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A View From the Field |
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November, 2014 November 30 Well, today was a day when nothing went exactly as I'd planned. I got to bed shortly after 10:00 last night, but it took me a while to get to sleep. I was up about every two hours for some reason. The last time was just after 6:00 and I could tell that I didn't feel like going to church. I should have.
But I didn't. I got up around 10:00, I think, and I knitted. That was all right.
Then, I was looking at some lace knitting books, because my favorite source of lace yarn is having a sale, and I discovered a website called Antique Pattern Library. Well! I just love old needlework books, and while there weren't as many knitting books as I would have liked, there were lots with all kinds of needlework in them. The oldest knitting books are a challenge to read, because there was absolutely no standard for stitch names, but I think possibly I could figure the patterns out if I wanted to. Anyway, I now have a whole lot of old pattern books on my hard drive that I can play with at my leisure. And there are more that haven't had PDFs made of them yet, so I will have to check back. Everything is free, which makes it even nicer. It's so nice that people are going to the trouble of scanning all these old things and making them available online.
That was not what I intended to do this afternoon. I finished Trine 4 the other night, as I mentioned, and I read through Trine 5, which is, if anything in worse shape, and I'd hoped to get started on it today, but oh, well. I won't do that now or I'll be up all night. I did manage to get the dishwasher almost completely loaded and I will run it tonight, so the guys and I will have something to eat off of tomorrow.
The weather was, um, unsettled. It was still 36º at midnight, but by 1:00 this afternoon, it was 20º and there were some snow showers. The wind gusted up to 41 mph around 8:00 this morning - another good reason to stay home, and it's building again, all from the north. It was dark and cloudy all day.
The guys slept, although they both got a little lap time, not as much as they wanted. They don't mind as long as I stay home.
So that was a nothing day and now it's late again, so I will start the dishwasher and totter up to the north end. It's a cold, windy, snowy night in the field. And tomorrow is December!!
November 29 So last night, I got completely turned around. This time, I was writing, and I finished Trine 4, at least for the time being. I feel pretty good about it. Then I wanted to read through parts of it, and then...well, it was a ridiculous hour this morning when I finally got to sleep. So it was a ridiculous hour when I got up, although I didn't get a whole lot of sleep. And then I knitted enough to go on to the next color combination. So I only really got one meal and I'm tired.
The weather was better ignored. The high temperature got to 38º and there was almost no wind. There was a little drizzle or mist or something - it was very humid - and it was cloudy and dreary. We lost quite a bit of the last snowfall.
The guys were sleepy, of course. When I got up, they were both asleep in the bathroom and I didn't see much of them later. They had eaten all their dry food and cleaned up the floor around the bowls. Every so often I have to let the bowls get empty, because they push a lot of kibble onto the floor and they'll only clean it up if the bowls are empty. Grayson wanted pork, but just a little taste and Louie only asked once to sit on me.
So that was a really nothing day. I am thinking about trying to go to church tomorrow, so I want to get to bed early. I need to get to bed early and catch up on my sleep. I'll just have to see how I feel and what the weather is like in the morning. I'd really like to hunker down and hibernate, but I have to try to talk myself out of that.
Now it's a warmish, cloudy, misty night in the field.
November 28 Well, I got turned around again. I think it was mostly the music, but I read through Trine 4 again, with the idea of writing the ending. Anyway, it was a ridiculous hour this morning before I got to bed. I got up around 11:30, and I knitted, for quite a bit longer than I intended. This is an easy pattern, but it's sort of addictive.
I was late enough that I had to rush a bit to make it to the post office before it closed. I had an envelope to mail and two miss-files that I've been sitting on for quite some time. Ron had picked up my package at the store, so I didn't have to stop there. My knees were very bad today.
I'm very happy to say that my new insurance card came. After my go-round on Monday, I was beginning to wonder, but evidently I'm all set up for next year. It's a relief. Otherwise, it was the usual, with some bills. The yearly inundation of pleas for money is beginning. I wish I could contribute, but I just can't. Much to my surprise, there weren't many catalogs, at least this time.
When I was out yesterday, I noticed that the plow on US-41 has knocked over our newspaper box, so I will have to call the paper and suspend it until spring. I'm sorry to do that. I've gotten so I enjoy reading the local news. However, even if the box had been upright, It's been so long since I was out that it would have been filled to overflowing anyway. It's better not to waste money like that. I enjoy the Daily Mining Gazette, but it's very expensive.
It was a nothing day, weatherwise. The high temperature, right now, is 22º, and the winds have gone calm after being very light from the southwest all day. There was no snow and there was no sunshine, but it was bright-cloudy all day. There is a half moon up there someplace, but evidently it's too cloudy to see it.
The guys were sleepy, of course. Grayson was about to sit on me when I had to get up and go away, but he sat for a few minutes later. He thought he wanted my dinner, but he doesn't like salmon very well, so he just had one little piece, to make sure I'd give him some. Louie came by while he was sitting on my lap, after I got home from the post office, but I haven't seen him since. He'll probably be around later.
I did get nearly enough sleep last night, so I'll try again to get to bed at a reasonable hour. I want to try to get to church on Sunday, so I need to get back onto a human schedule. We'll see how well it works. I don't think it will be real early, because the symphony concert is a nice one tonight.
Now it's a cold, cloudy but calm night in the field.
November 27 - Thanksgiving Day I hope everyone had a happy, relaxing day filled with good food and good friends.
I was late again last night, of course. I was reading, and that's most of my excuse, besides which my knee was bad enough that I didn't want to be walking around. I slept fairly well, but it was humid enough that I had sore hips and shoulders after I'd been lying down for a while. I didn't get up until around 11:30.
I was knitting when Peggy called to invite me to dinner at Mariner. I thought that was very nice of her, even though it was a late invitation. Evidently they had a hard time getting their plans together. Since dinner was supposed to be at 2:00, I only had my OJ and a piece of cheese (I need something in my stomach to take some of my morning pills). Dinner was very nice, as was the company. I go to meet Lynnea, who is Peggy's granddaughter and the reason there was no Thanksgiving Dinner last year: Lydia went into premature labor and Lynnea was borne 9 weeks prematurely. She seems to be a bright, active, healthy little girl now, eating and enjoying almost-solid foods. If she had been born on time, she would be about 10 months now.
So that was a nice alternative to what I had planned for the day. I was so late getting up that I didn't do much of anything else, and in fact, I didn't finish reading my email or doing my surfing until after I got home.
It was a frigid, snowy day. The temperature was almost steady around 15º and there was a brisk north wind, in the 20 - 30 mph range. There wasn't a whole lot of snow, but it came in waves as the lake effect squalls came through. When I looked at the MODIS imagery, I could see the bands of snow all over the lake. We even had a few minutes of sunshine. Lake effect snow is so interesting.
The guys were mostly sleepy, although Grayson, at least, realized what was going on when I got into my down parka and left. When I got home and sat down at the computer, he got on my lap and went happily to sleep and he might still be there except that Louie came up to see what was going on. Oh, and I had to pee. He did come back and sat on me a while longer, but Louie went off and I don't know where he is, although I suspect it might be in the bathroom, where it should be a bit warmer.
So that was a nice holiday. It was so nice of them to invite me and it was so nice to get some turkey after all. Now it's a frigid, snowy night in the field, and I'll be off to the north end soon.
November 26 Well, it wasn't as early as I'd hoped, but it was a lot earlier than the night before. I slept pretty well until morning, and I ended up getting up around 10:00, maybe, although considering when I finished knitting and got dressed, I'm not sure it wasn't later than that. I've started on the solid dark blue part, but I only did two rows that way. I know why they did the color changes the way they did - in cross stitch, we call it "tweeding" - but I don't really like it when the colors are as different as the blue and the green. However, that part is done. The top is an odd pattern, but it looks nice. The pattern instructions are horrible, but I've had that problem before with patterns from that source. Anyway, it's still a fun knit, so I'll keep on with it.
