j1506

A View From the Field

June, 2015

June 30

I spent too much time sitting and staring at the floor in the bathroom and thinking about George, so it was 12:30 by the time I got to bed. I slept quite well, and I got up around 10:30. I knitted, and I finished the bottom edging and started the left side. There are a few errors in my charting, and one thing I couldn't figure out, but it was time I stopped anyway.

I didn't do much else. I did get my rice packaged up and put in the freezer, but that was about all. It was cool and damp and I hurt. This evening, I found someone in a little blue car sitting in my driveway, and when I went out to see who it was, it was Joh Hopper, here to fix a problem with the mesh unit that sits in my wireless receiver. We had a nice conversation, and one reason the PastyCam has been so late being updated is that Charlie and Edie are with her dad, who may have heart surgery, and Edie is going to be fitted with her prosthetic leg this week. That was good news. I have ached for all the problems they have had over the winter.

Oh, and this afternoon Suzanne called me, and they will be here on Sunday, so I'll get to see them next week. I have been wondering about them, but they are fine and anxious to get here. I'm looking forward to it.

The weather was not so nice. The high temperature (such as it was) was 51º and it was very humid all day. It was cloudy for most of the day. There was a little sunshine this afternoon that didn't show in the camera, and when I looked at the Clear Sky Chart, it looked like I might be able to see the conjunction tonight, but now it doesn't look like it. Drat. Well, it's nothing I didn't expect. If there is a transient sky phenomenon I should be able to see, chances are very good that it will be cloudy. I will look, of course, but I won't be surprised if I don't see anything.

The guys were a little better behaved today. Grayson got a lot of lap time while I was watching the chapel service. I haven't seen much of Louie today, but he spent most of the night with me. There wasn't so much chasing around today. I don't know what gets into that cat, but evidently today it wasn't there.

So that was a quiet day, and now the year is half over. Geez! Time just slips by and I don't know where it goes. Now it's a cold, sort of cloudy night in the field.

June 29

For various reasons, I didn't get to bed until around 12:30 last night, but once I did, I slept well, with only two wakeups, and I got up around 9:30. I knitted, of course and now I have only one more repeat of the bottom edging to do.

Then after I ate my breakfast, I sat just a bit too long and had a nasty accident that not only got all over everything I was wearing but all over the floor, too. I was wearing shorts, because the other pants I might have worn were all in the washer, and no doubt that's part of the reason it was so messy. So now there is a load of bottoms in the washer that need to be put in the dryer and my sandals are drying out in the laundry room. Yuck.

I actually did a few things, and I have to do a few more tonight. I got all the dirty dishes into the sink and soaking and I made a whole lot of rice. The rice won't be put away until tomorrow, but the dishes have to go into the dishwasher tonight. I am running out of dishes again. For so many years, I washed dishes when I ran out of cat dishes, but the guys don't eat canned food every day, so now I have to figure out how to know when to wash the dishes there are.

I was just about ready to get dressed the first time when there was a rather loud crack of thunder that turned out to be south of us. it upset the cats completely, and there was another one later and not as loud, and then we had a short, not very strong shower. For the rest of the day it was cool and foggy at intervals. No wonder I ache. The high temperature was only 64º but the humidity has been around 90% all day. For a while there was no wind, but now there is some out of the north. There are two low pressure areas, one of which is almost right over us, so I don't know how soon this is likely to go away. I hurt.

The guys did not like that thunder, and they hung around me all day. Grayson, in particular, has not wanted to leave me alone, and he's now sleeping on the floor behind me. Poor Grayson. He likes to act like he's the brave, macho guy, but he isn't. He's timid underneath and he's a lover cat. Louie is more timid, but thunder bothers him, too. Grayson was one of the reasons for my accident, but Louie wanted to sit on me when I was doing something else, so he hasn't gotten his today. Now Grayson wants to sit on me again, but he can't because I'm typing.

I've been forgetting to talk about the lupine that is growing under the cedar tree. I have been watching it ever since it came out, and I noticed an interesting thing I didn't know about lupines: they follow the sun. When I get up in the morning (if I get up in the morning), the tip of the flower spike is always bent toward the east, toward the sun. Around or after noon, it is pointed straight up, and a couple of times when I was in the bathroom late in the afternoon and it was sunny, the tip was pointing toward the west, even though that's behind the tree. It's really neat to watch a plant move around like that, even though I don't ever see it moving. Even this morning, when it wasn't very sunny, the tip of the spike was pointed east. The flower spike is nearly all out now, and I'm going to be interested to watch it, since I don't believe I've ever seen one when the very tip is open - if it opens. I thought the lower florets would be forming seeds before the upper ones opened, but that hasn't been true of this little guy. Even though the plant isn't very big and the florets aren't very big, the spike is about 12" long, I think. They are such pretty flowers! I think they're members of the pea family, which should mean the florets have an interesting shape, but I can't see that from the house. I am glad to say I have two colonies in the backyard that seem to be doing quite well in spite of the other less desirable stuff that grows around them. Their flower spikes aren't as wide as the cultivated variety, but still, they're very pretty.

So it wasn't a very nice day weatherwise, and now I need to get the dishwasher ready to run and take a bath. It's a cool, foggy night in the field. It looks like I might not get to see Venus and Jupiter kissing, which I figured would happen.

June 28

I got to bed around 10:30 last night, and I slept well, but not nearly long enough. I did not want to get up this morning when the alarm went off, but I did, and I got to do most of my surfing before I got off to church.

Today there wasn't as much traffic as there was last week so i wasn't bedeviled. Church was nice, with communion. Pastor's sermon was a good one, and the choir only sang one easy song.

Then I had to get gas. I thought about going to Pat's, but my feet hurt and my legs were a bit rubbery, so I decided not. I think I can wait until next Sunday, although I'm a little leery about shopping the day after the Fourth, especially since I won't get enough sleep. We'll see how it works out.

I got home a little after 1:00 and I read my newspapers before I had a snack. In the middle of the afternoon, I was sitting with a purring cat on my lap and I almost fell asleep. I woke up a bit later, but I'm tired.

It was a nice day, weather-wise. The temperature see-sawed again, and it didn't seem to have much to do with the direction of the wind, which was light and from all over the map. The high temperature was 71º around 7:00 this evening, but it was in the upper 60s all afternoon. It was quite humid, which is no doubt why my joints hurt so much. It was partly cloudy all day, but there was a lot of sunshine. It seems to be clearing up now, at least in the south, because the gibbous moon is shining in the south windows. I did get to see Venus and Jupiter last night before I went to sleep. They are only about two moon-widths apart now.

The guys were mostly sleepy, and they both got to sleep on my lap until they wanted to get up. There is nothing like having a furry, purring lump asleep on your lap!

Speaking of hot lumps, I was almost home when I realized that my car seat had gotten really hot, and when I checked, the seat heater was on and on "high!" I don't know how that happened, except that I fiddled with the windows a lot on the way home. The windows were mostly open on my way down the covered road, where it was warm as 73º, but I had to close them when I got to the harbor, where it was only about 63º at the time. I must have hit the button for the seat heater while I was closing windows. Bad design. They could have put it about 4" further forward and it would have been out of the way.

It was so nice to have the windows open and smell the sweet smell of the woods and fields. I think I was going fast enough not to pick up any bugs.

So now it's at least a partly clear night in the field, and I'm off to bed. Now.

June 27

Oh, I was late last night. After I posted the journal, I tried to look at my chapel service, but something was wrong with the Internet and it kept timing out, so it was hard to hear the sermon, which was a nice one. Then I started listening to the music on the Internet, and it timed out several times, too. So I sat and did not much but read a bit until it was much too late. I think I sat and stared at the floor in the bathroom for a while, too, so it was much too late by the time I got to bed. I never saw Venus and Jupiter, but the camera did. When I turned around to go to bed, there was the moon, so I shot it, too. The moon was much more impressive than the camera shows - big and orange and oh, so pretty! Remember, the camera has a very wide-angle lens, so things are a lot bigger than it shows.

I was only up once, and I got up around 11:30. Not enough sleep, but maybe I can be a little earlier tonight. I knitted about 20 rows. I would have done more except that my skein finally got terminally tangled, so I decided it had to be wound into a ball. That was fun. It also took a lot of time, but now I can knit without having to untangle things every couple of rows. But I don't have very much yarn left, so I need to wind another skein.

Otherwise, I didn't do anything except start to wash the bottoms I soiled this week, including today. Now I have to decide whether to finish rinsing them and get them into the dryer or just wait until tomorrow and do it over again. All of them could probably benefit from being washed twice.

The weather turned out to be warmer than they predicted, although it was sort of weird. The temperature got up to 70º at 11:00, but at noon it was 59º when the breeze (it wasn't very strong) turned to the north. Then the wind went calm for most of the rest of the afternoon, and then at 8:00, it went back up to 71º when there was a very light breeze from the south. Never come to Copper Harbor without layers. It was sort of clear all day, although there must be some high, very thin cirrus clouds, because the sky was never very blue, and the pictures from the camera are all sort of gray.

The guys mostly slept, but Louie was after Grayson again. Louie was in bed with me when I got up, and when I went into the bathroom, Grayson got up on the tub surround and went to sleep. A while later, Louie got up and when he came in, because I was doing something else and didn't pay enough attention to him, he decided to go after Grayson. So I started throwing rolls of toilet paper at him. I had to throw three at various times, including once when he got in the tub, before he finally went away. He did keep coming in, but all I had to do was lift the fourth roll for him to go away again. He is incredibly persistent when he gets an idea in his head. Later this afternoon, Grayson was sleeping on my lap when Louie came in, so he moved and Louie got on my lap. But Louie wants to sleep with his head on my right hand, which makes my arm hurt. So eventually he went away - I didn't push him off today. And a while later, he wanted to go after Grayson again. Grayson was sleeping on the pile of old flannel nightgowns outside the door to the studio. So I pounded my cane and made Louie go away. I do not know what gets into that cat. He is certainly jealous, even though I try hard to be even-handed about the way I treat them. I don't have much in the studio that I could throw at him without hurting him except for some balls of yarn, which would undoubtedly get dirty.

So that was a quiet and very truncated day. Now it's a sort of clear, warmish night in the field.

June 26

I didn't make it into bed until about midnight last night - I certainly was glad I didn't have to try to take a bath! - but I made up for it. I was up three times, but I didn't get up until 11:30. I feel much better.

I knitted and I finished the top edging and started the bottom edging (same thing, just other end). I was late enough that I only had time to eat and clean up after an accident I could in no way have avoided before I had to run off to the post office. Not that there was a lot of stuff there, but I didn't want to try to get there on the weekend. I had a nice chat with Becky, who mans the welcome center on weekends, and just about the time I was going to leave, Ron asked me to drive him home. His car is in the shop, and evidently Trevor was doing something else, so he was stuck. I was happy to help.

We got to his house, which is out on the big lake, and we had a nice, long conversation. We have a lot of mutual concerns, including money and the road, and we haven't had a chance to talk much for a while. He is such a nice person. While we were sitting there, unfortunately with the windows closed because of the bugs, I was looking out over the big lake, which was so blue and pretty, but with a line of fog on the horizon.

