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A View From the Field |
April 2017 April 30 I got to bed around 10:00 last night, and I slept well, although I was awake too early and I had just gotten back to sleep when the alarm went off. Of course. No matter when I set it, that always happens.
I got up and out in good time and I got to church right before 10:00. Apparently there was no Sunday School, but either the teachers or the kids were all gone. We practiced our song, and it was a good thing, because we really didn't know the tune very well, but it went off well during the service.
It was nice. We used the old service (Divine Service 3 in the new hymnal), which i love, and there was communion. Pastor and I had some discussion afterwards. I'm still trying to get the prayer list back together after I screwed it up. People like him always amaze me: he knows everybody in both congregations already. I've been there for six or seven years and I still don't know everyone, and there aren't that many of us.
Then I went on to Pat's, where I did more than the usual amount of damage, but I don't think I got much that I didn't need, besides some deli salads. Well, maybe I needed those; i had them for dinner.
I didn't get home until nearly 3:00, because I was moving slow and very sore. I realized later that I should have taken some Tylenol, but I didn't, so I hurt. Most of the stuff I got is still in the breezeway, but it's still cold enough out there that it doesn't matter. I got the critical stuff put away, and i'll do the rest tomorrow.
I didn't do much else for the rest of the afternoon, and i'll be going up to the north end real soon now.
The weather was nondescript. The high temperature was 48º, but that was while we were in church, so I didn't get to experience it. IT wasn't all that humid - at or under 70% - so I don't know why I hurt so much. There wasn't much wind, and it went calm around 5:00 PM. There was a little sunshine late this afternoon, but mostly it was cloudy and dull and gray.
Grayson would not leave me alone when I got home, and I had to boot him off my lap to go to the bathroom and get my pills tonight. I don't know what his trouble was. Louie wanted up, too, and he got some lap timein the middle of the afternoon. They would be happier if I never left, even for a few minutes.
So that was my day, and April is now history. The weather is improving slowly, although they keep insisting there may be some snow on Tuesday. Come on, guys! It's May already! You'd never know that around here. Now it's a dark, cloudy night in the field.
April 29 As usual, I zoned out, both before i went up to the north end and afterwards, and it was midnight before I got to bed. I slept well, although i was up three times. I was awake around 8:00 and decided to go back to bed, but I woke up again at 9:30 and decided, oh, well. The only thing about being up so late was that I was able to set the clock in the bathroom.
i knitted for a long time, and I'm going to have to restrain myself. I've gotten so used to it taking two or two and a half hours to do what needs to be done that I'm having a hard time cutting back. I'm making good progress, but this isn't a race or anything, and it would be helpful if I didn't knit quite as long.
The task of the day was wash. I still haven't put the laundry sorter back together, so my whole laundry was on the floor in the closet, but when I put it all in a wash basket, I was able to get it sorted then. The sorter is much more convenient, and I really must get it fixed. Anyway, the last load is in the washer, ready to be dried, and I will get it in the dryer when I go up to the north end, so that chore is done.
Have I mentioned before that I hate doing something that has to be done over again? I was so good about my laundry for 40 years that now I hate it, even though the conditions are so much better here.
That was all I did, besides my surfing. Oh, and i went to the post office, where there were a lot of magazines and some bills. i ended up the budget year for my electricity with only about $25 to pay, which means I managed to be much better about my electricity use this year. Last year, it was over $200, which was difficult. I don't know exactly what I did, but whatever it was, I'll try to keep doing it. Electricity is so expensive up here, and I am so dependent on it, that whatever I can do to decrease my usage is good. And they lowered my monthly budget payment, too. I'm not sure that's right, but I'll take it, and hope I don't end up with a huge bill next May.
The weather was beautiful but cold. The temperature during the day was almost steady at 39º and there was almost no wind. It was clear and blue and beautiful until late this afternoon, when the clouds began to move back in. I guess it's supposed to be cloudy tomorrow, but no rain until evening and no snow until Tuesday, if then. It wasn' a bad winter, just excessively long. Oh, and so far, we've had 275" of snow, which is over average. Now, that's at Delaware, and I'm suspicious that down here in the Harbor, we actually had more than that. Anyway, slowly and painfully, it's finally getting over. Most of the snow from Thursday and Friday is gone here, although the MODIS imagery shows that the whole western side of the peninsula is snowy again. It apparently dropped on the ridge and didn't get to the eastern side at all.
The guys were sleepy, of course. Grayson slept on me as much as I would let him. Louie slept at my feet this morning and when i went to get dinner, he was on the table. He is limping. There is something not right with his left leg or paw, and I can't tell exactly what iat is. He can still walk on it and he can run a bit, but especially when he first stands up, it clearly pains him. I can relate, and maybe he has arthritis, too. Or maybe Grayson bit him. I'm watching.
So that was my quiet day, and now i have to get up to the north end and take my bath. i'm pretty sure I'll make it to church tomorrow, and i need to be there by 10:00 at the latest, because we need to practice our song. Now it's a cold, cloudy night in the field, bu tthere isn't any wind. Spring, come!
April 28 I don't know why I was so late last night. I didn't want to be, but sometimes when I get up to the north end, I sort of go to sleep sitting up. It was only about 12:30, so it was much better than the previous nights, but still, too late. I slept fairly well, except that I tried to get on my left side too early, so there was an hour or so when I think I just dozed.
I got up around 10:00, I think. The knitting went much better today, but I was more rested. I finished the first chart of the side areas and tomorrow I will start the second chart. The center panel has begun to repeat, too, and keeping that straight is a bit of a problem, but I think I have it set up. I usually keep track of where I am on these things on a page of cross section paper, and I make a tick mark for every row. In this case, I'm having to keep track of both the overall row count and the center panel, so it means making two tick marks for every row. I do it two rows at a time, because in this pattern, most wrong side rows are plain purl. I think it will come out looking pretty well, although with these lace things, I can't ever really tell until they're blocked, and of course, I seldom block anything. Finishing is not my strong suit.
Otherwise, I didn't do much. It was raining or snowing or something when it was time to go to the post office, so I didn't. Tomorrow. One of my favorite magazines should be there. I did pay some of the critical bills, although they probably won't post until Monday. I was so late yesterday that I didn't get to do anything.
There has been some sort of problem with our local email, and I'm not sure what it is. I got several emails today that had clearly been sent late yesterday from people in Laurium who use Charter. I'm inclined to think it's a Charter problem, except that my daily devotion has been very late, too. If it keeps up, I guess I'll have to call PastyNet. I know what we're going to sing on Sunday, but I haven't found out if we're going to get to practice it before church. And besides, that, Pastor called me on the phone yesterday afternoon, and while it registered on my phone, I never heard any rings, and he said it didn't pick up. That was between power outages, so I don't know what was going on there, either. I sometimes think things were better before we had all these modern devices.
I did finally get both computers software updated, although I had some problem with the laptop, and something happened with the desktop that I had to shut it down manually. Heaven knows what that was, but everything seems to be working pretty well now.
The weather today was not exactly what they were predicting. When I was awake at 8:00, it was snowing hard enough that it registered in the rain gauge at the weather station, but it had stopped by the time I got up for good. Then between 5:00 PM and 6:00 PM, we had another snow squall. Neither of those things were supposed to happen. In between, we even had a ray or two of sunshine. The high temperature was 37º. briefly, and the humidity was over 70% all day. There was almost no wind until around 1:00, but it has been rather windy, with gusts up to 25 mph from the north this afternoon. It was mostly cloudy but not nearly as dark and dull as yesterday. Sort of yucky, still. It was cold enough that most of the snow is still on the ground. Bah.
The guys slept. Grayson got to sleep on my lap for a very long time this afternoon. Louie got his love-in this morning, which he appreciated. They got a good breakfast, too, and that helped.
So that was my day. The clock in the bathroom is still blinking, because I wasn't there on an hour, but I think everything else is reset. What a pain that is! If I had all the money I really need, I'd install a whole-house UPS so I wouldn't have that problem, or the fridge and the counter-top oven resetting themselves. Dream on...I don't even have the money to get the generator serviced, although maybe I can manage that soon, if I can find somebody to do it.
Now it's a mostly cloudy, cold, windy night in the field, and I'm planning to be earlier to bed tonight.