I was so late that I didn't do anything except make my dinner for tonight and tomorrow - pork chops. They turned out pretty good. I think I'm learning how to not burn them.
The weather was rather cold and snowy. The high temperature was 27º, but between 2:00 and 3:00, the wind shifted from the southwest to the east-northeast and rose from 8 mph to 23 mph. I was in the powder room around that time, and I heard it. The shift came quite suddenly and all of a sudden the lake started singing. It snowed lightly all day, off and on, as the lake effect bands came through. It was interesting, too. I was awake around 5:00 and there were a few stars, not very many, but I saw Polaris, Cassiopeia, and Capella, although when I went back to bed, I couldn't see Aldebaran, so it was partly cloudy then. By the time I got up, it was cloudy and lazy snowflakes were coming down.
The guys were sleepy. They both got some lap time, and Grayson finally got a taste of my pork chop, which he liked. I'm not sure pork is good for cats, but as long as he doesn't eat a lot of it, I guess it won't hurt him. I know onions aren't good for him, but I tried to take his little pieces out of the center where there wasn't any onion.
I guess it's the weather, but my knees and back have been horrible all day, so I guess the best thing I can do is take a nice hot shower and crash. I didn't get enough sleep last night, so I'm tired, and I still don't feel very good.
Now it's a snowy, windy night in the field and it's supposed to get cold tonight and tomorrow.
November 25 I got completely turned around last night. I guess it was partly the music, but I was reading First, and every time I read it, I am more comfortable with it, but there are some parts that are interesting enough that I wanted to read through them. Then I washed my hair, so it was ridiculously late when I got to bed and ridiculously late when I got up.
I knitted and I finished the all-green part and moved on to the part that is half green and half dark blue, although I only did a few rows of that. The yarn is Merino wool, and it's so soft that it's a pleasure to knit with it. I think I'm going to like the pattern, too. The top is all leaves that fall down over the shoulders. They're rather long, thin leaves like maybe ash leaves, but it's a good pattern and it will show up even in the dark colors.
I didn't have much time to do anything, so I didn't.
The weather was more or less calm today. There were a few lazy snowflakes coming down while I was knitting, but nothing much. The wind dropped to nothing after 9:00, and the temperature was around 25º until 3:00 or so, when it began dropping off. It was mostly cloudy, except that it had cleared up almost completely by sunset, so I saw the crescent moon setting over the Mountain Lodge. Sort of boring, actually.
The guys slept, of course. Grayson got some lap time after I ate and before I had to make a fast trip to the bathroom, but I didn't see Louie, or I haven't yet. He will sometimes come in the evening to sit on me while I'm reading.
While I suppose I got enough sleep, I'm still tired and I will try hard not to be as late tonight. It's a mostly clear, cold night in the field.
November 24 Well, I was later than I wanted to be last night, and it was my own fault. I finally decided on the next lace project, a kit, and I took it with me to the north end. Then, of course, I had to read the instructions through (terrible instructions) and get out the right needles, and... Well you get the idea. Once I got to bed I did well. I was up several times, but it was nearly 11:00 when I got up.
Then I started the shawl. This one is going to be a warm shawl. It's knit rather tightly with the yarn doubled, and there aren't a lot of yarn-overs until I get to the edging. It starts dark green, transitions through a couple of dark blues, a little purple and ends with a wide band of taupe, then tan and pale beige. It's sort of a half-round rather than triangular, too, so it should be a useful thing, if I ever get it blocked. I'm about halfway through the first repeat, but the first rows go fast, because there aren't many stitches at first.
I felt marginally better today, and I think it was all the sleep. I will have to do that again tonight. I still don't feel good, and the weather made my knees very sore again. Sigh.
I didn't do a lot, but Thomas (he pronounces it "Toomas" - he's Swedish) came late in the day and checked things out and set the temperature in the system a little higher, but he can't see that there is anything much wrong except that the lines are getting full of crud. He will probably be back next summer to see if he can find the leak, and maybe that will help.
Oh yes, and I finally called the insurance exchange to ask about my supplemental, and after the nice lady there and I sat on hold for 15 or 20 minutes - we talked about pasties, and I may have gotten PastyNet a new customer - we finally got to talk to the insurance company and it seems like my application has been approved and I have a policy number, but they never got around to telling anybody. I guess I may get my information in a week or two. Geez, these are the people I signed up for? The price was so low I wondered. We'll see how things go. At least I have the policy number and the name of a person, if there are problems, although the nice lady I spoke to at the exchange said that I should call them first if there are more problems. Thomas came while I was still on the phone, but that was all right.
It was another nasty day. There may have been some rain overnight, but around 6:00 this morning the temperature started to drop and the wind started to rise, and it's now 29º with 28 mph winds and gusts to 43 mph. The wind is from the northeast, though, which is the best place for me, so it's been comfortable all day. Thomas was kind enough to reverse the ceiling fans in the great room for me, and now I'm afraid that they are backward, but I'll check that out tomorrow when I can see better. By the time I got up, the lake was singing loudly, and it's only gotten louder as the day has gone on. We are under a lake effect snow advisory and a lakeshore flooding advisory until tomorrow morning, and it's been snowing lightly all day, although I don't think there was more than an inch of accumulation. The last time you could see the mountain was about 11:30.
The guys were sleepy. Louie beat it when Thomas came, of course, and Grayson wanted to follow him around, especially when he went upstairs to open the vanity doors in the upstairs bathroom. Grayson is terminally curious, for sure. Louie spent a long time on my lap, but I finally had to shoo him off. I think he would have slept there for the entire afternoon if I'd let him.
So that was my day. I hope we don't have too bad a winter so I don't have to use the space heater very much, but we'll see about that. Now it's a cold, snowy, windy night in the field and it will be a good one to sleep.
November 23 I didn't go to church again. I made it into bed by 10:45, but the way I feel, 7½ hours of sleep just wasn't going to do it. I was actually awake around 6:15, and I felt so yucky that I went back to bed. I got up around 10:00. I worked on the sequins, and that is going to be a very slow project. I knitted for at least an hour and a half and I only did eight rows of 51 stitches each. Mostly it's because of the properties of the yarn, with all those devilish sequins that look so pretty.
I didn't do much today, but seeing the weather, I made the effort and trudged out onto the deck and pulled down the shutters, so when it starts snowing again, the porch will be secure. In the process of doing that, I discovered that the bottom of one of the screens and one of the panels of the door have been pulled out of the nails, so there is an opening onto the porch - and it looked to me like it was something trying to get inside. I suppose the big one could have been Grayson coming in, except that it would be hard for a little kitty like him to pull out the screening from the inside. The screening was bent in about the size of a critter head, but I have no idea what might have done it. I don't think anything actually got in. It looked like the opening wouldn't stretch that far. It is curious, and I'm going to have to try to find a handyman next spring to rescreen the one panel and the door. The screen was pulled out of the nails, so it isn't possible to just take off the molding and use the same screen. Sigh.
It was as amazing a day in its own way as last weekend was. The high temperature was 47º early in the afternoon, and it's fallen off a few degrees since, but it was amazingly warm and we've lost a good amount of the snow we got last week. The rest is soggy, and when it freezes it's going to be a mess. There wasn't much wind after 10:00. It was dark and cloudy all day and several times it looked like it might rain, but it didn't.
The guys slept. Louie got quite a bit of lap time, until my legs got twitchy, but I didn't see much of Grayson. It was a good day for that.
I still feel yucky, so I am going to try hard to get to bed at a decent hour tonight. I think, with things like I have, sleep is the best thing I can do for it. It seems to be some sort of sinus thing, and I've had a headache for most of the day. So I will be trying to make myself go to bed.
It's supposed to rain tonight, and it's been raining south and east of here, and then sometime overnight or tomorrow the rain is supposed to turn to snow. There is a lake effect snow advisory and a lakeshore flooding advisory in effect, so I gather that it's supposed to get windy as well as snowy tomorrow and Tuesday. So I will hibernate.
