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A View From the Field |
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August, 2016 August 31 Well, another lost day. Sigh. And August is over. Double sigh.
I sat again last night and I was late getting to bed, and I will be tonight, too. I got up around 10:30, and I knitted three repeats. It's going much faster now, just like I knew it would, but I still have a long way to go.
The only other thing I did was the bulletin. It was an effort to get everything together, because the fall stuff is starting again, but I think I did, and I shipped it off to Steve. I hope he will look at it and make sure I didn't screw something up.
The weather has turned cool. It was clear overnight, and there were stars when I was up, but it had clouded up by morning and it was cloudy all day. The high temperature was only 66º, and there was a 15 mph wind from the north. The humidity is still high, over 75%, and that's a problem, but it was going down by the end of the day. It may warm up again in September, but so far, we're in fall mode.
The guys slept. For the past couple of days, Louie has been sleeping in the navy blue chair and Grayson has been sleeping in the box on the floor in the great room. Grayson got some lap time, but when Louie asked, I was doing something else.
So that was it. Now it's a cloudy, cool night in the field, and the lake is singing softly.
August 30 I just sat again last night, so I was late, but I slept very well, with only two wakeups. I got up around 10:30 and I knitted three repeats of the edging. I seemed to be knitting very fast today.
And that was it. I'm still tired. I think I have all the information I need to put the bulletin together, so that will be tomorrow's task.
The weather was nice. The high temperature was 71º, with a north breeze in the 10-15 mph range. It was pretty humid - which my joints were telling me. It was a bit cloudy in the early morning, but it cleared up fast and it has been clear and lovely ever since. So blue!
The guys were sleepy. Grayson slept on my lap for a long time, and Louie went wherever he goes during the day. I was going to close the window, because it's supposed to get quite chilly tonight, but when I looked, he was sitting half in and half out like he does. He has been getting his petting in the morning without getting on my lap.
So it was a nearly useless day, and now it's a clear, chilly night in the field.
August 29 I was too tired to move last night, so it was 12:30 or so before I got to bed. I fell asleep on my back, which leaves me sore, and I had no trouble getting back to sleep when I got up. i got up at 8:45. I didn't want to, but I realized that if I went back to sleep, it would probably be noon before I woke up again, and I didn't want to get into that cycle again.
It was so dark when I got up that I had some trouble seeing my knitting, but I have now finished the first half of the edging. And while I was knitting, the heavens opened and we had a short, severe rainstorm. I don't know how much rain we got, because the weather station is still down, but it rained very hard for half an hour or so.
That was about all I did. I was so tired, I almost fell asleep around noon.
There was choir tonight. Now that fall is beginning, our choir director has other commitments, and we will probably be going back to Thursday again, and I hope I will be able to help pick our songs. We'll see what happens. One nice thing is that we will be able to start earlier. It was so dark by the time I started home that I had to use my bright lights on the covered road.
The weather turned out nice, after that rain this morning, but my joints were telling me it was still very humid. The high temperature probably got up to 75º or so, and there was a bit of a north breeze. That's all I know. It's supposed to cool down and be in the 60s for the rest of the week, so fall is coming, for sure.
The guys slept. Grayson stayed on my lap for a long time this morning. He was mad at me last night, so he didn't come and sit, but he can only stand that for so long. Louie has been getting his loving by standing in front of me when I'm in the bathroom, and it doesn't seem to bother him quite as much when I go away.
So that was my quiet day, and now it's probably getting cloudy again in the field.
August 28 What a nice day!
I got to bed before 10:00 last night, but I didn't sleep very well and I had some really strange dreams. I was up around 5:30, so I didn't want to get up when the alarm went off, but I did. Sigh.
I got away pretty close to when I wanted to, too, so that was good. Church was nice, except that I had a hard time hearing. My normal hearing loss is exacerbated by my allergies at this time of year, so sometimes I can hear and sometimes I can't. This morning was one of the "can't" times, and I was so sorry, because the sermon Joe chose to read was a good one, as much as I could tell. Steve led the service and Ted read the readings (which he usually does), and it was nice. I was only sorry more people didn't come, but that's nothing new. Attendance has been variable all summer.
I had planned to spend the day down the peninsula, because there was no way I was going to miss the meeting to approve our call of a new pastor. I was talking to Mary, one of the nice ladies, after church, and she invited me to go to lunch with her. Well! That was a much nicer way to spend the afternoon than sitting in my car knitting, so of course I agreed.
We ate at Michigan House, where I have never eaten before, and it was very good. They have a rather eccentric menu, but it's all good, and interestingly, they serve their sandwiches with home made. fresh potato chips! I had a panini, and it was so huge that I only had a very small snack a while ago. It was great.
Mary is such a nice person. She is a native, for several generations back. She is the director of the local battered women's shelter - a job I can't imagine how she does! - so we had a nice conversation over lunch, and then she took me out to the local cemetery, Lakeview, where her whole family is buried. I would love to spend more time there, because it has been a cemetery for over 100 years, and every name I have heard since I have lived here - plus a whole lot more - is on one of the monuments. In the Catholic section, someone donated an incredibly beautiful black cross with a figure of Christ in white and a couple of other white figures below it. I'm not into icons, you understand, but this is a lovely, if extravagant, piece of art.
I only had a little while to knit when we got back to church before Steve, our president, and Joe, who is sort of spokesman for the call committees, showed up, so I took my sock into church and knitted - and talked to Barbara, when they arrived, about knitting - until it was time for the meeting.
Even our circuit pastor was impressed by the trust we placed in the call committees (remember, we are two congregations). because the person they chose was approved (by ballot) unanimously. So they went downstairs, telephoned him, and he has agreed to consider our call. Now all we can do is pray that this man is our next shepherd.
The meeting was at 3:00, and it took about an hour. I got home a bit before 5:00, because I got behind some slow drivers. I had to read all my emails and I have been decompressing by reading ever since.
The weather was good, although it has gotten humid again, which has seized up my legs almost completely. I don't know exactly what the weather was in Copper Harbor, because the weather station is still down, but at the airport, the high temperature was 73º. Unfortunately, the lowest the humidity was just below 70%, which is much too high for my joints. It was cloudy, or mostly so, this morning, but it cleared up in the afternoon, and it was clear and lovely at sunset here. That enabled me to notice that the sun is setting over Hunter's Point now. I'm not sure when it moved back into view from the camera, because we've had a lot of clouds late in the day. Sigh. Anyway, it was a lovely day.
The guys must have slept. Grayson came to the door when I got home, but he was yawning and sleepy, and he didn't try to sit on me. I guess he was mad. I haven't seen Louie since this morning.
So that was my day. It was nice to get out and have some human interaction for a while, Now it's a clear, coolish night in the field, and it's high time I went to bed.
August 27 Oh, I was late again. I diddled around both here and at the north end, and it was 12:30 before I got to bed. I slept well, though. I was up around 5:30 and when I got to the bathroom, the clock there was blinking. Oh, dear, another power glitch. Sigh. It was the beginning of a mixed up day.