April 27 Well, um, it's still winter around here. I was thinking that I should go up to the north end, since I had to wash my hair, when the power went off. Thanks to the UPS and the generator, everything in the house was all right, but there was no Internet. There used to be a UPS at the Mountain Lodge, but with their financial fiasco (brought on by the idiots who run our county government), I suppose they've turned it off, at least for the winter. Or maybe permanently. Maybe when there are new owners, things will be better, but that's likely to be some time in the future.
Anyway, I just sat and waited to see if the power would come back on (It didn't), so finally I went north, but I was very late. I was late getting up, too, of course, and Louie helped me get up. I guess he decided I'd been in bed late enough, even though I didn't get that much sleep. Evidently the power came back up after I went to bed, but it was down twice more before I finally got up, so I ended up having to reset the clocks three times. I didn't set the one in the bathroom until late, and now I will have to do it again, because we had another 3-hour down between 6:00 and 9:00 tonight. I have to believe it was mostly because what was coming down was so wet and heavy, because while the winds were strong, they weren't that bad. It gets very annoying after a while.
I knitted, and it was a near disaster. I started the new project on the needles that the pattern said, but when I looked at it after doing about 15 rows, i realized that it was much too loose and I was never going to be happy with it on those needles, so I ripped out the whole thing and started over on a smaller needle. That was fine, except that somewhere in the first 10 rows of the pattern, i totally screwed up one part of the center panel. I tried to recover, but it was so loose it looked horrible, so I had to rip out about 8 rows of that. Aarrgghhh!! I was determined to get back where I was when I started ripping, so I spent most of the afternoon reknitting. I think everything is all right now, but we'll see tomorrow. I do like the pattern (on appropriate needles) and the color of the yarn, so I will press on and hope I don't have any further problems.
i was so late that my meals have been all off, my tummy hasn't felt good, and I didn't do anything. Mary Ann called while I was knitting, and we decided we were not going to try to go out in this weather, and after Ian email I got from Kathleen, I was so glad we did. As we feared, it was even worse in Laurium. So I did nothing, and I don't feel very good.
It was eerie around here all night. I don't think I could have seen town if there had been lights, it was raining or snowing or something so hard, and it looked to me like the lighthouse was out, although maybe I just couldn't see it. It's all right now. When I was up around 6:00, it was white down the harbor and the roof of the garage was white. Oh, no - it turned to snow!! There isn't a good record of how much rain and/or snow we had today, because the weather station didn't come back up until 10:00 and it was down again this afternoon. It looks to me like about a good 3" of snow or sleet or graupel or something.
Oh, and Ron called me from the post off ice to warn me that there is about 5" of water over the road in the low spot - Lake Lily is overflowing again. The beavers have nearly closed off the culvert on the lake side. It runs a bit, but not nearly enough to take the runoff when we have as much rain and snow as we've had in the past two days. It's not washed out or anything, it's just wet. Woodland Road is mostly bedrock, so it doesn't even get squishy, but one doesn't want to go speeding through the low spot right now.
As far as I know, the high temperature was 32º, but that was this morning, and it was down around 28º for the rest of the afternoon. I don't know what the wind was like, but it was a lot stronger overnight than the 24 mph the weather station reported when it was up. The lake was fussing loudly. It was from the east last night although it has shifted around to the north now and died down almost completely. Of course, it was dark and dull and it was only right before it got dark that I could see down the harbor at all.
Hey, this is almost May! Enough, already!
The guys slept. Grayson got a lot of lap time, but Louie didn't get his loving today, because he had gone back to bed (in my bed) before I was finally finished knitting.
So that was how it was. I need to go to bed, but after Bach's Magnificat, next hour there is Randall Thompson's Alleluia, both of which I sang in a former life, and a Haydn symphony, so I will have to decide what to do. I may have the Magnificat in my CD lilbrary, but I'm pretty sure I don't have the Thompson, and besides, most of my CDs are in the basement. And I always love Haydn.
Now it's a cold and still sort of snowy night in the field.
April 26 I got to bed around 11:30, which was later than I wanted but a lot earlier than the past two nights. I slept well, even though I was up several times. I have no clue what my problem was last week.
I got up around 9:00 and I knitted, and I finished the Shetland shawl!! It still needs to be blocked, of course, and I forgot to darn in one loose end, but I'll get to that. Grafting the ends of the edging together was a trip, and I don't think I did a very good job of it, but I'm sure nobody will notice, since I couldn't even see it when I was through.
Then i started the next project, which is called Shetland Garden, although it's not anything like a real Shetland shawl. It's sort of a semicircle, or maybe a Faroese shape, and it's stockinette stitch, although some of the motifs have shaping on the wrong side. I was very disappointed in the pattern. The designer is the same one as the maroon shawl with the beads, but this one is very poorly written. For one glaring example, half the decreases are in the wrong direction. Grr. Even the Shetland Shawl had those in the right direction! So I will be editing the pattern as I knit it. It will be a pretty thing. It's a pale teal, a little bluer than aquamarine but a little greener than turquoise, and the patterns are nice. The designer just bound it off straight on the bottom edge, so I hope I have enough yarn to do a real edging. We'll see how it goes.
My only problem was that while I was putting together the needle to start, I suddenly realized that the wooden part of the needle tip was rotating but the metal part wasn't, and when I pulled the tip came apart. This is the fourth or fifth time such a thing has happened with this brand of needles. I forgot that I was going to call them today, but I'll try to do it tomorrow. I was distracted. So I'm using metal tips, and I hate them for lace with alpaca. They are so slippery that I have to clutch the yarn and the needles and it makes my hands hurt. I didn't do enough to have that happen today, but it will.
I was distracted by a couple of things. I have been meaning to check the car and see if I still had the warning lights I had last Friday. So after I went to the powder room, I went out to US-41 to see what I had in papers. The car is fine. The brakes might be a little mushier than they used to be, but they stop just fine, and there were no warning lights. However, there were only two papers, and they were on the ground. I need to call the paper, too.
My other distraction was the bulletin. Pastor was late getting me the information, and I wanted to get to bed sometime last night, so it was late this afternoon before I started on it. It was easier than I hoped, and it will still be easy, because the other church also has decided to have communion every Sunday. Putting the service information together is a whole lot easier, because it will be the same at both churches. I thought I was through with that when I discovered that sometime in the past (probably related to which bulletin I was using to work from), I completely screwed up the prayer list. The deletions seem to be all right, but none of the additions for the past two months had gotten in. I did what I could, but I'll have to rely on my proofreaders to check up behind me. Well, now that Lent is over, it's a much easier job, and with only one service to list, it's even easier. Somebody else is doing the calendar and the duty roster (at least for St. Paul's), so all i have to do is be the scribe again.
The weather was execrable. It was cold, windy, dark and rainy. The high temperature was only 37º. There was a strong wind from the east, with gusts as high as 27 mph. The lake has been fussing since the middle of the night. So far, we've had 1.34" of rain and it's still raining. The humidity was over 90% all day. it was dark and dismal. Yuck. Now, why I am not sore enough to not be able to move, I do not know. Tonight and tomorrow are supposed to be even worse, with freezing rain and sleet and "ice pellets." I doubt we'll get to church. I've said before that April in Keweenaw is March further south, and this just proves it. However, if I look really hard, there is a bit of green showing under the brown thatch on the ground. Oh, spring will come sometime. Maybe just not this month. Yuck.
The guys certainly felt it. They slept. Grayson slept on me as long as I would let him, and he is still sleeping inside the door of the studio. Louie got his loving this morning after I knitted, although he thought I knitted too long.
So that was my very quiet day. I even forgot to check and make sure my Social Security got deposited. I'll do that now, and then I have to wash my hair. It's a cold, dark, rainy night in the field. Yuck.
April 25 I was even later last night, but this time it was mostly that I was writing. The next episode of Trine 14 was beginning to gel and I decided it was time to get it down. As usual, it didn't come out quite the way I thought, but I just read through it, and it looks all right. Hopefully, tonight will be earlier. I have to think about what happens next. Back in the good old days, I used to write every day, and I wish I still could, but it also resulted in things like Osara, which is almost 400,000 words long. I keep looking at that, and I still can't see much to cut out, but it is unwieldy.
Anyway, I got up around 11:00 and knitted, and now I only have two repeats to go. That reminds me, I need to do a little work with the charting software. I have to figure out how to graft the ends together seamlessly, which will take some thought. That's for tomorrow. I'll try to get the chart together tonight, so I can work on it in the morning. Oh, I'm glad to be done with this thing!