Now it's a dark, foggy night in the field and I don't feel very good.
November 22 I actually made it into bed by midnight last night, although I had a little trouble getting to sleep. I slept well, and I got up around 9:30. I worked on the scarf again, and it looks to me like I've finally gotten to a row that isn't messed up very much. I finally remembered what I know about ripping and did the last four or five rows on a size 0 needle, which helped a lot. There is still something wrong with it - I seem to be missing three or four stitches - but I think I know what row was the last one and I can figure out what the problem is. Or I hope so. Not that anybody will notice if the pattern is off, but I'll know.
Today was wash day and fill the pill dispensers day. I've filled the dispensers in the studio and the last load is in the washer. I wasn't being diligent and besides, I had a nasty accident that meant I had to wash a pair of sweatpants, so that put me behind. I will get the last load into the dryer before I go to bed.
The weather was yucky. The temperature rose overnight to a high of 39º for several hours this afternoon. There was almost no wind. So there was a lot of melting and dripping. It was dark and cloudy all day, but if there was any rain it didn't register. I know there was a lot of fog or something down around the mountain. I just discovered that the camera hung up, so I don't know how the later part of the afternoon looked. Grr.
The guys slept. Grayson got some lap time, but Louie came when I was doing something else, so he didn't get any.
My knees were a little sorer today than they were yesterday, and I still don't feel very good, so whether I go to church or not tomorrow is up in the air. Of course, it was very humid today, so all my joints hurt. It got nice and warm in here, though, and that was a change. Except that with the thermostat turned up to 90º, it should be warm all the time. Grr.
So that was a nothing day, and I'll be off to the north end soon. It's a cloudy, warmish, very humid night in the field.
November 21 I guess last night it was just that I didn't want to get up. I was a little earlier, but not much. I slept until after noon, though, so I got my sleep. I started trying to recover the mesh scarf, and I remembered why I gave up on it: I'd dropped something and I have to rip back. I've ripped out about 4 rows already and I've dropped some more things, but eventually I think I'll get it back together. Working on black is never easy and this is worse for several reasons. I'll get it.
The heating guy didn't come, so it's cold in here, but I figured in this weather there would be a lot of "no heat" calls, and since I do have some heat, I get pushed down the list. He'll come eventually, I'm sure.
The weather was marginally better than it has been for several days. The temperature got up to 30º and there wasn't any snow. There was quite a wind, though, from the west, with gusts up to 30 mph. It was dark and cloudy all day. I keep forgetting I have to move the camera back where it belongs - several days ago somebody was looking for mice in the corner and bumped it.
Both somebodies were sleepy, as usual, but they both got some lap time. Louie didn't stay long, because I found a knot on his flank and he tried to bite me when I started pulling it, so I batted him and he left.
I was so late that I didn't do anything else, and I will try again to get to bed at a reasonable hour. We'll see. Now it's a cold, windy night in the field.
November 20 I guess it was the music again. It was very late when I got to bed, but I made up for it by not getting up until noon. I knitted on the sequin thing again, but then I started looking at the one I gave up on last year - the Mermaid Mesh one - and I decided I like that one better, so I guess I'll try it one more time.
The heating guy called before I got up, and I guess I'll be seeing him tomorrow sometime. And the prosthesis lady called to tell me my new bras and new prosthesis will go in the mail today.
I didn't do much of anything but unload the dishwasher. Another reason I was so late getting to bed was that I loaded it and started it before I went up to the north end last night. I was running out of dishes and forks. So now it is empty and I can begin to fill it again.
I think maybe my knee is doing a bit better, and I was able to leave the cane in the powder room. I can hope. I dropped my tray in the studio last night - second time in two nights - and lost a whole glass of JD, which broke my heart. My knees are still sore, but it's not quite as bad as it has been. At least I can walk a bit.
Just a note - the camera wasn't updating the web page very much today because PastyNet had an outage. I could get out into the web just fine, but I couldn't see any pages hosted by PastyNet. It came back in the middle of the afternoon, but it was down from 10:15 to 5:30 or thereabouts. Sorry. There wasn't much to see except the mountain coming and going.
On a related note, the days are down to just over 9 hours now, so it's dark most of the time.
I didn't go to choir tonight, and one reason was that when it was time to leave, the temperature here was 12º and it was 9º in Laurium. That was just too cold. It has "warmed up" to 18º since, but still. There is a brisk (20-30 mph) wind from the north and every hour or so another lake effect squall comes through, although I don't think there was more than an inch of accumulation here. There was 4" more at Delaware yesterday and overnight. So it was dark and cloudy all day.
The guys were sleepy, but they both got some lap time. They know what to do in this weather.
So do I, if I can make myself do it. I want to take a bath tonight, and I want to get to bed at a semi-reasonable hour for a change. I'm tired, because I haven't been getting enough sleep. I think I still have whatever I had over the weekend, although if the glop in my nose is any indication, I'm getting over it slowly. I think possibly I have found a way to make me get up and go to bed: my jeans are a bit tight and after I sit in them for a while, they get very uncomfortable. Time to go to bed.
Now it's a very cold, windy, snowy night in the field.
November 19 I got to bed a little earlier than the night before, but not much. This time it was mostly the music. There was Brahms and Bach and a whole lot of other stuff. And I had to wash my hair. So it was around 11:00 when I got up and Louie was investigating to see if I was still alive.
I got the toe of the new sock made, and I was most surprised: I thought the background of the yarn was black, and it's in fact navy blue! There are yellow and light red tweedy stripes in it, but it's blue. It's nice to be able to see again.
After that, I got totally discombobulated. The analog clock I usually glance at when I want to know the time has lost an hour (probably the battery is going - they don't last long) so I was actually an hour late all afternoon. That explains why Ron called from the post office at what I thought was 1:45 and was actually 2:45, to say he would stop by with my mail and the package from the store, and I put him on to get me some eggs. He came by and dug out the drift in front of the garage. I wasn't sure how high it was, but it was actually over 2' high, so I would have had a hard time getting through it. I really hate to see him do that; he's not as young as he used to be and I would hate to have him have a heart attack on my property - or anyplace else, for that matter.
In the mail, among the bills, was an envelope from Arthur with a remarkable check in it. I don't know how to thank him. Now I'll be able to get tires and pay my taxes, too. What a friend he is! I'm safe, Arthur - I know what to do when my tires aren't the best, or I'll just stay home, but it's nice to know I'll be able to get new ones and be really safe. This looks like a year when I'll need them!
We had another 4" of snow overnight. Today was a better day. It didn't start snowing until around 4:00, and the temperature has been around 26º for several hours now. However, the wind is rising again, 24 mph with 33 mph gusts from the north-northwest, which should rev up the snow machine again. We are under a Lake Effect Snow Advisory through tomorrow night, so I'm not sure I'll get to choir again. One thing that the NWS has been adding to a lot of these advisory is a warning for lakeshore flooding, so I guess the lake is back to or above its usual level. It's been so low for the past few years that nobody had to worry about flooding. Well, I've always said, it's cyclic. We've had our low lake levels and now we're in for several years of high levels. It's nice to be living on a pebble pile a good 10' above the lake.
The guys were mostly sleepy today, although they both got some lap time. Grayson was kind enough to greet Ron when he came in with my mail, but he has been sitting in the middle of things lately, and I'm not walking too well, so it's a problem. Louie spent part of the night sleeping on the rug beside the bed. I guess it's warmer there, because the floor is warm. However, when I began to come to around 11:00, he had to jump up on the bed to see if I was all right. I guess he learned that lesson from his last person.
So that was another quiet day, and we'll see about tomorrow. I want my new glasses, and I would like to go to choir practice, but I'm not sure if I can do either of those things, and the eye clinic is only open till about 5:30, so it would be a timing thing. If there is a lot of snow, I won't go out. So we'll see.
It's a dark, snowy night in the field and it's supposed to get cold overnight. Time to pull up a warm comforter and let the lake sing me to sleep.
