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A View From the Field |
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December 2018 December 31 - New Year's Eve Well, we've finally gotten to the end of 2018! I thought it would never come, and I'm so glad it's over!
Sometimes, on New Year's Eve, I look back on the past year an ruminate on what it taught me. I won't do much of that tonight. It was a year of frustrations and problems for me. The first half wasn't too bad, except for my frustrations at not being able to get anybody to do the work I needed done around the house. As for the second half, well...
I still feel like I completely lost the fourth quarter. It was Labor Day and the next time I came to, it was Veteran's Day and whatever happened in between, well, I'm glad it's written down in the journal.
Please, God, let 2019 be a better year!
I have hope. Usually, when I have one of these convulsions, it's at least five years before I have another. While not everything I need done around the house is done, at least I have heat. It's so warm in the bathroom we all like to hang out there. The winter hasn't started out badly - not like last winter, for sure! - and slowly I'm getting back on my feet. Maybe 2019 will be better.
I had an upside down day again, but it didn't matter much. I didn't do anything but knit. This weather is causing my back and hips to act up and everything I should be doing requires that I stand up, so I didn't.
It snowed. I guess it stopped after it got dark, but it snowed all night long and until it got dark today. There must be at least 6" in my driveway. The WInter Weather Advisory is still out until tomorrow, but the last time I looked, most of the snow had passed to the east end of the UP, and I could see down the harbor. It was cold. The high temperature got up to 30º at 10:00 AM, but at 11:00 AM it was beginning to drop and the wind had picked up to 27 mph with gusts of 37 mph. The temperature dropped - it's 19º now - and the wind peaked at 44 mph gusts at 6:00 PM. The Winter Weather Advisory doesn't expire until 7:00 AM tomorrow, so we may get some more snow and wind. Well, it's winter in the Keweenaw, so what else should we expect?
The guys slept, of course. Louie got his loving before I got dressed, and Grayson got to sleep on my lap for quite a while. They got some canned food they haven't had in a while, which Louie liked a lot, but it was so late that Grayson wasn't hungry. I had to warm it up in the microwave - I forgot to bring it in last night.
So it was another inverted day and now it's a dark, cold, windy night in the field. The lake is singing loudly. I would like to go to bed now, but we'll see how that works out.
Happy
New Year, everybody! December 30 Stupidly late again. I don't know why I do that, except that I was reading. I did get my hair washed - it was horrible. I got up around 11:30, I think (or something like that) and my day was about a repeat of yesterday, except that I managed to make rice and eat at a slightly earlier hour. I have shrimp on Sunday, usually, and I eat it with rice and a veggie.
Except to knit, I didn't do anything but read.
The weather was nondescript. The temperature has gotten up to 25º and it's been there for most of the afternoon. There was almost no wind at all. It was dark and cloudy. The ice on the harbor is about halfway to the lighthouse, but I think it's just a film covered with a little snow.
The guys slept. Grayson got almost as much lap time as he wanted, and Louie got his petting twice, so they were both happy, except that sometimes they get canned food on Sunday and they didn't today because I didn't bring in the box last night. Maybe tonight?
Obviously, since I didn't get to bed, I didn't go to church. If I'd been early enough I could have - the weather was all right - but I decided to wait another week. New year, new schedule? I hope so.
Now it's a dark, cold night in the field and maybe I can do better tonight, but I make no promises.
December 29 I wasn't too late last night - about 2:00, I think - and I slept fairly well. I was up twice and I got up the third time, at around 10:30. I knitted on the purple sock. I really like this pair and I want to be able to wear them.
Yesterday I got into another one of those things that make me wonder about myself. Well, I do know why I got into this one. I have a pair of socks I knit many years ago - more than 10, for sure - that I don't wear very much even though I love them. I cast on too tightly, which is a knitting problem I have always had, as well as binding off too tightly. I like those socks, and I want to wear them more often, especially since I don't have all that many pairs of winter socks. So...I started trying to find where I joined the cast on row. These days, the join (and the beginning of each round) is on one side since that's much easier and nobody will be able to tell the difference. So I began to look for the join in my old socks and I couldn't find it. It certainly wasn't on the side! Eventually I did find it, in the back. it has to be more than 10 years since I've done the joins that way, because it means the heel has to be split in half when I'm working it and that's awkward. So I undid the join and began pulling out the cast on row. That's not fun, especially in a sock that has been worn and washed as much as these have, but I did it. I have to pull out another row, because the way I want to finish the top requires a whole lot of yarn. A problem is that when you pull out the start of ribbing, the stitches don't come apart like they do with stockinette stitch, so I am going to have to pull the yarn through every third stitch. I even toyed with the idea of pulling out all the ribbing, but that would take forever. I couldn't continue that this morning because I was having trouble seeing - a problem I frequently have in the mornings - and I need to be able to put the stitches on a needle as I go. One of these days I will get it done, and then there's the other sock...Some people never knit socks because there are always two of them and the second one is always boring. I wonder what they do with sweaters, which have two sleeves...
Anyway, between that and the iPhone, I was so late that I didn't really eat breakfast, just something to tide me over. I finally did finish reading my emails and doing the rest of my surfing. It helped that the emails are on break right now and there weren't nearly as many of them as there were before Christmas.
I also finally got the load of clothes washed, rinsed and in the dryer. Fortunately, my daily accident didn't soil the sweatpants I'm wearing. I need to try to remember to bring in a box of canned cat food so that it's warm tomorrow morning.
The weather was cold. The high temperature was only 19º, but the wind died down overnight and it's been nearly calm since noon. It was mostly cloudy and dark, although between around 12:00 and 2:30 there were a few patches of blue in the west and the sun came out briefly right about sunset, just before it sank behind the Mountain Lodge. There is a film of ice on this end of the harbor, not completely solid yet, and I think there were a few snowflakes that didn't register at the weather station, because there was snow on the patches of ice. It's about time. If I recall, at this time last year, the harbor was completely frozen over. But then, at this time last year, we'd had 20" more snow than we've had so far this year.
The guys slept. Louie got his loving and Grayson got to sleep on me for quite a while, although he didn't want to get up when I had to run to the bathroom. He came back later and got off of his own accord.
i haven't decided whether to go to church or not. I was going to try, but I'm later than I wanted to be, so I won't make it into bed by 9:30. We'll see. If I get up at 6:30 and I feel OK, i might try to go, but on the other hand, maybe I should just hunker down until the new year and try to do better. It doesn't help that I don't like the service they're using tomorrow (Divine 5). I find I get used to going, and then when I can't I get used to not going. Having to get up so early is just about more than I can handle these days. We'll see.
So now it's a very cold, cloudy night in the field, but the winds are calm and it's nice and quiet again.
December 28 Sorry to be late. I went into zombie mode listening to the radio, and I just finished eating something.
I went up to the north end around 11:00 last night, but then I cast on another sock - this one is brown, shades of tan and cream and pink. So it was around 12:15 when I got to bed. I didn't have a very good night. I ate fish last night, so I was up about every hour and a half. I got up around 9:30, I think, and I knitted the ribbing on the brown sock. I just wanted to see what it looks like. It's not my favorite, but it will be useful when I wear my camel colored pants. Oddly enough, although I haven't worn a skirt in 12 years, I still like things to go together, and it will be nice to have a pair of brown socks to go with my camel pants.
I changed my bottoms - still haven't gotten over that - and rewashed everything I washed yesterday, plus another pair of sweats, but then I forgot to do the second rinse, so I will have to work on that tomorrow. I need to get the underwear out of the dryer anyway.
It was a rather frustrating day. I ran out of TP in the house, so I went out to the breezeway and opened the boxes that have been there all month. I found my TP and the cats' current favorite kibble, but then I discovered that Walmart sent me the wrong thing for another kind of kibble. It was probably all right - they've decided it's their third favorite and I discovered I had a small bag. So I tried to use their online chat function. Don't do that. If you have to talk to any online retailer about an order, call them on the phone. I've had two very bad experiences lately, one with Schwan's and one with Walmart.
The person I was chatting with had very poor English and was clearly not a native English speaker and i had a hard time getting her (him? Not clear) to understand my problem. I opted for a refund, since I have a lot of the kind that they didn't ship, but then we got to the return. Oh, sigh. Suffice it to say, I had to call on the phone and eventually I had to talk to both a FedEx supervisor and a Walmart supervisor in order to get things straight.
In the middle of that, I had to go off to the end of Woodland Road to get my Schwan's order, and when my driver came, I discovered that my order had gotten in twice - once with $20 off and once with my rewards points applied. After the conversation I had with the chatter the other night, I wasn't surprised. So my driver canceled one order and when he got to the checkout page on the other one, both discounts had been applied. Sheesh. Well, at least I got a nice price for my order, but I'm getting fed up with this online chat thing.
Then I came home and promptly forgot about my frozen stuff, which was out in the breezeway, until I got the Walmart thing resolved. I would have kept what I got except that they have never tasted it and I didn't want to be stuck with 16 pounds of something they didn't like.
Finally, I remembered my stuff and I was packing it away in the fridge when Ron came with my mail. And then I forgot about that. My mind isn't working very well lately.
The mail ended up being nicer, actually. While they did raise my Medicare supplemental, it wasn't a whole lot, and I got the thing from Social Security, and that came out very nice. I will have a few more dollars each month to try to pay my bills with.
The weather wasn't good again. The recorded precip stopped around 2:00 AM, although we did have flurries off and on all day. The temperature at midnight was 34º, and it is now 16º. The wind shifted around to the north around 3:00 AM, and it was at its peak around 2:00 this afternoon, with 44 mph gusts. It's dying down now, but oh, my, it certainly was noisy around here! Of course it was dark and cloudy all day. I'm afraid it's finally winter here, and I'm only glad it took so long to get here. We will be having snow events at least twice next week.
