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A View From the Field |
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October, 2017 October 31 - The 500th Anniversary of the Reformation I do not acknowledge Halloween. I think it's stupid and I did when I was four. Today is the 500th anniversary of the day Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the castle church in Wittenberg and gave the Gospel back to the people. That's what's important about this day.
I did my usual thing with washing my hair last night, so it was stupidly late when I got to be bed. I slept well, mostly, but I didn't get up until 1:30. When I did, there was a cat in bed with me, and when I sat up, I discovered it was Grayson. He was behind my legs, but he moved, and when I came out of the bathroom, he was curled up in the comforter, sound asleep and looking so comfy! I was so late that I didn't knit.
When I started going through my emails, there was one from Kathleen saying she was going to be available on Thursday and she would like to move choir practice back to that day. Yay!! Mary Ann and I really wanted to to to Bible Study, since we're studying Martin Luther, and I didn't want to have to drive down twice. Besides, it was a bit snowy today and I didn't know what we might find on our trip south. So I didn't have to go out tonight, and I was grateful.
I was so late that I didn't do anything else, though.
The weather was rather mixed. I don't think the temperature got out of the middle 30s and it's now under freezing. I fear for my geranium. There was actually a bit of sunshine, but there was also a bit of snow, so it was a very mixed day. There was enough wind that there were some breakers in the channel. I hope they can get our weather station fixed soon.
The guys were sleepy. Grayson got some lap time and Louie got some loving. When I was getting ready for my bath last night, Grayson was all full of beans, and he was jumping around and messing up the rugs. I don't know why he would feel so good at that hour of the morning, and neither did Louie, who looked at him like he was nutty.
So it was a quiet, truncated day, and today I'm going to bed early and try to get my schedule rearranged. It's a cloudy, cold night in the field.
October 30 Well, I was ridiculously late last night - or this morning. I was just too tired to move, until I started to fall asleep right where I was and I finally went to bed. I slept very well, of course, and I got up around 10:30. I knitted two rows, and I'm now starting the last pattern, which is 56 rows long, so I'll be at it for a while.
I didn't do a whole lot. I've been meaning to hard boil some eggs for a while now, and I decided that was what I wanted for breakfast (or brunch or lunch or whatever it was), so while that was going on, I loaded the dishwasher. I still have some things to add, but it will go tonight. I also had to wash a load of bottoms. I had two (!) accidents last night, so I had a lot of nasty stuff to wash. It should be dried by now. i have to wash my hair, because choir is tomorrow this week. It's a good thing that's in the evening, so I can sleep as long as necessary in the morning.
The weather was not nice. it was dark and cloudy and rainy all day, and I don't think the temperature got much over 40º. Still no weather station, and it was so dark, I couldn't see my thermometer readout. Not nice.
The guys were very sleepy. Grayson slept on me for as long as I'd let him, and while Louie slept in the great room for a while, he's gone now. I expect to find him in the bathroom, which is nice and warm.
So that was my day, and now it's a dark, probably rainy (if not snowy) night in the field.
October 29 It was a church sort of day today.
I got to bed about 9:30 last night, right when I wanted to, and I slept well. The alarm went off at 6:00, which was not when I wanted it to, but when I reset the clock, I forgot I was getting up at 6:30 on Sundays. It was just as well, because I ended up not getting away until around 9:15 anyway. I'm not quite sure why, now, but i guess I spent too much time doing nothing before I started to get ready.
I wanted to be early, because we decided we needed to go over our song before church, and we did. Church was great. We used Divine Service 5, which is a form of the Deutsche Messe that Martin Luther put together in 1528. There were at least 12 hymns that we were supposed to sing, but Pastor forgot that the Hymn of the Day (A Mighty Fortress, of course) came before the Gospel, so we didn't get the Gospel or the Creedal hymn. Well, every pastor I've ever had has screwed up at least one service, so we all forgave him. Anyway, that was only one hymn, so we sang a lot and I was hoarse after it was over. Pastor's sermon was a wonderful one, too, and since he preached on the First Reading (from Revelation) it didn't matter.
After church, I had to do some food shopping. i wasn't out of everything, but I was running out of JD and I wouldn't be able to make it through the week on the lettuce I had on hand, so I went. I didn't do as much damage as I thought I might. I have been obsessed with beans and rice lately. I have some wonderful mixed beans that I want to make, but I had gotten a couple of packages of beans and rice - one red beans in a New Orleans recipe and one black beans in a Cuban recipe - and I wanted more, as well as the interesting mixtures Bird's Eye is putting out frozen. Oh, and eggs and bread and a few other things, including cough medicine. So I trundled off to Pat's and did my shopping and I was gratified that I didn't spend more. I even got ground beef for my Thursday hamburgers and a lamb chop. I had decided not to get any more fish, and it was a good thing - they didn't have any whitefish today. Anyway, I now have a lot of good things to eat for the next couple of weeks, and Schwan's will be delivering next Friday, so I'm set for quite a while.
That took me until about 1:30, so I went back to church with my sandwich and lemonade. I guess I didn't mention that our organists decided to have a recital today, to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Reformation (which is actually Tuesday, of course). I wasn't sure I would make it, but I love organ music so much, and I wanted to support our organists, that I decided to stay. I ate my sandwich and knitted a bit before I went into church.
The recital was lovely. There wasn't as much Bach as I would have liked, but they played a nice selection of pieces from the past 150 years, with one Buxtehude and one J. S. Bach. The only casualty that I heard was that while Kathleen was playing a wonderful pedal line, one of the ranks (the crumhorn) cut out. That's the problem with playing an old organ, but she compensated very nicely. I wouldn't say either she or Jan is worthy of having a CD, but they are both excellent players, especially for such a small population as we have in this area. We are so fortunate to have two fine organists. Pastor says there are churches further south in Wisconsin, at least, where it's impossible to find even one passable organist. We treasure them. Well, we who know better treasure them. Probably most of our congregations think that's how things are supposed to be. It's only sad that it isn't anymore. Church without an organ is like a day without sunshine.
After the recital, there was food, of course. You can't get Lutherans together for something special like that without there being food. It was a sort of odd mix today, but there were a lot of pasta salads, so I was a happy camper. Sometimes I think I could live on pasta salads. Oh, and I brought home two of the best brownies I've had in a very long time. I think we probably had 60 or 70 people, which is a pretty big crowd for an event like that around here.
I didn't get home until after 6:00. I put the meat and the frozen stuff away and put the rest of it on the platform, but then I just sat...and sat...and sat. I am sore. Finally, around midnight, I finally got the rest of the food in and put away.
Part of my problem was that the pews in our church are simply not meant to sit in for an hour and a half. They were small to begin with, and both the seats and the backs were upholstered, which means that everyone bigger than a child feels like they are perched on the edges, and the small people find that while the seats are all right, their feet won't hit the floor. I guess it's better than sitting on a hard wood pew, but I'm not sure of that. My first church didn't have upholstered seats (although they did upholster the kneelers, which no other Lutheran church I've been in since has had). These pews were too small to begin with, and with the upholstery, they are miniscule. I was twitching before the recital was over. My hip has been feeling pretty good, but now my back (over and to the left of my hip) has been bad. If it's not one joint it's another...
The weather was yucky. There was about a quarter inch of snow on my deck this morning, although it did dry up later in the day. I wasn't aware until today that apparently on Friday, Calumet, Laurium, Mohawk and Phoenix got about 8" of wet, heavy snow, which is still on the ground. It did a number on the trees that survived the blow of Tuesday, and it wasn't pretty. The roads were all right, and our parking lot and Pat's parking lot was OK, but the gas station wasn't. I don't think much fell today, but the temperature was in the upper 30s and lower 40s and it was very humid. There was some wind, but it was from the southwest. We still don't have a weather station, and it may be until later in the week that we do. There were a few rays of sunshine while I was driving to church this morning but most of the day was cloudy and dull. Yuck.
I don't think the guys were very happy that I was away for more then 9 hours today, but they were happy to see me. I imagine they slept, but they do that when I'm here. They were around all the time I was moving groceries, and they were chasing each other around for a while. Grayson ate all the new food I gave them, and he has been telling me he wants more, but he won't get any until tomorrow.
Now it's very late and I'm very tired, but my tail still hurts. I expect to sleep hard and long. Now it's a cold, dark night in the field, and it's time - past time - to go to bed. That's about all I can say tonight.
October 28 It was around 12:30 when I got to bed last night. When I got up this morning, about 10:30, it was snowing. I mean, wet, heavy snow was coming down rather hard. Thankfully, that didn't last long and there was no accumulation, but still.
I knitted four rows and finished the horseshoes (at least for the time being - I have another set at the end). No matter how hard I try, I just can't do one row faster than in about half an hour, so the rest of this thing is going to go slowly.
I was late enough that I didn't do anything, especially after I got into the powder room and read a couple of the catalogs that came yesterday. There was no rush, because the internet was down again and I was running on generator power, which I didn't discover until I got to the kitchen. I think it started around 1:30 AM or so. The power didn't come up until around 1:30 PM, and the internet didn't come back until at least 2:00.
After I did my surfing, I paid some bills, so now I don't have any money again, but I'm almost square with the world for a month.