November 18 How to get completely turned around. I just didn't go to bed last night, and when I finally did, this morning, I slept until nearly noon. Then I finished the sock I've been working on for so long and cast on the other one, I ripped out the beginning of another sock - I want to start it from the toe up - and I kept losing things, so I didn't eat my first meal until 3:00. Sigh. Tonight will be earlier. I didn't get enough sleep last night.
Then I ignored the bathroom until I had a really nasty accident, so I've been sitting around in a robe and slippers for quite a while. It wasn't the best day ever.
It was a cold, snowy day, though. The wind peaked around 2:00 am with sustained speeds of 38 mph and gusts of 47 mph. It's been dying down ever since, but it was a pretty hairy night. The temperature has been nearly steady all day at around 20º. It's been snowing off and on, too. This is January stuff. We've had 39.5" of snow so far this season, 36.5" of it in November. The only solace we have is that, looking back on the historical data, the amount of snow we have in November has no bearing on how much we'll have for the season, and in fact, the months with the most early snow turned out to be duds. So we can hope. I'm not sure I can get out of my garage anymore, but so far I haven't wanted to try.
The guys were full of energy this afternoon when I was getting dressed. I have a piece of cotton rope that I have hooked over the doorknob in the bathroom, and Grayson looked like he wanted to play, so I started shaking the rope and he acted like a kitten, jumping around and catching the knot in the end. Then Louie came to see what was going on, and he wanted to play, too, which is most unusual for him. The only thing about Louie si that he wants to bite the knot and bite it off. I had to throw away the shoelace I was playing with them with because he bit the end off. Anyway, after that, and after they had some breakfast they went to sleep. Grayson just sat on me for a few minutes, but Louie hasn't been around yet.
So that was a real nothing day. I am determined that I won't be up that late again tonight, and I do have to wash my hair. it's a very cold, snowy night in the field, but at least the wind has died down.
November 17 I was reading, so I didn't get to bed early after all. I slept, but not extremely well, and I got up around 10:30. I finished the knitting on Debbie's ruffles, but I need to do some finishing with needle and thread. That is so boring! I still haven't decided what I want to do next as a major project, though, so I will continue to do the boring things. It seems like I misunderstood the catalog when I got the yarn for the ruffles, though. One skein makes a boa about 85" long, so now I have enough for three more. I might make one for myself, but I don't know what I'll do with the rest of the pink yarn.
I didn't do very much today. I still don't feel good and my knees are really horrible. I did get the dishwasher mostly loaded, though, and I might try to run it tonight. I have more cat food dishes, so maybe not until tomorrow. Tonight I cooked some more rice, and I have to put that away before I go to bed. That's the trouble with doing it myself: I have to package it up, and that means standing and that means sore knees.
I called the mechanical people and reported on the situation with the heat, and the eye people called me and said that my sunglasses are in. I would really love to get my new glasses, but the weather isn't going to be very good, so we'll see if I get brave or not.
It was a cold, snowy day. Actually, it was just cloudy this morning, but right about the time I got dressed, the snow came and it came hard. That was only the beginning. We had lake effect squalls all afternoon, and some of them were heavy. It was windy all day, too, from the north, and for the past three hours or so, the sustained winds have been around 34 mph with gusts up to 44 mph. The high temperature was only 25º, early in the afternoon, and now, with that wind, the wind chill is about 4º. Not exactly what I was hoping for the winter.
The guys mostly slept, and they both got some lap time. I don't think cats ever get bored. If there's nothing going on, they just sleep.
So now it's a cold, windy, snowy night in the field, and I can hear the lake singing. It will be a good night to sleep.
November 16 Well, I didn't go to church. I got to bed about 10:45 and I just slept OK, not great. I was awake around 6:30, and I didn't feel any better than I had last night, so I went back to sleep and I didn't get up until 10:15. Not that it did any good. I still don't feel good. I'm not running a temperature, so I guess what I have is some kind of upper respiratory thingie, but it still makes me feel cruddy. I won't be up very late tonight.
I am sorry to say that my heating problem isn't solved. The bathroom and the studio are still too cold and I didn't have enough hot water for a whole bath. Since it isn't a tank, and it's supposed to be continuous hot water, something is still seriously wrong. So I will have to call them tomorrow and tell them the bad news. It does feel good to be clean again and to have clean hair, though.
I didn't do anything much at all. My only closest relative, a second cousin, called today and we had a nice conversation. He winters in Florida, and he's been there for almost two weeks already. He's a nice guy, and I think he has more friends down there. Since he's still cleaning up after his brother's death, I can imagine he felt like he wanted to get away from it. He's about 9 months older than I am, so we're both going through the same things, physically.
Otherwise, I just read.
The weather was the usual, but a little cooler. The high temperature was only 28º. It was quite breezy this morning, although the wind has died down now, from the west. It was mostly cloudy, although there was a little sunshine about the time i got to the studio. There is a lake effect snow warning for tomorrow and Tuesday, so i guess I'll be staying in some more.
The guys slept, although Louie got a lot of lap time. Grayson wanted some of my dinner and he ate more of it than I expected - it was chicken lo mein - so one of these days, I expect to have to set him a place.
And that was a quiet day. I feel so cruddy that I hope I will be able to get myself to bed early tonight. This seems to be some sort of sinus thing, so I have a headache and watery eyes. It will go away eventually, I'm sure. Now it's a dark, cloudy, cold night in the field and the snow is coming back...the snow is coming back...
November 15 Geez, half of November already!
I made it into bed by a bit after midnight and got up around 9:30. Or, well, I was jolted awake by the phone at 9:30. Some stupid survey AT&T wanted to do. I hung up on them, but I was awake and I had to take a walk. I had forgotten to take Debbie's scarf with me so I worked on my sequin scarf for a while, but not nearly as long as I'd been knitting at the end of the shawl.
And that was all I did. Well - while my TV dinner was cooking tonight, I gathered up the trash from the counters. And that was it. I still don't feel very good.
I am sorry to say that the repairs yesterday did nothing to warm up the studio and the bathroom. However, I do have nice hot water again, and I am SO looking forward to a nice hot shower tonight! I was cold most of the day, partly because I didn't do anything, but my knees were bad today.
The temperature outside varied between 26º and 30º, and it was breezy to windy (I still don't know what the difference between "breezy" and "windy" is), with winds up to 16 mph and gusts up to 25 mph, from the northwest. No doubt that's why it was cool in the studio today. It was cloudy all day long, but as far as I know, there was no snow. Sort of a nothing day for winter.
It was a nothing day for the guys, too. They slept, and both of them slept on my lap for a while, although I had to boot Louie off twice because I needed to type.
So that was it. A nothing day. I will be going up to the north end soon to take my nice shower and get to bed early. I'm debating whether to go to church tomorrow, but I guess I'll just wait and see how I feel in the morning. If I'm as rocky on my feet as I am now, I don't think so. It's getting tiresome. Now it's a dark, cold, windy night in the field and it will be a good one to sleep in.
November 14 I made it into bed around 11:00 last night, and I slept well. I got up around 8:30, and I do feel better. I still feel that I'm fighting something off, but that's to be expected at this time of year. Not that I did a lot with my time. I knitted on Debbie's ruffle scarf and I'll be done with it soon. There were two balls of yarn included with the kit, but I think it will be long enough with just one, so I can make lots of pink ruffles if I want to. It's kind of bright, but it's narrow enough that it won't be overpowering.
While I was waiting for the guy to come to fix the heat, I called AT&T and dropped my second phone line. Now that I don't own a computer with a modem, it was costing me more than I can afford. If I need to receive a fax, I can just plug in my main line. I had a nice long conversation with the guy who took my order. I'm not sure he's supposed to talk that long, but I didn't mind. He was a nice guy and we had some interesting conversation. However, in order to get to him, I had to go through a "personal assistant" - a fancy name for a fancy answering machine. I had a terrible time getting rid of it. I have no faith in those things at all, especially when I sighed and it said there was some "noise on the line". Huh. I absolutely hate those things, and the fancier they are the more I hate them. This one is supposed to understand whole sentences. I don't think so. Anyway, my phone bill should come down quite a bit next month. And it was nice to talk to a nice person, when I didn't have much to do.