The wise guys slept. Neither of them got a lot of loving today for some reason, but I was otherwise engaged. Grayson only tried once, and I had to get up and run to the bathroom. Louie got a little petting and he got a little tummy rub. They were both a bit upset when Dave came around with the tractor to clear my driveway. and they were happy when I brought in their current favorite kibble and filled the bowl. They got canned food today, too. Grayson was interested in everything I did in the breezeway, but so far he hasn't tried to get out. It's pretty cold out there.
The weather has done a number on my joints, and my back was killing me all day today, especially when I had to go out into the breezeway and haul cat food around. Maybe it will be nicer tomorrow.
Now it's a dark, very cold and, i think, snowy night in the field. and I'll be off to the north end as soon as the Dvorak ends.
December 27 I did write last night, as you will see if you scroll down, but I forgot to upload it. Sorry. My mind is still out in outer space, I guess.
i was late again, of course, and I didn't sleep very well, so I'm tired now - maybe tired enough to actually go up to the north end and go to bed. I got up around noon and I knitted. I did the ribbing on the second sock and started the leg...and then I got trapped by a crafty iPhone, so it was very late when I finally had something to eat. Then I got to knit some more, after I changed my bottoms. That is becoming a daily thing and it's getting really old. I washed a load of bottoms, but I forgot to rinse them, so I will have to do that tomorrow.
Otherwise, I didn't do anything. The dentist's office finally called back - they woke me up, in fact - and my appointment is now on January 18. They had one next Thursday, but if the weather is good enough to go out, I will be going to church, and since I take Mary Ann, the logistics could get messy.
The weather has been abysmal. I think the snow started around 5:00 AM, or at least the measurable precip started then. Mary Ann said that by 8:00 or so there was 6" on the ground and it kept on snowing, until it started to rain. So far (at 10:00 PM) we've had 1.41" of liquid precip, so there is a fairly deep coating of wet, heavy stuff on the ground. I fear for tomorrow, when the temperature is supposed to drop down to around 20º or so. Today, it was nearly steady around 34º or so. The wind has been from the south, and the gusts were up to 41 mph around 11:00 AM. Sometime during the night, the wind will shift around to the north and then the temps will start to fall. I like it better when it's way below freezing when these things happen. Anyway, anybody who looked at the camera today didn't see much - nothing down the harbor, and raindrops on the windows, as well as a sprig of pine needles. This weather is hell on my joints.
The guys did their thing. On days like this, I wish I could sleep as long as they do. I had to get up when I did because I hurt. That doesn't seem to happen to either of them. Louie just turns over and grunts a bit and Grayson gets off my lap and goes away briefly.
I had some things I wanted to do today, but I was so late that nothing got done, of course. Maybe tomorrow, but I have to go up to US-41 and get my Schwan's order, so we'll see.
Now it's a dark, snowy (or rainy - I'm not sure what it's doing right now) windy night in the field and there is going to be more snow and more high winds tomorrow. Time to hunker down.
December 26 Oh, I almost forgot again. I was having an altercation with Schwan's and I need to go to bed.
Of course, I was late last night. I usually am. I slept fairly well, i guess, and I got up around 10:30. I finished the first purple sock and I like it very much. When I was back at the north end changing my underwear (yes, again) I cast on the second sock and started the ribbing, so if I keep this up, in a couple of weeks, I will have a nice new pair of socks to wear.
Then I almost forgot the bulletin, so around dinner I did that. It was hard because the order of service is Divine 5, which has hymns for the liturgy, and I had to use a shoehorn to get it all on one page. Then I didn't know about Bible Study for sure and I don't know who the trustee for St. John's is on the 6th. All this makes sense, since nothing is normal the last week of the year, especially when Christmas Day is on Tuesday! Pastor sent the service info last night, but too late for me to do anything about it then. Oh, well.
I was going to wash my hair again tonight, but I think I'll just be oily and itchy. I'm tired.
The weather today was cloudy and dull but there was no snow. Now, tonight and tomorrow will be different. We are under a Winter Storm Warning for tomorrow, and it is going to be wet, heavy snow that might even be mixed with rain occasionally. Yuck. It's supposed to snow into Friday and maybe Saturday, so I guess our respite is over. The high temperature today was 30º, but it was actually just about steady at 28º for most of the day. There was almost no wind.
The guys slept. I got a wonderful picture of them this morning when they were both laid out in parallel in the bathroom. I must upload some more pictures from the phone. This one shows just how much bigger Louie is than Grayson, because they were both stretched out full length. Grayson slept on my lap as much as I'd let him and it made him mad that i wouldn't let him get back on my lap after I made him get off because I had to pee.
So that was it. Nothing much to write about. It's a dark, cloudy night in the field, and the snow is coming...the snow is coming...
December 25 - Christmas Day A Blessed Christmas to everyone! I hope you had a wonderful day doing the things you like best to do.
I think I got to bed around 1:00 this morning, but I don't remember. Anyway, I woke up at what the clock in the bedroom said was about 5:45, but when I got to the bathroom, the clock there said 6:43. Huh? How to discombobulate a poor old lady in the middle of the night! I ignored it at the time, and this morning I checked the calculator clock and the bathroom clock was the correct one. I haven't looked since I reset the bedroom one. I hope it's not dying, because it's a clock/radio/corded phone and I don't know where I could get another one of those. Well - there is another one upstairs at that. After I got mine - at least 30 years ago - my mother liked it so well she got one, too, so I ended up with two.
Anyway, I got up around 10:30 and I knitted. I have now only about 10 rows left to do on the foot before I start the toe. This sock has gone fast. I hope the other one does, too, because I like them and I want to wear them.
I had a light breakfast and did my surfing and in the middle of the afternoon, I started yawning, so I got myself together and went off to dinner. Normally I don't eat so early, but it's actually a good time to eat a big meal. This one was lovely, turkey and all the fixings - and besides, Peg was able to sit down and eat with me while we talked. It's been a long time since we've had time to sit. We couldn't get all caught up, of course, but we made a dent in it. I was happy to hear that they had a good summer and fall, but I thought so from the number of cars around the place all season long. They would like to sell the place, though. They are getting up in years and it's a big job.
That got us thinking about getting older. You may be able to handle getting older yourself, but have you ever noticed that you expect people you know to be the same age they were when you first knew them? We both thought that of each other. Donny and Peggy are boomers, but that generation is retirement age now...only if you own a resort in a tourist area, you don't retire until you can sell the property. Copper Harbor isn't popular enough that it's easy to find buyers for that kind of business.
Anyway, it's a nice place and the food is just as good as it was when I was eating there two or three times a week. There were more guests than I would have thought for a holiday like this one, which was nice for them.
The weather is beginning to deteriorate. While I was knitting, we had a short, fairly heavy snow shower, and while I was doing my surfing there was enough wind to blow the snow off the roof, but that was all, thankfully. There wasn't any snow on my car when I left Mariner. The temperature went up to 30º and stayed there. It was very dark and cloudy. We are under a winter storm watch for Thursday and Friday and all the weather services agree, so I won't be going anywhere this week.
The guys slept, of course. I got a wonderful picture of Grayson asleep on the desk because I wouldn't let him sleep on my lap...or I thought he was asleep until I enlarged the picture and saw his little slitty eyes looking at me. Little snot. Louie got his loving this morning. When I came home, Grayson came and slept on me again until just a little while ago. I think I was moving around too much because my hands are cold and he's so nice and warm.
So it was a very quiet day, but a nice one, and I'm tired, so I think I will try to go to bed early. Try. Now it's a cold, dark night in the field but it isn't snowing yet.
December 24 - Christmas Eve So I was late again last night. I still don't know why I do that. I'm tired, and I know I eventually have to go up to the north end in order to go to bed, but I just don't. Sigh.
I got up around 11:00 and I knitted. The sock is coming along very nicely. I would like to do something that requires more attention, but I haven't found the project I want to work on.
I managed to get to the bathroom without soiling myself, but I jumped up right after I finished my breakfast. I don't usually do that, because I'm in the middle of reading my email and it's interesting, but I am going to have to make myself do it. I think possibly the new pill I'm taking is making my diarrhea worse, but considering that it is supposed to make a recurrence of my cancer less likely, I guess I'll cope.
In the middle of the afternoon, I got a call from my friends at Mariner, and I have a dinner invite for tomorrow. It's not a formal dinner - nobody is here - but I will get my turkey and I won't have to cook it. They are so nice. I've blown them off so many times that I was wondering if they would think I'm not worth it. I wish I could see more of them, but they work very hard and I can't afford to eat there very much anymore. It will be good to see them.
The weather was sort of weird. It snowed overnight, evidently between 2:00 and 5:00 AM, but there wasn't more than an inch or two. I know I was up around 4:30 and I couldn't see down the harbor. It's nice to have the moon to light the scene. Today was different. The clouds were going away by noon, and we had some nice sunshine this afternoon, although of course, the sun is so low in the sky and the days are so short that there wasn't a lot of it. The temperature during the day was 28º and it has now taken a dive down below 20º. There wasn't much wind. I guess its supposed to snow tonight and tomorrow, but lightly. I don't think it will keep me home.
The guys slept and they both got their loving. Grayson slept on me as much as he could and he got a good brushing. I don't know why he's shedding, but his coat was a mess. Fortunately, he likes to be brushed. I only wish I could get him to turn over so I could get both sides. Louie does not like to be brushed and I don't even try anymore. He likes his chops scratched, so I do that.