I got up around 10:30, and I decided to knit three repeats, so I was working away at it when Charlie called - twice - and told me that the Netgear gizmo was down again. Oh, sigh. So I didn't finish my third repeat. I didn't jump up and go right away, but I did go before I got dressed, except for panties, fortunately. Yes, the Netgear thingie was off, so I power failed it and it came right up. But I was at the computer, and instead of doing what I should have done, I just stayed. Didn't even eat.
Actually, it was a good thing that the link was down. The camera didn't come up right, either. It started out OK, but about 7:00 it suddenly started smearing the picture across the top of the frame. That hasn't happened in a long time, but I was just as glad it didn't get posted to the website.
Late in the afternoon, I felt a twinge in the gut, so I went back up to the north end, and while I was there, I filled the pill dispensers. Fortunately, with the length of time it took me to wash last month, I have decoupled the wash and the pills. I think it will work better. Anyway, when I got back to the studio, I filled the dispensers here, so all that is done. Nice.
My first "meal," if you want to call it that, was pills, OJ and some pita chips. I just finished a real meal, all be it a light one. After I finish this, I will go up to the north end and get ready for tomorrow. I think it's probably good to completely abandon my usual routine every so often, but I really shouldn't pack all the pills into such a short timeframe.
The weather was forgettable, but it wasn't as cold as they predicted. I just discovered that I can't report anything, because the power glitch took down the weather station and it still isn't back up. Right now, it's 65º here, and I doubt it got much warmer. It was cloudy all day and there wasn't a lot of wind. Blah.
The guys slept. Grayson wanted to sit on me, which almost caused me to have an accident, and I just had to shoo him away so I could type. Louie slept, of course, and I think it was on my bed.
So that was it. A completely lost day. Now it's a warmish, calm, cloudy night in the field and I need to get ready for tomorrow.
August 26 I went up to the north end not long after 10:00, but with the bath and all, it was 11:30 before I got to bed. A whole lot earlier than lately! I went right to sleep, but I had a wakeful time in the middle of the night. It seems to have been the problem I frequently have with lying on my left side before I'm ready to. Once I turned over, I was fine. I didn't get up until after 10:00 (or later, I don't remember) so I should have had enough sleep anyway. I knitted my two repeats, and I'm getting very near the center. I wish I could knit faster, but that doesn't seem to be happening. I do have one repeat down to 25 minutes, but that's not enough to enable me to do three.
I didn't do a whole lot else. I got the dishwasher unloaded, I went to the post office (where there wasn't enough stuff to have merited a trip) and I got a modest Schwan's order that I had to pack away. I had a small accident, thanks to Grayson, but it wasn't bad enough to make me have to change my undies.
The weather was cool. Or maybe cold. The high temperature during the day was only 64º, briefly. It was 63º for most of the day. There was a north breeze of around 10 mph until 7:00, when it went calm. It was mostly cloudy all day. There was a bit of sunshine in the middle of the afternoon, but not a lot, and it didn't last long. A little taste of things to come, I think.
The guys were mostly sleepy, although Grayson did get some lap time, until I had to run (slowly) to the bathroom. He just came by for more, but now I'm typing. Louie was around, but when the Schwan's guy came, he ran. I think he was up in the loft, where it's warmer.
I did write a bit just now, but it's not going as well as I hoped, so I don't think I'll do more. I like it when things flow, and this is rather choppy and disjointed, so I think I will just let it lie.
Now I'm listening to Beethoven's Sixth, which is one of my very favorites, and when that, plus the Schubert, are over, I will totter up to the north end and hope not to spend as much time staring at the floor as I did last night.
Now it's a cool, cloudy night in the field.
August 25 So I was late again last night, but at least I had an excuse. I had to get the dishwasher ready to run, and then it turned out that it never completed its last cycle, so the bottom was full of water. When I turned it on, it pumped out all the water (thank goodness!) and shut down, so I had to start it over again and wait until I was sure it was working right. It was, and when I opened it this morning, the dishes were sparkling and there was no water in the bottom of the dishwasher. Anyway, then I sort of zoned out in the bathroom, so it was very late. I have some hope I will be earlier tonight, but I have to bathe again, so we'll see.
I didn't do much today except the bulletin. I couldn't do it yesterday because I didn't have the hymns, which Steve didn't get until late last night, so I got at it after I did my surfing. I hope I got it right, since I did it in sort of a hurry, but he seemed to think it's all right.
Oh, yes, and I got all the empty cat food cans, as well as the soup cans (I think) into the can bag. That was as far as I got toward getting the kitchen in shape. At least for a while, the sink was empty. Now it has some dishes in it again, but that's normal. Maybe tomorrow?
The weather was nice. The high temperature was 75º and it was mostly clear, with just a few fair weather clouds. It was rather windy this afternoon, with gusts up to 29 mph from the northwest. The humidity was really low, down below 50% for most of the afternoon, which was very nice for my joints. Weather like this I can take, even though I have to have most of the windows closed.
The guys were sleepy. Grayson caused me to have an accident, and he came back after I cleaned up from it, but Louie was asleep in my bed. They are most active between about 4:00 and 9:00 in the morning anyway, and I'm rarely awake then.
So it was another quiet day, and my only problem was, I kept thinking it was Friday. That's what happens when you're awake all night and sleep all day.
Now it's a lovely, clear, breezy evening in the field.
August 24 It was a short, confused day, so this will be short. I nearly pulled an all-nighter, but I got to bed with clean hair. I had to laugh at myself. In an attempt to get into the middle of the bed (it's queen-sized) so that Louie could sleep with me, I inadvertently got so far down that when I stretched out, my feet were hitting the footboard, and with all the covers there, I was having a hard time moving at all when I woke up the first time.
Anyway, I didn't get up until after noon. I knitted, and evidently I got enough sleep, because I didn't have any trouble seeing or knitting. This thing is getting very bulky, and it's hard to keep it all on my lap. I still can't knit more than one repeat in half an hour, so it's slow going.
I was so late that I didn't do much of anything. I did take the first step toward cleaning up the kitchen. I got out an orange bag and emptied the wastebasket into it, and I hauled out the bag of cans. That was it. I do have to wash dishes tonight, no matter how late I am. I'm running out of dishes again.
The weather was blah. The high temperature, 74º, actually happened at 11:00 PM, which is weird. It was in the low 70s all day. The wind was around 10 mph all day, and between noon and 3:00 PM, it switched from southwest to north. It was humid, over 80% all day until just recently. There wasn't much sunshine, either. Blah.
The guys slept, of course. They both got lap time, which was nice, and I didn't have to chase anybody off my lap.
So that was it. I need to get the dishwasher ready to run, but they're playing Bach with Harry Christophers and The Sixteen (from the Proms) and of course I have to hear that.
I think it's still a cloudy, sort of warm night in the field.
August 23 I was ridiculously late last night, mostly because I was too tired to move again. I'm going to be nearly as late tonight, but oh, well. I slept well, and I got up around 10:30. I knitted my two repeats, with one glitch. Slowly but surely I'm working toward the middle.
That was absolutely all I did. It was too warm to do anything much, and I am still tired, so I just sat. The story of my life.
