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A View From the Field |
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June, 2014 June 30 Can you believe that half the year is over already? I can't. Well, the older I get, the faster time goes. Perhaps I would feel better about it if I felt I'd done something.
I got to bed around midnight last night. I slept well, with the usual wakeups. I was awake around 2:30 and there were stars - the first time I've seen Polaris in a while, and Vega was shining in the bedroom window. I woke up around 7:15 to find one cat on each side of the pillow. Gosh, how anybody could believe cats don't love their people, I don't know. I got up around 10:30, I think, and I knitted. I'm almost through with the top of the shawl! My pattern seems to have been off a bit, but I think I can fudge things so it looks all right. Tomorrow I should go around the corner and start down the bottom.
Other than that, the only thing I did was to fill up the dishwasher so it can run tonight. I had to, because I am running out of cereal dishes. For some reason, everything I ate last week came in a cereal dish. I hope I have room for everything.
The weather turned out to be warmer than anybody predicted. The high temperature was 89º, although since there was a strong wind from the west. it wasn't quite that warm here at the end of the harbor. Then it dropped off a bit, and then, between 6:00 and 7:00, something (I don't know what) happened and it dropped from 87º to 70º. Oh, that felt good! But then, at 8:00, it was 82º again, as the wind dropped. Now it's 75º and there are light winds from the southwest. During the day, there were gusts up to 30 mph, so I kept the porch door closed. Tonight, everybody agrees it's going to cool off, which will be nice. I have the fans on in the studio and the great room, and that helps, too. It was beautifully clear this morning, and when I went up to the north end to clean myself up after an accident, there were pretty little fair-weather cumulous clouds floating around. By 5:30 or so it clouded up, and there might even be a little rain - there are little light rain cells all around us.
The guys slept. Grayson slept on the desk for most of the day, although he sat on me twice. Every so often, he would wake up and grunt, and once, when he did that, I turned around and he got on my lap and settled down for a good pet. Louie got a little love, although most of it was while I was in the bathroom this morning. I expect that when it's as warm as it is, sitting on me is too hot for him.
I have neglected to mention that the next round of wildflowers are out. There are daisies, buttercups and lupines. Everything has come out so fast this year that none of them are very big. That's particularly noticeable with the lupines, which look pretty puny. And everything is coming and going so fast. But when you consider that it was only a month ago when the first leaves appeared, I guess it has been fast, as nature tries to catch up. There have been some butterflies around, mostly the little yellow ones, but I have seen a couple of monarchs over the past days. I don't hear many birds around here, but I suspect they are all nesting right now. The lilacs are going, but soon the wild roses will be out. I would say everything is at least 2-3 weeks late.
So here it is the end of June, and it's a warm, cloudy night in the field.
June 29 I turned out the light around 9:30 last night, but it took me a little while to get to sleep. Once I did, I did good, except that I was up several times. Unfortunately, the last time I woke up was around 6:15, and I did not want to get up then, so i went back to bed and back to sleep and the alarm woke me up. Oh, I could have kept right on sleeping! However, I got up and did my thing.
I was a bit later leaving than I wanted to be, unfortunately, and I ran into a lot of slow traffic. There was a group of four motorcycles on the covered road who were very law-abiding: they didn't go over 40 mph. Thankfully, they turned toward Lac LaBelle, so we lost them, but there were more slowpokes. I lost them when I turned onto Cliff Drive, but then I ran into (almost literally) a guy going 30 mph for some unknown reason. He was easy to pass, except that there are a lot of double yellow lines on that road. And then, going into Calumet, I got behind another very slow, cautious driver. Aaarrgghh!!
I made it to church in time to pee before I went upstairs. It was a nice service, even though it was one of the new settings. This was the fifth Sunday, so we had communion again, and that's always nice. The choir did OK on the anthem, I think, although I got thrown off because the woman next to me got thrown off by the tenors. I doubt anybody noticed. There are far fewer people in church these days. I guess people here go someplace else on vacation, too, or they have too much else to do to come to church.
I had to get gas, so I did that and I got home at 1:00. I didn't do much for the rest of the day. I did do a little transcribing, but otherwise, nothing.
The only problem was the weather. The temperature wasn't particularly warm - middle 60s - but the humidity was 90% or more, and it was very uncomfortable. I had to turn the air conditioning on in the car to cool it off when I got out of church. The temperature got up to 81º at 5:00, but the humidity dropped quite a bit and it wasn't too uncomfortable. Then one of those things happened that I love to watch. All of a sudden, the wind started blowing hard, up into the 25-30 mph range, probably, and the temperature dropped from 81º to 62º in about 10 minutes. We had a brief, heavy rain - 0.08" in 20 minutes or so - with thunder, and the next thing I knew, the sky was clear and the wind was calm. The temperature recovered to 68º pretty fast, but then it dropped off again, and just a little while ago, we had another blow, with a very little rain and a roll or two of thunder. So much fun! The temperature is down to 61º or so, so I had to close the windows. It's still extremely humid, but the rain has stopped, and it's thundering again. This could go on all night.
The guys were their usual selves. Grayson did spend some time on my lap this afternoon. I'm afraid every time I leave, he's afraid I won't come back, and he needs to tell me he's glad I did. Louie got a little lap time, but not much. Louie does not like thunder, so I suppose he's down in the basement again.
So that was my quiet day and I think I might as well go to bed, since I can't see to transcribe any more. It's a coolish, unsettled night in the field.
June 28 I made it into bed before midnight last night, but not by much. I slept well, but I was up several times. I recall that asparagus is a diuretic, and I ate quite a bit of it. It's beginning to go, and I wanted to eat as much as I could. Besides, I like it. Anyway, I was quite deeply asleep when the phone rang, and I was still so groggy when I answered it that I didn't recognize Debbie's voice at first.
We had a very long conversation, as is usual when we talk. She had to call to tell me that the woman who collided head-on with her last year finally got her day in court and got the book thrown at her. Debbie is very happy about that, although whether she will ever get the monetary restitution she wants is debatable. Debbie may be small, but she's formidable, and the shenanigans both the woman and the courts have pulled got her really mad. She also got laid off from her job, so what she will be doing next is up in the air. Anyway, I finally had to hang up, because I had to pee bad enough that I leaked on my way to the pot. I knitted, but only a couple of repeats, because I dropped something on the first one and had to rip back.
Otherwise, I didn't do much. I paid some bills, some overdue, and I transcribed Osara 2 for a while this afternoon.
The weather was - well - heavenly. We had 0.1" of rain between 4:00 and 6:00 this morning, which is good, but then the humidity dropped. The high temperature was 81º, which is a little warm for me, but there was a nice southwest wind, which is now gusting up to 28 mph. It was cloudy in the morning, but by 11:00 it had cleared up and it has been clear for the rest of the afternoon. After all the cold weather we have had, it has been so nice to have the doors and windows open. i had to shut the patio door in the great room when I started cooking, but the bedroom door is open and the south window in the studio is open, so I have been able to enjoy the nice breezes.
The guys slept, as usual. They like the warmer weather, especially being able to get out the door onto the porch, but they need their naps.
Now i need to go up to the north end and get ready for church tomorrow. It will be nice to take my bath and stand in the door and let the wind dry me off - it's still 78º. It's a clear, warm, breezy evening in the field.
June 27 I was late again last night, but not as late as the night before. i got up around 10:30, I think, and I knitted. I think I'm getting back on track; what my problem was during the week, I don't know.
Otherwise, I didn't do much but go to the post office. I ran into my former neighbor Jack and my neighbors to the north, who are finally here, apparently without their little dog, although I'm not sure about that. All is well, although Jack had some serious health issues last winter that he isn't completely over yet.
The weather was nice. The temperature got up to 73º, although it was about 72º for most of the afternoon. There was a little more wind than there has been lately, from the south, which is no doubt why it's warmer. It was clear or nearly clear this morning, but it has now clouded up and there are some storms off to the west of us. So I suppose it will rain. The camera was unable to update to the website until I got to the studio, because apparently PastyNet had some problems and I had to sign into the network again. I don't know what that is all about, and i wish they would quit it.
The guys were sleepy and they didn't do anything remarkable.
Now it's a cloudy, breezy evening in the field, and while I will stay up to hear Beethoven's Fifth, I intend to be in bed at a reasonable hour tonight. We'll see.
