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A View From the Field |
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June, 2016 June 30 Wow! June is over! Where did it go?
I kept going in and out of zombie mode last night, so between that and taking a bath, it was nearly 3:00 before I turned out the light. I went to sleep on my back, which isn't a good thing when it's as humid as it is, but it was 6:00 or so before I came to. I was up around 9:00, too, but I decided that was too early. And then I got a phone call from the doctor around 10:30, so I decided to just get up. I zoned out there, too.
After I ate, the cat went to sleep on my lap, so I had to change my bottoms, and by that time, it was 1:45 PM. Geez.
I was determined to shop today, though, so I did. It was cloudy and drizzly in Copper Harbor, but first I went through rain, and rather hard rain, and then it got foggy, around Phoenix. Fun driving. I made it to Pat's, and I did my thing. I did quite a bit of damage, but I have enough lettuce and OJ to last a couple of weeks, as well as a bunch of other stuff.
When I came out of Pat's with my goodies, the fog had gotten thick, and my drive home was, um, interesting. The fog didn't lift until a while after Phoenix, and it was thick. There was a little rain, too, and by the time I got here, it was foggy here, too. It was good to get home.
I had to go right into the house because I had to pee, but then I moved everything from the car to the platform outside the door, and I put the meat and frozen stuff away. I had to get some frozen mixed veggies, because for some reason Schwan's has been out of them for the past month, and I like mixed veggies in my rice. Then I sat down and ate the deli salads I got - first time in a long time, but hey, it's the Fourth of July! It was after 8:00 before I finally schlepped everything else into the kitchen and stowed it away in the fridge. Most of what I get these days goes in the fridge or the freezer, which I guess is a good thing.
They had local strawberries! I guess I'm so far behind that I forgot that this is strawberry time in Keweenaw. I ate one, and oh, they are good! Deep, dark red and red all the way through. Yum! One time, a long time ago, and after I had had an allergic reaction to amoxicillin, I got hives from strawberries. It hasn't happened since, but after that, I decided that if I was going to eat strawberries, which I love, it was going to be the best possible local ones. There is quite a local industry in strawberry farms, so we get the good ones. and they are good! I'm looking forward to ODing on them. Oh, yum! I can hardly wait!
The weather, as I said was yucky. We had a heavy rainstorm between 9:00 AM and 10:00 AM, and another between 4:00 PM and 6:00 PM, with a total of just over a quarter inch of rain. In between, it was foggy, and the fog didn't lift until around 6:30, so it was dark and dull all day. The high temperature, 63º, was at midnight, but it was around 60º all morning. Then between 2:00 and 4:00 the temperature fell from 60º to 50º. Needless to say, the humidity was over 90% all day. Oh, my joints!
I think the guys slept. Grayson wanted to sit on me this morning and again now, and so did Louie, but when I wouldn't let Louie sit on me, he curled up on top of the laptop and went to sleep. i had to shoo Grayson away just now, because he wanted to sit on me while I was typing. That doesn't work.
So that was my day, and now I have lots of lettuce and some nice things to eat, and I'll get more tomorrow when the Schwan's guy comes. Now it's a cloudy, damp night in the field and I'm tired. And June is over.
June 29 I was even later last night than the night before, and for no very good reason except that I was too tired to move. I had to finish loading the dishwasher, too. So I didn't get up until around 11:00, I think, and then I knitted, so it was a rather truncated day.
There was a large amount of email that I wanted to follow up on, so I just finished the bulletin and sent it off to Steve. Slowly I'm getting a template that I can use, but it still takes time to fill it in and proofread it. That was about all I did.
The weather was rather nice. It was in the upper 60s for most of the day, with about a 15 mph wind from the north, but around 4:00 the wind started to drop and the temperature went up to 77º for about three hours before it dropped back a bit. Oh, so that's why it was so hot in here. It was clear until around 5:00, when the clouds started moving in, and it's cloudy and almost a little ominous now, although it isn't supposed to rain until tomorrow. Anyway, it was a nice day.
The guys were sleepy, and I didn't see much of them. Grayson may be getting the message, and he didn't even try to sit on me until I got back from the bathroom, so that was good. Then he could sit to his heart's content without me having to move him. I haven't seen Louie yet, but he slept with me for the whole night.
I've been forgetting to report on the state of the wildflowers. The next crop is out - lupines, daisies, buttercups, vetch, and roses. The lupines aren't nearly as large and showy as they were last year, for some reason. I have a good number growing in my yard, and the little one under the cedar tree has three flowers on it this year, although one stem was broken by the wind and isn't standing up the way it should. There are two new plants, too, behind the window seat. Mine are all blue, and I sometimes wish I had some of the pink and white ones, but of course, I like having the blue flowers. The tansy and spotted knapweed aren't out yet, but the hounds tongue - that thing with the nasty burrs on it - is blooming. The sweet william that used to bloom beside the driveway is gone, I'm sorry to see, but since it's an annual and returns by reseeding, I guess it's not a surprise. I'll miss it, though. The wild roses up by the paved road have been out for a week, but I don't know if any around here are out. I haven't smelled them, but I haven't been out on the deck. I do know that when I have the window open, the air smells sweet. But then, it almost always does.
So that was my day, and I won't be up very long tonight. I'm tired, and I have a sort of plan to go down to Calumet and food shop tomorrow. We'll see about that.
Now it's a warmish, cloudy night in the field.
June 28 So I stared at the floor for entirely too long last night, and it was 2:00 before I went to bed. Sigh. I got up around 9:30 anyway, and of course I knitted. I've been doing four rows regularly, when I could knit at all, and I have only about 12 rows left in this section of the shawl. That's good, because it's getting boring and it's time to go on to something else.
That was all I did. I am still tired from yesterday, so I just sat and thought about everything I should be doing. I called the doctor's office, but they didn't call back. I had an accident that I had to clean myself up after. Nothing.
The weather was nice, but cool. The high temperature was only 63º, briefly, and the humidity has been over 75% all day. Not so good for my joints. It was clear until around 4:30 or so when some high clouds began to move in, but there was all kinds of sunshine all day. There was a little wind, up to 15 mph from the north.
The guys mostly slept. Louie got his lap time first, because I had to move when Grayson wanted to sit. When Louie jumped onto my lap, my hand was in the way, so I now have a couple of nice scratches on my wrist, but he was bound and determined he was going to sit on me. He sat. He didn't move around. He sat and got petted and he purred. I guess he really did miss me yesterday. Grayson didn't get his until after dinner, but he got his, too. Poor little guys. They are just bereft when their person goes away. It wasn't that long - about 12 hours. But still, they were afraid I wasn't coming back.
So that was another very quiet day, and I didn't get enough sleep last night, so I'm tired. I won't be up long tonight, although unfortunately, I'll miss another Haydn symphony. That can't be helped.
Now it's a partly cloudy, cool evening in the field.
June 27 Time just passed, and it was 11:00 before I got to bed. I slept well, with the usual interruptions. However, I woke up at 6:45 and had to pee, and I was just getting back to sleep when the alarm went off at 7:30. Sigh. I got up and did my thing, and I got away when I wanted to.