Obviously, I didn't get to church tonight - I wouldn't be here at 10:30 if I had. I wasn't going to attempt that road in the dark when I knew it would be awful. I listened to a rebroadcast of the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols from England. That's not much like a church service as far as I'm concerned, but the music is mostly nice. I've listened to it for a long time and sometimes it has gotten pretty weird, but lately they've gone back to mostly traditional carols. I will say that there may have been something wrong with the pickups or with the organist, because they claimed he played Bach's arrangement of In Dulci Jubilo as a postlude, and darn if I could recognize what it was. It's a good organ, though.
I was sorry not to go to church, but I couldn't face that drive, so I will just do my little Christmas thing by myself. It's a dark, cold night in the field and I'll leave you with my usual Christmas thought:
Ah, dearest Jesus, Holy Child, Make Thee a bed, soft, undefiled Within my heart that it may be A quiet chamber kept for Thee.
December 23 Yes, I missed a day. I don't remember the last time I actually forgot to write, but I did last night. I was so exhausted that I just wanted to get to bed as soon as i could
I actually got enough sleep Friday night, or I think I did. I think I got up around 10:00 and I knitted a bit before I got dressed and ate. I was actually early, but then sometime after 1:00 I had an accident. Not a bad one, but I did have to change my underwear. That put me a bit behind, but not, I thought, that much.
I left, and I thought it was about 1:30. Woodland Road was a mess, of course, just about glare ice, but from there to Copper Harbor, it wasn't bad. Then I turned south at the blinker. Well. I had to go slowly because the road was partly snow covered and I couldn't tell what was wet pavement and what was ice. When I got to Central, I looked at the time and it was after 2:15. That's only 15 - 18 miles. It was clear that even if the road was better from there south (which it was) there was no way I was going to get to Laurium before Deanna was almost through doing the work. So I called her - and got her voicemail, so I hope she got the message - and I turned around and came home.
I thought I was doing all right and I didn't do anything for the rest of the afternoon, but after I had my dinner, I started feeling so tired and sick that I went up to the north end before 8:00 and I was in bed by 9:15. It might have taken me 15 minutes to relax enough to go to sleep, but the next time I woke up was 5 hours later. That's almost unheard of, and it's some indication of just how wiped out I was.
The next time I got up was around 3:30 or so and when I looked out the back windows, the garage roof was covered with new snow. Oh, no! Not that on top of the mess there was yesterday! I went back to bed but I was wakeful - or I thought I was - but I think the next time I woke up was around 5:30. After I thought it over, I turned off the alarm and went back to bed - and I didn't wake up again until 9:30. I had some interesting dreams, for sure, but not about not going to church. I am just getting so timid about driving in the winter that I couldn't face it this morning.
So I got up and knitted the heel of the sock. The sock is the only thing I'm knitting right now, so it's going fast, which is good, because this pair is a color I don't have. I have also realized that I have far more summer socks, for some reason, than I do wool winter socks, so I have some incentive to make more. After that, I sat and played solitaire until the battery almost gave out, so my day has been a weird one.
The weather wasn't very nice. It was warmer today than yesterday - about 30º, whereas yesterday the temperature all day was around 25º - and there wasn't any wind. There was measurable precip between 2:00 and 3:00 AM and again between 8:00 and 9:00 AM this morning and I think there may have been a little more that didn't register. It was very dark and cloudy and we are now under a winter weather advisory for lake effect snow until tomorrow morning. I'm not going out tomorrow, either.
The guys got their loving, although they both had to wait. Louie got his when I went up to the north end to change my underpants - this is getting to be a daily thing - and Grayson got his after I came back to the computer, although he would have liked more.
I guess I should get something besides cheese and crackers for dinner, and then I'm going back to bed, although it's already later than I was last night. It's a dark, cold, possibly snowy night in the field.
December 21- Winter Solstice Happy Solstice! It's all uphill from here, although we won't notice it for another month or six weeks. One good thing about time passing so fast is that this time of year goes by in a hurry and pretty soon I'll be adjusting the camera for longer days. They're a little under 8½ hours now, and the first couple and last couple of hours every day are so dark it might as well be night. It's the one disadvantage of living here. If it was clear in the wintertime, like it was last weekend, that would be lovely, but most of the time it's like it is now - cloudy and dark.
I don't remember when I got to bed, but I think it was around 2:00. I slept well and I got up around 10:30. I knitted, and I got back to where I was when I discovered the dropped stitch and kept going.
The nurse came after I made my breakfast and before I ate it, and I have now been discharged from Home Nursing. She is such a nice person, I hope to meet her again sometime - only not in a professional capacity. We see a lot of things the same way.
I washed the load of underwear and it should be dry by now. Strange that I am faithful about washing clothes, but I can't seem to wash dishes, isn't it? Well, maybe not. I can wash a dish at a time when I need it, but I can't do that with underpants.
I went to the post office and the Gas Lite and brought home a whole lot of mail, a box of Christmas goodies from Nancy and Stuart and my three small packages from Amazon. Oh, and a lot of pills. I now have a dispenser to put my honey in, so I don't have to try to get it out of the quart jar without it glopping up everything. Or, I hope it won't glop up everything. I washed the bottle and I will fill it tomorrow. It's actually a syrup dispenser, but it should work as well for honey. I like the honey I'm getting in the quart jar - it's locally produced - but it's a mess to deal with. This should be better.
Amongst the bills and other stuff from the post office were a lot of Christmas cards - thank you all very much - and some nice donations. I can't tell you how I appreciate that! I teeter on the edge most of the time, and every little bit helps. It always surprises me that y'all like this journal so much, because I sometimes think it's pretty boring. So I try to talk about the weather and the cats.
The weather was all right, I guess. The high temperature was at midnight; it was nearly steady around 25º for most of the day. It was windy. The wind was from the northeast, with gusts up to 36 mph, although it's dying down some now. There wasn't any precip today, i think, but whatever came down yesterday and last night froze and the roads weren't so good. I didn't get out of my car when I was out, and fortunately, people around here understand why I don't.
The guys were sleepy. Grayson hasn't gotten his lap time today, and he's not happy about it, but I was otherwise engaged. Louie slept, of course, and they got some of their more favorite canned food today. They are good Keweenaw cats; they like fish better than any other cat's I've ever had, although they're not so keen on tuna. Today's was tuna with chicken, cheese and gravy, and it went over pretty well. Of course, the first thing they do is lick off all the gravy and cheese, but at least Louie comes back and eats the meat, too. I'm going to have to open up the boxes in the breezeway, though; they're running out of kibble.
So that was my day, and I need to go to bed. I do have to go to church tomorrow to meet Deanna and get things ready for Sunday, and unless it's blizzarding, I really do have to go. Now it's another dark, cold, windy night in the field.
December 20 I didn't get to bed until around 1:15 AM, but I slept very well and I got up at 11:15, so it was a truncated day. I ripped back the sock to the stitch I dropped, and I have almost gotten back to where I was when I discovered it. Of course, if I hadn't done that, I would be so much further ahead, but I realized that I had tightened up my tension too much, and I've corrected that, so the final socks will be like all the other ones I've knitted in that wool. It's so soft and the colors are so pretty that I love to knit in it, even if I have to keep saying to my hands. "Relax! Relax!"
That took quite a while, so my day was truncated. I had pretty much decided that I wouldn't be going to church tonight, and when I looked down the harbor when I got up and saw nothing, that sealed it. Then I got a call from the hospital - my primary care doctor is leaving - and in the course of talking to my friend Shannon, she said it was about 32º and drizzling there, so no way was I going. By the time I finished talking to Mary Ann and doing my knitting, something was coming down here and it wasn't rain - it was probably graupel, but since I didn't go out and sample it, I don't know for sure. Anyway, the deck was covered already and it kept on coming. I was glad I decided to hibernate.
Debbie called around 6:00 - I had texted her yesterday when I knew the doctor said I was fine - and we had a nice conversation. She is all caught up in her new job, of course, but she has discovered that her company doesn't know anything about internet security - or even just computer security - and since she is a true Type A, it's driving her nutty. It's easy for me to see how so many data breaches happen, because I'm sure her boss's attitudes are the norm. Shudder.
I got a notice that there was another system update, this one to security for Internet Explorer, so I decided I should install it right away. Well. The install went all right, but when I rebooted, it kept coming up with the sound turned off. That seemed weird, and there were a couple of other strange things, so I rebooted again - three times - before I let the diagnostic run and discovered that I had managed to pull out the cord to the speakers. Oh. Anyway, now it's all right, but it took some time. It didn't matter much; I had eaten "breakfast" so late that I wasn't hungry earlier.
Oh, yes, and I washed a load of clothes. All my sweats and all my compression hose and socks were dirty, so now that is done. I realized that I seem to have lost a pair of socks. I wanted to wear red socks yesterday, and I couldn't find them. I think I recall there having been a thin spot in those socks last year, but what I did with them, I do not know. I'm sure they will turn up eventually, but right now, I have no red socks except for a pair of sweat socks that are so thick I don't wear them much. I liked those red socks, and I was annoyed when they didn't hold up. I wonder where they went?
The weather, as I said, was lousy. The high temperature was about 38º, this morning, and it slid down from there to 30º, where it's been for several hours. I just discovered that my outside temperature sensor isn't working. I suppose it's the battery, and I suppose I will have to go out and get it. I like that thing. Anyway, it's been windy all afternoon, with gusts up to 37 mph from the northeast. The lake is singing. The precip is supposed to end tonight. I hope so - I need to go to the post office and Gas LIte and on Saturday, I have to meet Deanna at church for Altar Duty. If it's like it was today, I won't go.