June 26 Well, I did it again. I was awake until a disgusting hour this morning, and I didn't get up until after noon. Then I knitted - for some reason, I was "on" today, and I didn't want to spoil it - so it was after 2:00 before I ate my first meal. Actually, that was convenient. I don't usually eat dinner until after I get back from choir practice, and I wasn't absolutely ravenous before I ate. But still.
I was so late that I didn't do anything except my surfing.
The weather was much nicer than it has been for the past couple of days. It was clear this morning and partly cloudy for most of the rest of the day. The temperature got up to 63º briefly, and there wasn't any wind. It's so nice to see blue skies and blue water.
The cats were their usual, sleepy selves. Grayson slept on my lap for quite a while. I got a package from UPS and when he heard the truck, Louie came down from upstairs and ran down to the basement. I guess he doesn't understand that he's just as safe upstairs as down - and actually, he's perfectly safe anyway, because Gary would never come into the house. Poor Louie. He's just so timid. It makes me wonder what he was through before he got his first home - and then that ended and he got me. He does love me, I know, but I keep seeing the aftereffects of his past.
Choir was good, except that Pastor keeps changing his mind about what we're going to sing and when, but we just laugh and go on. There is a bug going around down in the Calumet-Laurium area. Eleanor, my 93 (now) year-old friend, was in the hospital with pneumonia, and one soprano and one tenor both have some kind of thing that sounds very much like what I had over the winter, with the cough and all. I hope i can avoid it this time. Well, about all I can do is wash my hands a lot and hope I don't transmit the germs through my Kleenex.
Oh, yes, and i finally heard about the rest of my tests. Both were good. There isn't any change in my echocardiogram, which is a good thing.
Now it's a mostly clear, not very cold evening in the field, and I am going to try to get to bed at some kind of a reasonable hour tonight. We'll see how that works.
June 25 Oh, I was late again last night, and there was no particular reason for it except that I was reading. I did put in an order for TP and cat food, and that took time, too. Anyway, I slept well, but not nearly long enough. I got up around 9:30, because I had to pee, so I'm tired tonight.
I knitted, and while I had some trouble with the first repeat, the others went better, although I didn't make much progress. You would think after doing almost 40 repeats, I'd have the pattern in my fingers, but evidently I don't yet. Well, by the time I get all the way around, I should. It's a pretty thing, very delicate, because the pattern is on both sides and it has a sort of scalloped outer edge.
Other than that, I didn't do anything much.
The weather was some better than it was yesterday. At least there was some sunshine. It was cloudy in the morning, but it began to clear up around 11:30, and it was completely clear by sunset. The high temperature was only 52º, and it was under 50º for most of the day. i might point out that our average low for this time of year is 48º, so this is turning out to be a very cool June. I guess it's supposed to warm up over the next few days, and that will be nice. I like it when I can open the window and hear the outdoors.
The guys didn't do anything much, either. Grayson didn't want to be picked up today, and he didn't sit on me, so Louie sat so long that I had an accident. Otherwise, they slept, mostly on the desk. I guess I get more cat-like the older I get.
So that was my quiet day. Now it's a cold, clear night in the field.
June 24 I didn't get to bed until around midnight last night. I was about to go up to the north end when I remembered that I needed to order some of my OTC pills, and that led to some comparison shopping, all of which takes a long time. I like to order things online, but it takes so much longer than looking at a printed catalog. Anyway, that got done.
I got up around 10:30 and I tried to knit, but I only managed one repeat in about half an hour. I kept losing things and having to rip back. Sometimes it's better just to put it down.
I got off to my massage, and the cuddle wrap was a hit. It's been so cool that I'm sure she'll use it. I feel much better for my massage. My back really needs that. I stopped at the post office on my way home and got some of my pills, but the rest won't come until Thursday. Maybe that's a good thing. I'll be without Imodium for a couple of days, and that will reset things, although I didn't have a problem today. I really need to eat 10 ounces of rice every day, but that gets really, really old really fast.
The weather was, frankly, miserable. The temperature plummeted after midnight and it was right around 46º all day. It was extremely foggy this morning, and between 8:00 and 1:00 we had just under an inch of rain. Right after I got up, there was a thunderstorm and some heavy rain for a couple of hours. It was dark and cloudy all day. The only good thing was that there was almost no wind - and with it so cold, no bugs.
Louie was spooked by the thunder, and I think Grayson went with him to keep him company. They were both very loving. Grayson has been jumping up on the chair in the kitchen when I go out there in the morning, so today I picked him up and cuddled him for a few moments. He seemed to like that. I have to get back into the habit of picking him up. Buster and DC didn't like to be held, so I got out of the habit, but most cats like it, and apparently Grayson does. Louie might, too, but he's so heavy, I don't think I can lift him. He got lap time twice, and Grayson got some, too. They are both lover cats. When I got home from my massage, they were sound asleep together on the desk. It's taken a while, but I think they like each other. They just et a little out of sync sometimes, which is no doubt why Louie has a scratch on his face.
I unloaded the dishwasher, but that was about all I did today. My massage always makes me sleepy. And I don't think I'll be up too much longer tonight. I have felt more energetic for the past couple of days. I guess I was down with the Shari Syndrome for a while there, and now I've gotten over it. Thank goodness.
Now it's a cold, dark evening in the field. I think it will be getting better after tomorrow. This isn't summer.
June 23 Sometimes it amazes me how my body reacts. I made it into bed a little after 10:00 last night. I slept, but i wouldn't call it well. I was up several times, and I kept having the same dream all night. I can't remember it now, but it was a weird one and I don't think it had anything to do with my waking life. Anyway, I got up around 10:30 and I knitted for about an hour. I've now started on the second half of the top of the shawl, and I will probably have to fudge a bit to get it to come out right, but not enough that anyone should notice.
The task of the day was the cuddle wrap. Thankfully, I could see pretty well, although I do have some eyestrain now. There were a number of problems, including running out of thread about ¾ of the way around. I found some that wasn't too much different, but the next time I buy thread online, I am going to check very carefully to see how much is on a spool. It would have been enough if I'd just sewn straight around the second side of the binding, but I was doing those little hearts. What annoys me is that there was more than enough on the bobbin, but the spool ran out. Oh, well, it's done. I didn't even look at it before I packed it up. Then I mended three pairs of underpants that had been sitting beside the sewing machine for who knows how long. I find I can thread the machine just fine, but I had to really work to get the bobbin wound. Not only is the thread path weird, it was made for people without arthritis and who have small fingers. I have a bobbin winder gizmo, and I may start using that instead.
However, I do like the sewing machine, and I want to do more with it. How I wish I could get my wonderful cutting table upstairs! But there is just no place to put it unless I move the ugly chair out of the studio, and sometimes I like to sit in it. I'm still mulling that over, because after I find a place to put the table, I have to find somebody to move it upstairs for me. The last time I was in the basement, I brought up enough tubs that I think I can get most of the stuff out from behind the desk - except for all the papers I haven't filed in five years, of course - and once I do that, I can begin to think about other things. I could possibly cut on the dining room table or the desk, but both of those are at entirely the wrong height, and they just kill my back. Well, a lot of things may be different when I get my eyes done.
It was a so-so day, weatherwise. When I got up, it was foggy, but it didn't last long. Around 10:30 the skies cleared up, and it was sunny until 5:30 or so, when it clouded up again. The temperature got up to 65º for a couple of hours, between 2:00 and 4:00 before it dropped off again. There was almost no wind. Now it's under 50º again.
The guys were sleepy when I got up, but when I started to get dressed, they were bombing up and down the hallway. Then they went back to sleep, of course. Grayson got some nice lap time but Louie didn't come around. Grayson slept on the desk for most of the afternoon, although when I get up and move around, he has to come with me, just to see what I'm going to do.
I really surprised myself. After the sewing, while my dinner was cooking, I finally got all the trash out of the kitchen and out onto the platform in the breezeway. It had begun to get rather deep, and it was bugging me. I also got the dishwasher ready to run.
Johanna called me right before I was set to go for my massage to say that her significant other was working late (he's a nurse) and she was alone, so we moved my appointment to tomorrow. It was a good thing; I want to give her the cuddle wrap, and I wasn't through sewing it. So now it's done and I can give it to her tomorrow. My back isn't likely to get any worse. Actually, it wasn't bad today, since it wasn't quite so humid.
