I could help them, on the other, I'm glad it's their problem and not mine.
Anyway, I did manage to get my surfing done before the signal went away, but I didn't do much else. The dishwasher is unloaded, and that's about it.
The weather was blah, or maybe yuck. The temperature has finally risen to 45º, but it was in the low 40s for most of the day. There wasn't much wind. Late this afternoon, it got foggy. Of course, it's very humid, No wonder I ache all over.
The guys were very sleepy all day. Louie slept on my lap for quite a while, until I had to chase him away. Grayson wanted to sit on me, but he won't stay if I start to move around. I can't blame them; I should be sleeping, too.
Now it's a dark, foggy night in the field, but it is a little warmer than it has been lately.
October 29 Well, I didn't make it. I was reading, and the music was so nice, and it was 11:30 before I got to bed, with no bath. Sigh. I went right to sleep, but around 2:00, I had to get up, and I didn't sleep well for the rest of the night. I don't know quite why. My shins were bothering me, but if I had been able to go to sleep, it wouldn't have mattered. I got up around 9:00 anyway, and I knitted.
i had sort of an accident, because I was too engrossed in what I was doing, and I did do something else, but now I can't remember what. My mind... Mostly it was a quiet day.
The weather was cold. There was frost on the north side of the breezeway and the garage when I got up, and the high temperature for the day was only 39º. That's way under the average high for the day, The good thing was that as the day went on, the humidity dropped. I should feel better if it stays that way. There wasn't much wind, and there was some sunshine, even though it didn't show on the camera. The sunshine was nice, except that the sun is now so far south that it is shining in my eyes during the middle of the day, which makes it hard to see anything.
The guys were subdued for most of the day. Louie got some lap time, although he was partly responsible for my accident. Grayson wafted in and out. One time when I was up during the night, he began to play with the wire antenna from the clock/radio in the bathroom, and he somehow managed to knock the radio off the counter, which startled me, since I didn't really know he was there and even though I heard small noises, I didn't know what he was doing. That scared him enough that he behaved himself after that. He didn't get any lap time, but he did get some pets. He has a mischievous streak in him that occasionally comes out in something he knows he shouldn't be doing.
So that was another quiet day, and while I will read a little bit tonight, I intend to be in bed at a reasonable hour with clean hair. We'll see. It's a cloudy, cold night in the field.
October 28 So last night I crashed at about 9:30. I slept well, although I was awake several times, and I didn't get up until 10:00. I felt better today, but my body still aches and my legs hurt even more than usual. So I did almost nothing but go to the post office.
I am sorry to report that the catalog tsunami is starting, but as it turned out when I looked at the very large amount of mail I got, most of it was magazines I subscribe to, and some of my favorites came. And a couple of bills, of course. And the annual inundation of pleas for money is starting. Gee, how I wish I could send those people something! As it is, it will be hard to get through the end of the year. Sigh.
The weather was cold - really cold. The wind died down overnight, but the temperature all day long was close to our average minimum, 34º, until 8:00, when it dropped off and is now 27º. Brr. It was cloudy all day, until late in the afternoon, and it was nearly clear at sunset. When I went to get my dinner, Venus was shining over the Mountain Lodge like a beacon, absolutely steady. It's very low in the sky, but it's still so bright and pretty.
The guys were a little more active today, although they slept during the middle of the day, as usual. Louie got to sleep on my lap for a long time, and I think Grayson got some lap time, too. The newest thing is boxes. I put a very small box on the floor a week or so ago, and Louie immediately got in it and began chewing on the edges of the flaps (don't ask me). I picked it up after a while, but I put it down again this afternoon, and while I was eating, I heard some scuffling behind me, and when I looked, Grayson was in the box. So I put down another one, a little bigger, and Louie is now in that one. After chewing on the flaps for a while, he has now settled down. I just don't understand the attraction cats have for boxes that are too small for them. Back in the old days, we used to say that cats liked cardboard because they stuck them together with fish glue. I hardly think that's still the case, but maybe so. Grayson doesn't like to chew on them, I don't think, but then, Louie has some strange tastes anyway. Now Louie is curled up in the bigger box, looking quite comfortable.
So that was my quiet day. I think I will read a bit before I toddle up to the north end. I want to wash my hair tonight. I am still struggling with my oily scalp, and washing my hair more frequently will help that. Also, taking a hot bath before I crawl into bed warms me up nicely, and it's bound to be cool in the bedroom tonight. I'm still struggling with my cellulitis, too, but it may be beginning to respond to the ointment. Now all I have to do is make the tube last a couple of weeks, and I should be all right.
It's a clear, cold, cold night in the field.
October 27 I managed to diddle around enough that it was a bit after 10:00 before I got to bed, and then I had a hard time sleeping. Part of it was that there were songs going through my head - the one we sang today and "O Holy Night" for some reason I don't understand. Eventually I did get some sleep, but not nearly enough. I woke up right before the alarm went off, although I think there was a strange "beep" from the alarm, one of those things I'm not sure whether it came from the clock or from my head.
I still didn't get away until after I wanted to, because I was moving slowly. I got to church in time. It's one reason I like to leave around 9:15 for a 10:30 service. It was Reformation Sunday, and Pastor had a good sermon. We sang, but we flubbed the second verse, in spite of all the practice we had on Thursday. If only we had a way to go over things right before church...I don't think most of the congregation knew it, and they do seem to like having a choir, small as we are.
I decided I'd better go to Pat's after church. I was running out of bread, and I wanted to see if I could get some fish. The last time I was there, they only had farmed salmon and tuna. Yuck. Today they had fresh whitefish - yum! I didn't have it tonight, because I had a late lunch and besides my tummy is acting strangely. Anyway, by the time I got out of there, my feet were killing me, as were my back and my knees.
When I got home, I had to bring all the stuff in the house and put it all away, so it was late when I ate my lunch. Finally, I got to sit down, and i didn't move very much for the rest of the afternoon, until my legs started to get twitchy. Then I made a light meal, and I will not be up very late tonight.
Part of the problem with my feet is that I've grown out of my shoes. I had already gone from an 11B when I retired to a 12D, and now it seems like I will have to have a 12E. The trouble with that is, they're expensive, and my finances are rather precarious these days. I cannot believe the prices of reasonably good shoes these days! I will have to break down and get at least one pair - probably black - or I won't be able to walk at all in anything but my Crocs. Oh, sigh. It's always something.
It was not a nice day. It was cold and dark all day long, with a high temperature of only 41º. There wasn't a lot of wind, which is good. On my way to church, I went through a snow and sleet squall down around Phoenix and there was snow on the ground around Cliff Drive. It drizzled on the way home, too. The high humidity is one reason I hurt so bad. Anyway, it was very cloudy and dull, and around 4:00 it started to rain again here, and it's been raining lightly ever since. Nasty.
The guys spent the day the way they do most nasty days - asleep. Grayson had to come and see what I was doing out in the breezeway, and late this afternoon, he came and sat on my lap and got a nice petting. Louie tried once, while I was eating, to sit on me, but then he went away and went to sleep and I only saw him briefly while I was getting my dinner. They were wise to sleep this day away.