The NWS weather station is still down and may be down for the rest of the week. According to the nice man I'm corresponding with, the problem is that somebody cut the phone line and they have to get ATT to fix it, and ATT doesn't think they can get here until late next week. Humph. I thought the government would have more clout than that even with ATT. Shows what I know. So all I know now is that the temperature here was around 36º all day. It was quite windy overnight and through the morning, but the lake is settling down again now, so I guess the wind is dying down. It was from the east, I think, where I can't feel much of it. It was dark and cloudy for most of the day, but at very rare intervals, it was possible to see a small patch of blue sky and even a ray of sunshine for a minute or two. I didn't go out.
The guys were sleepy. Grayson got some loving this morning, and in the middle of the afternoon, Louie came up and when I presented him with a lap, he actually jumped up, and without gouging me with his claws. So we had a nice love-in and he got a tummy rub for the first time in a long time. He seemed very happy about it, but after a while, he went off and went to sleep. I guess he learned a while ago that he is too big to sleep safely on my lap. Besides, he likes to sleep sort of spread out, and that means lying on my arms, which I don't like. Louie is a modest sort of cat, but he is definitely not stupid. The only thing is, he sometimes thinks something is always going to be that way when it is actually a singular occurrence. But I guess cats are that way.
Somebody really likes the new food I introduced yesterday, and the bowl is about half empty already. I know Grayson eats it, but I think Louie may be, too. It would be good if I could wean them off the popular brand I've been feeding them, which is full of dye. Why they thing people want to see red and green kibble, i do not know. I guess they think it makes us think there are different flavors, which I doubt. Shades of brown are fine with me and the colors don't register with the cats anyway.
I was having trouble with the camera all day. It hung up twice. The first time, I rebooted, but the second time, I didn't want to do that, so I unplugged it and plugged it back in, and it came back up. I don't know what the problem is. I will have to watch it and hope for the best. It could just be that the cable got jostled when I was fooling around with the other device cables a week or two ago.
So it was a very quiet day, at least inside. It was rather noisy outside. Maybe we can get through the night without losing power again. Now it's a dark, cloudy, breezy night in the field, but the second storm of the week is mostly history.
October 27 Ew, another nasty weather day.
I got to bed about midnight last night, which is pretty good for as late as I got home. I slept well, with very little coughing, although I was up several times. One time, I think Louie woke me up coughing, and when I went into the bathroom, I stepped in what he gave up. Ew. It was another hairball. Maybe I should just let him eat plastic. No, I don't think so, but he keeps himself quite clean for as big as he is and he sheds fur at every season. it's a bit less now, because he (and Grayson) is making fur for the cold season.
I got up around 10:30 and knitted two rows. Even though I would like to do three, it was noon before I ate breakfast anyway, so unless I can start getting up earlier, I'll just have to plod along.
That was about all I did besides my surfing. The internet connection was down when I got to the studio, but it came up fairly quickly. The only thing is, and it wasn't apparent at the time, it keeps cutting out long enough that I can't stream audio.
Oh, and all of a sudden, the lights have dimmed a couple of times. Not enough to start the UPS or the generator, but it doesn't bode well for the night.
I did go to the post office, finally, where there was a whole tote bag full of mail. Most of it was catalogs, magazines and pleas for money, but all my end-of-month and beginning-of-month bills came in.
I had a nice long chat with Ron, finally, and he filled me in on the latest in the Norland. We are going to have at least three more families wintering over this year, which will be very helpful to us. One is out beyond David on Horizon (that's the road that parallels the shoreline toward the east), one is on Lake Lily, and the other is at the top of the hill on the other side of the culverts. Those people have bought a big truck with a plow, and we're hoping they will help us keep the culverts and the road from the culverts to the paved highway open. We are going to have to have a meeting of those of us who are staying, but that's still up in the air and it doesn't have to be yet.
It has to be soon, though, because the weather is not cooperating. Nor is the NWS station, but that's just an irritant. It rained all night and all day and quite a bit of what was coming down was not completely rain. It was nasty. I think, based upon my temperature sensor, that the temperature never got over about 36º. The wind was very strong, but it was mostly from the east, as far as I could tell. The lake was singing again, but not more than low alto or tenor. I hope they can get the weather station fixed early next week! I need that thing!
The guys slept. Grayson got a little lap time and Louie got a little loving this morning. They were happy, because they got some of their favorite food for breakfast this morning. They are the first cats I've lived with who really love fish. I finally brought the cat food into the breezeway from the car, and I filled the third bowl with some stuff I got when I couldn't get their usual third favorite. Grayson sat right down and ate a lot of it, but then, he will do that. He'll try it, and he may eat it for several days before he decides for sure whether he likes it or not. Louie, on the other hand, is much more suspicious. it may take him several days to even try something new, even though he may eventually decide he likes it. I hope they don't really glom onto this one, because it's expensive, but I thought I needed the third variety when they didn't have any of what I usually get at Pat's. That was a momentary glitch, apparently, because I was able to get it the last time I shopped. I also got a dozen cans of food, so they will be able to have a treat every other day or so. They are funny. When the bowls begin to get empty, they hang around the kitchen in the morning, because they know I will fill them and maybe they'll get something good out of a can. I know some cats will only eat one thing, but my guys seem to like a variety.
So that was a quiet day. I guess I will try to pay some bills tonight, although I think I've missed the cutoff, so I may just wait until tomorrow. I keep forgetting that the end of the month isn't until Tuesday.
I have to add that the few days of low humidity we had last week seem to have helped my sore joints more than I would have believed. Particularly, my right hip is less sore than it has been in over a year. That got me thinking, and when I checked, we did indeed have a very wet summer. I didn't check June, but July through September had higher than average rainfall each month, and in August, we had just over 5" of rain (!!!), which is more than twice the average. it was cool to cold, too, so no wonder I hurt.
When I went to the post office, Woodland road has turned into Woodland Lake. Lake Lily has overflowed again, like it did last spring, although it's not quite as deep as it was then, and there is another lake about 50' from the pavement. I certainly hope it doesn't freeze and snow before that all dries up, or we could have an interesting time this winter. It's no wonder the lake levels are so high, with all the rain draining into it over the summer. Also, despite some heroic efforts by various people over the summer, the beavers keep trying to dam off the little creek that goes under the road and drains Lake Lily into Copper Harbor. I don't know what we're going to do about them. I don't think I want to kill them, but maybe we could live trap them and move them out toward the end of the point. Ah, the joys of living out in the woods!
So that was my day, and since I can't listen to the music, I'm going to bed. It's a cold, windy, rainy night in the field, and we all agree that our autumn (a week a couple of weeks ago) has turned into early winter...much too early.
October 26 I pulled an all-nighter last night, for the usual Wednesday reasons. I got up around 1:30, and I felt all right until I got home from church. Now I'm really tired.
I was so late that I didn't have time to do anything but my surfing. Choir and Bible Study were both good. We are beginning to study the Reformation, and I think it's going to be a good class.
There still isn't any weather data. According to the NWS in Marquette, somebody cut either the power or the telephone line to the station Wednesday morning and it won't be fixed until tomorrow. I think the high temperature didn't get above 40º. My little geranium is hanging in there, but I need to get it in. Maybe tomorrow. It was dark and dull all day, but it didn't start to rain until around 4:00 PM, just in time for us to start south. It rained all the way there and back, which made it a slow commute.
Everybody had some weather stories. Stuart apparently goes around in his truck and reports to the Road Commission where there are downed trees, and he said that all along M-26 where it's near the water, the lake had thrown up large rocks onto the road, to the extent that the Road Commission had to bring out the graders to push them off. I guess M-26 was closed at Cat Harbor, but that's where it's lowest and closest to the lake. And he was up on the top of Brockway, where the signs were being blown horizontal, and one had been blown off its hinges. Mary Ann said that even in the harbor, big rocks and huge trees had been blown ashore. I don't think anything came down on our road, but there are two big trees angled over the road and hung up on trees on the other side. I was afraid maybe they were on the wires, but now I don't think that. The places where they got broken off are just splintered. Somehow, all my dead trees managed to hang on, amazingly enough. It's nice to live on a pebble pile where there aren't a lot of trees close to the buildings. The church lost a tree and a section of siding pulled loose, so even down there it was pretty hairy.
Oh, I checked the station at Stannard Rock. At the 10:00 reading on Tuesday, the sustained winds were 65 mph. I can't read the METARs well enough to tell what the gusts were, but I would guess they were at least 75 mph. Stannard Rock is in the middle of the lake, and it always has the highest winds. Unfortunately, all the buoys have been taken in, so it's not possible to tell how high the waves were. Without any internet service, I couldn't watch the Live Ships Map to see how many were over in Bete Gris, but I imagine there were several, because when I finally got my service back yesterday, there were at least 20 ships out in the lake and some of them must have come from here. Even the old-timers agree that this is one of the worst (or best, depending upon your viewpoint) autumn storms there's been here in a long time - Edmund Fitzgerald magnitude.
It was fun. I wish I'd felt better and could have gotten out and really seen it. I love Mother Superior in all her moods, but when she gets really angry, her power is just awesome, and you have to see it to understand. I guess over in Marquette there were some morons out on the rocks and two of them were killed. Around here, most people know enough to stay safely away from the water in weather like that.
Speaking of which, we're in for another one over the next couple of days. Not like Tuesday's, but 40 mph winds and gale warnings on the lake. There was apparently some snow on Tuesday, and more is predicted for the more inland areas over the next two days. No accumulation, but snow nonetheless. So it's shaping up to be an active late autumn. Sigh.
The guys were sleepy today, so except that Grayson wanted to sit on me more than I had time for, I didn't see much of them. They were both at the door when I came home. Geez, mom, first you let it get so noisy - not to mention that horrible thing under the deck - but then you go away and leave us, too!