The weather was very summery, but this looks like it might be about the end of it. The high temperature was 82º, but there was a nice southwest breeze so it was tolerable until I had to move around. I was really sweaty when I finally got back to the studio with my dinner. I haven't opened up the whole house, because it's supposed to be cooling down starting tomorrow, and what gets opened up has to be closed. It is nice to have that breeze blowing on me. It was cloudy for most of the day, although it cleared up some at sunset. I finally broke down and changed the start and stop times for the camera. We are down to 13h 49m of daylight now and I don't want to waste too many frames. It was only half an hour, but still. Fall is coming, and winter after that. I've said before that it's not the weather that bothers me so much in the winter (although the humidity is hard), it's the lack of light. When there are 8½ hours of daylight, it gets hard.
The guys slept, I guess. Grayson got some lap time, not a lot, but Louie only came around when I finally gave in and went to the bathroom tonight. I don't think they like the hot weather, either.
I know, I know. 82º isn't hot by the standards of most of the country, but it's hot for here and I'm just not used to it. It was hot. It's still warm.
So that was my nothing day, and now it's a partly clear (I think) warm, breezy night in the field.
August 22 I was almost too tired to move last night, but I fought it and I got to bed around 10:15 again. I was up any number of times, again, but I slept well, and I got up around 9:30, I think. I knitted, with some difficulty, but I got another two repeats done.
That was about all I did. I had a cat on my lap most of the day, to the extent that I had an accident and had to change my bottoms. Sigh. I haven't been eating enough rice lately, but maybe I can remedy that tomorrow.
Choir was tonight, and it was good, if a bit short. We are a good group, and we will sing just as long as there's anything to sing.
While I was on my way down, there was a weather advisory (I wish they wouldn't interrupt at the most interesting moments, but oh, well) that there was a thunderstorm down around Ironwood, but I didn't think much about it. While we were singing, I noticed that it seemed to be getting dark, and when we left, there were some raindrops on the ground and there was a lot of rumbling off in the west. Well. I got just outside of Calumet when the heavens opened, and it poured in huge drops all the way to Cliff Drive. And then it stopped. It was nice, though. My windshield had gotten so dirty that I tried to clean it off on the way down and I couldn't do a very good job. Now it's nice and clean again, so I won't have to worry about the glare on my way to choir practice for a while.
It looked like it might have rained a bit here, too, but not much, and it was partly clear when I got home. When they say "scattered thunderstorms," they really mean scattered.
The rest of the weather was actually rather nice. The high temperature here was 75º, which is a temperature I like, and for most of the day the humidity was under 60%. It was cloudy this morning, but then it cleared up for the afternoon, until around 7:30, when that big dark cloud loomed up in the south. I could tell that the humidity was rising when I got to Calumet, but it actually wasn't too bad. So summer hasn't left us yet.
The guys slept, and Grayson wanted to sleep on me all day. I worry about him, but I guess he's all right. Louie did his thing, and while he was waiting in the hallway when I got home, I haven't seen much of him today.
So that was my day, and now it's a partly cloudy, warm, breezy night in the field.
August 21 It was a active night. I got to bed around 10:15, but I was up five times during the night, mostly because I hurt so bad that I had to move. It was very noisy, with the lake singing tenor and the wind gusting to 40 mph, although since it was from the north, it wasn't beating on the house like it sometimes does. The second time I was up, around 2:30, there had been a power failure and besides, Grayson had caught a mouse and brought it to the bathroom to play with it. All my cats have done that; the white tile makes it a lot easier for them to see. It was dead when I got up, but he was still batting it around, until I scooped it up and flushed it (it was only about an inch long).
I got up at 6:30, as usual on Sunday, although I had finally gotten to sleep and I didn't want to. It was still so humid that I was moving slow, even though the humidity had gone down from yesterday. I managed to get away almost when I wanted to, and I got to church about when I wanted to, too. I could tell that the humidity was still going down, but I have still been recovering from yesterday.
Church was nice. The service was Matins, which I like a lot, and we sang pretty well, although we were down to one man. Fortunately, it was a two-part song, so he didn't have to try to split his notes.
After church, I had a nice conversation with our organist, Jan, about organs in the area. There are any number of historical organs in the old churches around here, including at least four tracker-action ones (Phil will know what I'm talking about). None of them are large, but according to her, a lot of them are very nice. I only wish I could get around more so I could investigate them. Unfortunately, none of the local organists are ready for prime time, but they all do the best they can, and they are all adequate for the churches they play at. There is one special organ in Lake Linden (I forget the maker) that is a real historical artifact, and a number of years ago, Marilyn Mason, the well-known organ teacher at University of Michigan, actually came up here just to play it. Jan says there are special problems with tracker-action organs, especially the old ones, and it takes very strong fingers and legs to play them well. So it was an interesting conversation, and she loves to talk about those things.
Unfortunately, we were standing outside church, and that, besides my problems from yesterday, left me almost unable to walk. I had to get gas; when I started the car at church, the "low fuel" light came on, but I still had over 3 gallons left when I got to the station. The price of gas has gone up 11¢ in the past week (grr), but I had a coupon for 35¢ a gallon off the first 15 gallons, so I got my 23 gallons for under $50 anyway.
There was a lot of traffic going home, and I had to pass a lot of slow drivers who were on their way up here for Art in the Park, but I made it home. My hip isn't bothering me quite as much - I can move my leg, but my hip aches. My feet were sore, but with the neuropathy, they usually are. And I was exhausted and hungry, so I didn't do anything for the rest of the afternoon. Sigh.
The weather - oh, the weather! It blew and rained (0.18") all night and the lake was still riled up when I got back from church, but by then things were settling down. The skies cleared and now the wind has dropped to almost nothing. The high temperature for the day was only 66º, but the humidity is down to 54%, which is quite tolerable. It actually didn't seem all that cold when I was out and it was only 63º or so, because the humidity was so much lower. It certainly was a pretty day, once the clouds went away.
The guys slept today, but I think that was because they had a very active night. When I went to turn off the kitchen lights this morning, I discovered that the back door had blown open during the night, and Grayson was sitting at the other end of the breezeway, looking at me. When I went to close the door, he came in, because he knew that if he stayed out there, I would shut him out and he couldn't sleep on my lap. He is a pretty smart cat, and I know he understands a lot of what I say to him, even if he ignores it. I suspect that's where he found the mouse, but wherever, I was glad he found it. I don't like that cats play with mice, but I do not want mice in my house, and cats are the best mouse traps I've ever found. It didn't seem to bother him a lot when I took the carcass away from him. I haven't seen Louie, but he usually sleeps anyway.
So that was my day, and I'm tired, so it will be an early night. Now it's a coolish, clear, beautiful evening in the field.
August 20 I guess I'm really influenced by the weather. I was in bed before10:30 last night, and I slept well, although I was up a number of times. I think it was around 9:30 when I got up, so I should have had enough sleep, but it doesn't seem like I did.
I knitted, with some difficulty, but only two repeats. I lost my concentration on the second repeat, but probably that was because I was adding in a new ball of yarn. I debated whether to go back to only using one ball, but I can't be sure I would have enough yardage in one ball to do the rest of the edging. After already having one big line across the bottom of the body, I didn't want another one.