Now I am very tired, but I will read a bit before I totter up to the north end and crash. It's a dark, cold, rainy night in the field. October 26 Oh, it was another late night. First there was the Mozart and then there was some Schubert and some other nice stuff, and I finally had to tear myself away. I slept well and I got up around 10:00, I think. That wasn't enough sleep, but I want to be able to sleep tonight, so I got up. I knitted, of course. I'm down to the last 14 rows, so pretty soon I'll have to research what kind of edging I want to put on.
Today was washday and pill dispenser day. The last load is in the washer, probably done now, and I have filled the dispensers in the studio. I am writing this early because I have to fill the dispensers at the north end and take a bath and I want to get to bed early. I'm tired and I'm not seeing too well. Oh, yes, and i also filled the dishwasher and it is almost ready to run tonight. Geez, everything happened at once! I should have washed dishes last night, but I needed to put all the dishes in the dishwasher and I didn't feel like it.
It was a wild and hairy night in the field. The wind was so strong that I could hear it banging on the house, even though it was from the north. I think the highest gusts were around 43 mph, in the middle of the night, of course. Even when I got up, the lake was singing tenor and there were breakers on my beach. The temperature dropped steadily all night, and it was in the upper 30s all day. We had one rain squall in the morning, but no more precip, even though it got dark periodically - and then the sun would come out. Love it. The wind is dying down now, although it's certainly not calm. The lake is dying down, too.
The guys were rather rambunctious this morning, and I think it was because the dishes of food they like were empty. Grayson likes tuna, but Louie apparently doesn't. Well, Louie is older, and he was used to dry food, so I guess I understand it. Louie bugged me all day until he finally got some lap time. Grayson wasn't so much in evidence, but he seemed happy when I finally filled his dishes. i guess I can just feed them one kind of dry food, but they're going to have to eat the rest of what I have before then. I don't want it to go to waste.
I was washing all afternoon, but I also read and played while I was waiting. Now I have several things to do before I get to bed: the dishwasher, put the last load of clothes in the dryer, fill the pill dispensers and take a bath, and that's after I finish my drink. So I probably won't be too early after all. Now it's a dark, cold, windy night in the field, but the lake will sing me to sleep.
October 25 Well, I didn't. It was 1:00 before I got to bed. Of course, I slept well, with two wakeups. I woke up again around 9:00 and decided to get up, so I'm tired. I knitted, and this morning's rows didn't take as long - just about an hour.
And that was about all I did. I even forgot to go to the post office. I'm not quite sure why, although there was a lot of mail to read. Oh, well.
The weather was good to be inside for. The wind had died down enough that I could hear the bell buoy while I was knitting, but it picked up later. The temperature got down to 36º around 10:00, and it has been rising slowly, until now it's 44º. The wind has risen, too, with gusts up to 27 mph from the west-southwest, although the last reading said it was variable, which I take to mean it's in the process of switching around to the north. We are going to have a blow over the next day or so. The skies were partly to mostly cloudy, although about the time I got up, there was some sunshine on the mountain, which hasn't quite gotten to its peak colors yet. We also had a rain shower between 12:00 and 1:00 PM - not much rain, but some wind.
I didn't see much of the guys. They slept together on the mat in the bathroom while I knitted, and Louie got his tummy rub, but I haven't seen much of Grayson. They don't think much of this weather, so they sleep through it. Good idea.
So now I will read for a while. I won't be able to go to sleep, because they are playing Mozart's Requiem and of course I have to hear that. It's a dark, cold, windy night in the field.
October 24 For one reason or another, it was midnight before I got to bed. I slept well, though, and when I woke up around 9:00 I decided to get up. I knitted , and at ;east today. the two rows took almost an hour and a half.
I didn't do anything much else, but this week I remembered that I have to eat shortly after 5:00 in order to get out of here in time for choir. i made it without any problem, but I still don't know how early other people get there, because most of them were there before me. Our alto was missing, but the practice went well, ultimately. We are actually going to sing the middle verse of our anthem a capella! The only problem we had with that was that the sopranos didn't know exactly when to come in to start the verse, so we had to practice it any number of times to (I hope) get it right. Stay tuned till Sunday, and we'll see.
On my way home, I ran into a couple of snow squalls, one, around Phoenix, quite heavy. Ah, the weather. It was a good time to stay in. The high temperature was 42º, briefly, but for most of the day it was around 40º. There was a moderate north wind, around 20 mph with some gusts up to 27 mph. It was dark and cloudy, and when I got up this morning, I think it was raining. Yuck.
The guys were sleepy, but they both got some lap time, asleep. I have the feeling they know I'm going away on Thursday night and they don't want me to.
So that's about all I know. I will read a bit tonight, while I finish my drink, but I think I can keep it from getting really late. My eyes have been acting gluey all day, so reading isn't helping. And I have the cellulitis back on both shins. Oh, sigh. Now it's a dark, cold, damp night in the field.
October 23 Last night I took myself in hand and I turned out the light around 10:00. I was up several times. The last time was around 7:30, and that seemed too early, and the next time I woke up was 11:00. Whew! I guess i really was tired. I did feel much better today.
I knitted, for the first time since Saturday. These last 20 or so rows are going to be hard, because they're so long. I had to splice in a new ball today, and I've found a better way to do it, although I haven't perfected the technique yet. I got my two extra balls of yarn the other day, and much to my surprise, they are the same dye lot as the originals. I was relieved. I got them (I don't know if I mentioned this) because I decided I didn't like the way the pattern ended, just with two rows of garter stitch. in my opinion, there needs to be a lower edging. Now all I have to do is choose one. Fortunately, I have several sources to look at to decide. It will probably be a simple saw-tooth, all open, and either 12 or 16 rows long. However, I have quite some time before I have to chose.
While my dinner was in the microwave tonight, I actually got all the trash collected up and into an orange bag. I can't believe it, but i can walk around in the kitchen again. Amazing. I still have to clean out the fridge, but at least the floor and the counters are clear of trash.
The weather was best ignored. The high temperature was actually overnight; it was in the upper 30s all day today. The wind is still strong, from the north, and we had gusts up to 29 mph this morning. It was dark and cloudy all day and there were periodic snow or sleet showers, none of which registered at the NWS station. All I know is there was snow in the valley and at least once I looked out to see flakes coming down.
Today was Louie's day. He slept on my lap for a couple of hours this afternoon. I didn't see much of Grayson at all, although he wanted to sit on me just as I wanted to start typing. I do know he slept in the ugly chair for a good part of the afternoon. It was a good day to do that.
Now I have to wash my hair tonight, since it looks like my head was anointed with oil, and I hope to get to bed relatively early again. This is good weather to sleep, and that's what I want to do. It's a dark, windy, cold night in the field.
October 22 I was so beguiled by my new monitor that I didn't want to leave it, so it was ridiculously late when I finally went go bed. I looked at all the pretty pictures I missed on the Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) while the government was shut down, I looked at a bunch of other of my online sites, and I read a lot. Oh, it's a wonderful gizmo and I'm very glad I have it. I found this afternoon that there is some glare when the sun is out, but it's not more than I've had with other monitors I've coped with. Certainly not so much that I'd react like some people who wrote reviews on Amazon.