So that's all there is, and now it's a cold, dark, rainy night in the field, a good one to hunker down under the comforter and sleep long and hard. Go do.
October 25 It was 11:00 when I finally turned out the lights. I didn't sleep very well. I was coughing a lot and I was up about every hour and a half. Every time I got up, I could tell that the wind was dying down some, but it was still strong. I won't have much of a weather report, because while the NWS station came up as soon as there was power and it reported right through the night, it's been down since 9:00 this morning.
I got up around 10:30 and I knitted my two rows. I've been hoping to increase it to three rows, but so far, I haven't been able to do that.
When I got to the studio, my internet connection was still down, and I think it wasn't until around 1:00 when they finally got it up long enough for me to get my email messages. There was one from Pastor and I had to finish the bulletin and get that off to everybody. Then it went down again, and for the next couple of hours it kept bouncing. I did get Pastor's return message and made some more changes to the bulletin and got that off, but it was a long time before I could do my surfing.
After that was done, I embroidered until the talking was done. I'm making progress, but it's a fiddly thing and there are a lot of stitches, so it's slow.
Like I said, I don't have much of a weather report. I don't think the temperature got over 40º today, but the wind has died down. The highest report was at 11:00 last night, with 46 mph gusts, but by that time it was beginning to die down. I would be surprised if we didn't have 50 or 60 mph gusts during the day. The other disappointment was that since the power was off, the station didn't accumulate the rain, so we'll never know how much we got. I'd guess 1.5" or more. I guess the only way to get around those problem would be to get my own weather station, but I can't afford it. So we'll never know just how bad it was.
It's 31º now, and unfortunately, that may mean I've lost my pretty geranium, but we'll see tomorrow. It was cloudy and dull all day, but not as dull as yesterday. In the middle of the afternoon, I glanced out the window and there were big flakes of snow drifting lazily down. Sigh. I'd hoped not to see that in October. It didn't last long and it didn't accumulate, but still. Snow.
The guys slept, mostly. They got more of their favorite kind of food today, so they were happy.
So that was another quiet day. I have to wash my hair again tonight. I should go to choir practice tomorrow, but I still don't feel very good, so we'll see how that goes. Now it's a cold, cloudy night in the field.
October 24 I doubt this will be posted tonight, because I'm going to bed. I got to bed around 11:00, with clean hair, and I got up around 10:30, so I got enough sleep, but I need to keep that up. I was coughing a bit more last night, too, and I don't seem to be making much progress. i still feel lousy and I'm still coughing and blowing.
I wouldn't say all hell broke loose, but the sky fell. The wind started rising about 4:00 AM, I would guess, from the way the lake was singing, and it probably did get up into the gale range here onshore. It rained, too, all day, and heavily at times. The power went out around 8:00 AM. It bounced a couple of times, just enough to reset the clocks. No, I did not set any clocks. I figured that was futile. It's now 9:15 PM and I'm still running on generator power.
So far the generator has held up, although I didn't like the flickering of the incandescent lights when I went to the powder room. That may have been a momentary glitch, though, because it caused the UPS to start shrieking and shut down (!) for a wall wiring problem. I hope that was just a hiccup, but I have decided to bite the bullet and call to see if I can get the generator serviced as soon as things settle down. I called UPPCO and they say it could be tomorrow before we have power again. Sigh.
Anyway, the UPS thing shut the computer down, too, and it took me a few minutes of pushing buttons to realize what had happened. Then when the power came back up, I had the most horrible ground hum out of the speakers (which are, unfortunately, junk; if I ever get downstairs, I am going to bring the old ones back up), and in trying to fix that, I pulled out the connector for either the mouse or the keyboard, so it was a comedy of errors, all the while my dinner was getting cold. I think everything is back together now, though.
Of course, everything downstream from me was off, too, so I've had no internet all day. It was one of those days when I couldn't do what I wanted to do and I didn't want to do what I could do, so I did nothing. I embroidered for a long time, and I'm making some progress. I'm beginning to wonder why I get myself into these things, though. It's a very detailed design with lots of colors on 18-count aida, which I hate, and since it's people in flowing robes (Mary and Joseph), there are lots of color changes in small areas. And when I get done with the cross stitch, there is a lot of backstitch. Sigh. Oh, yes, and I'm going to have to do something about Mary's eyes. She is staring off into space, not at the Baby, and she looks like she's stoned. I'm sure Mary was not stoned that night!
I can't say anything much about the weather except that the wind was very strong and the rain was very heavy. My thermometer said the temperature was 41º all day, and it has now dropped to 36º. The radio was saying there is going to be snow inland. Hopefully, we won't get any of that here! The sad thing is, with the power down, there is no way we will ever know how high the winds were. I think they will report how much rain there was - I'm sure it's well over an inch - but there is no way to report the rest of the conditions. I wish we knew. This was the strongest storm we've had in a number of years, and I would love to have seen those 45 mph sustained winds reported. I'm just guessing, of course. The wind was from the north and I'm quite sheltered on that side. I am glad they weren't from the northwest or west, or things might not have been as good as they are around here.
The guys were restless. Not only was there all that wind and the howling of the lake - oh, I didn't mention that - there was the generator noise. They know when things aren't just the way they should be and it disturbs them. Me, too, guys, but at least I know why.
So that was my quiet day, and I guess I'll stay here until the Beethoven ends, but then I'm going to bed and turn it all off. I will post this as soon as I can tomorrow, or whenever there's a connection. It's dark, windy, rainy night in the field and the lake is still howling. It's a good night to hunker down under the comforter and sleep long and hard.
Power came back at about 10:45, but still no internet. At least one step...
October 23 So I got to bed about 10:00 last night, and I'm happy to say I slept much better than I have for over a week. I was up several times, of course, but I got back to sleep with not too much trouble. I even managed to sleep on my left side without messing up my right hip too badly. I got up around 9:30 and I knitted my two rows. That seems to take just over an hour at best and an hour and a half at worst, so it will be quite a while before I have to worry about the next project or more yarn.
I folded the underwear and the rest of the white stuff, except, of course, for the stuff that still has spots on it. That was all I did, except that I began putting together the bulletin for Sunday. If the NWS isn't off in the ether again (which it would not be surprising if they are), I may not have any internet service tomorrow.
We are in for our first major blow of the season. They are talking about 50 mph winds and massive lakeside flooding and the sky is falling and all hell is breaking loose...and you know how they are. It won't be good at any rate, and since it's the first one of the season, there may be consequences. The wind will be from the north, though, so that may mitigate any power line problems. Not the lake flooding, though, and again I'm grateful that I live on a pebble pile on a natural harbor, and all my friends live on the rocks, where erosion and flooding won't be an issue. I expect the harbor will be deeper, as the wind blows the water into it. And there are some concerns for people down around Great Sand Bay and Five Mile Point, where the shore is sandy.
Hey, the lake goes up and the lake goes down. When it's down, the big ships can't sail, and when it's up, things can get bad along the shoreline. It's a cyclic thing, and in a few years, "they" will be wringing their hands about how low the lake levels are. They are high for October, but we and everybody around and north of us had an exceptionally wet summer. The lake goes down and the lake goes up. Sometimes it goes down more than average and sometimes it goes up more than average. If you live here, you live with it.
Today was a calm-before-the-storm day. The high temperature was 58º for a couple of hours this afternoon before it plunged. The wind was moderate to nothing. It wasn't too humid. It was cloudy and dull, but not as dull as yesterday. There were stars overnight and there was a bit of sunshine this morning. Sort of blah.
The guys slept, of course. They got some canned food this morning, turkey and cheese with gravy, and they've just about finished it off. They ate all the gravy first, of course, but then they ate the meat, too. I suppose I should just give in and only buy that stuff. It doesn't seem to matter what flavor it is; as long as it has gravy, they love it. I know some cats are finicky, but these guys aren't. There are a few things they don't like (I have a whole case of it) but almost anything in a can goes over pretty well.
So that was my quiet day. I still don't feel at all good. Today, I was coughing again, but it was a juicy cough and stuff was coming up, so that's a change for the better. Tonight I can't put it off any longer; I have to wash my hair. It may actually help. I will be breathing very humid air for a while, and that will clean out my sinuses a bit. Being able to sleep will help, too, but I don't suppose the weather for the next couple of days will be good. I'll try to cope.
Now it's a cloudy, cool night in the field and the gale is coming...the gale is coming...
October 22 Ew, I'm not over it yet. I got to bed about 9:45 last night, without a bath, but I didn't sleep at all well. I broke out the cough medicine, and I didn't cough nearly as much, but I was up about every hour until around 4:00, so I never got into a deep sleep until after then. Then I woke up around 6:00 having to pee badly, with a hip so sore I could hardly walk on it, so I had to sit a while and wait until the soreness sort of went away. I finally got up around 9:30, but I certainly didn't get nearly 12 hours of sleep!
So I still don't feel at all good. In fact, I almost feel like I'm having a relapse, but that happens with these things. I knitted two rows - only a bit over an hour today! - and I spent most of the afternoon downloading some extremely fine blackwork samplers that I would love to work. I think it's amazingly generous of the designer to share these large and intricate designs for free. She has some for sale, too, and when I found she uses PayPal...well, I didn't buy them today, but I will. I keep a small PayPal balance that I had already designated for things like that. I love blackwork, and I haven't gotten to do nearly enough of it for a long time. It's in the queue, and one of these days I'm going to run out of lace patterns I want to knit, so...Not yet, though. I still have my eye on two big shawls, but after that, we'll see.