I came up this afternoon with two more bites on my hands, one more on my right hand and a new one on my left hand. They don't usually take 24 hours to develop, so I have to believe I had another black fly in the bedroom last night. I hope this is over soon, but I don't guess it's any worse than usual. I'm just a black fly magnet and I have to get used to the idea. I got one on my right ankle and another on the back of my left calf, too, but those were evidently yesterday. I itch all over. I'm a bit concerned that the bites on my legs will end up giving me cellulitis again, but we'll just have to wait and see what happens.
So that was my day, and I guess I can go to sleep knowing I actually accomplished something. I will start the dishwasher before I go up to the north end. I will be later tonight, because it's already after 10:00, but not, I hope, too late. My appointment with Johanna is for 1:00 tomorrow, so I can't sleep all day.
Now it's a cloudy, cool evening in the field.
June 22 I was a good girl last night. I got my bath and turned out the light around 9:30, I slept fairly well, although I was up a number of times. I wasn't ready to get up when the alarm went off, but that's normal. I thought I was going good, but when I was dressed and I checked the time, I was late. I managed to make up most of the time because there wasn't any traffic going south, but I may have to go back to getting up at 6:30, much as I hate it.
Anyway, church was nice, with communion, and we didn't do badly on our anthem, even though we were down to three sopranos. I guess it sounded all right. Today was the first time in a while when I didn't have something else to do and I could come right home. But then I sat in the powder room and read my paper, so that took up a lot of time. I had hoped to work on the cuddle wrap, but my eyes were so bad and I was so sleepy that I didn't. Tomorrow, for sure. I have a massage, and I want to give it to Johanna. At least it's cool enough that she can use it.
The weather was so-so. It was quite cold this morning - around 46º when I got up, but the temperature rose rapidly, and it was warm when I got out of church. Eventually, it got up to 70º for a little while before i dropped back to the upper 60s. It was mostly cloudy and dull, although we did have a couple of hours of sunshine around noon. There was almost no wind. I guess there's some more rain on the way. That's a good thing, although it isn't good for my back.
The guys were mostly sleepy. I don't know where Louie was, but Grayson was somewhere around me, and he got two times on my lap. Now he is on the sewing chair. He has been so loving I'm suspicious, but I think he's all right. At least he's playing with Louie and mostly holding his own.
I have at least four black fly bites on my right hand and some kind of bite on the palm of my left. I think that one is a mosquito, because black flies don't seem to be able to get through the calluses. Anyway, my right hand is driving me crazy, even though I've used a lot of Adolph's on the bites. There is a bad one on the outside of my little finger, which is a really bad spot. I hope the black fliles go away soon - real soon!
I had two accidents this afternoon. The first one I had was because Grayson was sitting on my lap, but the second one caught me by surprise whle I was making my dinner. Very strange. I don't usually have a problem in the afternoon.
Oh, yes, and I changed the battery in the last of my watches. This one is a fashion watch that I made from a kit I found at Walmart a very long time ago - before they enlarged the store. The band is made of strings of seed beads in various sizes and shapes that is braided. I don't wear it much, but the colors go with some of my summer things, including the one knitted summer top I have - blue, aqua, and pink with clear beads. I's kind of pretty, but when I took it out to look at yesterday, it had stopped. Fortunately, I have enough of the batteries that run my watches, so all I had to do was get it apart - no easy task - and swap out the battery. My right hand isn't back to normal, but it's enough better that it's much easier to deal with little things like teensy watch batteries.
So that was a quiet day, and I am not going to be up very long. I am really tired, and it's time to go to bed. It's a dark, cloudy and not very warm evening in the field and there will probably be more rain.
June 21 Sometimes (sometimes? heck - frequently!) I just don't know where the time goes. I thought I was going to bed early, but it turned out to be around midnight. I slept well, but I was up several times. My low-salt fish dinner enabled my system to get rid of a lot of the fluid I'd built up over the week. I was having a really interesting dream that I wish could have gone on about 10:30 when I got a call from somebody pushing a Democratic candidate for Senator. Oh, yeah, this is an election year, isn't ti? By the time I turned him off, I was wide awake, and besides, I had to pee, so I got up.
I knitted, but with considerable difficulty. I even had to rip back almost one whole repeat when I dropped something and couldn't get it picked up right. I did make it almost to the center of the top of the shawl, but it took me two hours.
Otherwise, I did nothing except my surfing. Well, I itched. I have been forgetting to mention that I am one big bite. I got a number of bites on my thighs, including some in places I would not have expected unless the bugs crawled under the covers. I think those were mosquito bites, though, because they've stopped itching. I got two (or maybe more) on my right arm and hand yesterday that are definitely black fly bites and they itch like mad, even though I've put some Adolph's on them. Tonight I have another itchy spot on my pinky that could be either, but may be a mosquito. I know there's been at least one mosquito in here. I think I bring them in in my hair and then they fly around annoying all of us.
It was another nasty day. It was dark and cloudy and rainy for most of the day, and the high temperature was 59º, briefly. For most of the day, it was in the middle to upper 50s. Not long after I got up, there was one rumble of thunder out over the lake, and we had 0.12" of rain. Otherwise, it was just dark and dismal. There wasn't much wind. The camera went off around 1:00, and it was a while before I discovered it, but it didn't really matter. The only reason I discovered it was that the cloud pattern didn't change for several hours.
The guys were sleepy, of course. The thunder upset Louie a bit, but when there was only one hiccup, he went back to sleep. Grayson wanted my breakfast and my dinner, and he got some lap time after breakfast, although I had to boot him off when I had to get to the bathroom,
I did some transcribing done - about 2600 words, but it's really hard. Seeing the original is getting harder all the time. And I know for sure that the last time I did any of that, I had no trouble at all. Oh, it's time. It's time.
So that was a quiet day, and I will be off to the north end soon. I need to get to bed early. I'm really tired - not enough sleep lately - and I need to take a bath. Now it's a cool, cloudy, nasty evening in the field.
June 20 Last night, it wasn't the music as much as it was reading. I do love that story, although I'm thinking about some additions to it. I was earlier than the night before, but still pretty late. i got up around 10:30, and I knitted, I only have five repeats left before I get to the center of the top of the shawl, so I'm coming along.
The task of the day was to go to the post office, which I did, and I think I've found a ride to Green Bay. We have time to work it out. The lady is Becky, who mans the Welcome Center on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. She is a sewer, but she is a costumer. She makes dresses and hats for reinactors from the middle 1800s, and she's good at it. She also made all the costumes for some parade they had in Hancock last summer. Like me, she is a lover of fiber, although she doesn't knit. She brings her sewing machine with her to the Welcome Center, and when things are slow, she can work on her sewing. She is also a gardener and she loves roses. Very nice person. She wants an excuse to go to Green Bay, so here I am. That relieves my mind. I know I will have to stay over when I have the surgery, but I didn't want to have to do it a third time. Besides, she probably knows more about getting to Green Bay than I can find out.
The weather was, frankly, miserable. It was dark and cloudy all day. Between 10:00 and 2:00 we had 0.2" of rain, most of it around noon, when it rained rather hard for quite a while. We needed that. The high temperature for the day (not including last night) was about 56º, so it was cold and miserable out. The wind was from the south, but it was very light. Not nice at all.
The guys reacted by sleeping. I should have, too, but I'll make up for it tonight. Louie slept with me for most of the night, since the windows were closed, and when I got up, he came and went to sleep right beside me in the bathroom. They both got some lap time, but I had to boot both of them off. Grayson wanted to sit and sleep when I had to go to the bathroom (I had just a slight accident because of it), and I had to push Louie off because it was time to go to the post office.
I got a Schwan's order, and my driver is quitting for a job in his field. So I'll have to break in a new driver. I like Schwan's quality, and it's so convenient to have it delivered to my door. I finished reading Special Forces, and I don't think I'm going to try to do any more transcribing at night. I just can't see well enough.
So it was a very quiet day. The radio is off. I didn't like what they were going to play on the symphony concert (Mahler's 8th, which I have heard, and which is entirely too noisy), so I can go any time, and I think I will. Try to catch up on my sleep before the weekend. Now it's a cold, dark evening in the field and sleep sounds great.