Anyway, i woke up around 10:30 and decided that was too early to get up, but before I could, my friend Rick called. In fact, I didn't even have a chance to pee or get a drink of water, and we talked for an hour and a half or so. I really had to go to the bathroom by then! So I got dressed (no knitting) and began to make my breakfast and Debbie called. Geez! I got my cordless phone, finished making my breakfast, and talked to her for an hour. There's good news there: she has found a 9 to 5 job that pays a lot more than she was making in retail. I was so glad to hear that. And the court case against the woman who smashed her and her car last spring has finally gone to court. That's an interesting saga, and I said she should write a book about it.
Anyway, then I stopped talking, and after I cleaned up from my accident, I was able to do my surfing in peace. I still love my monitor. I can SEE, at last! I hope my eyesight doesn't get very much worse, because I can't afford (and I don't have room for) a monitor that's any bigger.
It was a good day to hunker down, talk to good friends and hibernate. After I got up, we had a couple of wet snow squalls, and there were more during the afternoon. There was no accumulation except in the valley between the garage and the breezeway. The high temperature (such as it was) was 41º until about 10:00, then it began to drop off slowly, and it's been in the upper 30s for the rest of the day. The wind was very strong, with gusts up to 39 mph (at 6:00 AM) from the north and the lake has been singing loudly since last night. I noticed that the lake traffic has dropped off, and there have been ships in Bete Gris and sneaking around the end of Keweenaw Point. It was dull and gray, even when it wasn't snowing (or dropping sleet or graupel) on on us, except that at least once, I saw some blue sky amid the fluffy gray lake effect clouds. I didn't stick my nose outside. I didn't want to.
The guys didn't want to, either. They slept. Louie got some lap time, until he started playing with the string on my hoodie and booted him off. I didn't see much of Grayson at all except when I went into the kitchen, and after I filled the dry food bowls, he went away again. Good idea.
Tonight I am not going to stay up late. I will read for a while, but I have not gotten enough sleep for the past three nights and I need to crash. Besides, I have my cellulitis back for sure, and that bothers me. Now it's a dark, cold, windy night in the field, a good one to crash.
October 21 I have my new monitor, and oh, my is it wonderful!
I read too long last night, of course, and it was after midnight when I got to bed. I was up several times, unfortunately, the last time around 8:00, which was just too early. I did go back to sleep, but I woke up around 9:00, and I decided I'd better get up, but I was slow, and I had to spend some time in the powder room before I was off to my massage. I must say I feel much better. She worked the last stiffness out of my neck and my back, so I've been much more comfortable. The bad news is that I have the cellulitis back. It's not bad yet, so I will be trying to treat it and hope it doesn't get out of hand again. Oh, sigh.
Anyway, my monitor came before I was through doing my surfing, but as soon as I could, I unplugged the old one and uncrated the new one. I now have wires all over the desk again, but when I plugged in the HDMI cable and the power, it came right up and it is beautiful! It's a 27" diagonal screen, 1920 x 1080, and everything is so much bigger! I'm sure I won't be craning my neck and getting stiff necks again. The colors might not be quite as saturated as the old one, but they are good, and I adjusted them a bit. I think using the HDMI is making things crisper, too, which will be a help with my seeing. I haven't done all my surfing yet, but I tried several things, and they all were fine. Of course the stuff that uses Flash still doesn't work right, but I think that's a problem with Flash, not the monitor or the resolution. It was an expensive thing, but I'm so glad I had an excuse to get it!
The one thing that worried me was that several people who reviewed it on Amazon mentioned glare from the glass that covers the screen (not a bad thing - it will be much easier to keep clean), but while I was using the laptop, I realized that it has glass over the screen and I've never had much problem with that. I'm not having any problem with this one, either. I don't know where the people who complained have their screens, but I doubt that few people have more windows than I do, and while I don't know what may happen when (or maybe IF) the sun comes out, but it was bright this afternoon, and I didn't have any problems. I like it. I like it.
It was a good day to stay inside and I was sorry to have to go out. While I was at Johanna's, we had a brief, heavy fall of snow pellets, after it rained almost all night. There was a little more precip (I don't know what) between 8:00 and 9:00. The high temperature for the day was 43º, at 8:00 this morning, and it has been falling slowly all day. Now it's 33º (or 32.9º by my thermometer), so we may get some snow rather than rain overnight. If you believe Duluth, we could have a lot of snow overnight, and there is a snow warning out, but Marquette doesn't think that. We also had strong winds, with gusts up to 30 mph. The wind was from the north this morning, but it has now shifted to the west. There is a mix of rain and snow around us now, and it's snowing at the airport. Oh, it's time. Sigh.
The guys were sleepy, of course, with the weather the way it was. They were not happy when I went off this morning, but they were OK when I came back. When I went to get my packages, Grayson was looking out the door while I opened the boxes, but he went off when I started fiddling around on the desk. He did sniff the new monitor, just to find out what it was about. Now they are both asleep again. Good idea.
I didn't get nearly enough sleep last night and I really didn't want to get up this morning, so I should go to bed early tonight, and maybe I will, although not too early, because it isn't. On the other hand, it's so nice to be able to see clearly what I'm doing on the computer that it's a great temptation to just sit and read, because I can. I have the feeling that the old monitor was going bad for some time, which is how I got the stiff neck, and while the laptop has a big screen for its type, it's only about a 17" diagonal, so everything was small. I can't fully express how wonderful it is to be able to really see what I'm doing! The only thing now is that I will have to try to decide who to put on to help me get it properly wired. I can't get under the desk, and I seem to have lost my long reach tool, so fishing all those wires through the hole at the back of the desk is going to require some help. Well, we'll see.
Now it's a cold, rainy, or maybe snowy, night in the field, and I'm tired.
October 20 So I turned out the light by 9:15 last night, but I didn't sleep very well. For one thing, I had a song in my head and it wouldn't go away. It wasn't one of the ones we sang today, unfortunately. Anyway, when I went to bed I was gassy and it wasn't until I got rid of that that I slept much at all. Then i had to walk around 5:00 and I never did get back to sleep, although I dozed. So I got up before the alarm went off. I hate to get up in the dark!
I was still a bit late getting off to church, and I don't know why. It was a slow drive, because the road down to Delaware was wet and the temperature went from 31º to 38º, so I wasn't sure if it might be slippery. It actually wasn't. It was also so humid that there as patchy - and I mean really patchy - fog. When I left the harbor, the sun was shining, but around Phoenix, I ran into a short, heavy rain shower.
I made it to church in time, actually, but I like to have a little more time to collect myself. It was nice, and Pastor's sermon was a very good one. The choir was OK. The first song we sang was fine, but I thought we sounded a little weak in the second one, although the soloist was fine.
Since there was no communion, we got out early and i was off to the gas station. That's the only disadvantage of going to town twice a week: I use a lot more gas. I think I got home around 1:00, and I didn't do much of anything except read for the rest of the afternoon. I am still tired, and I hope not to be up too late tonight.
The weather was variable. The high temperature was 46º, and it was 45º for most of the afternoon, with no wind at all. While the NWS station didn't report any rain, my deck is wet, so I think it drizzled, which it was doing when I got home. The sky was fun to watch. There were high, featureless clouds with puffy cumulous ones underneath that looked suspiciously like snow clouds to me, although there was no precip. I was glad to be inside.