So I didn't do anything in the house - again - and I had to do most of my surfing while the talking was on. I just remembered I didn't look at the chapel service, so I will have to do that once Beethoven's Fifth is over and this is posted. Something is not quite right about the Internet right now, so we'll see if I can see it.

The weather was summer-like for Copper Harbor. It started out the day around 50º, but at 8:00, it peaked at 71º. There wasn't any wind. It was very humid and foggy this morning, but the dew point stayed about steady while the temperature rose, so I wasn't too uncomfortable this afternoon, although my shoulders ache. It was nearly clear all day, although there were a few high cirrus clouds, and there wasn't much of a sunset. At least there was a lot of sunshine.

When I took off my compression hose last night, it was clear that my biopsy site had bled a lot, and when I put on the hose and my socks this morning, it was clear that it had bled on them, too. I think it's fine now, but I will wait until tomorrow, when I have to take a shower, to take off the bandage. I'm sure it's all bloody underneath. It doesn't hurt at all, though, which is partly due to the neuropathy, no doubt.

The guys were sleepy. Louie got some lap time, but Grayson didn't for some reason. He hangs out between my chair and the door, and when I rustle around he gets up and expects to be petted. When I got up this morning, he had just jumped onto the nightstand, I'm sure to find out if I was okay. Louie wasn't so cranky today, so there weren't any serious altercations.

So that was a very quiet, rather truncated day, and I will try to get to bed at a reasonable hour tonight, too. I felt much better today, but now I'm tired again. The doctor found that my thyroid function was low and he has prescribed a higher dose of medication, which hasn't come yet. I will be interested to see if it makes a difference.

Now it's a clear (I think) warmish night in the field.

June 25

Wow, I thought I was tired the other night! Time passed, and after I took my bath, it was 2:30 before I turned out the light - and then, tired as I was, I couldn't sleep. My legs were twitchy and my feet hurt and sleep would not come. Aarrgghh!! Well, as it turned out, I had forgotten to take my afternoon, pills, which includes the neurontin that keeps my neuropathy at bay. I wondered if maybe I hadn't, but I just didn't want to walk all the way to the other end of the house to check it out. I should have. I never did get into a deep sleep, even though it was 10:30 before I got up. I spent a lot of time thinking about George.

Then I knitted and my skein of yarn was almost hopelessly tangled. I only knitted ten rows, because I spent most of my time untangling the yarn.

I went to the powder room right after breakfast, though, before I watched my chapel service, so at least that came out all right. And I got to do all my surfing and delete all my advertising emails before I had to leave for Houghton.

Well, I thought I left early enough, but then I ran into some excessively law-abiding drivers and I was at Central before I passed them all. Then when I started south out of Calumet, I met another group. It's tourist season, folks, and you'd better be ready for it. To put the icing on the cake, right before I got to the lift bridge, they started raising it. It went all the way up and all the way down, and as far as I could tell, it was for one very small boat that most likely could have gotten under it without moving it at all. I did make it to the podiatrist by the time of my appointment, but not much early.

It didn't matter. I sat and knitted, then they took me into an examining room and I sat and knitted. Then I saw the physician's assistant, and I sat and knitted. Then I saw the doctor and then I sat and knitted. You can tell where this is going, can't you?

He agreed that the spot on my right foot looks suspicious, and he wanted to biopsy it, and he agreed that the weird toe on my left foot looks weird, and he wanted to x-ray that. So he did the biopsy, and now my right foot is wrapped in a roll of gauze. He wants to remove the big lump on my left toe, but I don't know when that might happen. First I will wait to see what the biopsy shows, and then we'll talk about removing the lump, which is probably just a strange fatty cyst.

Anyway, instead of getting out around 5:00, like I'd hoped, it was 6:00, and that was entirely too late to go to Bambu, so I went back to Laurium, very hungry and a little disgruntled. My mother had so much trouble with podiatrists that I've always been a little suspicious of them. This guy seems to know his business, but he is a weird person, and I'm not sure it was at all necessary to x-ray my foot.

Anyway, choir was good, and I guess we're ready to sing for the next two weeks. Apparently Pastor and Marcy are going away next week, so we won't have practice until before the service on July 5.

I got home around 9:15, and I had to scare up something to eat. It was all right, not great, not like my nice Chinese dinner would have been. And I am tired.

The weather was June-ish. The temperature here during the day varied between 48º and 52º, with almost no wind and lots of fog. This is while it got up to 74º in Houghton. Overhead, it was clear or almost so, although I think there were enough clouds that I won't be able to see Venus and Jupiter. I can't tell, because the camera hung up around 8:00 and it looks like I'll have to reboot to get it started again. Grr. Oh, I won't. It started the second time.

The guys were mostly sleepy, although right around the time I went to bed this morning, Louie went after Grayson more aggressively than usual and made him holler. I don't know what gets into Louie. Grayson teases Louie sometimes, but he isn't aggressive like that.

So that was my day. My foot isn't sore or anything, but I will try to leave the bandage on it until tomorrow. Now I need to go to bed, pronto. It's a coolish (at least in Copper Harbor) partly cloudy night in the field.

June 24

As I recall I was in bed shortly after 11:00 last night, and I slept quite well, although I was up several times. I was awake at 8:00, and I could have gotten up, but I decided not, and it was 10:30 before I finally got up for good. I knitted, and I have only one more repeat to do on the top edging. It's going to be pretty.

I was late enough that after I cleaned up from a nasty accident, I didn't do much else, and since today's chapel was communion, I was still doing my surfing after the talking started. Today they were commemorating the birth of John the Baptist, so they were wearing the white paraments, with all that beautiful damask. The other paraments also have multicolored damask, but the green ones have mostly green on a white background and not as much as the white ones. The one they use for the white and red ones (the only ones I've seen) has a big red and gold vase as the middle motif, with sort of Jacobean-looking branches and leaves coming out of it. That's the one I remember from so many years ago, and while it is rather garish, they use it with care, except that the under hanging on the altar, used only for communion, is all damask, and I must say, it's rather overpowering. I wish I could find out more about the way the paraments are used in the Lutheran church and how they use them at the seminary. Oh, and the white (actually, it's cream colored) chasuble and the thing (I guess it's an alb) the Dean wears are both lined in cream satin.

The weather was nondescript. When I was up during the night, it was clearly partly cloudy. The moon was shining through the clouds when I went to bed, and when I was up the first time, I could see Vega, I think, and the Big Dipper but not Polaris. When I was up at 8:00, it was clear and sunny, but it must have been only for a short while, because the view from the camera shows clouds. It was mostly cloudy for the rest of the day. The Temperature yo-yoed between 50º and 63º. There was almost no wind. Meh.

The guys were their usual selves. They got some lap time, and Grayson got a teensy piece of my steak. They had eaten all their food this morning, so I finally filled the dishes tonight. It doesn't me with Grayson so much, but Louie shouldn't eat that much. I tried a couple of new varieties of dry food on them, and they like them both. I guess they just want a change every so often.

So that was a nothing day, and tonight I have to wash my hair, because I am seeing the foot doctor and there is choir tomorrow. My appointment is at 4:00, and I hope it doesn't last too long, because I would like to go to Bambu, but we'll see about that.

Now it's a coolish, cloudy night in the field, and I hope to see Venus and Jupiter again before the end of the month.

June 23

I am tired. I didn't get to bed so late last night - I think it was probably around 12:30 - but I was up several times and starting at 8:45, I got three calls from the doctor's office. The first one said all my tests were good and my heart was about the same as it was last year. The second one was from the referral coordinator about the foot doctor. That one was at 9:45, so I figured I might as well get up. The third one was from the coordinator again saying that I have an appointment for 4:00 on Thursday. Well, all right. Maybe, if it doesn't take too long, I can slip into Bambu for some Chinese before I go to choir.

I knitted, and I got one repeat of the end edging done. It's pretty, now that I have the chart corrected.

That was about all I did. I had an accident because I wanted to finish hearing the homily before I went to the powder room, but I had a number of things to wash, so I did that.

I have been working on another wrap. This one is long and narrow and crescent shaped, with triangles on the lower edge, in a heavy multicolor blue-green-turquoise-purple yarn. It's not lace, but I wanted to see how it would go together. Yesterday, I took it with me to the hospital and dropped some stuff right at the end, and when I got home and started trying to fix it, I realized that I had started the next triangle on the wrong edge of the one before, so I had to pull it all out and do it over. This afternoon, I finished that one, but not in time to cast on the next triangle. I have 11 more to go. It is going to be pretty, but I don't like the yarn very well. It's going to be scratchy. The colors are nice, though.

The weather was rather nice, actually, although I didn't go out. It was cloudy and windy overnight and this morning, then it cleared up and it was beautiful, if breezy, until around 7:00, and it has now clouded up again. The temperature was around 60º all afternoon, then between 5:00 and 6:00 it went from 59º to 73º for no apparent reason. It hit a high of 75º, and now the wind has dropped. I should stick my nose outside, I suppose. It was very humid overnight, but now the humidity is down to around 40%, which is nice.

The guys mostly slept, but Grayson kept following me around. They both got some lap time.

So it was a quiet day, and maybe I can get to bed at a reasonable hour again tonight. It's a warm, breezy night in the field.

June 22

I guess it was 10:45 before I got to bed last night, for some reason I don't remember. I slept fairly well, although I was up several times. The last time was around 6:30, which annoyed me, but I went back to bed for that last 20 minutes or so. I could have stayed longer, since I didn't eat.

I got to the hospital just after 10:00, and for once, everything was in place for my day. They call it a physical for Medicare reasons, and I suppose it was. I got to have a long talk with the doctor, but of course I forgot a couple of things I wanted to tell him. I got my blood work done before I saw him, so I got to have some OJ and a piece of cheese. Then it was off to X-Ray (well, they call it Radiological Services now, which is actually a much better name) for my mammogram and my echocardiogram. I got home around 3:00, which was time to have a bit to eat and watch the chapel service before the talking started.

Dr. Mike had to agree with me that the things on both my feet that I wanted him to look at look weird, so I am supposed to get a referral to a podiatrist. I have tried to steer clear of podiatrists, because of my mother's bad experiences with them, but in this case, I need a foot specialist to look at my weird feet. It's not that I especially think either foot has a serious problem, but I would like some explanation for why they look like they do.

Dr Mike also suggested what probably happened to my left knee - the one that was so sore I could hardly walk on it. He thinks probably I sprained it when I was trying to get back on my feet when I fell in Green Bay, and not until I iced it enough to bring the swelling down did it heal properly. It's as good an explanation as I've heard.

So unless something happens in the meantime, I don't need to go back until my next physical, next June or early July. I didn't think so either. I believe in going to see the doctor when I need one, but I don't believe in bothering him when I don't really need him. And for the acute problems, like a bad cold or something, I can do just as well with a nurse practitioner. As I get older and my heart gets worse, I will probably have to go more often, but not yet. We had some discussion about my sore joints, and from what x-rays he had, it's clear that I'm right: I have arthritis in every joint in my body, including some that don't cause me any problems.

So that is over with, and all I have to do is wait for the test results. Since I was last there, they have become completely computerized, and I can now set up an account to see my test results or something. I will have to try it and see. I know one other place I have an account had so little information it was useless. I want to be able to see all my records, including what the doctor has to say. I don't know if that's going to be possible. I will try setting up an account tomorrow and see. At least I got a sheaf of papers with information and instructions on it that is very useful.