I didn't do much else. The weather got to my joints so badly that all I wanted to do was sit. I washed a load of bottoms, and that was about all except for my surfing. And nearly fell asleep in the middle of the afternoon.
That has to be because of the weather. Oh, the weather! How horrible! It's such a shame to have a day like this for the Art Fair. The high temperature, 66º was in the middle of the night, and it was at or below 65º for the rest of the day. And with a dew point above 60º, that meant the humidity was 90% all day. It rained, too. Lightly, but persistently, and we've had 0.42" so far. Until around 4:00 there was no wind at all, but now it's up to 20 mph and rising, and there are gale warnings out on the lake for tonight and small craft warnings for tomorrow. It was cold and damp and extremely unpleasant. I closed up the whole house and I'm still cold. And it was cloudy and dark all day.
The guys slept, but Grayson wanted to sleep on me all day for some reason. He was back three or four times, and he only went away just now because I started to type. I don't know what his problem is.
I am so tired of everything feeling wet! Anything made of cloth, including my clothes, my bedding and my towels, feels like it just came out of the washer. Getting my stockings on has been horrible, and it isn't possible to use a towel to dry off. Tonight will be just about as bad, but by tomorrow afternoon, the humidity is supposed to be going down. I certainly hope so! This is just awful. And it really does a number on my joints. I could hardly move.
So that was my day, and I need to go up to the north end before I go into zombie mode again. it's a cold, dark, damp and windy night in the field. The only thing is, the singing of the lake (which is starting) should sing me to sleep.
August 19 This will be early tonight, and I have some small hope that I can get to bed at a semi-reasonable hour. Maybe.
I was late again last night, but only a little later than the night before. I slept well, mostly because it was cool enough that I could be covered up. I did have some trouble when I was on my left side, but that's not unusual, and I didn't lie that way for too long. I got up around 10:30, I think, and I knitted a couple of repeats. I'm almost a quarter of the way around the bottom.
Otherwise, the only thing I managed to do was go to the post office, where there were the usual bills and enough reading material to keep my busy for some time.
The reason I didn't do anything was the weather. The lowest the humidity has been since yesterday is 84%. Everything, including everything I'm wearing and the yarn I'm knitting with, feels wet. It's just horrible, and it's taking its toll on my poor bod. Besides, it cooled off overnight, and the high temperature was only 73º, and that was at 9:00 this morning. For the rest of the day it was mostly in the upper 60s...and so was the dew point. It was cloudy all day, too, but while it looked threatening sometimes, it didn't rain. It was more like walking around in a swimming pool. Yuck!!
The guys thought so, too, and they slept, sometimes on my lap. They sleep mostly in the daytime anyway, and they seem to be most active between about 4:00 AM and 8:00 AM.
So it was another quiet day and another day when I didn't do anything that I should be doing. Oh, sigh. One of these days...Now it's a cool, damp and mostly cloudy evening in the field.
August 18 I was late last night, but not nearly as late as the night before. I went right to sleep, but I was wakeful in the middle of the night. I think it was mostly that my temperature wasn't right. It was so humid that I had a hard time putting covers over me. Around 4:00, it finally cooled off enough that I could cover up and then I was fine. I got up around 10:30 or so and I knitted two repeats of the edging. This is going to take me a long time.
That was all I did. It took me a long time to knit, and then there was all the surfing, as well as a couple of trips to the bathroom.
I needed to print something out to return some stuff, and much to my delight, the printer worked. So I immediately printed the next shawl project, too, and it came out beautifully. I'm guessing there is an electronic problem with this printer, but the last power failure evidently zapped it into shape again. I looked over a lot of stuff and I only found one other thing to copy, so after that, I turned it off, and I will hope it's still working when I need it again. Talk about annoying, but I can't afford a new all-in-one now, which is what I need. At least it works sometimes. Grr.
Oh, I forgot to mention that I filled a small orange bag in the powder room yesterday. There was so much stuff on the floor that it was getting dangerous, so I got rid of that, and now I can safely get to the pot again. It's still congested in there, but not as bad. A couple more bags should fix it. And if I ever get all the stuff out of there, I have an idea that may help me keep things in better order. We'll see about that, if I ever get it cleaned out.
One reason I didn't do anything was the weather. It was hot and humid and yucky. Well - not hot by anybody else's standards, but it got to 79º, and the humidity was over 70% most of the time. Besides, there was almost no wind. Yuck. It was partly cloudy but there was a lot of sunshine, so it got really hot in here. Now I have most of the house opened up again, but it's supposed to be cooler tomorrow, so I may have to shut things up again. This is going to go down as the humid summer, for sure. At least we've had some summer.
The guys were mostly sleepy. Grayson got a little lap time, but not a lot, and Louie just came by and since I'm typing, I couldn't have him on my lap. I don't think they think a lot of this weather, either.
I did do a system update, but it was only a small one, so it didn't take much time. It was probably for the best. The camera kept hanging up, so I was going to have to reboot anyway, so I did one reboot for two reasons.
Now it's warm and humid and cloudy in the field, and I will be going up to the north end as soon as Beethoven's Seventh (one of my very favorites) is over.
August 17 Well, that was ridiculous. I diddled around, then I had to take a bath, so it was a stupidly late hour when I finally got to bed. I slept, of course, with only one wakeup, but I didn't get up until sometime after noon. I knitted, but only one repeat.
The task of the day was the bulletin, and that got done, although I had to send it to Steve twice, because I screwed up something the first time. It's actually a good thing that I'm not printing it, because in cases like this, I would have had to print 100 copies twice. Anyway, it's done, and I think it's right.
The weather was lovely. The high temperature was 74º. Unfortunately, the humidity was over 80% all day, so I was creaky. There wasn't much wind, although it shifted from the west to the north and back. It was mostly sunny, but there were some clouds. It was hard to say, because the camera hung up twice. I really should reboot. Maybe tomorrow.
I didn't see much of the guys, but they both got some lap time. I'm sure it confuses them when my timing gets as off as it was today.
Now it's a warm, humid summer night in the field, and the full moon should be lighting our way all night.
August 16 Oh, I was late again last night. It just seems to follow. I got up around 10:30, and I decided not to try to knit. I did get my surfing done before I went off to my massage. I feel much better.
I was able to be a listener for Johanna. I guess that's one of my talents. She is the coordinator of Art in the Park, our yearly art show, and it is next weekend, so things are getting hectic, and she had gotten a couple of phone calls from people who apparently felt slighted that they weren't going to be included (there are only about 60 slots, and she has a long waiting list). So I listened, and the massage relaxed both of us. She is such a lovely person, and she is just wonderful with the artists.
I didn't do anything for the rest of the day. I didn't get enough sleep last night, so I almost fell asleep late this afternoon, but I don't have anything on for the rest of the week, so I can go to bed whenever and sleep as long as I want to.
The weather was lovely, but very humid. I guess this will go down as the humid summer. At least we've had summer. The high temperature was 75º, at 11:00. but it was in the low 70s all day. There were some clouds, but there was also a lot of sunshine and there wasn't much wind. But the humidity was over 70% for most of the day, and it's now 90%. Oh, my achin' joints!