The guys slept. While I was talking to Mary Ann, they were both laid out full length in the bathroom, sound asleep. They had eaten most of their kibble, except for the one they've decided they don't like anymore, so I filled both bowls and that made them happy. Grayson ate about five pieces of one kind, but Louie sat down and ate a whole helping of his favorite. Good thing it's the low calorie kind, but it's no wonder he's so fat. with as little as he does. Anyway, they were happy. Grayson got some lap time, but I had to stop it because I had to run to the bathroom, and I got to playing games while I was there - and they both socked out again. They know the best thing to do in this weather.
So that was my quiet, if truncated day, and I think the kitties have a good idea. It's a dark, cold, windy and probably snowy night in the field.
December 19 Ugh. It was a long day, but a successful one.
I was stupidly late again and I only got about six hours' sleep. I got up because I had to, and it was clear that I wasn't going to go back to sleep until I peed, but if I had gone back to bed, I would never have gotten to the doctor. I knitted a bit - more on that later.
I managed to do most of my surfing, but I ended up just deleting most of the emails. I get around 100 emails a day, most of them ads. I like to see what's for sale sometimes and some of them have lovely pictures, especially the gardening ones. But I very seldom act on any of them, so I can easily just delete them all when I don't have time to read them.
Then, I was getting ready to go and sitting in the powder room knitting when I looked at my lovely purple sock and saw something strange. When I looked carefully at it, I discovered that I had dropped a stitch on the first plain round after the ribbing - and that was about 3" ago! Oh, woe. Well, I said something a bit stronger. So i got the other sock - the one on #1 needles - and left. I will have to rip back to the ribbing on the purple sock and pick up the stitch I missed, and I didn't want to do that in the doctor's office, although I could have.
The trip down was good. After I got off Woodland (which is awful) the road is just wet and I made good time, which was good, because I was late leaving. I managed to walk into the clinic again, so I'm recovering, although I parked in a place that isn't really a parking place (it should be).
I had plenty of time to knit, because the doctor was at least 45 minutes late. I made the appointment for my yearly physical next July (my doctor is nearly impossible to get to see) and I knitted close to 4" on the sock. This one is two shades of purple and two shades of blue that sort of blend together, but the dark and light colors do spiral down the leg. I like it, and I'm glad I started it.
Then i saw the doctor, and he cut me loose!!! I don't have to go back again unless something happens. He did indicate that I'm likely to have a rather ugly thing on my chest, but if it bothers me, they wouldn't do anything about it for at least a year. He was talking about my blood thinner, my Sjogren's Syndrome and my chronic inflammation. I don't know about that last one, and I will have to take it up with my doctor next summer. With the arthritis and the gout, I sort of figured I had it, but nobody has ever mentioned it to me before.
But I'm free. It's over. It only took about 13 weeks. What a mess! I don't have to wear a bandage and I don't have to visit the doctor, so that's good.
I didn't get out of the clinic until around 4:30 and I went off to Pat's to shop for food. I had to move my car - I parked in a handicap slot and when I went to get out, there was a patch of glare ice under my feet, so I moved to a regular parking spot across the aisle that didn't have as much ice. I think they could do a much better job on their parking lot, frankly.
I had sort of a mental list of things I needed to get, and I think I got them all. Of course, I got a few other things, too, but not as much as I might have wanted. I got the essentials, so I'm good for several weeks, if the weather gets bad.
When I got out of Pat's it was dark already and I had to get gas. I went to their station, but there was some weirdness going on and apparently I could only redeem my loyalty points (45¢ a gallon!) if I paid in their store, so I didn't. I didn't need a lot of gas anyway - about 14 gallons - and the price has gone down precipitously to $2.299 a gallon. I don't remember the last time the price was that low, but I'll take it! Too bad I have to use my loyalty points before the end of January - it would be nice if I could save them until next summer, when the price will undoubtedly be ridiculously high.
The trip home wasn't so nice, because it had started to drizzle and I got caught in the evening "rush hour." There was more traffic going south than I would have expected, and I had a lot of trouble with the glare - and with the several huge trucks that were sort of hugging the center line. Of course, I met those where there was a guard rail on my right and I didn't have much of a place to go. Sigh.
Anyway, it was about 6:45 before I got home and then I had to unload the car. Once I did that - most of it is still out in the breezeway - I just sat in the powder room for a couple of hours before I felt recovered enough to make some dinner. I'm exhausted now.
The weather was yucky but not very wintry. The temperature was in the high 30s here all day - cooler in the interior - and it has now settled down at 39º. There wasn't much wind. It was cloudy and while I was in Pat's it started to drizzle. There was less drizzle here, but still. Something was coming down, and I expect it still is. It was not a good day for those of us with arthritis, and I hurt.
I think the guys slept. While I was sitting in the powder room, Grayson kept coming in and essentially asking me what the devil I was doing sitting there like that. They really don't like it when I do something nonstandard. Louie is around, but he goes with the flow more. When I came in after bringing the groceries to the platform, they were both in the hallway. They are funny little guys.
So that was my day, and I'm happy but exhausted. I'm finally pretty much healed. I never thought it would be such a problem, and I'm glad it's over with. Now it's a dark, drizzly night in the field and i have to go to bed. Now.
December 18 It was about 1:00 when I got to bed last night. I didn't sleep very well - I was up several times, and one time, I had just gotten back to bed when I had to get up again - fast. I got up around 9:00. That wasn't enough sleep, but I'll be earlier tonight. Promise. I still don't feel good.
I knitted. I decided to abandon the sock I don't like, but I don't want to rip out the 3" or so I've already done, and I haven't gotten it off the needle yet. It is just too ugly. When I see some of the yarn and some of the fabric they try to sell, I really wonder what the manufacturers are thinking. I get some quilting emails and they are always trying to sell of the fabric that doesn't sell - and I can certainly see why! I have a strong like of the blue-green-red side of the color wheel, but even if someone likes the other side, there are still fabrics and yarn that nobody in their right minds would ever use for anything. I mentioned the lace yarn. I only don't understand how i got that. By this time I should know better...or maybe the pictures weren't accurate.
The other task of the day was the bulletins and I got all three of them done and sent out. I haven't heard back from anybody yet, but I think they'll be all right. I was able to get the Christmas Eve one down to a half page, which was good. Last year I had to make a four page folder out of it, but there were a couple fewer songs this year. Of course, that meant I couldn't use the nice cover I made last year, but oh, well.
The weather was sort of blah. The high temperature was 35º and it was cloudy, but the clouds were light enough that there was a bit of sunshine. There was some wind for a few hours around noon, with gusts up to 32 mph from the southwest. When I woke up around 3:00 this morning, the moon was setting over Porter's Island, very bright through the clouds and putting a lovely glitter path on the water. It's gibbous now, so it's getting brighter every day.
The guys slept, of course. Grayson slept on me as long as I'd let him, and when I started working, he moved over to the sewing chair and slept there, although the nasty towels are still there, so it must have been a bit smelly. I guess he doesn't mind as long as it smells like me. Louie came out and slept in the great room for a while, but he's gone again.
So that was my day. I have to wash my hair tonight and tomorrow afternoon I have to see the doctor and do some food shopping. Fortunately, the weather seems to be going to be OK. It will get nasty on Thursday, like it usually does. Now it's a cool, cloudy night in the field and I'm off to the north end.
December 17 I was stupidly late again last night, as you no doubt realized. I slept well, of course, and Corina woke me up around 11:30. I got up and I knitted on the weird sock.
I don't like it very well. It looks like it will be mostly blobs about 4 stitches by 2 rows, except for the green and purple, which sort of fade away. As I suspected, the orange and brown take over, and those are not my favorite colors. I may work on it a while longer, just to see how it develops, but I don't like it.
I spent enough time working on it that I was still in my underwear when Corina arrived, but that wasn't a bad thing. I didn't have to undress, and she got to inspect my legs, which I've had some problems with. She inspected my wound carefully, and she thinks it's healed. There isn't any raw flesh there anymore, and I haven't had any drainage for a week. Of course, it's still quite an indentation, but that will heal in time. Boy, I hope so! This has been a real siege, and I'm more than ready for it to be over. I will see the doctor on Wednesday and Corina will discharge me from home care on Friday. I'm hoping not to have to dress the area anymore, too, but the doctor will tell me that.
I was late enough that I didn't do anything. I got the information for next week - all three services - last night (Pastor called it "stocking stuffer") but I didn't have time to work on it today. I hope to get all three bulletins out tomorrow, or at least that's the plan. If I get to bed at a reasonable hour tonight, it should be feasible.
The weather turned cloudy overnight. There was a lot of wind, and it peaked at 1:00 at 34 mph with gusts of 46 mph from the north. Wow! I know it was extremely noisy. The wind and the temperature went down all day. Now it's nearly calm and the temperature is 25º. It seemed to be clearing up a bit at sunset, but I don't know how it is now. The moon is moving toward full, so it should be light out.
The guys slept. When I got up today, Louie was asleep in the bathroom and Grayson was in the window seat. They move around like that, as long as they're within 15 feet of me. Grayson got to sleep on my lap for a while this afternoon, because I didn't have any accidents. Louie was sleeping in the box in the great room but he was lapping out onto the floor almost where I walk.
So that was my very quiet day. I still don't feel good, but my virus is progressing. I'm not dripping anymore; now I'm gloppy. My head still feels stuffed and it hurts. I won't wash my hair until tomorrow so I'm clean for the doctor (anybody else's mother insist on that?), so I can go to bed anytime I can move. I might wait until the Schubert ends.