The guy didn't come to work on the heating system until around 4:00. Evidently it was a pump this time. The water is hot already, but I haven't noticed it being any warmer in the studio. I'll see how the bathroom is. He did point out the two problems I know I have, and I may try to get them back next summer when we can shut down at least part of the system and see if we can find the leak. The system should be filled with antifreeze and sealed, but there's been a leak in it since it was installed, so it can't be sealed. My water is enough full of minerals that it isn't good for the pipes at all. The other problem is the rubber hoses they were using at that time, and I'm not sure if there's anything that can be done about them except piecemeal as they fail. He did say that if it is working right, this kind of system should heat a house like mine. That seems to be a big "If".
The weather was not too bad, actually. The temperature got up to 32º briefly, but for most of the day it was steady around 29º. There was a northerly breeze for part of the time, but the wind has dropped nearly to nothing now. It was partly cloudy, and there was some nice sunshine, which we all enjoyed. The final snow total for the 11th through the 13th was 23", so we've already had as much snow as we had in all of November last year. But then there was December...
The guys were mostly sleepy. Louie slept on my lap for a long time and then he wanted to come back later. It's really hard to type when he's occupying my lap. When the guy came, he beat it, of course, but Grayson, the little snot, ran downstairs and right toward the machine room. The guy closed the door on him, which I was glad to see, since he would have made a pest of himself. And then when the guy was leaving, I had to door to the breezeway open and Grayson ran out and he was going to run out into the garage, but fortunately the guy shut the door and turned toward Grayson and he ran under the steps. Then he was going to run out again, but the next time the guy started toward us, Grayson ran into the house and I shut the door. The little snot.
So that was a mostly nothing day. At least I have hot water and with any luck I should have a warm bathroom, too. I did discover that the patio door in the studio was slightly open again and the seal in the middle is not sealing well, so some cold air is coming in there. Unfortunately, it's cold enough now that I don't want them to open the door to try to fix it, although I may call the glass company and talk to them. I don't have those problems with the door in the great room.
Now it's a mostly cloudy, cold night in the field and I won't be up very long, I don't think.
November 13 Well, I did it again - music, mostly - and as a result I am so wiped out that I didn't even go to choir tonight. I just could not face the idea of negotiating snow-covered roads and getting home so late. So I did nothing.
The furnace guy should be here tomorrow afternoon, hopefully. My "hot" water is only about 92º now, and that's barely hot enough for a bath in the summertime. So I have a yucky head.
The weather was wintry. The temperature was just about steady at 31º with winds out of the north-northeast in the 20-25 mph range with gusts up to 30 mph or so. Every so often there would be a lake effect squall, but I don't think there was much, if any, accumulation. It was dull and cloudy all day.
The guys slept. Louie slept on my lap for a long time this afternoon, and Grayson is on me right now, making it very hard to type.
So I have nothing else to report. Somebody (Ron didn't know who) ran a blade up and down Woodland Road, so it's in good shape. My driveway isn't, but there isn't anything I can do about that. It's a dark, cold and windy night in the field and I am going to bed tonight.
November 12 It was mostly the music again last night, although I was reading, too, so I was late getting to bed. The lake sang me to sleep. I got up around 9:30 because I had to, and that wasn't nearly enough sleep, but I thought maybe the furnace guy might come today. No such luck.
However, I did finish the shawl. I had a terrible time when I first started, dropping things and having to do the decreases over a couple of times, but by the time I finished, I was going pretty good. It's a pretty thing. The edging will be wavy; right now it looks almost ruffled, but it will block out. So that project is done and I haven't decided what to do next. I guess I'd better do Debbie's scarf.
I had a weird phone call around noon. It was one of those "unknown name, unknown number" calls, and when I said hello, there was silence, and then one of those canned female voices said "Goodbye." Huh? Very strange. I must force myself not to answer any call that says "unknown" or when the caller ID doesn't register. Or when I'm asleep or in the bathroom. Every time I've done it, I've been sorry.
Otherwise, I didn't do much of anything today. My knees are really bad still, so I didn't move around any more than I had to. I did cook tonight, although I don't think I will be going to choir tomorrow. We are supposed to get more lake effect snow, and in that case, I'd rather stay home. The road is passable, and Ron got into my driveway with my packages, so I'm not snowed in or anything.
The county measured a total of 22" for the storm at Delaware. We didn't have anywhere near that much here. Ron thinks around 8". There was a lot of drifting, though, especially after the wind shifted around to the north. That happened around midnight last night, and it's been from the north ever since. It's been around 26 mph all day, with gusts up to 38 mph. The temperature has been about steady around 28º. This morning, while I was knitting, we had a little bit of sunshine, but mostly it's been cloudy and dull with an occasional snow squall, most of which didn't register at the NWS station. Just every so often the mountain would disappear.
The guys slept as usual. Louie wanted to sleep on me today, and I let him for a while, but he is so heavy and I can't get close enough to the screen when he's on lap - and I can't type at all. Grayson sat for a little while, too. Mostly he wanted some of my dinner, but he was happy with just one little piece of chicken.
I do need to take a bath tonight, which should be interesting, because my water isn't even as hot as it was yesterday. I guess I can cope, but I hope somebody comes fairly soon. I don't like to take cold showers anytime, particularly in the winter. And I'm tired. I need more sleep than I had last night. I have had a few indications that I'm either fighting a cold or coming down with it, and I don't feel all so good. Not to mention my knees.
So it's a dark, cold night in the field, and I guess the lake effect squalls are just supposed to keep coming.
November 11 Winter has certainly come with a bang! There was only a moderate amount of snow when I went to bed last night, and when I was up around 3:00, it had stopped, but wow! I don't think we've gotten more than 6" or 8" here, but the report is that up around Calumet, there may have been as much as 17", and down in the interior around Marquette, they've had as much as 25". Geez.
I washed my hair last night, so it was about midnight when I got to bed. I slept quite well, and I didn't get up until around 10:30. I worked on the shawl, and I have bound off about half of the stitches. It's amazing, just how big this thing is, but that's fine. I still have no use for those little "shawlettes" (talk about a bastard word) they show so many of. What good is that?
I didn't do much of anything again. I had an accident, mostly because I wanted to finish my tea before it got cold, but it wasn't a particularly bad one. I finally broke down and called somebody about my heating system - it was 63º when I got to the studio this morning - and I guess somebody will be here tomorrow to check it out. I hope they can do something. I'm getting tired of this.
Like I said, there's been a lot of snow. The high temperature for the day was actually at midnight (34º), but it dropped off overnight and it's been nearly steady around 28º all day. The wind is still high, between 30 and 35 mph, with gusts as high as 41 mph, and it's still from the east, although it's beginning to trend northerly. This is a very slow-moving system. Once it turns north, the system will exit rather quickly, but then we'll have the lake effect machine revving up. The county hasn't reported on the snowfall yet, so I don't know how much they had at Delaware. We've gotten off fairly easy here in the harbor, I think, and at least around my house, there hasn't been a whole lot of drifting so far. Of course, I forgot I was going to go out and pull down the shutters over the porch yesterday, so now I'm going to wait until things settle down again. I will have to do some digging, and I'd rather there was a little less wind and snow when I do that.
The guys slept. They mostly slept together, I think, on the pink chair. Louie is so big, it's a joke to see Grayson clinging to the edge of the seat when they're in it together, but I'm sure it's warmer that way.
So that was my nothing day. I should have gotten out the space heater, but it wasn't that cold. It's 66º in here now, and except right before dinner, that's warm enough. My knees were really bad today, though. I finally turned on the humidifier, but I don't know how well it works. It needs a new medium, I suppose. When I went out to the kitchen to do my dinner, the wind had blown the breezeway door open. I need to close that window in the breezeway. Maybe tomorrow. I was mostly sitting today.