Louie was in bed with me when I got up, but I haven't seen him since. Grayson got some lap time, and he smelled my fish, but when I didn't give him any, he went away.
So it was a quiet day, and I have to take a bath tonight. Not only do I have to wash my hair, I've been sweating so much that I'm all sticky and icky and I need to wash all that stuff off. It's a partly cloudy, warm summer night in the field.
August 15 I guess I was too tired to move, so it was a ridiculous hour before I got to bed. I got up around 11:00 and knitted three repeats of the edging, but it took me more time than it should have, because I lost my concentration in the middle. I didn't do anything else, because It took me most of the rest of the afternoon to do my surfing.
I was walking into the kitchen last night (well, actually early this morning) when the lights blinked. It was one of those things we have every so often - the east side of the house saw it, and the west side didn't. Since the computer is on the east side, it rebooted, but something happened to the gizmo Charlie left under my desk, and it did not reboot. In fact, it didn't even turn on. So I had no Internet access when I got to the studio. After I did other stuff for a while, I started looking around and noticed there was no light on the router port that connects to the box, so I hauled it out from under the desk. That was difficult, because as usual, the cables had braided themselves in the intervening weeks. Once I power failed the thing it booted itself and everything has been fine since. Anyway, that's the reason the picture on the camera page showed black until sometime this afternoon. I do need that UPS. I called them about it, so they know there was a problem. Since my gear gives access to everybody else on our road out here, I'm surprised nobody else complained, My understanding is that the NetGear box connects everything together, so if it was down, so was everybody. Well, now I know about that. It's nice to learn something new every day.
There was choir tonight, and fortunately, most of the traffic was going the other way. I had to pass two very slow drivers on the covered road, but then I was fine. Choir was good. The drive home was fine, except that, since we're starting at 7:30, it was getting dark, and I had to put on my brights while I was coming down our road. First time since last spring. Oh, sigh. There is a gibbous moon up there, but there were clouds in front of it.
Actually, I learned something else. I've mentioned that I was having a hard time driving, because it was so painful to move my foot from the accelerator to the brake. Thankfully, that's getting better. My hip still hurts, but I can lift my foot without it feeling like somebody is stabbing me in the groin. I learned that for sure tonight, and I also fiddled with the back of the seat, and now it seems like I can drive without the back part of my hip hurting. What I've blamed on my back for the past year or so turns out to be the hip. I'm hopeful that these tweaks will make it easier to drive. I'm also hopeful that the worst is over with my hip, at least for a while. Now if I can get my left shoulder in shape...
The weather was nice. The high temperature was 75º, and it was over 70º all afternoon. There was almost no wind. It was partly cloudy all day, but there was a lot of sunshine, at least until late in the day. It's still quite humid, but more in the 60% to 70% range, which is a relief. No wonder I don't hurt as much.
I have a mystery. Louie came to get petted in the bathroom while I was getting ready to go to bed, and he had a burr in his tail. I have hounds' tongue all around my house, and that is the plant that gets the flat, round burrs that get all over everything (you should have seen Charlie's pants!). But they're outside. Louie doesn't go outside, and the only place he could get out is through the bottom of the screen on the porch, and it looks like nobody has. So where did he get the burr? Times I wish he could talk, although knowing cats, he probably wouldn't tell me anyway. Grayson got some lap time today, but Louie hasn't yet. He did sleep with me for a while, though, and he got some petting in the bathroom.
So that was my day, and I'm exhausted. Fortunately, my massage was postponed until tomorrow afternoon, so I can get my sleep.
Now it's a relatively warm, partly cloudy night in the field.
August 14 How to get off schedule in one day.
i got to bed around 10:15 and I slept well, with a couple of wakeups. I didn't want to get up when the alarm went off, but I did, but I was running off at the bottom and I was moving slow, so I was late leaving and late getting to church. It was nice, except that now I've been doing the bulletins long enough that I'm beginning to make some errors. My only consolation is that so did Pastor Fundum, and he was more on top of things than I am.
I had to shop. I was out of lettuce, for one thing. I had hoped to be modest, but then I discovered that the deli now has both corned beef and pastrami, so I ended up with both of them, as well as pumpernickel and onion rolls. They didn't have any lake fish at all, which was a disappointment, but evidently fishing isn't very good this summer.
I had an excruciating trip home. I got behind three guys towing huge RVs, who were mostly going between 25 and 35 mph the whole way up the covered road. I've finally figured out some things I can do to save my hip, and I drove home with no shoe on my right foot, so that I had a better feel for the pedals. The neuropathy in my feet is getting worse slowly but steadily, and between that and my bad hip, I was having trouble keeping my foot straight on the pedals. It was better with no shoe. But they were going so slowly and slowing down at every curve and hill that I hurt by the time I got home.
I was also exhausted. I put away the meat and frozen stuff, but I didn't bring the rest of it in until I went to get my dinner, which is one reason dinner was so late. The other reason was that I had a pastrami sandwich when I got home, so I wasn't very hungry and I couldn't decide what to have.
The weather turned out lovely. It started out at about 64º and 90% humidity and cloudy, but by the time we got out of church, it had warmed up to 72º (in town) and the humidity was going down. The afternoon was lovely, although now it's cooling off and getting humid again. It was mostly sunny and there was almost no wind for most of the day. Nice. It got pretty hot in here, but that's to be expected.
The guys slept, of course. Grayson got some lap time (and a couple little pieces of pastrami), but Louie didn't come around until I was ready to get up and attack the rest of the groceries, so he hasn't had any.
So that was my day, and except that I was moving slow and I hurt, it wasn't bad. Now it's a clear, coolish night in the field and the gibbous moon is shining brightly in the south windows.
August 13 Today is my mother's 99th birthday.
I was even later than usual last night, but I got up at 9:30 anyway, in the hope that I can shock my body back on schedule. We'll see how that works. I knitted with a lot less trouble than yesterday, and I did three repeats. Only 53 more to go. It's such nice yarn that it doesn't matter much.
Otherwise, I didn't do anything. I did the monthly system update on both systems, so I'm up to date except for a couple that I refuse to install. And I've been interested to see that a couple that Microsoft was trying to foist off on us, to force us into Windows 10, have disappeared. Uh-huh. That was why I never installed them.
The weather was just plain miserable. The high temperature was only 67º and the humidity was 90% or higher all day. It rained. There was only 0.20" total, but several times it rained hard for a few minutes. A couple of readings were missing, though, and I only hope the numbers they reported included the times that were missing. I would have said it was more than that. Anyway, it was dank and dark and foggy and miserable, and i was glad I didn't have to go out.
The guys felt like that, too. They slept, and they both slept on me for a long time - long enough that I had an accident. It was a good day for sleeping.
Now I have to go up to the north end and get ready for tomorrow. It's still a damp, foggy night in the field.
August 12 I thought I might be earlier last night, but after I spent some time staring at the floor both before and after I took my bath, I was almost as late as I was the night before.