The weather was nondescript. The temperature spiked up to 53º for a couple of hours, but between 2:00 and 3:00 it fell from 53º to 44º (I guess it was a wind shift), and it's been going down since. It's 39º now. The wind shifted from the south to the east, with several hours of near calm in between, but after about 11:00, it was very light. It was mostly cloudy and dull. Blah. Most of the snow is gone from the weather forecast, although they are saying ice pellets around noon on Thursday. It will probably rain for the rest of the week, and it's going to be cold, but apparently above freezing. I wish they could restrain themselves when they're doing the forecasts. We do not need any more snow, and we are not likely to have any. So there.
The guys slept. Grayson slept on me for a very long time this afternoon, since my guts were under control. Louie got his usual love-in after I finished knitting, although he actually routed me out of bed by hooking his claws in the comforter, and I had to yell at him. It wasn't that late!
So it was another very quiet and useless day. Now it's a calm, cold night in the field. And I'll be off to bed soon. Really. Trine needs to stew a while.
April 24 Oh, I read and diddled around forever last night, so I was quite late getting to bed. Maybe because of that, or maybe because it was cold in the bedroom, I slept very well and very long. I didn't get up until 11:45, and of course I knitted. Now I only have 6 more repeats to go!! I will finish this thing on Wednesday. I love these large, intricate projects, until I get down to the last part, and then I wish they were shorter. It's so pretty, though, and I'm so close to the end, that I'll just keep on plugging.
As a result of that, everything else was very late, of course, so I didn't do much of anything else. I did finally call Debbie. Her birthday was last week, and it completely slipped my mind. Oops! She has been celebrating for over a week, though, and she was on her way to dinner tonight, too, so she is getting tired of restaurant food. She has a lot of friends, and several of them have birthdays in April.
The weather was much nicer than yesterday. There was even a bit of sunshine. The high temperature just happened, though - 46º - and the wind is from the south, now with 31 mph gusts. It was mostly cloudy, but bright. Now they've pushed the snow away until next week, so maybe we can get to church on Thursday, even though it will be raining. You can see why I'm skeptical of the weather forecasts for anything more than tomorrow. Oh, and Debbie said it was 74º in Detroit. At this time of year, that would be nice, but I'm glad I'm not there in the summer.
The guys slept, of course, but they both got their loving.
So that was my truncated day. I just finished listening to most of Brahms' German Requiem, which is one o the pieces I'm sorry I never got to sing (although I think I did sing How Lovely is Thy Dwelling Place), and now all I have to is decide whether to wash my hair tonight or not. Probably not, but we'll see. I've been sweating, because it's hot in the studio, but it feels good not to have cold hands.
It's a warmish, cloudy night in the field.
April 23 Ugh. I got to bed right around 9:30, amazingly enough, but I had a terrible night last night, and I didn't get much sleep at all. I was up every hour or so and I didn't sleep much between times. I don't know why. It started raining around midnight, and apparently around 4:00, it started to snow. I woke up around 6:00, and there was over an inch of it on the deck railing and I couldn't see down the harbor, so I bailed. When I woke up at 7:30, it had stopped snowing, but there was at least 2" all over everything, so I went back to bed, and I didn't get up until 10:30. By then, most of the snow had melted away, except for on the north side of the breezeway and the garage. I was still glad I'd decided not to go. It was over freezing, so it would have been a slow, messy commute, and I don't need that, especially when I'm not sure of my brakes.
i knitted, and I'm now halfway across the fourth side. Woo-hoo!!! by Wednesday, I should be done!! I started this thing on January 9, so I've been at it for a long time.
Otherwise, I didn't do anything. Even though I was in bed (or mostly in bed) for a long time, I didn't get enough sleep, so I don't feel good. Around 7:30, I began to feel really bad, but when I had some water and after I had some food, I began to feel a bit better, at least well enough to get back to bed. With my weird body, this happens, especially when I don't get enough real sleep. I hope I get over this soon.
The weather was variable and cold. When I got up, it was clear, and there was still snow on the deck. The snow melted - I'm not sure about the garage yet - but by the time it did, it was cloudy and dull, and it stayed that way for the rest of the day. The temperature was just about steady at 33º. It was windy overnight, with gusts up to 26 mph from the northeast, but as the day wore down, the wind died and it is now calm. They are still predicting more snow this week, but I can hope they're wrong.
The guys felt good this morning, because the barometer is high, but they slept for most of the afternoon. Grayson slept on me until I wanted to type. Louie only tried to bother Grayson once, and I chased him away.
So that was a very quiet day, and I'm going to try to get to bed soon and hope I can sleep tonight. It's a dark calm night in the field.
April 22 I think it was about 11:30 when I got to bed last night. I did sleep better than the couple of nights before, but I was still wakeful, and I could only sleep on my left side after about 6;00 this morning. About the time I went up to the north end, it felt like somebody drove a knife into my right shoulder (yup, the right one), and that made for some difficulty. It wasn't too bothersome when I was lying on it, except that my whole arm ached, and by morning it was more or less back to normal again. Whatever that was, I do not know.
I didn't get up until about 11:00, so I should have had enough sleep. I knitted, of course, and today I could see and my hands were working right (not like now, when they're out of sync again), so it went smoothly, but it still takes 20-25 minutes to do one repeat.
i was late enough that I didn't do much else, although while I was cooking my dinner, I began to get the dishwasher ready to run. My dinner was late. I ate my first meal late, and I couldn't decide what I wanted tonight. I'm out of cereal bowls, so I hope I can get everything together tonight. I'll be late getting to bed, but oh, well. There's a bit of a chance I won't make it to church anyway; they're predicting snow for tomorrow morning. Oh, please!
Today, the weather was more like June or July. The high temperature was 64º. and it's still 63º. It was beautifully clear this morning, but as the afternoon wore on, it began to cloud up, and now it's completely cloudy. There was a bit of wind, especially after 3:00, with gusts up to 30 mph from the north. I don't know about that snow. it isn't supposed to be that cold, but they are predicting some for tomorrow, some for Monday and a lot for Wednesday and Thursday. Most of the time, as it came closer, they have changed their minds, and I only hope they'll do that again. We've had enough of that stuff! Hmm, I just looked at the Road Commission website, and they apparently had 2" yesterday, up at Delaware. There was a bit on the ground behind the breezeway here, but nothing like that. Well, Delaware is higher and further inland than we are here. Please, I'm tired of white!
The guys were sleepy and better behaved today, although Louie did try to get after Grayson a couple of times this afternoon. Grayson slept on me until I had to do some typing.
So it was a very quiet Saturday, and now it's a very warm, mostly cloudy evening in the field, but the snow is coming...the snow is coming...
April 21 I was in bed shortly after 10:30 last night, but after the first three hours, I didn't sleep very well again. I don't know what the problem is. Maybe it's my usual spring and fall rearrangement. As far back as I can remember, I've always had trouble sleeping in the spring and fall. I thought I was over that, but maybe I'm not.
Anyway, I got up around 9:30, so I guess I got enough sleep. I knitted and I turned the last corner. Now I only have about 5 more days' work and I'll be done with this project. Much as I like it, it will be nice to work on something new. I have two projects lined up and another that I haven't gotten the pattern for, so I guess I'll be knitting for a while. It helps, since I'm still having trouble with my eyes. Sometimes, like yesterday, they're pretty good, and sometimes, like today, I have a terrible time seeing anything clearly.
That was about all I did. I finally got the side pieces of the laundry sorter into the house, and maybe I can put it together tomorrow. I went to the post office, where there wasn't much mail, just three bills and a couple of magazines. I'm cutting back on my magazines, but there are a few that I really like and read cover to cover. Unfortunately, they're the most expensive ones. But hey, I have to have some fun.
After yesterday, today was a very nice change. It was still cloudy when I was up around 6:30, but by the time I got up, it had cleared up, and it was mostly clear and sunny all day. I just looked at the camera archive, and I'm going to have to change the start and stop times again. We now have just about 14 hours between sunrise and sunset, and the sun isn't setting until 8:50 PM. When it's as dark as it was yesterday, it doesn't matter, but today it wasn't dark when the camera cut off. And by the way, yes, I know the camera has gotten moved, but I have to be able to get over to the door to fix it.