Driving was easy. There was a slow guy that I left Copper Harbor behind, but he was nice enough to pull over at the Lake Medora public access, and I didn't have any more traffic all the way down or coming back. Nice. The daisies are out and there is one place where part of Clifton used to be where there is a field of what appear to be purple iris. The lupines are out all over. Mine are doing pretty well, although they aren't as big as the ones that grow in ditches. There are some trees with flowers, and I guess most of them are mountain ashes, which also mostly grow where there were once houses. In some of the swampy areas along Cliff Drive, those huge, rank plants - I keep forgetting what they are - are in bloom. The lilacs are gone in Laurium, although they're still blooming up here. The wild roses should be out soon. The first bloom of the orange hawkweed in my yard has come and gone. Summer has come, in spite of the weather.

The weather was blah, frankly. The temperature did get up to 69º while I was in Laurium, but for most of the day it was 62º or cooler. It's very humid, and between 4:00 and 7:00, we had 0.07" of rain that I missed entirely. There was almost no sunshine and at intervals it got very dark and dismal. Blah.

Grayson was very happy when I finally got home, and he sat on me during the chapel service and again while the talking was going on. Louie wanted to sit, too, and he got some lap time, but I had to chase him away.

So that was my day. I try to be a patient patient, but I hate these things. Now I'm tired and I had to walk enough that I'm stiff. It's a coolish, very humid night in the field.

June 21 - Summer Solstice & Father's Day

Happy longest day! Happy Father's Day to all you fathers out there!

I made it into bed by about 9:30 last night, but I didn't sleep particularly well. I was up several times and I don't think I got very much deep sleep. I got up when the alarm went off, at 7:00, and everything started out well, but then it all fell apart.

I scraped the skin off a spot on my pinkie finger on Wednesday, and while I was putting on my compression hose this morning, I scraped off the scab, and it wouldn't stop bleeding. After I bled all over practically everything (good thing I was wearing dark stuff!) I had to go back into the bathroom and find a Band-Aid. I decided to try my other pair of navy pants today, and I had a horrible time closing the pin I use to keep the tops together.

So I was very late leaving the house, and then I got behind a tourist on my way down the covered road. I finally passed them, but before I managed, it was excruciating. There were more people going into Kearsarge, but they were going a bit faster. Fortunately, I didn't have to stop in the restroom, so I made it into church at about the right time, but still.

It was a nice service, and I think we sang fairly well. Pastor's sermon, on Jesus calming the storm, was a good one. And then we all trooped downstairs for lunch to celebrate the 25th anniversary of his ordination.

Wow, what a spread. Stuart and Nancy, from the choir, had made pulled pork and it was wonderful. I haven't ever had pulled pork before, and I really enjoyed it. There was an unbelievable array of side dishes, from several kinds of potato salad and pasta salads to an enormous (restaurant sized) pan of real mac and cheese, which was wonderful. I would have eaten more, except that I ran out of room on my plate. Oh, yes, and we were also celebrating Eleanor's 94th birthday, which is today. Eleanor isn't doing real well, but she was there, she had new batteries in her hearing aids, and she smiled. There is nothing wrong with her mind, but her body is giving out. Both congregations that Pastor serves were there, and it was a large group. I'm so glad. He is a wonderful person, and he needs to know we appreciate him.

I think I got home around 1:45, and then I read my weeks' worth of newspapers before I changed my clothes. I didn't do anything for the rest of the afternoon. My gut sounded like distant thunder, and since I didn't want to get up, eventually, I had an accident to add to the slight one I had on my way into the house when I got home. Oh, it gets old.

I munched on my veggie tray for most of the afternoon, but it was clear that I had to eat something, and I didn't feel like having the rest of my barbecued pork chop (too much pork in one day), so I finally made an omelet, which I just finished. I couldn't decide what to eat, since I'm going to get blood work tomorrow, but I finally decided to forget it and eat what I wanted. I don't believe in cholesterol anyway.

The weather was not the best. When I got up it was very foggy, and that kept up until about the time I got home, when the sun came out. But the fog kept coming back, even though the sky was clear. The camera hung up around 7:00, so I don't know how most of the evening was, but it's almost clear and calm now. The high temperature was 55º, between 6:00 PM and 8:00 PM, and the wind, which got up to 17 mph from the north has gone calm now. The problem is the humidity. The lowest it got all day was 80% this afternoon. Oh, my achin' joints!

The guys slept and I didn't see much of them. Louie spent the day in the navy chair, and Grayson spend most of the afternoon on the floor behind me except when I got up.

Now I must go to bed right away. I have to get up early tomorrow, because I have to be at the hospital shortly after 10:00 to get my blood draw (if they haven't sent the order, I will not be pleased!). And of course, I have to fast, which is one reason I had something to eat just a while ago. I will be there for a good part of the day, since I see the doctor and I believe both my mammogram and echocardiogram are scheduled. Well, once a year...

Now it's a cool, calm, humid night in the field, and it's possible that I may see a star or two.

June 20

Well, it's early, but I want to get to bed at a reasonable hour tonight.

I made it into bed by midnight last night. I slept well, with three wake-ups, and I got up around 10:30, I think.

I knitted, and after I finished the fifteenth repeat, I decided the wrap will be long enough, so I started the top edging. I had to do the provisional cast-on over three times before I got a piece of thread that was long enough, and then I discovered that I hadn't done the revised chart right. I could see how it should be, but I only did two rows.

When I got to the studio, rather late, I discovered that the camera had hung up again, but I did my surfing before I rebooted. Then I got at the charts and redid them to my satisfaction - or I think so. I'm glad to have that charting software.

Tonight I made my barbecued pork chops, since the ketchup surfaced on Wednesday during the great cleanup. I decided I wanted to do them in the cast iron Dutch oven, so I had to use the big oven. One of my big ovens has a convection setting, and I was surprised by how quickly the chops cooked. In fact, I think the next time I do this, I will lower the temperature to make them cook more slowly and maybe absorb more of the sauce and get tenderer and juicier. Pork these days is so lean that it's dry, which makes it hard to cook properly.

I had gotten that far when I hit some weird key and hung FrontPage (what a bad program, but the replacement Microsoft offers is almost impossible to use) and had to close it, so now I'm back where I was fifteen minutes ago.

The weather was miserable. It was cloudy already when I went to bed last night, so there were no stars or planets. When I was up around 3:00, it was partly cloudy, and I could see stars intermittently out the north window, as well as a glow that might have been some northern lights, but the clouds covered it all up. When I got up, it wasn't raining, but before I finished knitting, the rain started, and later on not only did we have rain, it got so foggy I couldn't see anything. Not all of that showed up in the camera. We've had 0.36" so far. The temperature got to 62º briefly around 11:00, but for most of the day it was in the upper 50s. Needless to say, the humidity was at least 90%. My joints know, but I took some Tylenol this morning, and that helped. It was dark and dismal. It's too bad when the rain comes on the weekend and interferes with all the stuff that's going on in the harbor these days.

It turns out that all the bites I got the other day are black flies. It just took some time for me to get sensitized to them again, and now most of them have blistered. In addition, they had both doors to the breezeway open for a while, and now there are some black flies in the house that have been biting me in various places. The last and nastiest place is on the top of my big toe. I managed to avoid another one on my hand this morning, but I'm afraid I didn't kill the fly. So now I have blisters and very sore, itchy bites on both hands. Ah, well. It's not paradise - quite.

The guys slept, of course. Grayson wanted to sit on me a couple of times when I was busy, so he finally got a little lap time after I ate and before I started this. Louie has been zonked out all day. They are active in the morning and sometimes in the evening when I'm getting ready for bed, but they do sleep a lot. I was so used to Buster, who, even when he was old, didn't sleep very much. These guys are more normal cats. They sleep most of the time.

So that was another very quiet day. Now I must put my other chop away and get ready for tomorrow. It's a coolish, dank, damp night in the field.

June 19

Time just slipped away last night, so I was quite a bit later getting to bed than I'd planned, so I didn't get up until 12:30. I was awakened briefly by the doctor's office reminding me of my appointment on Monday, but that didn't keep me awake. I knitted, with some difficulty; for some reason, my mind kept wandering and I kept making mistakes that had to be fixed. I did get 20 rows knitted, but it took me a long time to do it.

So I had only a little while to eat my breakfast, visit the powder room and get to the post office. I managed to do all those things, though, so now I have some nice new reading material, lots of pills, lots of bills, and some brand new (and hopefully with elastic that works) trouser socks.

I discovered a while ago that my walking shoes (the only shoes I have) fit better with no socks or trouser socks than they do with my usual handknits. Wearing them without socks doesn't work very well because my compression hose are open-toed and my toes hurt, so I have been wearing trouser socks with them. I didn't have very many pairs of those left, and the top elastic had given out in most of them. Then the only two light pair I had developed enormous holes, which fortunately didn't show much, but it was clear it was time to invest in some more. The problem is, my shoes usually fit fine in the morning but after I've walked or sat for a while, my feet swell so much that they are too small. My feet hurt enough anyway and sometimes the shoes hurt so much I can hardly walk in them. The only problem I have with the hose is that the lining of the shoes seems to grab them and pull them back, and then my toes hurt. But then, the Crocs I wear most of the time do the same thing sometimes. Oh, yes, and I can't go barefoot, particularly in the house, since you never know what may be on the floor, and most other places frown on bare feet. Life gets tedious.

Anyway, I was late enough getting up that I didn't do anything else. I didn't watch my chapel service until nearly 4:00, but it was nice - Matins, and the president of the seminary preached a very nice sermon. He's only one of several professors there who clearly have a wonderful sense of humor. He had them laughing at the beginning. There weren't as many people there today as for the last two days, and they missed a very nice service. Evidently besides the other things that is going on, one of the sessions they hold for church musicians is going on. The prelude was with piano and flute and there was a trumpet up there with the very large choir. The choir sang a verse of the hymn as a canon, which was very nice, even though you could tell they haven't had much rehearsal time.

The weather was nice. I was able to go running out without anything on - well, you know what I mean. The high temperature was 65º, which is quite acceptable, the humidity was low and the wind was almost calm. Nice. It was clear until sometime late in the day, but the camera hung up around 10:00 (Yes, I did check it, but it didn't register that the sun should have moved around more than it showed), so I don't know when. Now it's cloudy, and there is rain on the way for tomorrow. Drat. I hoped to see Venus and Jupiter tonight. They are getting closer together all the time. Oh, well. It was nice. Buggy, but nice.

The guys evidently reacted to the dropping barometer. Grayson slept on the floor behind me all afternoon, and Louie hung out in the navy blue chair and he hardly moved. When I spoke to him, on my way to the studio with my dinner, He opened his eyes and glared at me (well, as much as Louie can glare).

My joints seem to be reacting to the barometer, too. And It seems that most of the bites I got on my hands over the last two days are in fact black fly bites, and they are driving me nutty. At least, there are teensy blisters on most of them. Mosquitoes will sometimes do that to me, too, so I must just wait another day or two and see whether they still itch. If they're mosquito bites, they'll stop itching, but if they're black fly bites, they won't. Whichever, there must have been at least one in the car with me yesterday, because I got some new ones. And I probably brought at least one into the house with me.