Now it's a cold, snowy night in the field, and the snow is going to continue. The warning goes off at 7;00 tomorrow morning, but that doesn't mean we won't have more tomorrow. It will be another good night to sleep.
November 10 Well, today is the anniversary of the day the Edmund Fitzgerald went down. I wouldn't say we're having a gale, but we're having bad enough weather that the center of the lake has cleared out. It's fun to watch the Live Ships Map and see things like that. Earlier today, when I checked, there were a lot of ships in the middle of the lake, but they were all scurrying toward port. Now they're all gone.
Last night was one of those nights I just didn't seem to want to go to bed. I have no idea why - I certainly was tired enough. But I didn't. I read some and I played games and I just didn't go to bed. Sigh. Once I made it into bed, I slept well, of course, and I got about 8 hours' sleep. So I was late getting up.
Then I knitted. I finished the knitted part of the shawl - yay! - and started the crocheted bind off. It's been long enough since I've crocheted that my chain-9's aren't very even, but I assume that as I work across it will get better. It's fun to watch the fabric spring off the needle as I work. I think I will be able to make the edge wavy. The color picture, which is in different yarn, has a wavy bottom edge, but the close-up pictures don't. Frankly, the cover picture looks like a previous iteration of the pattern. I hate it when patterns do that. I like to see what the end result will really look like when I knit an object. Oh, well. Mine won't look like it, either, because I've made it a whole lot bigger. I think it will be pretty, though. I started this on my birthday (7/31) so it's been a long knit.
I was so late that I didn't do anything much else, although I did get the dishwasher loaded - finally - while my dinner was cooking. it's a big load. I should have washed dishes on Saturday, and I didn't get it together. Otherwise, I just sat. My knees are still sore. They're fine when I first get up from having sat down, but as soon as I stand on them for any length of time, my left knee particularly gets very sore. And, of course, my shoulder is still bothering me.
The weather - oh, the weather! It started snowing not long after 1:00 this afternoon, and it has continued ever since. There hasn't been a lot of accumulation yet. It's heavy snow, because the temperature has been just about 32º all day. Lately, the wind has been rising - from the east - to 23 mph with 34 mph gusts. I would guess that there was about 2" on my deck at sunset. I suppose there is more in the higher elevations. The wind is causing the lake to begin singing. Of course, it was cloudy and gray all day.
The guys responded by sleeping, so I don't have anything interesting to report, except that Grayson wants me to give him something of everything I eat now, even if he doesn't like it. Have to put an end to that. Louie slept on my lap for a while this afternoon, until I had to get up to turn the radio on.
So that was my nothing day. I'm tired again, of course, so I will have to take myself in hand and stop this nonsense. It will be a good night to sleep. It's a dark, snowy, windy night in the field.
November 9 I made it into bed around 10:00, and I slept well, although I was up several times, and I had to turn over once because my shoulder was so sore. I woke up just before the alarm went off, but it was a slow morning. I had to go to the bathroom when I got up, while my breakfast was cooking, after I ate and again when I got to the north end; for a while I was wondering if it would ever stop.
I got out of the house a bit later than I wanted, and it was a rather slow trip. There had been some snow last night, which froze, and I wasn't sure how slippery the road was. Unfortunately, I was so late that my usual parking place was taken, and the parking lot was a skating rink. A very nice man - whose name I don't know - helped me into church, and afterwards, he actually pulled my car around to the door so I wouldn't have to try to totter across the ice again! Amazing! I was so grateful.
Anyway, Pastor threw us a curve and decided we would sing our song before everything - a call to worship. When I mentioned that to him, he had never heard of it before. When I was a kid, the choir always sang a short piece after the processional - yes, we processed! - and before the rest of the service. They stopped doing that after a while, except on Christmas Eve, when we sang "Break Forth," and I've always missed it. Anyway, it was a nice service, all about the wise and foolish virgins, and there was communion. We are supposed to get hammered with snow this week, so I hope I can continue to get to both choir practice and Sunday. Fingers crossed.
It wasn't a very nice day. There was some sunshine, but the high temperature was only 33º. The strong winds died down overnight, but there were some breezes during the day, which have all gone away now. It was mostly cloudy this afternoon. We are under a winter storm watch for Monday night and Tuesday, and John Dee says we may have 12" of snow or more. Gosh, I hope not. We don't need that, so early. We did have a little snow overnight, but not as much as they got further south, and I think it froze after it came down. Ugh.
The guys were sleepy, and I didn't see a lot of them, although Louie wanted to sleep on me this afternoon. I finally had to make him go away, because my legs were getting twitchy. He is so heavy, he messes up the nerves in my legs. Grayson was around, but he only got a little lap time this morning. When I sit down with my tray full of food, he wants to sit on me instead of letting me eat it.
I forgot to mention that yesterday I looked out the south windows of the studio and discovered that the wind had blown down the dead pine that's been standing there for several years. I'm sorry to see it go. When I feed the birds, at least it was a way station. Now they will either have to stay in the white pine or fly 30 or 40 feet to the nearest trees. If I ever start feeding the birds again. I wish I could, but not this winter, I think.
My knees are still really bad and I had a hard time tottering around today. I keep hoping they will get better, but the cold doesn't help them at all. There is definitely something wrong with my heating system. There is some heat, but not as much as there should be, and when I run pure hot water, I can still put my hand in it, which I shouldn't be able to do. So I guess I will have to call somebody tomorrow and see if I can get someone out here to check it out. I simply can't go downstairs yet, with my knees the way they are. I guess the thing to do is call the big company and see if they will come. Everybody says they are very good and they will come, even to individuals.
So that was my day, and I hope to be in bed at a reasonable hour tonight and sleep long and hard tomorrow. It's a cold, cloudy night in the field and the blizzard is coming...the blizzard is coming...
November 8 Hah. Last night it was Beethoven - the "Appasionata" sonata, which is one of my favorites. It was the last thing before 1:00, so I just sat through part of the next hour, even though I was exhausted. I finally had to give up before they started playing the Haydn. I needed to sleep. I got up around 9:00, though, so I didn't get nearly enough sleep. It was a quiet day.
It was a quiet day, and I didn't do much of anything. I knitted almost two rows, and I have only one more knit row and then the crochet bind-off and I will be done with the shawl. On the one hand, it's gotten boring and I'll be glad to be done with it, but on the other hand, It will be too bad not to have an engrossing project to knit on. I must decide what to do next, but I think I will probably be doing easy things for a while. I washed the jeans and underpants I soiled right before I went to bed. It gets old. Otherwise, not much. I should have loaded the dishwasher, but I didn't, so that will have to wait until tomorrow.
The weather was fun. The wind started rising overnight, and the highest gusts were 46 mph, with sustained winds of up to 38 mph. That's just about a gale. It's dying down now, although it's still windy. The temperature peaked during the night, at 39º, but for the day it was between 30º and 32º. It was partly cloudy for most of the day, and there was some nice sunshine that we all enjoyed. A bit before sunset, though, there was a brief shower that didn't register at the NWS station. I only noticed it because I was looking at the pictures from the camera and the deck was wet and there were some raindrops on the window. I guess there was a bit of snow at the airport. The camera hung up, but it was only down for about an hour.
The guys slept. Grayson got some lap time and he got some of the crust of my pizza. I think he must have gotten these tastes when he was a stray, picking up whatever he could find...like pizza crusts and breadcrumbs. They both slept for most of the day on the floor of the office. I won't say it was warm around here, but it was warmer in the studio, once the sun began to shine a bit.
There is definitely something wrong with the heating system, but if I can get through the weekend, I can call somebody on Monday. Geez, and just when I thought I might have a handle on the finances! Sigh. Part of the problem is that I just don't think I can get down the stairs to check it out...or change the cat pans. Sigh.
Now it's a dark, cloudy and windy night in the field, and I'll be off to the north end very soon. I have things to do, and I need sleep.