June 19 I am tired. I did it again, but this time I'm not sorry. There were two pieces of music after midnight that I have not heard in a long time: Beethoven's Triple Concerto, and Gounod's Mass for St. Cecelia. I was particularly happy to hear the Gounod, because it has that Sanctus that gives me goose bumps every time I hear it, it's so beautiful. It wasn't a particularly good performance; the choir was mushy and the tenor rushed his first entrance in the Sanctus, but it's been so long since I've heard it that I'll take what I could get. However, since I had to wash my hair, it was very late when I got to bed, singing Sanctus all the time.
I got up around 11:00, I think, and I knitted a few repeats of the edging. I had a few problems with the first repeat, but after that I did good. I knitted for about an hour.
Let's see. There were three tasks of the day: get the buttons on the last cassock, get my checkbook updated, and put in a Schwan's order. I managed to do all of them, in part by doing my regular surfing real fast. I took the cassock with me tonight, so they are all gone now. That turned into a chore, but then, mending always is, and nobody else seemed to want to do it. I do little enough around that church that at least I can at least do that. Now maybe I can get back to my sewing. I still need to finish the cuddle wrap, and there is some mending of my own I need to do. As I get more comfortable with the sewing machine, I'll be able to do more with it.
Choir was good, although there were only four sopranos and Pastor had to play the piano. We're going to try to do our anthem a capella on Sunday, although there will be a couple of chords between verses to keep us on key. Hey, every choir I've ever sung in would go flat occasionally. That's why we never sang a capella at Christ the King - Bruce couldn't stand it. Well, we try, and I'm sure the congregation doesn't know the difference.
The weather was rather cool but sunnier than was forecast. The high temperature was 66º. There was some wind in the morning and again in the middle of the afternoon, all from the south. It was mostly sunny, although there were some of those high, hazy cirrus clouds that turn the sky whitish.
I didn't see a lot of the guys. Louie got some petting while I was in the bathroom and Grayson sat on my lap and purred until I had to go to the bathroom. i opened the porch window, and I think they were out there when I left for choir, but they both came around and said "hi" when I got home.
I have forgotten to mention that a few mornings ago, I was in the kitchen and I looked out toward the garden and saw something brown, and when I looked more closely, there was a doe resting there. I wonder if it's the same one who was there a couple of years ago, when she was pregnant. I haven't seen her since. And tonight on the way home, I came around a curve a mile or two before Delaware and saw something black in the road. When I got closer, it was a young bear, a couple of years old, I'd guess, ambling across the road. When I got close, he ran down into the ditch on the left side of the road, and when I passed him, he was scrambling up the embankment beyond the ditch. That's the first bear I've seen in several years. He looked quite good, as much as I could see of him. While the bears are difficult to live with, because they're always hungry, I've missed seeing them.
So now I think I will read a bit longer - it's Special Forces again - and then I will totter up to the north end and crash. It's a mostly clear, not very cool evening in the field.
June 18 i almost did it again, but I managed to get to bed around 12:30. I transcribed a bit, but mostly I did nothing before I finally went up to the north end. I slept, of course, and I got up around 9:30. I should have slept longer, but I'm so tired tonight that I will be able to go to bed early and sleep. Sigh.
I knitted, and I had some trouble, mostly due to inattention. I am almost halfway down the first half of the top of the shawl. That sounds funny, but that's the way I've divided it up.
Otherwise, I did nothing. It took me most of the afternoon to do my surfing. There were some emails to follow up, and that took time.
The weather was mostly sunny, but cool. It has finally gotten up to 57º, but it was cooler during the day. There was hardly any wind. I laugh when I say 57º is "cool." For most of the last eight months, that would have been distinctly "warm." But this is the middle of June, and the average high temperature is 64º, so relatively, it's cool.
The guys were their usual selves. Grayson got a nice bit of lap time this morning. Louie got his petting in the bathroom without sitting on my lap. I have to admit, now that it's warmer, sitting on my lap makes both of us rather warm. He has been sleeping in the window seat, where there is an open window. Grayson wanted my dinner tonight, but one piece of chicken was all he wanted. They are such funny little critters. Louie shows no interest at all in people food.
So that was another nothing day. I would like to do some more transcribing, but we'll see. It's a partly cloudy, coolish evening in the field.
June 17 It was one of those nights when I just never went to bed. I have those every so often. It wasn't that I was doing anything so interesting - or anything at all - I just didn't go to bed. Well, eventually, I did, but it was getting light out when I finally turned out the light. I didn't get up until almost 1:00, so it was a drastically foreshortened day i think I will be going much earlier tonight. I still don't know quite why I do these things, but I do. Or maybe it was just too much trouble to get up and go up to the north end. I was very stiff yesterday.
As a result, I didn't do anything except my surfing, and I paid a bill.
The weather turned out to be nice. I think it was mostly cloudy all night, and there was a little rain between 6:00 and 7:00 this morning. After that, by about 9:00, it cleared up although it has gotten cloudy lately. The temperature was on a real roller coaster, up to 68º at 8:00, down to 48º at noon, then back up to 69º at 7:00 tonight, and now it has fallen to 52º, although it's a bit warmer here. Weird. There was almost no wind and it was quite humid. I love watching the weather around here. I am also amused by how grossly wrong all the forecasts are at this time of year. Not even Environment Canada can get it right.
The guys were up and about when I went to bed, but the time I got up, they were already taking their morning siestas. Grayson got some lap time, but Louie didn't, although he got some petting. They slept on the desk all afternoon, Grayson on the throws and Louie on the pile of papers. I am glad to report that Grayson has finally begun to give Louie at least a few licks on the head when they meet. I'm not sure he even knew that's how to tell you like somebody, but he's learning. Louie still tries to lick inside Grayson's ear, which he hates, but he's learning how to shake it off.
I had a big helping of fresh whitefish for dinner - yum! - and I won't be long out of bed tonight, although I should wash my hair. I need to catch up on my sleep. The window onto the porch is open now, although I did shut the door, and for most of the night, I was comfortable under the sheet and sheet blanket. Oh, summer is coming. Slowly, but it's coming.
Now it's a sort of cloudy, not very cool evening in the field.
June 16 I'm not quite sure how it happened, but it was midnight before I got to bed. I slept fairly well, with a number of wakeups, but it was almost 11:00 when I got up. I knitted, but it's going to take me a while before I'm really comfortable with the edging.
I didn't do anything else. I was so late getting to the studio that there wasn't a lot of time to do much, especially since there seems to be a lot of mall to read on Mondays. I managed not to have another accident, which was a relief.
The weather was amazing. It was already 73º when I got to the studio, and it kept getting warmer, until at 2:00 it was 80º. First 80º day this year, I think. After 4:00, it dropped off rapidly, and it's only 62º now. It was quite windy, too, mostly from the west, although it varied a bit. After 4:00, the wind shifted around to the north as it died down, and I suppose that accounts for the drop in temperature. It was clear and lovely this morning, but it has clouded up now, and I guess there might be some rain overnight.
The camera hung up twice today, and the second time, I broke down and rebooted, but then I did the monthly Windows update, which booted again, so I guess we're good for a few days, at least. I'm not sure what it is about the driver for the camera, but it seems to get corrupted rather frequently. Actually, it's probably that it corrupts itself. I clearly was not intended to be running 24/7. Anyway, that's fixed and the update is done for the month. I hadn't realized that it had been at least a month since I'd used the laptop, but that's updated, too.
For a while, I was taking the laptop to the powder room with me to continue reading my email, but lately, I've been using that time to read either my newspaper or catalogs. I think it's better to take the laptop. I end up spending a lot more time just sitting and reading than I was while I was using the laptop.
The guys were as sleepy as usual. They were both asleep in the bathroom when I got up, and they had a couple of wrestling matches while i was there. Grayson follows me around, so after he got petted - he wouldn't sit on my lap - he went to sleep on the desk. I don't know exactly where Louie was for most of the day. He jumped up on me, but what he really wanted was to look out the open window, and I was a convenient way to get up there. He may have been out on the porch after I opened things up, but after he looked around out there, Grayson came back with me and went back to sleep.
So that was a quiet day, and I'm tired again. I read some, but I have to decide what to read or write on next. I have some ideas for several things. I would like to work on Trine, but there's also that sequel to Osara and the sequel to Bolin and...well, you get the idea.
Now it's a relatively warm, cloudy night in the field.
