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A View From the Field |
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January. 2020 January 31 Oh, is January over already? Sheesh.
I was a bit earlier last night, but not a lot, and I got up early enough this morning to knit four rows. I didn't have anything planned except going to the post office. All my tax things should have come by today - and I think they did, although I'll check further - and I had an outgoing, too.
The tax situation is interesting. Ron and I have had the same accountant doing our taxes almost since I've lived here - my accountant retired around then. Usually we got a package of stuff right after the first of the year, but neither of us got it this year and when I tried to call them, their phone number was shunted off to some kind of service that doesn't answer phones. We don't know what's going on, but it seems clear that they are going out of business. The owner we dealt with retired a couple of years ago, and clearly the person she sold the business to just isn't interested.
It leaves us in a pickle, too, Ron more than me, because he has a business. It's been 30 years since I've done my own taxes, and it always stressed me out so much I didn't want anything to do with it. I've never filed electronically and I don't know where to start.
I did have a nice conversation with Mary Ann this evening, and I think she will be able to help. Now all I have to do is make myself get all the numbers together. Shudder. My ledger for 2019 is blank, so I have a lot of work to do.
It was good to talk to Mary Ann - it's been a while. They are all right. Bill still has his health problems, but she sounds good. We agreed that we don't like this warm, sloppy winter.
It was warm and sloppy again today, although not so much, because the high temperature was 30º, so everything was still frozen. There wasn't much wind, but the humidity is up again - my knees told me that. It was dull and dreary again.
The guys slept. Grayson slept on me for a while and now he's asleep on the sewing chair. I didn't have to go up to the north end today, so I don't know where Louie is. They got canned food today, and somebody did pretty good on it.
So it was another very quiet day and now it's a cold, dark night in the field. And January is history.
January 30 Well, that was interesting. I didn't invert, quite, but I was late getting to bed, so I didn't get up until after noon. I knitted four rows, and then I got stuck in the bathroom for a couple of hours, dribbling off. When I finally thought it was done, I got up and washed, and then I got a bad cramp and had to sit down again. Maybe you see why i get depressed.
Anyway, when I got dressed, I went right by the kitchen to the studio, because the camera had messed up again, and I just never went back to the kitchen until just a while ago. I was late enough that I would have had a hard time deciding what to eat, but by the time I finally had to have something, I couldn't decide whether to have breakfast food or dinner food. I finally opted for dinner food, because I have to keep eating my rice, and I just finished that. So I fasted for around 24 hours. My hunger pains come and go, but I was beginning to feel weak and queasy. What I usually eat for breakfast is quite greasy, and I decided that wouldn't be good for my tummy.
The weather was nondescript. The temperature was nearly steady, with a high of 29º and there was almost no wind. It was dark and dreary for most of the day. The humidity was a bit lower than it's been for most of the day - around 70% - and my knees felt much better than they have lately.
The guys were sleepy. One reason I didn't get any breakfast is that Grayson came and went to sleep on my lap and I didn't want to move him. He stayed there until Louie started talking, by which time it was too late for breakfast.
Now it's a cold, dark night in the field and I'm still hoping to get to bed at a semi-reasonable hour, although they're going to play Sibelius' Sixth Symphony and that won't end until 1:00. Well. we'll see...
January 29 I inverted last night, big time. Part of it was the music and part was the reading. So I didn't get enough sleep and I got up late anyway.
I was late enough that I didn't do very much at all. I was working on the bulletin when Debbie called. It's been a while since I've heard from her and I wondered how she was. It was a short conversation, for us, because she was on her way someplace and she got there, but that was just as well, although I did get the first draft of the bulletin out while we were talking.
The weather was blah again. The high temperature was 28º, but in the afternoon it went down to 24º, weirdly enough. There wasn't any wind. It was dark and cloudy, but no precip.
I was sitting in the bathroom after I got up when Louie put out his paddy-paw onto my leg and put his claws out. Ouch! I couldn't wear my compression hose today because I had a couple of bleeding scratches and I can't get the hose on over a BandAid. I don't know whatever got into him. He doesn't usually do things like that. And tonight, since I was late getting my dinner, Grayson was very upset with me, and he didn't get over it until I went out to the kitchen and got something to eat. Not that he got any, but I wasn't adhering to his schedule. He still thinks he runs things around here.
So that was another very quiet day. Now it's a cold, dark night in the field and I need to wash my hair and go to bed.
January 28 I finally tore myself away from my new speakers, but it was very late when I finally got to bed. They sometimes play some really weird stuff on the radio during the night, but then I looked through the pile of CDs I have on the desk and realized I have a set with all the Schubert works for piano and strings, and the first thing on the first CD is the "Trout" Quintet, which is one of my all-time favorite pieces, so I had to listen to it. As it turned out, I haven't ever played a CD on this computer (!) and it opened on a piece of software I didn't even know I had, which confused me a bit, but it played all right and it sounded very nice.
I was so late getting to bed that I got up very late and then I knitted four rows, with some difficulty. Sometimes I have more trouble than other times keeping my concentration. After timing a few more rows, I would say that if I assume it will take 20 minutes to do one row, I should be able to get a good idea how long it will take. Mostly it's a bit less than that, but when I screw something up and have to recover, it will be longer.
I was so late that that was about all I did besides my surfing.
The weather was nondescript again. The temperature was nearly steady again, at about 26º and for most of the day the wind was from the northeast and fairly light, although it's beginning to gust up to 28 mph now. Nothing came down. It was dark and dreary all day.
The guys slept. Grayson got to sleep on me, finally, although he had to wait while I went to the bathroom. Louie sleeps most of the time anyway.
So it was another very quiet day and now it's a dark, cold night in the field and maybe - just maybe - I can get to bed a bit earlier tonight. We'll see.
January 27 I seem to have gotten it back together enough that it was around 2:30 when I got to bed, and I got up around noon, maybe. I've forgotten. It will be about the same tonight.