I am still enjoying being able to walk around in the kitchen and the hallways without tripping over a bag of trash. I must really try to do better, but I guess I say that every summer. Considering my problems of last winter, it's not surprising that things got away from me, and i got into some very bad habits that I am going to have to work at to change. We'll see how it works out.

Now I am listening to the end of Beethoven's Third, and then I will try to get to bed at a more or less reasonable hour. It's a dark, cloudy night in the field.

June 18

Well, I stayed up all night last night - again. I won't say when I finally got to bed - after my bath - but it was getting light. Of course, it gets light pretty early around here these days, but still. I was awakened about 12:45 by Schwan's, telling me they aren't going to deliver on July 3. Well, that doesn't affect me too much, but it was nice of them to wake me up. I knitted, and as a result, I didn't get all of my (advertising) email read until I got home from choir.

I had to leave early because I had to go to Pat's. The immediate reason was that the congregation is holding a do to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Pastor's graduation from seminary (a secret until Saturday night, so don't tell him), and I offered to bring a veggie tray and dip. So I had to get it, and at the same time, I needed to replenish my lettuce, which I was out of, and I wanted to get something nice for dinner. Oh, yes, and after my last trip home plus two trips into Copper Harbor yesterday, I was running out of gas.

I left about 4:30, which turned out to be just right. I got behind a car and two motorcycles that were excessively law-abiding going down the covered road (aarrgghh!!) but I managed to pass them before we got to Delaware, and it was clear sailing after that - I didn't see anybody else in front of me. It's such a much shorter trip now that Cliff Drive is open, even though the road surface around Clifton is nearly destroyed because of the work (or destruction) they did last fall. They need to resurface the whole road, but it looks like for the time being they are just patching the patches on most of it.

So I shopped, and I got my lettuce and my veggie tray and dip. I think I was very moderate. I got a nice lamb shoulder chop for dinner tonight (it was very good) and some pork chops and a lovely little flat iron steak that I will freeze. In the cleanup yesterday, I found my ketchup, so I can have barbecued pork chops, my latest thing. That will be Saturday or Sunday, depending.

Gas is creeping up in price, but I guess I shouldn't complain a lot if it's under $3 a gallon. I got to church around 6:15, and I happened to get there just as our congregation president went in the door, after unlocking it. Whee! After he came out, I nailed him and asked him to put the veggie tray in the fridge, which he did - he's a very nice guy - and we had a nice conversation about the roof, which is almost finished. I had to use the restroom, and by the time I did, some other people had arrived, so I went upstairs, and Stuart and I had a nice conversation about the screening on the porch and how to cook or grill lamb and other meat. Stuart, I must say, is more than twice as big as I am, but he is a very nice person, as is his wife, Nancy. I may see him - I asked if he did odd jobs, and he said yes, so I told him about my problem with the screen on the porch, where the critter tried to get in and pushed in the whole bottom of one screen. I can't open the window or doors until that's fixed, because not only might the cats try to get out, the bugs would certainly get in, and it's turning into a very buggy year. I do not need the whole house full of mosquitoes. My hands got chewed up yesterday. I made the mistake of putting DEET on my neck and around my wrists but not on my hands. Note to self. By the way, I discovered after I did that, that the smell of DEET gives me a headache. Well, I guess that's preferable to being chewed alive. Did I ever say this is paradise?

Anyway, choir was good, Our accompanist is back, which helped, and Pastor didn't try to do every piece we will sing for the next three months. So I got home not long after 9:00, but it was a struggle. About halfway up the covered road, I ran across another excessively law-abiding driver (never over 40 mph) whom I had to follow all the way to the community center. Aarrgghh!! I will never understand why those people simply refuse to pull into one of the many turnoffs on the covered road and let those of us who are tired and hungry and want to go home pass them. I could have passed him, since there was no traffic coming in the other direction, but since the road is so windy and twisty, I didn't know that. It was very frustrating. And by the decal on his car, he's from this area. Aarrgghh!! Then I had to bring the food into the house and put it in the fridge (everything I bought went in the fridge) before I could make my dinner. It was worth waiting for, even though the rice concoction I had isn't my favorite. The frozen package with veggies I like has not been in the freezer for the past month, so I've been trying other things. Well, I have plain rice and lots of frozen veggies, so I will just have to do it myself.

The weather was very pretty. In the last picture from the camera, Venus is just visible in the top of the frame. There should have been a teensy sliver of moon over there, too, but it was probably out of the picture. This morning, while I was mostly asleep, it was cloudy and foggy, but after about 11:30, it cleared up and this afternoon was beautiful and sunny. It was not warm. The high temperature for the day was 58º, and that was at 7:00 PM. It was a bit warmer in Calumet - a bit over 60º - but not hot. At least for the afternoon, the humidity went down, although it was very damp this morning. It didn't bother me when I was asleep. There was some wind, up to 20 mph, this morning, but it calmed down this afternoon.

The guys were sleepy while I was here, and I don't know what they did when I was gone. Louie was trying to eat a plastic bag when I got home, but I think I thwarted that, at least for a while. Since we brought in the dry food I had in the car yesterday, I tried one on them this morning and they thought it was yummy. I knew Grayson would like it, because I had gotten a sample a while ago and I gave it to him as a treat, but Louie seems to like it, too. I was going to order another big bag of the stuff they've been mostly eating, but now I think I'll wait a bit and see how this goes. They are unlike some cats I've known - they seem to take to new stuff right away - so I have to wait and see how it plays over time. This one went over well enough that they didn't eat their canned food, which is a variety they usually like. Ah, cats!

So that was my day. When I was checking out in Pat's, my right knee gave out, with pain, but it seems to be all right now, at least so far. I have three or four bites on my hands that are extremely itchy, but I suspect they may be mosquitoes and not black flies, so I'll just have to see how they develop. They got my hands because that was the only exposed part of me that didn't have DEET on it. Mosquitoes don't seem to bite my face, and black flies won't if there's DEET around. Now I only have to remember to put some on the backs of my hands. It seems like the cold weather we had in May and early June may have brought down the black flies. At least I hope so. From now through the Fourth of July, if there are any around, they will be increasingly vicious, as they realize time is running out to lay their eggs. Did I ever say this is paradise?

Now it's a clear, cool night in the field, and it's late and I'm off to bed. Now.

June 17

Oh, yeah. I'm supposed to be writing this, not Special Forces 2.

It was a busy day. I got to bed around 12:30 and it was a very well-regulated night. I was up three times, and I got up around 10:30. I knitted, and I got to do my surfing as well as watch my chapel service.

This was Divine Service Setting 4, which I don't think I've heard before. It was nice, but I like Setting 3 and Setting 2 better. The preacher and officiant was wonderful. He is an African-American who has a church in the Bronx, and oh, my is he a preacher! He gave a great sermon. And when he had to chant one part of the communion liturgy, he was really rockin' and rollin'. He gave it almost a hip-hop beat. It was really cool. He also genuflected when he blessed the sacrament, so I guess I'll just have to get used to that.

I discovered why the people doing sign language are there this week. Evidently there is an ASL training session going on this week. That's to add to the two-week Christ Academy for highschoolers contemplating the ministry, summer classes, and probably something else, because a bunch of older guys gathered in the front of the sanctuary after the service was over. I think it's great that there is so much going on in the summer. When I was in college, back when the earth's crust was cooling, most college campuses were empty all summer, and that's a great waste of resources.

There were a number of older people there today, including one who could not kneel. So I guess that if I were able to get there, I could go to communion as long as I could manage to make it up the steps to the rail. I'm sure I could kneel, I'm just not sure I could get up. It would be very embarrassing to have to have several strong men get me off my knees.

Kimberly and her nephew, Robert, were late, but they worked hard. I did a lot of work before they got there, and most of the stuff in the kitchen was bagged up before they came. They had to get the papers out of the powder room and put the bags from the north end in orange bags. Then we were off to the compactor, where Jack had to cycle it before they had put everything in it. The whole back of the truck was full, except where Kimberly was sitting.

Then we came back and went down the basement. She was appalled, but it wasn't all that bad. Of course, the guys had gone all over the floor, although I think they were still peeing in the trays. She wouldn't let Robert come downstairs, but I went (I actually got down the stairs!!) and I helped get the stuff all in bags. And I washed out the trays before we refilled them. Then we took another fast trip to the compactor with a full load. There are still orange bags in the garage, but fewer than there were before.

Kimberly says she is worried about me, but she shouldn't. I will make it. It wasn't easy getting down the stairs or back up - up was harder - bur I made it and I had no fear that I might fall, so I guess I'll have to go down again to do the rest of the stuff I want to do there. I'm not saying it was easy, but last winter, I know I couldn't have made it at all.

Grayson, the snot, did his business in one of the dirty trays right in front of us, but he's been down there at least once since, so I guess he is grateful. Louie was hiding down there all the time we were working, so I suppose he saw the clean trays, too, before he finally came upstairs quite a while after I got home.

Of course, I'm exhausted, but my legs seem to be in better shape than I thought, which makes me happy. And for the first time since last fall, the downstairs is free of bags, orange and otherwise. I got a bunch of stuff out of the studio, too, and there is an empty orange bag in the wastebasket. I still need to sweep in here. Gee, maybe I can even find the two teensy screws I dropped on the floor? That would be nice.

The weather was blah. It seems like every time somebody comes that I would like to show off my great view to, it's cloudy. It was also drizzling when we were going to the compactor. Yuck. The high temperature was 60º, briefly, and after about 1:00 it got quite humid. There was almost no wind. It was cloudy and dark. Blah.

Grayson was extremely interested in what I was doing all day, and he even got out into the breezeway while we were in the basement, but he came back in. Grayson was around underfoot all the time we were moving bags, but that's him. He did get some lap time this morning. After Kimberly and Robert left, Grayson sat briefly, and Louie came and went to sleep on my lap before I went to get my dinner. I'm sure they will be happier tomorrow, at least until I leave for choir.

So that was my day and now that some things are done in the house, I can go on to the other things on the '"to-do" list. Probably the next order of business is the clothes in the laundry room. It's getting tiring to root through the piles to find what I want to wear. And there are some more things I can do in the kitchen. The studio is a mess, too, and there are some things I can do about that, I think. I have some ideas. I would like to get the floor cleared at least somewhat before next winter, in the hope that it won't be quite as cold in here. Oh, the list is endless, but at least one thing is done.

So now it's a cloudy, coolish night in the field and I will be off to the north end soon to wash my hair. That never ends, either.

June 16

So I didn't want to go to bed last night. I don't know why, except that I hurt and it was more comfortable sitting. I did get my hair washed, but I was ridiculously late getting to bed. I got up around noon and I knitted my 22 rows. I have been using the skein without winding it into a ball, and I won't do that again. The ends get tangled and it takes time to get them straight. Even though it takes time to pull the yarn out of the ball, at least it doesn't usually tangle. So now I have a whole lot of yarn to wind, and first I have to get the desk cleared off. There always seems to be something I have to do before I can do something else.