It was a long day. It was so humid and I hurt so much that I let them put me in a wheel chair, because they have changed everything around again and it's a long walk from where I usually entered to where I have to go to register and get my blood drawn. Then it was the mammogram, and then I had over an hour to wait.
The doctor visit went well, although his new PA is an airhead, and so am I, I guess. I forgot several things I wanted to talk to him about. Sigh. I will call tomorrow and maybe talk to somebody about those things. They have finally begun to put their patient records online, although I was shocked to see that their terminals are all cabled. Most other places I've been with electronic patient records use compact laptops. Well, one step at a time. They don't have everything, though, so the PA had to ask me a whole lot of questions...or maybe they have to ask those every time; I don't know yet.
Anyway, did take a snack with me, so I had something in my stomach, but by the time I got through with the doctor, I was getting hungry. I detoured to the hardware store, and I now have some nice new washer hoses, as well as some replacement screens, in case that's my problem. Now all I have to do is get somebody to help me with the installation. Oh, yes, and get all the clothes out of the laundry room so we can move the washer. At least I have that one step done. And the new hoses are color-coded, so everybody will be able to tell which one is which. I also got a new rubber mallet. My old one is very old (it's white!) and it is getting pretty chewed up. I was very modest. I have to control myself in hardware stores, just like I always do in office supply stores. In this case, it was hard enough to walk that I wasn't very tempted to look around at all the other things I might want. The Ace Hardware in Calumet has so many nice people, as well as just about anything in the way of hardware that you might think you want.
Then I went off to the Hut in Kearsarge. I wanted a pasty, and Toni's is closed on Monday (and a lot of other times, too), and I like Pasty Central's second best. I was about the only person in the place - it was around 2:30 when I go there - but I had a nice lunch. One of the things Pasty did when they took over the place was to build new restrooms, and they are very up-to-date, which is a good thing. I remember when I was there years ago that the restrooms, besides being in the far corner of the building, were from the dark ages - and that was a loooonnngg time ago. Oh, yes, and on my way out, I decided I wanted ice cream. I asked for a cone, but it was so soft that they put it in a dish, and I swear it was at least 2 cups! Yum.
It was still only about 3:30, but I went on to church anyway and parked in the parking lot with my knitting and the radio on...until 7:00 when somebody with a key came and opened the door. I got a lot of knitting done, but as I suspected, I'm not going to have enough yarn to finish the sock. I have some of other colors, though, so I will have one odd looking sock. At least I can see that I may be able to finish it. I only have about 40 rows plus the toe to go. I will be very happy to be finished with that project!
Choir was good, although we didn't diddle around, and I was home by around 9:15 or so.
The weather was not good for anyone with arthritis. The temperature all day was around 55º, plus or minus, depending on where I was, and the humidity was over 80%. Ouch. There was a 15 mph or so wind from the north. There was a little drizzle here before I left, and I ran into more on my way down. It was dark and dull all day. Tomorrow is supposed to be better, and I hope so.
I don't know what the guys did, but I suspect they slept. Grayson greeted me with a huge yawn when I came home, and I haven't seen Louie yet.
So that was my active day, and that's over for another year. Now it's a cool, cloudy night in the field, and I'm tired.
June 26 Oh, I am tired! I didn't get to bed nearly as early as I wanted to last night - it was around 11:00, I think - so I didn't get enough sleep. I was up the usual number of times, the last one around 5:45, but I was NOT going to get up then, and I was sleeping very nicely when the alarm went off.
I managed to get away just about the time I wanted to, although it stuns me to know that it takes me five minutes to collect myself, go out, down three steps and walk the 15 feet or so from the breezeway to the car. Geez!
Church was nice, and Pastor Neider's sermon was a good one. We had communion again, and everybody went, including a couple of people who can't walk up to the altar rail. That was nice.
I had to get gas, which is back down to $2.499 at the station where I go. I know there are other places in the area where it may be cheaper, but all of them would mean driving an extra 20 miles or so, which almost makes up for the lower cost.
I didn't do anything for the rest of the afternoon. I am really tired.
The weather was absolutely beautiful, although now it's beginning to turn ugly. The high temperature was 81º, briefly, and it was around 80º for most of the afternoon. There was a strong northwest wind that made it seem not too hot. The gusts were up to 34 mph late this afternoon, although I wouldn't be surprised to know they are getting higher. It was clear and lovely until around 8:30, when the clouds began to move in, and there will probably be some thunderstorms this evening, because another cold front is passing through. The camera isn't showing what's out there very well, because it's quite bright. It's rather ominous. And the wind is very strong. I just checked the weather station readings, and I was right. At 9:38, we had wind gusts of 48.3 mph. Small people warnings! Also small craft warnings. I wouldn't want to be out in the lake in a freighter right now, either.
The guys were sleepy, and it was too warm to sit on me, which I agree with.
So that was my day, and I will be off to the north end as soon as I upload this. I will be spending the day down in Laurium or around there tomorrow. It's my physical, and I have to be there by about 10:30 to get my blood drawn before my mammogram. Of course I have to fast (ugh!), but I will take a snack, and I decided I will go up to the Hut after I see the doctor and have a pasty. Yum. There is choir practice tomorrow night (I made the appointment before choir got moved), and I don't want to drive home and back down, so I will take my knitting and just stay. I would like to take a radio, too, but I don't know if I'll have time to get that set up.
So now it's an ominous looking, windy evening in the field, and there are probably some storms on the way.
June 25 I think it was around 12:30 when I went to bed, and I slept well, with the usual wakeups. I noticed, when I turned out the light, that while it was technically clear, Jupiter wasn't very bright, and even the rising moon seemed muted.
I got up around 10:00, I think, and it had clouded up. I knitted four rows today, since it will be Tuesday before I can knit again, an while I was knitting, it kept getting darker and darker, and then the wind started to blow hard. It kept getting darker until I needed to turn on the lights in the kitchen when I got there. It was like early dawn or late twilight. The thunder began, and I could see the rain at the other end of the harbor. That's the neatest sight, and it's been a long time since I've seen it. The rain reached us, and it poured for over an hour. Apparently, we got almost half an inch of rain before it finally moved off east and south, but it continued to thunder for a while before it all quieted down.
Then, after everything had moved off to the east, the power went down, apparently around 3:00. Of course, I called it in at once, and the generator took over. I can't imagine what happened, unless the rain undercut some tree that fell on a line. It was almost 7:30 before it came back up, and I was wondering if it ever would. I don't like to use the microwave when the generator is on, and I needed to eat.
So that was the excitement for the day. I can't give you exact weather figures because something is wrong with the connection to the Weather Underground, and the connection keep timing out, but I'll do my best. The weather station has been down since the power went out, too, so the NWS site isn't any help.
The temperature had gotten to 69º before the storms moved in, and in about 20 minutes, it went from 69º to 59º. It took a while for it to get back up again - I had to close the window I'd opened in the studio - but eventually it recovered. The highest wind gusts in the storm were only 40 mph, although down here, they seemed a whole lot stronger than that, and maybe they were, since the NWS station is somewhat sheltered from northwest winds. I know it blew hard for about five minutes, and then it went almost calm before the storm went through and the wind picked up again.