I only knitted two rows, partly because I was so late and partly because I wanted to time how long it takes me to do one row. The answer seems to be between 16 and 20 minutes. The 20 minute one was because I did a bad stitch on the row before and dropped the whole thing back four rows when I went to fix it. Anyway, now I have some idea of how long it will take, so I can decide how much to do.
I had gotten a phone call on Friday that I missed and had to return, which sent me off to the post office rather late. I stopped at the store because my speakers were delivered. When i got home, I immediately unplugged the old ones - they will go in the trash - and plugged in the new ones. They work just fine, and one reason I'm so late tonight is that I've been mesmerized by the great sound coming out of a couple of things that are spheres only about 5" in diameter. It's amazing. I knew the old ones were bad, but I just didn't realize how bad they were, and in the time since they've been bad, streaming audio has gotten a whole lot better. I'm sure the $250 Bose would be better, but these little things are amazing.
My only problem with them is that the cables are too short. Evidently your computer is supposed to be stored on the left side of your desk. Well, mine isn't. Right now, I have the cables going down the front of the desk, and that works, but I don't think I'll be able to fish them through the hole in the back right side of the desk. They aren't long enough. They are powered by a USB cable, which is an innovation I didn't know about, but it's nice not to have another power cord and transformer brick plugged into the surge suppressor. So that seems to have come out all right, as long as they last. Well, they only cost me $20, so I can't complain too much.
I also got an ethernet cable for the laptop, but I haven't plugged that in yet. The other night when I was trying to get Norton set up, I kept getting a message that it couldn't connect to the server. I suspect that was because the server was down, because the router is within 3' of the computer and other functions worked, but I thought I'd better try to eliminate that variable. It's more likely my problem was because it was 4:00 AM when I gave up...
In order to get the old speakers unplugged, I had to get the big pile of envelopes off the desk, so they are now in a basket beside my feet. I need to go through that pile, because there are some important items there, including some unpaid bills, and the rest of it needs to be specially filed. Ugh. I hate to file.
The weather was nondescript. The temperature was around 26º, plus or minus, and there was a 15 mph wind from the north. Nothing came down, but it was dark and dreary. I was interested to see how big the snow piles have gotten. Apparently Copper Harbor got hammered again, because there was only 5½" of snow reported at Delaware on Saturday. I know we got more than that. I wish I had a place where I could put a snow gauge, but there isn't one.
The guys slept. Grayson didn't even try to sit on me today. Louie slept, of course.
So that was another quiet day and now it's a dark, cold night in the field. And they're playing Beethoven, so I have to listen with my new speakers...
January 26 Well, I inverted big time, for various reasons. I was reading, and when I got to the north end I started dribbling off and then I just sat. I had to wash my hair, too. At least I'm trying to get that back on schedule. So I didn't get up until late and I ate a small breakfast late and I just finished my dinner. I didn't do anything but my surfing.
I forgot to mention last night that while I was reading and when I decided I had to reboot the computer, I was knitting on the last sock, and I got the gusset done and started the foot. I can knit and read, at least if it's plain knitting, and I want to get that sock done. It's been on the needle for nearly a year, and that's long enough.
I rebooted because I thought if I moved the cable for the camera, I could get it into a place that's easier to access when it goes down. Not so, at least the way I did it, but I had to try. And something wasn't right with it, so the picture started breaking up a bit before noon. I didn't get to fix it until around 4:00 PM, so some of the midday pictures were nasty.
It didn't matter. All it showed was a dull, dark gray picture with no precip or anything else. Yuck. The temperature has been steady at 31º and there was a northeast wind around 15 mph. Very dull. We had a whole lot of snow yesterday, though, and it was the heavy wet kind, so every twig and branch is covered in snow and, as you can see from the camera, the boughs of my white pine are all bent down over the window. There's one that doesn't show in the pictures that's above the one you can see, that I don't think I've ever seen before. So far, this has been a remarkably warm winter.
The guys slept, of course. They got some good stuff for breakfast. Grayson got his lap time, but not until after I got back from the bathroom. Louie was mostly sleeping, but he was wandering around when I went to get my dinner.
So it was another nothing day. I managed to be late enough that I wasn't going to church, but that was because the last forecasts I saw said there was going to be some nasty precip this morning. It was around 3:00 AM when they changed the forecast to say no, there wouldn't be anything coming down. However, the snow was so heavy and wet I'm sure the roads were a real mess, so I didn't feel too bad about it. Well, I did, but I couldn't have gone anyway.
Now it's a cold, dark night in the field, but nothing is coming down for a change.
January 25 So I was late again, but I kept running off and I had to sit until it stopped. When I got up, I knitted four rows, but I was running off again, so I was late eating my first meal and that made me late eating my second meal. With my weird hours, I hesitate to call them breakfast and dinner. I was late enough that all I did was my surfing, although I did do the second rinse of the load of bottoms and I will put them in the dryer before I go to bed.
It's now been snowing for three days. it's not heavy, but it's mostly been enough to register in the rain gauge at the weather station. It was heavy enough today that I couldn't even see the ranging light. The temperature has been nearly steady at 32º or 33º, and for most of the day the wind has been moderate from the northeast. It was dark and dreary, of course.
The guys slept, and Grayson got to sleep on me for quite a while this afternoon. He was so happy. Louie got his loving after I got up, and I think he has a hairball. At least he was coughing.
Which leads me to a rumination I have every time I talk about those things. Why do they call them hairballs? I've never ever seen one that looked like a ball. They're always long ropy things, as you would expect for something that came up. Weird, huh?
So it was another extremely quiet day. I don't have enough good feelings for the weather tomorrow morning to consider going to church, unfortunately. I'm getting tired of these snowstorms that always come through on the weekends. When I first see the 10-day forecast, Sunday will look fine - and then we get dumped on again. It's discouraging. I really want to go to church.
Now it's a dark, cold, snowy night in the field.
January 24 It was another nothing day. I knitted and began washing a load of bottoms and I got my Schwan's order and that was it.