My chapel service was very nice today. It was responsive prayer, and that is a nice, short service. I love the different ways they do the psalm and some of the other responsive readings. The seminary has a two-week program for high school men who are thinking about ministry, and they were the choir. Kantor Hildebrand did some really nice variations on the hymn of the day, and the choir chanted the psalm (Psalm 1) while the congregation sang verses of the hymn. It was lovely. The preacher is the head of the teen academy, and he is a very young man. His homily was very short and very nice, based upon Revelation, the part where John describes the Holy City. And the hearing impaired people were there again. So even though it was very short, I enjoyed it a lot. Tomorrow is communion, and they are going to use setting four, which I don't think I've ever heard. It will interest me.

I had to change all my clothes, so I finally got the soap and stuff into the house and washed a load of mostly bottoms, which I need to put in the dryer. While I was in the powder room, I finally got all the trash that had piled up over the winter into a bag - it took a whole medium bag. That didn't include any of the magazines or newspapers that need bagging and throwing out. I hope next winter won't be quite so bad and I'll be able to keep a little more ahead of the trash. I got some more of the stuff in the kitchen bagged up, too, but not all of it. I can only stand up for a certain length of time before I have to sit down. At least I got some of it done.

The weather was pretty, at least until around 5:00. By the way, the camera hung up this morning, and while it was a pretty picture, with the sun shining on the mountain, we missed most of the beautifully clear, blue morning. Now it's cloudy and dull again. The high temperature was 56º. at 7:00 PM, but between 6:00 and 8:00, it went from 52º to 56º to 48º, and it has now recovered to 52º again. There didn't seem to be any good reason for that. There was a little wind, around 10 mph, from the north. The clouds began to move in slowly around 3:00, but there was a lot of lovely sunshine until around 5:00, when it clouded up. Drat. No Venus and Jupiter again tonight.

Grayson walked over my head about 8:00 this morning and settled down on the left side of the pillow and went to sleep. Louie took up his position in the bathroom, where he knew I'd be going, and they both slept while I did and when I was knitting. Grayson almost seemed like he didn't want to get up, and he got a lot of lap time this afternoon, too. If I hadn't seen him playing with the snake, I would wonder if he's not feeling very good. A while ago, somebody moved the back pillow on the navy blue chair so that it was right across the seat, but this afternoon, Louie kicked it onto the floor and settled down. He likes that chair a lot more than the pale blue one, for some reason. You should see the fur! I will try to get the pillow back where it belongs. He was sleeping where the pillow usually is, but there is plenty of room when it's in place.

So that was my day, and while I didn't do half of what was on my list, at least I got a few things done. Now it's a cloudy, calm night in the field, and maybe, just maybe, I can get to bed a bit earlier tonight.

June 15

I made it into bed by 10:00 last night, and mostly I slept well, although I was sore and I was awake about every 3 hours, just to turn over. I got up around 9:00, so I got enough sleep. I won't be so early tonight, but more about that later.

Not that I did anything much. I knitted for the first time in a couple of days, but that made me late getting to the studio. Then after I did some of my surfing and changed my underwear (ahem!) I watched my chapel service.

Today was only Morning Prayer, but they used the whole chapel and the wonderful organ and there was a homily - a very good one, by the way, by the Dean of the Chapel. I like Rev. Prof. Grime. There weren't all that many people there, but they made a joyful noise, and the hearing-impaired people were there, too, with their sign interpreters. How nice it is that they do that!

Not long after I finished viewing the chapel, I began having a lot of trouble with my Internet connection. I managed to finish my surfing and cleared out my email, and paid a bill. While I was doing that, I checked my credit card bills (a good idea, by the way - I've caught someone ripping off my credit card a couple of times that way) and I noticed a strange couple of transactions on one of them - a charge from my prescription service, followed by a credit in the same amount. Then the Internet pretty much went away, except for PastyNet, and I called them, to find out that there had apparently been a massive failure someplace in eastern Virginia that was messing everything up.

So I had to wait quite a while before I looked at the prescription service site and discovered that all my prescriptions were on hold and I should call them. What? So I did, and I got somebody I couldn't understand and ended up spending over an hour with various people before I got it straightened out, I think, but evidently now that I'm under Medicare, I will have to call every time to release the prescriptions. What a pain, but I guess it's a Medicare rule. Nobody could explain the transactions on my credit card.

So I was late doing something about dinner. I wanted to do barbecued pork chops, but I can't find the bottle of ketchup I know I bought, so I put them back in the freezer. I know they won't be as good, but the way my week is shaping up, I won't have time to cook them. Kimberly called and they will be here around 2:00 on Wednesday to do something (I'm not quite sure what, now). So I have about a day and a half to do what I can about the trash situation. They'll have to help me with the rest.

The weather started out cool and so humid I had to take some Tylenol to stop aching. Thank goodness that works! Then between 6:00 and 7:00, the temperature went from 57º to 70º, and between 8:00 and 9:00 it went from 70º to 63º. Never leave home without a jacket! The dew point went way down then, too, which I appreciate. There wasn't very much wind. The skies were partly to mostly cloudy. Now it's a little breezy, and unless something happens before it gets dark, I won't be able to see Venus and Jupiter.

The guys mostly slept. Grayson got some lap time, but when Louie came around I was doing something else, and he just came up beside me and put a paw on my arm before he went away. Sometimes both of them can be so amazingly gentle. And other times...I think all the claw marks on my thighs are healed up for the time being.

Anyway, I need to wash my hair tonight. Now that it's warmer, it just doesn't do to wait too long. So I will be late, even if I go up to the north end right now and don't dawdle. Well, maybe I can do better tomorrow. I don't think I should need quite as much sleep as I got last night, and maybe it's better if I don't. Trouble is, I won't be able to do much writing, which I seem to do better late at night. But until after I see the doctor next Monday, I need to stay on a human schedule.

The Internet seems to be back in business now, except that I haven't gotten any email since 4:19. That's the trouble with being dependent upon something.

So now it's a warmish, partly cloudy night in the field.

June 14

Well, so last night everything worked out as I planned. I went up to the north end early, took my shower, and was in bed by 9:30. I slept fairly well, except in the middle of the night when I was on my right side. Of course, I woke up around 6:00 - and I found the clocks blinking! Aarrggh! For some unknown reason, we'd had a power glitch a couple of hours before. So I got up - which I had to do anyway - and set the clocks before I went back to bed for my last hour's sleep.

Of course, by 7:00, I was about to get back into a deep sleep, but I figure I had at least 9 hours' worth, so I didn't feel too bad when I got up. I did as much of my morning things as I had time for, or a little more than I had time for, so I was a bit later than I wanted to be. It didn't matter. There was so little traffic that I got to church when I wanted to anyway.

Church was good. There was communion, and Pastor reported some on his trip to the convention, as well as commenting on the readings.

Afterwards, I was talking to a new member, and she offered to come and help with the trash and the mess in the basement. She is to call me this week. I hope so. It's getting to me around here, but with the weather the way it has been lately, I just haven't been able to do a lot.

I was thinking about going to Pat's afterwards, but I do have to go on Thursday to get something for the do next Sunday, so I decided to wait and come right home. I will have to go to Pat's and the gas station on Thursday before choir, but that's all right; I've done it before.

I was sitting in the closet changing my clothes when Grayson started playing with something he found behind the bedroom door. At first, I couldn't figure out what it was; it looked like a long string. After I got a couple of good looks at it, I realized it was a young garter snake, about 7" long! It's been a few years since we've had any of those in the house, but trust him to find it and play with it. He tired out before I finished changing my clothes, but he left it in the hallway, so when I was dressed, I picked it up (with a tissue!), and then I realized that it probably wasn't dead, just stunned or playing dead. Well, I flushed it down the toilet anyway, so if it didn't drown, the septic tank would kill it. If it didn't and it manages to get out, at least it's not in the house anymore. I don't mind most critters, even snakes, but I don't want them (or any other critters) in the house.

The weather was not my favorite. It was cool - the high during the day was only 52º - calm and damp. The humidity was around 90% all day. It was very foggy for most of the day. Now the fog seems to be gone for a while, the sky is clear, and the sun is shining. My joints were telling me in no uncertain terms that they were not happy.

After his exertions, Grayson spent a lot of the rest of the afternoon on my lap, either purring or sleeping. He jumped up a couple of times when a piece of heavy equipment went by. At least one of my neighbors out along the big lake is doing some major work. He came back, though, until he heard Louie, then he left and Louie sat on me for a while - and then Grayson came back for a while. They are so sweet, at least to me. Louie was going after Grayson again this morning. I'm very glad Grayson was rescued and neutered, because he would have made a terrible tommy. He is just not a fighter. He keeps letting Louie back him into a corner where it's hard for him to escape. He's a lover cat.

I didn't do anything this afternoon, but at least I didn't get sleepy, so I guess that means I had enough sleep last night. I'll have to try that again tonight, although it may be a little harder with the sun shining. The sun isn't setting until 9:50 now.

So now it's a cool, clear, humid evening in the field.

June 13

I made it into bed by midnight last night, and for the most part, I slept well. I was up several times, though, and I didn't quite make it to the toilet when I got up around 9:15. Oh, well. I knitted, and I finished another repeat. This is such lovely yarn to work with!

Other than that, I didn't do much of anything. Even though I should have gotten enough sleep, I almost fell asleep in my chair in the middle of the afternoon, so I was too tired to do much. Unfortunately, I had two accidents, which I don't quite understand, since I had rice last night for dinner. It gets old.

The weather started out clear, and the temperature got up to 72º before the clouds began to move in around 1:00. The thermometer dropped after that, with a few zigzags, and it's now 57º, cloudy, and weather radar says it should be raining, although I haven't noticed that. It may rain overnight and tomorrow morning. There wasn't any wind. For quite a while this afternoon, the humidity actually got below 50%, which was nice. I feel a lot better when the humidity is low.

Last night, on my way to bed, I got a short glimpse of Jupiter and Venus, which are over in the northwest sky and moving toward each other and a remarkable conjunction, when they will appear almost on top of each other. That's at the end of the month, so I wasn't surprised that they're still so far apart. They are both so bright and beautiful! I think there were some clouds for a while, because when I turned out the light, I couldn't see them, and I should have been able to. It was sort of clear when I was up during the (short) night, but not extremely, although I could see the star that connects the dipper to the handle of the Big Dipper, which is a good guide. Of course, I can see everything a lot better than I could last year.

The guys were sleepy. They both got some lap time, and Grayson spent the afternoon on the sewing machine chair. Louie came and went. I had to boot him off, though, because he was making my legs twitchy. He is so heavy, and he wants to lie away from my belly, which means he's down by my knees, and that isn't comfortable.

So that was a quiet day. I had some hope of doing something, but I was so sleepy, I just didn't. Now it's a cloudy, calm night in the field, and oh, yes, it is raining lightly. I just saw something drip off the eaves.

June 12

Of course I was ridiculously late. I just sat and listened to the nice music until I almost fell asleep where I was (when I do, i'll know I've arrived). So I was late getting up. I knitted, so the whole day was late.

The chapel service was Matins today, and I like that one. There were a couple of interesting things. One was that they had a trumpet to accompany the hymn (The Church's One Foundation), and they sang one verse a capella. I like that one, and it was clear that they do too. There were a lot of people there today, and they made a very joyful noise. I didn't hear quite as much part singing, though. Maybe those people have gone. The seminarian who led the service had a high singing voice and a much lower speaking voice, which was interesting. I have the same, but you don't find it so much in men. And there was a young woman there with two kids, one of which was probably around six months old and wanted to make enough noise that she had to go out with him for a while. And when the service was over, besides his fellows congratulating him, the older little boy ran up to him - Oh! Daddy! How lovely.