The guys, especially Grayson, did not like all the fireworks. He wanted to sleep on my lap all day, and I ended up peeing my pants because he was asleep. Louie tried once to sit on me, but I was wearing shorts, and he didn't want to jump on me, and when I put a towel on my lap, he had already left.
So that was a somewhat more active day than I had intended, and now I have to go and reset all the clocks, as well as get ready for tomorrow. It's a cloudy, windy evening in the field, and there are some more thunderstorms coming at us. Ooh - goodie! I love a good thunderstorm at night!
June 24 I don't remember when I went to bed, but it was later than I intended. I read for quite a while, and then I fiddled around. I was having trouble moving yesterday, and I was tired, so I suppose that's why I just sat. I slept well, no wakeful time, and I got up around 9:30.
I knitted another two rows. I could almost do four rows now, but it would take more time than I want to spend.
Just after I got to the kitchen and filled the cat food bowls, I got a phone call. I don't answer those when I can't see the caller ID info, so I went down to the studio to see who called - it was the Doctor's office - and I just stayed where I was. I didn't finish my first meal until after 2:00, and then I had to go off to the post office, where there wasn't much of interest, except for pills, and no bills, thankfully.
I paid some bills, but that was about all I did.
The weather was nice. The high temperature was 74º, twice, and it was clear and nearly calm all day. Unfortunately, the camera hung up around 2:00, so we didn't get to see all of it.
The guys were sleepy. I caught them both asleep on the pale blue chair this afternoon, which was surprising, since Louie has been going after Grayson a lot. Evidently Grayson doesn't hold it against him, at least afterwards.
So it was another quiet day, and maybe, just maybe, I can go to bed after the Haydn finishes. It's a clear, warmish night in the field.
June 23 Another quiet day in the field. I think it was around 12:30 when I turned out the light. I slept for a while, but then I had a wakeful period around 3:30 that lasted until I turned back onto my right side. I don't like to sleep the whole night on that side because then my ear, my shoulder and my hip get sore, but it seems clear that I wasn't comfortable on my left side.
I got up around 9;00, I think, and I knitted, of course. I didn't do much else, as usual. However, I did fire up the sewing machine and do some of the mending I had to do. The front seam under the zipper of my khaki pants had come out, so I put that back together. There was a pair of underpants that needed the elastic sewn back on. That one batch of pants was incredibly poorly made, and it was at a time when the place I get them was raising their prices all the time. The newer batches have been better.
I have one pair of navy blue pants that was extremely tight around the waist, but when I looked at them I discovered that they were made at a time when Lands End was making their women's pants exactly the same way they did the men's, and there was an extremely wide back seam. So today, I opened up the seam and let it out as much as possible. I don't know if it has solved my problem with the pants, but it has to help. Of course, I won't be wearing navy pants for a while, but that's all right. I looked again at the stone colored pair that had elastic all around, and I still haven't decided how to put in the new elastic, so I put those aside again. Oh, and I replaced the wrist elastic in one of the fleece jackets I wear most - and I discovered I must have done it before, because it seems to have been my elastic and my stitching. Weird, I don't remember doing that at all, but maybe I did it because the original elastic was too tight. Anyway, it should be better now. So I did something.
The weather was all right. It was clear until around 5:00 PM, when it began to cloud up again. The high temperature was 62º, and the wind got up to around 14 mph from the north. It's gone calm now. It was around 10º warmer in town.
The guys were sleepy, although Grayson wanted to sit on me all day, for some reason.
So that was it. At least I did something. Now it's a calm, coolish, partly cloudy night in the field.
June 22 I was a bit later than I intended last night, because I was reading, and I had to take a bath, so I think it was close to 1:00 when I turned out the light. I slept well, with only a couple of wakeups, and I got up around 9:30. I knitted, and two rows only took me 45 minutes, and that was the difficult row.
I didn't do much, but I did get the bulletin together. It's beginning to come together more easily now that I've been doing it for a while, and I have all the contacts I need. I did make a couple of changes to the layout that should make it easier to do from now on...read: tables in Word.
The weather was a bit cooler than yesterday, and it was cloudier than they forecast. The high temperature was only 64º, but there wasn't much wind and it wasn't humid. There was some nice sunshine this morning, but by noon it was clouding up and the afternoon was dull and gray.
The guys slept. They both got a bit of lap time, but I had to shoo Louie off, because he was stomping on me and it hurt.
I didn't finish eating dinner until 10:00 because I had to cook something and I waited too long to start it - barbecued pork chops. It was worth the wait, though. They were done perfectly, still juicy inside. I do love that recipe. I'm only sorry I didn't try it a long time ago.
So now it's a cloudy, coolish night in the field.
June 21 I forgot to note that the Summer Solstice was yesterday. I remembered when I was at choir practice, but then I forgot about it. Today is only a second shorter than yesterday, but we've started on the downward leg. Sigh. I hardly had time to enjoy the upward leg.
I got to bed around 12:30, which was good for a choir night, but I was apparently very tired, because I fell asleep on my back, about halfway through my prayers. I slept well, with only a couple of wakeups, and I got up around 10:30. I knitted, and it's only taking me about 45 minutes to do two rows, so pretty soon I'll be able to do more than that. This one started at the bottom and decreases to the top, and I'm about halfway up the first part.
I didn't do a lot more besides my surfing.
One interesting thing happened. Several weeks ago, the impeller in my ice maker seemed to stop, and I assumed it had broken. Yesterday, when I reset the fridge after the power failure, I noticed that the ice maker was set to "crushed," so today, I reset it to "cubes," and then I tried it. Wow! Low and behold, my mug was filled with ice, mostly crushed! Amazing! I can only guess that, because I can't get the bin out of the freezer, something had frozen in. So cubed ice worked, and crushed ice works (I had to try that twice, because I managed to drop my first JD and had to make another one). Amazing! I am so glad. I was thinking I would have to get the repair people out here to fix it, and that meant that I couldn't do it until I cleaned up the kitchen. You may have noticed that I have had a really hard time working on that. So now i don't have to stick my hand into the bin and the cold ice anymore, and that part is fine again. It still doesn't give water, but that seems to be a known problem with that fridge. I will also drop less ice onto the floor, which is either good or bad depending upon how you feel about my filthy kitchen floor. I'm just glad to have it working again. Sometimes it's the little things that make me happy. It even makes up for having wasted almost a full glass of JD. Yea!
The weather was just about my favorite. It was in the 60s for most of the day, and it has now (at 8:00 PM) finally gotten to 70º. There was a bit of north wind, with up to 28 mph. The humidity was low for most of the afternoon. I should have stuck my head out the door. It was partly cloudy, but there was a lot of sunshine.
The guys mostly slept. They both got a couple of turns on my lap, which they liked. Louie had a coughing fit, but he sheds so much I'm not surprised. The best thing I can use to get his loose fur out is a comb, and he hates it, so he didn't get much grooming from me. Grayson is a bit easier going - as long as I'm paying attention to him, he doesn't much care about how. He spent part of the afternoon on the desk and part in the pile of old flannel nightgowns that is just outside the door to the studio.
So that was my quiet day. Now it's a partly cloudy, warmish evening in the field.
June 20 - Summer Solstice i don't know exactly when I got to bed last night, but it wasn't early. I was too tired even to get up and go to bed. I slept well, even though it was still very warm in the bedroom. I didn't even have my feet covered for most of the night, and when I don't have my feet covered, you can be assured that it's warm.