I was supposed to get my new speakers today, but they came in late and UPS called me and asked if it would be all right if I didn't get them until Monday. Since they'll leave them at the store anyway, I wasn't going to say no. I am a bit annoyed with Amazon, though. While I don't buy a whole lot from anybody anymore, nothing I've bought from them in the past two years has been delivered in two days. I realize I live out at the end of the earth, but they should be able to take that into account. I've been dealing with Amazon for over 20 years, I think, and it makes me sad to see how terrible their service has gotten. When I first started buying from them, it was great, but it's declined steadily since then. If they didn't have everytihng and the best prices on it, I wouldn't buy from them at all anymore. Sad.
The weather was nondescript again, except that it dribbled snow or drizzle all day. Oh, my aching joints...The temperature has been 34º all day and there was a light southeast wind. It was dull and dreary. This sure is a weird winter, at least so far. OF course, it could change anytime and go below zero for weeks, but so far it's been warm and yucky. Oh, and up at Delaware, they reported 21" of snow on the 18th. I don't think we got quite that much, but we had a lot.
The guys slept. Grayson finally got his lap time, which meant I didn't embroider today. I think Louie has been up at the north end.
So that was all there was and now I need to go to bed. It's a dark and not very cold night in the field.
January
23
Today is my parents' 80th wedding anniversary. I've always been grateful.
I haven't done anything much for the past three days. The bulletin information came in early on Tuesday, so I got that out before I went to bed, and there were a few edits yesterday, but nothing major. Otherwise, I knitted a bit and embroidered a bit and today I finally made my pork chops, which turned out very good, with a bit more heat than the last time I made them. My family was German, and while they enjoyed Italian and Chinese, they didn't like very spicy things, so I've modified some of their recipes a bit. I'm still enjoying slow cooking. It's so nice to throw some stuff into a pot and come back four or five hours later and have dinner. I roasted the baby potatoes, though.
The weather for the past three days has been very boring. The temperature has been hovering around freezing, although today it got up to 35º. There hasn't been much wind until lately, when it's picked up to gusts as high as 22 mph from the southeast. There was a bit of snow this morning and a bit more in the early afternoon, but nothing major. It's been dark and dreary.
The guys have been asleep.
I finally got to order the battery for the laptop, and while I was at it, i got a pair of cheap speakers for the desktop. Since my local station has been broadcasting the impeachment trial, I've been listening on the internet a lot, and the speakers I have that work are so horrible I just gave up on them. They should come tomorrow, but the battery won't be here until next week. Now all I have to do is figure out how to pay my taxes...
Sign.
It's a not-very-cold, dark night in the field.
January 21 I forgot. It's late and nothing happened except for a power glitch this morning - a week more of beeping ovens. I'll write tomorrow.
It's a cold, dark night in the field.
January 20 I'm late and nothing happened today.
The weather was sunny but cold. It was about 23º all day, with a light wind that started out from the north and then swung around to the west. The camera hung up again, so we didn't get to see most of the lovely blue skies. The sun is still so low in the sky that there were a couple of pictures that were quite pretty.
The guys were sleepy. Grayson got some loving while I was sitting in the closet, but he didn't try too hard to sit on me. He just will not go around the sewing machine anymore, and I don't know why. Louie slept all day, most of it in the bathroom.
So that's all I know. It's a clear (I think) cold night in the field.
January 19 I inverted again last night. I was reading and i wanted to finish that episode. Then I had a nasty accident and I had to take a bath, no matter what the hour. So I was late. I sat in the bathroom for a while, but my head kept drooping until I decided I did not want to fall asleep on the pot again and I went to bed. I slept well and I got nearly enough sleep, but that meant I was very late getting up.
Grayson is persona non grata again. i had turned my back on the computer and I was trying to get my tray onto my cart when he decided to walk in front of the screen. I think he probably kicked a few things, too, and not only did a bunch of envelopes end up on the floor, he kicked a glass of OJ, too, which broke the glass and left OJ all over the floor. Oh, and as I began to try to clean that up, I started to have an accident and I had to run off to the powder room (I made it). I was not pleased.
I was even less pleased a little while ago when I went out to the kitchen to get my dinner and I didn't put my hand where I wanted it and ended up cutting a nice gash in the side of my thumb. Since I take a blood thinner, it must have bled for half an hour. That's my right thumb. Having to cover it with a tissue makes it really hard to do almost anything. I'm getting low on those glasses, too.
I think he knew immediately that he had done something very wrong and he looked quite contrite, but now he's trying to make me say the whole episode is over and I should be nice to him again. Hah. Not until tomorrow, at the earliest. He has a naughty streak in him, and he has somehow gotten the idea in his fuzzy little head that this is his house and I'm just here to do his bidding. Except to ignore him when he's bad, I don't know how to change his mind.
The weather was sort of nondescript. It was breezy, with a north wind gusting up to 25 mph. It dribbled snow all day, but not enough to register at the weather station. The temperature has been going down steadily since around 4:00 PM yesterday, from 28º then to 23º. It was mostly dark and dreary, with lots of clouds. however, it looked like there was just a big cloud over the Copper Country and the northeastern part of the lake was clear. How weird.
Louie was nowhere to be found. They got their very favorite canned food this morning, and I think he probably stuffed himself on it, and when I started shrieking at Grayson, he probably felt it would be better to go someplace else. The contrast between the two of them is interesting. Grayson is a lot more interesting to have around - sort of - but Louie is constant and sweet, at least to me.
I just broke the scab on my thumb a bit, so now there is blood all over the space bar. There is also blood all over the kitchen floor. I mean, I was bleeding profusely there for a while. So I guess the best thing I can do is go up to the north end and find a bandage.
It's a cold, dark night in the field.
January 18 I've been trying to remember when I got to bed last night, and I can't. It was pretty late. I somehow lost an hour or more between the south end and the north end. Anyway, I got enough sleep. I knitted and I'm getting there. Four more rows on this repeat...
I was late enough that I didn't do much, but since it's the weekend, I didn't have much to do besides my surfing.