Other than that, I didn't do much. I didn't have time.

I'm thinking that part of my lateness problem these days is that it gets dark so late. I'm used to it getting dark at 4:00, so the idea that the sun doesn't set until 9:50 PM just doesn't register with my body. I guess it's just one of the disconnects caused by living fairly far north. I don't know what I would do if I lived in Scandinavia. Funny, but the early sunrises don't bother me at all. Ever since I had that job where I had to work nights occasionally, I can sleep very well, thank you, when it's light outside, even without window shades.

The weather was sunny but not very warm. Well - that's not completely true. The temperature spiked to 69º at noon, but it immediately fell back, and for part of the afternoon it was under 50º. I don't know why that was, except that the wind dropped to nothing and the lake is still very cold. it was very humid again, and there was evidently some fog out on the big lake. I think it was before I went to bed this morning, there was a guy out there sounding his foghorn loudly and long, all the way along the peninsula. I don't know who it was; I did bring up the Live Ships page, but I forgot about it and went up to the north end without checking. There was one salty over in the west end when I got to the studio today, and that may have been who it was. Most of the lakers aren't as diligent about sounding their horns. The 5:30AM picture from the calendar shows that we were socked in, but it cleared up in 45 minutes or so. When I got up, it was clear, and it stayed that way for most of the afternoon. There may be some light clouds now, over in the west.

The guys mostly slept, I think. Grayson got a little lap time.

Last night, I spent some time researching paraments, and I discovered that the only place to get the fabric they use at the chapel is the same place I saw it 30 or more years ago - and it's now $160 a yard! However, the silk damask I like so well is $165 a yard, so that's probably one reason they only use the multicolored damask as an accent on a fabric that is probably a rayon slub weave. Geez! I know those fabrics were expensive when my mother was making paraments, dossal curtains and funeral palls, but nothing like that! And he multicolor damask isn't even silk! It is pretty, though.

That led me to pictures of ministers in paraments, and that led me to the web page of Historic Trinity Church in Detroit, which is sort of the mother church for all the LCMS congregations in the area. Or at least that's what they'd like you to think. That is a very interesting church - they call themselves a cathedral - although I've seen altars that I like better. Their baptismal and pulpit are carved stone, and they didn't say who did the carving, which leads me to wonder if it was one of my ancestors, who was a stonemason and carved the entrance to Elmwood Cemetery in Detroit. The church has a humungous sanctuary and an organ of historical interest, which they are in the process of refurbishing. I have heard their pastor speak - he has been a force in the LCMS and the politics of Detroit for 40 years - and I wasn't impressed (his delivery is very oratorical, which I don't like), but he has done good things in the area. He has six part-time assistants, all of whom are semi-retired, except for the one who is the President of the Michigan District. The website has a very nice virtual tour, although I found it annoying that I couldn't stop it in the middle to look at some detail that interested me. It has a sound track that I didn't listen to, because I was listening to the radio. That all took some time, and it's one reason I was so late.

So that was my day, and I'm off to the north end. The symphony concert was a good one - Haydn and Mozart - but it's over now, so I can go. I'm tired.

It's a coolish, clear (I think) night in the field.

June 11

So I was sitting and listening to the nice music when I remembered that I had to get up this morning to go see Johanna. It was still 2:00 when I got to bed. I slept fairly well, but my right hip was sore enough that I couldn't sleep on it for more than about an hour, and that didn't help. I set the alarm for 10:00 and it woke me up. I got up, though, and I made it to my massage. I feel much better for it, or I will tomorrow.

When I got home, I looked at my chapel service. I was a bit surprised because the paraments were red, but they celebrated St. Barnabas. I'm sorry that I misspoke yesterday. The thing I was talking about is not an alb, but a chasuble. That is the cape-like thingie some ministers wear over their alb or cassock and surplice when they are going to be celebrating communion. Whatever you call it, I don't like it, although the ones at Ft. Wayne are pretty. The red one is lined in satin, too. I haven't determined the name of the garment the Dean of the Chapel usually wears, the one with the "H" on it, but they don't have a red one. I suppose they don't because red is used so rarely. So Rev. Grime wore a regular red stole today, with bands of the multicolored damask on the ends. The paraments are what I would call modern, but they fit because the chapel is such a modern building. I still prefer silk damask. I know that the multicolored damask that they trim everything with is extremely expensive (or it was 30 years ago when I saw it in the catalog, so I suppose it still is), and as I mentioned, if there is too much of it, it could get extremely garish. They use just enough of it to trim things up nicely.

Anyway, it was a nice service. The officiant is the technical librarian, and he is a large man. His was a good sermon, tying Barnabas to modern ministers. However, he has a little problem chanting. He has a nice voice, but he has a hard time starting on the right note without a prompt from the organ, and as I mentioned, they do the whole communion liturgy a capella. The Kantor and some of the wonderful singers in the congregation got everything back on key, but the start was rather rocky. I still don't like the idea of the officiant serving himself communion, particularly when the other guy is the Dean of the Chapel, but I didn't get a chance to talk to Pastor about that. It was a lovely way to pass part of the afternoon.

Tonight was choir, and Pastor kept us for a long time, going through everything we will be singing for the next couple of months. He was playing the piano, since our organist is out of town again, but the only problem with that is that he wasn't singing. I haven't known very many people who could sing and play at the same time, and they were all professional musicians. We like most of the things we will be singing, and we've sung most of them before, so that helped.

However, we were so late that I didn't get home until nearly 10:00, and I just finished eating right before I started this. There were a few side trips while I researched vestments (and the spelling of chasuble) but still, I'm not going to be early tonight, and I guess I'm not going to wash my hair.

The weather was so-so. It was more sunny than cloudy, and the high temperature here was 64º. although it was 68º when I got to Laurium. The wind was essentially calm all day. It was very humid again, which was not good for my joints, even with Johanna helping.

I didn't see much of the cats, although when I got home from my massage, Grayson spent quite a bit of time asleep on my lap.

So that was my day, and now I can go to bed and sleep to my heart's content. I need it. I haven't gotten enough sleep for the past couple of days. Now it's a calm, possibly clear night in the field, but we'll see about that when the lights are out.

June 10

I wasn't as early as I thought I wanted to be last night, but I diddled around some and then I had to take a bath, so it was midnight before I turned out the light. I slept well, except that I was up three or four times. Since I had to get up at 8:00, of course I woke up at 7:00 and had to pee. So I went back to sleep and I was about to get into a deep sleep when the alarm went off.

It took me longer than usual to get dressed, partly because I had to sit in the bathroom for longer than usual. So then I did some of my surfing, but I didn't get to see my chapel service, because it was still in session and they don't let you break into it in the middle. Then I had to sit again, so I was a little later getting away than I hoped.

I was a couple of minutes late getting to the dentist, but they are always a bit late anyway, so I had time to visit the restroom. The dentist wasn't able to glue the piece of tooth back into place, but he did fill up the hole, like he did with the other side of the tooth. With any kind of luck, it will last as long as I do. If it doesn't, the next time I will have to have a crown. Actually, I probably should have one now, and if I had any kind of money, I would do it, but I don't, so I won't.

It was too early to eat lunch, so I came home. And after all the times I went to the bathroom, I was climbing the stairs into the house when I had an accident! Grr! It wasn't a horrible one, but I did mess up a clean pair of jeans that will have to be washed. This is getting old...well, it's been old for a long time.

It's lilac time in the Keweenaw. In fact, in one place I passed, the flowers were already turned brown, but in most places they are out. They're behind around here, of course, because it's been cooler here, but they're out. Up on Quincy Hill in Hancock, there are places where there apparently used to be houses where there are fields of lilacs. They are so pretty! The row between me and my northern neighbor is in bloom. The neat thing is that because of the prevailing winds, some of the seeds have blown into my yard and I'm getting my own lilacs. There is one little one that I've been watching for a while. A year ago, it was only about two feet high and it had maybe two flowers. This year, it's about three feet high and it has half a dozen flowers. I'm sure it will continue to grow and prosper. The only thing I'm sorry about is that there isn't a white lilac among all the interesting varieties in the hedge. Most of them are the old-fashioned lilac ones, but there are a few dark purple ones, too. It's just too bad they don't last longer.

Anyway, after I got home, I watched my chapel service. As usual on Wednesday, it was communion, and they used the old service again. And this time I'm sure I heard them singing the liturgy in parts, and it was just beautiful. There weren't more than 40 people there, I don't think, but they certainly made a loud and joyful noise. They sang most of the communion liturgy a capella. I was very glad to see the organist come down to take communion with the rest of them. I always worry about the organist and the singers. They sang a communion hymn where the cantor sings the verses and the congregation just sings the refrain (which they did in parts again), all without accompaniment. The sermon was good, by the guy who is the librarian (!) and is an ordained minister. It was very inspiring.

I haven't talked about the paraments in the chapel. These are the hangings on the altar and the lectern and pulpit, as well as the chasubles worn by the people officiating. The ones for the Easter season were beautiful, with wide bands of multicolored damask on an off-white background. What I didn't realize until today that the bands are the same on all their paraments, and the base color of the garments is what changes. I wish I had seen the ones for Pentecost, which are red. The ones for this season are green, and they are a deep grass green, with all those white bands. The chasuble that the officiant wears is lined with green satin. I didn't see the lining of the white ones. I had seen the damask in an old catalog when I was doing stuff like that for one of my churches, and at the time I thought it was rather garish, but in small doses, like they do at the chapel, it is very beautiful. My first choice for paraments is solid silk damask in the seasonal colors with gold embroidery and fringe, like both of my Detroit churches did it, but these are just about as nice. I wonder if they have blue ones for Advent? Maybe this year I can find out.

I don't really like chasubles, although theirs are pretty. Only one thing bothers me a bit is that there is one chasuble and it is sized for a standard height person, like the dean of the chapel. Several of the officiants I've seen are tall men and in my opinion, their chasubles should be longer. And the student who led worship yesterday, who is extremely short, would have it dragging on the ground (if he were ordained and could wear it). Before they ended the broadcast yesterday, he was talking to a couple of the guys who were clearly his friends, and he had to look way, way up at them.

The other thing I've noticed is that there are a few people I've seen at almost every service. There is one guy who sits in a particular place, who is a tall, broad man, who is there almost every day except Mondays. And there is one young man who is very black. I wonder how it feels to be the only person of his race on campus. He must have a very strong call.

Oh, yes, and there were several women there today, including one who was wearing shorts! She didn't look particularly casual, but shorts? In church? Some of the female students I saw at the end of the regular term were wearing what I would refer to as interesting getups, but shorts? I don't think so. And she took communion. Hmm. There were also some very young children, who were very good, not like the screamer we had in our church last Sunday.

The weather today was so-so. It was mostly cloudy, with a few periods of sunshine. The high temperature was 64º, and there was some wind, with gusts up to 30 mph from the north. For once, it was about the same all over. It's been a lot warmer down in Calumet and Houghton than it has been here, but not today. I noticed in passing that it was 88º in my part of Detroit today. When I'm more happy even than usual that I'm here. It's still very humid, and that is beginning to take a toll on my joints. I was sore today, particularly after I spent a couple of hours sitting in the car.