Oh, and I completely forgot to mention that yesterday was Beethoven's birthday. I try to remember that, and I should have listened to the radio to see what they played, but I didn't. Oh, well. Unfortunately, most of my CDs are in the basement (the story of my current life) so I can't just slap one into the player and listen.
Now it's a dark, cold night in the field, but there could be a star or two.
December 16 Well, it isn't anymore, but I went into zombie mode and I just finished eating.
I decided last night not to go to church. I don't feel good, and the idea of getting up at 6:30 was more than I could handle. I didn't sleep very well. I was up any number of times and I was having night sweats all night long. I'd like to blame it on the new pill, but I don't think so. I think it's whatever ails me.
I got to bed right about 10:00 - too late to get up early, for sure! - and I got up about 8:30. I was getting sore.
I knitted on both socks and I finished the ribbing on both of them. I still haven't decided which ones to work on, and then this afternoon I did part of the cast on row for another pair. These are in a strange yarn that I'm not sure I like, but I wanted to see how it works up. I do that, you know. I have a pair of socks that are mostly brown and green (colors I rarely wear) because I wanted to see what they looked like. These are actually the same yarn or a revamp of it, and besides a bunch of other colors, it has brown and orange in it. I know the orange will stand out, because it always does, but I'm not sure what the other colors (green, purple, magenta and blue) will do and they have me curious. If they're really ugly, I will just rip it out and put it away or try to give it to somebody who might like it. I have two more balls of the same kind of yarn, but they are shades of blue, white and aqua, and whatever, I know I will like them.
I sometimes wonder how in the world I end up with the yarn I do. When I was going through the lace yarn, I found two big balls of two shades that I can't understand why I would ever buy, as much as I might want to see the yarn. One colorway is mostly pea green and the other one is sort of brown. I do not wear those colors and I most certainly would not spend the time to knit a lace shawl out of either of them. Yes, the yarn is wonderful, but the colors - yuck! Sort of like barf, both of them. On the other hand, I found some wonderful balls of sock yarn in great colors that make me want to knit five or six pairs of socks right now - and even if I knit a lot, a pair of socks on #2 needles takes a while. I have big feet.
That was all I did.
The weather was nice again, at least until late in the afternoon. The high temperature was 44º, around noon, but by 3:00 the wind was rising, and I think it peaked around 10:00, with gusts of 45 mph from the north. The wind started rising while it was still from the northwest, and for a while, it got cold in here and there was wind whistling through the patio door. i had to go up to the north end a while ago, and it's noisy up there. It was clear for most of the day, although I think it may be clouding up now. When I was up in the night, there were lovely stars, although a couple of times a cloud passed over Polaris, and when I looked at Orion, Rigel was lost in something close to the horizon. It's so unusual to see stars at this time of year that I'll take whatever I can get.
The guys slept. Grayson slept on my lap for the whole afternoon, even while I was casting on the sock. After it got dark I went into zombie mode, and around 9:30 or so, he came in and grumbled at me. I'm supposed to go to bed - or at least eat. Then he settled down under the computer desk, which is where he seems to be roosting these days, especially when I'm doing something nonstandard. I didn't see Louie, but he usually sleeps someplace up at the north end, and he sleeps most of the time he isn't eating.
So that was another nothing day. Now it's a dark, windy night in the field. I hope there will be some stars again, but I can't predict that. The moon is going toward full, so it should be light even if there are clouds. I like that; I can see the cat when I get up in the night.
December 15 Do you believe we've reached the middle of December already? Where does the time go?
I made it into bed by about 11:00 last night, and I slept pretty well, although last night the fish were working inside, so I was up several times. I got up around 9:30.
I thought I would start a mitten today. That turned out to be funny. The background color is black, so I couldn't see what I was doing, and I had a hard time doing the first couple of rows. Then I did the first seven rows and realized it was going to be much too big. So I ripped the whole thing out and put it away. I still want to make those mittens, but I am going to have to make a new pattern before I do and i didn't feel like doing that. Besides, I hate to work with knitting worsted. I did knit on both my socks, though. I haven't decided which one to concentrate on. They're both pretty.
Otherwise, I did nothing.
The weather was nice again. When I was awake around 5:00 this morning, I looked out the front windows and there was Orion, as big as life! That is a big constellation. I wouldn't say the seeing was the best, but I could see the nebula without my glasses on, as well as the Pleiades. I was actually looking right about at where the comet is, but it's too dim to see, particularly without my glasses. Anyway, it sure was pretty out there.
It was clear all day, although there was a little cloud or two occasionally. The high temperature was 42º and there was a bit of a breeze in the middle of the afternoon, with gusts up to 32 mph from the southwest. It has gone nearly calm now.
I was thinking about dinner when all of a sudden there was an enormous BOOM! and I wondered what that was, but then I heard a lot of popping, and when I turned around, there were fireworks over the community park. Today was the little Christmas market they have here every year, which ends with Santa coming, the lighting of the decorations and fireworks. The fireworks only lasted a minute or so, but they were very pretty, especially against the clear sky. And when I looked out the south windows, there was the quarter moon shining brightly in the sky, a whole lot higher than it was yesterday. I was wrong about it having gone away last night, too. It was behind the tree, and when I went to bed, it was hanging over the Mountain Lodge, not quite at quarter phase. I think we appreciate the clear skies more because they are so rare in the wintertime around here. It won't last much longer, but maybe through the night.
I've pretty much decided not to go to church tomorrow. I don't feel good - the Shari Syndrome has me again - and besides, there is the other stuff going on. I think I will just sleep in to a reasonable hour.
The guys slept today. Grayson slept on me as much as I would let him. In between, when I had to get up, I found him laid out on the dining table, basking in the sunshine. Even Louie came out of the bathroom and spent some time in the great room, although he's gone again now.
So that was it, and now it's a warmish (for mid-December) beautifully clear night in the field. I'm looking forward to the stars again.
December 14 Midnight again. I slept well. There was a spam phone call around 9:30, and I got up (or I think so, I don't remember now).
I cast on a sock on #1 needles, and it took me long enough to do it that I was still sitting there when Corina called, and I didn't have time to do much but feed the cats before she came. She says my wound looks very good, with very little that isn't healed over. There was no drainage. We're hoping that by Monday, it will be healed, or by the time I see the doctor on Wednesday at the latest. I hope.
I didn't do a lot. I had another nasty accident after breakfast, but while i was at the north end, I cast on another sock on #2 needles. I like both of them, so I'll have to try to choose between them.
I had thought I might go to the post office, but I was too late for that. I got a Schwan's order, which I had to figure out where to put. i managed, but the freezer is packed again. I think that's a good thing. I do need to shop a little next week, because I'm out of milk and I need to lay in some JD, but not much else.
I did do a system update. Evidently the one that came out last week was corrupted, so they had to reissue it. One of these days, I have to try to resurrect the laptop, but I've been avoiding that chore. I can't do it now - I suspect it may be the battery, and I'm on a cash-basis for the rest of the month.
The weather was amazing. The temperature went from 30º at 10;00 AM to 42º at noon, and it was clear and sunny all day. It was breezy, with gusts up to 29 mph from the northwest. There were pretty whitecaps on the harbor, which was so blue!
The cats slept. They were both interested in Corina, but once she was gone, they sacked out. Grayson finally did get some lap time late in the afternoon, which pleased him. They didn't like their canned food. I guess they've had too much of the same stuff lately. I need to unbox all the stuff I bought and give them what they like - gravy and cheese. Maybe tomorrow.
So that was another quiet day in the field, and now it's a cool, clear night. Or I think it's clear. There was a lovely quarter moon shining in the windows when it got dark, but when I went to get my dinner it seemed to have disappeared. I'd like to see some stars brightly tonight.
December 13 Well! I made it into bed by midnight last night, clean hair and all. Amazing. I slept well, of course, and I seem to be over the night sweats for the time being. I got up around 10:00.
This was the day for finishing things. I finished binding off the shawl. I think it took me so long to do the first half because I fiddled around with three different bind-offs before I found one that worked. This didn't take nearly as long. Then, after I had to go back to the north end because I had a really yucky accident, I finished the summer sock - finally! So now I have no current projects in process. I can't remember the last time that happened. i washed a load of bottoms, too.
I would like to do a project I got some time ago, called the "Fox Paws Shawl" but it turns out that I never wound the yarn into balls. It's done with fingering weight yarn, and it has five different colors, so there are a lot of balls to wind. I can't do it right now because there is too much stuff on the desk. This one reminds me strongly of some fabric I had a long time ago that was knit in a sort of flame stitch pattern (very '70s), and I've always wondered how they did it. Now I can find out. What annoys me is, I bought the original kit, and now they have come out with some colorways I like much better, but I don't like the yarn. So I will make it out of what I have, knowing that there much nicer ways to knit it. Since I almost never knit a large project more than once, I guess I'm stuck. I like the colors, but not that much.
Speaking of knitting a project more than once, I need a new sock project. I have some thick socks I could do, but I find the thinner ones do just fine except in the very coldest weather. So...I hauled out the bags of yarn and went through them. I have a horrible collection of lace-weight yarn - weird colors and not enough to do much with. Very disappointing. So for my next lace shawl, I will have to buy something new. On the other hand, I have enough beautiful sock yarn to keep me in socks for a year or more, and that's only upstairs. Some of it is summer yarn, of course, so I won't be working on that. I picked out some that really called to me - enough for five pair of socks I want to knit right now! I will take it up to the north end with me tonight and maybe I can decide by tomorrow and get something cast on.