Whatever it is that screws up the camera did it again today and I had to reboot. Something I do fairly regularly must have a data leak that overwrites either the camera software or the driver and it hangs up. I wish I could find out what it is. I was doing dinner while it rebooted, though, so it wasn't too much of a pain, except that we didn't get any pictures during the middle of the day. Not that there was a lot to see, but there was a bug on the camera lens when it hung up that was annoying.
The weather was no doubt part of my problem. The few days of low humidity we had left me feeling so much better, and I could tell that it started back up overnight. When I got up this morning, it was so dark that the nightlight was still on in the bathroom, and it stayed dark and dismal all day. We had 0.03" of rain between noon and 3:00. The high temperature during the day was in the morning, 56º, and it went down after that. It's 51º now. I can walk on my hip, but it still hurts.
Like the wise creatures they sometimes are, the guys slept. Grayson wanted to sleep on me as much as I'd let him. Louie was out in the great room. Grayson feels pretty good, but I think Louie has a tummy ache, a hairball, no doubt, and it makes him grumpy.
I spent part of the afternoon pondering the imponderables. For example, why is it that I always have a coughing fit when my bladder is full? It doesn't seem fair, and besides, it makes a mess. Just wondering.
So that was a nothing day and I don't feel good. I think, though, that I will try to wash my hair tonight. It depends upon how I feel when I get up to the north end, but it would be good. It itches.
Now it's a dark, cool, humid night in the field.
October 21 I was much later than I wanted to be last night, in part because I was reading. Then I decided to try to sleep without the extra pillows and that was a mistake, because I spent a lot of time coughing, even though I ate three cough drops. I got up around 10:30, and I don't feel good.
i knitted two rows, and it took me an hour and a half. I've only been working on this thing for a month, but the rest is going to take a lot of time, just because of all the stitches.
I'll be late tonight, too, because I have to fill the pill dispensers and wash my hair. Yes, I do think I have to wash my hair. I'm beginning to itch and besides, since I felt so lousy, I didn't go to the bathroom when I should have and I peed all over myself. But we'll see how it all works out. Bed looks awfully good to me right now.
I still feel lousy enough, and I'm still coughing enough, that I'm not going to church tomorrow. I hate to miss it, but I can practically guarantee that if I started singing, I would start coughing, and I don't want to disrupt things like that.
What I'm coughing up and blowing out is gobs of glop, but that doesn't make it any less annoying. Maybe if I take a nice hot shower tonight, it will open things up and I'll be able to get a better night's sleep - on the extra pillows, of course.
I didn't do anything today. I had some idea of going to the post office, but when I thought about it, I thought, "Why?" and I stayed home. The mail isn't going anyplace and Monday is soon enough. Maybe I'll feel better by then.
I spent a while this afternoon writing, about 1,900 words, but I'm writing a transition between important episodes and it was hard, not to mention that I almost fell asleep a couple of times.
The weather was nice, at least until late in the afternoon. The high temperature was 67º. There was some wind in the middle of the afternoon, with gusts up to 24 mph from the south. Then, around 4:30, a line of thunderstorms passed north of us over the lake and we had 0.02" of rain. I could hear the thunder, but it sounded more like they were moving furniture over the lake, with a bunch of bumps and thumps. There was some sunshine, but not a lot. I reset the camera start and stop last night, because days are now only 10½ hours long. Oh, sigh.
I think the guys slept. I didn't see much of them. Louie got some love this morning and Grayson got to sleep on my lap a bit this afternoon, although he wanted to come back after I started writing and he couldn't. They have run out of their favorite food (at least now), but it's out in the car, and I didn't want to get into that, so I gave them what I had, and they weren't too happy. Wait until I put something different in the bowl. In the past, when I was feeding my cats mostly canned food, I gave them something different every time, but now that I see these guys, I don't think that was necessary. If it's something they like, I think they'd probably eat it every day. Cats are creatures of habit, and I now think that extends to what they eat.
So that was a very quiet day, and now I'm on my way up to the north end to fill the pill dispensers and maybe take a bath. The more I think about it, the more I think not, but we'll see. It's a warm, cloudy night in the field, but it doesn't appear that there will be any more rain for a few hours.
October 20 I didn't get to bed as early as I wanted to last night, but it was before midnight. I slept fairly well. As soon as I laid down, I started to cough, even though I put the extra pillows under me again. So I took a cough drop, and that helped. I was up several times. These things tend to make me have to pee a lot, to the extent that I have to wear panties and a pad. And I had to eat a second cough drop. I hate those things. They give me the most horrible taste in my mouth, but they do stop the coughing. i got up around 10:30.
I knitted two rows, and it only took me 45 minutes, but those were plain knit rows. Now I have to do the next two repeats of the horseshoes, which will take longer. However, I've only been working on this thing for a month, so I think I've done fairly well. I will slog on, and dream about the next projects, which will have pattern on both sides and will not be easy knitting, but I'm getting so I want that, at least for a while.
While I was knitting, I got a call from the repairman, and now my fridge is fixed, but there is still an unanticipated problem. We can't get the fridge back into the cabinet. The heat from the condenser and stuff have warped the bottom of the cabinet to the point where it is either exactly the size of the fridge or maybe even a little smaller. So right now, it is sitting about halfway into the cabinet. That isn't acceptable, but I'm not sure what to do about it. The sides can't be removed, because they hold the doors and the shelves of the cabinets on either side. The only thing that might work (and might not) is if the sides could be shaved down an eighth of an inch on each side. I'm not sure that could be done without removing the boards, which isn't possible. Oh, the messes we end up in! If I had any hope that I would never need any more repair of the fridge, I would say, just shove it in. I think Mary Ann, Bill (who is big) and I could do that. But then what happens when I need repair again? I don't know. I'm not planning to go to church on Sunday, because I'm still sick, so it will be at least Thursday before I have a chance to talk to Mary Ann and get her take on it. She is a wise woman. Anyway, while the bill is a big one, most of the cost is the parts, which are ridiculously expensive. They didn't charge me very much labor. So even though it took over a month, I guess in the end it was worth it. I'm making my own ice again and I have cold water through the door. But I need to get it out of the middle of the kitchen. Sigh.
Otherwise, while the guy was fixing the fridge, I got the dishwasher almost ready to run tonight, and the stuff that was in it put away, so that's good. I didn't get the trash out of the kitchen, but he came too fast. Oh, well. I can do that some other time.
I also actually wrote for an hour or so. about 1,000 words, It felt good. I have several scenes that need to get down in print before I forget them, and I had time to do that. Now if I can get more time... I haven't embroidered lately. Grayson keeps trying to sit on my embroidery, the little snot. He knows I don't like that, and I think it's just to get my attention.
The weather was rather remarkable for late October. We didn't set a record, but the high temperature was 70º, briefly. I wish I'd thought to open the window...There was a little breeze this morning, but it didn't last. For most of the day, it was very dry, with humidity under 50%. It was clear and blue for most of the day, although there were some cirrus clouds at the end of the day. I reset the camera again. Our days are down to almost 10½ hours now, and I don't like taking all those black pictures.
The guys were their sleepy selves. Louie sat beside me and purred all the time I was knitting, and Grayson slept on my lap, and told me when the repairman arrived. Fortunately, he was smart enough to stay out of his way.
So that was my day. I was going to wait until next week to call them again about the fridge, so I'm glad I don't have to do that. I think the guy - who is a nice guy, by the way, although he doesn't think much about my ideas for moving the fridge - wanted to get off early. It was good to be able to write for a while.
Now it's a warm (for October), partly cloudy night in the field and I'm going to bed. Really.
October 19 I was ridiculously late to bed last night. It was partly by design and partly not. I figured that I probably wouldn't sleep very well if I did go to bed, and then I had to wash my hair. I mean I really had to wash my hair. For some reason, by Monday it looked like somebody had poured an oil pot over my head. I should have washed it then, but oh, well. Anyway, i got out a couple more pillows, and once I did get to sleep I slept very well. I got up around 11:00,with only one wakeup.
I knitted two rows, but the first one was the increase row, so I now have 521 stitches, which means I'll be going good if I can do two rows a day. That's all right; everything I want to do next requires more yarn than I have in one color, so I'll have to wait anyway. I think I've decided what to do next, but since I expect it to take at least another month to finish this one, I have time to decide for sure.
Other than that, I was so late that I didn't do anything. I didn't go to church. While I can now breathe through my nose again, at intervals I will either begin to sneeze or cough, and besides, I don't feel good. So I stayed home. It was nice to eat my Thursday dinner before I usually get home.
The weather was lovely for mid-October. It continued to be windy until around 5:00 PM, with gusts up to 31 mph from the northwest. The high temperature was 60º, which is quite warm for this time of year. While It was rather clear overnight, it was only partly cloudy today, but there was a lot of sunshine. The humidity was as low as 23%, which was wonderful for my joints, but it resulted in a fire warning for the whole UP. I'll take it, and it wasn't that dry for very long.
The guys slept. Louie got his loving when I got up, and Grayson slept on my lap for as long as I'd let him. Right after I was up for the first time, there was an altercation in the bathroom, but that seems to happen rather regularly. This time, it sounded like Louie went after Grayson again. I wish he wouldn't do that.
So that was another quiet day. I've passed on to the next phase of my cold, when I am blowing and coughing up glops of stuff, but occasionally, I will start sneezing or dripping again, so I don't know where we're going from here.