I am happy to report that evidently my space heater is not dead. I turned it on when I got here with my breakfast, and it came on and it has worked just fine all day. I'm not sure what the problem was yesterday. So instead of getting a new one right now (well - next Wednesday) I will wait and see what happens to it. It sure was nice to have it so warm in here. I wish I knew why the studio is so cold. When I moved in, it wasn't.
it's still snowing, and as best I can deduce, Copper Harbor is getting hammered. According to the NWS websites, we have had 0.80" of liquid precip, whereas the airport has only gotten 0.19". And that doesn't include all the snow that didn't register in the rain gauge. We've had a lot of snow. Somebody (probably Walter) cleared my driveway earlier today, but there is probably 18" on my deck outside the great room. The camera hung up, so I can't track the buildup at this end, but it's a lot. It came down hard, but the wind has just started to pick up in the past few hours, from the east, with gusts up to 36 mph. The temperature was nearly steady for most of the day, at around 28º, although it's dropping off now. It was a good day to sit with my back to the windows.
Of course the guys slept. Louie got some loving, but Grayson didn't try very hard to sit on me. He sat and begged while I ate, but I'm not sure what he thought he wanted.
So that was it. I'm late, because there is no way I'm going out tomorrow. They still have the Winter Storm Warning up until 1:00 PM tomorrow, and that means even if they've plowed - and they never do a very good job on weekends - there will be a lot of new snow on the roads. I will hibernate.
Now it's a dark, cold, very snowy night in the field.
January 17 I believe I slept for about an hour while sitting in the bathroom this morning. I finally gave up on the laptop when I kept having internet connection problems, but then I needed to unwind - and I unwound a bit more than I expected. It was very disorienting to wake up sitting there, with my glasses on and the lights on, and besides, I could hardly move for a few minutes. So weird. I'm old. Not getting old - old.
So I didn't get enough sleep. I ran off to the post office and got my mail, then I stopped at the store and got a few things to hunker down with. While the talking was going on, I embroidered a bit, but the radio station screwed up the things I usually listen to during the talking - from about 6:00 on - so I was listening on the computer. It's so nice that everybody either streams or podcasts all those things. After that, I lost track of time, so I'm a bit later than I'd planned. Well, the snow has started, so I have no reason to get up at any kind of reasonable hour.
Oh, yes, and while I was sitting here, I was getting chilly, and I wondered what had happened to the space heater - and when I looked at it, I realized that the fan had failed. It's been sounding weird and, I think, slowing down for several weeks, and now it's dead. So besides my battery, I have to get a new space heater. Yes, I do. When I come in here in the mornings and the temperature is 56º, I need a space heater.
One reason I ate so late was that I was looking around Amazon, and the space heater situation is a really weird one. You can get them for less than $30 or more than $100, but almost none in between. Certainly nothing like the one that just died. The cheap ones are very small, but they should work all right for my space. I chose one, but I may look around some more tomorrow. Amazon's search and sorting functions leave a great deal to be desired, and there are tons of these things.
The weather during the day was fine. It was bright-cloudy and the high temperature was 25º, with not much wind. The snow has been moving inexorably toward us, though, and from radar, it looks like it finally got here. It's not supposed to leave until Sunday afternoon. So I will go into hibernation and ignore it all.
The guys did that today, I think. They both got a few pets, but nothing more. Grayson didn't even come around, but he's been making such a mess that I've been screeching at him. While I was in the kitchen, it sounded like he went upstairs and did a clog dance - the loft is over the kitchen. And he can waft around like a gray shadow. I think Louie has been in the bedroom all day.
So that was it, and now I really must go to bed before I fall asleep sitting up again. It's the beginning of a Winter Weather Warning in the Keweenaw.
January 16 Oh, I inverted again. I was reading, and then I had such a nasty accident that I had no choice but to take a bath - I needed one anyway - so it was a ridiculous hour when I got to bed. I slept, of course. As usual, I had awakened about five minutes before both of the spam phone calls I got - and there were two more later. Sheesh.
I was late enough that I didn't do much. However, I finally decided I was going to conquer the removal of the laptop battery and after some fiddling, I actually did it! Then I had to find a replacement, and I ended up having to chat with Amazon to find the right thing, since I couldn't find it myself. It's in my shopping cart and I will be ordering it next week after Social Security Day. What relieved my mind no end was that when I removed the battery and plugged the laptop in, it worked! I am doing a mammoth Windows update now. Of course, I have no security protection, because I got my new Norton after the laptop died, but I will work on that tomorrow. One update at a time...
Walter came by and plowed out my driveway today, and I got his help to try to find the box that I thought was delivered last week. Well, it wasn't, or at least it wasn't left where we could find it. So I had to call the company and request a reship...and then, since there were two packages shipped on that day, of course they reordered the wrong one and I had to call back...So I guess I did something after all.
The weather was snowy. I think it snowed all night, and it kept right on until around 4:30 PM. It was clearly lake effect, because there were a couple of rays of sunshine and a couple of interesting pictures of snow showers. It was cold. The high temperature was around midnight, 26º. and it slid down from there, until now it's 16º. There was a strong north wind, with gusts that got up to 38 mph this morning.
Grayson is still being a pill. He didn't get any lap time, because either I was on my way to doing something else or he knocked a bunch of stuff on the floor every time he came around. He got screeched at several times today. I keep hoping he'll learn one of these days...I think Louie has been up at the north end all day, as usual. He did get some loving this morning.
So that was my day. Now I have to wait until the laptop updates complete (thankfully, it's installing now - it only took around 4 hours to download everything - and I don't want to leave it in the middle. That's all right, because it's been a good night for music. We got Beethoven's Fifth early and now they're playing Sibelius' Second, which is another one of my favorites.
It's a frigid night in the field, but I think there may be a star or two overnight.
January 15 Sheesh! It's the middle of January already! Where does the time go? How can the days be so long and the weeks so short? Maybe it's a good thing I sleep so much.