Anyway, the weather. The high temperature was 47º. There was a nice breeze from the north, around 15 mph. The humidity got down under 50%, which is probably why I didn't hurt too much today. The snow is going away, although there's still quite a bit down by the culverts, and Lake Lily is overflowing into the road, but I think that's because the beavers have plugged up the culvert again. It isn't much of a problem, since the road is mostly built on rock, but it does mess up the car somewhat.
The guys were sleepy, of course. Grayson has (or had) a hairball, but he wasn't too pleased when I combed him. Louie wanted to sleep with me last night, but he wanted his part out of the middle, and after I started thrashing around, he finally left. While I was knitting, Grayson was lying in the patch of sunshine that hits the floor in the bathroom at this time of year.
By the way, I broke down and weighed myself again this morning, and it's holding. If I'm really serious about this weight thing, I'm going to have to get a new scale, The one I have, which was my mother's, has a dial, and I almost can't see it, especially when my eyes aren't right. Something else to add to the list on Amazon. I'm trying to decide on one that has a clear glass platform but is only 12" wide, or one that has a 14" platform but is solid black. Or maybe the one with numbers that are almost 2" high. I can't get it yet anyway, so I have time to decide.
So that was my very quiet day, and now I'll be off to the north end. They're playing "Abide With Me," which is one of the hymns they will have to sing at my funeral (if I have a funeral), since I start sobbing every time I try to sing it. It's a clear, warmer night in the field. Maybe there will be a star or two tongiht.
April 20 Well, no church tonight. Sigh. I wish we'd get over this.
I was marginally earlier last night, but I didn't sleep very well. I don't know why, because I wasn't especially sore, but i finally spent most of the night on my back, and that seemed to help. To make up for the wakefulness, I didn't get up until 10:30. I knitted, of course, and tomorrow I will turn the last corner. Woo-hoo!!
Mary Ann called before I was finished knitting, and it was clear to me that she didn't want to attempt to drive to church. The weather forecast was dire, so I agreed. I was sorry to miss, but we agreed that we didn't want to risk ending up wrapped around a tree.
So I did nothing much, because I was late. The UPS guy came while it was snowing, so now I can get deliveries to my door! Woo-hoo!
When Mary Ann called it was raining, and a "wintry mix" has been coming down all afternoon. Sometimes it was more like rain and sometimes it was more like snow. I could tell from the live cams that it was snowing all the way down to Houghton, too. So I was glad not to g out. The high temperature was at midnight, and the high during the day was 36º, briefly. It hasn't gone below freezing, though. Thank goodness for small favors. There was some wind, with gusts up to 24 mph, from the east. We've had 0.67" of rain. Of course, it was dark and dreary all day.
The guys slept, of course, although Louie kept trying to go after Grayson this afternoon. I've run out of things to throw at him.
So it was another quiet day. I was surprisingly pain-free, considering the humidity, except for my knees occasionally. I am still baffled by what causes me to be in so much pain occasionally.
Now it's a dark, rainy (or sleety) night in the field, and I'm listening to Mozart's Great Mass, and when that's over, I will crash, hopefully for a peaceful night.
April 19 it was midnight again, and I slept well, with the usual wakeups. It seems to be about the same times every night. I got up around 9:30, and I knitted, with only one row of confusion. It's coming. It's coming.
The task of the day was the bulletin, and I got that out, although I had to gather pieces from more sources than usual, and I may have missed something. I hope somebody proofreads for more than typos. Nobody has said anything, but I have a fear of leaving something out and offending somebody.
I'm happy to report that I don't feel quite as bad as I did yesterday, so I don't know what causes that, either.
The weather was yucky again, although it didn't start raining until after 7:00 this evening. When I went to bed and when I was up the first time, the fog was so thick I couldn't see anything of the Harbor, and I could only vaguely see the lighthouse. By 4;00, it was clear again. It seems like the rain pretty much ended before midnight, but it was very humid. The wind had died down, too. The high temperature during the day was only 40º, and the humidity was over 80% all day. Curiously, I didn't hurt very much, so now I don't know what it is that causes it. Evidently it's not over yet, though. There's a winter weather advisory out for all day tomorrow, which leads me to think we're not going to get to church tomorrow, although I'll wait until Mary Ann calls to make a decision.
The guys got their loving. Louie got his this morning and Grayson got to sit on my lap for a long time this afternoon. Louie is cranky again and he was after Grayson all day. I had to throw bottle caps at him and shke my stick at him this afternoon to get him to go away. I think he's been eating and barfing up plastic bags again.
So it was a very quiet day, and as soon as the Mozart is over, I'll be heading north to wash my hair. It's a dark, cold night in the field, and the snow is coming...the snow is coming...
April 18 I got to bed about midnight last night, and I slept fairly well, although I was up a lot. I got up around 9:30 and knitted my four repeats. Now I'm halfway along the third side. It just takes a while, especially when I lose my concentration and have to rip.
That was almost all I did. I had an accident, and I had a large load of other stuff from other accidents, so I washed a load of clothes , and it's ready to go in the dryer the next time I go that way.
Evidently we had a power glitch a bit after 8:00, because the fridge and the counter top oven reset themselves. I was streaming audio, and that quit, but the only other thing that happened in the studio was that the UPS beeped five times. I haven't heard any more beeps, so I guess everything is all right, and when I restarted the stream, it was fine. I thought I had my little light on, and I didn't see anything, but that doesn't mean much. Why there would be a glitch, I don't know.
The weather was not nice. It was warmer than yesterday, with a high of 42º, but there was a wind from the south with gusts up to 33 mph. And around 1:00 PM, it started to rain. So far we've had 0.73". No wonder I don't feel good. It's also been foggy.
The guys knew what to do. Grayson slept on me for a long time. Louie slept under my feet this morning, but he was ready for his love-in long before I was done knitting, so he was a pest.
And it was another quiet day. I didn't get the information for the bulletin until 5:30, and I'm just too tired to do it tonight. I'm going early, for sure. I'll just have to work hard tomorrow.
Now it's a dark, foggy, rainy night in the field, and that bed looks pretty darn good.
April 17 Well, let's see. What happened last night?
I was late getting to bed. I was just too tired to move, I guess. I slept fairly well, with the usual wakeups, and I got up around 10:00. I knitted, and I'm making progress, but it will still be a couple of weeks before I finish this thing. When I finish for the day, I sort of hold it out, and even not blocked, it's certainly pretty. Also huge. So i'll slog on.
I didn't do anything else. Monday is a day with lots of things to read, and I still don't feel very robust. I'm still on standard time, so it was almost 10:00 before i finished eating dinner. I actually wasn't hungry, but I had a nasty headache, which is usually a good sign that I need to eat something.
The weather was not very good. The high temperature was only 30², the first time in a while when it's been under freezing. What little wind there was came from the east. It was dark and gloomy until after sunset, and just generally yucky. That frequently happens here in the spring. The weather forecasters can't make up their minds whether or not we might have a little snow later in the week - on Thursday, of course - but there's a lot of time for them to change their minds.
The guys slept. They both slept under my feet while I was knitting, and Grayson got a lot of lap time this afternoon. Louie jumped up, too, but he didn't stay long. I'm not quite sure what he wants me to do, but evidently I'm not doing it. He did get some loving this morning after I stopped knitting.
So it was a very quiet day, and now I have to decide whether to wash my hair and keep my scalp in shape or go to bed after the Haydn is over. It's a dark but clearing night in the field.
April 16 - Easter Sunday Christ is risen! Alleluia! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
I actually made it into bed before 10:00 last night, amazingly enough. I slept fairly well, although I was up several times. One reason was that it was so humid that I hurt and I had to wake up to move. Unfortunately, I woke up around 6:00 and I had to pee, and I was just about back to sleep when the alarm went off. I got up, though, and I did my thing, and I left the house around 9:15.
For the second time in the last few days, the garage door closed. It closed with one tap when I got home, too. So I guess I'm back where that was several years ago, when it would close except in the cold winter weather. Sometime I hope to be able to get that fixed.
Anyway, I got to church right about 10:00, and I had some of the Easter Breakfast. It was good, although I couldn't eat everything I took. There was enough food for another 50 people, even though there were a whole lot of people who ate.
Church was good, too, although there was even more standing and sitting than usual, because most of the hymns we sang had a doxology last stanza, where we always sing, and there were nine hymns. There was communion, too. Anyway, it was a nice service.
I was exhausted when it was over. and after I got home, I did nothing for the rest of the day and half the night. I was even too tired to get up and pee and get some dinner. I finally did, much too late, but oh, well.