We decided not to go to choir tonight, because the weather forecast wasn't good - and the last time I looked at radar, it said there is snow over us. I don't think so, but we decided not to take any chances - and then we got an email from Kathleen saying that she expected to have to work tonight, so I doubt there was any choir at all. We'll meet Sunday and have a short rehearsal before church...if I go to church. There is a Sunday School program (which I despise) and a group picture afterwards (which I also despise) so I may just stay home and knit.
The weather today was dull and gray again. The high temperature was 37º, a far cry from this time last year! There was no wind. I guess the next two or two and a half days are supposed to be warm, clear and sunny before we get back into more normal weather next week. Wednesday does seem to be OK, though, at least at this distance. I have to see the doctor on Wednesday, and i would like to do a little shopping, too. We'll see how it goes. I'll take the warmth. I just checked the snow totals, and while we had more snow this November than last, we had 88" last December, and there is very little chance we'll do that this year. We've had more snow, total, than we did last year at this time, but the temperatures have been much warmer, and as Mary Ann keeps saying, there are no snowbanks on the roads to cushion us if we spin out. One of the things that make living here so much fun is that the weather in any give year is always unique. It always gives us something to talk about.
The guys were sleepy today, of course. When I got up, Grayson was curled up in the window seat, and he didn't get up until I was ready to get breakfast. Louie slept in the bathroom. Louie likes to be warmer when he sleeps than Grayson does. Grayson did get some lap time, but not a lot, and he was a bit unnerved when I hauled out the big bags of yarn and just about blocked all the entrances to the studio. I haven't seen Louie lately, but he sleeps most of the time anyway.
So that was another quiet day, and now it's a dark, warmish night in the field.
December 12 I did it again. Tonight has to be earlier, because I have to wash my hair and for the rest of the week, I have to be on a more normal schedule. We'll see how that works.
I was so late that I didn't do anything except knit on the sock and do the bulletin for Sunday. I almost forgot that, but Pastor send an email about the prayer list and I said "EEK!" and did it right away. There were fewer changes this week and I think I got it out in less than an hour. Of course, I may have missed things, but that frequently happens.
It was another gray, dismal day. Again, the temperature was nearly steady, with the high of 35º. The wind was under 10 mph from the west, although for a couple of hours around noon there were some strange gusts. Environment Canada says it should be getting clear, but the satellite images don't. Drat. I was hoping for some stars tonight, when I might be able to see them.
The guys slept. Grayson is still having a problem with hairballs (or I hope it's that) and he wanted to sleep on me all afternoon, so he was frustrated. I have other things to do besides be his pillow. Louie was asleep in the bedroom when I went up there before dinner.
So it was another very quiet, unproductive day. Now it's a cool, cloudy night in the field, and I'm off to the north end.
December 11 I was stupidly late and I didn't get enough sleep, so I'm really tired now. I also learned (as if I didn't know it) not to take the phone with me to the north end, because it's a trap.
I did knit a bit, and I got almost half of the shawl bound off. I had to try three or four kinds of bind off before I found one I like, and that took time, because I had to rip back, but it was worth it. I wanted one that would be as stretchy as the fabric, and i found it in the same one I used when I made the toe-up socks. It means binding off twice as many stitches as are on the needle - it will be more than 1400 for this one - but it's worth the effort, because there won't be any problems when I start stretching it to block it.
I didn't do anything else. I was so late I didn't even eat a real breakfast. Oh, well. I do these things to myself. Oh, I'm happy to report that when I changed the dressing on my wound, there was very little drainage, so maybe - just maybe - it's finally healing. I'm praying.
It was another nondescript day. The high temperature was 30º, but it was nearly steady again. The wind started out at midnight around 18 mph and it has now gone calm. It was dark and gloomy again.
The guys slept. Boy, did they sleep! Grayson was asleep on the end of the bed when I got up, and he stayed there until he started coughing. Louie was right in front of the toilet, but even after i moved him, he stayed and slept and purred while I knitted. Grayson did get to sleep on my lap for a while, but I don't know exactly where Louie went - I never do. I suspect he may go up into the loft, which is where Grayson goes, too, when he isn't with me.
So that was my quiet day, and now it's a dark, cloudy night in the field.
December 10 I went into zombie mode again last night and I didn't go to bed until I couldn't see straight anymore. I slept well, and I got up around 10:30, I think. I knitted the last row of the chart and one more row. The pattern said to bind off on the wrong side, but there were a couple of reasons I didn't want to do that, so I purled a row and I'm ready to start the bind off.
The nurse came and she thinks my wound is looking much better. I hope so. I'm tired of this.
I didn't do much, except that I got into some more computer screw ups. First, I did the monthly system update, and it told me that it failed to install one file, but when I tried to get it again to install it, it wasn't there. I don't know where it went in the hour or so it took to do the rest. I stopped the weekly backup last night because it looked like it was going to do a complete backup. I guess that was wrong - it had more to do with the 1500 deleted email messages I was keeping - but I wasn't sure about that then. so I aborted it. Today I decided I really did need to do a backup, and I thought this might be a good time to try the program I got some time ago and never used. Well.
First, the people who wrote it don't think the way I do, and besides, English isn't their native tongue, so it was extremely confusing. I still don't know exactly what they were talking about. Anyway, I was going to do a full system backup until they told me it was going to take 14 hours (and who knows how many disks)! Forget that! So I trashed another CD and started a file backup, even though it was very hard to figure out how to get the files I wanted. It took 4 disks and a couple of hours, and then - then!!! - I discovered that they won't let me schedule a file backup. What? That's what I want to do most! Sheesh! So trash 4 more disks. I've gone back to old MS backup, which I hate, and I'm writing on the third disk of that. It was time to do that anyway, and I cut it down as much as I could by deleting the email messages. Maybe I can clean up my email client even more before next week. I don't know how I get into these things, when all I want to do is back up the files that have changed since last week (NOT including email or temporary files).
The weather was nondescript again. It looked a bit hazy down the harbor all day, but I don't think it snowed or anything. The temperature was around freezing all day, but just in the past hour, it has jumped up to 35º. Weird. There was hardly any wind. It was cloudy and dull all day, until sunset, when it suddenly cleared up and it was clear when the camera quit. Very pretty. There might even be a star tonight. I just looked at the snowfall report and they are saying we had 23" of snow last week, or at least Delaware did. I'm not sure I buy that, especially the 10" on Friday, which is the same amount we had last year. I'll check it later in the week and see if they revise it. There was a lot of snow up there, and the roads were horrible, but still...
The guys slept. Grayson slept on me, mostly, to try to make up for yesterday when he didn't get to sleep on me at all. I don't know where Louie was, after Corina left. He likes her, and he comes to greet her when she comes. I think she likes him, too, so it's nice that he's hospitable.
I was so late last night that I'm really tired now, so I think I will go to bed when the backup ends. I was going to wash my hair, but now I think I'll just stay greasy. It's a warmish (for December) clear night in the field and you never know about the weather around here.
December 9 I made it into bed a bit before 9:30 last night and I slept OK - not good, but not bad, either. I was up several times, of course, but the alarm woke me up. I didn't feel nearly as awful as I did yesterday, so I got up. I was moving slowly, though, with several trips to the bathroom, and I was later leaving than I wanted to be.
After I got by the Mountain Lodge, I knew I would be late, though, because the road was partly snow covered. Someplace down there, I came up behind Mary Ann and Bill, who were a lot later than they usually are, and I followed them all the way to Calumet. We got behind a guy who, Bill said, was terrified, and who was driving erratically. Bill passed him around Central, but the guy behind me passed me, so I couldn't pass the other guy until around Phoenix, when we both did. Then the guy in front of me started driving strangely - this was after the road was only wet - so I passed him on the Phoenix straight and I followed Bill all the rest of the way. Bill was a professional truck driver until he retired, so I figure he's a good one to follow. He said it was slippery, but he drives a huge truck. I didn't notice that, but then I was trying to be careful.
Anyway, we made it to church. I was a bit later getting in than they were because when I tried to get out of my car, I discovered I had parked over a patch of glare ice, so I had to move forward a foot or two. I missed choir practice.
Church was nice, of course, but the choir stunk. We sang a setting of Wachet auf that was very high and unfortunately, our highest soprano was extremely flat today. I bailed - I didn't have enough time to warm up, so I skipped the high Gs. Oh, well, it's the thought that counts. The words were nice.
There was a church trimming party, complete with potluck (of course!) after church, but I didn't stay. I came home, pulled out the phone and spent the afternoon playing solitaire until I was freezing. How to waste a day.
The weather wasn't too bad, actually. The temperature was just about steady at 31º or 32º here - it was a bit cooler in Laurium - and it was quite windy. Mostly the gusts were in the upper 20s from the north, but between 9:00 and 10:00 AM, we had at least one gust of 38 mph. Of course, I wasn't here then. The wind has finally died down to almost nothing, but it didn't help when I was out driving in it, because most of US-41 between Laurium and here runs nearly east-west, so there was quite a cross wind, and it was just slippery enough that I could feel it pushing me sideways. It was dark and cloudy all day.
I think the guys slept. Grayson kept coming into the powder room and complaining because he couldn't get on my lap. Too bad, buddy. I haven't seen much of Louie.
So that was another quiet day in the field. When I took off my bandage last night, there was quite a lot of drainage, unfortunately. We'll see how it looks tonight.
Now it's a cold, dark night in the field, but the wind has died down.