I didn't get to bed as early as I wanted last night, because I kept dribbling off and I had to sit for a long time. I slept well, though, and I got almost enough sleep. I knitted and I'm closing in on the end of the third repeat. I have a couple more days to go, but I can see the end. I'm closing up the lozenge and starting the diamond.
Other than that, I didn't do much. There was a change to the funeral bulletin, which I sent out, but it turns out that Sue was already working on it. The dead lady is her aunt, and I can understand why she wants to do it herself. From the obituary, it seems like she was the last one of her generation in the family, so it's a special milestone. I always feel better when I know that both the dead person and their family are Christians, though, because we have the sure promise that we will see each other again.
The weather today was more or less nondescript, even though the Winter Weather Advisory went into effect around noon. We hadn't had any snow at sunset, but it started at the airport around 4:00 PM and it will get here eventually. Right now, it looks from radar like it's mostly south and east of us, but I don't trust that, because it's snowing at the airport. The temperature was nearly steady around 28º, plus or minus, and there wasn't much wind. It was bright this morning, but it got very dark and dreary later in the day.
Louie got some loving this morning and Grayson slept on my lap long enough for me to have an accident. He wanted to come back, but I wouldn't let him. They got canned food today and they're getting used to the mixed up kibble - or at least they're eating it. If they don't eat quite as much, it won't kill them. Louie is fat and Grayson isn't exactly skinny.
So that was another very quiet day and now it's a dark, cold, snowy night in the field. Ah, winter...\
January 14 Well, it was another truncated, nothing day. I was earlier to bed than lately, but I slept longer, too, so I didn't have a lot of time and i didn't do anything but my surfing.
Last night, when I looked at my phone before I went to bed, I had completely lost any cell or wi-fi connections, so I had to shut it down and start it up again. I hope that was just a glitch and not an indication that something is going wrong. I also found I had set up the wi-fi wrong, and it was one reason I was having trouble getting it to connect to the extender. Well - I hope that was the reason. It keeps reverting to cell when I move from the north to the south or back again and I sometimes have to kick it to make it use wi-fi. I still don't understand it very well.
The weather was nondescript. I think we had a couple of inches of snow overnight, but it was warm enough that it was hard to tell. The high temperature was 33º and it was just above or just below freezing all day. There wasn't much wind until around 4:00 PM, when it picked up from the north, with gusts as high as 30 mph. It was very dark and dreary all day.
I think the guys slept. Grayson didn't get any lap time because he kept trying to get on me at inopportune times. Louie spent the day at the north end, as usual. it's warmer up there.
Just a while ago the information for the funeral bulletin came in, and it was almost formatted the way I wanted it, so it was a no-brainer to get it put together and sent out.
Now it's a dark, cold night in the field and I think it may be snowing again...
January 13 So I inverted again, but i got up around noon and knitted. The task of the day was the bulletin. For once, Pastor sent the information yesterday and i didn't see any reason to wait to get the bulletin out. We've already had one death and two people added to the prayer list, so it's not cast in concrete yet, but at least most of it is done.
I was sorry about the death. I didn't know her well, but she was a nice lady, very quiet and modest, at least at church. I'll be interested to learn how old she was. I know I'm not nearly the oldest one in the church, but I'm certainly one of a very small group, and we lose someone every so often.
The weather was mostly nondescript. There was actually some sunshine and blue sky this morning, but by 2:30 PM, it was cloudy again. The high temperature was 30º and that was tonight. It rose slowly all aay. There was very little wind. Blah.
The guys were sleepy, but Grayson is being a pill again. The last time I filled the kibble bowls, I knocked three of them on the floor in the hallway. I wasn't going to throw away all that good food, so today, when the bowls were empty again, I swept up all that plus all that had gotten on the floor behind the bowls and put it down. Grayson was not pleased. Of course, all the kinds (there are four) are mixed up together, and he apparently doesn't like that very well. So he has been acting out all day. Too bad about him. It's perfectly good food. I think Louie is up at the north end.
So it was another very quiet day and it's a cold (but not very) dark night in the field and the wintry mix is coming...the wintry mix is coming...Aaaahhhh!
January 12 Well, it's late again, but I just ate and I need to digest a bit. I inverted both nights and this looks to be another one. I just can't explain it.
Besides, I got a snarky email yesterday and it annoyed me enough that if I'd written, I probably would have said something I shouldn't, at least if I want to keep the emails to a minimum. So I won't spend the time trying to explain what this blog is all about. Figure it out for yourselves.
I had to go out to the breezeway today to bring in my eggs and again to get some incontinent pads, but since I didn't go out the second time until after it was dark (it still gets dark so early!) so my package is still buried in the snow outside the garage.
It turned out I didn't need to bring in the eggs yet. I dropped an egg last week (yucky mess on the floor!) so I had an odd one and I had the first French toast I've had in several years. It was so good! When I make French toast, I use whole wheat bread and I soak it in the egg/milk mixture until it's completely saturated. That means, when I cook it, the center is like custard and it's so yummy. Oddly enough, I made just enough egg/milk and I cooked up the pieces just right. I don't know how I managed that. Oh, it was so good!
I was a bit concerned, because it wasn't a big breakfast, but it kept me from getting hungry for at least 8 hours. Then I had to decide what to eat for my next meal, and I couldn't, so I wasted another hour. I like to try to plan out my meals when I get up, but I didn't do that today and when it came to dinner, I couldn't decide what to have. I finally decided on something, and it was all right, so I did get to eat. Now I need to digest a bit.
The weather yesterday was nondescript but windy, with gusts up to 38 mph from the northeast. The high temperature was at midnight, 25º, and it fell steadily all day, to 17º at midnight. Today the wind has died down, and the temperature is slowly rising, to 23º. Yesterday was just cloudy and dull, but it snowed lightly all day. It didn't register at the weather station, except around noon, and I don't think there was any accumulation, but it snowed. It snowed In Laurium, too, so I was glad I didn't try to go.
The guys slept both days. Grayson got to sleep on me, but not as much as he wanted to and he kept coming back when I was doing something else. Louie moved down to the great room and is sleeping on a scratching pad. I don't know why he does that, but he likes it.