November 7 I managed to get to bed a little before midnight last night, and i slept well. I was up around 8:30, though, so I still didn't get enough sleep. I knitted, and that felt good, Now I have three more rows of knitting and a crochet row and I'll be done. Sometime next week I'll be finished, I think.
I didn't do much of anything except go to the post office, where there were a couple of packages and a lot of mail. Both my knees are really sore and gimpy, so I'm mostly sitting and hoping this doesn't last the whole winter. I have been having hints that my heating system is not right again, but I'm holding off before I say for sure. However, when I have a hard time getting really hot water, I begin to worry. Oh, woe!
It wasn't a nice day outside, although it wasn't bad overnight. It didn't get as clear as Environment Canada thought it would, but the moon was so clear and bright it didn't matter much. The last time I was awake, I had to hide under the comforter to keep the rays out of my eyes. And the camera caught the setting moon rather nicely, I think. The temperature around then was 27º, and the high for the day was only 39º. The wind started to rise around 1:00, and it has gotten up to 30 mph gusts. It started to rain around 6:00, so there probably won't be any more moon shots tonight. It will be bright out, though, and that's nice. Depending upon who you believe, we are probably going to get another gale tomorrow, but whether we get 50 mph gusts depends upon whether you believe the NWS or Environment Canada. The NWS says yes, Environment Canada says probably not. We'll see.
The guys were sleepy today, but they both liked me being home, and they both got some lap time.
So that was a quiet day, and I hope to be in bed at a reasonable hour tonight, but I do have to listen to at least part of the symphony concert - the first piece is Beethoven's First, and I like that. The rest of it is modern junk, so I can go to bed. it's a dark, cold and rainy night in the field.
November 6 Well, last night I just didn't want to go to bed. I have no idea why. There was some nice music, and I was reading, but still...I didn't get enough sleep, but maybe I can make up for that tonight. I had a truncated afternoon, of course, but I'm used to that.
I was able to leave for choir early, so I got there early, but I realized that while I've gotten used to coming home in the dark, I haven't had to go to Laurium in the dark very much so I don't know the road quite as well. Well, I'll learn. Choir was good, although Pastor keeps changing his mind about what we sing. We were earlier getting out tonight, so I got home not long after 9:00.
The weather was sort of yucky. On my trip down, every so often there would be a few snowflakes, and the road was wet. Coming home, there were fewer snowflakes and the road wasn't quite as wet. Also, the moon is full tonight and by the time I started home, the skies were clearing a bit and there was a big, bright moon smiling down on me, so it wasn't completely dark.
The high temperature was only 39º, but mostly it was a degree or two cooler. There is a brisk (15-25 mph) wind out of the northeast. It was dark and cloudy all day, but sometime after sunset, it cleared up quite a bit. There might even be a star or two, if it wasn't for that big, bright moon.
The guys were sleepy and I didn't see a lot of them. Grayson is not happy that I have been going away every day this week, and he let me know when I left, but he was very happy to see me when I got back. Louie is more stoic about things like that. Grayson got some lap time, but Louie didn't. He got some last night, though.
So that was another nothing day, and I hope to get to bed at a more reasonable hour tonight. I'm tired now. It's a cold, partly cloudy, moonlit night in the field.
November 5 I got to bed before 11:00 last night, and I slept well until almost 9:00 this morning. I couldn't knit, of course, but I got my surfing done before I had to leave. And I didn't have an accident, although it was close. My gut is weird.
I got to the dealership on time and sat for over two hours. I have started the toe of the Tofutsies sock I've been working on for so long. I only have about 20 rows to do, each one smaller than the last, and then sew up the toe. That is only the first sock, of course, but since it's more or less a summer sock, I think I will go on to another sock, this one a winter one. I'll come back to the other Tofutsies sock next year.
Anyway, I now have a new U-joint, and there is nothing wrong with my battery or my headlights (?). New tires, though, are going to cost me around $800, and I'm not really in a position to do that right now, what with my new glasses coming in shortly. So I guess I will try to get away with these until spring. I will call the place I got the last set from and ask their prices, but I don't think I'll be doing anything about it. Apparently a couple of years ago, the cost of tires jumped alarmingly. I guess so.
Then I was off to the eye doctor, and he removed two eyelashes that were rubbing on my eye. I didn't realize what a difference it would make, but my eye is much more comfortable now. We can only hope they won't grow back. Normally, I can take care of such little things myself, but these are so close to my eyeball that I don't want to fiddle with them. It would probably take three hands anyway. We had an interesting discussion of pains in the eyes, and apparently where the problem is and where the pain is, isn't very well correlated. When my eyes get dry and something flakes off, it feels like it's in the corner of my eye, but it probably usually isn't; It's actually an abrasion of the cornea. Interesting. Well, it will keep me using my ointment at night and not playing with the computer for too long.
I got gas - too many trips to town - and stopped at Pat's for a green pepper and a couple of other things. I got home around 5:00, I think. I did nothing through the talking, and then I had to make my pork chops. I didn't have any plain canned tomatoes in the house, so I used the kind with oregano, garlic and basil, and I will definitely do that again. The rice was more tasty than I can remember. It was really good! Yum! The chops were good, too. Grayson thought he wanted some, but tomatoes and especially onions aren't good for cats, so he went away mad.
It was not a particularly nice day. It was windy all night long, but I could tell when the wind shifted around from northwest to north. The highest gusts were around 28 mph, or so they said. It sounded and felt like higher around here. And right after I posted last night's entry, the wind threw some pretty heavy rain right at the front windows. it didn't turn out to be all that much, but it came down hard for a few minutes. The high temperature for the day happened between midnight and 5:00 AM, 41º. The high for the rest of the day was 40º and it was nearly steady. The wind did die down, though, so it wasn't all that bad, except that it was humid and my joints didn't like it.
Again, I didn't see much of the guys. Grayson did sit on me when I got home, but he is mad that I wouldn't give him any pork. I'm not sure pork is good for cats, either. Louie mostly slept, I guess. Grayson thought he wanted to go out into the breezeway, but I managed to shoo him away.
So that was my day. I will find out tomorrow if the guy was right about my headlights. Now I'm tired, but I want to wait a little while for my dinner to digest before I go to bed. It's a dark, cold night in the field.
November 4 I didn't get to bed as early as I wanted to last night, so I didn't get as much sleep as I wanted. I was late getting to Johanna's anyway, because I had several things I wanted to do before I left and then I had an accident that caused me to have to change my bottoms. Sigh. I felt much better after my massage, although the weather was so bad that I am one big ache and I'm not walking very well. Yuck.
Then it was off to the community center, where I voted. I think that as usual, the turnout was pretty good. Most people around here seem to believe in voting. As one old guy (he was using a walker) said as he left, now he can complain. I got my mail and talked to Ron. Evidently the welding is pretty good, but the tractor still has the habit of not starting every so often. It is probably the battery, but it might mean the alternator isn't working right, and I don't like to contemplate what replacing that might cost. The tractor is a John Deere, and all their parts are expensive. However, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. I'm still paying him off for last winter. We are all hoping this winter will be a milder one.
I didn't do anything when I got home. I am tired and creaky, so I just sat.
Today would make one wonder whether this is better, though. The temperature started out at 46º overnight and it has dropped steadily all day, until now it's about 40º. There is a brisk northwest wind blowing, and it appears that shutting the patio door as much as I could didn't solve my heat problem. I need to turn up the thermostat in here. It's 67º and that is a mite cool for sitting around. It was dark and dreary and it spitted rain off and on all day, although we only had about 0.1". Not good for the joints, for sure.
I didn't see much of the cats, although Louie has been getting up in the loft and howling again. I don't know why he does that. Grayson did sit on my lap a couple of times, but I had to move him when there was something I had to do.
So tomorrow I have to go and get the car fixed. I will stop at the eye doctor and get him to remove the eyelash that is rubbing on my eye, and I will get gas, and I may stop at Pat's and get a green pepper. i had some thought about having some more Spanish rice, but I'll have to think about that. This is the pork chop week, and I only have a couple of recipes for those.