Now it's a rather warm (for mid-October) partly cloudy night in the field and the wind has died down.
October 18 For a brief moment, I thought maybe I just had a regular cold, since I wasn't running a temperature, but no such luck. I am sick - really sick, even though I don't seem to have a fever yet. I'm not hungry, so I only ate about half of my normal dinner. I needed to eat something, because my tummy hurt, but I didn't eat much. Sigh.
I didn't sleep at all well last night, and I was up any number of times. My head aches and my nose is runny and I feel pretty bad all around. I got to bed around 10:30 and I got up around 9:00 this morning, but I need a long, good sleep. I will get my other pillow to put under my regular pillow tonight and hope that will help. I feel lousy.
i didn't do much of anything today, although I did do the final load of wash. Nothing is put away, but at least it's done and dried. There was a minor change to the bulletin, which i made and set out. That was it.
The weather was Octoberish. The high temperature was 72º, briefly. I didn't stick my nose outside, although I should have. The wind was very strong, with gusts up to 32 mph from the southwest before it began to switch around to the northwest. Now it's from the north at about the same speed. It was mostly clear, although it's going to be windy tonight, too.
The guys slept. Grayson got some lap time and Louie got some petting this morning. Louie wanted to sit on me this afternoon, but for some reason he didn't want to jump on my lap or go around the sewing machine, even though he ought to know about that. And when I went out to get my dinner (such as it was), he went wandering around meowing loudly. I don't know what his problem was.
So now it's a partly cloudy night in the field, and I need to wash my hair, which is gross.
October 17 Oh, damn. I'm sick. I got to bed about 10:30 last night, and while I had a little trouble getting to sleep, I slept for about three hours - and that was it. I dozed and walked for the rest of the night and coughed when I was lying down. By the time I got up at 8:30, I had a very sore throat and I was coughing and blowing. It feels like the same stuff I kept getting all last winter. I expected I'd get it again, but I hoped it wouldn't be for a while. Right now I feel pretty bad, although eating has calmed my throat for a while - maybe permanently. My face feels like somebody is sitting on it. Damn.
As a result, I didn't do much. I knitted four rows, and i washed another load of clothes which is now in the dryer. That was all. I expect to get to bed very early tonight and hope for the best. Oh, I did get the bulletin put together, in two sessions, hopefully correctly.
The weather was actually not bad. it was windy overnight, and when I was up around 4:00, it was extremely clear. I could even see some of the 4th magnitude stars in the Little Dipper. It was cloudy when I got up, but the clouds soon mostly went away, and it was quite clear for most of the afternoon. The high temperature was 61º for several hours. There was some wind overnight, but not so much during the day. The humidity went down under 40% while it was warm, but then the dew point took a big jump up and it's over 80% again.
The guys were their sleepy selves. Louie got his loving this morning and Grayson got to sleep on my lap for quite a while, although he had to move when I started working on the bulletin. So he curled up on his kitty condo.
So that was a nothing day, and I don't think I'll be up very long tonight. If I can get a good night's sleep, that will help, but this typically takes at least two weeks to get over. Sigh. Oh, damn.
October 16 It was about 9:30 when I got to bed last night, and I slept well, with about three wakeups. I didn't get up until 9:30 this morning, so I should be getting back to more normal hours. I'll be a bit later tonight, but maybe not too late. I'm planning to ignore the bath tonight, although my hair is a mess. Probably nobody will see it.
I only knitted two rows, but I finished the first repeat of horseshoes. Maybe tomorrow I can do four rows.
Johanna kept changing the time of my massage, but I finally got it, and she took her time about it. I feel much better and I expect to feel even better tomorrow. The muscles in my upper back and shoulders had tightened up, and I think she worked most of that out of them. At least it feels better.
Since that was in the middle of the afternoon, I didn't do much except my surfing.
The weather was OK, I guess. We had a short, heavy shower around midnight, and a bit of wind - 21 mph gusts - around 3:00, when the wind shifted, but otherwise it was just cloudy and nearly calm. The high temperature was 54º for most of the afternoon.
The camera hung up after I was gone, and I didn't notice it until around 8:00, but there wasn't much to see. I had to reboot to clear it. Sometimes just closing the running programs will clear it, but not this one. I don't know what has the data leak. Every time i think I've identified it, it turns out to be something else, but something is zapping Explorer, I think, and without that, nothing works. Of course, I installed some system updates recently, so what used to be happening may not be anymore. I'll keep watch on it. It's frustrating, because it seems like I have to reboot just about the time I really want to do something online.
That was the case the first time I tried to pay a bill online, around noon. I got a message saying, "Apparently that function of our site isn't working. Please try later." I don't expect things like that from J.P.Morgan-Chase. It worked fine (or seemed to) this evening. Oh, ugh, computers! Can't live with them, can't live without them.
So that was my day. Now it's a cold, cloudy night in the field, and I'm off to bed. I think I'm going into change-of-seasons mode, which means I need a whole lot of sleep.
October 15 I went up to the north end after I wrote this last night, because I was really tired, but I didn't rush taking my bath and getting ready for bed, so I was surprised when I looked at the clock and it wasn't quite 9:15! I slept well, with only two wakeups and I got up before the alarm went off. I think I sleep better when the lake is singing me to sleep, and it was certainly singing last night!
I did my thing, but I didn't get away as early as I wanted to, because when I got out to the car, I realized I'd forgotten my music and I had to go back inside to get it. It was dark and gloomy and very windy, but the rain had pretty much stopped, so I got to church around 10:00, although I had to pass a couple of very slow drivers on the covered road. It's still very pretty.
Church was good, and Pastor had another good sermon. Then we cleaned up the communion ware, and Pastor's birthday was Friday, so there was cake in the basement. I didn't stay, but I brought a piece of cake home with me, and I was home before 1:00.
I had a little lunch, but then I didn't do anything but read for the rest of the afternoon. I didn't fall asleep, but I didn't feel like doing anything, so I didn't.
The weather was miserable, but it's the first real blow we've had this fall. It was windy and rainy all night, and early this morning the wind got up to 32 mph with 41 mph gusts from the east. it's gone calm now, though. The temperature was in the upper 40s all day, until just recently. We had just under a quarter inch of rain. It was dark and gloomy and nasty, although it did clear up some this afternoon and there were a few rays of sunshine before It got cloudy again at sunset.
I'm sorry about the camera. PastyNet went down about the time I had to get dressed, and I made the mistake of leaving the camera software open on my screen, which, I discovered, meant that it put out a message that had to be replied to, so there were no pictures for about 5½ hours this morning. Sorry about that, but now I know. You didn't miss much.
The guys slept. I don't know where Louie was, but Grayson spent the entire afternoon asleep on my lap with his head on my left arm. He was so happy! I can't blame them for sleeping; there wasn't much else to do.
So that was my quiet day. I think I'm going to do the same tonight, too. My arthritis, particularly my knees, was bad all day and that's exhausting. Now it's a dark, cold, cloudy night in the field.
October 14 I was so tired that I was in bed by 10:00 last night. I slept fairly well again, although I was up a lot. I got up about 8:30, which was nice, even though I didn't take advantage of it.
i knitted four rows, slowly, because I finally had to splice in a new ball of yarn. Of course, I had to splice it. I couldn't make it to the end of the row, and I didn't want to waste several yards of yarn. So it got spliced. I think it looks all right and nobody but me will notice if it doesn't. I almost did the last rows of the first repeat of Horseshoes, but it was getting late and there were some things I wanted to do.
Not that I did. I washed one load of clothes, which is in the dryer now, and I folded up and put away the towels I used on the kitchen floor. That was about all, because I found myself almost falling asleep in the middle of the afternoon. Besides, I hurt all over, to the extent that it was hard to walk. I don't know why, because the humidity was very low, but I suppose it was a reaction to all my exertions yesterday.
Oh, I did finally set up my planner pages for next year. i write in all the holidays, the phases of the moon and the equinoxes and solstices, and Social Security day. I have to go over the lines between days on some of the monthly calendars because they are so light. Now everything should be ready. I noticed, to my dismay, that all my Social Security days but two are late in the month next year. It's the fourth Wednesday of the month, and it can vary from the 22nd to the 29th, depending on when the first of the month is. This year, it was the 22nd or 23rd four or five times, but next year, there are only two early ones. I also noticed that Easter is very early this year - April 1 - because the first full moon after the Spring Equinox is on March 31. I can see why most countries abandoned the lunar calendar pretty early in their history. It's at least confusing and at most incomprehensible.
The weather was all right. The high temperature was 54º and there wasn't much wind. It was very humid early in the morning, but the dew point stayed in the upper 30s while the temperature rose, so it was quite dry this afternoon. It was clear overnight, but it clouded up in the morning, and only partly cleared in the afternoon. It's cloudy again now, and tomorrow is supposed to be a perfectly miserable day: rain and temps under 50º. Yuck!
The guys slept. Grayson slept on me for a long time, and then he went and curled up on his kitty condo. Louie is still spending his afternoons on the couch, where he can catch any sunshine there might be. He got some love this morning, as well as a short brushing. I could brush or comb either of them forever and I'd still be getting fur out. No wonder there's so much around the house!
So that was my quiet day, and I'm off to the north end to get ready for tomorrow. I only haven't figured out what to wear, but I have some time to consider that. A chunk fell out of the sole of my beige shoes, so unless I can glue it back together, I only have black shoes now - and Crocs. Oh, well.
Now it's a cool, cloudy night in the field, and the rain is coming...