The weather was horrible. The fog went away by about 4:00 this morning, but it was raining when I got up this morning, and the humidity was over 90% all day long. It was dark and dismal, too. The high temperature was at midnigt, and it finally settled down at 31º for most of the afternoon. Fortunately, it wasn't under freezing when I was driving home from church. The wind was from the east, with gusts up to 15 mph. Really nasty.
The guys knew that, so they slept, except that Grayson slept on the floor in the studio and Louie kept coming in and bothering him.
So that was my nice, if quiet Easter, and now it's a cold, dark night in the field.
April 15 - Holy Saturday I don't remember why, but it was 12:30 before I got to bed. I slept fairly well, but I was up a number of times, and it was warm in the bedroom. I got up around 9:30 (?) this morning, and I knitted, of course. I misspoke yesterday - I only had two repeats to go to the corner, so I finished the second side and started the third side this morning. Now I'm half done, so I expect it will take another two weeks before I'm done with this thing. It's so pretty, but it's sooo big! It would actually make a good Christening blanket, but I don't know anybody who needs such a thing, and I probably wouldn't give it away anyway. It will block out to at least 60" square. Huge.
I ended up not doing anything else today, so I will just have to wear something I already have tomorrow. I was rather creaky, and I still don't feel very good, although better than I did Thursday night. It's going to be cold tomorrow, so maybe it's better just to wear something warm.
I've been having some problems with the computer for the past few days, and I finally think I've got the problem isolated. Or I hope I have. The cord on the front of the mouse seems to be fraying and every so often, it would stop working. So did the keyboard, but the way those things are configured, the keyboard and mouse are considered one thingie. That meant that not only did I have to reboot, I had to turn the computer off to reset it. The last couple of times, though, I got a "device down" indication, and when I fiddled the cord, it came back up. So i looped the cord around to take any strain off it and it seems to be working better. I looked at mice tonight, and it seems like most mice are cordless now, which would be good, and most of them are really cheap, which is also good. Of course, the one I really would like to have is $500, but I can manage without that... I think I also have at least one of my trackballs around somewhere, too, and I might hunt that up and see if there's a driver for it someplace out in Internet-land. That was my favorite mouse, and it still is. Otherwise, I will probably be going with a $10 cordless mouse and see how that works. I just hope it's a peripheral problem and not a motherboard problem...This computer is only 5 years old, and it's still close to the top of the line, with a Core i7 processor and goo-gobs of storage.
The weather was, um, interesting. It was very windy last night, with gusts up to 31 mph from the south, but they died down not long after midnight and it was nearly calm all day today. It had clouded up by the time I got to bed, too, and it was cloudy and gray and dismal all day long. Then, around 4:30 this afternoon, the fog rolled in. No wonder I'm creaky. The high temperature was 55º, for several hours before the fog, but it's dropped off to 47º now. Ah, April! It's supposed to be cold (under 40º) and rainy tomorrow, and that purple stuff keeps showing up in the forecast graph...although it keeps moving around and, hopefully, going away. At least, they've rethought the dire prediction for Thursday, I don't know about tomorrow afternoon to evening, because it's going to get pretty close to freezing. We can hope.
The guys told me the weather wasn't going to be good. They slept all day. Grayson got some lap time, but I kept having to move him when I had to do something. Louie got his loving this morning.
So that was my quiet Saturday, and now I'm off to the north end to get ready for tomorrow. It's a cold, foggy night in the field.
April 14 - Good Friday I made it into bed by 10:30 and I got up a bit after 10:00 this morning. I was up several times, but I mostly slept well. I got right at the shawl, and I did manage to get four repeats of the edging done, with some difficulty. There was a rather long telephone call I had to answer, and Louie was fractious, which messed with my concentration. But I persevered and now I have only four (?) repeats to go to finish the second side.
I didn't do anything. I wanted to block a shawl, but I was so late that after I had to clean up after an accident and go to the post office, there wasn't time. And besides, I still don't feel very good. I was OK until around 4:00, and then I started to feel bad again. I think I have a slight cold. I don't think it's the sinus thing, at least yet. So I will try to get to bed at a sort of reasonable hour tonight and sleep long and hard.
The weather was lovely. It was clear all day long, and the high temperature was 55º. The wind was from the south, and it was rather breezy this afternoon, with gusts up to 24 mph. Nice. It all starts to go to pot tomorrow, although that "snow" they kept talking about seems to be gone. I hope.
The guys mostly slept, although Louie drove me nutty this morning. He wanted love, and he wanted it now, and he would do almost anything to get it. He kept barfing in the bedroom, and then he bothered me. He didn't get to beat up on Grayson because he was safely out of the way, probably in the laundry room. I think possibly the kind of food he has decided he likes best was gone, but he got some good canned food. I think he's still grumpy, because he was trying to beat up on Grayson this afternoon, too. He probably has a hairball, since he's shedding like crazy and he does NOT like o be combed. Grayson got some lap time, although that was the reason I had the accident.
There was a card from Arthur today, which I was glad to see. I've been wondering about him. I'll be calling, Arthur.
The telephone call was from the propane people, and I had to complain about their bills, which are incomprehensible, so it was a long conversation. I still don't understand the bills, but maybe it's a little clearer. At least I'm still on the "keep full" list, so that's all right, and I'm not running a debit balance.
So that was my quiet day, and I'm off to the north end soon. It's a clear, warm (for April) night in the field.
April 13 - Maundy Thursday Well, I didn't make it to church. I was all set to go, and I was sitting in the powder room for a last trip when I realized that I was so tired and felt so bad that I just did not want to drive. So I didn't go. There are times these days when that 75 mile drive is just too much for me, and this was one of those times.
It isn't that I didn't get enough sleep last night. I was late getting to bed, of course, because I washed my hair, but I didn't get up until 10;00, which should have been enough sleep, and I felt fine when I got up. I knitted my four repeats, a bit more slowly than the last time, but still, I'm making progress. Then I didn't do anything but my surfing, but it wasn't until I got up to try to do something that I realized that I was so tired that it wasn't going to happen. Sigh.
The weather was nice, or I think it was. The high temperature was 51º and there wasn't much wind. It was clear or almost clear all day. I need to reset the start and stop times of the camera again. The days are getting longer at 3¼ minutes a day, which is about 23 minutes a week. Oh, how I love to see that! I also really need to get to the other side of the studio, because somebody (ahem!) jostled the camera yesterday and it now shows more of the wall than I like. Well, maybe this weekend.
The guys were sleepy. Grayson got some lap time and Louie got some loving this morning. Grayson wanted some of my hamburger tonight, but he didn't get any.
Oh, and the reason why yesterday's journal didn't get posted was not that I forgot or didn't write it. PastyNet was having some sort of problem that made it impossible for me to upload it. It's out there now, and it's quite a bit longer than this entry.
Geez, my right and left hands are completely out of sync, which is another good sign that i need to crash. So I will. It's a clear, warmish night in the field.
April 12 Ooh, this has been quite a day, and I'm tired.
I got to bed about 12:30 last night, which was surprising. I slept well, but that execrable robocall I've been getting started at 8:15 this morning, and I was not ready to wake up. And again at 8:45, and again at 9:45 and then a fourth time at about 11:30. Grr...
Anyway, after the second call (I don't answer phone calls when I'm in bed, unless I'm expecting one), I went back to sleep, and I didn't wake up again until 11:15. That was nice, except it was too late to knit, so I didn't do that. I had time to read my email and do my surfing before I left, although I was almost late because I was trying to report the robocall and it wouldn't submit. I'll try again tomorrow.
I made it to the dentist in time, but my hygienist was running late (I've never known one who was on time), so I sat and knitted on the sock, which I haven't done in a long time. A very nice young man was kind enough to hand me the stuff I had to sign and take it back to the desk. People up here are so nice! It turned out that the reason Holly was late is that they are computerizing all their records, and that meant that she had to dictate the exact condition of each one of my 28 teeth to an assistant, and that takes time. She is a lovely woman, too, and she is a Lutheran Christian whose father (who passed last year) was a pastor. Anyway, we had a nice conversation while she was scraping down my teeth. She is very gentle, though, so I don't have any residual pain.
So it was a good time to eat when I finally got out, and I went and did. Oh, yum! Bambu is so good, and I had Chinese comfort food (lo mein). I couldn't eat all of it, so I brought the rest home and I just finished having a snack. Oh, yum! It's probably just as well that I'm so far away, or I'd be over there once or twice a week. I just love Chinese food, and theirs is soooo good!