I was up a couple of times, of course, and I came to around 9:30, I think, to discover that the clocks were blinking. Oh, no. So I dozed for at least another hour before I got up. It was very windy when I went to bed last night, and it got even windier as the direction shifted to the northwest. By 1:00 this afternoon, we had had gusts up to 45 mph, although the base wind was only around 27 mph. The winds began to die down after that, although they were still strong enough that the gusts rocked the car on my way to choir. It's better now.
I didn't do anything but my surfing, and I went to choir practice. Nancy finally got the music from the other church, so maybe now we will be able to sing something other than hymns. We did sing through one that is a favorite, that I'd love to sing on my birthday.
I finally got around to doing my system updates on the desktop, which I did while I was gone, but when I got back, I had to reboot, of course - and then I had to reboot again because nothing was working right. I think it's all right now, but still.
The weather was much nicer than yesterday. The high temperature during the day was 72º, and the humidity was as low as 30%. Of course, there was that wind, but that only made the harbor pretty. It was pristinely clear for most of the day, and this morning, that meant the harbor was dark, dark blue, with all those lovely whitecaps on it. Much nicer.
The guys didn't like the noise from the wind, I don't think. They haven't heard it enough lately to be used to it and it bothered them. Grayson got some lap time, but Louie hasn't yet.
So it was another quiet day. I was thinking about taking a bath - I'm still sort of sticky - but I think I'd rather get to bed at a reasonable hour and do that tomorrow. Now it's a partly cloudy, breezy night in the field.
June 19 - Father's Day Happy Father's Day to all you fathers and grandfathers out there. I haven't had a father for over 30 years, so I even forgot to put it in the bulletin this morning.
I was late getting to bed last night, even though I started out fairly early. It was 10:30 before I turned out the light. I spent a lot of time staring at the floor. It was very warm in the bedroom, and I didn't sleep all that well. I was up several times, and I woke up around 6:00 and had to pee, so it was evident that I wasn't going back to sleep and I got up.
Well, even though I started out early, I was nearly late getting away. In part it was because I was doing my surfing and in part because I had an accident that I had to clean up.
Church was nice. We had an ordained minister today, so we had communion, and it was so nice. I've missed that these last several weeks. The last time we had communion was May 15, so it's been a while. Rev. Neider is a dynamic person, and he preached a good sermon, too, although he had some problems with the PA system. I think we sang well, and I was surprised by how loud the congregation was for all the responses. Evidently they wanted to let him know how happy we are to have him filling in. The call committee shipped their documents off to the district this week, but the LCMS convention is next week, so it will be a while before we get our first list of possible candidates. This is an interesting process, and I will be watching it. I've never before been in a congregation that had to call a pastor. Assistants, yes, but never the main man.
It was warm when I got to church, and about halfway through the service, I started to sweat profusely. Too much hot air, I'm afraid. Thankfully, my face didn't turn red, which it sometimes does. I was happy to turn on the A/C on the way home.
The commute was miserable. Going down, there were R/Vs leaving Copper Harbor, and coming home there were people having a leisurely Sunday drive up to Copper Harbor. I ran into the same SUV going in both directions, and i suspect it might be one of my older neighbors...who was going about 50 mph tops. Thankfully, I was able to pass him.
I was exhausted when I got home, and I didn't do anything much but read for the rest of the afternoon. I did open the south window in the studio, which at least gave me some wind, but I simply could not decide on anything to eat, which is why I didn't finish my evening meal - a salad with tuna - until 10:30. I do NOT like this weather.
Oh, yes, this weather. The high temperature was 86º for several hours this afternoon. The only things that kept it from being intolerable were the low humidity and the southwest wind. Of course, that wind is why it's so hot. It's still over 80º. There are some thunderstorms headed in this direction and it is supposed to be much cooler tomorrow...I hope. It was partly to mostly cloudy, but there was enough sunshine to warm things up in here. I wish I could use the sun to make heat in the winter and electricity in the summer, but I don't have the means to do that.
The guys did what any self-respecting cat would do in this weather - they slept. Grayson got a little lap time, but Louie didn't.
So that was another quiet day, and now it's a warm, windy, partly cloudy night in the field.
June 18 I went up to the north end at a semi-reasonable hour, but then I pretty much fell asleep in the bathroom, so it was 1:30 before I got to bed. I slept well, and I didn't get up until almost 11:00. So why am I so tired now?
Anyway, I knitted, and I was so late that I didn't do anything but my surfing.
The weather was nicer than they had been predicting. It was sunny all day, although it's clouding up now. The high temperature here was 67º, although it got up to 82º or so at the airport. it was very humid - over 80% all day - and there was almost no wind. It might not have been very warm outside, but it got hot in here, from the sun.
The guys were sleepy. Grayson got some lap time, but Louie only came around once, and I was busy when he did.
So it was a lost day. Now it's a warmish, humid evening in the field and there may be some rain overnight. My joints...
June 17 I ended up reading too long last night and it was a ridiculous hour when I finally got to bed, so it was nearly noon when I got up. I knitted, and I had an accident after breakfast, so I washed a load of clothes which has to be put in the dryer. And I went to the post office, where most of the mail was bills. My white gabardine pants material came, too, so now I really must go downstairs. It's the middle of June, and if I don't make them now, it will be Labor Day and I won't be wearing white anymore.
The weather was warmish and mostly sunny until around 4:30. The high temperature got up to 76º briefly around 8:00 PM, but the next hour it was 62º, so I can say it was in the middle 60s all day. There was no wind. There were some pretty pink clouds around sunset, although the camera didn't catch them. It's supposed to be very warm for the next couple of days and maybe rain, so again I'm glad for the great heat sink I live beside. It will be warm for church on Sunday.
The guys were sleepy, and I didn't see much of them today. They both finally got some lap time.
While my dinner was cooking, I got the dishwasher almost filled, so I'll be able to run it tonight. I ate late, as I often do, so I want to sit a while before I go to bed. It's a warmish, cloudy night in the field.
June 16 I took myself in hand, and I took a bath and got to bed by 12:30. Maybe I can do it again tonight (minus the shower). I got up around 10:00, I think, and I knitted. Even though I've only done about 20 rows of the body of the shawl, it's beginning to shape up. I'm not happy with my knitting, but I think most of the things that annoy me will come out with washing and blocking. Or I sure hope they do.
The only thing I did today was to wash the stuff I had soaking. Not everything got as clean as I hoped it would, but it's done. I have a bunch of things I need to wash that I want to be able to wear now, including my stone-colored slacks, and the jeans and sweats that I messed in, so I needed to get the stuff out of the washer. I have a bunch of tops with pale yellow stains on the front, that I just don't seem to be able to get out, so I keep rewashing them. It's a pain. Oh - I just remembered a little bottle of stain remover. I will have to try that.
The weather was nice but not very warm. The high temperature was only 59º, and it was rather humid all day, but it was sunny and there was almost no wind.