So that was my lost weekend. One of the problems with my current schedule is that I don't have time to do anything beyond my surfing and a little reading. And I have lots of things to do. Yesterday, I was so creaky I couldn't do anything, but it was a bit better today. Now it's a cold, snowy night in the field.
January 11 It's too late and I didn't do anything anyway, so I'll write tomorrow. The weather was blah. The cats slept.
January 10 Ugh. I am tired, but they're playing Beethoven's Fourth Piano Concerto, which is about my favorite, and I want to hear it.
I'm tired because I didn't get enough sleep. I don't remember exactly why I was so late last night. I may have been reading or i may have had an accident, and when I got up to the north end, I wanted to pour the Drano down the drain and see if i could unclog it, so I had to wait half an hour for that. Then I sat. The drain still seemed to be clogged when I finally went to bed. We had a power failure (another one!!) and I think I was still on generator power when I went to bed, because I couldn't see any lights at all in town.
I got up around 11:00 and I knitted my two rows. The drain still seemed to be clogged up, so I did my thing, but when I opened the drain with a full basin of warm water, something gave way, and it looks like it might be all right. We'll see tonight. I still have half a bottle of Drano, so I can try it again if it needs it, and the next time, I will fill the basin and let it all out at once. That seems to work better.
I wanted to go to the post office to send a letter, and I needed to get my packages from the store. I have some real issues with Amazon's packaging. They sent my incontinent pads in only the original packaging, so everyone can see I'm wearing them, but there were four separate packages with the rest of the stuff, and it would all have fit in a smaller box than one of them. The big box had gobs of air packs and a small cube in it that could have been sent without extra packaging. SO stupid. Walmart does the same thing. In my last order from them, I got ONE box of tea in a box about 12" x 12" x 5"! Sheesh.
Anyway, I got all my stuff and I opened all the packages when I got home. There is still a box outside the garage door that I forgot about, but my hands were about frozen when I got the rest of it open. I have Reynaud's Disease, which is where your extremities get cold and numb and painful, and then when the circulation starts again, while the nails are still blue, the flesh gets red and very painful. I've had it my whole life, as far as I can remember, and it never gets any better.
The weather was cold. The temperature was 33º at midnight and it slid down slowly all day, until it's 20º now. The wind was from the north and variable, with gusts up to 25 mph sometimes. It didn't precipitate, but it was very humid, which is one reason my hands were so sore. It was cloudy and dark. It looks like the ice on the harbor is here to stay.
the guys slept. Grayson didn't try to sit on me, but he's on the other chair right now. I think Louie has been up at the north end all day, except when he came to the kitchen to eat.
So that was my day. Another very quiet one. It's a cold, dark night in the field.
January 9 Well, another nothing day.
I was late, because i was reading, and when I got up to go to bed, I had an accident (second one of the day) and then I did the second really stupid thing of the day. I hadn't flushed the toilet right when I had the first accident and the TP clogged up the drain. So after I had the second accident, I flushed the toilet and remembered that it was clogged...and I did it again. Well, that went all over the floor. Fortunately I could sop it up with the rugs, but it was nasty. And I had to get the plunger, which was still in the kitchen and plunge out the drain. Sheesh. It's partly the 1.6 gallon toilets, but it's also partly that the TP gets wadded up when it goes down, if I'm not careful to make sure that every last ounce comes out of the tank. Anyway, that meant that I was even later than I would have been. Sigh.
When I woke up for the first time, around 7:30, the clock was blinking, so we had a power glitch around 6:00 AM. Also sigh. It means resetting clocks, the computer rebooted and I have to set it up all over again, and the ovens will be beeping for another eight or nine days. Sigh.
I was late enough that I didn't do much. I knitted my two rows and did my surfing - and I had another accident. This is getting old, for sure. I gathered up the towels and the rugs and maybe tomorrow I can get them in the washer to soak. They need to soak for four or five days. There is so much iron in my water that the towels and wash cloths get badly stained, and while eventually the stains come out, it takes a while. The rugs are so gross that it will take them at least as long to begin to get clean.
The weather was just about what they were predicting. The snow started around 2:00 PM and it has snowed off and on for the rest of the day. The high temperature was (is) 33º The wind was very strong overnight and until around 5:00 PM, when it died down. It was from the southwest (weird, huh?) and there were gusts up to 52 mph between 8:00 and 9:00 AM. Of course it was cloudy, dark and dreary.
The guys slept. They both got some loving. Grayson got to sleep on me for a while this afternoon and he actually ate a bit of the juice from my lamb chop. I'm not going to start feeding him lamb, but if he wants to drink the juice, that's fine.
So that was my day and now it's a cold, dark night in the field.
January 8 It was 1:00 before I got to bed, but that was mostly because I was too tired to move. I slept well and I got up around 11:00, after the second phone call of the day. I don't answer those things, and it turns out I was right. that they were both spam. I thought there was a new law that made those things illegal.
I knitted my two rows, but then I just sat, so I was very late eating and doing my surfing. There were a few changes to the bulletin, which I got out as soon as I saw them, and during the talking I embroidered. I got the motif with the four crowns done and a couple of very small motifs and I started another one. The next bigger one I want to do has a very bad error in the chart, so it will be challenging to get it done right. I don't have a very good picture of the original sampler and there are parts of it that have deteriorated badly, but frankly, there have been a number of places where the person who did the charting just screwed up, and this motif - a wreath of flowers and leaves with birds in the center - is one of them. I've done some of the motifs the way she charted them, but I've changed some others. If I wanted to do some actual charting, maybe I could get them all right, but that's too much work. And the original stitcher screwed up sometimes, too, but mostly I think she was more accurate than the one who did the charting, which is frustrating. Anyway, I'm working on the last two charts of the third tier and I'm getting to the end, so I really will finish this thing!
The weather wasn't too bad, but the camera hung up, so I don't have any record of it. There was a little snow between 10:00 and noon. It was frigid. The temperature was just about steady at 13º and while the wind was from the north it was strong enough (18-30 mph) that the wind chill was around -5º. Then between 4:00 and 5:00 PM, the wind shifted around to the southwest and died down completely. It was cloudy and dark all day.