December 8 I forgot to mention last night that yesterday was the 77th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. I was five months old, but it affected the first five or six years of my life, and probably the rest of it as well, because I'm convinced that my dad came back from the Pacific (he was in the navy) with PTSD. He managed to function, and so did I, but it must have skewed things for both of us.
I got to bed around 1:00 this morning, and I slept fairly well, but I was hot. I must turn down the heat a bit. I got up around 10:00. after having an interesting version of the potty dream, where I was snowmobiling! I've never driven a snowmobile in my life, although I wish I could. I knitted a row and a half. I have one more row plus the bind-off to do and I will be finished with this project. I intended to begin the search for the next project today, but I got sidetracked. I've been moving slowly.
I didn't do much. I finished washing and drying the load of bottoms, so when I soil the pair I'm wearing (came close this morning) I will have something to put on.
The weather was very nice, for a change. The high temperature was 33º, but while it was that warm there was a brisk wind, with gusts up to 25 mph from the north. The skies were partly cloudy. When I was up around 6:00, I looked up and saw Polaris a couple of times. It wasn't completely clear, but there was a lot of blue sky and sunshine. Of course the days are so short now, 8h34m, that there wasn't a lot of any light. It was pretty and it was certainly nice to see blue sky.
The guys ignored it. They slept. Grayson told me the barometer was high this morning. He was beating up on all the rugs in the bathroom. And he spent a good portion of the afternoon asleep on my lap. I haven't seen much of Louie, but he sleeps most of the time anyway.
So that was my day and now it's quite early, but I'm going to try to get to bed very early tonight. I do want to go to church tomorrow and I hope not to feel as bad as I did when I got up this morning. They are saying patchy blowing snow for tomorrow morning, but I don't know if that means new snow or just the old stuff blowing around.
Now it's a partly cloudy, breezy night in the field.
December 7 I got lost in a crafty iPhone last night, so I was very late getting to bed. I slept well, and I got up around 10:00. I managed to knit about a row and a half before the nurse called. I thought I might finish the row tonight, but not so.
Even though the doctor said he didn't think I needed home nursing, the nurse agrees with me that I do, until my wound heals. I hope that will be before I see him again. I think it looks good, but until it heals, I want somebody knowledgeable looking at it. As I've said any number of times, I haven't figured out how to pop my eyes out of their sockets and get them down to my chest so that I can see what's going on there.
I paid the rest of the month's bills, but I didn't do anything else. Ron brought my mail, so I now know what my winter taxes are - much more than i hoped! Fortunately, they aren't due until February, so I have time to try to gather up another $800 to pay them. Shudder!
The weather was typical lake effect. When I came out of the bathroom after washing my face, it was sunny here, but there was a wall of white about across from the ranging light to the lighthouse. When I got to the kitchen after I got dressed, it was snowing hard here. That kept happening all day. One minute there would be sunshine, and five minutes later it would be snowing. It was snowing when it got dark. The temperature has finally risen to 23º, but it was right around 20º or a bit lower for most of the day. There wasn't much wind until around 8:00, but now it's risen to 31 mph gusts from the north. I think the lake effect warning continues through tomorrow morning.
The guys slept. Grayson slept on me and he kept wanting to come back, even after I shooed him away. I don't know where Louie was. He greeted Corina, but then he went away, and I didn't see him again until I was about to get my dinner and he was chowing down on kibble.
I'm late again tonight. Debbie called and we had a nice conversation before one of her kids called her. Then I was listening to the radio, and after the talking was over, there was some nice music, and the next thing I knew it was 10:00 and I hadn't eaten. I'm through with that now, so as soon as the Haydn is over, I will be going to bed.
So now it's a cold, windy, snowy night in the field. It's winter for sure.
December 6 For once, I went right up to the north end, and I was in bed before 10:00. I slept well, with several wakeups, and I got up before 9:00.
I knitted, for once. I finished the purl row I was working on when I was interrupted on Monday and I did the next row. I have four more rows to go, I think.
Two things happened yesterday that I didn't record. I put the bulletin together and sent it out. Fortunately, it was an easy one, and my eagle-eyed proofreader didn't find anything wrong with it. I did forget one thing in the calendar, but they'll just have to announce it.
The other was a call from one of my neighbors that I didn't realize had happened until the middle of the night when I saw that the phone was blinking. They asked me to store the backup blower for the tractor and they wanted to bring it over today.
So this morning we had our usual "have your answering machine call my answering machine" plus I had an accident, and they brought it over around 1:00. Then - they are such nice people! - they offered to take away all the broken down cardboard boxes I had lying around! What a nice thing! Of course, I got a bunch more today. but at least those big boxes are gone and I can start some more.
Ron came over late in the day, because UPS had delivered a big box at the Gas Lite, and we had a nice conversation. He is a bit of a ditz, but he is such a nice person! Of course, I was standing and I had to pee, but it was worth it. We haven't had a chance to really talk for quite a while.
Oh, yes, and then very late in the afternoon, FedEx was here. I didn't make much of it, until I looked out in the breezeway and realized they had probably left everything - three bags of kibble and 60 rolls of TP - outside. Sheesh! It's not like they haven't been here twice already this week and left stuff in the breezeway! I did not go out to bring it in. Hopefully, the critters won't find it overnight and maybe I can get some help tomorrow.
That's because the nurse didn't come today. She will be here tomorrow, because she has other people to see here and she needs to see them on Friday. That's all right. I can wait. I'm doing all right.
Well - that's relative. I was very sore and creaky today and my left shoulder ached. I didn't feel good all around, I think because I overextended yesterday. So I sat. I had another accident, but not a bad one, and now I have three pairs of sweats, a pair of jeans and associated underpants to wash. I didn't get to that today.
Obviously, we didn't get to choir. Mary Ann and I discussed it at length, and we decided it wasn't worth it. The roads are bad and there are no snowbanks to cushion us if we slide. Besides, I felt lousy enough that I didnt want to drive.
The weather was, um, wintry. We are under another winter weather advisory (the last one ended at 7:00 AM). It was cold; the temperature went down from midnight and it was around 16º all afternoon. It snowed on and off all day, but I don't think there was much accumulation. There was a small amount up against the door to the garage, but the guys beat that down. There was a strong northeast wind, with gusts up to 28 mph, although it's dying down now. The lake is singing.
The guys slept. Grayson wanted to sleep on me all day. He still thinks that when I go away I'm never coming back. I finally gave him a taste of my dinner, and once he gummed it, he decided he didn't like it. That's why I don't usually give him any. The only things I eat that he likes is deli turkey and deli ham. I think Louie slept up at the north end all day.
So that was my quiet day, and now it's a dark, cold, snowy night in the field...so what else is new? I'm going to bed again.
December 5 I was stupidly late last night, and as a result, I only got about 5 hours' sleep, so I'm exhausted. I got up around 10:00 and did what I had to - or I thought I did - and just as I was gathering my stuff to get ready to go, I had an accident and had to change my bottoms.
i still managed to get away about when I wanted to, and it was good that I did, because the roads were snow covered and it snowed all the way to Laurium. Besides, I got behind a logging truck and it was kicking up enough snow that I couldn't pass it. Sigh.
I had to park in the clinic parking area, and I actually managed to get in and get to the doctor's office without a wheelchair, for the first time in a while. Of course, it's not as long a walk as when I park by the hospital entrance, but there is a long way across the parking lot. I got help getting out.
The doctor was late, so while I was waiting, I got a flu shot. I haven't for the past couple of years, but I figured that since I was there, I might as well.
The doctor maintains that my wound is healing, and in fact, I'm not going to be putting any antibiotic cream on it from now on. He did have to cauterize it, but I didn't feel anything from that. He also used a portable ultrasound on the swollen parts, and there doesn't seem to be much fluid there, so the swelling must be some kind of inflammation not associated with infection. He agrees that it's taking this thing a very long time to heal, but he's still sure it's coming fine. We'll see.
It took me longer to get home than to get there, because there had been more snow, and when i got home, I opened a couple of boxes and brought some stuff into the house, then I sat in the powder room and played solitaire for three hours or so. Zombie mode.
The weather was snowy. It snowed more or less lightly all day, but there didn't seem to be a lot of accumulation. The high temperature was - is - 29º. It was breezy overnight, then during the day, the wind dropped to nothing. It is now picking up again, with gusts up to about 24 mph. Of course it was dark and dull and my car turned on its headlights all the way home. That's actually good - when it's snowy like it was today, it's safer to have one's headlights on, especially when cars pass on the other side and stir up clouds of snow.
I think the cats slept. Louie had a nap attack in the middle of the great room this evening. While I was in the powder room, Grayson kept coming in and butting me with his head, as if to say, "Aren't you going to move so I can sit on you?" No. I didn't. Of course, they don't like it when I go away for the afternoon.
Oh, I forgot. I chipped a tooth last night on some peanut brittle that doesn't have peanuts in it. It's the same tooth I chipped a number of years ago and got patched up. They are going to have to patch it again, because I can't afford a crown. They worked me in on December 28, and they will try to fit me into any cancellation that comes along. That's the trouble with having a good doctor or dentist: they are so busy, you can't get an appointment when you need one.
So that was my day, and I'm so tired, I'm going to bed now. It's a cold, dark, snowy night in the field.
December 4 I sort of fooled around last night, so I was late, but I was so tired that I slept very well. I got up around 10:30, I think. However, I had had a call around 8:45 saying that somebody would be here to do maintenance on my generator, so I thought I'd better be ready and I didn't knit. I don't know if anybody came or not - they didn't come to the door - so I could have knitted anyway. I won't be able to do it tomorrow, either, because I have to leave around 11:30 or so. I do so want to get that thing done!