The guys were sleepy, but Grayson did not want me to leave this morning, and he sat on my lap and purred until I started to sneeze. Poor little Grayson. He is so afraid I will go away and leave him. He got some more lap time later, and so did Louie, but I had to get up on Louie, so he didn't get his share.
On my way through Copper Harbor, I ran across Margaret walking her dogs, so I stopped in the middle of the street and we had a nice conversation until a camper came up behind me. That's one of the things I love about Copper Harbor: you can stop your car in the middle of US-41 and have a conversation with a friend. Doing that even on a residential street in the big city would probably get you a ticket, if it didn't get you shot.
So now I will read a while longer and try to get to bed early. It's a cold, humid night in the field. October 19 Well, last night, I got to bed around 11:30, which, while not early, was a lot earlier than I have been all this week. I finished Trine 9 and it just seemed too late to start the next episode, so I didn't. I had to get the dishwasher ready to run, and that took a while, because I had a large load, but eventually I made it up to the north end. I slept, but I was up several times, due to the fish, no doubt. I was up before moonset and the full moon was setting over Porter Island, so bright and pretty. It was cloudy again by the time I got up.
I got up around 9:30 (I think) and I knitted. Those rows are getting really long now. Otherwise, I didn't do much of anything today. I don't feel like I had enough sleep and since it's still humid and cool, I hurt. So I spent the afternoon reading.
Well, not quite. When I got to the computers, the desktop had lost the driver for the camera, so I had to reboot it and fiddle a while before I got everything back together. Windows 7 is a lot better than ME, but it isn't bug-proof. I finally figured out how to configure the laptop so it wouldn't go to sleep and log me out of the desktop, so that was good. Now all I have to remember is to change the power settings if I take it away from the studio.
The weather was cool but seasonal. It got up to 46º, but then we had a short rain shower and it dropped off for an hour or so before it recovered a bit. Even in the rain, there wasn't very much wind. The rain cell came up from th south, and I was watching that big, black cloud while it came toward us. I think it only rainde for 15 minutes or so, and at the end, the sun came out and we had a nice rainbow over in the east. Unfortunately, it wasn't in a position where I could take a picture, since it was low in the sky and mostly behind some of my trees. It was pretty. It's been a while since we've had a rainbow. Now there is more sunshine, but I guess the clear-ish skies are going to end by midnight, and they say the temperature will be getting down into the 30s. Some forecasts have the "s" word in them, although the Weather Underground doesn't think that will happen, just a lot of cold rain. Well, we need the rain, and the leaves are way past peak.
The guys were so sleepy all day. I didn't see Louie after I left the north end, and I only saw Grayson a little bit. I could have slept, too.
I'm writing thie quite early because I hope to go to bed early, but we'll see. I don't feel like I got enough sleep last night, but if I'd gone back to sleep when I got up this morning, heaven knows when I would have gotten up, and I need to sleep tonight.
Now it's a cold, partly cloudy, humid evening in the field.
October 18 Well, I wasn't exactly early last night, but I was earlier than I have been lately. I slept well and I got up around 10:30, I think. It was cloudy overnight, but the nearly full moon on the clouds made it nice and light. I knitted, and the rows are getting long enough that it was after noon when I finally made it to the studio.
I did my surfing, and I went to the post office and to the store. I had to go to the store because when I got home from shopping last Sunday, I completely forgot about the half-gallon of milk in the bottom of one bag. When I opened it yesterday, it exploded all over everything and I had to grind up the contents like solid food. Yuck. Anyway, all that took up my afternoon.
The weather wasn't exactly nice. The temperature was about 46º for most of the day before it started dropping off slowly, and it is now 43º. It was cloudy, and between 3:00 and 6:00 it drizzled, so it has been very humid. Not good for my joints.
The guys were sleepy all day, but they both got some lap time. I don't blame them; I could sleep, too.
All the stuff I bought yesterday has shipped, so I should get several packages on Monday. I am really looking forward to that monitor. The laptop screen is small enough that I find it hard to see and it isn't dong my neck any good. Fortunately, I have an appointment with Johanna on Monday, and she'll help.
Now I am going to read for a while, as usual, and then I will go and crash, I hope fairly early, although I'm reading one of the parts of Trine that I really like, so we'll see. It's a dark, cloudy and damp night in the field.
October 17 Ooh, nasty. I was minding my own business last night and reading when all of a sudden the screen went black. I fiddled a bit and it came back, but a while later it went blank again...a couple more times before it wouldn't budge. I tried a bunch of things, including rebooting, and nothing worked. Oh, woe! So I fired up the laptop and then I had to download a new version of Norton (!) and the Windows updates I'd forgotten to download earlier. When I was finally able to use LogMeIn to get on the desktop, the display was there, so the computer was OK. I fiddled some more and then I sat and read for a long time before I finally shut the laptop down and went to bed, after I took a bath, of course. Sigh.
I was awake around 8:00, and Louie made a real pest of himself, until I finally booted him out and shut the bedroom door. Then I had to let Grayson out, too - he was under the bed. After that, I went back to sleep and I didn't get up until around 11:00 and I knitted - 500 stitches.
When I got back to the studio, the monitor still wouldn't work, so I used LogMeIn to do some of my morning surfing. Then I fiddled with the monitor some more. Last night, I looked at the laptop, and there is a VGA port on it, so I disconnected the monitor from the desktop and plugged it into the laptop. The desktop knew when the monitor was disconnected and the laptop knew when it was connected to it, but there was nothing on the screen. Oh, woe. There seems to be something possibly wrong with either my mouse and my keyboard or my USB connections, but I'm still working through that. Let me get the monitor back, and I'll investigate that more carefully.
So I did the rest of my surfing and then I went out to Amazon and spent a whole lot of time looking at monitors. I selected one that sounds good - unfortunately, it's one of the more expensive ones, but I didn't like the problems people had with the cheaper ones - and ordered it. Then I fired off an email to my friend Rick, who is also a geek, just to make sure I'm not making a big mistake. Just what I did not need right now was a dead peripheral! Ya gotta have a monitor to use a computer. I am very disappointed in the one that is apparently dead. It can't be more then five years old, and I would expect LCD monitors to last longer than that, especially considering what I paid for it.
So that took most of the afternoon. I was sort of relaxing and lstening to the talking when I realized it was 5:30 and I hadn't eaten, so I threw together something, but I didn't have time to do more than eat a few mouthfuls before I had to run away to choir practice. I do like to sing. When I got home, I warmed up my rice and chicken and I've just finished eating it. So I'll be late tonight, too. Sigh.
The weather was blah. I was awake around 6:00 and the almost-full moon was setting over the harbor, and it was clear. By the time i hauled myself out of bed for good, it had clouded up. I don't know what the temperature overnight was, because the NWS station was still not reporting temperature until around 2:00 this afternoon. The high today was 51º. There wasn't any wind to speak of. It was a gray, blah day.
Louie was a pest this morning, but once I did get up, he went to sleep in the bathroom. All their food wasn't gone, but he doesn't like that kind very well. He was happy once I got up, and I think he ate some of the canned stuff. For the rest of the day, I didn't see much of them, although I had to chase Grayson away, because he wanted to sit on the keyboard of the laptop, which is a no when I'm using it. He was sitting at the door when I came home.