So now it's a cold, dark night in the field and I will be off to the north end soon to take a bath and get to bed.
November 3 Last night I went back to my old ways and it was very late when I got to bed. The moon was shining on my bed when I turned out the light. I slept well, but I woke up around 8:30 and had to get up - much less sleep than I needed! I got up anyway and knitted - well, purled - a wrong-side row. I have only four rows and the bind off to do now. I'm anxious to get done with it, even though I still don't know what I'll be doing next. The shawls I like in the last book I got require much more yarn than I have in any color, so I'm not sure what to do next. Well, there's always Debbie's ruffle scarf and my sequin infinity scarf. We'll see. I like knitting lace so much that it's all I want to do.
I managed to do my surfing and get out of the house when I wanted to. The doctor says the diffraction spikes I keep seeing indicate residual cataracts, which are not hard to fix, but it will mean I will have to go back to Green Bay. Not till next spring, though. I won't be going further than Houghton for the next six months or so. Anyway, besides that, with my new glasses my vision will be corrected to 20/20, which is about all I can ask for. I can't wait. Unfortunately, the new glasses are going to be very expensive, but hey, I have to see. The new frame seems quite comfortable and the lenses are much bigger than what I have now, which will mean that the gradations will be wider. That will help, too.
Then it was off to Pat's, and I came out quite well. i guess I'm finally getting my food buying more or less under control. Of course, I will have an order for Schwan's on Friday, but still, it was good not to totally break the bank.
Unfortunately, I left Calumet just as school let out, and I got behind a bus that was letting off kids all the way to Allouez, where it turned off. After that, things were good and I got home around 4:30. Very unfortunately, my OJ had tipped over, and when I opened the back lift gate, one bottle dropped out onto the concrete and broke, spilling almost half of a 89 oz bottle on the garage floor - and my feet. Yuck! I managed to get everything in, and I poured the rest of the bottle into a pitcher I have had sitting around for a long time. However, OJ got all over the garage, the breezeway and dripped in the kitchen and hallway. Yuck. I think it got on my socks, too, through the holes in my crocs. Yuck.
I had a lovely dinner tonight, though. I was casing the meat counter for something to eat tonight - I got fish for tomorrow - when I noticed a couple of packages of lamb shoulder chops. Lamb! I think that's the first time I've ever seen it at Pat's. So of course, I had to get it. It's no more than steak these days. Oh, it did taste good! I've never eaten a lot of lamb, and I couldn't stand to eat it frequently, but occasionally, it's a real treat. We always broiled it and usually overcooked it, so tonight I pan fried it and it turned out great. So I feasted. Grayson thought he wanted some, too, but he only ate one small piece. He wants to try every meat I eat, but he really isn't interested in most of it.
It wasn't a bad day outside. The high temperature got up to 50º and there were very light southwest breezes. It was partly sunny to cloudy. Not bad at all. Now, however, it's raining in Houghton, and possibly here, too. There won't be any moon tonight, but it will keep things bright by shining on the clouds.
I don't know a lot about what the guys did. They were very active around 6:00 and sleeping when I got up. When I got home and went back out to bring in the groceries. Grayson sat down right beside the door until I finished unloading the car. I unload the car onto the platform to the back door, and then I move everything from outside the door to the fridge. This keeps me from having to go up and down the three stairs to the back door very often. And I don't think I walk any more. Grayson wanted to sit on me both when I sat down at the computer and when I was done with my dinner, but I was moving around too much and he went off. I haven't seen Louie lately, but he did sleep with me for part of last night.
So that was my day. Tomorrow I have a massage and I will vote on my way home. Tonight, I think I will try to go to bed early and get caught up on my sleep. Or I hope so. It's a cloudy, damp night in the field.
November 2 I got to bed about when I wanted to, but I was up any number of times with a growly gut. I woke up about 10 minutes before the alarm went off, and I had to get up. I thought that might mean I'd be early getting out of the house. Ha. I should be so lucky. I had to spend some time sitting after breakfast, so I ended being late getting away, rather than early. However, there was no traffic at all on my way south, so I was not too much later than normal getting to church.
Church was nice, and I think we sang well, although both songs were easy. This was All Saints Sunday, but the Gospel was the Beatitudes, and pastor had a good sermon tying the two together. We got out just before noon. I decided not to try to shop today, since I'll be down there again tomorrow, and I didn't take my Crocs with me. So I came home. No traffic coming home, either. It's so nice.
I didn't do anything but read for the rest of the afternoon. I did manage to spill cranberry juice on the floor in the kitchen, which is now a horrible mess, but oh, well.
It never got below 37º here overnight, but it was below freezing at the airport, and I was interested to see that it was 21º in Grosse Pointe and even colder in some more outlying parts of southeastern lower Michigan. So we had a real temperature inversion. Weird, huh? There was a little wind early in the afternoon, which has now died down, all from the southwest. It was partly cloudy all day, with quite a bit of sunshine. Not a bad day at all.
The guys were awake when I got up, but I guess that's their normal morning time. I was sitting in the powder room when I looked out to see a long-haired orange and white cat prowling around outside. I guess it belongs to my neighbor two doors down. I wish she would keep it in! We have coyotes around here. Both my guys seem to be used to me going away on Sunday. They both got some lap time this afternoon.
Apparently all the changes in the clocks got done right, except that I had to stop and restart the camera software. Springing forward is easier, but falling back is much nicer. However, I'm tired tonight, so I will be going up to the north end shortly, and I may knit a while. It's a partly cloudy, cool night in the field.
November 1 - All Saint's Day For all the saints, who from their labors rest...
I turned out the light at 11:30 last night, wonder of wonders, but the symphony concert was one that I'd heard before, so after the Mozart (piano concerto 25) I went up to the north end. Of course, I diddled around, but still. Anyway, I was so early getting to bed that I got up around 9:00. I might have slept longer, but I had to get up, and besides I was having an unsettling dream that I don't remember now (something about my first house, maybe?) and I needed to get over that. I knitted, and it's going so fast that I did more than a row and a half in an hour. I only have about five rows plus the bind off to do now. This is the time when I wish I could knit even faster.
I had plenty of time today, but I actually did nothing. Well, one thing: I got the trash off the counters. The dishwasher is mostly loaded, so it will run overnight, and I just sat. I read for quite a while, with the idea of possibly writing on Trine 4, but I didn't. I began the clock thing by setting my calculator clock. The computers and the weather station will update themselves, but the rest of the clocks need to be reset. Now the only ones that need it are at the north end. Well...that's not strictly true. My mother's old (wedding present) clock in the great room isn't set, but I don't bother with that one because nobody ever looks at it and it goes off every time the power fails. I tried to print out some of the 2015 astronomical information from the Naval Observatory, but I kept getting a security error, so I have a query in to them to see why. I like those tables. All that was so I could begin to set up my 2015 calendars, which I got yesterday. I put the phases of the moon on the calendar.
The weather was not too bad. The high temperature was 42º and there wasn't much wind. It was partly to mostly clear all day. I didn't go out, but the sunshine in the house was nice. It actually began to clear up last night. One time when I was up, there was bright moonlight shining on my bed, but when I got back into it, the moonlight was gone, so it was only partly clear.
The guys were sleepy, but they both got some lap time today. Grayson thought he wanted some of my pizza, but I think what he really wanted (and got) was a bit of the crust. He has a great fondness for bread and crackers, probably because that's mostly what he found to eat when he was a stray. The rest of the pizza isn't good for him, but all he seemed to want was a few little crumbs of crust. Louie still has no interest whatever in people food, and that's a good thing.
So that was a nothing day. I will read a bit more and try to get to bed early anyway so I'm well-rested tomorrow. I was going to shop after church, but then I remembered that I will be in town on Monday, too, so I can postpone it until then. Food shopping is not my favorite task.
Now it's a nearly clear, cold night in the field and there should be stars. And it's November. Geez! Last updated 12/01/14 08:44 PM |