I did get to knit on the sock for a while, though, and I have now only about 10 rows to go before I start the toe. I need to line up some new projects! Other than that, I didn't do anything. I'm still tired and creaky from Sunday, I guess.
The weather was nondescript. The high temperature was 31º, but that was overnight, and it slid down very slowly to 25º, where it is now. The wind was under 10 mph all day. It was dark and dull, except that I think there was about 30 seconds of sunshine - or was I hallucinating? There wasn't any snow, which was good, although I will be out in it tomorrow, because it is going to snow then. Sigh. It always happens.
The guys slept. Grayson slept on me as much as he could. Louie was up at the north end, of course.
So that was it. Very quiet and very nice. Now it's a dark, cold night in the field
December 3 I was a bit late last night, but once I finally got to bed, I slept well. It didn't hurt that the lake was singing all night long. I seem to sleep better when it does so.
i got up around 10:00, I think, and I knitted, but Corina, the nurse, called and said she would be here around 12:30, so I only did a bit more than one row. The row I'm working on now is the one where I add about 120 stitches (which are taken off in the next row), so it takes a long time to do. Tomorrow, probably.
Corina came and agreed that I still have an open wound, and the doctor will probably cauterize it with silver nitrate - but we'll see. She'll be back on Thursday no matter what.
I didn't do anything else. I sort of messed up my back - as well as my shoulders and knees - yesterday, so I just sat and tried not to move too much. I wasn't dressed warmly enough to pump gas out in the wind, and I didn't realize that until I got to church. Memo to self: wear parka when having to pump gas, unless the temperature is over 40º! Those pumps are out in the middle of a parking lot and the wind is vicious.
Things quieted down today. The wind died down considerably overnight, and while it's still breezy, it's nothing like it was yesterday. The wind shifted around to the north and it's down to around 15 mph now. The high temperature was only 29º, which is what it is now, so it was chilly out there, It was mostly dull and gray, although I did see one ray of sunshine peek through the dull gray clouds around 3:00. It went away fast. There wasn't any snow today, but it dribbled down over the weekend, at least at Delaware, and we now have had 50" for the season so far. I know places where that's the whole season total, but for us, it's a nice change. Oh, eventually it will hit us, but we'll take these light falls any time.
The guys slept. Grayson slept on me. Louie slept mostly in the bathroom. When I got up to get dressed, he was at my feet, sort of asleep with a smile on his face and purring loudly...there's something so nice about that. It took Louie a long time to get comfortable here, and he still doesn't like Grayson very well, but I think he's a happy cat. i know he thinks I'm a fine mama - well, at least when I keep the food bowls full of the right stuff! Grayson was my friend before Louie came, and he hasn't changed his mind. He has faith that there will always be food, even if it sometimes isn't the kind he likes best. And he will tell me when he thinks he needs something else...
So it was a nice, quiet day, and I'm going to bed soon. I don't have to wash my hair until tomorrow (to be clean for the doctor, of course), so I'm free to go any time. It's a cold, dark night in the field, but the latest gale is over.
December 2 I got to bed by my target time, but I didn't sleep all that well. It was fine for the first five hours or so, although I was up a couple of times, but then I couldn't get into a deep sleep and I was sort of awake when the alarm went off. I got up anyway and did my thing.
i had to rush a bit, but I left right around 9:00, I guess. It must have been because Mary Ann called just after 9:00 and I didn't hear the phone, so I couldn't have been in the house. I mean, I'm deaf, but not that deaf, although I do turn off my virtual hearing aids occasionally.
Anyway, the trip down wasn't bad, just slow. The roads were mostly clear but wet, there was something coming down - maybe drizzle? - for most of the way and it was very windy. The streets getting to church were bad, but they always are. Calumet and Laurium do not do a good job of snow clearing on their side streets.
Church was very nice and the choir sang pretty well, which was surprising. I was nearly sight reading the song, and on the last page I had to sing second soprano. I have no idea what I was singing, but it didn't sound dissonant, so I guess it must have been right.
Afterwards, Andrew put my fruit in my car for me, which I appreciated. Andrew is Pastor's son. He is a senior at Calumet High this year (and he spent the summer in the National Guard - quite a kid!) and they had a fund raiser of fruit boxes and some other stuff I didn't look at. I got a small fruit box - four each of oranges, grapefruit, apples and pears - and it came last week. I've been wondering where it was. When I got home, I ate a pear and I had an apple for dessert just now, and it's very nice fruit.
Then I was off to Pat's, where I did quite a bit of damage. I had to get some cat food, since my Walmart order won't get here until Thursday and the guys have been wandering around telling me they were not happy with the one bowl of dry food that was left. Anyway, besides the JD, everything else I got was food, and almost all of it was stuff I needed. I had drawn down the food supply much lower than I can recall it being for a very long time. I tend to be a hoarder anyway, but since I live where I may not be able to get to the supermarket very often, I do buy ahead. Now I'm good for at least three weeks, by which time it will be Christmas Eve - eve and I can do it all over again.
I had to get gas, and that was not fun. The station I go to is out in the middle of a parking lot with no place to shelter, and it was about 28º and very windy in Calumet. I prevailed, though, and I now have almost a full tank of gas - minus the 3 gallons it takes me to get home.
Driving home was not pleasant. Not only was it still extremely windy, it snowed lightly most of the way, and I suspect that the road was sort of slippery, so I had to go slowly. I made it, though, and then there was the task of schlepping all that food into the house. Well, frankly, most of it is still out on the platform. I was just too tired, and besides, it's as cold out there as it is in the fridge.
I had something to eat and just sat for the rest of the afternoon.
The weather, as I said, was cold, snowy and very windy. It started out the morning at 34º and it is now about 31º. There were a couple of snow showers here, too. But then there was the wind. The sustained winds got as high as 33 mph and the gusts got as high as 47 mph, all from the east. it's been very noisy around here. I don't get much of the actual wind here, but I sure can hear the lake roaring against the rocks. It was dark and dreary even when it wasn't snowing.
When i brought the two bags of cat food in, I left them on the floor, and while I was sitting in the powder room, I heard rustling and both of them were trying to tear holes in the bags. They did have a full bowl of the other kind of kibble, but that's not what they wanted. So I filled the bowls with the new stuff and now they are happy. The kind they didn't want to eat is the only kind Louie would eat when he first came here, by the way. I guess he's just tired of it. And the one they seem to like best - or at least they eat more of it - is the one that's 50% more expensive than the other two. Of course. Actually, I'm glad they do like it. It's calorie reduced and it doesn't seem to have as much coloring in it. Anyway, they've been happy campers for the rest of the afternoon. I think Louie is someplace up at the north end and Grayson slept on my lap for a long time.
So that was my day. It's late, because I was just too tired to get my dinner. Now I can totter up to the north end and crash. It's a cold, dark, very windy, very noisy night in the field, and the lake will sing me to sleep.
December 1 I made it into bed before midnight last night, but then I had some trouble getting to sleep, at least at first. After that, it was better. I had to get up around 8:00, and I thought I would go back to sleep, but I couldn't, so I got up and knitted two rows - which took two hours. The only thing that consoles me is that now I have only 7 more rows, plus the bind-off, to do. Maybe I can find something smaller for my next lace project.
I didn't do very much, as usual. However, while my dinner was cooking, I actually got the dishwasher almost loaded with the first load. There will be at least one more load - every dish in my kitchen is dirty - but this will give me a good start. I have been really tired of having to wash a dish in order to eat, and besides, I've almost run out of flatware, too. I felt good enough today to stand up long enough to do it. Maybe - just maybe - tomorrow I can do the next load. Of course, I have to unload what's there now first, but we'll see. I want clean dishes and lots of them!
I do plan to go to church tomorrow, which is why I'm writing this early. I keep hoping if I get to bed early enough, I'll be able to get up at 6:30 without feeling crappy. Nancy called late this afternoon to tell me what the choir is singing, and I've already packed my bag to include it. I guess the weather isn't supposed to be the best, but I really have to do some food shopping and get gas, too, so i have several incentives to brave the roads. i guess there is going to be some kind of precip tomorrow, but when it starts and what it is depends upon whose forecast you believe.
the weather today was dull and gray, but there wasn't any precip. The temperature was steady at 34º. The wind has been from the east, and in the past three hours or so, it has begun to rise, to 28 mph gusts or so. It's supposed to be very windy tomorrow, but from the east or northeast.
The guys are not happy about the food situation. There is no canned food until tomorrow, and the only kind of dry food is the one they've gotten bored with. Grayson has been performing histrionics to try to make me understand, and he's really funny. Well, when I get home tomorrow afternoon, there will be something good to eat, I promise. Even if I didn't need stuff myself, I would have to get their food, because the stuff I ordered from Walmart isn't coming until Thursday or Friday - not making me happy. I mean, it's not like there is no food. They will get canned food for breakfast tomorrow, too, and in nice, clean dishes. Louie spent the day in the bathroom, I think. At least he was there when I had to clean up after myself, and he was not about to move, so I moved the rug around with him on it. He was not pleased. Too bad about those guys; after a while they get to thinking they run things around here.
So that was my day. I was not happy to see some drainage when I changed my dressing this morning. Not a lot, but some brown stuff. I had hoped that corner of the wound had finally healed up, but I guess not. Maybe by Wednesday, but if not, I guess the doctor will use his silver nitrate and clean it out. That fixed the one under my right arm. This has been going on much too long and I'm tired of it.
Now it's a dark, cold, windy night in the field and it may snow. Oh, and it's December already.
Last updated 01/01/19 09:53 PM Copyright S. I. Smith, 2000-2019
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