October 13 I finally made it to bed around 2:30. I slept fairly well, although I was up several times. and I got up around 10:30. I didn't feel like that was enough sleep, but I had things to do, so I didn't go back to sleep.
I knitted, but only two rows, to get started on the next horseshoes. I had a couple of things I needed to do besides my usual morning surfing, and i did them, but unfortunately, I had an accident. That's the first one in over a week (maybe two?) but it meant that I had to change my bottoms.
I left right around when I wanted to, stopped at the post office, where the next round of bills and my checks had come, and I moseyed down to Pat's. It was a mosey, because there are still people cruising down the covered road at 30 mph or stopped almost in the middle of the road and standing around taking pictures. That will stop in a week or so, because we've gotten past peak, I think, although it's still pretty when the sun is out.
I didn't do too much damage at Pat's, although there was some. They had bread (!), so I got a lot of it - and I don't have anyplace in the fridge for some of it - and some nice whitefish that will keep until Sunday, as well as a few other things I needed. I got a bag of ice, so now I have some ice again, although not enough to use it all the time. I have no idea when the repair people will be back.
On my way out, I finally remembered to check my right rear tire, and I do indeed have a slow leak, and it was quite low, so since I was intending to stop and get gas, I went right to the air hose. What a pain! There is a sidewalk around the building with a step up, so I had to walk around to find the ramp, then take the hose off the wall, and somebody had wound it up tight. Since I couldn't find the pressure on the tire the last time I tried, I had to check the pressure in the other rear tire, and then I had to try to put the air in. I do not know why, when you have to put air in a tire, it always seems like the valve ends up on the bottom of the wheel. This time the valves for both rear tires were on the bottom, so I had to a lot of stooping, and then I discovered that trying to get air in the tire takes a lot of force on the valve - force I don't have at that angle. I finally got it pretty well filled, just a bit lower than the other tire, but it was a real effort, and then I had to put the hose back...and by that time there was somebody parked between me and the ramp, so I had to walk around two cars to get back to the hose. By the time I moved the car over to the gas pumps I was tired and sore and my hands were filthy. Gas is down to $2.599, by the way.
While I was in Pat's I almost had an accident - the first time in a while that's happened! - and since I was at the opposite diagonal from the restrooms, I decided to try to gut it out. It worked, but when I got to church, before Deanna got there, I went in right away and stopped in the restroom, not only to rest but to wash my hands. I don't know how you are, but I don't like it at all when my hands are dirty, and besides, I was working on communion cups.
Joe and the kids came with Deanna, which was good, because he got to look after them while we were doing our thing. That only takes half an hour or so with two people working on it. Their kids are so cute and so good! They're nice little kids, too, although the younger, Nat, doesn't quite understand my cane yet.
I got home a bit before 6:00, and I was - and am - exhausted, more when I finally got the food into the house. But now I have lots of lettuce, salad dressing, bread, eggs and JD and i will be able to come right home on Sunday.
The weather turned out rather nice. It was cloudy and dull this morning - and the camera seems to have hung up around 10:00. Sorry. Anyway, about the time I left - 2:00 or so - it began to clear up, and the end of the day was very nice. The high temperature here was about 60º, and there was a rather brisk north wind with gusts up to 25 mph. Very nice for late fall - and believe me, this is late fall in Keweenaw!
I think the guys slept for most of the day. Grayson wanted to sit on me a lot longer than I wanted him to, and he wanted to sleep with his head pillowed on my left arm today. That's marginally better than my right arm (where I mouse) but not a lot.
So that was a busy day at the end of a busy week, and I'm going to bed. It's a clear cool night in the field, and the NWS says there might be northern lights tonight, as long as it stays clear. I'm sure I'll be up enough to find out.
October 12 Well, it's tomorrow, but it was a late night.
It was not a late night last night. I was so exhausted I was in bed by 9:30. I slept well, although I was up about every two hours, and I didn't get up until 9:30 this morning. With all the getting up, I probably got about 9 hours' sleep, which is enough.
I knitted, and I finished Chart C. Now I go back to horseshoes, and then there is the final increase rows before the final chart. When that's done, I will see how big it seems to be, and I might have to do another increase row and pick a new pattern. i will have plenty of yarn. I'm just finishing the first ball now, and I have four more. If I have to do another increase row, that could be a problem, but maybe I can figure it out. All this happened because I was not going to knit it on the big needles the pattern called for. It worked for the designer because she didn't really block it, but even so, it was ugly. Mine will be much prettier, as long as I can make it big enough.
The only other thing I did was to do the system updates on both computers. I discovered that I never did last month's on the laptop, but then, I haven't had it on since then, either, so there was no harm done.
There was choir and Bible Study tonight, and that's why I'm so late. Bible Study went long, and afterwards we got into a conversation with Pastor that lasted quite a while. So I'm tired, and I don't think I'm going to wash my hair, even though I ought to. I'll just be greasy.
The weather was OK. The high temperature was 57º and the humidity was around 70%. There was a rather strong wind from the southwest, with gusts up to 29 mph. It was cloudy to partly cloudy for most of the day, although after about 2:30, there was some sunshine. We had to use our sunglasses on the trip south.
The guys slept. When I got home tonight, they ran around after each other for a while, but now they're asleep again. Grayson wanted some of my hamburger, but I didn't give him any.
I discovered that the remote control for my garage door doesn't work anymore. I replaced the batteries, and it doesn't make any difference. That may be the reason the light on the switch in the garage is flickering, although I don't know that. Oh, dear. If it's not one thing it's two others. So I guess I'll just have to leave the door open when I go out, which is what I've had to do for a while now. Oh, dear.
So that was my day, and now it's time to totter up to the north end and crash. It's a dark and, I think, cloudy night in the field.
October 11 Maybe tonight? I sure didn't get to bed early last night! I was reading, of course, and then I had to wash my hair, so I was late. I slept well, with a couple of wakeups. I was up around 8:30, I think it was, but that felt far too early, so I finally got up around 10:30. I was going to knit, but there were a couple of things I wanted to do before I left, so I only did a few stitches.
The information for the bulletin came in after I went up to the north end, so I got right at that and got it off, and then I had to make a phone call. That took enough time that I missed my target leave time by a few minutes, but it didn't matter. There wasn't much traffic, although there is a horrible mess around the interchange at the south end of the bridge, and I got to the dentist in plenty of time.
That turned out well. There isn't anything wrong with my teeth, thankfully. The dentist has gone to digital imaging for their x-rays. While I still object to having them, this was particularly easy and they can see the pictures - very much enlarged - right away. And they are making their patients wear safety glasses. I've been going to dentists for over 70 years and as far as I can remember, nothing ever ended up in my eyes, but I guess it can happen, and there are things that they may put in your mouth that you wouldn't want in your eyes. Holly likes to talk, though, so it took a while.
That was just fine, because I decided I needed Chinese. I had a nice conversation with Molly, who I guess is the dental assistant, and my timing was perfect for an early dinner. Oh, it was good! I got home around 7:00.
I'm tired. Not enough sleep and a 100-mile drive and it's time to go to bed. Fortunately, there's nothing I need to listen to on the radio tonight, so I can go to bed as soon as I can tear myself away. I was thinking about going up to the north end soon and finishing the two rows of knitting I didn't do this morning, but we'll see about that. I think I may - what I'm reading isn't so compelling yet and I don't feel up to doing any writing.
The weather was cool but nice. The high temperature here was 55º and it wasn't more than a degree or two warmer in town. The humidity was atrocious overnight, but it got down to about 60% this afternoon, which is tolerable. The wind was from the south, but it was under 10 mph here. There was quite a breeze around the buildings in town. It was sunny and clear or nearly clear all day. Very nice weather for this time of year.
I guess the guys slept. Grayson greeted me, as he usually does, but I haven't seen Louie yet. They got one of their favorite canned foods this morning - a combination of two Fancy Feast chicken and liver varieties, and while Grayson ate a little of it, Louie sat right down and nearly polished off one dish. Now I know what his hot button is. Most of it was gone when I got home. So I guess when I shop, I'll have to get some more of those varieties. If I'm going to feed them canned food, I want to make sure it's something they'll eat, so it doesn't just sit there until it gets bad.
So that was my day. Like I said, I'm tired. Whatever I decide, I doubt I'll be up very late tonight. It's a clear, cool night in the field.
October 10 Well, I was late again last night. Sigh. I was reading, and even though it's my own stuff and I've read it many times, I still get caught up in it. You can see why I don't read anybody else's stuff very much.
I got up around 9:30, though, in the hope that I might be earlier tonight, but I'm not going to guarantee anything. I knitted my four rows. I could have done two more, but I hoped maybe I could do something. I didn't do much except pay my long term care insurance. I don't know where I'm going to get the money to get through the rest of the month. There's not much left. Sigh.
The weather was cold but rather pretty, at least in the afternoon. It was cloudy in the morning, but around noon the clouds went away and the afternoon was all clear and blue. The high temperature was only 51º, though and when the sun set, it plummeted to 40º. I guess there may be some frost inland overnight. There was a little wind in the morning, but not much this afternoon.
The guys were sleepy, of course. I filled the kibble bowls, so they were happy about that, and Grayson slept on my lap as much as I'd let him. I'm not sure where Louie was for most of the day, but he might have been upstairs, where it's usually warmer.
So that was a quiet day. I haven't heard from Pastor yet, so I created a bulletin that has everything (I hope) except for the service information, and I hope to hear from him before I have to leave tomorrow.