The camera kept hanging up again, so I finally pulled the CPU out and checked all the connections on the back. In the course of doing that, I unplugged the camera, and when I plugged it back in, Windows had lost the driver and couldn't find it, so I had to reboot. I also unplugged the speakers, and when I tried to play my music, I discovered that I had plugged it back into the wrong spot. That didn't take long to fix, thankfully. There is one tight cable with a capacitor on it that I don't know what it attaches to. It might be the printer, which is off, but then I don't know why the cable is so short. Anyway, I think I have everything back together again, at least for the time being, and the camera has stayed up for a couple of hours.
Unfortunately, there's a Windows update to do, so I'll be booting again whenever I do that. I need time to check all the updates they say they want to install, because I am NOT installing that GWX stuff, if I can in any way avoid it. I might have gone to Windows 10, but now that Microsoft is trying to force it on me, I probably never will, as a matter of principal.
The guys were sleepy. Grayson got some lap time, although not as much as he wanted, because I had to type. One of the things i washed with the load of towels was the pale pink rug I had put down in the bathroom for them, and I put it down when I put the rest of the towels away. Louie immediately investigated it, and sniffed it all over before he sat down in the middle of it, then Grayson came in and also sniffed, although he couldn't do as thorough a job as Louie had, then he sat down on it, too. So I guess it's acceptable.
The towels didn't get as clean as I hoped, either, but they'll do.
So that was my day, and now it's a cool, sunny evening in the field. Days are now 15h 57m long, which is, I think, as long as they get. I like it. I wish it lasted longer.
June 15 Ack!
It's the middle of June already! I don't know where the time goes, and I don't
have much to show for it. Ack! I was very late last night - or this morning, actually - mostly because I was reading again. I slept well and I think it was around 10:30 when I got up. Not enough sleep, but I can make up tonight, maybe. I knitted for the first time in several days. I can still only do two rows in an hour, but the decreases are beginning, so pretty soon I'll be able to do more. It's an interesting pattern.
I didn't do anything else today. I had several things in mind, but I just never got around to them. Sigh.
The weather was forgettable. So far, we've had 2/3" of rain, some of it quite hard. The temperature during the day was around 55º, and there was a strong south wind, with gusts up to around 25 mph. It was dark and dull all day, and at intervals it would get even darker. I guess there is some fog down at the airport, but it hasn't hit here yet. It was a good day to ignore all that.
The guys both got a lot of lap time today. They feel the weather, too, so when they weren't sitting on me, I guess they were sleeping.
So that is all i have to report. It's a dark, dull evening in the field, and it looks like there might be some more rain heading our way before it clears up and warms up.
June 14 - Flag Day Around midnight, again. I was up several times, and I got up around 9:00, I think, but I zoned out in the bathroom for almost an hour before I got dressed, so it was a good thing that my massage was at noon. That was nice, but it didn't seem to do me as much good as I'd hoped. At least as the day went on, I started feeling better. When I woke up, I had shooting pains down my leg and down my arm - and that was the side that was on top. That's gone now, thankfully.
I didn't do much with my time this afternoon, but I think I got the bulletin together and I sent a copy off to Steve. It came together much easier than last week's, but it was partly because everybody who had input sent it to me quickly. I may have missed something, but that's why I sent it to Steve.
The weather was nondescript. It was cloudy all day, but it got warmer than they predicted. The high temperature was 63º and there was very little wind. The camera hung up again, so we didn't get to see most of what went on. Not that there was much to see.
The guys were sleepy, but they both got quite a bit of lap time. I gave them a can of wet food this morning, and they lit into it. I think I'm beginning to get them to come around, but that means I will have to find them enough to eat so that they don't get bored with it.
So it was another quiet day, but at least I accomplished a little. I had a nice piece of whitefish for dinner tonight, and it was good. I always feel so moral when I eat fish.
Now it's a cloudy, dull night in the field, and there may be some rain overnight or tomorrow.
June 13 It was around midnight when I got to bed. I slept fairly well until early in the morning, and then I was up several times, for some reason. I got up around 9:30, and I didn't knit.
I made it to Johanna's by 11:00, but then she came out to tell me she couldn't work on me because Scott had to go to town and left her with the baby. Oh. So I will see her tomorrow. I need her, but one more day won't hurt. My biggest problem is with my legs anyway, which I expected after my strenuous day yesterday.
I sort of fiddled around this afternoon, but I have gotten almost everything together to do the bulletin, which I plan to do tomorrow afternoon.
Choir was tonight, and it was good, even though one of our two men wasn't there. I got home around 9:30.
The weather was nondescript. The high temperature was 63º, briefly. It was cloudy and dull all day, but you can't tell that from the camera, which evidently hung up sometime yesterday. Sigh. There wasn't a lot of wind. At least it was cool enough that the bugs weren't bad, although I did have one in the car with me on my way down to town.
The guys were sleepy, of course, and they both got a lot of lap time. Louie had a couple of knots that I got out, although he didn't like it at all. He tries to bite the comb, as though he can crunch it down so it won't work. He sort of snaps at me when I'm combing out the knots, too, but so far he hasn't gotten me.
So that was a quiet day, and I'm tired. Now it's a coolish, cloudy night in the field.
June 12 I made it into bed before 10:00 - while it was still light - and I slept well, although I was up several times. I woke up a bit before the alarm went off, so I got up, but I seem to have better control of Sunday mornings these days. I left just after 9:00.
It was a strenuous morning. I was a greeter. The only way I was able to do that was to lean against the back of a pew, because I was standing for half an hour. Then there was the service and we sang. After that was over, I had to shop, and then I had to get gas. Whew! When I finally got home, I had something to eat and just sat for a long time before I hauled the stuff into the house and put it away. I have some nice things to eat now, and plenty of lettuce.
When I got to the studio, there was a nasty message on the computer, saying I was not connected to a network. After a lot of fooling around, including a reboot, I traced the problem to the router, and at first I thought it had lost its mind, because it looked like it kept resetting itself, but when I took a good look at it, what had happened was that the power cord had come out of its socket. It's just a jack, like a phone jack, and it had come loose. Unfortunately, in the course of fiddling, I had unplugged the keyboard, so it took me a while to get that fixed, too, since that cord plugs in below a whole lot of other ones. The whole problem seems to be a simple case of braided cables, so i tried to fix that as best I could. I still do not know how those cables that I so carefully plug in end up braided like that. It must be the gremlins. They've been away for a while, so I suppose it's time.
While I had the cpu pulled out from under the desk, I did some dusting, and things seem to be running a lot cooler now. One of these days, I will have to open up the case and dust the interior, but it's just another thing on the list.
The weather was cool. The high temperature was only 59º and it wasn't that much warmer in town. It was clear overnight - I saw some lovely stars when I was up while it was still dark - and this morning, but it began to cloud up pretty quick and it is now cloudy. There was a little wind this morning, but it's been calm or close to it for most of the afternoon.
Both the guys got some lap time after I got home. Grayson was acting like he wanted to get out when I went out to get the groceries, but he felt better when I didn't go away. He's used to Sunday morning. Sunday night and Monday are different stories.
When I wrote last night, I thought I had only gotten one black fly bite on Friday, but then I discovered that one had crawled up under my tee and bit me right above the waistband on my jeans. My head isn't too itchy, but my tummy is. I don't think I got any this afternoon, because it was cooler, but we'll see tonight and tomorrow.