This is not the best way to run a computer. I had some problems with accessing Amazon on the desktop through LogMeIn, and I' m not sure if that was the problem or there was a slowdown. I am only using the screen of the laptop most of the time and using the keyboard and the mouse on the desktop for most things. I had to use the laptop for a few minutes a while ago when the mouse on the desktop seemed to hang up. I fear it might be a cable problem. I hope it's that and not my USB ports! That would be ugly. Right now, it's working, but we'll see. I hate computer problems. I always did, and I had to deal with them for 34 years. I'd hoped maybe they had become more reliable, but I guess not, eh?
So that was my day, and now I will have a nice bowl of ice cream (not to mention my JS) and read for a while. It's a dark, cool night in the field and there may be some rain.
October 16 I was late again last night, and I slept very well. I got up around 10:30 and I knitted. That took long enough that I didn't do much of anything else.
The weather was not very nice again. When I went to bed last night, the lake was singing loudly, and we had had 38 mph gusts from the east. That was the high, but it was windy and nasty until around noon, when the wind died down. The high temperature for the day may have been 46º, although the NWS station stopped reporting the temperature early this morning, so it's hard to say. It was cloudy and nasty all day, although it stopped raining by 1:00 AM. Late in the day, it began to clear up, and when I went to get my dinner, the gibbous moon was shining brightly and reflecting in the windows. I didn't stick my nose outside.
The guys were full of energy this morning, but they finally went to sleep. Grayson slept on my lap for a long time this afternoon. Louie got some lap time, but this was Grayson's day.
I reset the startup time for the camera tonight, and I now have the lights on in the studio. The day is now 10h 49m and getting shorter by over 3 minutes a day. Sigh. It's the only thing I hate about winter.
So that was another lost day, and tonight I have to take a bath, no matter when I get up to the north end. It's a cold, clear night in the field.
October 15 I read too long last night again, but I made up for it by not getting up until 11:30. i knitted, so it was 1:30 before I got to the studio, and then I discovered that I had no Internet connection. I did several things before I called PastyNet (memo to self: call first), and then I discovered that there had been a major fiber cut that might not get fixed until "close of business." Oh, how I remember those nasty words! So I read, and it all came back around 6:00.
All I did was read my email, of which there was a lot, and my funnies. I don't read any really serious comics, and they always put me in a better frame of mind.
It was a good day to ignore the outdoors. The high temperature was 52º. and for most of the day it was lower. It was very cloudy and dark, but there wasn't much wind. It apparently started to rain lightly around 1:00 and it's been dribbling ever since. Yuck.
The guys did what all good cats do on days like this: they slept, and I didn't see much of them, although both of them got some lap time.
So now I will read some more. I'm beginning to see even more clearly what some of the deficiencies in some of the Trine episodes are, but what I will do about them, I'm not sure yet. Now it's a dark, cloudy, rainy night in the field and a good one to sleep.
October 14 I read for too long last night and it was 1:00 before I turned out the light. I was asleep before I finished my prayers, and I didn't get up until 10:30. I hope it will be earlier tonight. I knitted - 488 stitches - and that was all I did. Sigh.
Part of it was that there was an exceptional amount of email this morning, which required a lot of reading. I didn't finish my funnies until after 5:00 this afternoon and I didn't do any crosswords or anything.
the weather was cloudy and blah, although the temperature got up to 54º for a while. There was hardly any wind. I guess it's going to rain tomorrow, and it might rain for the rest of the week. Well, the leaves are going or gone, so it's time. At least we had a wonderful color season this year.
The guys were sleepy today, as they usually are, especially when the barometer is falling. Grayson came and sat on me for a long time, but I didn't see much of Louie. I don't know where he was.
So now I will read for a while (hopefully, not too long) and then I will crash. It's a cold, cloudy night in the field.
October 13 I turned out the light at 9:30, but I was coughing and it was nearly 10:30 before I turned over and went to sleep. I was up twice, but the second time was around 6:00, and i never did get back to sleep before the alarm went off. I'm beginning to wonder if my coughing isn't because of the steam in the shower. I will have to pay more attention. Not that I can do anything about it, but it would be good to know. And it only happens when I'm lying on my left side so that my right sinuses are draining. I know I have some plumbing problems on the right side, and I suppose that's the problem.
Anyway, I got up, but I was moving slowly, and it was late by the time I got away. There were a few slow drivers, but I passed them around Phoenix.
Church was nice. There was communion, and I think we sang pretty well. After that, I went off to Pat's, but I was very careful and I didn't do a lot of damage. If I stopped drinking, I could save a lot of money, but what good would that do?
I got home around 1:30, but I had to bring in the stuff and stuff it all in the fridge. I didn't get any frozen stuff, and that helped, but there is, unfortunately, a lot of stuff in the fridge that needs to be thrown out, so I had some problem fitting in all the OJ and the milk and the lettuce. Maybe tomorrow I can get at some of that. It's a mess. For the rest of the afternoon, I did nothing but finish my surfing and read. I'm tired. Well, I can sleep as long as I want to tomorrow.
The weather turned out cool but nice. Actually, the temperature was about normal for this time of year, so it's just in comparison to last week that it seems cool. The high temperature was 52º, for most of the afternoon, and there was enough wind that there were little whitecaps on the harbor. The wind was from the north in the 20-30 mph range. When I left for church, it was beginning to clear up, and it was clear and blue for most of the afternoon. Pretty.
So pretty that I almost ran over several dozen tourons on the way home. They park along the road and wander around, including into the middle of the road (hey, people, this is a US highway, and people drive cars here!! Geez!). I admit it was pretty along the covered stretch, even though the trees are past their peak. This has turned out to be mostly a yellow and gold year. Somehow, it looked to me that most of the people taking pictures were oriental, and I suppose they are Tech people who have never seen the fall colors before. They should be a little more careful, though.
Anyway, I followed Mary Ann and Bill home. I guess they might have stopped for lunch on their way.
The guys did not want me to go away this morning. Grayson slept on my lap while I was surfing and both of them sat or laid in front of me while I was getting ready to go. Poor guys. They still think I may go away for a week. I'm as glad as they will be that I'm not.
So that was my day, and I've finished Trine 1 and opened the next episode. I think I will read a little bit before I totter off to the north end. It's a cold, clear night in the field and the gibbous moon is shining brightly in the south windows.
October 12 Oh, dear, I did it again. I was reading Erlon and it's such a good story - and the music was so nice - that I just kept on. Sigh. I got up around 9:30, I think, because If I went back to bed then, it would have been after noon when I got up, but I've been tired and blah all day. I knitted, of course, but that was all I did.
The weather was not too bad, but it was dark and cloudy. It didn't rain here until just lately, even though it looked like it might several times. The high temperature got to 63º, but then the wind shifted to the north and in about half an hour, it went down to 55º. It was quite windy until then, too. As the sun was setting, there looked to be clear skies over in the west, but as frequently happens, they just hung there, while it was dark and cloudy - and raining - here.
The guys were sleepy all day, so not much to report there.
I guess there's not much to report at all. I finished Erlon, and I think the next one is Trine 1, but want (I need) to get to bed early tonight, so I won't do much but open it and set it up to read. It's a cloudy and maybe damp evening in the field, but it's supposed to clear up and cool down overnight.