June 15 I'm sorry I forgot to upload the journal last night. I do that every so often.
i made it into bed by 10:00, and I slept fairly well, although I was up a couple of times for 20 minutes or so each. I was not ready to get up when the alarm went off, but I did. I am going to have to be more careful about what I do on Sunday mornings, though. I was late leaving and later getting to church than I like, in part because I got behind a line of cars going into Calumet that was moving very, very slowly. Ah, the Sunday morning drivers...
Church was nice - it was Trinity Sunday - although I goofed up on the anthem.
I needed to get gas, after three and a half trips to Laurium, and I wanted to stop at Pat's. I got most of what I went after, and I spent more than I'd hoped. The summer fruits are beginning to come in, as well as asparagus. I wanted to go because I saw Pat's ad, and they had flatiron steak on sale. It's been at least two years since I've had a steak, and flatiron is one of my favorites. So I got asparagus and mushrooms and they did have the steaks. The way they sell them is different than I'm used to, in one long slab of over a pound, rather than in small pieces. That was all right; I cut it up and froze two pieces for later. Anyway, it was 2:00 before I got home, and then I had to bring everything in and put it away.
I didn't do much for the rest of tor the rest of the afternoon, although I had an accident and had to wash everything from the waist down. This is getting old. I even had something with rice last night, so I don't know what the problem is now.
Cooking my nice dinner about did me in, but it certainly was good. Flatiron steaks are about my favorite. They are very tasty and very tender and I enjoyed every bite, as well as my mushrooms and asparagus. I don't expect to go back to my former habits, when I had steak at least once a week, but every so often won't hurt. I have a lot more asparagus, too. Yum.
The weather was interesting. While it was cloudy and nearly calm when I started out for Calumet, by the time I got out of church, the wind had picked up, from the south, and it was very windy all afternoon. Up here, there were gusts up to 37 mph. The temperature got up to 62º, but then around 5:00, there was a short, violent thunderstorm, and we got about an eighth of an inch of rain in 20 minutes. A while after that, the skies cleared briefly, then it got cloudy again and the wind has begun to die down. It doesn't look like there's any more rain.
The guys were sleepy, of course. Grayson was very loving, first, I think, because he didn't want me to go away and then because I came back, and finally because my dinner smelled good, although he didn't want any. Louie got some lap time, too, although I had to boot him off to answer an email - I cannot type with him on my lap. He hasn't been coming very often, and he has begun to get some knots on his flanks again. I wish I could get him to take care of them himself, because he hates it when I try to do it. He just sheds too much.
So that was another day. Now it's a dull, cloudy, breezy but not especially cold evening in the field.
June 14 I think this is Flag Day?
I think it was around 10:30 when I got to bed last night, and I slept well. I was up several times, of course, but not for too long, and I got up around 9:30. I knitted. I got the first five repeats of the edging done, with some difficulty. Getting started is always hard, but now I'm in the part that should be easy, so as I get to know the pattern better, it should go faster. The edging has pattern on both sides, and it will take me some time to memorize it.
That was about all I did. I had an accident, so I had to change my underwear, and I washed the stuff from the last two accidents. I need to put that in the dryer. I began to get the dishwasher loaded. It's not critical, except that I'm running out of cereal bowls, since the cats seemed to be satisfied with the canned food I put down yesterday, so I didn't give them any more. I think I can wait until tomorrow.
The weather was better off ignored. It was dark and cloudy all day. The high temperature was 53º. There wasn't any wind. Around 2:00, it started raining, and it may still be, although more lightly than it was for a while. Yuck.
The guys were full of ginger this morning, and after I got up, Louie was really going after Grayson, for some reason. I think sometimes Grayson starts it, just to stir things up, but Louie was really mad today, and he wasn't nice to Grayson. Grayson sat on me for quite a while after breakfast, but Louie hasn't come for the past couple of days. They were sleepy this afternoon, but Louie is still trying to stir things up with Grayson. Heaven knows why.
So that was a very quiet day, and shortly I will be off to the north end for an early night. It's a cloudy, rainy, cold evening in the field.
June 13 Since I got home late and I had to eat and take a bath, it was after 12:30 when I got to bed. Actually, it was partly the radio. Just before midnight, they played a Beethoven piano sonata that I had to hear, although I listened in the bathroom, which has terrible sound. I slept fairly well, except that after I was awake around 7:00, Louie started making a fuss and I finally had to boot him out of the bedroom, and then he fussed outside the door for a while. I got up around 9:00, and I didn't knit. I left the directions for the shawl by the computer, and I was late enough that I didn't want to start working on the sequin scarf.
I was doing well on time when I had an accident and ended up having to change everything I was wearing. I need to do a load of wash, but that's for tomorrow. What a mess! It depresses me, too, when that happens. Anyway, I got away a little later than I'd planned, and then I had a nice conversation with Ron at the post office, so I was almost late for my appointment.
That turned out fine. The radiologist actually came and talked to me, and he reported that everything is fine, despite the extra views they wanted. I have a lumpy breast. Get used to it. I toyed with the idea of stopping at Pat's, but in the end I came right home, and I got here around 3:30. I am tired again now, but I won't be up long. The benefit for the firemen was tonight, but I just didn't feel like going out again.
The weather improved as the day went on. It was ugly all night. There was a lot of wind, and it was nice to sit in the bathroom and hear the lake again, and it was either drizzling or foggy for most of the night. That had ended, but it was cloudy and dull this morning - and cold. The temperature was only 48º when I left for town, and it was windy. By the time I left Laurium, it was warming up a bit and the wind was dying down, and the skies were clearing, although they cleared from the south to the north, which was unusual. It has finally gotten up to 55º and the wind is under 5 mph, but the weekend is supposed to be rainy and cool.
The guys were pests this morning, because the bowl of dry food they really like was empty. They did do a pretty good job of cleaning up the floor, though. Grayson wouldn't wait to sit on my lap this morning, but he did sit on me for quite a while (for him) after dinner. Louie has been around, but I don't think he is pleased with me for shutting him out of the bedroom this morning. He is too old to train to know that you don't bother mommy while she's in bed, even if she's awake. Grayson is a little wiser about that. Well, I didn't want to drive down the peninsula again, either.
So now it is a coolish, nearly calm, partly cloudy evening in the field, and I won't be up very long. The concert tonight is Mozart and Bruckner, so I will just stay to hear the Mozart. At least the day came out well. June 12 Well. I turned out the light at 9:30 last night and I got up just before 11:00 this morning. Of course, I wasn't asleep all that time, and I had an interesting 45 minutes or so around 11:30 when I had to go back to the bathroom three times, but I probably got nearly 11 hours' sleep. I feel much better today.
I knitted the final two rows on the body of the shawl - 421 stitches - and I am ready to start the edging tomorrow. That will take quite a while, of course, because I'm going all the way around. It annoys me, though. One of the reasons I decided to do this pattern was that the picture shows a shawl with an edging all around, but when I read the pattern, the directions are only for an edging on the bottom (it's a triangle), so I am having to figure out the turns for myself. I'm sure one reason they didn't write the pattern for the original edging was that explaining how to set up the upper corners would be hard to explain, and even harder to translate. The original pattern was pretty certainly in German, and unfortunately, some of the translation shows. However, I knew I'd be working on it, because I made the body quite a bit longer than the pattern. So I will go forging ahead tomorrow and see if my calculations come out anywhere near right.
I was so late that I didn't manage to do much, but I did get two more robes mended. These were the ones with the hooks, and it took me longer than I'd hoped, because part of the yoke lining was coming apart in one of them, and I had to fiddle with that. I still have one more to do - a cassock with four buttons missing. I will just use what buttons i have, even though they only match in size, and try to get that back next week.
The weather was unprepossessing. The high temperature did get to 62º briefly, around noon, but then it fell back and went up and down in the 50s for the rest of the day. It's 51º now. There was a little wind overnight, but then it was nearly calm until around 4:00, when it picked up and at least one hour there were 34 mph gusts. It was cloudy and gray all day. Between noon and 4:00, there was a little rain (which I missed completely), and about the time I left for choir it began drizzling. The drizzle was heavier down in Laurium, but it has hit here now, and it's foggy as well. It's not a very nice evening.
I didn't see much of the guys. They did their usual thing when it's not nice. Louie, though, made me shout at him. I had put one of the robes on the desk, and he came up and was going to sit on it, but just as he was about to sit down, he sneezed - right on the robe! Geez! I think I've mentioned before, I think he has allergies. At least since the pollen has been out, he's been sneezing every so often. Grayson either wanted to sit on me or eat some of my dinner, but he went away after a while.