I got up around 11:00 again and sat down to knit. Well. I finally got one repeat of the edging done - 12 rows - but not before I did two repeats and had to rip the whole thing out because I couldn't figure out where I went wrong with picking up the body stitches. It will get easier as I go along, and I already almost have the pattern in my head, but somehow I didn't get the edging attached to the body right. So I had to rip.
I went to the post office, but that was all I did. I ripped the washcloth, too, after I had to untangle the ball and I realized that I have enough yarn for another flower. It was a ripping day.
It was a yucky day, weatherwise, too. The high temperature was only 67º, and it was very humid all day. There was almost no wind, and it was cloudy and dull all day, although there wasn't any rain. Yuck.
I was surprised that I was moving all right, but then, I took Tylenol this morning. My hip was feeling pretty good, even when I was driving, which surprised me, because it certainly wasn't last night. Bodies are funny.
The guys slept. They both slept on me for a while, which was a good thing, and they both left of their own accord.
So that was it. Now it's a bit clearer than they thought, since I can see the moon, but it's a cool, humid night in the field.
August 11 So it was late again, but I finally got the dishes washed. I was all out of bowls and medium plates. It always amazes me that some weeks I use all bowls and small plates and other times, I use medium plates. Since I have 16 of each of them, you can see it was a while since I'd washed dishes. And today, I began to unload the dishwasher. It's so much better if I can load it as I use things, but for some reason, I just don't unload it like I should. Tomorrow I will finish that.
Otherwise, I was late getting up and I knitted for about 3 hours, but now I'm working on the lower edging, so I should be able to time my knitting a bit better. I've also been knitting washcloths in the studio, while I listen to the radio. I have a pattern I got from a Copper Harborite, which is round in wedges, and I discovered that if I use a self-striping yarn, each lobe of the flower comes out a different color. It's neat, and I've done two of them. They take about half a ball of cotton yarn, so I've been doing the old diagonal square with the rest of the yarn. I started trying a lace cloth, but I didn't like how it was working out, so I will make another square, this one in two shades of blue and white. They are sort of a mindless knit that I can do while I listen to the talking, although I really should be working on that sock, just to get it done. Maybe tomorrow.
Oh, yes, and I got the underwear folded and in the drawer. That's one little task I can do sitting down, so I try to do it as soon as I can.
The weather was horrible. It actually started raining around 10:00 last night, and so far, we've had 1.02" of rain since then. It poured - ¾" - between 10:00 and noon this morning, and it dribbled off and on for the rest of the afternoon. The high temperature was only 69º, briefly. There wasn't much wind until after 6:00, when we had gusts up to 22 mph from the east. It was dark and dull and cloudy, and of course it was extremely humid, over 90%. Yuck. I didn't do anything much because I couldn't. Everything, including the wash, felt like it was still wet. Yuck.
The guys slept, although they both got lap time. When I went to get my dinner, I looked out the door onto the porch and Louie was sitting on the top of a cushion, with his rear on the cushion and his head through the window into the hallway. He looked so funny! I'm not sure what he thought he was doing.
So it was another quiet day, and now it's a dark, cloudy night in the field. I hope that wherever you are, the skies are clear and lovely and you'll be able to see the meteors tonight. We sure won't here.
August 10 Oh, I was late again, but I did get a bath, and that was nice. I didn't get up until around 11:30, and then I knitted forever. I finished the top edging and started the base for the side edgings: "pick up and knit 342 stitches..." Needless to say, it was the middle of the afternoon before I got dressed and ate something.
I didn't have time to do much but my surfing, and I almost forgot about the bulletin, but I think I got it together and I just sent it to the people who are going to print it. Hopefully, there aren't any glaring errors.
It wasn't a very nice day. It turned cold overnight, and the high for the day was only 65º. It was cloudy and humid, and I only don't understand why I didn't hurt more. There was some wind overnight, but almost none during the day. After about 5:00, there was a little light rain that barely registered at the weather station. I guess there may be more overnight. It was a yucky day, and I was glad to have spent it engrossed in something else.
The guys slept. Grayson got a lot of lap time. For some reason he wanted to sit on me a lot today. I didn't see much of Louie, except when he was going after Grayson or sitting where I wanted to walk.
I had a short, nasty conversation with one of my neighbors about giving permission for people to walk on our road. I just do not know what the problem is with those people. Somebody gave me permission to walk the road a very long time ago, and I'm only paying it forward. If they only leave footprints, I cannot see what the problem is. They are just grasping, greedy people, and thankfully, I don't have to have much to do with them. His father wasn't like that at all. Grr.
So that was my day, and now it's a dull, cloudy, moist night in the field.
August 9 Wow, how to do nothing, unconstructively.
I was late again last night. I went into zombie mode, and I just didn't want to move. I slept well, of course, with a couple of wakeups. I got up around 10:30, and I knitted. I am about 75% done with the top edging, so I'll finish it tomorrow.
I had some plans for the day, but I hurt, and even though I should have had enough sleep, I didn't feel like doing anything, so I didn't. Sigh.
It was a warm summer day, and it was humid. The high temperature was 84º, and the humidity was never under about 55%. There was a breeze from the southwest that got up to 24 mph gusts around 2:00. Around 6:00 a short thundershower came through, although it was mostly out over the lake and it just barely wetted the windows here. There were a couple of rumbles of thunder, but nothing very close. That, of course, made the humidity go way back up, and I was so uncomfortable that it was 10:30 before I could make myself move to get my dinner.
The guys slept. Grayson got some lap time, and Louie was around a couple of times, but I was busy when he came. I don't think they like this weather any more than I do. I think it's supposed to be a bit better tomorrow, but we'll see.
I hope so, because I am out of dishes and I hurt too much to load the dishwasher tonight. I need to take a shower, and it will be all I can do to do that. This is getting old, isn't it?
So that was my day, When I went to get dinner, the moon and Mars were shining in what looked like a clear sky. So it's a clear, warm and nearly calm night in the field.
August 8 I thought I was going up to the north end at a reasonable hour last night, but it was 1:30 before I got to bed. Sigh. I didn't sleep as well as I wanted to, and I don't quite know why, except that it was humid and when I woke up, I was nearly set in concrete and it was hard to move at all.
I got up around 9:30, I think, and I knitted. I finished the body of the shawl and started the bind off edging, which is fiddly, more so because I'm using two balls of yarn alternately. I ended up knitting for a very long time. Then I had an accident, so overall, I ended up changing clothes three times. Yuck.
There was choir tonight, and it was good. I think we'd sing all night if Kathleen would let us.
The sad thing is that it was getting dark by the time I got home. Oh, how I wish the long days would last longer! It's hard, because something has happened to the lights in my garage door opener, so it's dark in the garage when I close the door. I don't know what I'm going to do over the winter.
The only other thing I did was to begin to get my ledgers up to date. I keep wondering where the money goes, and that's the only way to find out. I got the checkbook data entered today, but that isn't where the action is, really. Tomorrow I will have to start on the credit card stuff, and that takes a lot of time. But I need to know, and I've vowed to try to start working from a real budget. We'll see how it goes. From now until the end of the year is the hard time anyway, because I have property taxes and insurance that need to be paid.