Now it's a clear, cold night in the field, and I'm off to the north end to wash my hair and sleep long and hard.
October 9 Oh, yeah. Write. I need to be sure I write something every day, and not for your benefit. It's a habit I don't want to get out of.
I was a little later than I thought I would be, but not after midnight. I slept fairly well, I guess. I was nearly asleep when Louie jumped onto the bed with a crash and then he walked over me to the other side of the bed, all of which woke me up. I was not pleased. Later, when I woke up after sleeping on my left shoulder, it was so sore I couldn't move it and I dribbled on my way to the bathroom. I finally got up around 10:30.
I got to knit, four rows, but they only took me a bit over an hour, which was good.
That was all I did, except that while my dinner was cooking, I got the dishwasher filled and almost ready to run tonight. I'm debating whether to wash my hair tonight or tomorrow. I have a dentist visit on Wednesday, and I want to look nice, but then, there is choir on Thursday and on Friday I am meeting Deanna at church for Altar Guild, so the timing isn't good. I suppose it will depend upon how I feel when I get to the north end.
The weather was fairly nice. The high temperature was only 59º, briefly. It was quite windy, with gusts up to 25 mph, and there were some little whitecaps on the harbor while I was getting my breakfast. It was less humid than lately, but over 60%. The skies were clear this morning, but after about 3:00 PM, it began to cloud up and it was cloudy at sunset. i guess another front went through. When we were vacationing up here, I always called it "affront" because it usually meant the weather was going to get worse. I don't think that's going to happen this time, but we'll see.
The guys were sleepy. Louie barfed early this morning and on one of my trips to the bathroom, I stepped in it. So he didn't feel very good, but he sleeps all day anyway. Grayson wanted to sleep on me. For some reason when the UPS guy came (with my store of rice for the winter) he was scared and ran off. I don't know why. Then he wanted to come back when I was doing other things, so he went off mad.
So that was my very quiet day and now it's a cool, cloudy night in the field.
October 8 I made it into bed just about when I wanted to last night. I slept fairly well, although I was up a number of times, and I hurt, but that was because of the humidity. I got up when I wanted to, but I was a bit later getting away than I have been lately. It didn't matter. I was there before almost everyone else. We had to practice our song.
Church was good, even though we didn't sing our best. It had to do with not having everyone at practice. Pastor had a very good sermon.
Then I had to get gas. I'm happy to see that the price has gone down about 8¢ a gallon in the past three weeks or so. That's not a lot, but every little bit helps. That took long enough that I got caught in the trek northward to see the color, so it was around 1:30 before I got home.
The color is finally reaching peak, although it's not there yet. Probably it will this week. Unlike some years, all the trees seem to be peaking close to the same time, so it's pretty, even though there is still quite a bit of green. Now we have to contend with the Sunday drivers out for a nice, leisurely stroll through the covered road and with the "Asian Invasion" that we have every year. For some reason, Japanese and Chinese people from the entire region - as far south as Chicago - are just fascinated with the changing of the trees up here, and they come in droves. They totally ignore driving laws, rules of the road and just plain good sense, to the extent that we keep coming across cars stopped in the middle of the road and people standing in the middle of the road taking pictures. Fortunately, it only lasts a couple of weeks, but it drives us locals nuts. It was a nice day, sunny and quite warm, so there were a lot of gawkers today.
After I got home, I didn't do anything. I was tired, for some reason. I didn't want to read what I had set up to read, I didn't want to write, and none of my games were interesting, so I just sort of sat and tried to stay awake. I will be going to bed fairly early tonight. I'm tired.
The weather, as i said, was very nice. It was mostly sunny until late in the afternoon, and the high temperature was 68º briefly, at least officially. It didn't get that warm here, but mid-60s is very nice for this time of year. There wasn't much wind for most of the afternoon. It was very humid overnight, but the humidity got down under 60% during the day, which was a great help to me. I'm still awfully stiff, but I'm not as achy as I was yesterday. I could take a lo of this, but I don't think we're going to have much. It's going to rain again.
The guys were sleepy. Louie got some loving a couple of times and Grayson spent a lot of time on my lap this afternoon.
So it was another very quiet day, and now it's a sort of warmish (for October) maybe cloudy night in the field.
October 7 I wasn't early to bed last night, but I was a lot earlier than I have been for the past week. I slept well, although I was up several times. I think it was humid and I hurt. I got up a bit before10:30 and I knitted four rows. I could have done more, but I thought there might be some other things I could do. Hah.
I didn't do anything except for my surfing. I started playing games, but then I decided to try writing for a change, and I ended up doing about 2300 words. I only had a rough outline of the episode I have to write now in order to get to the two I have mapped out pretty fully (if I can remember them!) and I'm having some trouble getting from where I was to where i need to be. At least it's not cast in concrete, and I can edit it as I go along.
The weather was miserable and better off ignored, so I did, except that I hurt and my sinuses are acting up. It started raining around 3:00 AM and it has been raining ever since. We've had 0.69" so far. No wonder I hurt. The high temperature was 57º, and the humidity has been well over 90% all day. There has been almost no wind. Yuck.
The guys thought so, too, and they slept. Grayson slept on me for as long as I'd let him. Louie has taken up residence on the couch, and I think he's still there and still asleep. Grayson was dancing around with a scrap of paper while I was making my dinner. I don't know what made him feel so good, but he will do that occasionally. I think one reason Louie is so fat is that he has always been a much more sedentary cat than Grayson.
Oh, yes, and the latest with the fridge is that the cracked ice setting isn't working. I don't know if something is broken or if it's something that just needs to be adjusted, but for the time being, no more JD slurpies. I'm disappointed, but we'll get to the bottom of it eventually.
So now I need to go up to the north end, wash my hair again and go to bed early so I can get up tomorrow. It's a dark, dull, rainy night in the field.
October 6 I had to wash my hair last night - I don't dare let it go any longer - but I guess I just didn't want to, so I was ridiculously late getting to bed. I was only up once, and I got up around 10:30. I knitted four rows. I wanted to do more but that took me an hour and a half, and I thought I might do something else today. Hah!
Except to go to the post office, where the mail was the bill I was looking for and a bunch of catalogs. I suspect that the places I usually visit online are gearing up for Christmas by sending out catalogs now. I find them interesting to look at, but I've observed in the past that frequently things I see that I like are gone when I go online. Anyway, I paid a couple of bills that are due over the weekend. I'm not quite sure where the money for the long term care policy is coming from.
Oh, yes, and on the subject of money, when I got the stuff from my Medicare Part D (drug) coverage, my blood thinner wasn't on the abbreviated formulary, so I called to find out if it was still covered. Yes, indeed it is, and besides, the cost has gone down a bit. I can't figure that out, but I'm not going to complain. Small donations, and all that. They costed out all the other things I take and with the exception of the blood thinner, they will all cost about a two thirds less after I get into the donut hole. I can't figure that out, either, but I'm not complaining. The only thing that concerns me is that the blood thinner is made in Puerto Rico, and with the mess they have there, it may be hard to get for a while. Everything I take is important, or I wouldn't be taking it, but the blood thinner is protecting me from having a stroke (not completely, I know, but enough), so it may be the most important. I can't figure out the drug costs at all, but that's part of what's wrong in this country.
The weather was cool but mostly sunny. The high temperature was 57º for a couple of hours this afternoon, and there wasn't much wind at all, although it was interesting to see it switch around from west at 9:00 AM to east at 11:00 AM. A front, I guess. It was fairly clear until around 4:00 PM when the clouds moved in. I guess it's going to rain overnight and maybe tomorrow, too. I was up around 7:00 and the moon was shining beautifully in my windows, so I suspected we would shoot it, and we did. There were two pictures. One of these days, maybe I'll get the gallery up to date. Sigh. Anyway, I guess we won't see anything tomorrow.
The guys were their sleepy selves. Grayson kept twining around things when I went out into the kitchen, and I think the reason he did was that two of his kibble bowls were empty. Of course, the one that was full was the one he used to like best, and Louie still does, I think. Grayson sits down with his back to me and whips his tail around to tell me he is not quite pleased. Too bad about him. I did fill the bowls, however.
So that was my quiet day and now it's a cool, cloudy and possibly rainy night in the field.
October 5 Today is my father's 105th birthday. Of course, he died 34 years ago, but I still observe his birthday. He died way too young, but it was better for him. He had come to believe in Jesus, and he had had a hard life mentally. I only my mother and I had understood him better while he was alive.
I was even later last night than the night before, but I slept well and I got up around 10:30. I knitted four rows, but it was late enough then that I figured I should stop all that nonsense and get going. Not that I did anything much. Tonight I have to wash my hair - I can't see waiting until Saturday - so I may be late tonight, too. I can't remember what I did, which means it wasn't much.
The weather was nicer today than it was yesterday. It was cloudy when I got up, but it soon cleared up and it was mostly clear for the rest of the afternoon. There were a few puffy clouds, but there was mostly sunshine. The high temperature was 57º. It was breezy, with winds gusting up to 27 mph from the north, although the wind has died down to just about nothing now. There should be a moon up in the sky, but I can't see it. The humidity is still quite high for this time of year, over 60%. That's disappointing, and I hope we have some nice, dry autumn weather before the snows come.
The guys were sleepy. Grayson got a lot of lap time and Louie got his loving this morning.
So that was about all there was. If they don't come to fix the fridge tomorrow, I'm going to have to buy ice.
Now it's a clear, cool night in the field. The full moon should be very bright tonight.