THe guys slept. Louie came out of the bedroom to eat, but then he went back where it was warm. Grayson didn't sit on me after breakfast, and he slept on the other chair during the talking. Then at some point, he started talking and came and sat down on me - just about the time I was going to get up, of course, so i had an accident - and got a nice tummy rub. He wanted some of my dinner, too, but pizza isn't good for kitties.
So that was my day. The load of bottoms is in the dryer, but I'm already working on the next load. Sigh. It's a frigid, dark night in the field and tomorrow there's another Winter Weather Advisory. Sigh.
January 7 I was so tired last night that I was in bed by 12:30 and I didn't get up until noon. I still don't feel good, and I hurt all over, but I think another reasonable night will fix most of that.
I knitted, so I was too late to do much except my surfing, but the information for the bulletin came in around 2:00 PM and I just finished sending it out, so I accomplished something. I hurt too much - and my knees were too gimpy - to bring in the food. One or the other of my knees kept buckling. Oh, yes, I did wash the load of bottoms I soaked yesterday, so by tomorrow I will have clean sweats if I need them.
The weather people got this one almost spot on. It started snowing around 2:00 PM and it has been snowing more or less hard ever since. The temperature peaked around 6:00 AM, at 33º and it's been going down ever since. It's 15º now, and since the wind is blowing at 30 mph, with 40 mph gusts, from the north, the wind chill is down around -5º and will probably go lower. I have the feeling it may be cold at the north end tonight.
The guys slept. Grayson wasn't too interested in sitting on me today, for some reason, and I haven't seen Louie.
So it was another very quiet day and now it's a frigid, snowy night in the field.
January 6 Wow, I am tired!
I was late getting to bed last night and I had a horrible night. I'm not sure I ever got into a deep sleep and I was mostly awake for most of the night. Ugh! I got up around 10:00, though. I had several things to do before I left, including writing a couple of bills, and I had to call Ron about the mail I didn't think I'd been receiving.
I got the mail on the way through town, and while I didn't look at it until I got home, I found a couple of the things I thought had gotten lost. They were just delayed, although I didn't think there was enough of a holiday "rush" to make it take over a week for a letter to get here from the Detroit area! Anyway, it's all resolved now, thankfully.
I made my appointment, but I wasn't early, because I got behind a couple of cherry pickers who were going ridiculously slowly. I passed one, but I couldn't pass the other. The problem was, it was sunny and it was melting the crap on the road and I was driving right into the sun, so when it sprayed up on my windshield, the sun caught it and I couldn't see anything. I probably used half a bottle of windshield washer liquid.
I like my new Primary Health Care Provider. She is a no-nonsense type, and she clearly has nearly as much knowledge as an MD does, but since she works most with geriatrics, she knows more about our problems. And she likes to see her patients twice a year, which I think is a good idea, too. Oh, yes and I got both my flu shot and a pneumonia shot - she believes in the pneumonia shot, so that's all right. That thing I had in September may even have been the flu, but the way the season has been going for these past years, I didn't think it was a bad idea to get the shot anyway.
They took me back downstairs - I got a wheelchair, since i was so tired - and while I was waiting to get wheeled back to where I came from, who should turn up but Mary Ann! It's been quite a while since I've actually seen her, and I haven't heard from her because she's been having phone troubles. We couldn't talk long because she had to go with Bill and I had to go and get my blood draw, but it was good to see her. Maybe we can talk this week.
So I got my blood drawn and made a pit stop, then I was off to Pat's. Ugh. I actually was very modest, considering. I only got what I needed, but I needed a lot. I have some good things to eat for dinner, lots of breakfast food and the Drano I need for my bathroom sink, which is barely running.
I didn't get home until after 6:00, and it probably took 45 minutes for me to get the stuff onto the platform. I had to stop in the middle and rest because my back was killing me. Almost everything is till on the platform. It's as cold out there as it is in my fridge - maybe colder - so it will be fine until tomorrow or whenever. I did bring the Drano in, and i'd gotten one box of probiotics, although I won't start taking them until tomorrow.
The weather was OK. It was nice to see the sun, although it's hard going down to Laurium at this time of year, because it's shining right in the windshield. The wind has been the news. Right after I published this last night, sometime between midnight and 1:00 AM, we had wind gusts up to 55 mph! It died down a bit overnight, but it picked up to 46 mph gusts today. The temperature was nearly steady around 28º. It was clear and sunny after about 11:00 AM. Of course, we're under a winter weather advisory starting tomorrow night...
I guess the guys slept. I haven't seen Louie. Grayson looked out the door when I started bringing the groceries, and when I went out to turn off the light in the breezeway, he darted out. So I ignored him while I sat and looked at my mail, and when I finally got up, he was quite ready to come in...and then he wanted my dinner and he wanted to sit on me! He is just unclear on the concept.
So there. That was the busiest day I've had in quite a while, but at least I accomplished something and I won't have to go out again for a long time. I still hope to get out for church, and it looks like that might be possible on Sunday, but that's far enough ahead that the whole forecast could change by then. At least I have OJ and eggs and some other necessities.
Now it's a clear (I think) dark night in the field, and oh, my am i tired!
January 5 So I was late last night and late getting up and I'm late now. Story of my life. I did get my hair washed, which was good. I'm hoping to begin to get my schedule under control and that's part of it.
I was so late that I didn't do anything. There were some things I should have done and didn't, but I didn't feel like doing anything.
The weather was bad enough that I was glad I stayed home. It started snowing here around 10:30 and it snowed for most of the day. It stopped around 8:00 PM and the wind had picked up by then - with gusts up to 49 mph (!!) from the north. The temperature was just about steady around 31º, which is a terrible temperature to be out in the snow. Of course it was very cloudy and dark and dreary all day. Not nice.