So that was my quiet day, and now it's a cool, calm, cloudy night in the field.
June 11 This is early, but this is the early night.
I got to bed around midnight last night - not early, but a whole lot earlier than lately. I didn't sleep very well. I hurt all over, the result of the humidity and barometric pressure, and my toes were cold. I got up around 10:00, and I knitted. I'm making progress, if slowly. As I get more used to the pattern, it goes faster.
I guess I actually accomplished a few things today, amazingly enough. I put the sheets that have been on the laundry room floor forever to soak. I hope four or five days will clean them up. They were really gross. And this afternoon, I decided to finally pull up the shutters on the porch.
Well. My first problem was getting out the patio door in the great room. The door itself is extremely difficult to move, but then I discovered that the screen was wedged in and I had to hammer on it to get it to move at all. After I pulled up the shutters, which wasn't a problem, I tried to move the screen and it is stuck. So I can't open the patio door to let the air in until that's fixed, and I will probably have to get the glass company out to fix it. I also discovered that the black vinyl on the doors has faded badly and is now pale gray. It's true that it is in the afternoon sun every sunny day, but still. That shouldn't happen. I will have to call the glass company and discuss it with them, but before I do, I want to inspect all the windows and doors that I can to find out if the doors are the only problem.
It was windy enough that I didn't have any bug problems, but I discovered last night that I got my first black fly bite yesterday - on the top of my head. Yuck. I will have to see if I can scare up a hat to wear in the garage. I haven't fixed the door yet, so when I go out, I have to leave it open, and the black flies tend to swarm in there because it's warmer and there is less wind. It itches, but I noticed quite a while ago that bites in the early part of the season aren't nearly as virulent as the ones at the end, when they are desperately trying to get a blood meal so they can lay their eggs before they die. I haven't seen a mosquito yet, but it's been a little cool for them.
The weather today turned out very nice, but interesting. Early this morning, it was extremely foggy, but that was all gone by the time I got up. It was clear above the fog, which is always an interesting phenomenon. The high temperature, 71º, happened for three hours around noon, but then the wind picked up from the north, with gusts up to 31 mph, although it has died down now. It was 65º for another three hours before it began to drop again, and now it's (officially) 58º. That wasn't what it was around here, but oh, well. The spot where my outdoor sensor is changes depending where the sun is. It was partly cloudy all afternoon, with a few mostly high clouds and mostly sunshine. The humidity was 100% all night (no doubt why I hurt so), until about 8:00 this morning, when it went down to around 60% which, with the warmer temps, I can tolerate fairly well. It was a nice early summer day.
The guys mostly slept, and there weren't many altercations. Grayson slept on the desk rather than on my lap. Louie slept on my lap for a while late this afternoon when I had to get up. They were all extremely interested when I went outside, and especially when I had the door open. I think I could probably let them out on the porch, since the place where the screen pulled out seems fairly stable now, and I may do that.
I should really open the window in the window seat, and I will do that tonight, at least a bit. The sun makes it get very warm in my bedroom, and I sleep much better when it's cool. I need to get on the summer schedule.
So now it's a mostly clear, warmish evening in the field and I will be off to the north end very soon.
June 10 Later and later. It was getting light when I finally went to bed. That doesn't mean what it would in the winter, but still, it was late. I got up around 11:30 and knitted, and the pattern is getting easier as I get into it. I still can only do two rows in an hour, even though there have been some decreases since I started.
I didn't do much today, but I did go to the post office, where there wasn't much mail, for a change. When I came home, I finally got the stuff I bought at WalMart out of the back of the car and put the cooler and two crates back in. I have to shop on Sunday, and with the temperatures warming some, I need the cooler. I like having the crates, too. I put stuff like the JD and the OJ in them, so they won't roll around and maybe out of the car.
The weather was warm. The high temperature was 71º, which was nice. There was a very strong southwest wind, with gusts up to 34 mph. It was clear for a bit this morning, but then it clouded up, and around 4:00 a line of thunderstorms started heading in our direction. We didn't get anything but a bit of rain here, so all it did was interfere with the talking (they announce stuff like that on the radio, much too frequently). The temperature dropped to 64º, but then it recovered for a bit. Then the wind shifted to the north, the fog came in, and now it's 53º and windy. I always thought the wind was calm when the fog came in, but that certainly isn't how it is here.
The guys were mostly sleepy. Grayson got some lap time. Louie had a couple of coughing fits this morning, so I guess I spoke too fast when I said he was over his hairballs. I got a different kind of kibble at WalMart, that is supposed to be low calorie, which they both need. I like Grayson's attitude. As long as it smells OK, he will try it, so he sat right down and had a helping. So, of course, Louie had to try it, too. I kind of think Louie wouldn't try those things if Grayson wasn't around, and it's mostly for Louie's sake that I get the low calorie stuff. At least they ate it the first time. We'll see how they do after this.
So it was another quiet and somewhat truncated day, and I need to go to bed at a sort of reasonable hour. We'll see about that. Now it's a cool, windy, very foggy night in the field.
June 9 So I was late again. I was reading, and I found myself sitting in the bathroom staring at the floor and almost falling asleep before I finally got to bed. I slept well, with two wakeups, and I got up around 11:30. Today's knitting was the easy rows, so I only knitted for an hour.
Steve liked the bulletin (with one small change that I like) so that was good.
I spent a good portion of the afternoon hassling the computer. The camera was hung, so I rebooted because of that and went away, and when I came back, I had a blue screen of death. Rebooting again fixed that, and then I got a message that there were system updates to do, so I did the ones I want (there is one set that "makes it easier to see your options for Windows 10" that I WILL NOT install!). I had an occasion to have to take some pictures (first in a loooong time) and the SanDisk reader wouldn't work, and then Explorer crapped out, so I had to reboot again. Sigh. That seems to have been a clean reboot, at least so far. The camera is working, I was able to download my pictures and send them off, and Explorer seems to be OK now. Geez. Shades of ME.
The pictures weren't anything to show you. I had ordered a knitting pattern book, and when I got it, the cover was torn for about 4" up the bottom binding, like when somebody forced it into an envelope that was too small for it (which it was), they caught the cover and ripped it. So I complained, and they wanted a picture. I finally got around to taking one with the NIkon so I could show them what happened (and I just happened to get the spine with the publisher's name on it). A while back, I unearthed the camera and discovered that the batteries were dead enough that I even lost the date and time. I was happy that it worked today. I wish I could take some pictures, but you've already seen most of what I see. I do wish we'd have some sunsets that I could take, but from now until sometime in August, the sun will be setting so far north that I can't see it from the house anyway. I'd like to take a picture of that purple lilac, but I'm not sure I'm up to the steps down from the deck and the walk across the side yard. We'll see.
The weather is warming. The high temperature for most of the afternoon was 62º, and there wasn't much wind. I just noticed that the weather station was down all night, but that's all right. Nothing much happened anyway. It started out quite clear this morning and began to seriously cloud up around 6:00 PM. I should have at least stuck my nose out the door, but I didn't.