October 11 Well. I sat around and it was nearly midnight when I got to bed. I didn't sleep all that well. I was up several times, and I was wakeful at others. I did sleep in the morning, as I usually do, and it was around 9:30 when I got up, I think. I knitted, of course.
I went to the post office almost as soon as I finished breakfast, so that I could get my bill in today's mail, and I stopped at the bakery, although they didn't have anything I really wanted. Sunday is their last day, so they are cutting back. And those cheddar-bacon-chive scones are so popular Jill can't keep them in stock.
And that was about all I did.
The weather was nice again, although it was a bit cloudy. It's hard to know, because the camera hung up around 12:30, when it was foggy, and I didn't discover it until around 6:00, when the skies were clearing up. The high temperature was 63º, and it was in the low 60s all afternoon. There was some wind, with gusts up to 31 mph late in the afternoon, but the wind is still from the southwest, which means it's warm - at least 10º warmer than average. I can handle that. It was nice when I was out.
The guys were sleepy again, although when I went out, Grayson was looking out the door at me as I left. When I went to get dinner, Louie had managed to open the door to the breezeway again. I guess when I came in with my Schwan's order, I didn't latch the door, and I now guess that he puts out his paddy paw and opens it up. Well, as long as i keep the door to the garage closed, it may be a good thing. It will keep the mice out. I do wonder how he's doing it, though. I must be more careful about making sure the door latches when I come in.
Now I'm listening to Beethoven's 8th, and when that's over i will try to go to bed. I'm reading Erlon again, but it isn't going anywhere. It's a fairly clear, warmish night in the field.
October 10 Last night I made it into bed by 10:15, bath and all, so see? I can do it, when I want to. I slept very well, too, with only two wakeups, and I got up round 10:00. That should have been enough sleep, but I was tired again before I left for choir. I knitted, and I got the underpants put away, and that was about it. Like I say, I was tired.
I think I was kind of out of it, too. I wrote a check for a bill I wanted to send today, sealed it into the envelope, and went off without putting either a stamp or a return address on it. Geez! I wanted to mail it in Calumet, just to get a little head start on its journey, but no, I will have to run out as soon as I can tomorrow and hope I get it in the mail before the delivery guy gets here. Geez.
I have to say that my drive down to Laurium was just beautiful, or what I could see of it was. At this time of year and day, I'm driving almost directly into the sun and it makes it hard for me to see anything. The trees are a little more yellow this year than they were last year, but they are almost all turned along US-41 and Cliff Drive, and there are plenty of oranges and reds, too. The winds we had earlier don't seem to have done much damage, so it should still be lovely this weekend as well.
Since I had intended to swing around by the post office, and I was on my way before I realized there was no reason to do that, I got to church very early, but I sort of zoned out listening to the radio and I was even a little late, but fortunately, I came out of the elevator just as Pastor came out of his office, so that worked out just fine. It was a good practice, and we will be singing some things I like a lot, that I haven't sung in years and years. We don't have the forces to do much part singing, although we may just try it - after all, it only takes four singers to sing parts. Anyway, it's a good group, and most of them are seasoned choir singers, so it's lots of fun...all eight of us.
The weather was beautiful again, although it was a little cloudier than it was yesterday. The high temperature here was 66º, and it was that temperature all afternoon. There was hardly any wind. There was a lot of sunshine, but it was shining through high cirrus clouds. it does seem to have cleared up at sunset again, and the moon was shining brightly when I came out of church.
When I left, a very sad- looking little gray cat was sitting at the door looking out at me, and he seemed glad to see me when I got home. They were full of energy this morning, then they both went to sleep on the desk, but not on their throws - right in the middle. Louie got some tummy rubs, and Grayson got his love time, too, although he didn't sit on my lap. Maybe he's finally beginning to believe I'm not going away for a week this year.
So that was a nothing day, but it was fun to sing again. Now it's a clear, coolish night in the field and I won't be up very long after I finish my JD.
October 9 Last night, i had no excuses except that the music was nice and I lost track of time. So it was very late (or early this morning) when I got to bed. I slept well, of course, and I got up around 11:30, but that still wasn't enough sleep, so tonight I'm going to stop all that nonsense and do what I have to and go to bed. Sure.
I did write for a while last night, over 2700 words, and that was nice. If I'd gone to bed after I stopped that, it would have been all right.
Anyway, I had a rather truncated day today, so I didn't do anything. I did treat myself to dinner at Harbor Haus tonight. I think it's only the third time I've been there this summer, and it was good. I have enough for tomorrow, too, so that will be almost as nice.
The weather was nice, too. The high temperature got all the way up to 73º for a while this afternoon, and while it was breezy overnight, it wasn't this afternoon. The skies were partly cloudy for most of the day, but while I was eating dinner, I watched the clouds go off toward the east, and it's clear now, with the little moon shining in the south. It's cooling off, too. I guess early last evening there were some northern lights, but they were probably gone by the time I got up to the north end. I wasn't looking out very much anyway.
The guys were more wakeful than they have been in a long time. I don't know why. They were asleep when I got up, but they have been rather active lately. When I finally got to the kitchen, the back door was open again. I don't know how that happens, but I guess it must be because it doesn't latch and since there's a window open in the breezeway, the wind blows the door open. I must be more careful about shutting it. I don't know that the guys have been out there, but it would surprise me if they weren't.
So now I am all full of good food and I am very tired. Tonight I absolutely have to take a bath, so I will be going up to the north end soon. Really. It's a clear, coolish evening in the field.
October 8 I fiddled around last night, too, so it was midnight again before I got to bed. I slept well, with only a couple of wakeups, and I got up around 9:15. I knitted - 468 stitches - and that was about it.
I did go to the post office and I stopped at the bakery, but they didn't have what I wanted. They close on Sunday, so I may go back again before then. The bills I was looking for have come, Sigh. I sent off a note to Chip, and as usual when I have to write those things, I feel totally inadequate. At least it's done and he will know I know about Nancy.
The weather was lovely, although it wasn't as warm as they had predicted. The high temperature was 64º. It was breezy all day, with a southwest wind, and it got very windy late in the day, with gusts up to 32 mph. It was mostly clear, although there were a few high clouds late in the day. Nice.
The guys were their usual selves. Louie has apparently given up on sitting on my lap at the computer, so he came into the powder room while I was there and got his love-in. Grayson has been around me all day, although he was not on his good behavior, pushing balls of yarn onto the floor. They are funny little guys.
My neck feels some better today, although it is still stiff. At least I can feel some improvement. So tonight I will take a bath and let the hot water run on it, and that will help.
So now I have started doing a download of the month's Windows updates, and I'll have to wait until that completes, although i won't do the laptop until tomorrow. Then it will be off to the north end for some more sleep. The little crescent moon is shining in the southwest, so it must be a clear, but windy, night in the field.
October 7 Oh, sigh. Instead of going to bed early like I planned, I fiddled around until almost midnight. I think possibly part of my problem was that I was afraid my sore neck would keep me from sleeping, but it turns out it feels better when I'm lying down. It was feeling pretty good in the middle of the night, but then I turned over onto my right side, and when I got up this morning, while the left side feels all right, the right side is still stiff and sore and I can't turn my heard very far in that direction. Maybe if I go to bed early tonight, I can end up on my left side and my neck will feel some better tomorrow. it's a real pain in the neck. I also wore more clothes today, and that may help, too, although right now it feels pretty bad.