I don't have much to report about the guys. Grayson got some lap time, but I didn't see Louie after this morning. They are always around when I'm getting up.

So that was my day. I was quite relieved that I don't need to get a crown now. My repair job wasn't cheap, but it was only about a tenth of what a crown would have cost. So that crisis is past.

Now it's a cloudy, windy night in the field, but it's not cold.

June 9

I just did not feel like moving last night, so I didn't, and it was a ridiculous hour before I finally got to bed. In the winter I can get away with that, but in the summer, particularly so close to the solstice, it was getting light. Sigh. I got up around 11:30, and I knitted. Then I washed the soiled clothes from the past few days, but that was about all I did. I was too late to do much else.

Around 4:00, I got a call from the dentist, and I have an appointment at 11:00 tomorrow morning to see about my tooth. That's nice. It hasn't been bothering me, but the sooner it's taken care of, the less likely it is to decay or anything. Only that means I have to get up at a human hour tomorrow...and I need to wash my hair, which never got done last night. Maybe it will be all right, since I didn't get enough sleep last night, but it's already 9:30, so I won't be early.

The weather was not particularly inspiring. The temperature got up to 68º briefly, and it was in the 60s for most of the afternoon, but it's very humid and it was cloudy for most of the day. The wind has been all over the map, and it's gotten as high as 15 mph. There is some rain possible, but most of it is up in Canada, so I'm doubtful. Tomorrow is likely to be more sunny but cooler. I hope the humidity goes down. I hurt.

The cats slept. After I got up the first time, Louie chased Grayson away from his favorite spot in the bathroom, so he got up on the bed and settled down by my head. He got quite a bit of lap time, too, but I haven't seen Louie lately.

Oh, yes, I need to put the wash in the dryer. I put the placemats and pot holders away, so now those drawers are full again. I really make a mess of those placemats, but I need something on my tray to keep things from sliding around, and that means I will spill. The one on the tray now is mostly black, and that's probably a good choice, but I like the other ones. The thing that annoys me about store-bought placemats is that the quilting stitches break easily and tangle up. The same thing tends to happen with pot holders. It seems to me that they could stitch them a bit more securely.

So that was a quiet, truncated day, and I'll be off to the north end soon. It's a warm, cloudy, breezy night in the field.

June 8

Well, I wasn't early. I guess I was just too tired to move, but I finally did. And then, as I was flossing my teeth, I hit a tooth with my fingernail and a big chunk broke off, like the whole outside face! Oh, no! It's the same tooth I lost a piece of a couple of years ago, and the dentist patched it up. I saved this chunk, and I have a (probably vain) hope that he can glue it back into place. More likely, it will mean another crown - and another $1000. I was hoping to get new tires pretty soon, but now I don't know. I see the dentist a week from Thursday. This one isn't bothering me, so waiting isn't a problem except to find out what it will do to my pocketbook. Sigh. If it's not one damn thing it's another.

Anyway, I was rather late getting to bed, and I slept fairly well, although I was up three or four times. I finally got up around 11:00, but from the way I feel now, I'd never know it. I knitted, and I finished the ninth repeat, which is the length the pattern says. I knew from the time I read the description that it wasn't going to be long enough, so I will keep knitting, even though it's getting old.

I guess I did do something, but not very much. I put the placemats to soak before I went to bed and this morning I washed and dried them. They are still in the dryer. I think they look better, although I didn't get all the stains out. Among other things, it seems JD has something in it that stains cotton sort of brown, and I haven't gotten all that out. I had an accident, too, much to my annoyance. This one was mostly Grayson's fault, although I should have gotten up and walked while I was watching the chapel service. Oh, yes, and before i made my dinner, I bagged up the trash on the counters around the stove. It was getting so thick I was afraid the burner would set it on fire. Now I have four orange bags, two of them still open, in the kitchen. My back was too bad to even think about taking them out. I will have to, though, and I need to do some work in the breezeway anyway, because I'm running out of TP in the bathroom and I need to get it out of the box.

I was late eating tonight because I just could not decide what I wanted to eat. i finally made chicken with broccoli, and it was good, but it wasn't what I really wanted - whatever that was. Now I have something to eat for Wednesday, and I guess I'll just have eggs on Thursday.

The weather was foggy sort of off and on. Sometimes the camera couldn't see anything and sometimes it was clear down the harbor. Sometimes there was a layer of clouds right on the water and you could see the mountain over it. When the fog went out, there was some sunshine, but mostly it was cloudy and dull. Of course, it was very humid, and I could tell that from my joints even without looking at the weather. The high temperature was 56º at noon, but then it went down into the lower 50s. There was a little north wind for a while this afternoon. It looks to be a humid night, too, so that Tylenol will feel good. I hope this June isn't going to be a reprise of a couple of years ago, when the whole month of June was foggy...but one never knows.

The guys were sleepy. Grayson got some lap time a couple of times, including when he kept me from getting to the bathroom. Louie got some time, too, but I had to boot him off (I forget why). Grayson wanted some of my dinner, but one small piece of chicken was enough.

So that was my quiet day. I have to wash my hair tonight, just to get my scalp back into shape, so we'll see when I do that. It's a foggy night in the field.

June 7

Ooh! Early night tonight!

I didn't get to bed until 11:30 last night. I sat around for a while, but mostly it was stuff I had to do before I went to bed, like fiddling with the wash, taking a bath and filling the pill dispensers. I slept, but I think I was up four times in 7½ hours - not a good night's sleep. I was just about to get into a nice, deep sleep when the alarm went off, but I got up anyway, and I had a nice breakfast, thanks to Schwan's.

There are tourists around, but none of them were out on the road so early on a Sunday morning, so in spite of the rain we had overnight, I made good time to church. It was a nice service, and we sang pretty well.

After that was over, I had a couple of errands to run. I wanted to get a few things at Pat's, and that turned out to be more than a few things, but I have good things to eat this week. I forgot about the lamb, but I got a nice flat iron steak that is big enough that I cut it into three pieces, and I got some fish (of course!) and some chicken, as well as the frozen rice I eat so much of. They didn't have the combination I usually get, though, which annoyed me, but I got some others.

Then I had to get gas. It turns out that the rice things I eat have been earning "bonus points" at the rate of 2¢ a pop, and a few other things have earned points, too, so I got a discount of 28¢ a gallon on my first 15 gallons of gas - $4.40 worth! I have been glad to see that finally the store is putting points on some of the things I buy a lot. For several months over the winter, I didn't earn any points at all, but lately, it's been a lot. Having points on some things isn't going to make me buy them, so it's nice to have them on stuff I would buy anyway.

I might mention that all this took place while it was misting and foggy in Calumet. Yuck.

I got home around 2:00 and sat around for a bit before I filled the fridge and had a snack. I didn't feel like doing anything much after that, so I started working on a shawl (scarf? It's a funny shape) I just got the materials for. This one is a real departure from all the other shawls I've made. The yarn is heavy, and it's not lace. It works on size 8 needles and it's going to be crescent shaped. The yarn is a multicolored one with all my favorite colors, from purple through green, and the distinguishing feature of the shawl, and the reason I wanted to make it, is that the lower edge is a series of triangles. It makes a cool looking item in the multicolored yarn. I am about 2/3 done with the first triangle, and it's going to be an easy knit, but it will look cool when it's done. It's easy enough that I can work on it while I'm listening to the radio or even when I'm sitting in a waiting room. Something different from lace or socks.

I did get the last load of clothes into the washer, and now it needs to be put in the dryer, and then that chore is done. Tonight I have to do dishes, since I'm completely out of cereal bowls. The dishwasher is empty, so I have that chore to do. I have a whole bunch of placemats that need to be soaked, so I will put those in the washer before I go to bed. It never seems to end.

The weather was nasty. We had 0.58" if rain overnight, and it apparently rained some more while we were in church. When I was out in it, it was mostly drizzling or misting and it was foggy as well. The temperature got up to 62º briefly, but then it see-sawed for the rest of the afternoon. It was rather windy, from the southwest overnight, but after about 1:00 it switched around to the north. It was nasty to be out in, even though it wasn't cold, and my joints were telling me they didn't like it at all.

The guys ignored it. Mostly they slept. Grayson got some lap time, but I was knitting when Louie came by, so he didn't get any. When I got to the kitchen this morning, the door from the breezeway had blown open and when I noticed it, Grayson immediately went out, so I shut the door before I got their breakfast. When I opened the door again, he was quite ready to come in. Maybe he was just telling me that the door was open and he'd noticed it. I often wonder if Louie goes out when the door opens, but if he does, it's never when I'm around. Maybe he noticed that I don't fool around with Grayson and he doesn't want to be shut out there. Neither does Grayson anymore. He's a snot, but he's a smart snot.

So that was my day, and I'm going to give up and go load the dishwasher and the dryer and go to bed. It's a coolish, damp night in the field, but the wind has died down.

June 6

Time just got away from me last night, and I was quite late getting to bed - much later than I'd planned. I slept fairly well, although I was up several times, and I got up around 11:00, I think. I knitted, and I started the eighth repeat of the center section. This is going to be a pretty thing, and I'm enjoying knitting with the very lovely yarn.

The task of the day was wash, and while I have one load in the dryer and one load in the washer, I'm not going to finish tonight, so I'll have to continue tomorrow. It's not critical; I have enough underwear, and apparently I washed the first pair of compression hose during the week a month ago, so I'm set there, too. I'll just have a couple more things to wash tomorrow. I'm going through a drippy time, and I not only dripped down the first tee I had on this morning, i immediately dripped salad dressing on the one I replaced it with. Geez! I'm not that big in front! I guess I do sort of lie back in my chair, though, so stuff drips if I'm not careful.

Speaking of dripping, when I took my pills out of the dispenser last night, I dropped the blood thinner - the expensive one - and couldn't find it, so I got another one. When I go up to the north end, after I turn on the hall light, the next thing I do is turn on the light in the bathroom and then the bedside light in the bedroom. Both of those are CFLs and I want them to be bright before I sit under them. Anyway, when I came out of the bathroom last night, I looked down - I usually am looking down, just so I know where my feet are - there was my little pill on the floor! It's easy to lose; it's a triangular thing about 3 mm on a side. It's dark red, so I could see it. So I carefully picked it up and put it someplace where I would see it. Those teensy things are so expensive, I hate to lose any of them. How it managed to lodge in my clothes for such a long time, I don't know. I'm glad it did, because finding anything on the floor in the studio is practically impossible right now.

So now I have to refill the pill dispensers here before I can go up to the north end and do the same there. The wash in the washer needs its final rinse, and I have to take a bath. I skipped one shower this week, and now I know that was a mistake. My scalp is still oily enough that I will have to wash it every other day to keep the dandruff down. So now I know. It might not be so bad if I used a shampoo for oily hair, but that only helps my scalp and I don't like the way my hair feels. Well, at least it's every other day rather than every day like I had to do it for years. I started that when I cut my hair in 1978 or so, and only over the last couple of years have I been able to go two days without looking like somebody poured an oil pot over my head. I'm not complaining too much, because it's keeping the lines down on my face, but it does get old. I notice that the skin on my neck and my forearms and hands looks like chicken skin now. Happens to all of us, I guess. I've always said if you want to know how old a woman really is, don't look at her face - look at her hands. They never lie.