The guys were sleepy. Grayson didn't feel very good. He barfed a bit this morning and he didn't come and sit on my lap. Louie even left him alone. I suppose he has a hairball. He doesn't wash himself as diligently as I'm used to (Buster was fanatical) but he does keep his white parts sparkling, with the occasional exception of his toes. So I suppose he is feeling the results of his shedding. Louie seems over that, both the shedding and the hairballs, thankfully. Louie got a little lap time, but I had to move, so I had to make him move.
So now it's a cloudy, warmish night in the field, and I need to go to bed at a reasonable hour.
June 8 Oh, I was ridiculously late. I got to reading and time just passed, as it usually does. I didn't get up until nearly noon, and then I knitted, so my day was all skewed forward. I did finish the bulletin (I think) and sent it off to Steve, but I didn't finish my surfing until just now. In fact, I forgot about my funnies. I only read the funny ones, and they usually put me in a good mood.
I brought a couple of pairs of slacks down to the studio today. One pair has a front seam that needs sewing, and the other one - a very old pair from Lands End - turns out to have a very wide back seam that I can let out to enable me to get it buttoned, I think. It just needs to be resewn. Maybe this week?
The weather is improving. It was clear at sunset last night, and we shot the moon. One of the tasks on my list is to set up the picture pages for this year and get the camera shots I've archived out there, but it's down on my list. The high temperature was 57º, briefly, and there was a 10-15 mph wind out of the north until just now, when it went calm. The day started out clear, but it soon began to cloud up. The MODIS imagery was interesting. I don't remember seeing the Keweenaw look quite as green as it did this afternoon. It's definitely green, and it's lilac time in Copper Harbor. The little one that seeded itself into my yard is the loveliest color of purple, my favorite.
The guys both got some lap time, and Louie was on his good behavior today. No going after Grayson that I saw. Good kitty!
So that was another quiet day, and now it's a warmish, cloudy night in the field.
June 7 I guess I didn't make it into bed until around 1:00, but I slept very well. I got up around 10:30, and I knitted two rows. This pattern has two difficult rows followed by two easy rows, and today's were the easy ones. Tomorrow will take longer. I find knitting worsted too big and clunky, but this will probably be a more useful garment, since I'll be able to wear it in the winter. The lace-weight shawls are pretty but not very warm.
For some reason it took me all afternoon to do my surfing. After dinner, I attacked the church bulletin and I think I have it sort of under control, although there are a couple of things still missing. After this one, it should be easier.
The weather was forgettable, what I noticed of it. It started out cloudy, cleared up around 2:30 and then clouded up again around 6:00. The high temperature was 53º and there was a wind from the north that was around 15 mph or less all day. The dew point was almost steady around 42º, which meant that the humidity was tolerable while it was warmest, but not so much when it cooled down. I sort of ignored it.
The guys did their usual thing. When I got up, Louie was attacking Grayson in the bathroom, and i tried to grab him by the scruff of the neck, missed and got his back, which made him complain, but as he jumped down from the tub surround, he got me on one leg with his hind foot, so I had some nice bleeding scratches right where the top of my compression sock comes. I put some stuff on it, though, and it hasn't bothered me. Grayson got a little lap time, but I was busy when Louie came by, so he didn't get any.
So it was a quiet day and now it's a cloudy, cool night in the field.
June 6 I think it was around midnight when I got to bed, and I slept very well, with two wakeups. I woke up about 8:30 and had to pee, and I just decided to get up and knit. I had a stuffy nose and a sinus headache - a problem I have in the pollen season - and only being upright for some time will cure it.
I knitted two rows. The bottom of this thing is the long part, and it took me an hour and a half to do them.
I spent some time exchanging emails with Steve about the bulletins, and I think I have pretty much everything nailed down now, at least for this week. I got the final information when I went to choir tonight. I have some more emails to send, but I think everything is under control. Maybe tomorrow I can begin to work on this week's bulletin.
Choir was good. We have another new volunteer, who has a very nice soprano voice. We are just singing things out of the hymnal, but they are mostly things we don't sing as hymns. Since we are meeting so late, it was 9:30 before I got home and 10:30 before I finished dinner. That's the only downside. Maybe I will have to try to eat early and see how that works.
It was very foggy on the way down, but the fog had cleared on the way home. The only excitement was that I nearly had a deer run into me right before I turned into Woodland Road. It was getting dark around that time (because of the clouds; it was before sunset) and not only was it a bit dark, the deer seem to be more active around that time of night. Fortunately, he veered off and galloped into the woods. I do not want to cream a deer!
The weather was, frankly, miserable. We had fog and rain and sometimes both at the same time. The high temperature for the day was at noon, 53º, but then it went down into the upper 40s. There was a strong 15-30 mph wind from the north. It was dark and dull and dank and we had 0.13" of rain this afternoon. Not nice at all.
The guys were mostly sleepy, but Grayson decided he didn't want me to go away, so he ran out into the breezeway when I left. I chased him under the steps so he wouldn't get out into the garage and left him there, and he was sooo happy to see me when I came home that he was chirruping to me. Snot. He even thought he wanted some of my dinner, which he did not get.
So that was my quiet day, and now it's a dark, rainy night in the field. Yuck.
June 5 Well, I didn't get to bed as early as I wanted to, but it was about 10:30. I slept well, with the usual wakeups. I was sound asleep when the alarm went off. Ugh. However, I got up, and I did my usual morning stuff and got off to church right around 9:15, which is what I'm usually aiming for.
It was a good thing. I got behind a couple of cars with multiple fat tire bikes on their backs. One of them ignored me and I had to pass him on the covered road because he was going so slowly. The other one pulled off as soon as he could. So some of them are polite and some of them are tourons.
Church went off well, except that we flubbed the beginning of our song. This week and next our leader is a layperson who has been doing this for a long time. He seems like a very nice man, and he had a good sermon, except that he mumbles occasionally. We only had three hymns, but he picked three great ones.
I guess I am really going to start creating the bulletins, starting this week. I went out and got some stuff to put on the cover (not very good) and Steve gave me some stuff and is going to email me the rest of it. Not only is there information about the service, but there is the calendar, the sick list and the list of those who are serving, all of which are supposed to be kept up-to-date.
Oh, yes, and I officially volunteered for the Altar Guild today and sort of served, but not very much, because there wasn't much to do. The nice young woman who was doing it was by herself, so I guess maybe I helped. I hope to get into it. As I suspected, there are a lot of steps, both up into the chancel and down into the sacristy, all of which were built 100 years ago and are much higher than today's code. It will be hard, but I will give it my best shot. Anything I can do to help.
Anyway, I got home around 1:00 and I didn't do anything else except one load of wash that has to be put in the dryer.
The weather was cold, damp and foggy. Really foggy. The high temperature got to 58º late this afternoon, and all day long there was a 15-20 mph wind from the north, but the humidity was essentially 100% until after 2:00 this afternoon. It was extraordinarily foggy around Laurium and north to Phoenix, and it was socked in again here until around 2:00. Driving was, um, interesting, especially since I seemed to keep getting behind some very tentative drivers who clearly did not know the road. We had another June like this a couple of years ago, so I guess it's not so unusual under the new regime.
The guys were sleepy. They both got a lot of lap time, and I got purred at a lot. Grayson is sound asleep on the desk right now.
So that was a quiet day and now it's a coolish and partly cloudy night in the field.