I got to church around 6:15, to find Steve cleaning the paving in the parking lot. He's the congregation president, but he does almost everything. He was cleaning up the sand and other stuff that had gotten on the blacktop over the winter with a tool I've never seen before, but they assure me is a common one up here, to sweep up the sand and stuff that gets on driveways and sidewalks. It's a gas powered thingie that looks like a rubber roller and does a really good job, even on things like pine needles and tree buds.
This is the first time I've been to a regular voter's meeting at St. Paul's, and I may have to try to go to more. It answered a whole lot of my questions about the workings of the church. We seem to average between 50 and 60 people at Sunday services, and the budget is very modest, compared to Christ the King. Most things that need to be done are done by parishoners.
There were two big issues on the agenda for tonight. One was that the carpeting in the sanctuary is in dire need of replacement. I knew it was old and pretty grungy, but I didn't know that it was last replaced in 1979! The carpeting in your house would need replacing after that long! There is now a committee to pick the color, and they were still arguing about that when I left. Apparently green is not an "in" color right now, and there's not much of a choice. The sample that was a nice color is sort of striped, and I'm not sure it's suitable for a church. Oh, well. They'll come up with something.
The other issue was to change the frequency of communion to every week, and there wasn't any problem with that, so we will try it out until fall and see how it works. That was what we were studying in Bible Study over the winter, and nobody has any problem with it. Some of us will go to communion as often as it's offered, and it has definite advantages for people who, for one reason or another, can't get to church every week.
Anyway, there were some other, not as important things, so I actually didn't leave until 8:55, which is later than we were last night at choir practice. I couldn't find Jupiter on the way home, but that turned out to be because I wasn't looking high enough up in the sky.
It was a very nice day, if not very warm. The high temperature here was only 46º, although it was over 50º in town. There wasn't much wind. It was clear or nearly clear all day, and if I had to drive 100 miles, it was a good day for it.
I guess the guys slept. Grayson greeted me when I got home, and he looked happy to see me, not sour. I haven't seen Louie yet.
Oh, and when I got home, I discovered that the garage door seems like it will go down by itself now, so maybe I can close it when I leave. I'll try that tomorrow. Then eventually I can get all the light bulbs replaced so I can see where I'm going when I come in at night. Being a happy householder is sometimes very frustrating.
So now it's a cool, clear (I think) night in the field, and I have to wash my hair again. I'm tired.
April 11 So I was very late last night, of course. I slept well, though, with just two wakeups, and I got up around 10:00. I knitted my four repeats, and I'm now halfway across the second side. I'm knitting a bit faster now, although I did get a bit confused on one row today, and I think it only took me about an hour and a half to do my four repeats. Don't quote me, though. It will probably take longer tomorrow.
I didn't do anything except for my surfing, and we were off to choir practice, which was at 7:00. It was a good practice, and we spent an especially long time on the song for Thursday, which was good. I got home around 9:00.
On my way out, I was startled to see a flock of turkeys on our road across from my neighbor's lots. I know Ron has seen them before, but I never had. There were at least half a dozen of them, all sizes, and they looked like they were molting. They moved off the road, but on the way home tonight, I almost ran over a grouse that was standing in the middle of US-41 just south of Phoenix. Those are the stupidest birds I've ever seen!
The weather was not as dire as the predictions. It was cold; the high temperature was only 36º, and it was fairly windy in the morning. The wind was from the east until around 4:00, when it abruptly shifted to the north. It was cloudy all day, but not very dark. I was curious, because when I looked at radar around 4:00, it showed snow over most of the peninsula, but there was nothing coming down. It must have been up in the air someplace. I guess there was snow at Marquette and maybe some other places, but the Keweenaw didn't get any.
The guys slept, of course. Grayson got a lot of lap time. They got some good stuff for breakfast this morning, and Grayson actually jumped up on the counter while I was filling the bowls. But then, he's a little snot anyway.
So that was another quiet day, and it's late again. It's a cold, sort of cloudy night in the field.
April 10 I was in bed by 10:30 again last night, and I was up several times, although I slept better than the night before. I got up around 8:00, and I knitted my four repeats. It gets easier and faster the more I do. By the time I'm done, I'll have it down really well. Dealing with the bulk and the long needle is hard. I spliced in a new ball of yarn, but it looks like I won't need the other ball. That's all right - it's enough for a nice scarf, and I have a couple of scarf patterns that will be very pretty in this yarn.
The tasks of the day were to finish up the bulletin for next Sunday, which is done, get the dishwasher ready to run, which is nearly done, and make a bunch of phone calls, which are also done. Nothing major. I washed up the pans that were in the sink and put another one to soak, so now all I have to do is add my dinner dishes and it's good to go. I wanted to wait to finish the Sunday bulletin until today, because the list of Easter lilies for church wasn't complete until yesterday, and I wanted to make sure it got into the bulletin correctly. There were so few that I got one, too, even though it will stretch my budget. I don't want the thing - Grayson would probably try to eat it - but I like to see the lilies in church on Easter.
I need to wash my hair tonight. This is going to be a very busy week. There is choir tomorrow night, the dentist on Wednesday, and church on Thursday. I think I'm going to skip Friday. I will have to wash my hair again on. Wednesday after I get home. I hope to eat at Bambu. The only thing that makes it doable, from my perspective, is that everything is in either late afternoon or evening, so I can sleep in the mornings.
The weather wasn't good. It was so cloudy last night that the almost full moon hardly made any difference, and between 2:00 and 5:00, we had 0.13" of rain. I was up once during that, and it was raining hard. The humidity went down a bit after it got light, but I hurt all day, and I was particularly in pain when I got up this morning. The high temperature for the day was 38º, at 6:00. It was actually warmer at midnight, but I ignore that. It didn't rain any more, and the snow they were predicting fizzled, as I was pretty sure it would. It was windy. The lake was fussing overnight, and during the day, the wind got up to 30 mph gusts from the northeast. It was dark and gloomy all day.
The guys slept. They both got some lap time this afternoon.
So that was my quiet day, and I won't be up too much longer tonight. It's a dark, gloomy night in the field, again.
April 9 - Palm Sunday It was 10:30 again last night. I didn't loiter and i moved as fast as I could, but it was still later than I wanted to be. And I was up any number of times during the night. I hurt, and I'm not quite sure why. I thought it was the humidity, but that wasn't very high overnight, but the barometer was fairly low. Maybe that was it.
I got up when the alarm went off at 7:00, but I really didn't want to. I did my morning thing, and I was quite surprised to find that it was only 9:15 when I backed the car out of the garage. So I was moving efficiently after all.
Church was nice, with communion and another good sermon, but I was moving slow and I hurt all over, so I was glad to be able to come right home and sit quietly and read for the rest of the afternoon.
The weather was warmish but cloudy and dull. The high temperature here was 54º, and that was at 9:00 this morning. IT was in the 50s all day, though, and it was warmer in town. There was no wind to speak of for most of the day. The barometer has been going down and the humidity has been going up, though, which is too bad. I guess it's going to rain and maybe even snow over the next couple of days, although even if it does, it won't accumulate. Geez, I thought we were over that. Radar has been showing rain over us for a while, but it hasn't been hitting the ground.
The guys knew it wasn't going to be good, and they were both socked out in the window seat when I left this morning. I brought some palms home for Grayson, and he is already gnawing on them. He slept on my lap this afternoon as much as I'd let him.
I forgot to mention that Friday morning when I was in the bathroom and looking out the window, a movement caught the corner of my eye, and when I looked more closely, there was a coyote ambling through the north side of my property. It looked sort of ratty - it's shedding - but it didn't look thin or weak. Humph. I know they're around, but I wish they'd stay out of here. And this evening when I went to get my dinner, I noticed Grayson sitting on the dining room table staring out the doors, and when I looked, there was a deer down by the shore, staring back at us. When I went on into the kitchen, it moved off and I saw it trying to find something to eat down by the cliff edge. It looked pretty good, too. So the critters are moving.
Now it's a dark, gloomy night in the field, but it's still quite warm, and I'm off to bed.
April 8 I was in bed by 10:30 last night, and I slept well, in spite of some worrisome thoughts I had while i was sitting in the bathroom. I was up around 7:30, but that didn't seem to be enough sleep, so I went back to bed and I got up around 9:30. Ah! That was better.