Well, I have to take a bath tonight, so I will be clean and deodorant-free for my repeat mammogram tomorrow. Fortunately, it's not until 1:30, so I can sleep in. Now it's a cold, rainy, nasty night in the field and a good one to sleep.
June 11 For one reason or another, which I don't remember, it was nearly 11:30 when I got to bed. I slept all right, but I was up any number of times. I had hoped to get up around 8:00, but it was nearly 8:30 when I woke up, so I had to rush a bit.
I made it, though and the only mishap was getting behind a gravel hauler on the covered road, whom I couldn't pass until Delaware. I made it in time. I saw the doctor and we had a nice chat. It turns out they hadn't checked my thyroid function last fall, so I had some blood drawn. But then things sort of went downhill. First they sent me up to X-ray without getting registered so I had to go back downstairs. The first time, I walked. The rest of the afternoon, I got wheeled around in a wheelchair - one that had been set up for someone with legs about half the length of mine. Then I had to wait nearly an hour, because everybody was at lunch when I go to X-ray. The technician I like was at another site today, so I had one for the echocardiogram whom I hadn't met before, and I don't think she had been doing that for very long. The mammogram seemed to go better, but just before 5:00 they called me to say that the radiologist wants some more views. Oh, here we go again. Guys, I have a lumpy breast. The lumps come and go and move around. Get used to it. They wanted me to come back tomorrow, but I didn't want to go flying up and down the peninsula twice, so I will go back on Friday afternoon. Nothing is ever simple. Here we go again.
Driving wasn't bad. I did run into a couple of slow drivers, but they pulled over and let me pass. The guy in the gravel truck should have done that, too, but truck drivers aren't as polite as they used to be. I left around 10:00 and got home around 3:30.
I haven't been into Copper Harbor since Sunday, and I was most surprised to see that they are doing something around the community center. It looks like they are flattening out and building up part of the park and the area in front of the community center, with retaining walls and all that. It will probably be a good thing, except that I'm afraid, based upon my experiences out here, that burying the roots and trunks of all the cedars in the park will likely kill them, which would be a real shame. We'll see. It will be good for Art in the Park, because it will make for easier walking and possibly more slots for artists. I will have to see who I can talk to, to find out what's going on.
The weather was nice. It was mostly clear, although there are a few clouds in the sky now. The temperature got up to 71º briefly, while I was away, but it had dropped off before I got home. It was 76º when I left Laurium, and since I had forgotten to crack the windows in the car, it took me a while to get the inside cooled off. The winds were under 10 mph all day. Nice.
I didn't see much of the guys. Grayson was not happy this morning, when it appeared that I was going away, and he kept lying down right where I wanted to walk. Louie was around when I got up, but I haven't seen him since. Grayson came oround to see if he could get some of my dinner, but when he didn't, he went away again.
I am tired. I didn't get enough sleep last night, so I think I will be going up to the north end early tonight. I was toying with the idea of taking a bath tonight, to get the glop off my chest, but I think I will wait until tomorrow so I will be clean for the mammograms. I'm too tired, anyway. Now it's a partly cloudy, warmish evening in the field.
June 10 I think it was around 11:00 when I got to bed. but I didn't check. I slept fairly well, although I was up several times and I had a hard time getting my temperature right. I got up around 10:30, maybe? I knitted my two rows, and there are only two more rows to do before I start the edging, which will be interesting, since I'm doing it differently from the pattern instructions. The picture on the front of the pattern has an edging all around, but the instructions say only to put it on the bottom, so I'll be fiddling around to try to get the turns right. Since it's a big thing now, it will take a while. I should be able to memorize the pattern, but since I will have to make sure all the edges match, I will have to keep track of what I'm doing. I'll be glad to be done with this one and go on to the next.
Other than pay some bills, I didn't do anything much.
The weather was nice. It was mostly clear, although there are some clouds now. The temperature got up to 69º for a while. I opened the window in the studio and the window onto the porch, which the guys appreciated. There wasn't any wind, so it was nice. There was enough sunshine that it got hot in here.
The guys were sleepy this morning, but a curious thing happened. Louie was around when I was in the kitchen, and I said out loud, "I think I will open the porch window" and he ran ahead of me and sat beside the window, before I even started to move in that direction! ! Egad, can he understand English? It sure looks like that! He is a much more retiring sort than Grayson is, but the more I get to know him, the more I wonder just how smart he is. I suppose they are both out there now.
I have a few checks to write, and then I will be going up to the north end to take a bath so I'm clean for the doctor tomorrow. I suppose I will have to take another bath tomorrow night to wash off all the glop from the echocardiogram. I need to get to bed pretty early, too, because my appointment is at 11:00. Now it's a partly cloudy, fairly warm evening in the field.
June 9 I wish I knew what key I just hit that deleted everything I had just typed. Well, let's try it over again.
With everything I had to do and no doubt some sitting around, it was 10:30 before I got to bed. I slept well, with the usual wakeups, of course. I got up around 10:00. I knitted, more slowly than the last time, and now I have only four (very long) rows left to do before I start the edging.
I managed to ignore the signs long enough that I had a nasty accident that resulted in having to change almost everything I was wearing and wash it. That sort of ended any idea I might have had of doing anything much.
The weather started out cloudy. The temperature got up to 62º for a while, but then between 3:00 and 5:00, it dropped down to 44º for no reason I could see. It recovered to 55º at 7:00 before it started downward again. I had to close the window, which i had opened just a crack. It did clear up around that time, and now it is nearly clear and the gibbous moon is shining in the south windows.
The guys were full of energy this morning and there was a lot of wrestling and thumping around while I was knitting. They got so much exercise that they slept for most of the rest of the day. Grayson got screeched at tonight, because he was scrudging the cover on the dining room table up into a wad and I don't waht that. He is now dozing on the sewing chair. I haven't seen Louie lately. I don't know what got into them; the barometer wasn't particularly high. It's good to see them so active, though.
Well, it's 10:00 again and I'm yawning, so I guess I will just give up and go to bed. It's a clear, cool night in the field.
June 8 - The Day of Pentecost I didn't want to stop reading last night, and that, plus what I had to do before I went to bed, meant it was 10:00 before I turned out the light. I slept well, but I didn't sleep long enough, and this evening it's telling in my eyes. I slept well, although I was up several times, and I woke up five minutes before the alarm went off - just like I used to do when I was working.
I diddled around at the computer, so I was a bit late getting away, but the only car that was in my way pulled off to let me go around it. There were a couple more going into Calumet, but only for a few blocks, and by then I knew I'd be on time.
This was a special Pentecost at our church. A girl was baptized and confirmed today, and her godmother is the same Bettyann who helped me out last summer. I wish I knew more about her background, but she's been coming to church with Bettyann and Eleanor for quite a while now, and it's so good to see. I said to Bettyann, "So you engineered this?" and she replied, "No, God did it." She is a remarkable woman.
I had to get gas, but I was home by 1:00, and then I just sort of sat around. The last load of wash is in the washer, ready to be dried, so that's done, finally. Otherwise, I didn't do much of anything. This evening, I started trying to transcribe the sequel to Osara (henceforth known as Osara 2), but with it getting a bit dark and my eyes not doing well, I had to stop after 2800 words. I wrote 79 handwritten pages several years ago before I ran out of ideas, but I want to get it into the computer, since I don't seem to want to write longhand anymrre. And when I change the name of my main character (like I just did with Osara - same person, just a different name) it sure is nice to be able to click "change all" and be done with it.
The name thing has been a real wrench, but after writing Special Forces and Bolin I got to thinking about the names I was using for my main character. In Bolin I set up the idea of her using aliases, which she does in some of the later stories, but I realized that there was no reason to do that in Osara and some good reasons not to. Another good reason why I've been reluctant to publish. Maybe now I'm getting to the point where I could, but we'll see.
The weather was nice but cool. It cleared up sometime overnight and it was clear all day today. The temperature went down to 42º overnight, but it rebounded to about 52º as soon as the sun got up, and that's where it stayed all day. There wasn't much wind. It was a little warmer in Laurium, but not much. I noticed that the lilacs are beginning to show color in Laurium. Not so much here. Now the gibbous moon is shining in the south windows and it's mostly clear and calm.
I didn't see much of the cats. They came and welcomed me home, but mostly they slept.