June 4 I was reading, so I was stupidly late last night. I got up at 9:30 anyway, so I didn't get nearly enough sleep, but maybe I will sleep well tonight. I know I'm going to be fairly early, but I have to fill the pill dispensers, so it won't be that early.
I knitted for a very long time, and my hands were getting really sore before I quit. I got the border and the side borders done and I did two rows of the body. The body at this point is 314 stitches, half of which are a 1x1 twist, so it takes a while.
Today was supposed to be washday, but I was so late that I didn't even start that. Tomorrow is good enough. A million years ago when I was working and living in my first house, I always washed on Sunday afternoon after church. Now I could pick any day, but it just seems easier to do it on weekends.
The weather was pretty yucky. We only had a quarter inch of rain, but it went on half the night and most of the day, and I guess there is more to come. The high temperature was 56º (now) and there was a moderate south wind, around 10-12 mph, but recently we were having 28 mph gusts. It was cloudy and dull all day, but I just looked out the east windows and the new green leaves on the oak tree look like the sun is shining on it. Ah, spring! I guess I forgot to mention yesterday that the bugs are here in abundance. Ah, spring! We do need the rain, though.
The guys were sleepy. They both got some lap time, and Grayson spent most of the afternoon on the desk under the south windows.
So it was a truncated, boring day, and I'll be off to the north end soon. It's a cool, cloudy and humid night in the field and there may be some more rain.
June 3 I got to bed around midnight and I slept well. I was up around 8:30, but that seemed too early, since I was falling asleep in the bathroom, so I went back to bed and got up around 10:30. I knitted three repeats, which took a while, but tomorrow I will have only one more repeat to go and then I can go on to the next step. There are some little side cables at each end of the bottom band, and then I can pick up and start the body of the shawl. It will take a while, but since it's on such big needles, there aren't that many rows, and since it starts at the bottom, it will go increasingly fast as I get toward the top. I'm anxious to get going. The bottom band has been rather boring.
Other than that, I didn't do much at all. I went to the post office, where I found out that the lady who hosted the Wednesday meetings at her home for all these years passed away this morning. She was a lovely lady, and she will be sorely missed, but she was in her late 80s, so it should not have been unexpected. I guess she had been ill all winter. Sigh. She wasn't close enough to me to be a mother, but she was a wonderful person and she was another inspiration.
I also finally, this evening, put the load of towels that has been soaking all week through the wash cycle. I only hope they come out all right. They were really nasty, and I only hope I got all the cat hair off them, as well as the iron stains from the water. Well, we'll see. I will dry them tonight and see how they look. Tomorrow is washday, so I have to get them washed and dried.
The weather was cooler than yesterday, although the high temperature was 60º this afternoon. It was clear until around 4:00, when a cloudbank loomed up in the west, and it's cloudy now. I guess we're in for some rain the next two days. There was no wind to speak of. It was very humid, and my joints were telling me so.
The guys slept, mostly. They both got some lap time. When I was up at 8:30, they were both sleeping at the end of the tub surround that abuts the shower, and they looked like best buds, but when I got up for good, Louie decided that Grayson should get up, too, so we had a couple of altercations. Grayson wrestles, but Louie doesn't know when to stop, and he bites hard, which makes Grayson cry out, and then mommy gets mad, and...
So it was another quiet day, and now it's a cloudy night in the field.
June 2 I guess it was around 11:30 when I got to bed last night. I would like to have been earlier, but I was moving slowly. I slept quite well, with the usual wakeups, and I got up around 10:00. That should have been enough sleep, but I'm sleepy again now.
I knitted, and I now have only four repeats left to work on the bottom band before I can move on. I have used one skein of yarn, too, but then, this is knitting worsted and there are only about 220 yards in a skein. That's the only problem with yarn like this. I know a couple of ways to join yarn almost seamlessly, but it's a pain. I liked the camel hair better - it was one humungous skein, so there were no joins.
I didn't do much of anything else except pay a few first-of-month bills.
The weather was unsettled. It was cloudy and windy early in the morning, then around noon it started to clear up, and we had several hours of sunshine and blue, but by 7:00 it was cloudy again. The high temperature was 64º, briefly, but it was over 60º for most of the afternoon, which was warmer than the forecasts. It was windy. There was a strong northwest wind that peaked around 2:00 at 20 mph with 29 mph gusts. There were a few little whitecaps on the harbor.
The guys slept, I think. Grayson got a lot of lap time, and he made me have an accident again. I wish he would learn that when I start to gurgle he needs to get off me so I can get up. It wasn't a bad one, though. Louie slept with me for most of the night. He still thinks it's his bed and I just lie there sometimes.
So that was a nice, quiet day, and now it's a breezy, cloudy night in the field, but it's not cold.
June 1 I was a little earlier getting to bed last night, and I slept fairly well until around 4:00, when I started having to get up every hour and a half. Not very restful. I finally got up around 8:30, I think, so I had time to knit. I was doing well until the cat got on my lap and I had an accident, but actually, I had plenty of time to change my clothes and get ready to leave.
When I started for Houghton, my brakes were fine, and they are still fine. Grr. Things that break should stay broken. Anyway, they checked almost everything they could and didn't find any problem. The only thing they could suggest is that there is some sort of ABS sensor in the wheel bearings, and maybe one of those is faulty. They didn't have time to check that. So I guess I have to wait until the next time it happens and take it back. It is nice to have brakes, I have to say. So it was essentially a wasted 100 miles.
While I was waiting, I got the heel turned on the sock and started the gusset. Gee, one of these years I might actually finish that sock!
Then I went off to WalMart, where I didn't do as much damage as usual, but enough. I figured I might as well get Louie's favorite kind of cat food, because I'm getting rather low on that, and there were a few other things I wanted to get, although WalMart doesn't carry things like washing machine hoses. The only thing I got to play with was a package of five fat quarters of quilting fabric in aqua and white. Oh, and some beading needles and a 20x magnifying mirror, so I should be able to really see the eyelashes that grow where they shouldn't.
And then I stopped at Bambu, of course. I didn't bring any takeout, though. I figure I ate enough Chinese last week. It was good, of course, and I enjoyed every bite. Yum.
The weather was variable. It rained all night long, apparently. Couldn't prove it by me. And there was another shower between 4:00 and 5:00. The camera caught a neat sequence of the rain coming in from over the lake and a really heavy fall over the mountain, while it was still sunny here. It did rain here eventually. The high temperature was 66º here and a few degrees warmer in town. There was some wind, with gusts up to 26 mph from the southwest, but when the rain came, the wind shifted to the northwest and died down to almost nothing. It was cloudy this morning, cleared up around noon, then got cloudy again after about 2:00, although there has been some sunshine through the clouds since then. It would have been a fun day to just sit and watch the weather.
I assume the guys slept. They were happy to see me come home. Louie welcomed me by jumping up on the chair in the kitchen, and then he went back to bed. Grayson had to sit on my lap for a while, but I wanted to do this thing, so he had to leave.
So that was my rather lost day. I didn't get enough sleep last night, and of course I drove 100 miles, so I'm tired. Maybe I can get to bed a tad earlier tonight? We'll see.
Now it's a warmish, partly cloudy night in the field. And it's June already!!
Last updated 07/01/16 11:23 PM |