As a result, I didn't do anything much today, except that I did try to get some of the trash off the counters tonight. There is still a lot on the floor, around a bag, but at least I've made a start at it.
The weather was cold, or at least cold for this time of year. The high temperature was 50º, although it was in the upper 40s for most of the day. It was cloudy and windy, too, with north winds gusting up to 25 mph, although they have died down now. It has cleared up, too. I was surprised that it was cloudy when I got up, because when I was awake around 5:00, I could see stars, but with a strong wind, it blew more clouds in. It cleared up after 5:30, and when I went out to the kitchen just now, there was a nice little crescent moon hanging over the Mountain Lodge and way to the south of it was Venus, at about the same altitude. So pretty!
I think the guys must have gotten a mouse in the middle of the night. At least, there was something that looked suspiciously like a tail on the floor in the bathroom this morning. Grayson is still cuddly, and so is Louie. Late this afternoon, Grayson was sleeping in the ugly chair, in the sun, and apparently Louie decided he wanted to sit there, and somebody spit at somebody else. I don't know who, since I couldn't see them, but I have at least one spitter. In the course of their disagreement, they moved the camera, but I think I have it moved back where it belongs.
I was thinking I might write a little, but I think instead I will start the dishwasher and crash. My neck is leaving me not feeling very good, so I think I will just put it to sleep. It's a clear, cold evening in the field.
October 6 Well, I'm sitting here and reading with the heating pad on my neck, and I don't think I'll be out of bed very long.
I made it into bed by 10:15 last night. I'm not quite sure why it took me so long, but I guess there was a reason for it. I slept well, although I was up several times, and this time, I woke up about five minutes before the alarm went off. I got up, but I surfed too long, and then I had to spend some time in the bathroom, so it was later than I like when I started for town.
Then, on the covered road, I got behind a guy towing a camper with bad springs who was going about 25 mph, and he refused to pull over. Arrgghh!! Part of his problem was the curves and the wet road and part was the fog, but there was no reason for him to go that fog and he had no excuse whatsoever for not pulling over and letting me go by. I finally passed him on that stretch right before Lac Labelle road, and that was dicey, too, because there were two cars coming in the other direction. I made it, though.
I was a bit later getting to church than I like, but I had time to get to the bathroom. The choir sang, and even though on woman who practiced with us on Thursday wasn't there (she sometimes has to work on Sunday) we did good. I think the congregation likes having some extra music. Well, there was some extra music this morning. One of the hymns was "Salvation unto us has come," which has 10 verses, and we sang them all. That's all right, because there wasn't communion. Pastor's sermon was a good one, too.
So now the choir is entrenched, and it's so much fun to be singing again! We'll be doing some good stuff, and we have people in our choir who will be able to sing parts, which is great.
After that, I had to get gas. It was $3.40 a gallon, which is as low as it's been in a very long time, thankfully.
I got home around 1:00, and I just made it to the powder room before I exploded. I haven't done anything else for the rest of the afternoon, because I am very tired. I have developed a nasty stiff neck, so I am using the heating pad, and I think I will sleep on it tonight, too. I don't know what brought that on, although I have been chilly in the studio lately and it's horribly humid today. This isn't on just one side. Both sides are stiff, and it's nearly impossible for me to move my head from one side to another. Maybe the heat will help. I know lying down helps, too.
The weather was just plain nasty, although the camera didn't show most of it, because it hung up around 10:00. I fixed that, and now you can see the fog. Curiously, it wasn't foggy here until after I got home, but oh, boy was it bad in the higher elevations! I was just following the lines in the road for a good part of my drive. The high temperature was 54º, and that was around 10:00 this morning, too, and it's been going down ever since. The wind has shifted to the north, so maybe it will blow away. Nasty.
The guys were sleepy, although Grayson wanted to sit on me or by me for most of the afternoon. Louie got some lap time, too. I don't know exactly what Grayson's problem is, but it concerns me. He is still eating and chasing Louie, so I guess whatever his problem is, it's in his head.
It's early, but I don't think I'm going to be up long. I am reading Bolin again, and maybe I can finish that, although I'm not sure. I'm tired and my neck hurts. It's a cold, foggy night in the field.
October 5 I made it into bed before 11:00 last night, and I slept well, thankfully. I got up around 9:30, because I had to, and I knitted. The day it took me an hour and a half to do two rows must have been a particularly hard pattern row, because it's been taking a little over an hour lately, and there are more stitches. I'm getting to the end of another ball of yarn, so sometime in the next couple of days, I'll have to stop knitting and splice.
Other than that, I didn't do much of anything. I had an accident, unfortunately, and I still have to put the pants in the dryer, but that was it.
I was minding my own business sometime between 4:30 and 5:00 when the power went off. Huh? It was raining, and there was a brisk southeast wind, but nothing that should have caused a power outage. It was around an hour and a half before the power came back, but it was nasty. Apparently it affected the whole peninsula, so i had no Internet access. So I continued to read and I ignored it. I did manage to use the microwave, but then, I wasn't using much other power at the time.
The weather was not nice. It didn't rain hard, but it was drippy and very humid all day. The temperature only got up to 53º. I was glad to stay in. The wind was from the southeast with gusts in the middle 20s, so it was calm right around here. Yuck.
The guys were very sleepy today. Grayson slept on me for a long time, twice. Louie didn't get much lap time today, but he came around at times when I was doing something else.
So that was a nothing day, and I don't think I'll be up very late tonight. Now it's a dark, cool, drippy night in the field, a good one to sleep.
October 4 Between being over stimulated by choir and my drive and being upset over Nancy, I stayed up and read off the end of First, so it was late when I got to bed. Then I couldn't get to sleep, so it was after 2:00 when I finally dozed off, and I was up a couple of times after that. I didn't get up until nearly 11:00, but I still didn't get enough sleep. I knitted, so I was very late getting to the studio. I had toyed with the idea of going to the post office, but I want to write a note to Chip and there wasn't enough time: I have to print some note cards before I can use one. So I didn't do much of anything. Oh, well.
The weather was about like yesterday. The high temperature was 55º. There was a rather strong wind from the east, which means that all I heard was the lake. It was cloudy and dull all day long. Yuck. Environment Canada says it won't get to 50º tomorrow, although the NWS doesn't think that, so I'll be interested to see what happens.
The guys were full of ginger when I was up early this morning, but by the time I got up they were sleeping again, in the bathroom. Grayson has wanted to sleep on me all day, but I think it was because his favorite food bowl was empty, so I filled it, and we'll see. I like it when he sleeps on me, although he does get in my way. Louie got some lap time today, too.
I have started reading Special Forces again. I love that story! Besides, it's the next in the canon after First, at least as far as what I've written.
Now it's a cold, windy night in the field, and the lake is singing.
October 3 Well last night, it was 11:00 when I got to bed. Do you see a pattern here? I slept very well, and I got up around 9:00. After the night before, getting up and having it be so dark I could hardly see my hand in front of my face was interesting. Not only were there no northern lights and no moon, it was cloudy, which means it was really dark. But then, that's what I like about living here.