The weather was a little warmer today. The high temperature was 62º for a while early this evening. The day started out cloudy, cleared up for quite a while, although not completely, and now has clouded over again. There was a little wind - gusts up to 20 mph from the south - for a while, but lately it's gotten calm again. Well - not completely. The tree branches are moving. It was quite humid overnight, but the dew point stayed about steady while the temperature rose today. That's nice. I feel better when the humidity is low.

The guys slept. They were agitating for a while because they were running out of food, but I filled a dish of dry food and that satisfied them. Grayson was in one of his favorite spots this afternoon - outside the door to the studio there is a pile of my old flannel nightgowns that I guess I'll never be able to move. He loves to sleep there when it's too cool to be comfortable on the desk. I don't know where Louie was. Grayson got some lap time, but Louie hasn't asked yet.

So that was my quiet day. Now it's a cloudy, warmish evening in the field and I guess we're in for some rain tomorrow.

June 5

Oops. I was writing, and I'm tired and headachy, and I almost forgot to do this thing. Well, I didn't forget, so all is well.

I was a bit later than I'd planned last night, for all the usual reasons. Thursdays tend to be late anyway. I was up several times during the night. I was awake around 9:00, but I didn't feel all that good, so the next time I woke up was 11:00. A little later than I hoped. I knitted, of course. I'm making good progress on the center of the wrap.

I didn't do much of anything, but I did go to the post office, and I had a nice conversation with Ron. It seems Harbor Haus is in fact open, and the old owners are helping with the transition for the month of June. They are open every day, but not for lunch yet. I checked their website, and there do indeed seem to be people in the kitchen. Some of our regular summer people are here and some aren't. We've noticed - the guys don't really like hearing cars running up and down the road, although they have gotten so they ignore the neighbor's dog.

The weather was prettier than the forecast, but it was cool. It was extremely foggy overnight - so foggy I couldn't see the light in the lighthouse at all - and it was foggy and cloudy this morning. Around 2:00 it cleared up and the rest of the afternoon was clear, until a few clouds came in around 7:00, but it was nearly clear at sunset. The high temperature was only 51º, though. There wasn't any wind. It was humid enough that I was a little creaky, but just the slightly warmer temperatures has done a lot for my joints.

The guys were sleepy. Grayson got some lap time, but Louie wanted to sit on me when I was writing, and I can't type with him on my lap.

So it was another quiet day, and it's now a cool, clear night in the field. I will be off to bed as soon as Bizet's Symphony, which I love, ends.

June 4

I was a little later than I wanted to be last night, but I was in bed by 12:30, I think. I slept fairly well, with about three wakeups. The last time I woke up, it was around 9:15, which was a little earlier than I wanted to get up, but the alternative was to sleep until noon and wake up all creaky, so I got up. I knitted, of course. This is going to be a pretty thing, and it doesn't look like it's going to take forever, either.

Other than that, I didn't do much of anything except pay some bills. I went to choir practice, and I still don't have the timing of my summer commute down yet. Even though I got behind a guy on the covered road who was going exactly the speed limit, even to slowing down when the curve signs said so. Yiee! There is one place where there is a double yellow line where there is plenty of room to pass safely, and I managed to get around him there, but wow! The tourists are here, even though it's buggy and cool. And Harbor Haus isn't open yet.

Choir was pretty good, although Pastor keeps throwing stuff at us to sing this week without much practice and sometimes without music. We'll see how that goes. There is a lot of music for the summer, though, so we were late, and I didn't get home until around 9:30. I was hungry, so I made a nice dinner. It actually doesn't take more than half an hour at the most, and I feel much better for it. I'm still tired and headachy, but my tummy isn't growling anymore.

The weather was - meh, again. The temperature was in the middle 40s all day, at least here, and there wasn't much, if any, wind. It's getting very humid again, though. It was mostly cloudy, although the sun peeked through every so often. It didn't rain, and in fact, by this morning when I checked the forecasts, they had decided it wasn't going to rain today. Do they suppose we don't remember what the old forecasts said?

The guys slept. Grayson got some lap time twice, the first time causing me to have an accident. I just sent Louie away, because I can't type with him on my lap.

So it was a quiet day. Now it's a calm, cool, cloudy night in the field.

June 3

Thanks to Gregg, who pointed out that I never uploaded this last night. Sorry about that, but my mind escapes me every so often...

I won't say I was early last night, but it was better than the past few. I was up several times, and even though it was cloudy, the moon was bright enough to make it light outside. If I'm looking at stars, I don't like the moon, but if I'm just wandering around in the dark, it's nice.

I got up a bit before 10:00 and I knitted, of course. I'm making progress, but I'm making the stole enough longer that it will be a while before I can start on the edgings.

When I got to the studio, I started watching the chapel service even before I finished my breakfast. It was lovely. They started the service at the back of the chapel, like they have been, but after the prayer, they sang a hymn and processed to the front and stood around the communion rail, although there were too many of them for one table. What enchanted me was that after the first stanza of the hymn, the organ stopped and the rest of the service was a capella - no accompaniment! This was Divine Service 3 - my favorite, almost all from the old hymnal - and I was just thrilled to hear them singing it in parts!!! Not that everybody was, but enough of them know the parts that I could clearly hear them, especially the bass. It was beautiful. Since most of the people there were men, it came out TTBB, one of my favorite combinations. So lovely!

After that, I did not much, except that I began to try to bag up the trash on the counters. I didn't get far, but it's a beginning. My back was bothering me, since it's getting humid again.

The weather was weird. It was cloudy all day, with the sun peeking through only a couple of times, and the temperature was all over the place. The high was 71º, at 3:00, but it was 64º the hour before and 60º the hour after, and it's now down to 46º. Weird, especially since there was almost no wind. It didn't rain, or it hasn't yet.

The guys were mostly sleepy, so not much to report there.

Now I have to decide whether to read, write or just go up to the north end and get to bed really early. Decisions, decisions...

It's a cloudy, cool night in the field.

June 2

Well, I wasn't early last night, so I'll try again tonight. I got up around 10:00 or so, I think, and I knitted 24 rows before I got dressed. And that was about all I did.

I watched the chapel service from Ft. Wayne again. These are much smaller than the ones during the regular school year. They sit under the organ loft, and they have a neat little moveable organ with only two or three stops, but is is a genuine pipe organ. The back opens up, and there are the pipes! Whoever (the Kantor or Assistant Kantor) is playing is doing some really neat riffs on the hymn of the day, most of which sound like Bach or Buxtehude or somebody of that era. Today they kept broadcasting through the postlude, even though everybody had left, and that was nice. They clear out fast. There isn't any sermon in these little services. Today was Morning Prayer 1, and they sang a couple of the liturgical hymns from the hymnal. Tomorrow, though is communion, and I am going to be very interested to see it, since the worship folder says, "the congregation processes to the chancel and stands at the rail." That should be fun, especially since they're going to use a truncated version of Divine Service 3, my very favorite. Anyway, I still am enjoying going to church every day.

That was about all I did. I notice that when I'm very tired, which I am, I am hungry all the time. I guess it's my poor old bod thinking I need something, and since I'm not sleeping, it must be food. Another good reason to get myself back on a human schedule.

Oh - I forgot. I did do one thing: I pulled up the shutters. It will be nice to have light in the hallway and be able to see out when I'm sitting in the closet. I can't let anybody out, though, or open any windows, because in one panel, something pulled out all the screening on the bottom and one side. I think maybe I can patch it up with duct tape, but for the time being, all we can do is look out. Not only don't I want anybody to get out, I am afraid the holes are big enough to let critters and bugs in, and I don't want that. I would love to know how that happened. I would also love to get somebody to rescreen that part, but I don't know who would do it. So I'll patch it up with duct tape.

I had a hard time getting out. The sliding door in the great room didn't want to slide and the screen was even worse - it was binding on the bottom to the extent that I didn't know if I could get out - or back in - at all. Well, I guess I need to get the glass company out here sometime to see why the slider in the studio keeps opening up in the winter, and now I have more reasons to get them here. I sure wish I could have gotten the brand of sliding doors I had on Champine, which were the finest I have ever seen.

The weather was - meh. The high temperature was 69º between 5:00 and 6:00. The official temperature was 66º when I was out, but it was a lot warmer than that on the deck. There was a bit of southwest wind this morning, but after about 11:00, there was almost no wind at all. It was partly to mostly cloudy, although the sun managed to shine through sometimes. Now there is some rain up in Canada and a few showers out west of us that might turn into something. The barometer is going down.

The guys were sleepy, and I don't have much to report about them.

So now I will read a while and hope that I can get to bed at a reasonable hour tonight. I didn't want to get up when I did, but I did in the hope that it would drive me to bed earlier tonight. We'll see. Now it's a cloudy, warmish night in the field and there may be a raindrop or two.

June 1

So another month is gone. Wow.

I was later than I wanted to be last night, but that's been the story of my life lately. One game of Solitaire turned into two hours' worth, and the music wasn't even on. I slept hard and long. I think it was almost 6 hours before I woke up for the first time, which is nearly unheard of. Then another five hours and I was fine.

I knitted, and the stitches were coming easily today, so I did 24 rows in about an hour, I think. And that was it. I did have poached eggs for breakfast for the first time in a long time, and I made my pork chops for dinner. That turned out all right, but the bottoms of the chops were sort of crusty. Oh, well. It tasted good.

I was thinking about doing something, but I just didn't feel like it. Maybe tomorrow.

The weather was a little warmer than yesterday, thankfully. The high temperature got to 61º briefly, at 7:00, the humidity went down and there was hardly any wind. It was beautifully clear until around 3:00 when some clouds began to move in - not forecast by anybody - but it was still sunny all day. I didn't go out - I forgot that I thought I might pull up the shutters today. Maybe tomorrow.

The guys slept. Nobody got any lap time because they kept coming around when I was about to do something else. Louie spent some time sitting beside the monitor this evening, until Grayson nudged him out. Grayson thought he might get some of my pork chop, but he didn't. What he thinks he smells is mostly onions and tomatoes, neither of which are good for him. Now they have both gone away. Some time ago (I think I mentioned when I did it), I put a towel at the north end of the bathtub, next to the shower, because Grayson was sleeping there, and that is now a favorite spot. Grayson gets it most of the time, but sometimes Louie will sleep there, too. I keep it quite warm in the bathroom, because I'm usually there without much on and i like warm floors, and they like that. Besides, it's near me, and they know when I'm about to get up. My only problem is that I have to watch Louie or he will go after Grayson when what I'm doing doesn't quite please him. He does know that if he tries anything, he's likely to get something (usually a roll of toilet paper) thrown at him, so he's getting more careful. It's not that he really wants to go after Grayson, it's just that he wants me to know he's not pleased at being ignored (or whatever I was or wasn't doing). They are such funny little critters.

So it was a very quiet day, and maybe tonight I can be more reasonable about my bedtime. We'll see how that works. Now it's a partly cloudy, not very cool night in the field. And like John Dee said in his blog, we are now in meteorological summer. Now, if the weather will only cooperate...

Last updated 07/01/15 10:05 PM