I knitted my four repeats, and I turned the first corner. I did have a few problems, where my fingers didn't seem to be working right, but nothing major.
That was all I did, actually. I did my surfing, and then I just sat, alternating reading and playing games.
The weather was nice, and I should have at least stuck my head out a door, but I didn't. The high temperature actually got up to 60º, briefly. The wind started out from the southwest, but it shifted around to the south and picked up after about 2:00, and it's been gusting up to 30 mph. The day started out clear, but it began to cloud up after about 2:00, and it's quite cloudy now. The humidity was very low - down to around 25%, although it's rising now - and I kept wondering why I hurt so much. Who knows? I guess we may get some rain tomorrow.
The guys were sleepy, and Grayson slept on me as much as I'd let him. I guess that means the barometer is dropping. They are shedding like crazy.
So that was a quiet, useless day, and now it's a warm, windy night in the field.
April 7 Well, this was a busy day for me, and I'm tired.
I got to bed around midnight, I think, and I slept well until around 4:00 AM. I woke up so sore I could hardly move, and I was up every hour and a half after that. I finally got up around 9:30. I was planning my day - no knitting this morning - when the repair shop called with the damage report - more than I hoped, but hey, I have to have brakes!
I left the house around 11:15, I think, and I now have my own wheels back. It's a relief. Once I started home, I realized that one of the things I like least about that Traverse is that visibility from the driver's seat is terrible. You're sitting very low - the bottom of the side windows is at or above shoulder level for me, and I'm tall - and all the windows are little. There are absolutely terrible blind spots on both sides of the back, no matter where you put the mirrors. Not the best design. My old crate has big windows and the only thing that hinders my view behind is the broken hinges on the side windows. I am going to break dawn and tape those up with duct tape pretty soon. i had to stop and get gas on the way home, so I've bought a lot of gas in the past few weeks, both for my vehicle and for the loaners.
I stopped at the post office to get my mail and had a nice conversation with Ron, and I got home shortly after 2:00. I was in the powder room looking at my mail when the Schwan's guy called, and since I missed the call (I don't answer the phone - if i could - when I'm in bed and when I'm in the powder room) so I couldn't tell him that the road is open, so I had to go and meet him, but that was all right, and now I have some stuff to eat again. I think I have things figured out so that I don't have to buy all the meat every two weeks, and sometimes I can go a month without ordering. I have to say, though, that now I have such a variety of chicken and fish that I don't have to eat the same thing every week, and that's nice. And I realized that the small portions (compared to what I was used to) are one reason I lost all that weight and I'm keeping it off.
The weather was nice. It was warmer than yesterday and more cloudy. The high temperature was 43º, and there was a moderate north wind, up to about 14 mph, although lately it's dropped to nothing. It was clear all night and when I got up, but before I left the house it was beginning to cloud up a bit. The clouds weren't thick, but those lovely blue skies were gone and when I came down the hill, the lake was gray. When I was up around 3:30 this morning, the gibbous moon was shining brightly high in the west with a wonderful glitter trail on the harbor. So pretty! Tomorrow and Sunday are supposed to be extraordinarily warm before it cools off next week, and the "S" word is in the forecast for Tuesday night. I'll believe that when I see it.
The guys were sleepy, as far as I can determine. Grayson was acting out, because I didn't do what he wanted me to, and when he finally did lie down in his spot in the studio, Louie kept coming after him. Too bad about them.
When I got home - it's a 100 mile drive, after all - I was tired, and I'm even more tired now, so I will go to bed as soon as the Haydn is over. It's a cloudy, warmish night in the field.
April 6 I wasn't quite as late last night, but it was 1:00 before I turned out the light. I slept well, with a couple of wakeups, but starting at 9:00 this morning, I got robo-calls from the same number at 9:00, 9:45 and 11:30. This is driving me nutty. I got up after the second call, and I knitted one repeat of the edging, but it was quite clear to me that I had not had enough sleep, so I went back to bed. I didn't really sleep, but I felt better when I got up the second time. I knitted the other three repeats, but it takes me half an hour to do one repeat, and I don't see getting that time down to much less, so the border is going to be a long process.
I didn't do very much else except for my surfing. I got a call from the place doing my welding, and it was ready. Then I got a call from the repair shop, and as we were all pretty sure, the problem was a rusted brake line. I guess it's ready now, so I have to go down and get it tomorrow and try to get back here before my Schwan's order comes. I don't think I'll be able to do any knitting, because It's 11:00 now and I have this to do and I have to get ready for bed. Maybe I can avoid zoning out, though.
I picked up Mary Ann and we went down to Calumet, and the side pieces of my laundry sorter look like new. I didn't see the table, but I'm sure it's fine - all for $15! It's all still in the car, though, so I will have to get it out before I leave tomorrow.
There weren't any men in choir (we only have two). Both our men are sick, but hopefully they will be better by Sunday. We sang through everything for next week. Bible study was good, too, because we are looking at some of our favorite hymns and how well they reflect our beliefs. It's going to be nice, and we sang some of them, too. However, it was long. I didn't get home until almost 10:00.
The weather was cool but lovely. The high temperature was only 39º and there was a brisk north wind, with gusts up to 27 mph. I could hear that the lake was fussing all night long. It was clear and blue all day long, with plenty of nice, warm sunshine. I just realized I'm going to have to reset the camera start and stop times again, because the sun isn't setting until almost 8:30 and the days are over 13 hours long now. Yay!! Spring IS coming!!
The guys were sleepy, of course. When I went into the bedroom last night, Louie was quite comfortable more in the center of the bed than I like him to be, so I had to move around to accommodate him. This morning, I brushed both of them, and they are shedding like crazy. So spring is coming, whether the weather thinks so or not.
Actually, the weekend is supposed to be quite warm, with temps that may even get close to 60º. I guess I can stand that. And it doesn't look like we're going to get a Holy Week blizzard, either.
So that's all I know. It's a clear, warmish night in the field, and all the way home, Jupiter was shining clear and bright in the east to guide us.
April 5 I was ridiculously late last night. I think I was so tired I just didn't want to move, either here in the studio or in the bathroom. I slept well - I was asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow - with two wakeups, and I got up around 10:00. That wasn't nearly enough sleep, so I'll be going up to the north end as soon as this hour of music is over - there's a Mozart symphony and a Beethoven piano sonata, and I can't miss those.
I actually knitted tour repeats of the edging today, but it took me two hours. That's about right. There are 340 stitches in each repeat, plus turns and things, so it seems I'm getting back to about the same speed I had on the border. I only have six more repeats to go on the first side. It's clear, though, that I won't be done by Easter, so I guess I'll have to block the lavender shawl, or maybe the old one that has a pastel rainbow yarn? Or maybe both?
I didn't do much of anything. I didn't hear from the repair shop, but then, I have adequate transportation, so I suppose they aren't in any hurry to get my car back to me. I'm not either. I'm dreading hearing what's wrong and how much it will cost.
The weather was pretty nice, but cooler than yesterday. The high temperature was 43º, briefly, at 10:00, and ti was in the upper 30s for most of the afternoon. That was when the wind shifted from southwest to north, in the middle teens. It was very clear when I got up, but soon the same sort of high, wispy clouds there were yesterday came in. That meant the camera shots looked rather drab, but there was some sunshine.
The guys were their usual sleepy selves. There was some wrestling while I was in the bathroom, but Grayson really didn't want to play today, so he camped out under my legs, and Louie knows better than to attack him there. He gets swatted, sometimes very hard, when he does.
So that was it. I will read through the Mozart and Beethoven and then I will go and wash my hair. It's a sort of cloudy, not very cold night in the field.
April 4 Ooh, ugh! What a day!
Again I was later than I hoped to be last night. I went up to the north end at a very reasonable hour, but I zoned out in the bathroom, and then I wanted to wash my hair, so it was around midnight when I turned out the light. I was up about every two hours, and I got up when the phone rang at 9:30. I wish there was some way to turn off those robo-calls! I don't answer them, but they annoy me a lot, especially when they wake me up. Grr.
I knitted three repeats of the edging, but it took a long time. I keep hoping I can increase my speed, but thanks in part to Louie, I lost my concentration on the third repeat and had to rip a bit.