The weather was lovely, if a tad warm. The high temperature was 80º, at 4:00, but it was in the high 70s all afternoon. The wind was under 10 mph from the south. It was mostly clear to partly cloudy, with a lot of clouds late in the day that have all gone away now. What was really nice was that the humidity was down around 45% until 7:00. Now it's getting high again, and I could tell that even before I checked it. At least I had some time this afternoon without a lot of pain. Driving down to choir was easy. Coming home was harder.
The guys slept, and I didn't see much of them.
The commute was about as usual for this time of year. I ran into a couple of ridiculously slow drivers on the covered road on the way south, but I managed to pass them. Somebody recently mentioned a bumper sticker they saw that said "Not all of us are on vacation. Please drive the speed limit." My only addition to that was that it should be in neon on the front windows of local cars, and of course, a lot of us ignore the speed limits. Coming home was better, but the tourons go in at night.
Something went through my mind that should have been written down, but it's gone now. Sigh. Sometimes my head feels like my legs - cast in concrete.
I took a picture with the camera at 11:15 of the moon setting over the Mountain Lodge. It was so lovely. So I guess it's cleared up, and now I really need to go to bed. it's a clear, warm night in the field.
August 7 So I missed the planets last night. I was busy getting ready for bed, and Venus and Mercury had set by the time I looked. The little crescent moon was pretty, though.
I got to bed about 10:00, but I didn't sleep well, as frequently happens on Saturday nights. I was up several times and I hurt sometimes. I had a recurring dream, which I wanted to write down, but when I opened my file this afternoon, I had to read through the other dreams I've had, and by the time I could start writing, I'd forgotten what it was. One of my frustrations is that since I retired, my recurring dreams have mostly been very fleeting and most of the time I don't remember them for very long.. If I do remember, everything is set up to start writing.
I did not want to get up when the alarm went off, because I was up at about 5:30, and I was about ready to get back into a deep sleep. Drat. I did get up, and I thought I was doing well, except that I was running off at the bottom excessively, and I ended up leaving late. I even had to go back into the house when I was halfway down the steps into the breezeway. Geez!
Apparently this was an off weekend, because I didn't have much trouble getting to church. Of course, I was a bit later than I like to be, but that was all right. Last Monday, when I had to get gas, I took my sock project along, just in case I was early, and while I was singing, it fell out of my bag. I realized that when I got home, but I figured somebody would find it, and Barbara did, and she had it for me when I got there. I will have to be more careful in the future, and actually, I was late enough that I didn't have to take it into church at all.
Church was nice, although the choir flubbed our song. I got up feeling not too bad, for a change, but after being stuffed into the car for 45 minutes, I hurt, and I hurt even more by the time I got home. I have never understood why, in a car as big as mine, there is almost no legroom. It's really stupid. You can always pull the seat forward, but in that car, you can't pull it back. Even the loaner I had last spring (the Traverse), which I didn't like, had an amazing amount of legroom. That was the only thing I did like about it. i have been forgetting that I want to pull up the back seat on the driver's side and see if that will let my seat go back any further. It doesn't help that I'm growing out of my jeans, either.
Anyway, by the time I got home, I hurt, so I ended up not doing anything for the rest of the afternoon. I brought home my flowers from last week - they are so pretty! - and I had to move trash around to find a vase to put them in, so things are even worse now than they were before. I'm sure there is at least two more bags full just lying around in there. Maybe I can get a start on it tomorrow.
The weather was beautiful again. The high temperature was 73º, briefly, at 7:00. It was around 70º, plus or minus a degree or two, for the rest of the afternoon. There was very little wind, from the north. It was clear and lovely, with only a few clouds in the south, here, although there were more clouds around Laurium. It was so nice!
The guys were sleepy, as usual. Grayson got some lap time, but Louie didn't.
So that was a quiet day, and now it's a clear summer night in the field.
August 6 There is no question that my body is still on Eastern Standard Time, and I doubt it will ever go off. You can see that's one reason I hate to travel.
Anyway, besides that, I zoned out when I went up to the north end last night, so I was late again. I slept well, with only one wakeup (!) and I got up around 8:30, I think, although I don't remember. I knitted six rows. Plain knitting goes much faster than patterns. Now I only have four rows left and I can start the edgings, but I won't get to do that until Monday. I'm puzzling the directions (they aren't very clear) and I guess I will just have to try it and see and be prepared to rip if things don't work out right.
I did nothing for the rest of the day. I took some Tylenol and I don't hurt so much, since the humidity was a bit lower. I was having a bit less trouble with my left leg and hip, too, so I could sort of walk around the kitchen without my cane, but not well enough to do anything about the mess out there.
The weather was lovely. The high temperature was 74º, and the humidity got down below 60% for a while. There was a brisk wind out of the north at about 15 mph, and it was clear or almost clear all day. Lovely! And tomorrow is supposed to be just about the same. I can take that.
The guys were sleepy, of course. Grayson got some lap time, but that was problematical, because he came and sat down on me just as I was trying to pay a couple of bills. It's really hard to type with a cat on my lap.
Oh, I forgot to mention that I got two black fly bites a couple of nights ago, apparently in the house. One is on my right thumb, right at the joint, and the other is in the middle of the middle part of my middle finger. They are driving me crazy, but they don't look to blister too badly. Either I'm getting used to them or I didn't have enough this year to really sensitize me to them. There's one on my bicep, too, where something crawled up under my sleeve. But overall, I don't think I got a dozen bites this year. I can deal with that.
So that's it. Now it's a clear, warm, breezy evening in the field, and I will (really!) go up to the north end now and try to get to bed early tonight. Maybe, if I'm really lucky, I might see a planet or two and the moon. Of course, it was cloudy the last two nights at sunset.
August 5 I was late, but early by recent standards, and my hair is clean. I slept very well, and I didn't get up until 11:00. I knitted six rows, which means I started the top part. That is plain knitting, except for the edge stitches, and it will go faster. So I have 10 more rows to go before I start the edgings. This is a boring part, but the yarn is so nice to work with that it helps.
I didn't do much more, except that I finally washed the last load of clothes. I had to, because I had a nasty accident and used my last pair of underpants. Time for a few days of heavy rice, I think. I had a lovely burger last night, on an onion roll, and it was so good, but I paid today.
The weather was a bit windy, but otherwise my kind of summer. It was mostly sunny, with only a few clouds, and the high temperature was 75º. The wind was from the north, with gusts up to 29 mph. It was a bit more humid than I would like, around 60%, so I was moving slowly, but otherwise, it was a pretty day. There were whitecaps on the harbor.
The guys slept, of course. When I woke up, actually shortly after 10:00, there was a cat on each side of me, so I dozed for another 45 minutes before I got up. Grayson didn't get up until I was getting dressed. Louie got some petting before and after I knitted, but I haven't seen him since. Grayson got lap time twice, and both times I had to move him because I had to do something. He had something, but not a lot, to do with my accident.
So that was my day, and I'm going to try to get to bed at a more reasonable hour tonight. We'll see how that works. Now it's a partly cloudy night in the field. We won't get to see the teensy crescent moon or Venus and Mercury tonight. Drat.