Me, too. I need to put that last load of wash in the dryer and then I will be off to bed. It's a clear, cool, calm evening in the field.
June 7 Another nothing day. The music was so nice and I was reading something I like, and time just passed, so it was a ridiculous hour when I finally went to bed. I slept, of course, and I think I got up around 10:30, but I don't remember.
Today was supposed to be washday, and for the first time in a very long time, I didn't finish. In fact, I have only one load done. I was doing my surfing and I was tired, so it was late before I even started. So I will finish up tomorrow. I still have some underwear, and I can wear an old pair of compression hose. Sigh. I try to keep to some sort of schedule, but it doesn't always work. I did get the pill dispensers at the south end refilled, and I will do the ones at the north end shortly, when I go up there.
The weather was not exactly encouraging. It was foggy all night and all morning, and around noon, we had a nice two-hour rain shower. The fog went away after that, but it rolled back in around 6:30, and it is dense right now. Between midnight and 2 AM, the temperature fell from 62º to 49º. and it kept right on going down to 42º before it recovered a bit, but the highest it got today was 50º. It was dark and cloudy and yucky. At least there wasn't much wind.
The guys simply did not understand why they can't go out on the porch and I closed the window in the studio. They felt like the weather, though. Grayson sat on my lap for a while then he moved over to the desk and went to sleep. Then Louie came and went to sleep on my lap and didn't get off for quite a while, by which time I'd waited too long to go to the bathroom. He came back and settled down on the pile of paper on the desk. He only tried to mix it up with Grayson once. Grayson thought he wanted some of my dinner, but when he tasted it, he really didn't like it very well. When I was through eating, he came and sat on me and purred again. Maybe he thinks if he's real nice, I'll give him good things to eat and let him at least smell the outside.
So that was a nothing day. Now it's a dull, gray, cool and foggy evening in the field and I will be going up to the north end shortly.
June 6 - D-Day It came to me that I was just under 3 years old on D-Day. I think my dad was in the navy by that time, in OTC, but I don't know for sure. I don't know about other people my age, but I can see clearly how the war affected my entire life.
I got to bed around 12:30 last night, because I started the dishwasher before I went up to the north end and I washed some of the pans that were in the sink. I slept well. I got up around 10:00, I think, and I knitted. Otherwise, I didn't do much. I had some stuff to mail, so I got that ready and I went to the post office. Not much.
The weather was nice. It was cloudy overnight, but it cleared up this morning and it was clear or partly cloudy for most of the day. The official high was 68º, but that was at 7:00 tonight, and for most of the day, it was in the 50s. There wasn't much wind. Nice.
The guys were their sleepy selves. Grayson got a lot of lap time, but Louie didn't even come. Only while I was making my dinner tonight, he was sitting by the hall window complaining because the window is still shut. I didn't open it, because it's supposed to get quite cool tonight. Grayson was mostly sitting and watching him.
The camera hung up around 1:30 this afternoon. Sorry about that. I should check it more often. At least it was a pretty picture, with lots of sunshine and those fair-weather clouds love to watch.
Now I should go to bed, but I just finished listening to Beethoven's Third, which I love, and there is a Mozart symphony (#36, also a favorite), so maybe I will go to bed after that. It's a clear, calm night in the field.
June 5 Not much to report again. I got to bed around 12:30 and I slept fairly well, although I was up several times. I got up around 9:30, i think, and I did my knitting.
And that was it. My eyes were a little better today, but not good enough to try the sewing machine again.
I did call UPPCO and complain about the adjustment they made to my budget bill. Because of the cold winter, I used a whole lot more electricity than usual, so they upped my bill by $40! Geez! The woman I talked to understood and took $20 off it, but I still have to pay this month's bill. The excuse is that the process is automated, but I know too much about that to believe they couldn't do a better job. And as soon as I begin to show a credit balance, I will be calling them again. It's the same problem I had with the gas company. If it's not one damn thing it's another...
Tonight was choir practice, and that was nice. I am not singing alto. I tried it and I just couldn't do it. So we will do those verses two-part, which isn't quite as nice, but it sounds good. It's a good group, even though there aren't very many of us.
The weather was nice again. The temperature got up to 72º briefly, which was warmer than it was in Calumet. For most of the afternoon, it was in the 60s. There was hardly any wind. The day started out clear and it has ended up cloudy, and there might be a little rain tonight. Nice.
The guys were sleepy. Grayson sat on my lap this morning until I had to walk, but I didn't see much of Louie. He slept with me and he was around when I got up this morning.
So see? Nothing to report. It's a cloudy, warmish evening in the field.
June 4 It was a bit after 11:00 last night. I hope it will be earlier tonight. I slept fairly well, although I had some wakeful times early in the morning. Too much on my mind, I guess. Mostly I can manage to keep that out of my conscious, but sometimes not. I got up around 10:00 and I knitted. There are almost 400 stitches, and I have only 12 more rows left before I can start the edging. The colors went from lavender to green and back to lavender this time.
I ended up not doing anything. I was going to sew, but I could tell by how much I couldn't see that it would be fruitless to try, so I didn't.
The weather was cool but pretty. The temperature got up to 62º a while ago, but for most of the day it was between 50º and 55º. There was almost no wind. It was nearly completely clear all day long, and it was so pretty. Especially, looking north in the morning with the sun in the southeast, the color of the sky was just lovely. The harbor was a lovely color, too, just as blue as the sky. I love blue.
The guys were sleepy, although Grayson came and purred at me and Louie sat on my lap for a while. Mostly they slept. Grayson still thinks he wants chicken, but when I give him some, he isn't interested. Maybe it's just that he wants to see if I will give him any.
So that was a nothing day, and soon I'll be off to take a bath and try to get to bed early. It's a clear, cool, calm night in the field.
June 3 I was in bed by about 10:30 last night, and I slept well. It was cool in the bedroom, and that helped. I got up around 9:00, I think, and it was very windy. I closed the window to the porch, because it was making it too cool in the house. Then I knitted, and I guess I'm getting used to the pattern, because it only took me about an hour to do the two rows.
The task of the day was to work on the cuddle wrap, and I had high hopes, which were dashed. First off, after I adjusted the tension, I managed to cause a jam right at the beginning of the first row I tried to sew and I had to rip it out and start over. I hate to rip, but I'm really good at it, because I've done a whole lot of it in my sewing career. I mess up, and I'm just not happy with the results, so I rip. Anyway, after that, I managed to get the binding sewn down on the hood and the front flap, but by that time, it was after 4:00 and I had severe eyestrain. I tried to use my MagEyes, and that didn't work, so I ended up with my glasses off. I could see all right after that, but after an hour or so my eyes were really sore, so I had to stop. I need to figure out where I'm going to lay out the whole thing, though, so it was all right. I guess it will be on my sewing and cutting station beside the sewing chair, but I have some things to move before I can do that. Eyestrain! i haven't had that kind of trouble in years, but then, before now, I could sew with my glasses on. Part of it is where the sewing machine has to be to set into the counter, but I've sewn there in the past with no problems. Oh, do I need that surgery!
I also paid a couple of bills, but that didn't take long.
The weather was interesting. There was a little rain between 4:00 and 6:00, and then the wind got really strong, with gusts up to 31 mph from the north. Late this afternoon, it finally calmed down some, but there were good whitecaps on the harbor for most of the day. The skies cleared for a while after 11:30 then they clouded up again until around 6:30, and now it's clear again. The high temperature got up to 60º but not for very long, and for most of the day it was in the upper 50s. The humidity dropped, too, which is nice. The towels have been damp for the past couple of days, and I hate that. It looks like the bad weather in the Midwest will probably pass by to our south, and the next few days are supposed to be clear with a little below seasonal temps.
Last night, when I turned out the light, there was a fat crescent moon shining in the bedroom, but just a few minutes later, after I said my prayers, it was gone and the fog had rolled in. I think it was foggy all night.
The guys were sleepy, although Grayson wanted to sit on me a couple of times today. Otherwise, he slept on the desk. Louie got a little love, but not much. He has been sleeping with me, which apparently satisfies him.