October 4 I was as late last night as I was the night before, for no good reason, and I slept well, of course. I could have gotten up around 9:00 but I decided not to, so it was quite late when i finally rolled out of bed. I knitted six rows, and I started the next pattern. This one is easy, too, but it's a nice change from horseshoes.
That made me very late, so my breakfast turned into late lunch and I didn't get much done but my surfing. I was thinking about starting a pot of rice for my dinner when Debbie called. I was so glad to hear from her, but we had our usual long conversation, so the rice didn't get done. I can do that tomorrow, since I'm not going anywhere.
The weather was variable and rather interesting, if cool. When I got up, it was quite clear, but the clouds soon rolled in, and while I was knitting we had two rain showers, including one where we had 0.11" of rain in about 15 minutes, I think. Then it cleared up again, and it was mostly clear, with nice, puffy white clouds, for the rest of the afternoon. We had a total of 0.13" of rain. Once it cleared up, the wind picked up from the northwest, with gusts up to 27 mph. The high temperature was 59º, but that was before the big rain, and it was 55º or lower for the rest of the afternoon. There should be a nearly full moon up there someplace but I haven't seen it yet.
The guys were sleepy. Grayson slept on me for a while, but evidently my lap isn't the most comfortable place for him, so he went away after a while and curled up on his kitty condo until after the talking started, when he came in and went to sleep on the desk. Louie was on the couch, in the sun, for most of the afternoon. He is mostly white, and the sun doesn't heat him up as much, so he can lie in it longer than Grayson can. Little Buster, who was black, could lie iin the sun until his fur was almost too hot to touch, but he was a little skinny thing and he liked to be very warm. Grayson can only take the sun for so long.
Now it's a clear (I think) cool night in the field, and maybe - just maybe - I can get to bed at an earlier hour tonight?
October 3 So I was rather late last night, although not as late as the night before. I had to wash my hair. I slept well, and I didn't get up until almost 11:00, so I think I sort of got caught up. I knitted four rows, which took me about an hour and a half. That's almost 20 minutes per row, which I guess is an acceptable speed for 321 stitches. I can do the horseshoe pattern without the chart now, and that's nice, but it's boring. I have four more rows to go, I think, before I start the next pattern.
I was doing my surfing and finishing my breakfast when the repair guy showed up - without having called. I guess they made out a new ticket for me and my phone number wasn't on it. He got into the back of the fridge and quickly determined that the problem was that the main water valve was leaking. He also found a piece of the tubing to the water line to the door, which is a good reason why that hasn't been working. I hope that's the only problem and it isn't another valve. Anyway, he didn't have either the valve or the tubing, so he will be back. This is going to cost me a fortune, even if they don't charge me for the calls that didn't do anything. So now the water is off, and the floor is slowly drying out.
I was back at the computer when I got a call from Pastor - most surprising. It turned out that he is stuck down in Wisconsin. His mother had her hip replacement fail catastrophically, and she will have surgery to repair things tomorrow. He wanted me to tell everyone that there will be no Bible Study on Thursday. I guess he picked me because he knew I was around.
There was choir tonight - because Kathleen has another obligation on Thursday - so I went down to that. It turned out that both our men were absent for various reasons, but we had a good rehearsal anyway. We got to beat on some things we wouldn't have because we wouldn't want the men to just sit there. The hymn Pastor wanted us to sing on Sunday turned out to be a tune we all know, although the words are rather difficult, and we couldn't do the thing Kathleen was thinking about because our regular accompanist wasn't there. Kathleen can play it at least as well as Jan can, but there are some tricky timing things and it would be better if she directed us.
So I got home around 9:00, which is good for a night in town.
The only thing not miserable about the weather was that it was warm. It was dark and dismal all day long. The high temperature was 73º, early in the afternoon. There was some wind then, too, with gusts up to about 20 mph from the west, although it has died down now. One reason I was as late as I was last night was that we had a couple of thunderstorms right about the time I would have taken my shower, and while they were out over the lake, I'm a bit reluctant to get in the shower during one. It apparently rained almost all night. Then there was a bit more early in the afternoon and some more between 7:00 and 8:00 tonight, for a total of 0.66". Wow, this has been a wet summer! I hope it gets it all out of its system before November. And when I was coming home tonight, the almost full moon was shining brightly through the clouds, which seemed to be breaking up. I hope so. My arthritis was not amused.
Neither were the cats. They slept all day. Grayson slept on me until I had to do something, and then he moved onto the kitty condo, where he slept, all curled up, for the rest of the afternoon. So cute. It's just about big enough to hold him. I think Louie was on the couch.
So that was my day, and I'll be off to bed soon. It's a cloudy but clearing night in the field, and tomorrow sounds like it will be much cooler but clear and, hopefully, less humid.
October 2 As you no doubt guessed from last night's journal, it was ridiculously late when I finally got to bed. I slept very well, but the (ahem) debt collectors who have been plaguing me (I don't have any overdue bills, for certain) called about 10:30. They only let the phone ring four times these days and they don't leave a message, but I know their phone number by this time. Grr.
Anyway, I decided to get up, even though I hadn't had enough sleep. I knitted, but only four rows, because I got another phone call in the middle. I finished the first repeat of the horseshoe band (another one to go). That many stitches (321) takes quite a while to knit.
I didn't do much today. I changed the towels on the kitchen floor, but of course the new ones are already sopping. I finally called the repair place, but nobody was there so I left a message. I now think that the problem may be that the delivery guys, who finally moved the fridge, never told anybody they had done it. They were here Friday afternoon, and I imagine they went right home afterwards, and by Monday, they'd probably forgotten all about it. In general, furniture movers aren't the brightest folks around. Anyway, I hope to hear from them tomorrow. This is getting old and the damage they did to the fridge while moving it is beginning to annoy me.
I also called Pat's about the things I couldn't get yesterday and I had a nice conversation with the manager. They will have my gallon jugs of OJ. The problem there was that the tag they use to reorder had gone missing. The bread problem will be harder to solve, because it involves a distributor who shouldn't be in that business. I feel for the manager, and since that distributor services all the markets in the area, nobody has any bread. There was something else I forgot - cat food - but I should be talking to the guy again tomorrow and maybe I can remember to tell him about it. Cats aren't like dogs, who will eat most anything, and when they find something they like, they don't like having it taken away from them. I may be able to get that kind someplace else online, but I'm not sure. The last time I ran into this problem, I couldn't find it anywhere.
That was all I did.
The weather wasn't the best. It was cloudy and windy. The high temperature, 67º was just at 8:00 and for most of the day it was in the lower 60s. The wind was from the south again, with gusts as high as 31 mph. The humidity was over 70%. Several times, it looked about to rain, but the only rain there was happened around midnight and it wasn't much. Not very nice.
The guys were sleepy. They both got some loving, but not, I think, as much as they wanted.
So that was my day. I need to wash my hair tonight. Sometime yesterday afternoon, I reached down to stroke the left side of my hair and it felt like I had a burr right at the end of it. For some reason, the very end had gotten tangled and extremely dry. I put some stuff on it last night, and it's better, but it needs more attention. My thinning, drying hair and my very oily scalp are making caring for my hair difficult.
It's a cloudy, breezy, but rather warm night in the field.
October 1 So it's actually October 2, but I got to reading and time just passed. Sorry about that.
I got to bed around 10:30 last night - I was tardy then, too - and I slept very well. I was awake when the alarm went off, but I didn't want to get up. However, I did, and I got off to church just about when I wanted to.
I wore the shawl I blocked yesterday, but I'm not very happy about how it turned out and I may have to try it again. I had to put a jacket on over it, for the first time this fall. It was only about 53º when I left.
Church was good. Pastor's sermon was very short but pithy. The choir sang very well, one of our favorite songs, but I talked to Pastor afterwards and he didn't like it. He said it was "weak" and I guess he meant theologically, although I can't see it. We like it.
Then I had to shop for food. I did that, and I didn't get anything extra - in fact, there were a few things I couldn't get because they were out of them, like bread (!) - but I still did a lot of damage. I got home around 2:00.
I put the cold stuff away and had something to eat, but then I started reading, and I just ignored everything and kept on, even when it was getting late and I had to go to the bathroom.
Finally I did get up, but I messed myself up and had to put on something to cover my bottom. Then I had to bring in the stuff that I didn't get earlier. Mostly that was lettuce and OJ, but it took a while, because I'm tired and I'm moving very slowly now. Then i had a sandwich, just so I would eat something.
The weather today turned out to be not bad at all. The temperature got up to 65º for a couple of hours this afternoon, but the wind picked up about the time I got home and it has been gusting up to 32 mph from the south. There was a lot of sunshine early, but it was cloudy at sunset and there was no moon. The humidity actually got down below 50% for a while this afternoon, which was nice. Things like my hip and my neck weren't nearly so sore.
The guys were sleepy. Grayson kept coming back and sitting on me until I finally told him to stop. Then he sat down on the laptop with his back to me and whipped his tail around for several minutes before he went away. Boy, is he spoiled! Louie was very interested when I started bringing in the rest of the groceries, and at one point, when I came down the hallway, he ran up the steps to about my shoulder level and started pawing at me through the railing. I didn't paw back, because, while his claws aren't as sharp as Grayson's, they are sharp and they hurt. He hasn't done that in quite a while.
So that was a very quiet day and I suppose I should go to bed, but I probably won't, because I still want to read. It's a warmish, cloudy, windy night in the field...and it's October! Yikes!
Last updated 11/01/17 08:59 PM |