Then I had to take the laundry sorter completely to pieces. I didn't see any reason to take the whole bottom, when there are only the side pieces that are broken. The crosswise parts screw together. It would have been better if they'd done that with the side braces, too. I did it, but I had to find a place to sit to do it. Then I had to load the pieces and the table into the car, so it was around 2:30 when I started off, I think.
I found the place I thought I was going to, but then I discovered that in no way could I get inside. Those old buildings in this area have steps that are much higher than are code now, and there were no handles or railings to hang onto. So I beat on the door until somebody heard me and came and opened it. They sent out a guy to see what I wanted, but when he saw my little tasks, he decided he didn't want to be bothered, so he foisted me off onto another place that does welding. Thankfully, they will do it, so I left them with all the parts and went on my way. I only think I remember the name, if I have to call them.
I had to stop by the post office drive-by box to mail some stuff, and then I went on to Pat's. Or I thought I was going on to Pat's. As I turned town the aisle where I wanted to park, first I had to mash the brake pedal to get the brakes to engage - and then the pedal went almost all the way to the floor! Oh no! I managed to get into a parking place and settled my heart back in place and considered the situation. I still had a bit of stopping power, but I didn't know how long it would last, so I didn't really want to drive home like that.
Then I remembered that I had my cell phone with me, and my planner, with all my phone numbers in it, so i put in a call to the dealership where I have gotten most of my work done. I told them the problem and said I would be there in a while - I was planning on being cautious - and I would need a loner.
With great trepidation, I got out of the parking lot and back onto US-41, but I made it without losing all my brakes (I've had that happen, too). So I laid on them all my front end problems (there are several) but I told them that I don't have any money, which is true, so they will have to tell me what they find and I'll have to choose what to repair right now. When I stopped the car in their nice garage, we could all see that there was something leaking back around the back axel, so we think that what has happened is that I blew a brake line. i'm actually not surprised. Those things do eventually go. What I don't know yet is what the other brake problems I've been having are all about. More tomorrow, probably.
So I left the dealership in a brand new Chevy Traverse, the same kind of car I had last year when the transmission went. I have some problems getting into and out of it, but not as much as I did that Ford, and not as much as I would have getting into a pickup. This thing had only about 349 miles on it when I got it! That is one reason why i keep going back to that dealership. They may not be the cheapest repair shop around here, but they have been very good to me.
Of course, I had to get gas, and I still had to get food. So I went back to Pat's and I did a lot of damage, but I was out of a lot of stuff, including cat food. Hey, the guys have to eat! And I want to give them what they like.
I think I got home around 5:30. A lot of the stuff is still out in the breezeway, but I did finally get all the cold stuff in and and in the fridge. Then I came into the studio and I just sat and listened to the music. Tonight's program has been a really nice one. I didn't eat until around 11:30, but I had a lovely piece of fresh whitefish and some Bibb lettuce for a change. Yum.
The one thing good was that the weather was nice. it was extremely humid and foggy overnight, but the fog had lifted by the time I got up, and the humidity went down for most of the afternoon, thankfully. I don't know what I would have done if it had been as damp as it was this morning. The high temperature here was 46º, but it was warmer in town. There was a bit of a breeze, up to 15 mph from the north. While it wasn't really clear, tor most of the afternoon the clouds were light enough that there was sunshine. It was nice to be out. Oh, if this will only last...
The guys were not happy that I left them. Louie wanted to sit on me or chew my plastic bags, and when I chased him away, he went after Grayson, of course. So he is not in good odor this evening. Grayson was glad to see me, but he didn't try to sit on me. I kind of think he knows I brought him some good stuff to eat, but I wouldn't give him any until tomorrow anyway.
So that was my not very good day. And there, probably, goes most of the money I had begun saving for my taxes. Well, I have to have a car, and I can't afford a new (or newer) one, so I will just have to cope. At least I didn't run into anything! Now it's a dark, chilly night in the field and I think I'm calmed down enough to sleep. At least I'm awfully tired.
April 3 I was later than I hoped last night, but I was in bed by 11:00, I think. I was up several times, but in between I slept hard. I got up around 10:00, so I should have felt better, but I didn't.
I knitted, and I got three repeats done. By the last one, I was going a little faster, but I hope that as I get more used to the pattern it will go a lot faster or I'll be working on this thing for another month, and I hope not to do that. I'm not sure what the problems is; it's not that hard. It just seems to take a long time.
That was about all I did. I was too late and I felt too cruddy to go to town, so it will have to be tomorrow, for sure.
The weather started out cloudy and dull, but warm, and it's ending up foggy. The high temperature, 48º. was at 1:00 PM, and it has gone down slowly from there. There wasn't much, if any, wind. i was waiting for the fog, because when I looked at the Keweenaw Web Cams page (http://www.pasty.com/bridge/bridge_picture.asp) in the middle of the afternoon, it was foggy at Sunset Bay and at Eagle Harbor (http://www.eagleharborcam.com/). Now, I notice that Sunset Bay is fog-free, so it's been moving north and east. Not the nicest weather, but pretty typical for spring, if it really is spring.
The guys reacted as usual - they slept. They felt pretty good this morning, for some reason.
So it was another quiet day, and now it's a dark, dull, foggy night in the field.
April 2 I managed to get to bed by 10:00 last night, but I didn't sleep very well. Strange how that frequently happens on Saturdays, and I don't know why. Anyway, I got up when the alarm went off. I didn't want to, because I had just been up at 6:00 - too early - and I was just about getting back to sleep, but I did it anyway.
I made it to church just a few minutes after 10:00, and then I discovered that Deanna had gotten sick (or was it one of the kids - I couldn't hear Joe very well, so I'm not sure) so I was by myself. That wasn't bad for greeting, but I had to ask for help from another Altar Guild member, because of those steps into the sacristy. There wasn't communion, so there wasn't much too it.
i was going to shop today, but I buttonholed Pastor on the way out, and after I stood up for over half an hour, I was so tired and sore that I just came home. I have to go down to get my welding done, either tomorrow or Tuesday, so I have another chance, and most of what I need wasn't stuff I need right away anyway.
I didn't do anything but read for the rest of the afternoon. One of these days I'll have to start writing again, but I'm still thinking about some of the scenes in Trine 14, so it may be a few days. This is the week I have to put together all the bulletins for next week, too, and that will take time.
The weather was surprisingly nice. It was cloudy to partly cloudy all day, but the high temperature was 54º, briefly, and it was in the low 50s for most of the afternoon, with mostly light winds and humidity in the low 50s. Nice. Now, if it will only last...The snow they were predicting for Thursday (and the rain) is now gone, although they claim it's raining now. I don't know; I haven't looked outside, but I kinda doubt it, since the humidity is still around 50%.
The guys were sleepy, of course. Grayson got some lap time, but it was warm enough in here that he didn't want to stay long.
So that was my quiet day, and now it's a dark, cloudy and possibly rainy night in the field. And I'm off to bed.
April 1 So FrontPage pulled an April Fool's joke on me, and this is the second attempt. I'm going to be late tonight.
So March is finally over at last! It actually wasn't all that bad - we only had 19" of snow, but there was all that ice - but it seemed endless to me.
I think I got to bed around 11:30 last night. I slept well until around 4:30, when I started to hurt. I got up before 9:00, and I got right at the knitting, but it's still going very slowly, and I only got three repeats done. I hope that as I get the pattern into my fingers, it will go faster. i still have 76 repeats to go...
Other than that, I did nothing. I don't feel very robust today. I washed dishes overnight, but I only took out what I needed to use. After I did my surfing, I just sat and played games, mostly. I read through the end of Trine 14 and I think I know where it's going, but I didn't want to start writing, because I have to go to bed tonight.
The weather wasn't bad. The high temperature, 45º, happened at or before 4:00 this morning, and it's been going down very slowly ever since, to 37º now. There was a bit of wind this morning, but it's calm now. It was mostly cloudy, but bright, and there was a bit of sunshine every so often. The ice is back at this end of the harbor, and it's very thin. It's moving around depending upon the wind. Maybe it will go away soon?
When I went ot bed last night, it was clear, and there was a nice crescent moon hanging over Porter's Island, so pretty! I don't think we'll see that tonight.
The guys slept. Grayson slept on me until I had to shoo him away when I started reading, because I was editing at the same time, and I can't type with a cat on my lap. Louie got his love-in this morning, as usual.
So that was another quiet day, and now it's a warmish, cloudy night in the field.
Last updated 04/01/18 10:47 PM |