August 4 So I did it again, and tonight I must shower. I'm getting sticky.
I got up around 11:30 again, and I knitted, even though it was already over 80º. That was about all I managed to do, unfortunately.
I am pleased to report that my right hip has gotten much better. Yesterday the pain moved from my groin around to the top, and today it wasn't bad at all. There was a bit of pain when i tried to raise my foot, but I'm sure I can drive safely again. Unfortunately, now it's both knees, and my left leg seems weak altogether, so I'm even using the cane around the kitchen. That will pass, too. It always does.
The reason is certainly the weather. The high temperature was 87º, briefly at 7:00. The humidity didn't start to go down until around 5:00, and it takes my body a while to respond. Unfortunately, it's back up over 60% again. The wind was from the west with gusts up to 24 mph. It did not storm, like everybody said it would, and even though the wind is rising again, there isn't any rain around here at all. It was partly to mostly cloudy all day, but that was probably good. It would have been hotter if it had been sunny. I hate it when it's so warm, but I have to say, it's been several years since we've had a run of weather like this, so I guess I can't complain too much.
The guys slept in as cool a spot as they could find. Grayson got some lap time, but not Louie.
So it was a nothing day, and I need to go up to the north end soon. It's a partly cloudy, hot, breezy night in the field.
August 3 After the humidity went up, got too sore and too tired to even move, so it was late when i got to bed, and i didn't take my bath. So I'm sweaty and oily and yucky. I slept like a stone. The first time I woke up, it felt like my joints were full of concrete that had set while I slept, and I could hardly move at all. I was up once more, and I didn't get up until around 11:00, I think. At least I got enough sleep!
I knitted, of course, and while I was getting dressed - a long session now - I realized that the pain in my hip had moved from the groin side to the top side. It's still horribly painful, but at least I should be able to reach the brake pedal without trouble. It was so humid and I was so sore that I didn't even try to exercise. There is just so far that I can push myself.
I didn't do much of anything, for the same reason. I did get the bulletin made and off to Mary (Steve is away for his son's wedding). Debbie called and we had a nice, if somewhat truncated, conversation.
It was another warm, humid day. The high temperature was 78º, briefly, and the lowest the humidity got was 58%, briefly. There was a bit of a breeze, up to 14 mph, from the north, but the wind has shifted around to the southwest again, and we may get some rain tomorrow. Today, while it started out a bit cloudy, by the time the sun got really up it was clear, and lasted until about 5:30, when it began to cloud up, although it was fairly clear when it got dark. I see that I can start modifying the start and stop times for the camera again - downward. Oh, sigh. The day is down to about 14¾ hours now.
The guys were sleepy. Grayson got some lap time, but Louie didn't.
So that was a quiet day. I hope I feel a bit less creaky tomorrow. This is awful.
Now it's a warm, partly clear night in the field. And oh, yeah, now I have to start peering at the western horizon after sunset - we will be having a neat conjunction of Mercury, Venus and the moon over the next couple of days.
August 2 I was too tired to move last night, so it was a ridiculous hour when I finally went to bed. Of course I slept well, but I got up around 9:30, so I'm even more tired tonight.
That's especially true because I had to go and vote today, and I saw some people I haven't seen in a while, so I spent a long time talking. The voting wasn't very satisfactory, since there was only one person for most of the positions, and none for some, and at the primary we aren't permitted to split our ticket. I can understand why nobody wants to run for some of those offices, but it's a shame. Keweenaw County and Grant Township do need some leadership, even though it's not very much. I had to vote for a couple of people I'd rather not, but there's nobody else. It's no wonder the county is in such a shambles. The township seems all right, but oh, boy, the county...
It started out to be another beautiful day. a cloud bank came through around 11:00, but it didn't last a long time. The high temperature was 78º, at 1:51, but at 2:20, the weather station sent an off-hour report, because the temperature had dropped to 64º! The wind shifted from the west to the north. I was on my way to the community center. When I left the garage the thermometer in the car read 76º, I think, but by the time I reached US-41, it had dropped to 67º and it was on its way down. I could hardly believe it, but that's the way things go around here. The low point was 62º, at 4:51, and then it recovered a bit, and now it's 73º again, but I think that's because the wind is calm. The only problem was, when the temperature dropped, the dew point rose, and the humidity has been 80% or higher ever since. Believe me, my body knew. Between that and having stood so long, I can hardly move now. Getting my dinner was, um, interesting. Ah, well.
The cats slept. Louie was acting funny again this afternoon, but I guess he's all right. Grayson got some lap time, but not as much as he wanted.
So that was my day, and I need to stay awake long enough to take a bath. Now it's a clear, warmish, calm summer evening in the field.
August 1 I guess I just didn't want it to end. I was reading - no games - and it was a ridiculous hour before I finally got to bed. I got up around 10:30, I think. That will teach me not to nap in the afternoon.
I knitted my four rows, and I'm making progress. I have about 30 rows to go on the body, and the last twelve are mostly just straight knitting. There are the edge stitches, and I'm working with two skeins of yarn at once, so as to minimize the differences between the dye lots, but another 18 rows and it should be clear sailing. It's been so nice working with this yarn that I'd like to get some more, but I have so much already that I shouldn't even think about it.
I didn't do much else. I didn't have time, especially after I waited too long to go to the powder room and had to change my pants.
Tonight was choir, and I realized when I got home yesterday that I should have gotten gas, so I did that tonight. It's down to $2.279 at the station I frequent. This is the first summer in a while that I can remember the price of gas going down during the tourist season.
Choir was good, as always. We sang a new (to some) hymn from the hymnal, and on the next page was "Beautiful Savior," which we've sung so often that the lower voices all know the harmonies. My eyes were teary when it was over with.
There was a lot of traffic in both directions, and there were a few drivers who were ridiculously slow that I had to pass. Most of them were clearly tourists, but there was a guy I followed out of Laurium on the way home, who was a local and just an excessively law-abiding driver. Aaaugghh!! I passed him, too.
I think I got home around 9:30 and I had the rest of my dinner from last night. It was almost as good as fresh, and i enjoyed it all over again, although the company wasn't as congenial.
The weather was lovely again, but a tad warmer. The high temperature was 80º. briefly, at 5:00, and it was in the upper 70s for most of the afternoon. There was a bit of a breeze, not much, from the southwest. It was mostly clear for most of the day, although there were a few high clouds late in the afternoon that went away by sunset. The dew point was close to steady at or below 60º, which meant that the relative humidity was was low as 45% in the afternoon. It was a bit more humid than yesterday, but it was nice.
Whatever Louie's problem was yesterday, he was over it by the time I went to bed last night, and he was running around and felt great. This afternoon when i was getting into my going-out clothes, he was rolling around on his back in the sun on the porch. I suspect he'd been eating plastic bags again, and until he got rid of that, he didn't feel so good. At least he seems better now. Grayson was himself, and he got quite a bit o flap time today.
So that was my day, and now it's August, and I don't know where the summer has gone. It's a sort of clear, warmish night in the field and I need to go to bed.
Last updated 09/01/16 10:10 PM
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