I knitted, and that was about all I did. Thursday is a day when there are lots of emails and lots of links to follow, so I did that. I had to eat dinner (or something) early, because I had to leave around 6:00 to get to choir practice. Oh, I was glad I went. It's a small group - 8 people tonight, although one is still missing - but we sing loudly and joyously and it's fun.
I had some conversation with pastor, because I learned today that my friend Nancy, who has the house at the other end of the harbor, passed away early in August. Oh, sigh. She had breast cancer and I never did agree with how she decided to handle it, but I am so sorry she is gone. She was a lovely woman, and she had the most exquisite taste in decorating of anybody I know. We had drifted apart, because I think she knew I disagreed with her, but I will still miss her. I guess, from what Suzanne said, that she had finally agreed to some standard treatment, but unfortunately, it was too late. Well, we all tend to take things into our own hands, and sometimes we're right and sometimes we aren't. May she rest in peace. I feel for her husband.
The weather was cloudy and I there was a little rain overnight. It was so humid that the covered road never did dry out. The high temperature was 57º, briefly, so it was much cooler than yesterday. There wasn't any wind. It was sort of a blah day.
Grayson was very loving all day, until I went away tonight, and i haven't seen him since. He slept on my lap for a while this afternoon, and Louie didn't get any lap time because Grayson was there when he wanted to sit on me. Louie met me at the door when I came home, but Grayson came by later. They were clearly not pleased when I left, but then, they'd only be happy if I never went away.
So when I got home, there was a radio program I wanted to hear (the Internet is so handy!) and that just ended. I wanted a little more to eat, too. Now I will totter up to the north end and crash. It's a cool, moist, cloudy night in the field.
October 2 Well, you just never know around here.
I got to bed around 10:30, without a bath, but i had some trouble getting to sleep. When my feet started feeling like they were on fire, I realized I hadn't taken my pills. I got up to do that around midnight, and I noticed that the whole northern horizon, up over the trees, was so bright it looked like dawn was breaking. Wow! So I took my pills and I craned my neck and yes, indeed, we were having northern lights, and they were rather spectacular. While I was awake that time, they spread until they reached zenith, and there were spikes and billows. I watched for a while before I went back to bed.
I was awake again a couple of hours later - sometimes it's advantageous to have to get up multiple times during the night - and I noticed that the light was bright enough that it was reflecting off the floors, and it was really bright in the bathroom. The glass blocks in the shower concentrate the light, but it looked almost like the moon was rising. By that time, the activity had stopped, but the whole northern half of the sky was bright, and I saw some very pale pink and some green in the mostly white light. The sky was still bright when I was up around 4:00, but by 6:30, it was gone, and astronomical twilight, which had just begun, was no brighter than the sky had been all night. What a nice show! The best so far in this solar cycle.
Apparently, from what I just read, the CME and the underlying explosion on the sun were pretty amazing. This solar cycle has been a real dud, so far, but maybe we will get some good shows from now on. I only hope we have some clear skies this fall so we can see them. And here I've been praying for rain! Oh, how I love the northern lights! They are one of the crowning glories of living so far north. I'm so grateful it was clear last night.
Anyway, after all that, I didn't get up until 10:30, and I knitted. I finished chart 3, and I have 448 stitches on the needle. Now I have only about 54 rows left to go, but they are all long ones. This is still a fun project, and I think it will turn out very pretty, too.
Otherwise, I didn't do much. I am trying to keep the sink clear and the dishwasher loaded during this cycle. I had more blueberry pancakes for breakfast, the first time in a while I felt hungry enough for a big breakfast, and they were wonderful. I didn't much finish my surfing until around the time the talking started.
The weather was changeable today. While the northern lights were blazing last night, the wind was blowing pretty hard from the northwest (it sounded stronger out here than the NWS station recorded), but it began to abate after 6:00. The wind was loud enough that I could hardly hear the lake, which was roaring there for a while. Today, it was mostly clear until around 7:00 and the wind was mostly light. The high temperature got up to 70º, and that could be the last time this year that it's so warm. I opened the east window, because it was so hot in here. Now the clouds have moved in, so if there are more northern lights tonight, we won't see them. Sigh.
The guys were not happy about the wind. They just don't like all that noise, and I had Louie with me every time I got up last night. Today, they both slept for most of the afternoon on the desk. I wonder if they could feel the fields set up by the northern lights? Who knows, with cats? Grayson licked my ice cream dish. He likes milk, but he doesn't like cold.
So
that's about all I have to report. I might read a bit more, but not more than to
the next chapter. I do have to wash my hair tonight, and I would like to get to
bed at a semi-reasonable hour. Even though I was in bed, theoretically, for 12
hours last night, I was awake enough that i didn't get nearly that much sleep.
It was worth it. Now it's a cloudy, warmish night in the field, but that's about
to change: it is supposed to be much cooler and rain tomorrow. Ah, autumn! October 1 Well, it's fall.
i managed to get to bed by 10:00 last night, but I had a hard time falling asleep. I was coughing, and I didn't go to sleep until I turned over. After that, it was just a matter of handling the night sweats. I was awake around 8:00, but I didn't even get up, and it was 9:30 before I finally rolled out of bed. I knitted, and I have only two more rows on chart 3 before I start the final chart. Of course, that's 52 rows, so I have a way to go. It's taking me close to an hour and a half to do two rows now, so one of these days, I'll have to go down to one row or I'll never get up and going.
Otherwise, I didn't do a lot. I wasn't hungry when I got dressed, so I only had some yogurt and blueberries, but around 2:00 I got ravenous, so my meals have been rather messed up today. I did get the dishwasher unloaded and began reloading it while my dinner was nuking.
The weather was fallish, even though it was warm. It was partly cloudy this morning, but it got clear by 11:00 and the afternoon was glorious: clear and temps around 70º. The only thing, it was very windy. The wind was from the northwest and there were gusts up to 30 mph.
The guys were sleepy today. They were both asleep in the window seat when I got up this morning, but Grayson came and laid down on the rug in the bathroom and went to sleep. Then both of them went to sleep on the desk for most of the afternoon. When I went out to the kitchen to get my dinner (very late), Louie sat by the back door and started crying. I do not know what was in his little head, but he was really sounding off. Now I think they've gone off to sleep again. I had to open the east window because it got so hot in here, and at intervals, Grayson would move over under it to watch the birds. I think it's the warblers who are hawking insects around the lee side of the house all day long, and when the window is open so he can hear it, it fascinates him.
I did sit down and try to put together a budget for the rest of the year, and I am happy to say the money is there, thanks in no small part to all of you. My trouble is cash flow. I come out even at the end of December, but I have to scrape the barrel for the next month or so. At least I satisfied myself that I will be able to pay my long term care policy and my taxes, so that's a relief. This has been a heads up for me, though, and I am going to have to try to be much more careful next year so it doesn't happen again. Oh, yes, and there's that credit card balance...Well, I'll figure that out, too.
Now I have to take a bath tonight. I'm trying to get back on a reasonable schedule. It's a clear, warmish, windy night in the field.
Last updated 11/01/13 09:03 PM
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