The guys slept. Grayson got to sit on me twice and he wanted to do it a third time but I wouldn't let him. I think Louie is up at the north end as usual. He did come down to the kitchen to get his canned food, but then he went right back to the nice warm bedroom,
So that was it and I have to try to get to bed soon, so I can get up at a reasonable hour tomorrow. I will need to leave early, just in case the road is bad or I have a problem getting a parking place. Now it's a cold, dark, very windy night in the field.
January 4 I lost track of time last night, so I was late. I slept fairly well and when I got up, I knitted a couple of rows. That was about all I did. I was too late to go to the post office and the store, so my mail and my packages will just have to wait.
It's a good thing it's going to snow tomorrow, because I'm already too late. I'm disappointed, but there seems to be some sort of law of nature around here that says that if the weather is going to be nasty, it will be on Thursday and Sunday. I haven't figured out why.
Today was nondescript, although it was very cloudy and dark again. The temperature was nearly steady, with a high of 31º and there was a 15 mph wind from the north.
The guys slept. Louie was at the north end, but Grayson got to sit on me twice, and he wanted to do it a third time, but I wouldn't let him. By that time, I was getting annoyed with him. I have some old toast on my food tray and he decided he wanted it, so he kept reaching for it and dropping it on the floor. I want that toast, and I don't appreciate having to pick it up off the floor.
So that was my day and eventually I will get up to the north end and get my hair washed. I do not feel good today. I have had a headache and I've felt sick all day. I think it's the Shari syndrome again. Maybe a lot of sleep will help it. Now it's a dark, cold night in the field.
January 3 Oh, I was late, because I was reading, but I should have gotten enough sleep. I guess I didn't, because I nearly fell asleep in the bathroom after I finished my knitting. Yes, I'm knitting again.
A couple of weeks ago, when I got up without enough sleep, I tried to knit and dropped something in the second repeat and I just didn't feel like trying to fix it. So I fixed it yesterday - it wasn't as hard as I'd feared - and I did two rows then and two more rows today. I should have kept on knitting because I fiddled around and I was very late eating my first meal.
Now I'm very tired and I should go to bed, but they're playing Mozart's 40th, so I have to wait until that's over with.
I was too late to go to the post office, so I'll have to try to do that tomorrow. I have a bunch of packages at the store, too, that I need to get. I'm afraid I won't get to church on Sunday - he weather forecast is bad - but I have my appointment with my new primary care person on Monday. The weather should be better then, and the plan is to shop for food afterwards.
The weather today was nondescript. The temperature was steady at 28º and there was a bit of north wind. It was extremely dark and dreary, but nothing came down as far as I could see.
The guys slept. Grayson got to sleep on me for a very long time and he left of his own accord. Louie came and ate canned food, but I haven't seen him since. I dropped three whole bowls of kibble on the floor in the hallway - what a mess! - and while I was getting the canned food ready, Louie sat down on the placemat to wait. He is a funny little cat. I am glad to say that Grayson is being a bit more careful not to make me angry, so I guess that worked. He gets to thinking this is his house and I just live here, and sometimes i have to act out to let him know that isn't the case.
After having two accidents yesterday, I didn't have any today. I don't know why, but I'm not complaining. it would be nice to be able to tell if a cramp was serious or not, but I haven't figured that out yet. It does depress me when I have a day like yesterday.
So that was my nice quiet day, and now I will go to bed right after the Mozart stops. I wish I could stay up to hear Palestrina in the next hour, but I don't think so. It's a cold, dark night in the field.
January 2 I wasn't too late last night, but I had a horrible night - hot flashes, and not much sleep. I don't know why; I was certainly tired enough. Anyway, I got up around 10:30, but I was tired and headachy all day, I had two accidents, and I just started having a sneezing fit. Geez.
The weather was lousy. There was some light snow this morning, and around noon, we had another power glitch. At this rate, the ovens are going to be beeping all winter. The high temperature was 36º, and I think there was some drizzle this afternoon. The wind was from the northwest all day, but it was very light until around 5:00 PM, when it picked up to 31 mph gusts, then it died down again. It was very dark and dreary.
The guys slept. Grayson got to sleep on me for a while, but I had to move him because I was having an accident. He hasn't figured that out yet, even though I'm sure he can smell it.
So that was all. Now it's a dark, cold night in the field and I need to go to bed.
January 1 - New Year's Day When I went back to December 2018, I discovered I felt exactly like I did last night - thank God it's over! This year wasn't nearly as bad, but I wouldn't call it a good year. I managed, and I'm still here and I'm not bankrupt, so I guess that's enough.
I was late again, for no reason I can remember, and I didn't get enough sleep, so while I was waiting for my turkey to cook, I almost fell asleep. i think I'm beginning to nail down how to cook turkey pot roast in the slow cooker, but it may take a while. Once i finally got it, it was really good, so it was worth the wait. I do love turkey. I love all those little potatoes, too.
I didn't do very much today, although I did get the bulletin out and I think I now have everything together, thanks to Sue. It seems like I may have been deleted from a couple of email lists. Well, stuff happens.
The weather was nondescript and I ignored it. In spite of what they said, while it was sort of clear overnight, it was cloudy and dull almost all day. The high temperature was 31º. There was a breeze from the southwest until about 3:00 PM, when it went nearly calm.
Well, Grayson did not start the year very well. When i sit down at the computer with my meals, he frequently comes down from the printer and walks across in front of the screen. There is a huge pile of envelopes there - which I need to do something about - and this morning when he walked by, he kicked the envelopes and knocked a full glass of orange juice all over me. No, it was not an accident. He's kicked other things on the floor before, and he decided he was going to do it again, just to make sure I noticed him. Well, I sure did. I've been yelling at him all day and he knows he did something wrong. Louie was nowhere to be found after he had his breakfast. I'm sure he's asleep up at the north end.
So it was a very quiet day, and now it's 2020. Sheesh. Nineteen years ago, I didn't even know if I'd make it through the year.
Now it's a cold, dark night in the field.
Last updated 02/02/20 01:53 AM Copyright S. I. Smith, 2000-2019
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