I roasted my stuffed chicken tonight, with some difficulty. I use the big oven so infrequently that I keep forgetting how to use the probe and the convection roast function. Or at least I did this time. It was fine when I did the turkey, but this time it kept going off. Maybe I can remember now that it's probe first, then oven temperature. Maybe. The chicken is fine, even though I managed to roast it with the paper on the bottom, but the stuffing is just as bad as I feared. It has very little flavor and it is very salty. So I will ignore that and just eat chicken. I like the way it cooks on convection roast. The skin gets nice and crispy, and I think it cooks a bit quicker than it would otherwise. So that was a mixed success, but I have something to eat that isn't out of a bag.
So that was a quiet day, as usual. I notice that there are buds showing on the lilacs. It seems like even though our spring is late in coming, it's going to end at just about the same time as usual. I killed a mosquito in the bathroom last night, and I keep seeing little things flying around the computer screen. However, if the temperature stays under 60º. which it should around here anyway, the bugs won't be too much of a problem. I hope not. It turns out that I actually got three black fly bites the other day. One of them is a double. Well, it's not paradise. Close, but not.
Amanda announced on her blog yesterday that she is pregnant, so I guess I can announce it, too. I've known for several weeks, but I didn't want to say anything until she did. I am so happy for her and Aaron, and they seem to be very happy about it, too. That kid will grow up in the best possible place and learn all about the woods from the time it's born. She isn't due until late October, so she'll be able to get out into the woods this summer, although she isn't doing some of the wilder things she did in previous summers.
So now it's a cool, clear evening in the field and it's time for bed.
June 2 I turned out the light a little after 10:00 last night, with the hope that I would get up earlier this morning, but when I was awake around 7:00, that seemed too early, so the next time I woke up it was 10:00. It was so comfy in bed, with my back nestled up against Louie's back, that I just kept sleeping. Besides, it was a moist, foggy morning and a good one to sleep.
I knitted, and that, plus my surfing, meant I didn't get to the cuddle wrap as early as I wanted, and then I had to cut it out. I discovered that mama's FIskars (with her initials on the blade) had been well enough used that they were too dull to use, and besides, the pivot is so stiff, I don't know how she used them. No wonder she had sore wrists! So I found my own pair and finished the cutting.
Then it was off to the sewing machine, and that was a trip, too. It took me at least 20 minutes to wind a bobbin, in part because the places where the thread has to go are hard to navigate for a person with gout and arthritis. Then I had to figure out how to thread the machine, and when it came time to thread the needle, I discovered that the needle threader doesn't work as advertised and I couldn't see the eye of the needle. So that took time. I couldn't see to sew, either, but after taking off my glasses and changing feet, I managed some straight stitching. I want to finish the binding with a decorative stitch, so I had to play with that. When I did it on my doodle cloth, it seemed like it was going to be backwards, so I had to figure out how to turn it over (the edit button, Shari, the edit button), but when I tried it on a swatch, it came out right without turning. I don't know why. That was about where I had to end in order to get to my massage.
Before I got the bobbin wound, I was laughing at myself, I was so frustrated. I even toyed with the idea of getting out the old machine, but it doesn't have a decorative stitch of little hearts, so I persisted. Besides, I have to get used to the new machine. One frustration is that the tension is just not right, and every time I turn off the machine, it goes back to the incorrect setting. Besides, getting from straight stitching to one of the neat decorative stitches can take pushing the right buttons five or six times, and if I press the wrong buttons, I have to start over again. I'll get the hang of it, but there is quite a learning curve. I hope that tomorrow or Wednesday I will have the cuddle wrap finished and then I can go on to other things, I was disappointed that I had so much trouble seeing, and tomorrow, I will have to try my MagEyes and see if that helps. I see more and more reasons why I need that cataract surgery.
The weather was good for something like that. It was foggy all day, and we had about an eighth of an inch of rain between 8:00 and 4:00, The temperature got up to 64º at 4:00, but then the wind shifted around to the north and it dropped to 48º. It was mostly cloudy and very humid all day, although now the skies are clear, even though there is still fog on the harbor. Well, when the humidity is over 90% and the water temperature is in the middle 30s, we have to expect fog.
The guys were sleepy all day, although Grayson was interested when I started cutting out the wrap on the dining room table. I sure wish I could figure out how to get my cutting table up here (and what to do with it when I'm not using it). And while I was making my dinner (fresh whitefish - mmm!) he pushed a pen onto the floor, just so I'd know he was there. Snot. As I mentioned, Louie spent the latter part of the night with me, and we were both comfy with our backs up against each other. He is a good heating pad, and I think he thinks the same of me.
So now I think I will read a bit and try to get to bed early again. It seems clear from the past week or so that I will have to go into summer hair washing mode, which means every other day. My head is still so oily that if I let it go, I get that nasty, scabby dandruff I've had for 60 years (Geez!). Actually, if it gets really warm, I'll have to do it every day, but if it does get warm, I'll want to shower before I go to bed anyway. Doing things like taking care of my hair are the little details that get less and less interesting as I get older, but I'm not quite ready to cut off all my hair. I hate the way I look with short hair even more than I hate the way my hair looks now that it's really long, so I guess I will just cope. So we'll see what I end up doing about that.
Now it's a cool, humid, foggy evening in the field and I guess there may be some more rain on the way.
June 1 I actually got to bed by 9:00 last night, and I didn't take long to get to sleep. Amazing. I don't remember when that last happened. I slept well, too, and the first time I got up was more than 4 hours later. i was up several times after that, though, with a growly tummy, the last time around 6:30, unfortunately. I had gotten enough sleep that I didn't have a hard time getting up. My surfing seemed to go rather slowly for some reason, but I got to see everything I wanted before I got dressed.
I went off to church, and the first thing I had to do was pass a guy who turned out of the fort and was going 30 mph down US-41. There is a double yellow line, by the way, but I've passed people there before. I made it to church when I wanted to, though, because there wasn't much traffic, and Cliff Drive is open. although it's in worse shape than it was last fall. They tried to patch some of the worst holes before they opened it, and all they did was make things worse, especially after the rain this morning.
Church was nice, and we sang good. Then it was downstairs to get my pasties. They had a pasty sale to raise money for the new roof, so I got a couple. After that, I went off to Pat's to do some shopping, and I was surprised by how modest I was. I'm trying to cut down on the frozen prepared stuff, and that seems to make quite a difference. Also, I've more or less given up on the deli salads, which I would bring home, eat a little and never eat any more. Very wasteful. I did splurge on a stuffed chicken (not cooked), but that was only 99¢ a pound, It's an experiment. I don't know anything about Pat's stuffing, but for that price, I thought it was worth a try. I will probably cook it Tuesday, since i also got some fish, and I have some leftover rice to eat with that.
Then it was home, and I was tired and my feet were sore. I did take my Crocs with me, but they seem to eat socks, so my toes were sore by the time I got home. It took me most of the afternoon to get everything put away, and it seems like almost everything was food, which is also good. I had one of my pasties when I finished putting away the frozen stuff (I was hungry) and another one around 7:00. They weren't very large. They were nice, although they had more potatoes and less meat than I like, and it didn't seem like they had any onions, rutabaga or pepper. But it's a good dish, no matter what the recipe. They also came with a very little bit of coleslaw and a brownie. For $6 each, it's hard to complain. So I am nice and stuffed now.
It was not a very nice day, weatherwise. It was dark and cloudy and there was a bit of rain, but even when It wasn't raining, it was extremely humid. The temperature here went between 63º and 80º, sort of in waves, and the relative humidity was close to 90% for the whole day. It was even worse in Calumet, and when I was outside, it felt like I was breathing water and I was sweating even though it wasn't that warm. Ugh. I hope we don't have a lot of weather like this. It wasn't foggy on land, but from the foghorns I heard, I guess it was foggy on the lake, and since the water is so cold, I'm not surprised. I love to hear those foghorns! And last night, I could hear the buoy. I love that, too.
The guys were sleepy, although they both got up to see what I was doing when I got home. Later, when I went toward the studio with my first pasty, I found them both on the table. Louie was sleeping on the slient cloth, and Grayson, darn him, was asleep right on the fleece for the cuddle wrap. He can be a real snot. They are still sleepy, and I don't blame them. So am I.
i didn't do anything this afternoon. I had hoped to at least get the cuddle wrap cut out, but that didn't happen, so I will have to work on it tomorrow and hope I can get it done before 4:30, which is when my massage is. I was just too tired to do anything.
I won't be up very late tonight, either. Now it's a calm, humid, warmish evening in the field. I sure hope we don't have a lot of weather like this.
Last updated 07/01/14 11:07 PM |